Our Product Pick

Cognex Corporation (Natick, MA) has unveiled its new series of handheld barcode scanners, the DataMan 8070. Addressing manufacturing, and direct part mark (DPM), DataMan 8072DL reads codes on reflective surfaces from up to 11.9 in./30 cm. Addressing warehousing, and pallet tracking, DataMan 8072ER reads codes from up to 26 ft./8 m. Measuring 8.3 in. (L) x 3.3 in. (W) x 4.5 in. (D), weighing 9 oz., the DataMan 8070 has polycarbonate housing with overmold, 3.7-V 3100-mAh Li-Ion battery, and rating of IP-65. As features, DataMan 8072DL has fixed lens, manual trigger, LED aimer, and half-polarized or non-polarized lighting, while DataMan 8072ER has liquid lens, manual trigger, laser aimer, and LED lighting. "DataMan 8070 broadens our mid-range line of handheld solutions to provide our customers with strong performance at terrific value," contributed Carl Gerst, SVP and Business Unit Manager at Cognex.

Cognex DataMan 8070

COMPANY BUSINESS

In NCR's Flight Plan: Payments

Add payments to the POS offered by NCR (Atlanta, GA), following its purchase of processor and payroll provider JetPay (Allentown, PA). A price of $184 million has been set, or $5.05 per share of JetPay, which represents a multiple of 2.9 times its consensus revenue forecast of $63.4 million in 2018. In addition to increased "stickiness," of course, this move into payments continues NCR's shift to software and services.

"Acquisition of JetPay is a key, strategic initiative that will enable NCR to create a full, end-to-end integrated payments offering for its enterprise-wide POS customers," proclaimed Michael Hayford, President and CEO of NCR. "Enabling payments as part of our transactions is part of our long-term strategy to create integrated value for our clients." In its recent reporting of Q3, NCR has revenue of $1.55 billion, down 7%. Software was up 2%, driven by cloud growth of 6%. Service was up 4%, while hardware fell 20% (for POS, 28%). (All figures on constant currency basis.)

Approved by each company's board of directors, the deal is expected to close by year-end, subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. It will be financed with a combination of cash on hand and existing capacity under NCR's revolving credit facility. A pair of JetPay's major stockholders, private equity firm Flexpoint Ford and payment processing executive (and JetPay's Chairman of the Board) Larry Stone, have agreed to tender their shares in support of the transaction. [Editor's Note: Surprised it took so long, actually!]

Michael Hayford, President and CEO, NCR

Lifting Tysso's Fingerprints

An order for fingerprint sensors has been placed with Next Biometrics for Tysso/Fametech. First shipments of the Next's advanced, large-area NB 2023 sensors are expected in Q1 2019. They will be used in Mobile POS by Tysso/Fametech. Next employs so-called "Active Thermal."

"I'm extremely pleased that Next sensor technology has again been chosen to meet customer demand for biometric point-of-sale terminals," remarked Ritu Favre, CEO of Next Biometrics (Oslo, Norway and Seattle, WA). "This show of support from Tysso is evidence of the value Next's large-area fingerprint sensors are delivering to the market. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with the team at Tysso." As worldwide distributor, Next has Arrow Electronics.

"We chose Next to supply fingerprint sensors for our product lines in POS for a number of reasons, but performance and reliability were the key differentiators," recounted Louis Wong, GM at Tysso (New Taipei City, Taiwan). "Our customers are extremely demanding, so we required a proven supplier like Next to help ensure our success in the market in the U.S." [Editor's Note: In coming years, according to industry analysts, growth rates for biometric POS terminals are expected to outpace those for other POS.]

Tysso/Fametech Orders Up Biometrics for POS

Worth Your While

NRF's Big Show
National Retail Federation
January 13-15
New York, NY

Inspire
Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA)
February 3-6
Fort Myers, FL

ProMat
Material Handling Institute (MHI)
April 8-11
Chicago, IL

Transact
Electronic Transactions Association
April 30-May 2
Las Vegas, NV

NRA Show
National Restaurant Association
May 18-21
Chicago, IL

Channel Correction

In our last edition, we misstated the technical specifications of the new Android POS Terminals by POSBANK USA (Plainview, NY). As CPU, both the 15" APEXA A-1500 and 19.5" APEXA AW-1950 have ARM Cortex-A17 at 1.8 GHz. As CPU, the small footprint 10" DCR A1 has ARM Cortex-A7 at 1.2 GHz. All three run Android 6 O/S.

POSBANK USA Debuts Android POS Terminals

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Bixolon Knits Web

A leading provider of thermal printers to our channel, Bixolon America (Gardena, CA) has released its new mobile printing app, entitled "mPrint." Enabling easy printing of documentation from the web via chosen web browser or any shared-functionality, on devices running iOS or Android, it utilizes communications via Bluetooth, 802.11 Wi-Fi, or Ethernet. A USB connection is also supported for Android.

Upon installation, mPrint provides an editing capacity, allowing end-users to cut, rotate, and adjust the brightness of the content. Other chosen parameters by end-users may include margins, media type (i.e., gap, continuous, black mark), and size (i.e., width, length, height). As supported printers, Bixolon cites: (for POS), its SRP-Q300, SRP-S300, SRP-F310II, SRP-380, SRP-350plusIII, SRP-350III, SPP-R210, SPP-R200III, SPP-R310, and SPP-R410; (and for Labeling), its SLP-TX400, SLP-TX420, SLP-DX420, SRP-E770III, SLP-DL410, SLP-TX220, SLP-DX220, and SPP-L3000.

"As the Mobile POS printing market continues to grow," stated John Kim, Director of Marketing at Bixolon in South Korea, "Bixolon recognizes the ongoing requirement for an application which can easily be operated through web browser via smart device, eliminating the constraints of additional development time and costs." Earlier this year, Bixolon released its software app for iOS and Android for label design, entitled Label Artist Mobile. Both mPrint and Label Artist Mobile are downloaded at no charge on the App Store and Google Pay.

A New App, Entitled "mPrint," for Web Graphics

At the Equinox: Luxe 3300a

Equinox Payments (Phoenix, AZ) has unwrapped its new countertop payment terminal, designated Luxe 3300a. An upgrade of the company's Apollo All-in-One, handling MSR, EMV, and NFC, the Luxe 3300a employs point-to-point encryption for certification to PCI 5.x, thereby meeting security requirements to April 2026. It can run in stand-alone configuration or semi-integrated with Application Programming Interface (API) to the POS.

Weighing 1.1 lbs., in dimensions of 8 in. (L) x 3.4 in. (W) x 3.2 in. (H), the Luxe 3300a carries 3.5" resistive full-color touchscreen for signature capture, 2.25" thermal receipt printer, and oversized PIN Pad. A rich black casing updates design. Significantly, it includes capacity for EMV for the lodging segment--in addition to retail and restaurants--through the company's software, Voyager. In making its announcement, Equinox Payments noted that resellers may adjust parameters and settings based on the needs of their merchants.

"Addition of a robust countertop device rounds out our Luxe terminal line that emphasizes security, ease of use, and design as key differentiators," emphasized Rob Hayhow, VP at Equinox Payments. Also offered by Equinox, with the same kernel as the Luxe 3300a: an integrated solution, the Luxe 8500i, and mobile solution, the Luxe 6200m. Equinox Payments is owned by NBS Payment Solutions, based in Toronto.

Luxe 3300a Payment Terminal by Equinox

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Week of October 22

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ALLIANCES

Bematech: "D" for Dietary (in KDS)

A new solution partner for Bematech (Bethpage, NY), and its Kitchen Display System (KDS): ISV Computrition (Los Angeles, CA). A specialized foodservice management system, Computrition focuses on environments in healthcare, higher education, military and government, long-term care, and corrections. An integration ties Computrition's Hospitality Suite to Bematech's KitchenGo Premium.

It allows meal selections, along with critical dietary notes, to be transmitted directly to the kitchen display screens, eliminating errors sometimes found on printed tickets, notes the two parties. As a result, food preparation teams have better routing, control, and visibility of meal orders since they are electronically managed in first-in, first-out sequence. Also, it may balance the workload between stations and prioritize orders by status, destination, and number of items.

As the successor to Logic Controls, Bematech has long been one of the leaders in KDS and POS. In 2016, it introduced KitchenGo Ticket with basic features such as order ticketing, timing, bump, and ticket recall. In 2017, it followed with its richer KitchenGo Premium, based on Android. Another version, KitchenGo "allee," based on iOS, debuted in 2018. As app, KitchenGo complements Bematech's Kitchen Display Controllers.

Bematech KitchenGo Premium Display

Call the EMS

Another example of concentricity in payments and POS, with the purchase of Total Touch POS (Olney, MD) by Electronic Merchant Systems (Cleveland, OH). As an independent software package for restaurants, Total Touch POS was founded in 2003 by BlueFrog Technologies. Under this agreement, it will function as the wholly owned subsidiary of Electronic Merchant Systems. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the parties.

Started in 1988, Electronic Merchant Systems now provides the range of payment processing services for 35,000 merchants via 40 offices. Of its acquisition, stated Dan Neistadt, CEO of EMS, "My colleagues and I look forward to collaborating with the Total Touch POS team to enhance our integrated solutions while taking our offerings to new markets. We will continue to invest in product development to benefit our customers, and the Total Touch POS Authorized Dealer Network."

"By joining forces with EMS, we can fortify our software with the newest technology--equipping us to better serve the table and counter-service segments of the restaurant industry," relayed Vince Becker, VP of Total Touch POS. "We will continue to leverage Total Touch POS's integrations [e.g., liquor control systems, online mobile ordering, tokenization of credit transactions, and kiosks], while benefiting from EMS's financial strength, payments expertise, and product offerings." As providers of terminals, Total Touch POS has CRS, Inc. (St. Paul, MN) and Touch Dynamic (Irvington, NJ), according to its website.

Electronic Merchant Systems Buys Total Touch POS

Code Corner

SOTI (Mississauga, ON, Canada) has announced commercial launch of its SOTI ONE Platform. A year-long beta program successfully completed, the SOTI ONE Platform includes SOTI MobiControl (Enterprise Mobility Management), SOTI Assist (Help Desk), SOTI Snap (App Development), and SOTI Central (Web Resources). As expected, it covers iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux O/S. "Already we are seeing businesses in nearly every sector--from manufacturing to retail--leverage mobile technology and IoT to reinvent their primary revenue generating processes and create digital businesses that could not have been imagined before," expounded Carl Rodrigues, President and CEO of SOTI. "As the scale and complexity of mobile technology within organizations increases, the SOTI ONE Platform eliminates the mobility pain points businesses face and offers a flexible solution that best fits their business needs."

Launch of SOTI ONE Platform

ENVIRONMENTS/PLATFORMS

ISV Sees Stars

An integrated set of printers for foodservice from Star Micronics America (Somerset, NJ) has been embraced by ISV/VAR, MobileBytes (Phoenix, AZ). It includes the following models by Star: its 3" thermal receipt printers TSP100III and TSP650II, its 2.75" impact kitchen printer SP700, and its 3" liner-free thermal label printer TSP654SK. In its software suite, MobileBytes has online ordering, guest apps, and self-service capability, as well as in-store cloud-based iPad POS.

"MobileBytes has thousands of Star Micronics receipt and kitchen printers deployed in restaurants," reported Dan Calderone, CEO of MobileBytes. "They are durable, reliable, and fast printers that thrive in a variety of restaurant environments, just like our software. It's the perfect match." As segments, he cited both counter- and table-service settings in the SMB.

"With MobileBytes and Star printers, Charlton's operates efficiently," testified Robert Charlton, Owner of Charlton's Grill & Tap in Johns Creek, GA. "The guests see it in the excellent service the restaurant provides and the added convenience online. And Charlton's sees it in its bottom line." In relatively little time, MobileBytes has recruited several dozen of the leading VARs and Dealers in POS for its Partner Program.

A Bundle from MobileBytes and Star Micronics America Serves Restaurants

Key Up Koamtac

Koamtac (Princeton, NJ) has presented its enterprise-level mobile data management suite, designated "Koamtacon." It features seven applications supporting necessary business functions: Inventory, Purchase Order, Retail, Delivery, Rental, Field Service, and Ticket Validation. In addition, it furnishes Web Portal and Dashboard.

All applications are built to work with the company's Koamtac Data Collector (KDC), which connects by Bluetooth to smartphones, tablets, or PC's to collect data from barcodes, MSR, or RFID. All of the data collected synchronizes with the database in the cloud automatically. Koamtacon has been offered for free for one year to both new and existing users of the company's KDC. After one year, pricing starts at $99.95 per user.

"We often have prospects and customers alike ask us for recommendations on the best way to collect and manage their data," commented Hanjin Lee, President and CEO of Koamtac. "While we have always offered our SDK [Software Development Kit] for custom development and KTSync with basic applications, we understood the need for a full data collection suite that was both user-friendly and powerful. We feel confident that this newest iteration of Koamtacon will help empower business of all sizes--from the mom and pop shop to the big box giants."

A Mobile Data Management Suite Dubbed "Koamtacon"

They "Plug" RFID

A partnership between solution provider CDO Technologies (Dayton, OH) and OEM Brady Corporation (Milwaukee, WI) addresses affordable asset tracking with RFID. It combines the Critical Asset Tracking Solution, or CATS, by CDO with the portable CenSys RFID Reader by Brady. A low voltage, low bandwidth device operating at 30 dBm and 902 to 928 MHz, with Passive UHF RFID, the CenSys feeds item-tag information into CATS (either on-premise server or cloud-based).

In physical dimensions of 7.3 in. (L) x 5.6 in. (W) x 1.1 in. (D), and weight of 1.1 lbs., the CenSys employs Powered USB and 802.11 Wi-Fi. It plugs into the wall, without need of additional wiring, and indicates changes in asset location via visible (green LED) and audible (beep). In addition to asset management, it facilitates inventory taking, work-in-process monitoring, and even IoT (with MQTT 3.1). In particular, it serves customers who don't require complete coverage of their facility.

"Typical fixed RFID readers can be quite expensive, often costing several thousand dollars per reader. Combine that with infrastructure and software needs, and the overall cost investment becomes simply too much for most small-to-medium businesses," observed Wesley Columbia, Global Strategy and Marketing Manager at Brady. "Requiring only power and Wi-Fi connection, CenSys has been specifically designed to offer great performance and value at the sub-$1,000 price point while also being simple to install and configure."

Affordable Asset Tracking With Brady's CenSys

Key Advertiser Links

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

POS & Peripherals
Aures
Bematech
Electronic Payments
Harbortouch
Hewlett-Packard
Pioneer POS
POSBANK USA
Posiflex
Toshiba GCS

Barcode & Transaction Printers
Brother Mobile
CognitiveTPG
Godex Americas

Cash Drawers
APG Cash Drawer
MMF POS

Data Collection
CipherLab
Code Corporation
Janam Technologies

Integrated Payment Solutions
Cayan
Datacap Systems
Electronic Payments
Paysafe
Sterling Payment

Keyboards & Mobile POS
TG3 Electronics

Mounts for POS
SpacePole

Receipt Printers
Bixolon America
CognitiveTPG
Epson America
Fujitsu
Star Micronics

Thermal Printers
Seiko Instruments USA

INSTALLATIONS

Janam Riffs With Jif-Pak, TE

Janam Technologies (Woodbury, NY) has supplied its rugged mobile computers, Model XT2, to Jif-Pak, one of the major producers of meat casings and wrappings. It helps track inventory in the company's 75,000-sq.-ft. facility in Vista, CA. It follows use of the previous Model MC9090 by Zebra Technologies, according to Janam. As participating VAR: Technology Recovery Group (Westlake, OH).

Introduced in 2016, in phablet format, Janam's XT2 has 5" capacitive touchscreen (720x1280), Zebra's SE4710 1D/2D imager, 2- and 8-megapixel front- and rear-facing cameras, RFID/NFC, Bluetooth 4, 802.11 Wi-Fi, and 4G LTE. It weighs 10 oz., with ratings of IP-67, MIL-STD-810G, and 5-ft./1.5-m drop resistance. As O/S, it runs Android 5 or Windows 10 IoT Mobile Enterprise, with Qualcomm Quad-Core MSM8916 CPU at 1.2 GHz. (A Model XT2+ has Honeywell N6603 1D/2D imager and Android 6 O/S.) A trigger handle is offered for convenience.

Also, Janam has received certification for its rugged mobile computers from three of the leaders in terminal emulation (TE): Century Software (Salt Lake City, UT), Georgia Softworks (Dawsonville, GA), and StayLinked (Irvine, CA). As its offering, Century Software has its TinyTERM; Georgia Softworks has its SSH Server for Windows, TelNet Server for Windows, and GSW ConnectBot for Android; and StayLinked has its SmartTE for Android. Certifications cover the family of XG3, XG200, XM75, XT2/XT2+, and XT100 by Janam. [Editor's Note: Above 70% of rugged mobile computers in the warehouse run wireless TE.]

A Major Installation, and Extended Terminal Emulation, for Janam's Rugged Mobile Computers, Including the XT2

A Jolt of Qu

Qu (Bethesda, MD) will replace existing POS at Dunn Brothers Coffee. Started in 1987 in Minneapolis, MN, Dunn Brothers has 80 locations across eight states in the Mid-Western U.S. As readers will recall, in October, the former Gusto POS rebranded as Qu (suggesting "Quick"). With its six-year track record in fast-casual and quick-service restaurant chains, as Gusto POS, Qu is backed by private equity firm Cota Capital.

"Qu is the platform we believe will future-proof our brand from a technology perspective," expressed Kim Plahn, President of Dunn Brothers Coffee. "We were attracted to its ease of use and its ability to unlock deeper integrations with our existing partners and potential future partners. Best of all, Qu's exclusive focus on enterprise restaurant chains gives us confidence it can scale up as we grow."

As elements of its philosophy, Qu cites its deployment in the cloud; gesture-based, conversational ordering design; virtual store-grouping model; and embrace of Application Programming Interfaces (API). It recently launched its module for Delivery Management. "While third-party solutions have provided a convenient option to offer delivery services, the high cost is unsustainable for an industry already grappling with increasing food and labor costs," indicated Patrick Sugrue, CEO of Saladworks, endorsing Qu's Delivery Management for iOS and Android.

Coffee Chain Adopts Qu POS (Formerly Gusto POS)

Channel Factoid

Get Smart!

-Among companies in retail, transportation, logistics, manufacturing, and healthcare, those defined as an "intelligent enterprise" doubled from 5% to 11% from 2017 to 2018. On the path to "intelligent": about half (49%).

-Average annual spend on IoT is up 4% from 2017 to 2018, and 86% of companies expect that number to increase in the next two years, with nearly half anticipating investment growth of 11% to 20%.

-As employees become more receptive to new technologies, the number of companies expecting resistance to their plans for IoT has dropped from 75% in 2017 to 64% in 2018.

-Slightly more than half, 52%, of companies now share information with their employees in real or near-real time, up 37% from 2017.

-In addition, two-thirds of companies have established plans on how to manage their data in 2018, up 10% from 2017.

-Real-time analytics, at 66%, and security, at 63%, were reported as the most prevalent elements of companies' data management plans.

-Finally, in 2018, 40% of these companies, globally, report using strategic partners to manage their IoT solution, up from 21% in 2017.

Source: Second Annual "Intelligent Enterprise Index," Zebra Technologies (Lincolnshire, IL)

HELLO GOODBYE

Now Playing at Paysafe

Paysafe has made several senior executive appointments in its payment processing team in North America. It follows its purchase of channel player iPayment in June. As its Chief Commercial Officer for Payment Processing in the U.S., there's O.B. Rawls IV, former CEO and President of iPayment. Earlier in his career, Rawls served as SVP and GM for Partner Solutions at First Data and SVP, Americas Business Unit at Hypercom.

A trio of additional roles were confirmed by Paysafe: Denise Tahali as SVP, Agent, Banks and Petroleum Sales; Steve Koller as VP, ISO Sales and Implementation; and Dave Cunningham as VP, Strategic Partner Management. With previous time as VP, Partner Solutions and U.S. Team Leader at First Data, Tahali was SVP, Agent and Petroleum Sales at iPayment. With previous time as Director of ISO and Agent Sales at First Data, Koller was VP, ISO Sales at iPayment. With previous time as SVP, Sales & Marketing at Castles Technology, Cunningham was Director, Strategic Partner Sales at iPayment.

"Through the acquisition of iPayment, we have been able to draw on unrivaled skills, knowledge, and capabilities within our team to put in place a highly customer-focused sales team. These individuals, amongst others in our organization, will help us to fully capitalize on being one of the top-five non-bank payment processors in the U.S.," declared Todd Linden, CEO, Payment Processing, North America, at Paysafe. In 2017, iPayment, and its VARs and ISVs in POS, served about 137,000 merchant customers with processing volume of $28 billion. With headquarters in the U.K., Paysafe has offices in California, Texas, and Florida in the U.S., and Quebec and Alberta in Canada.

Executive Team Members at Paysafe: O.B. Rawls IV, Denise Tahali, Steve Koller, and Dave Cunningham

She Keeps the Pot From Boiling

An interesting VAR/ISV in payments/POS, named POSaBIT (Seattle, WA), has enlisted Laurie Rosini as its Chief Compliance Officer. Why such concern: POSaBIT addresses the growing market for cannabis sales. Rolled out in 2017, [Editor's Note: Sorry for the pun!] it resolves the reluctance of banks to accept credit cards for such transactions by employing crypto-currency, in this case, bitcoin.

A leading expert in compliance for blockchain and crypto-currencies, Rosini serves as Principal at the law firm Blakemore, Fallon, Garcia, Rosini & Russo and its associated consulting firm, Ketsal Consulting, LLC. In addition to her J.D. from the University of Washington, she holds Master of Science in Information Systems and Data Communications. Another title: Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, or CAMS.

"I am delighted to welcome Laurie to the team at POSaBIT," shared Ryan Hamlin, Co-Founder and CEO of POSaBIT (and former executive at Microsoft). "Maintaining best-in-class compliance standards is a core value for us, and Laurie's extensive experience in legal, compliance, and risk management will be a great asset to POSaBIT as we continue to strengthen our compliance program." On its website, POSaBIT features the PayPoint POS by Elo (Milpitas, CA). [Editor's Note: In a deal between two private equity firms, Elo has been sold to Crestview Partners by The Gores Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.]

Laurie Rosini, Chief Compliance Officer, POSaBIT

Growing Clover in Canada

First Data has brought its Clover POS to Canada. In making its announcement, First Data claims that its Clover Flex becomes the first device in its class in Canada to offer access to a third-party app market (i.e., accounting, time and attendance, customer loyalty, etc.). It also claims such first status for Clover Flex when it comes to multiple communication modalities (i.e., IP, 802.11 Wi-Fi, LTE).

"We are thrilled to launch Clover in Canada, making the next generation of payments technology available to our merchants and across our broad distribution networks," enthused Brian Green, President of First Data Canada (Toronto). "While powering businesses ranging from coffee shops to major sport arenas, the Clover Platform has grown rapidly across the U.S. and Europe." In September, it may be noted, First Data shipped its one millionth Clover (to Friesen Apotheken in Hamburg, Germany).

Clover Flex by First Data