This Week’s Product Pick

InkSure Technologies (New York) unveiled an upgraded version of its ScanSure handheld reader for fighting counterfeit, diverted, or illegitimate products, to be used in conjunction with the company’s taggant label formulations. In addition to barcodes, ScanSure authenticates holograms, serial numbers, and other commonly-used security features. This new reader integrates seamlessly with any existing track-and-trace solution, according to the vendor, including its own TrackSure. InkSure’s taggants, or chemical codes, may be applied to virtually every medium and carrier, from paper to plastics to metals, according to InkSure, offering forensic-level brand security for products. “ScanSure is the most unique and robust reader that InkSure has ever created,” proposed Viktor Goldovsky, Head of Business Development at InkSure. “It was created to give complete authentication and track-and-trace information.”

ScanSure Forensic Reader

COMPANY BUSINESS

Intermec Restrings PartnerNet

“Evolution, not revolution,” Intermec (Everett, WA) calls recent changes to its PartnerNet channel program, announced at its recent Americas Sales and Partner Summit in Jacksonsville, FL. “We’re moving to the model where we increase overall partner engagement, drive collaborative planning, and invest together, rather than the traditional vendor-reseller model,” Scott Anderson, Intermec’s VP of Global Channels, told RRN.Com. “We also want to streamline the process to take the administrative workload off the partner’s back. It’s no secret that in the past vendors were guilty of building channel programs that bring resellers to their knees.”

Additions to the program focus on four key areas. A new quote/configuration tool, based upon salesforce.com, enables partners to draw together from one source all elements of business proposals for customers, including peripherals, services, marketing collateral, and even deal registration. Secondly, the centralized demo program allows certified partners to show equipment free of charge for 30 to 45 days. In North America, this program will run through Enterprise Mobility (Dallas, TX), the lifecycle service provider Intermec acquired last year. The third element, an online forum for system engineers, invitation-only, draws upon social media and the company’s internal knowledge database to allow discussion and referrals among certified partners. Finally, new marketing investments encompass joint financial planning to drive incremental sales, channel development funds for lead generation campaigns, and enhanced rebate programs.

Running through many of these changes: Intermec’s growing emphasis on solutions selling and technical certification within its PartnerNet community. Coop funding, to take one example, has been moved to channel development funding, which Intermec controls more directly. “If you’re engaged with us and driving business, you’re going to see more money than ever, but for an occasional partner, honestly, there’ll be less,” Anderson relayed. “This is an overall increase in funding, not cut backs, but managed more closely.” Similarly, many of the new benefits of PartnerNet fall to Platinum and Gold Partners and ISVs. These changes do not affect channel sales through Intermec’s distributors--ScanSource, BlueStar, and Ingram Micro Data Capture/POS--it should be noted.

Scott Anderson, VP of Global Channels, Intermec

M-S Spells Out DT Plans

M-S Cash Drawer (Pasadena, CA) has added DT Research (San Jose, CA) to its vendor line-card. M-S Cash Drawer customers in North America, South America, and Europe will now have access to DT Research’s portfolio of handheld computers, rugged tablets, thin-client devices, and display terminals. Over the past two years, DT Research has pushed heavily into vertical markets such as retail, warehousing, and field service, drawing the attention of the POS and Auto ID community. M-S Cash Drawer, as many RRN.Com readers know, manufactures its namesake product and distributes many leading retail IT hardware brands.

“DT Research has long been known for the unique features of their reliable products,” stated Paul Masson, President of M-S Cash Drawer. “The new partnership we have formed with DT Research gives our partners the opportunity to service growing customer demand for ruggedized tablets, handheld POS order-entry terminals, and cloud-computing devices. It will allow us to sell deeper into existing accounts by offering DT Research’s broad line of products.”

“DT Research is pleased to work with M-S Cash Drawer,” noted Jeffrey Johnston, Strategic Accounts Sales Manager at DT Research. “The focus they bring to the POS market combined with the DT line of robust and rugged mobile tablets and handhelds makes an ideal partnership. M-S Cash Drawer leverages technological skills and a proactive sales approach that provides a tremendous value for customers.”

WebDT 430 Handheld POS Terminal by DT Research

Worth Your While

2012 Annual ETA Meeting & Expo
Electronic Transactions Association
April 17-19
Las Vegas

NRA Show 2012
National Restaurant Association
May 5-8
Chicago

WERC 2012
Warehousing Education and Research Council
May 6-9
Atlanta

NACStech
National Association of Convenience Stores
May 21-23
Nashville, TN

VARTECH Canada
BlueStar
June 4-5
Toronto

HITEC 2012
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP)
June 25-28
Baltimore

RetailNOW 2012
Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA)
July 29-August 1
Las Vegas

ALL IN THE FAMILY

An Infrared Badge of Honor

RF Code (Austin, TX) has debuted an Infrared (IR)-enabled badge that provides real-time, room-level personnel tracking, under the model number R142. Targeted at healthcare facilities, and possibly data centers, this new badge can report the movement of people entering or exiting controlled areas or patient bedsides. It monitors the environment for incoming signals from RF Code’s IR base stations, incorporates motion sensing, and periodically reports its unique identification number and location.

In addition to tracking movement in real-time, badge wearers can transmit status information to the network. They simply press one of the three status buttons on the face of the badge. Administrators can easily define what message they assign to each button, according to the developer. Examples include: “need assistance,” “patient medication administered,” or “room cleaned.”

The badge features an area of recessed surface intended to accommodate an access control or photo ID card. A rugged enclosure features impact and splash resistance, temperature stability, and read range of 300 ft. Because the badge operates with low duty cycle, battery life typically reaches three years. Besides personnel tracking, RF Code addresses asset tracking of expensive, mobile hospital equipment such as crash carts, infusion pumps, and critical care systems through the use of RFID.

R142 Badge/Tag for Room-Level Personnel Tracking

An Aluminum Gateway for Payments

FreedomPay (Radnor, PA) will bundle its payment gateway with kiosk form factors from Zivelo (Marion, IN). This agreement grants FreedomPay direct access to Zivelo’s complete line of products, which includes free-standing, desktop, and wall-mount stations. FreedomPay will offer its package of self-service payment and transaction platforms to end-users across industries such as general business, hospitality, government, education, and healthcare.

“We shopped around extensively before making the decision to partner with Zivelo to build custom kiosks for FreeWay, our Software-as-a-Service platform, and found that not all kiosks are created equal,” mused Sam Bellamy, Chief Innovation Officer at FreedomPay. “With Zivelo we knew that we would receive high-quality, American-made hardware that would meet our standards. We have successfully deployed multiple Zivelo kiosks and are consistently impressed by the craftsmanship and exceptional customer service.”

Quietly, Zivelo has developed into one of the world’s largest kiosk suppliers, with 250,000 square feet of manufacturing facilities, 200 employees, and customers such as Coca-Cola, Nike, Verizon, Hilton, Boeing, and the U.S. Army. In addition to its distinction as "home grown,” Zivelo cites its rapid turnaround and aluminum-brush enclosures as market differentiators. “FreedomPay is at the forefront of self-service transaction management systems and offers first-class solutions and support that are rare to come by,” commented Ziver Birg, CEO of Zivelo. “We are thrilled to partner with such an innovative company and are looking forward to many successful deployments together.”

Zivelo Kiosks Teamed with FreedomPay

Join the Party at No Charge

Subscribe Today! Email:

Do you need to reach the POS & Auto ID resellers who really drive business—in the most targeted editorial environment, and on the most cost-effective basis?

E-mail Michael Kachmar for advertising information,
or call 973-270-3284

Did you miss one of our issues and suddenly realize your competitors know more than you do?

Hurry ! Use the links below to catch up :

Week of February 20

Week of February 13

Week of February 6

ALLIANCES

RedBeam Shines on CipherLab

CipherLab (Plano, TX) has received certification for its newest enterprise mobile computer, the CP30 with Windows Mobile 6.5, from RedBeam (Suwanee, GA). Marketed through our channel, RedBeam’s barcode and data collection software suite addresses fixed asset tracking, inventory control, and the check-in/check-out process. Previously, RedBeam approved all CipherLab 9000 Series Windows CE terminals as well as the CP40 Series Windows Mobile terminals.

“This certification is designed to give customers confidence the CipherLab CP30 will run seamlessly with RedBeam applications,” Steve Bissonnette, VP of RedBeam, told RRN.Com. “The CP30 is a fantastic terminal and we’re very excited to be able to leverage our active partnership to deliver a highly competitive solution for our reseller partners.” Resellers of both parties will now promote the bundled package of hardware and software, added Luis Wu, GM at CipherLab USA.

The CP30 from CipherLab may be configured with one-dimensional laser or two-dimensional imaging capability. In addition to Windows Mobile 6.5, the base model includes Bluetooth, GPS, WWAN, WLAN, full-color touchscreen display, three-megapixel camera with autofocus, and backlight numeric keypad. Also preloaded with CipherLab Smart Shell for easy configuration, the CP30 measures 6.4 in. (L) x 2.7 in. (W) x 1.1 in. (D), weighs 9 oz. with Lithium-Ion battery, and carries the Qualcomm MSM7225 CPU at 528 MHz and Micro-SD card slot. CipherLab also loads its CP30 and CP40 with Sysdev's Kalipso Mobile Application Generator and SOTI's Remote Device Management.

CP30 Windows Mobile Terminal by CipherLab

A Social Network for Safety--Farm and Pharm

Two leading consultancies, Leavitt Partners in healthcare and food safety and Park City Group in consumer goods supply chain, will join forces to forge an international food and drug safety registry. Based upon Park City Group’s proprietary trading partner technology, this new platform will help food retailers, foodservice operators, wholesalers, and manufacturers protect their brands and maintain compliance with current and future regulatory requirements that could emerge from the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, according to the two parties, which are based in or near Salt Lake City, UT. It will also provide tracking and tracing of pharmaceuticals through the supply chain from manufacturer to retailer, as numerous state and federal laws require.

“As a single point of connection for thousands of participants in the food and drug supply chain, the new partnership addresses the systemic challenge of one-to-many information exchange through our easy-to-use web-based technology,” declared Randall K. Fields, Chairman and CEO of Park City Group. “By working with Leavitt Partners, our clients gain access to the most experienced team of food and drug safety experts on the planet, and the combination of the two organizations ensures that all regulatory requirements are efficiently and cost effectively met. It’s currently anticipated that the partnership will be a newly created entity primarily capitalized by independent investors.”

Park City Group processes millions of transactions daily between retailers, foodservice operators, and suppliers. Its scan-based system maintains perpetual inventories, tracks product movement, and provides information to settle financial transactions. Working with existing electronic documents, and requiring no special labeling, hardware, or software, it can be deployed for no more than the cost of an average monthly cellphone bill, according to Park City Group. The new food and drug safety registry with Leavitt Partners should commence operation in the next few months.

New Food and Drug Safety Registry Builds Upon Park City Group

Code Corner

First Data Corporation (Atlanta) has launched First Data OfferWise, its new universal platform for redemptions at the POS. OfferWise allows publishers to electronically attach offers, deals, e-coupons, and loyalty programs to one or more consumer payment cards or mobile wallets. It links to all major credit and debit brands and allows transactions in real-time at the merchant’s POS with immediate feedback provided through the payment terminal or smartphone. In most cases, merchants can leverage their existing system, according to First Data, which minimizes or eliminates any impact to the checkout process and employee training. In addition, First Data has worked with CardSpring (Palo Alto, CA) to produce an Application Programming Interface (API) for third-party developers and marketing firms. Merchants also can increase their marketing return on investment by leveraging the system’s advanced analytics engine, above and beyond having their choice of online/offline marketing and commerce providers. “Our OfferWise solution will enable millions of merchants to create highly relevant mobile marketing experiences with their customers by converting traditional paper coupons, loyalty cards, or receipts into software linked to the payment card or mobile wallet,” stated Dom Morea, SVP and Division Manager for Advanced Solutions and Innovation at First Data, which has put OfferWise into pilot with dozens of merchants. “This launch illustrates how First Data is delivering an innovative universal commerce experience to consumers--one that is fully integrated wherever, at anytime, and through any device.”

INTEGRATION

POSitive Technology, Sweet as Candy

POSitive Technology (Germantown, MD) will roll out POS, in the form of Microsoft Dynamics RMS and OpSuite, for trendy candy retailer It’Sugar. With three dozen stores in the U.S. at retail malls and tourist attractions such as Fisherman’s Wharf, Radio City Music Hall, and the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas, It’Sugar manages 9,728 Stock-Keeping Units (SKUs) of confectionary, gifts, and other merchandise, with continuous updating and refreshing of inventory. Store sizes range from 2,000 to 7,000 square feet, with 10 more outlets planned for this year.

Significantly, OpSuite’s real-time sales reports allow the corporate office to see every sale within three to five seconds of the transaction. “We track and manage inventory from our headquarters in Florida on a daily basis,” explained Butch Smith, IT Manager for It’Sugar,” but we don’t work from warehouses. Everything is drop shipped directly to the stores, so having a system that gives us instantaneous access to sales data lets our buyers make accurate decisions based on facts rather than gut feelings. That saves a lot of man-hours, since we can’t really be telephoning 30 stores every day to find out what’s selling well and what’s not moving.”

An additional benefit of implementing OpSuite as the hosted solution is the lower headquarters cost, according to It’Sugar. “The cost of entry for RMS and OpSuite is the lowest I’ve been able to find, and the value of working with POSitive Technology is huge,” Smith continued. “Without this solution in place, we would definitely be looking at another person on staff. We would also require additional hardware and more Internet bandwidth. All of those savings help bring the costs down, and allows us to open more stores.”

It’Sugar Store in Baltimore’s Harbor Place

Tougher Tablet Loved by School

What do you know, somebody turned down iPad. Rather, Charlottesville City Schools of Virginia has requisitioned more than 2,000 Stylistic Q550 tablets from Fujitsu America (Sunnyvale, CA) as the cornerstone of its digital education program. Under “Blended Learning to Advance Student Thinking,” or BLAST, every student in grades six through 12 will be using the 1.7-lb. Windows-based tablet to access videoconferencing, electronic textbooks, and multimedia resources.

"We scanned the ocean of options--Apple, Droid, HP, Windows, even thin-client," recounted Dean Jadlowski, Director of Technology for Charlottesville City Schools, which purchased through PC Connection. “Initially we were excited by the iPad, but the integrity of the glass and limited ability to manage security were an issue. The Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 tablet has the durability required to survive in a backpack, offers a fully functioning Windows operating system essential for state standardized online testing, and allows us to use enterprise tools to maintain security and permissions.”

Fujitsu’s Q550 tablet runs Windows 7 and Intel’s Atom CPU, carries 10-inch XGA LED backlight display, and provides over eight hours of battery life. Durability in the form of MIL-STD-810G contributed greatly to Charlottesville’s decision, according to Jadlowski, which makes sense given the intended end-users. In addition, the display offers maximum flexibility by supporting digital pen, finger touch, and traditional keyboard. Built-in handwriting recognition software converts input into text and the tablet ranges in price from $700 to $800.

Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 Tablet With Windows 7

Key Advertiser Links

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

POS & Auto ID Distribution
BlueStar
Wasp Barcode Technologies

POS & Peripherals
FEC/Acrelec
Posiflex
POS-X
Touch Dynamic

POS Systems - Hospitality
PAR

Barcode & Transaction Printers
Datamax-O'Neil
Zebra Technologies

Cash Drawers
MMF POS

Data Collection Terminals
CipherLab
Datalogic ADC
Janam Technologies

Data Collection Software
Wavelink

Integrated Payment Solutions
Datacap Systems
Merchant Warehouse
WorldPay US

Keyboards
Cherry, ZF Electronics Corp.

Mobile Marketing & Loyalty
Sundrop Mobile

Receipt Printers
Bixolon America
Citizen Systems America
Epson America
Star Micronics

Repair & Refurbishment
AMCOR Tech Solutions

Thermal Printers
Seiko Instruments USA

Touchscreens & Monitors
TE/Elo TouchSystems

STARTS & STOPS

Reveling in Apple’s iOS

Revel Systems (San Francisco) has emerged as one of the up-and-comers in mobile POS based on the Apple iPad and iPhone. Just recently, the firm raised $3.7 million in “A” venture capital funding, with “B” efforts underway. And at Macworld - iWorld, held at the end of January in San Francisco, Revel saw its full-featured POS platform, which ties to payroll, inventory, web ordering, and social media, chosen for the Business iPad App of the Year Award.

Such things don’t matter without customers, of course, and in this area Revel also continues to show progress. Beautiful Brands International will deploy its POS system for all its franchise locations for Camille’s Sidewalk Café, Dixie Cream, FreshBerry Frozen Yogurt Café, and Rex’s Chicken. In doing so, it joins previous wins with Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, Twistee Treat, and U-Sushi. All these account for $80 million in processing business since coming out of beta last summer.

“With its reliance on servers hosted in the cloud, one of the major benefits of Revel’s iPad/iPhone POS system is its potential for a faster adoption rate than legacy POS systems that rely on back-office servers,” remarked Lisa Falzone, Co-Founder and CEO of Revel Systems. “We are greatly encouraged by the rapid adoption we’re seeing in the marketplace. Our customers are raving about the style, speed, and reliability of our flagship product.” Next, Revel expects to release its Application Programming Interface (API), clearing the integration path for third-party companies.

Revel’s Mobile POS Offering Includes Hardware and Software

VeriFone: You Need Fritos With Your Soda

VeriFone Systems (San Jose, CA) has purchased Lift Retail Marketing Technology (Atlanta), which provides digital media delivery for convenience stores. Leveraging an advertiser-funded model, the Lift Station personalizes the experience for each shopper with customized promotional messages displayed on the touchscreen display and accompanying sales scripts provided to cashiers to help close the deal. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, not that money seems to be stopping VeriFone these days.

“VeriFone LiftRetail Solutions, our new product and service, will complement our Secure PumpPAY offering by providing gasoline retailers and convenience store operations the ability to maximize revenue opportunities both at the pump and in the store,” noted Jennifer Miles, EVP of North America at VeriFone. Not surprisingly, LiftRetail integrates will all leading retail POS systems in the convenience store and petroleum segment, including VeriFone’s Ruby SuperSystem and Topaz XL. For its part, VeriFone’s Secure PumpPAY upgrades fuel dispensers with PCI-compliant card readers and high-resolution display screens.

Lift Retail CEO and Co-Founder Wells Burke joins VeriFone as VP and GM of LiftRetail Solutions. “With its history of leadership and innovation in the convenience store and petroleum market, VeriFone provides the scale to bring LiftRetail Solutions to the next level as we gear up to support near real-time analysis on over 20 billion unique shopping trips annually,” Burke volunteered, adding that up-selling conversion rate jumps as much as 40% and total store sales increase by as much as 5% through the delivery of “smart suggestions.”

VeriFone Buys Lift Retail Marketing Technology for C-Stores

Channel Factoid

Approximately one-third (37%) of IT decision makers in the U.S. and Canada suffer unintentional exposure of corporate data through theft or loss of removable storage devices, according to new research by Imation Corporation. Fully 91% of companies allow removable storage devices on their corporate networks, but only 34% ensure encryption. Specifically, devices permitted include: USB flash drives (83%), smartphones (72%), external hard drives (65%), tablets (62%), memory cards (56%), and optical media (49%). Only 9% of IT decision makers report that their company does not allow any removable storage devices to be used. Overall, 81% of IT leaders responding to the survey have policies in place regarding the encryption of corporate data on removable storage devices, whether personally or company owned, although two-thirds (66%) do not enforce such rules. Further, 12% leave it to the user to enforce encryption. Interestingly, 51% of Canadian firms require encryption, but only 25% of U.S. firms. Finally, 20% of businesses lack defined action plans to deal with data breaches, nor have intentions to draft one. “While most of the world’s enterprises are focused on protecting their networks from external threats from malware and hackers, the bigger risk for a data breach appears to be inside the organization,” advised Lawrence Reusing, GM for Mobile Security at Imation, which addresses storage and data security. “Workers are moving mass volumes of data on unsecured devices, often their own iPhones and flash drives, out of the network every day, and this makes businesses vulnerable to loss or theft of corporate or customer data.”

HELLO GOODBYE

The Long Run at ScanSource

ScanSource (Greenville, SC) has named Rich Long as its new VP of Marketing. In this position, Long will lead marketing in North America for all four of the distributor’s business units--ScanSource POS and Barcoding, Catalyst Telecom, ScanSource Communications, and ScanSource Security--and reports to Scott Benbenek, President of Worldwide Operations. Long fills the chair left vacant when Bobby McLain, longtime VP of Marketing, was promoted to EVP of the new Corporate Communications group in September.

Long brings more than 15 years of IT channel experience, including more than seven years in senior merchandising and marketing leadership roles with ScanSource in North America and Europe. Prior to rejoining ScanSource, he served as Head of Channels for the Americas for Extreme Networks, provider of Ethernet switching, with responsibility for all channel sales, including reseller and distribution partnerships. Before ScanSource, he served in project management capacities with Arrow Electronics (launching pad for many ScanSource executives).

“We are very glad to have Rich back at ScanSource,” commented Benbenek. “He brings extensive experience from both the distribution and manufacturer perspectives, adding a great deal of knowledge and leadership to our exceptional marketing team, as well as significant value to our partners’ channel marketing strategies.”

Rich Long, VP of Marketing, ScanSource

Remembering Thomas S. Rittenhouse, Industry Visionary

GS1 US (Lawrenceville, NJ) has asked the industry to note the death on February 10 of Thomas S. Rittenhouse, who served as CEO/President of the organization from 1997 to 2004, when it was known as the Uniform Code Council. Rittenhouse also worked on the Board of Directors for four years prior to joining the UCC, while completing his 30-year career at Strawbridge & Clothier (now part of Macy's). By all accounts, his knowledge and dedication were invaluable to the evolution of the standards group, which was created in the early 1970s to administer the UPC barcode system.

“We’re deeply saddened to hear of Tom’s passing,” said Bernie Hogan, SVP for Emerging Capabilities and Industries for GS1 US. “Tom was the person most responsible for turning the UCC from a narrowly focused standards organization to one dedicated to supporting industry needs in multiple ways. He always stressed the link of standards to business benefits and today we continue to build on his vision.”

“He also was first to recognize the potential of RFID and the Electronic Product Code, and he forged our partnership with the MIT Auto-ID Center,” Hogan said. “Today his foresight is benefitting many companies as they put EPC-enabled RFID tags on millions of products, giving them greater visibility, business intelligence, traceability, and efficiency.” Rittenhouse also led creation of UCCnet, the predecessor to the 1SYNC Data Pool, which ultimately led to formation of the GS1 Global Data Synchronization Network, or GDSN, which allows trading partners to share standard product and shipping information.

Thomas S. Rittenhouse, 1942-2012