News Archive 
SSKA Industry News
Thursday, 28 February 2008

The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post: This time, Smithsonian curators and eBay bidders weren't interested in Palm Beach County's election artifacts. Instead, most of the county's controversial paperless electronic touchscreen voting machines will be hauled away next week by a Tampa recycling firm to be stripped for parts. Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning announced the ignominious end for the 6-year-old voting devices recently in Tallahassee. Gov. Charlie Crist and state lawmakers agreed last year to ban paperless voting in Florida and require that most votes be cast on paper ballots that can be read by optical scanners. The paper-ballot law takes effect this fall.

Posted by: AT 12:45 pm   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Thursday, 28 February 2008

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. — Redbox, a DVD rental kiosk featuring new release rentals for $1 per night, has announced an agreement with Walgreens to expand the presence of redbox to approximately 2,000 Walgreens stores nationwide. Currently available at nearly 250 Walgreens locations, redbox will install kiosks at approximately 1,800 additional Walgreens stores during 2008 and 2009. 

The expansion of redbox to Walgreens locations nationwide follows the successful test of DVD-rental service in Chicago, Houston, Phoenix and Columbus, Ohio-area Walgreens.

Redbox recently announced plans to feature redbox kiosks at the majority of Wal-Mart locations nationwide. Redbox kiosks currently are available at more than 6,800 locations nationwide, including leading grocery stores, select McDonald’s restaurants and Walgreens and Wal-Mart locations in select markets.

Posted by: AT 12:43 pm   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Thursday, 28 February 2008

CHICAGO — Direct General, an insurance provider, has announced a partnership with Pay-Ease LLC, a provider of self-service financial processing systems. 

Direct General provides personal lines of insurance and insurance-related products to its customers in 13 states. Many of its customers now will be able to pay insurance premiums at the Pay-Ease Automated Commerce Machine. 

A pilot program is scheduled to begin in March at six Direct General locations. If successful, the program may be expanded to additional locations. 

Pay-Ease offers turnkey solutions for utility, municipal and insurance bill payment processing. Additionally, its ACM also offers gift card programs, prepaid long distance and cell cards, money transfer services, check cashing and ATM functionality.

Posted by: AT 12:42 pm   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Tuesday, 26 February 2008

DAYTON, Ohio — AeroMexico has announced it recently deployed 32 self-check-in kiosks from NCR Corp. in the new Terminal 2 at Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City. The airline currently offers NCR self-check-in kiosks at seven additional locations throughout Mexico, including Guadalajara, Monterrey, Culiacán, Chihuahua, Torreón, Tijuana and Villahermosa.

Powered by NCR’s Kinetics self-service travel software platform, the kiosks feature an integrated bar code imager to help enable customer identification, as well as an integrated passport reader to cater to international travelers. The NCR kiosks also feature Kinetics’ Common Use Self-Service technology, which allows different airline applications to run concurrently on a single self-service device.

"As Mexico continues to grow into one of the world’s top destinations for travel and tourism, airlines in the region must increasingly differentiate themselves by offering time savings and convenience to their customers," said Michael O’Laughlin, NCR vice president for the Caribbean and Latin America.

NCR will also provide preventive and hardware maintenance services to help assure consistent service delivery and product uptime throughout AeroMexico’s locations.

Posted by: AT 12:41 pm   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Monday, 25 February 2008
TRUMBULL, Conn. — KioskCom Self Service Expo, a long running tradeshow and educational conference for customer and employee facing technologies, has announced an expansion of its exhibit floor.
 
“Organizations continue to realize that the best place they can go to meet pre-qualified prospective buyers and advertisers is at KioskCom Self Service Expo, said Lawrence Dvorchik,” KioskCom’s General Manager. “Demand has reached an all-time high, and we are thrilled to be able to increase the number of companies offering quality products and solutions in Las Vegas in April 2008.
 
“As it has been for the last 12 years, our goal continues to be listening to what our attendees are saying – and provide them with what is needed to ensure they continue to get the highest quality experience. By meeting with quality suppliers and getting educated by fellow merchant deployers that have successfully deployed customer and/or employee facing technologies in their organizations, feedback has consistently shown that attendees are getting everything they need in just two days at KioskCom Self Service Expo, and now, at The Digital Signage Show.”
 
“We measure an event's effectiveness by the number of quality conversations that we have with real potential buyers,” said Tom Weaver, vice president of sales and marketing for KIOSK Information Systems. “KioskCom Self Service Expo delivers professional quality attendees unlike any other show we have been involved with. Many attendees came prepared with RFP's on-site, which we have never experienced before."
 
KioskCom Self Service Expo is now co-located with The Digital Signage Show. This co-location enables attendees to access solutions and educational content from both events, and gather valuable information, network and find solutions for all of their deployments in one place.
 
The events will be held on April 16-17, 2008, at The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. Entry is free for qualified attendees. For more information, visit KioskCom.com.
Posted by: AT 12:40 pm   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Ocular care seems to be on the low end of the totem pole for most people. According to the American Optometric Association, the average person visits an eye care professional only every 36 to 48 months · about half as often as recommended.
 
But a new health-care kiosk designed to educate and identify potential eye problems could go a long way in making eye care all the rage. EyeSite, a self-service eye health awareness and patient referral kiosk, is the brainchild of Bart Foster, a former employee of CIBA Vision, a global company working on the research, development and manufacturing of contact lenses and lens care products.
 
As president of the startup SoloHealth, the company that is marketing the EyeSite kiosk, Foster is aiming to get patients of all ages back to the eye doctor's office.
 
"(The kiosk) is not a replacement to an eye exam by a doctor," Foster said. "But it is going to give someone an indication of their visual acuity."
 
Bart Foster, president of SoloHealth.

Piloting at select locations in 2008, the EyeSite will be placed in high-traffic retail environments, which could include malls, pharmacies and retail stores, where optical care is not too far away.
 
To use the free kiosk, individuals walk up to device and answer questions on the touchscreen. It will ask things such as the person's age, the date of the person's last eye exam and whether or not he wears contacts or glasses, Foster said.
 
Based on that information, the kiosk will present a series of stimuli for both near and distance vision. Then, based on the responses, the kiosk will print out a report and give the user video analysis of the results.
 
"The way the software is built, the kiosk will create a unique experience that is customizable to the user," Foster said.
 
The kiosks also will provide additional eye health information, for example, data about eye diseases. Consumers usually think only about how well they can see, but that is only one part of eye health, Foster said. Individuals can have cataracts, glaucoma or macular degeneration and not know it because no pain is associated with those conditions. They sometimes don't even know they have a problem because eye sight deteriorates so slowly over time.
 
The kiosk also will give information about local eye professionals and encourage the user to visit them for a thorough eye examination.
 
With millions of people needing vision correction, but not knowing they need it, Foster decided he wanted to find an easier way to get people's attention. Therefore, partnering with CIBA Vision, he started SoloHealth and began testing ideas for an eye kiosk. 
 
The target audience is very broad, he said; after all, eye issues affect just about everyone in the world. "We're going to start small and learn, but we know once we prove moderate success we will have to scale quickly."
 
According to the American Optometric Association, the need for and frequency of optometric examinations vary with age, race, medical history, family history, occupation and other factors. Individuals with ocular signs or symptoms require prompt examination. The presence of certain risk factors may necessitate more frequent evaluations based on professional judgment.
 
On average, those with an "at risk" designation and between the ages of 18 and 60 should have exams every one to two years. Those who are asymptomatic should get an exam every two to three years. Examples of "at risk" individuals include those diagnosed with diabetes or hypertension, or who have a family history of glaucoma, particularly African Americans those who work in highly visually demanding occupations or ones that may be hazardous to the eye; and those taking certain systemic medications with ocular side effects.
 
The EyeSite kiosk has drawn attention. SoloHealth was one of 15 companies to participate in the CapVenture program at Georgia Tech's Advanced Technology Development Center. The kiosk also will be on display April 16 and 17 at KioskCom Self Service Expo in Las Vegas.
 
In the end, Foster hopes the kiosk will educate the public about eye health and drive demand for eye exams.
 
"It's something that grows the entire eye vision industry," he said. "Manufacturers win because they sell more product; the eye doctors get to see more patients; and consumers are more educated about products and services."
Posted by: Patrick Avery AT 11:17 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
The Associated Press: Marijuana vending kiosks in Los Angeles violate international treaties and should be shut down, the U.N.-affiliated drug control board said recently. At least three Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries have installed vending machines to distribute the drug to people who carry cards authorizing marijuana use.
 
Read more
Posted by: AT 09:33 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Monday, 18 February 2008
CAMBRIDGE, U.K. — KIOSK EUROPE EXPO 2008 and DIGITAL SIGNAGE EXPO 2008 have announced a large list of new exhibitors for both shows, including Epson, friendlyway, Hantarex, Hughes, JVC, Mitsubishi, Publicis, Sagem, Scala, Sharp, Sony, T-Systems and Verifone. Many major companies such as 3M, IBM, Panasonic and Wincor Nixdorf have also reconfirmed their participation in the world’s largest joint self-service and digital signage events.
 
The two shows will offer 30 percent more exhibitors and 50 percent more exhibit space than last year’s event. The accelerated growth of both events stems from the realization of the existing synergies between self-service and digital signage solutions, already evident in many vertical markets. This new concept enables trade visitors to attend the two leading trade shows exclusively focused on the two strongest current purchase intentions among retailers, in one place and at one time.
 
Each event will stage four major attractions: the exhibitions themselves; free-to-attend forums, where the focus will be on education and information; interactive workshop sessions with independent panels of experts, and finally, two separate demonstration areas. At KIOSK EUROPE EXPO 2008, the Futures Parlour will showcase new and innovative interactive technologies and solutions, while DIGITAL SIGNAGE EXPO 2008 will host the Content Centre, where visitors can view some of the latest developments in digital media, from advertising campaigns to best practices. 
 
The events will be held on May 6 – 8, 2008, in Essen, Germany.
Posted by: AT 09:32 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Monday, 18 February 2008
The (New Jersey) Star-Ledger: The restaurant industry may soon allow customers to order their food and pay for it without ever needing a waiter. Call it digital dining, self-service, the inevitable confluence of technology and gastronomy that can speed service, reduce ordering errors and better secure your precious credit card information in one of the few remaining environments in which your card leaves your control.
 
Read more
Posted by: AT 09:31 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Monday, 18 February 2008
USA Today: Alaska Airlines opened a second cluster of self-service kiosks and bag drop-off pods at Seattle-Tacoma. It's another step toward Alaska's goal of overhauling its check-in procedures. The Seattle-based carrier is spending $18 million to renovate its ticketing lobby at Sea-Tac in three phases. Each phase consists of a cluster of 11 kiosks and 16 bag-drop pods. The last will open in the summer.
 
Read more
Posted by: AT 09:30 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Monday, 18 February 2008
USA Today: All gates at Lufthansa's Frankfurt hub are now equipped for self-boarding. A scanner reads the bar code on the pass and lets passengers walk through a turnstile to board the aircraft. An agent is usually present to deal with only non-routine matters, such as torn or damaged passes. Flights to the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom still board passengers the old-fashioned way, with agents checking identification.
 
Read more
Posted by: AT 09:29 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Monday, 18 February 2008
The (San Jose, Calif.) Mercury News: Train riders at a San Francisco area train station will soon have the Contra Costa County library system at their fingertips. The last station on the East County BART line — through which about 5,000 people travel each weekday — will be one of the first places in the country to carry an automated book-borrowing kiosk. It resembles an ATM, except it holds 400 popular paperback titles instead of cash. Others will be added later at a shopping center in Discovery Bay, a transit village near the Pleasant Hill BART station and a site in West County not yet chosen. The machines will be considered part of the county library system, which will operate and maintain them. The approximately $95,000 for each kiosk is being paid for by grants from the California State Library and Bay Area Library and Information System, and the books for the first machine will be stocked by multimedia supplier Baker & Taylor Inc.
 
Read more
Posted by: AT 09:28 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — David Drain, the executive director of the Self-Service & Kiosk Association, will explain how credit unions can better use self-service technology during his address at the 26th Annual Bottom Line Conference in Las Vegas.
 
Drain's address will take place at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, in the Paris Las Vegas hotel.
 
He says his speech will explain why the self-service technology industry has exploded in the last 10 years and provide a roadmap for what credit unions can expect to see in the future.
 
"Credit unions are in a unique position in the financial services industry, being non-profit institutions," Drain said. "However, they do compete with banks for customers and they need every advantage they can get. Customers need 24/7 access to their accounts and self-service technology allows them to do that outside of normal banking hours. Branch automation  such as the ability to make envelope-less deposits and loan payments at a kiosk or ATM  is becoming a competitive necessity for any financial institution."
 
For more information on the conference, click here.
Posted by: AT 09:27 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
MSNBC: It is cavernous enough to hold 50 soccer fields, it cost $8.6 billion to build and it is designed to handle 30 million people a year. It is the nearly completed Terminal 5 at Heathrow International Airport, the largest of London’s five major airports. Passengers at the terminal are greeted by 96 metallic blue check-in kiosks.
 
Read more
Posted by: AT 09:26 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
(Durham, N.C.) NBC17: Durham residents can pay their taxes at a payment kiosk that opened recently. The Durham County tax payment kiosk is the first of its kind in North Carolina, officials said.
 
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Posted by: AT 09:25 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
RFID Journal: The city of Paris, France, has announced plans to implement RFID at 42 of its library branches, using a solution from 3M Library Systems. The libraries intend to use RFID to better manage circulation and inventory, as well as to improve security. Also, at those branches with larger numbers of patrons, the city plans to implement RFID-enabled self-service checkout and return facilities to free up staff. The agreement, according to 3M, calls for the company to provide at least 3 million RFID tags, as well as kiosks, interrogators, detection gates and self-checkout systems that allow customers to check out and return items, and in some cases pay fees and fines, without staff assistance.
 
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Posted by: AT 09:24 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Nashua Telegraph: Checking out a book at the Nashua, N.H., public library is so easy, even a child can do it, thanks to the library's new self-checkout system. Just ask 5-year-old Sej, who recently received his first library card. Sej deftly navigated the system, scanning his card and the books he wanted to check out in the children's room. His mother, Stephanie Sewhuk-Thomas, stood by to offer assistance, but Sej did pretty well on his own.
 
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Posted by: AT 09:23 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Monday, 11 February 2008
Russia-InfoCentre: Self-service check-in kiosks are expected to appear in all Moscow airports this year, according to a new report. With the help of the new system, passengers will be able to get boarding passes on their own, which will considerably reduce queues and the time check-in normally takes. At the moment these universal kiosks are working in a limited regime and for passengers of a few airlines only. However, in March 2008 such kiosks will become available to all passengers. 
 
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Posted by: AT 09:22 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Friday, 08 February 2008
The Times of India: Mumbai airport's international terminal will hopefully see less of those long check-in queues this summer. About 20 self-service check-in kiosks will be installed at city hotels which will allow people to complete the check-in formalities for their flight when they check out of the hotel.
 
Read more
Posted by: AT 09:22 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Wednesday, 06 February 2008
TULSA, Okla. — Alamo Rent A Car is nearing a remarkable milestone: its one millionth kiosk rental. Alamo is hundreds of thousands of kiosk rentals ahead of its competitors, who have adopted Alamo’s strategy to save customers time and make travel more convenient.
 
“Almost one million customers have skipped the rental counter because self-service eliminates one more hassle from the travel experience — and they’re getting to where they’re going quicker,” said Greg Stubblefield, president of Alamo Rent A Car. “Customers already are comfortable using kiosks to check in for flights, so we created the Alamo kiosk for car rental as a natural progression.”
 
After successful testing in Dallas, Las Vegas, and Jacksonville, Alamo began installing kiosks throughout its network of rental locations in November 2006. Today, Alamo operates 159 kiosks at 65 U.S. locations in 28 states and the District of Columbia, and it continues to refine the technology and expand the number of kiosk locations. Alamo expects to reach its one millionth kiosk rental within the next few weeks.
 
Last year, the success and popularity of the kiosks earned Alamo the “Extra Mile Award” from Budget Travel magazine.
 
Alamo’s touchscreen kiosk allows customers with a valid driver’s license and a major credit card to skip lines at the rental counter and check in directly. After a customer agrees to terms and conditions, a receipt-sized rental agreement is printed at the kiosk, and the customer is directed to their rental car on the lot. At the exit booth, the customer shows the booth agent the rental agreement, driver’s license and credit card — and simply drives away.
 
The kiosk also allows the customer to review rental information, upgrade to a larger class car, add drivers and purchase optional items such as a GPS unit and prepaid gasoline.
Posted by: AT 09:21 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Wednesday, 06 February 2008
Helicopter Association International: ARINC Inc. has announced a new technology agreement with the Montego Bay, Jamaica, airport to deliver passenger technologies including common-use passenger kiosks for Sangster International Airport. In a first for any major Caribbean airport, MBJA will deploy twenty ARINC SelfServ passenger check-in kiosks for common use by passengers of all participating airlines. The complete installation will include 150 new check-in kiosks.
 
Read more
Posted by: AT 09:20 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Tuesday, 05 February 2008
WEST CHESTER, Pa. — MEI, a developer of unattended payment systems, has appointed Ian McCormick to the newly-created position of executive vice president of retail. McCormick will lead the retail channel with responsibility for overall P&L, product development, marketing, sales and service worldwide. He will be based at the company’s headquarters in West Chester, Pa., and report directly to chief executive officer Mike Hayes.
 
Ian McCormick’s appointment is part of MEI’s initiative to continue its success in retail and extend its payment technologies into new banking and financial service applications.
 
"Retail and banking are exciting areas of growth for us and we are committed to developing new products and services for these sectors,” said Mike Hayes, CEO of MEI. “Ian brings to MEI a wealth of experience and a track record of success. We are excited to add his leadership skills to our senior management team."
 
Ian McCormick comes to MEI with over 17 years of international leadership in the payment management marketplace. Previous roles include six years with De La Rue, one of the world’s foremost payment solution providers, where he was responsible for the company’s retail payments business. Prior to De La Rue, McCormick spent eight years with Money Controls.
 
MEI’s retail channel provides cash payment solution systems to OEMs, developers and integrators for retail cash safes, kiosks, self-service checkout systems and other automated payment terminals.
Posted by: AT 09:19 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Tuesday, 05 February 2008
NewsOK.com: Customers of two stores in a local convenience store chain are able to pay their gas and electrical bills using an automated payment kiosk, Tulsa, Okla., officials say. A pilot program started by ChoicePay Inc. and QuikTrip in November makes it possible for customers to pay bills they get from Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Natural Gas and other local and national billers.
 
Read more
Posted by: AT 09:18 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Tuesday, 05 February 2008
Business Week: No ID? No problem. In Sweden, all the identification you need to board an airplane is now at your fingertips. Scandinavian Airlines Sweden now allows travelers with luggage to board domestic flights by providing a scan of their index fingerprint.
 
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Posted by: AT 09:17 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Monday, 04 February 2008
PADERBORN, Germany · In the converted warehouse in Paderborn, Germany, where Wincor Nixdorf has held its annual trade show since 2001, many sights were familiar on Jan. 29, as more than 7,000 people began jamming its floors for this year's three-day event.
 
Light the cool blue of a Pepsi can spilled down the curtains and walls shaping the boundaries of the messe, while bright white letters stood against the soft white arches and panels that separated services from banking and banking from retail. Most of the men and women alike conformed with traditional business wear standards. There were no gimmicky giveaways. There were no "booth babes" prowling in short skirts and high heels at the edges of the aisles. To a reporter accustomed to the loud, sometimes tawdry floor of U.S. trade shows, Wincor World seems more like a symposium, a high-dollar academic affair with really cool props.
 
Differences were few and, perhaps on the surface, misleadingly quiet.
 
First, and least, the company has invested more than $1 million in revamping the show location, planning at least three more years in it.
 
But more important, the technology, especially on the retail side of the house, seems bristling with innovation. The mood among Wincor Nixdorf officials would be ebullient, if the conservative culture of the company and its homeland embraced ebullience, even in the face of the company's sales and, commensurately, stock price increases. Over the last five years, the company's overall net sales have increased 10 percent, with strong growth from markets outside Germany. First-quarter sales for fiscal year 2007/2008 show that the company is staying the course. In Europe, first-quarter sales were up 15 percent. In Asia-Pacific and Africa, sales were up 14 percent. Sales were up 16 percent in the Americas.
 
And then there is the CEO, Eckard Heidloff, relaxed enough in his position to smile and move quickly through his meetings, comfortable enough to make quick jokes before the beginning of interviews. Introducing the Spanish president of Wincor's operations in the Americas, he quickly tweaked his response. "Not the president of America," he said. "But if you can have an Austrian governor, why not a Spanish president?"
 
On to more serious matters, Heidloff said Wincor Nixdorf International continues to rank Europe as its No. 1 region for business, but business in other markets is picking up.
 
"For us, Asia is as important as America," he said. "We are looking to Asia and the Americas for growth, but we are also looking at emerging markets. We now have two subsidiaries in emerging markets, in Russia and India."

And though Wincor's banking business continues to dominate the show, retail technology is attracting more attention. Restaurant, grocery and general retail offerings attracted greater attention than in years past, with a strong focus on overall cash management.
 
"On the banking side, we have end-to-end solutions," Heidloff said. "On the retail side, we have integrated store solutions. We are taking our experience from the banking side and applying it to retail applications and overall retail operations. In each segment, retail and banking, we have our multivendor software with a very open architecture, and that has been huge for us."
 
Just as the company strives on one level to evenly divide its business between retail and banking, on another it hopes to accomplish a 50/50 split between its hardware and software sales.
 
From fiscal year 1999/2000 to 2006/2007, Wincor Nixdorf has made strides toward closing the gap. Hardware sales, which seven years ago accounted for 67 percent of the company’s overall business, now accounts for 58 percent. Software and services sales went from 33 percent to 42 percent during the same period.
 
That leveling may be attributed in some ways to improved U.S. sales, which Heidloff says the company expects to build upon, despite the relative weakness of the U.S. dollar.
 
"Sales in the U.S. have been up, but the numbers have been hurt by the weak (U.S.) dollar value," he said. "We expect (U.S.) banks to continue investing in our equipment and software, because we can improve efficiencies. We do not see any crisis coming, unless retail bankers cut their budgets by 50 percent."

Need for retail innovation

The Parallel Scan and Pay, where two shoppers can be processed at once.
"Enhancing the customer experience will constantly be evolving," Heidloff said. "We see self-service being much more customized in the future, and we've developed a (modular) platform that can easily adapt to changing (customer) needs."

Joachim Pinhammer, head of marketing for Wincor's retail division, says retailers, like bankers, are focusing more attention and investment on automation, self-service and overall cash management. With automated checkout solutions, which often eliminate or greatly reduce the need for retailers to handle cash, retailers can realize a return on their solution investments within 16 to 20 months.

"These are solutions that make the retail location more efficient," Pinhammer said. "With recycling technology, the pay tower (which separates payment from checkout) and the 360-degree scanner, 40 to 50 hours of working time can be saved per day."

On the retail side, the integration of self-service to complement some full-service applications will be the way of the future.

"I think in five, at the most 10, years, we will have dedicated self-service areas in all hypermarkets. That is what customers want," Pinhammer said. "But I do not think it will all be self-service; there will be a mix."

The technology

A card made with the card dispenser, on the spot, showing the template on the monitor and as realized via the machine.

CARD DISPENSER. Wincor Nixdorf brought a prototype card-dispenser to the show. It can guide a user through the process of choosing a card layout, and print it with card numbers and the holder's name in minutes. Bank cards, credit cards, even library cards can be dispensed. The prototype, finished mere days before Wincor World, was surprisingly popular, according to a Wincor spokesman.

REAL 360. Designed to speed up the process of going from shopping cart to the parking lot, the Real 360 is a combination of segmented conveyer belt and a short tunnel of scanners that automates the barcode reading of goods. Once a few late-generation prototypes bugs are worked out, ringing up a shopper's goods may take half as long.

PARALLEL SCAN AND PAY. Also designed to expedite the checkout process is a mix of full-service item scanning and customer self-service payment. Once a shopper has put his goods on the belt, a store employee scans them and rolls them down to the end of the line. There, the customer uses Wincor Nixdorf's iCASH cash-recycler to make payment and collect his purchases. The iCASH can be integrated simply into existing checkout islands from a hardware and, with TP.NET infrastructure, a software perspective.

RFID-TANGO. The problem solved by the RFID-Tango, a shopping cart that can keeping a running tally of goods and prices put into it, is called bulk reading. RFID chips broadcast their signal a thousand times a second. One reader attempting to comprehend several of them at once can get confused. (Imagine trying to listen to a dozen voices all coming at you at once.) The bulk-reading solution developed by Wincor Nixdor-partner Wanzel manages to tell voices to "shut up" when it has finished reading them.

TP.NET is the three-pronged approach developed by Wincor Nixdorf to manage multiple self-service components within a single- or multiunit retail operation. One aspect, TPEnterprise, controls activity at the store level. Another, TPAdmin, provides administration of several stores from a headquarters. The third component, TPAnalyze, provides business intelligence ranging from fraud detection to the success of individual sales campaigns and promotions.

Posted by: Tracy Kitten and Joseph Grove AT 11:21 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
Friday, 01 February 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. Sequoia Equities Inc., using hardware designed and provided by Tempe, Ariz.-based Phoenix Kiosk Inc., has completed a statewide deployment of self-service apartment rental kiosks to its various communities throughout California, according to a release. The kiosk units enable apartment hunters to view neighborhood information, ratings for various schools in the area, interactive apartment floorplans and a 3-D community map. Users can electronically reserve an apartment home while in the leasing center. The kiosks also provide services to current residents, enabling them to report maintenance issues, provide online feedback and pay rent online.
Posted by: AT 09:16 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  
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