Our Product Pick

CipherLab USA (Plano, TX) has showcased its phablet-format enterprise mobile computer, the RS30. With 4.7" capacitive touch panel, the RS30 weighs about 9 oz. It runs Android 4.4, with Cortex Quad Core CPU at 1.3 GHz, 1-GB RAM, 8-GB Flash, and Micro SD. Features include laser, linear imager, or two-dimensional imager; camera, RFID, and NFC; Bluetooth Class II, 802.11b/g/n, and WWAN; and 2500-mAh Li-Ion battery life of 10 hrs. Ruggedness is addressed with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, an IP-54 rating, multiple 4 ft./1.2 m drops, and temperature range of -4 Degrees to +122 Degrees F.

RS30 by CipherLab

COMPANY BUSINESS

ScanSource Wishes Upon Star

A big shoe has dropped with the new distribution agreement between Star Micronics America (Somerset, NJ) and ScanSource POS and Barcode (Greenville, SC). Under this pact, ScanSource will handle Star Micronics' complete printer and cash drawer family in the U.S. and Canada. Affiliated closely for many years with BlueStar (Hebron, KY), Star Micronics also employs major players such as Ingram Micro Data Capture/POS (Carlsbad, CA) and M-S Cash Drawer (Pasadena, CA). These relationships will continue without disruption, since each brings unique audiences and approaches, RRN.Com was told by Star Micronics.

"It's a great pleasure to partner with a leader in retail and printing like Star Micronics," commented Brenda McCurry, VP of Merchandising for ScanSource POS and Barcode. "This relationship provides new opportunities to connect our resellers to valuable markets and product offerings, and we look forward to working together to help our customers grow their business." In particular, ScanSource pointed to Star's pioneering capabilities in Mobile POS and its ecosystem of ISVs.

"As a leading value-added distributor with deep channel relationships, ScanSource offers an opportunity to bring Star's mobility innovations to the retail enterprise while providing an alternative technology solution to legacy system providers," noted Mike Hanson, EVP of Star Micronics America. As indicated in conversation with RRN.Com, Star Micronics sees the "enterprise" as the next evolution for Mobile POS, with ScanSource an ideal entry point. It sees this market coming to fruition in 2016-2017. Mark Smith serves as ScanSource's Business Development Manager for Star Micronics America. ScanSource, of course, also has receipt printers from other vendors such as Bixolon, Citizen, CognitiveTPG, Seiko, and most definitely, Epson America.

Brenda McCurry, ScanSource. Mike Hanson, Star Micronics

A Choice for P2PE

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (Wakefield, MA) has rewritten its rule for Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) of customer credit-card data, allowing for more flexibility. As set forth in "PCI Point-to-Point Encryption Solution Requirements and Testing Procedures Version 2.0," the PCI SSC will now list individual validated P2PE components, as well as validated P2PE end-to-end solutions. Also, merchants, for the first time, may now build and manage their own schemes for P2PE.

"A 'merchant managed' P2PE solution can be either homegrown or comprised of components from PCI-validated and listed vendors," elaborated payment processor and participant in this re-evaluation, Bluefin Payments Systems (Atlanta, GA). "This remedies the 'processor lock-in' scenario which many merchants say is a primary commercial reason for delayed P2PE projects." Very fast out of the gate, Bluefin's PayConex received P2PE validation in March 2014.

"Malware that captures and steals data at the point-of-sale continues to threaten businesses and their ability to protect consumers' payment information. As these attacks become more sophisticated, it's critical to find ways to devalue payment card data," observed Troy Leach, CTO of the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. "PCI Point-to-Point Encryption helps merchants do this by encrypting cardholder data at the earliest point of acceptance, making that data less valuable to attackers even if compromised in a breach." In its announcement, the PCI SSC stressed the role played by solution providers.

New Rules for Point-to-Point Encryption, which Bluefin Payments Systems Helped Pioneer

Worth Your While

RetailNOW 2015
Retail Solutions Providers Association
August 2-5
Orlando

VARTECH 2015
BlueStar
September 14-18
Enchantment of the Seas - Departs Orlando

Pack Expo
PMMI
September 28-30
Las Vegas

NACS Show
Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing
October 11-14
Las Vegas

IAAPA Expo 2015
International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions
November 16-20
Orlando

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Breaking With Tradition (More Star)

In addition to its new distribution agreement with ScanSource (see above), Star Micronics America (Somerset, NJ), one of the leading suppliers of receipt printers, has pushed further ahead with new CD3 "Tradition" Cash Drawers. Following up on the launch of the SMD2 Mobility Series in 2014, these "cost-effective" cash drawers come in two standard sizes: CD3-1313 at 13 in. (W) x 13 in. (D) and CD3-1616 at 16 in. (W) x 16 in. (D). Features include black stainless-steel front door cover, dual media slots, and three-function locking.

Designed for medium-use environments, the CD3-1313 has adjustable cash till for 3 Bill/5 Coin or 4 Bill/5 Coin in the U.S. or Canada. For more robust storage and higher volumes, the CD3-1616 has adjustable cash till for 4 Bill/8 Coin or 5 Bill/8 Coin in the U.S., Canada, or Latin America. The CD3-1313 weighs 9.9 lbs. and the CD3-1616 weighs 16.7 lbs. An optional under-the-counter mounting bracket helps conserve counter-space in the case of the larger CD3-1616.

New CD3 Tradition Cash Drawers From Star Micronics

Janam Spots UHF

Janam Technologies (Woodbury, NY) has shipped its newest mobile computer, designated XM2-RFID UHF. Weighing 13 oz., and measuring 5.8 in. (L) x 2.9 in. (W) x 1 in. (D), the XM2-RFID UHF has been formatted for reading tags of ISO-18000-63 EPC Global Class 1 Gen 2. It incorporates Zebra's SE4500 one- and two-dimensional imaging engine for robust decoding, carries an IP-64 rating for exposure to water and dust, and withstands multiple 4 ft./1.2 m falls to concrete.

As technical specifications, XM2-RFID UHF has ARM 9 CPU, 128-MB RAM, 128-MB Flash, Micro SD, and Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5. As features, it furnishes bright 3.2" color display (with resistive touchscreen), numeric keypad, good-read alerts (vibration, LED, audio), multiple scan triggers (left, right, center), and 2880-mAh rechargeable Li-Ion battery (with five-hour life). As communications, there's Bluetooth Version 2.1+EDR and 802.11b/g/n WLAN, along with user-addressable compass. List price starts at $2,295.

Janam's XM2-RFID UHF Mobile Computer

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CERTIFICATION

Second Gear at Cayan

Cayan (Boston, MA) has received certification for Level 2 EMV from EMVCo, the industry's leading governing body for EMV. Addressing VARs and ISVs as one of its primary focuses, Cayan supplies its Genius Customer Engagement Platform for handling varied forms of electronic payment--MSR, EMV, NFC, and Mobile Wallets. It was debuted with foresight in 2012. As participating members, EMVCo has Discover, JCB, MasterCard, UnionPay, and Visa.

"We have been preparing our partners and customers for EMV and chip card acceptance for nearly three years and completing our Level 2 EMV certification with EMVCo lets these businesses know that Cayan is ready to support them as they prepare for the liability shift," relayed Henry Helgeson, CEO of Cayan. "By earning this certification, our POS partners and customers will also be ahead of the pack with regards to implementing and accepting EMV." Complete EMV certification requires three levels: Hardware (Level 1), Software (Level 2), and Processor (Level 3). On October 15, of course, merchants accepting credit cards will need to accept EMV, or face liability for breaches.

Henry Helgeson, CEO, Cayan

Mobile POS: London Calling

One of the major players in U.K.'s Mobile POS, Miura Systems, citing its experience in thirty-five global markets, has now set its sights on the U.S. A pair of partnerships has been announced: Apriva (Scottsdale, AZ) and Charge Anywhere (South Plainfield, NJ). AprivaPay will power the Miura M010, while Charge Anywhere will carry the Miura Shuttle POS. Aimed at small merchants, both payment terminals feature pocket-sized formats, PCI PTS Version 3.0 and SRED, EMV Level 2, and Bluetooth or 802.11b/g/n.

Charge Anywhere's package for EMV is immediately available for implementation through First Data. Certification for TSYS and Chase Paymentech will come later this year. Notably, both Chip-and-Signature and Chip-and-PIN may be accepted by the Miura M010 and Shuttle POS. For their solutions, both Apriva and Charge Anywhere have solicited VARs and ISVs.

Miura's M010 Terminal for Mobile POS

Code Corner

HighJump (Minneapolis, MN), through its TrueCommerce EDI Solutions Group, now offers integrated Warehouse/3PL support for SAP Business One. This spans transactions for two key warehouse documents: outbound warehouse shipping order (940), which can be processed automatically from the sales order in SAP Business One, with updating of lot numbers and serial numbers; and inbound warehouse shipping advice (945), which creates instructions for the delivery in SAP Business One, with package details and UCC-128 label. In addition, integrated warehouse shipping advice can be used to automatically develop the advance ship notice, giving users the ability to perform quick turnaround and immediately send notifications to their customers. HighJump's TrueCommerce Transaction Manager brings EDI for SAP Business One via API. "By leveraging integrated warehouse transactions, manufacturers and suppliers can streamline the fulfillment process from sales order processing to shipping to distribution, helping to optimize supply chain management and strengthen trading partner relationships," suggested Nick Manolis, President of the TrueCommerce EDI Solutions Group. Of interest to readers of RRN.Com, SAP Business One targets the SMB.

EDI Support for SAP Business One by HighJump

ENVIRONMENTS/PLATFORMS

Datalogic Theory of Shopevolution

Datalogic (Eugene, OR) has offered its Shopevolution SDK (Software Development Kit) for its self-shopping device, Joya. This new tool allows easy integration of self-shopping by business partners into any store infrastructure, according to the company. A pair of devices, Joya X1 and X2 (one- and two-dimensional imaging, respectively), allow customers to bag their own merchandise as they scan and shop. Self-payment kiosks complete the check-out process.

With the Shopevolution SDK comes development tools, documentation, and support from the dedicated team of Datalogic Store Automation. A pre-defined set of functions include Self-Shopping, Queue Busting, and Inventory. The SDK also delivers integration with POS, GUI for Joya, Promotion Interface, and Back-Office Suite. As one particular benefit, Datalogic cited quicker response to "new feature" requests.

"Global retail markets are experiencing dramatically increased awareness in self-shopping solutions and in the many benefits offered to retailers and their customers," maintained Luigi Frison, Senior Manager for Store Automation at Datalogic. "Datalogic, who introduced the first self-shopping device in 2002, continues in the forefront of this retail market revolution. Now Shopevolution SDK provides our partners with the ideal solution to customize self-shopping and in-store applications."

Datalogic's Joya 2 Self-Shopper

Terminal Velocity for Wavelink

Wavelink (Salt Lake City, UT) has released its next-generation mobile application platform targeting smartphones and tablets, dubbed "Velocity." It replaces traditional green screen applications by automatically building modern HTML GUI's--without need of back-end migration or customization of the host system. With touchscreen technology, it creates on-screen keypads and task screens to optimize workflow, offering custom backgrounds, fonts, and layouts. Wavelink first developed this browser technology for Windows CE.

Such familiarity for end-users improves productivity and accuracy, while reducing training time, reported Wavelink. In making its announcement, Wavelink estimated that in-house mobile application development or migrations for enterprise mobile device management may cost anywhere from $1 million to $10 million, depending on scope and scale of the project. In one extreme case, an unidentified retail vendor recently quoted $500 million in anticipated application migration costs, according to the company.

Velocity by Wavelink Eliminates Green Screens

Key Advertiser Links

Be sure to visit these vendors for the latest in channel products and offers for resellers.

POS & Peripherals
Bematech
Elo Touch Solutions
Harbortouch
Hewlett-Packard
Partner Tech
Pioneer POS
POS BANK USA
Posiflex
PowaPOS
TEAMSable

Barcode & Transaction Printers
Brother Mobile
CognitiveTPG
Honeywell Scanning

Cash Drawers
MMF POS

Data Collection
CipherLab
Code Corporation
Datalogic
Honeywell Scanning

Integrated Payment Solutions
Cayan
Datacap Systems
Discover
Mercury/Vantiv
Shift4

Keyboards & Mobile POS
Cherry, ZF Electronics Corp
PrehKeyTec

Receipt Printers
Bixolon America
CognitiveTPG
Epson America
Star Micronics

Thermal Printers
Seiko Instruments USA

Touchscreens & Monitors
Elo Touch Solutions

INSTALLATIONS

An Auditable Sandwich

Crossmatch (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) will deploy its U.are.U 4500 fingerprint readers for the fast-casual sandwich restaurant chain, Togo's Eateries. Prior to such biometrics, tied with USB, Togo's POS system required employees to enter an unsecured, sharable password to sign in or authorize an override. Now, fingerprint templates for more than 1,000 Togo's Eateries employees provide "unique, auditable, and non-repudiable" identity for each transaction--thus, reducing fraud.

"The Crossmatch biometrics solution has allowed us to easily move to single-drawer accountability at the POS," reported Mike Pennington, Technology Integration Manager at Togo's Eateries. "Our associates sign in quickly and know that no one else can access their cash drawer." Altogether, Togo's, based in California, has more than 300 sites, mostly franchises, many of which are co-located with Dunkin' Donuts.

According to the two parties, this biometric solution has exceeded expectations. For franchisees, it also supplies time-clock functionality, as well as ready integration with the POS. "We are proud to see another restaurant rely on Crossmatch biometrics-based solutions to achieve outstanding results," contributed Richard Agostinelli, CEO at Crossmatch. As many readers of RRN.Com may recall, Crossmatch purchased DigitalPersona, an early leader in biometrics for retail and hospitality, in April 2014.

Sandwich Chain Togo's Eateries Adopts Fingerprint Readers at POS

The Elavon/Wyndham Way

Elavon (Atlanta, GA) will supply its electronic payment technology for the Wyndham Hotel Group. Under this multi-year agreement, approximately 4,500 of 7,600 hotels will be outfitted over the next 18 months. Elavon's Fusebox gateway and Simplify payment software will be combined to remove cardholder data from each hotel's property management system (PMS). This layered approach to security includes encryption, tokenization, EMV, and compliance with PCI.

"Wyndham Hotel Group is in the midst of an industry-leading transformation when it comes to technology, tools, and resources that we make available to our franchisees," emphasized Keith Pierce, EVP for Global Systems Operations at the Wyndham Hotel Group. "We're excited to be working with Elavon to offer what we believe to be part of a best-in-class solution." Owned by U.S. Bancorp, Elavon is the number one provider of payment processing for airlines and in the top five for hospitality, healthcare, retail, and the public sector/education. It sells through partners, including POS VARs.

World's Largest Hotel Company Deploys Payment Processing From Elavon

Channel Factoid

A healthy majority of restaurant owners and managers, 67%, believe that technology leads to increased revenue, according to the 2015 NCR Restaurant Technology Pulse. Also, this survey found that 35% of restaurants are more dependent on tech tools compared with last year. Yet, only 31% of respondents have an internal employee who can manage technology for their businesses, and the vast majority, 83%, identified the cost of maintaining or upgrading technology as an obstacle in this area. About two-thirds of respondents, 62%, view technology as "important" or "very important" to their businesses. In terms of specific technologies, the survey ranked: Cash Registers (91%), Wi-Fi (74%), Mobile POS (60%), Accounting Software (58%), Inventory Management (54%), Time & Attendance (53%), Voice and Broadband Services (52%), and Mobile Apps (42%). As expected, more restaurants are going online to connect with customers. Fully 70% have accounts on social media and 63% have traditional websites. Only 17% of the respondents still lack an online presence. At the same time, 81% do not offer their menu items through mobile take-out apps such as GrubHub and Eat24. "It's clear they need complete technology solutions that simplify their businesses and help improve efficiency and drive revenue," concluded Chris Poelma, President and GM of NCR Small Business.

HELLO GOODBYE

J2 Counts on Burroughs

J2 Retail Systems (Irvine, CA), part of the Aures Group, has engaged channel veteran Jeff Burroughs at its VP of Sales for North America. Burroughs brings twelve years of experience from Epson America, first as Distribution Manager, then as National Channel Sales Manager. Most recently, he served as Director of North American Channel Sales for Elo Touch Solutions. He started his career as Sales Manager for Javelin Systems (precursor of J2 Retail Systems).

"Jeff is well respected in the industries that J2 is focused on and we're thrilled to have him help build on our positive momentum," relayed Kurt Ericson, VP of J2 Retail Systems. "The last two years have witnessed the most significant growth in J2's history. To further capitalize on our successes, we wanted to grow by bringing an established industry professional onto the team. He is clearly energized by challenges and will flourish in our strategic work environment."

"I pride myself on being a committed advocate for those that provide valuable contributions to the channel," shared Burroughs. "I have spent more than seventeen years leading sales and marketing teams, specifically focused on commercial channels, and look forward to the opportunity to bring my experience and skill-set to an outstanding organization like J2." Burroughs also was the first vendor member of the Board of Directors for the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA).

Jeff Burroughs, VP of Sales, North America, J2 Retail Systems

Forever Young at Global Payments

Global Payments (Atlanta, GA) has enlisted Frank Young as its SVP for Global Product and Innovation. Most recently, Young served as Commerce Business Development Manager for Google Wallet. Prior to joining Google, he held similar Business Development roles at Firethorn (now part of Qualcomm), MasterCard Advisors, and Accenture.

"With his extensive background in payment and omni-channel commerce solutions and services at innovative companies like Google, Frank is a great addition to our executive management team and a testament to our commitment to drive long-term growth by delivering innovative payment technology," remarked David Mangum, President and COO of Global Payments. A Fortune 1000 company with 4,300 employees worldwide, Global Payments services credit and debit cards, gift cards, business-to-business purchasing cards, and electronic check conversion, as well as handling terminal management.

Late in 2014, Global Payments rebranded its Integrated Solutions Division as OpenEdge (South Pleasant Grove, UT). This comprises the capabilities of PayPros and Accelerated Payment Technologies (formerly CAM Commerce Solutions), both of which were earlier acquired by Global Payments. Sid Singh now serves as President of OpenEdge, which most recently received endorsement by restaurant management technology provider, Gusto (Bethesda, MD).

Frank Young, SVP, Global Product and Innovation, Global Payments