• Patient Self-Service • Mobile Tablets, Handhelds Mobilize Workforce to Increase Productivity, Improve Service • Nanonation creates Media Download Center for Sandisk • Clorox enlists Nanonation for product information kiosk • Interactive touchscreens: Digital signage moves toward new technology • Capture Customer Feedback at their Point-of-Experience (Health Care/Planned Parenthood) • PIN Security and Key Management to Prevent Data Breaches • Self-service payments speed lines at Miss. casino • Webinar: Planning and justifying an HR kiosk deployment • Intelligent Design • past reports

IBM hosts 'Store of the Future'

James Bickers, Bryan Harris and Tracy Kitten
• 05 Oct 2006

A few short decades ago, the "store of the future" was a catalog showroom where customers filled out paper forms on clipboards and waited while their products were rolled down the line to the checkout.

IBM’s view of tomorrow’s retail store is very different; paper gives way to digital display and conveyor belts give way to bottom-of-basket scanners and wireless payment mechanisms.

The Store of the Future, presented by IBM, showcased solutions by IBM, Cyphermint, Evolution Robotics, Mix & Burn and St. Clair Interactive.

Actually, there is still a conveyor belt in IBM’s future, at the heart of its new Model 171 self-checkout unit. While most large-format self-checkout units so far have used a carousel for bags, the 171 uses a long conveyor belt, resembling in many a conventional checkout. The new linear construction allows full maintenance access from the front of the machine, making it possible for the first time to put them back-to-back; a shielded front and non-weight-sensitive metal enclosure means kids will no longer upset the weighing mechanism by leaning against the device.

The 171 was just one component of IBM’s "Store of the Future," a special exhibit that was the lynchpin of The Self-Service & Kiosk Show, held Sept. 28-29 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. It shared a room with two other special pavilions, the Photo Kiosk Gallery and the C-Store Zone. (Read more about the c-store zone, and the foray of Casio into the kiosk industry.)

Digital signage figures prominently in IBM’s future store; the exhibit was surrounded by bright displays delivering marketing messages and touting the benefits of an integrated self-service approach to retail.

Nearby, traffic was brisk at the Cyphermint display, where the payment processing company demonstrated its PayCash Mobile, which allows customers to make payments at a kiosk or other device using their cell phones. Mix & Burn was on hand with its music-burning kiosk, stocked with major-label entertainment content. And St. Clair Interactive was on hand to offer details from its integrated solution for the Giant Food grocery chain.

One of the most interesting technologies at the IBM pavilion was the LaneHawk by Evolution Robotics. Using a high-end camera and sophisticated image-recognition software, the LaneHawk takes a photo of the contents of the bottom of a shopping cart, looks up the UPC codes for the products and sends that information to the POS. It’s a high-tech way to cut down on one of the most low-tech forms of loss — the accidental (or intentional) omission of bottom-of-basket products from a sale.

Top to bottom: Joel Davis, new owner of The Self-Service & Kiosk Show; T. Scott Gross delivers the keynote address; Doug Peter is inducted into the Self-Service & Kiosk Association Hall of Fame; JCM American takes home the Outstanding Achievement Awards' highest award.

JD Events, owners of KioskCom, recently acquired the Self-Service & Kiosk Show, making this year’s show the official swan song for Louisville, Ky.-based Networld Alliance, the show’s former owner and operator. Other highlights of the show included a keynote presentation by When Customers Talk author T. Scott Gross; the induction of St. Clair Interactive’s Doug Peter into the Self-Service & Kiosk Association’s Hall of Fame; and the presentation of the 2006 Self-Service World Outstanding Achievement Awards.

"Judging by the comments we received from both exhibitors and attendees, the show was an enormous success," said show director Terry Thompson. "I‘m happy to say we lived up to our marketing promise that this would be our biggest and best show ever."

On the show floor

ADFLOW Networks’ "booth" was really a large stretch of carpet populated with comfortable contemporary chairs and their futuristic kiosk and digital sign products. The booth included a white retail display and kiosk featuring all-white Addidas Adicolor shoes that are packaged with markers to let the buyer color them by hand. The kiosk, developed with Artisan Complete, is a prototype that allows customers to choose colors from a touch palette and tap them onto different sections of a shoe on-screen before hand-coloring them permanently.

Apunix showcased its UNIX-based kiosks. These included the Electronic Sales Associate, a kiosk that shows DVD-quality product demonstration videos, and the "Leap to Riches" casino loyalty video game, which customers could swipe a loyalty card to play and, if they win, be entered into a cash drawing.

At APW’s booth, the company’s enFocus and enVite kiosks, both part of the I-engage family of self-service offerings. The enFocus digital-photo-printing kiosk is a free-standing unit that uses Bluetooth for wireless access. APW introduced its new and improved enFocus kiosk, which allows users to print 8X10s, during the show. enFocus sells for about $14,000, fully loaded.

The enVite kiosk, which APW introduced last year, is still an eye-grabber. The multifunctional kiosk can offer a variety of services, including bill-payment. Without software, it retails for between $5,000 and $7,000.

Arrow Electronics, a complete kiosk-hardware solutions provider, designs solutions for original equipment manufacturers — so its brand isn’t as distinguishable as its products. During the show, Arrow touted its full line of kiosk parts, including embedded PCs, sunlight-readable displays and protective glass. Arrow’s three key offerings include design and engineering, systems manufacturing and post-manufacturing, said Arrow’s Julie Benefiel.

Ceroview displayed its myriad kiosk designs and its latest offering, the 19-inch xCargo mobile digital sign, shown for the first time in the U.S. The xCargo, mounted on a backpack, can be carried by a model or spokesperson, or mounted on a mannequin. The xCargo’s screen is then visible over the wearer’s head, from the front. Video content for the xCargo can be carried in an iPod or similar device. The unit’s total weight is 24 pounds, including its four-hour battery. The xCargo is available to purchase or rent.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide offered its special handling services, including transportation and setup of self-service devices. Handling features include air-ride, blanket wrap, lift gates and decking. Other services include inventory management, assembly, expedited transportation, storage, crossdocking, point-of-purchase display assembly, job site inspections and rollout programs.

Comark Corp. displayed its Multi-Touch indoor/outdoor kiosk, which features multiple processors, outdoor ticketing and a stainless steel keyboard. It was the first time the kiosk has been displayed, said product sales manager Patrick Wallace, who also passed out literature on Comark’s new uninterruptible power supply for harsh environments.

"It’s geared toward any kind of severe environments," Wallace said. "Hot, cold, dust, subway, this is completely sealed. It’s liquid cooled."

Corporate Safe Specialists showed its Brinks-approved Self Out System, a secure transactional kiosk that stores cash spent at the kiosk in a secure environment built to Brinks’ standards. The kiosk includes a touchscreen, camera, HTML-based interface, card reader, bar code scanner, currency acceptor, PC/CPU, and a patented lock system. The vault is made of half-inch thick steel and can resist an attack by tools for 15 minutes. The kiosk is made to have its cash inventory serviced directly by Brinks’ personnel, much like an ATM, and will be part of Brinks cash management solution.

CreditCall Corp., a recognized name in the payments space, is bringing its message to the kiosk

Mariachis help kick off the Thursday evening opening of the Exhibit Hall.

industry by providing a gateway for card payments. CardEaseXML is now recognized throughout the world as a leader in payment services for unattended terminals. CreditCall is PCI Data Security Standard-certified.

D2 Sales demonstrated its now-familiar Tree of Knowledge, a tree-shaped kiosk demonstrating non-traditional kiosk branding, and the BioPark park access security kiosk. D2 also highlighted its KIT human resources kiosk including signature pad for completing tax forms online, printer for pay stubs and work-related documents, and headphones which allow users to watch training videos with relative privacy. The unit is available with our without a touch-enabled screen.

Diebold Premier Services proffered its network of maintenance services for self-service devices. Diebold recently announced an exclusive service agreement with Source Technologies. Services business development manager Kevin Mickle discussed the arrangement from the show floor.

"(Source has) some good products," Mickle said. "And it fits into a lot of things we’re trying to do."

DynaTouch exhibited its modular government, healthcare and human resources software system, consisting of 80 modules for a variety of uses from military recruitment to personal online financial tracking. The standardized kiosk onto which the system is deployed can be branded for a variety of different uses by many different entities.

Electrone Americas LTD Co., which designs and manufactures data-input products like mini kiosks and bill validators, says it’s targeting the low-cost, entry-level market. The company customizes printers, kiosks, keyboards and key displays, and sells LCDs. "We’re primarily involved in helping people with components," a company spokesman said.

Electronic Systems Protection, with its power-surge demonstrations, is the one booth that’s sure to make exhibitors jump. Showing off its show staples, power filters and surge protectors, came as no surprise. But one new offering did: The MinuteMan MN series UPS — a battery backup that ESP is now distributing for MinuteMan. The UPS complements ESP’s product line, said ESP’s Mike Honkomp. If the power supply goes down, the MN UPS’s power-management software saves open files to a temporary directory and safely shuts down the system.

Elo TouchSystems showcased touch solutions for 15-, 17- and 19-inch mounted units, which included a controller and monitor rolled into one. The plastic and rugged LCD, which Elo calls its kiosk/gaming monitor, uses iTouch Touch-On-Tube Surface technology. The monitor hit the market a year ago and sells for between $480 and $600, depending on the volume ordered and the screen size.

Enhance Electronics offered its Remote Access Power, targeted at kiosk deployers who want to avoid costly service calls for simple reboots. The units include 12VDC, 24VDC, 9VDC/6VDC and 5VDC power supplies, AC power outlets, USB power connections and can be managed online via Ethernet hub or dial-up connection.

Epson America Inc. is America’s leading POS-printer provider to OEMs. During the show, the company showed off some of the printers it provides to big OEMs like ATM manufacturers Diebold Inc. and Tranax Technologies.

Passersby couldn’t miss the Euro Touch booth, which included a mammoth interactive touchscreen supported by Seattle-based Advanced Method, the Seattle digital-signage company that took home the 2005 DIGI Award for its interactive designs. Euro Touch and Advanced Method also designed the interactive touchscreen found at the entrance to the showroom floor. The two companies have been working together for the last few months. Euro Touch focuses on the hardware and antiglare tech for touchscreens; Advanced Method focuses on interactive solutions for on- and off-line applications. (The arrangement between the two companies is not exclusive.)

Ewait, a Norwegian firm that markets high-end kiosks in contemporary European designs, showed its tabletop CT unit, built with customizable wood-trimmed metal finishes. The company also showed new CT accessories: a matching pedestal to effectively make the CT into a standing kiosk, and a matching elliptical pod for housing a printer either separately (sometimes feasible for desktop deployments) or upright, attached to the pedestal’s base.

Exemplum, a 6-year-old tech company that has a steeped history in Web-based applications, is making strides into the kiosk space, said Exemplum president Leigh Huff. "We’ve been around since 2000, but this (the kiosk show) is new to us. In the past, we did more stuff on the Web."

Now Exemplum is taking its interactive solutions to market, and it hopes to attract kiosk deployers and financial institutions that are serious about deploying content across their self-service-terminal channels. "We develop custom content. We could design the whole display or just the parts they want," Huff said.

Ezscreen showed its 32-inch wide-screen infrared touchscreen, which could be made from three to five millimeter tempered glass, released in the first quarter of 2006. Quality control manager Mark Goodie explained that all of ezscreen’s infrared sensors are built into the touchmonitors’ bezels.

Fivepoint LLC and KioWare showed off their incorporated hardware and software solutions, which cover a range of applications, including Fivepoint’s teller assist solution offered on its inSight kiosk. For KioWare, Phreesia, developed with a different hardware partner, was the focal point. Phreesia is an HR-oriented application that eliminates the need for clip boards in, for example, doctors’ offices, said Stephanie Kropkowski, KioWare’s marketing analyst.

US Exhibits sponsored the Show's e-mail checking kiosks in the Gallery Area.

"In a doctor’s office, the application is completely free, since the pages have ads on them sponsored by pharmaceutical companies," she said. "It’s there for patients to fill out while at the doctor’s office. We do the software that locks down the application."

Graphics Systems showed their customizable digital sign solutions, which could be branded both with digital content, and with traditional sign branding methods. One sign combined a large cutout print of a pizza overlaid with acrylic. A 10-inch digital display showed through a square cutout in the pizza graphic. The company also offers the AdView Network Communicator for loading digital sign content, with 40 gigabytes of storage space and 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratio capabilities.

Beyond the Store of the Future exhibit, IBM highlighted six primary innovations in self-service technology from its two exhibit-floor booths. From healthcare to horseracing to retail services, IBM’s hardware was on display supporting a variety of applications.

Of special interest was the horse-racing kiosk, rightly named the Advance Racing Information, Wagering and Entertainment platform that IBM and Opera Glass Networks designed for Louisville, Ky.’s Churchill Downs. The portable, mountable device — a customized Anyplace Kiosk, was introduced at Derby 2005. It’s a compact and durable system — one that IBM says will live between five and seven years — that allows users to place bets and orders all from the comfort of their seats. Churchill Downs uses 310 of the wagering kiosks.

Opera Glass Networks is now placing similar kiosks in other entertainment venues, including opera houses. "We bring meaningful content from multiple sources to one platform to promote the content to the enduser," said Barry Goldberg of Opera Glass Networks. "We deal in real-time environments, where the information is needed right away. For instance, we can translate the opera for a user."

Also on display in the IBM booth was IBM’s Instant Credit Kiosk, which walks users through the credit application process while their in the store. The platform, designed by Wirespring Technologies, has helped retailers increase their in-store credit-card issuance, said Michael Smith, Wirespring’s vice president of sales and marketing. "We’ve found that people like to use this, because it’s fast — between two and three minutes — and it’s private."

The deployment has been on the market for 18 months, he said.

Hemisphere West International, which sells currency-validation products, explained to attendees its recent deal with JCM. The two companies are now partnering to manufacture cash dispensers. As the ATM and kiosk industries get more complex, the two companies see opportunity for growth.

ID Tech, a leading manufacturer of smart card, contactless and mag-stripe readers, focused attendee attention on its TriBrid MagStripe, Smart Card & Contactless Insert Reader. As Visa and MasterCard shift more payments to contactless cards, ID Tech hopes to be ahead of the curve, said Justin Ning, ID Tech’s product manager.

Beyond contactless, ID Tech introduced its SmartPIN, a Payment Card Industry-certified PIN-entry device expected to hit the market by the end of the year. Most units sell for around $100 and can come equipped with an LCD screen and stainless steel or plastic keys.

Immersion Corp. displayed its tactile feedback flat screens, which give users a satisfying experience when they select a touchpoint on the screen. The screen responds with push-back. The California company, which provides the technology behind most tactile touchscreen deployments on the market today, introduced its feedback monitors at the February 2006 show in Orlando.

Industrial Electronic Engineers has been in the display-automation business for 60 years, taking what it learned early on and applying it to kiosks and ATMs. From its color-graphic ScanVue, a mini-kiosk with a touchscreen and label/receipt printer, to its price-check merchandise, IEE is offering kiosk deployers low-cost alternatives. Its LCDs may be fitted for CRT replacement on ATMs, and its ScanVue mini-kiosk sells for a third of what a full-scale kiosk would. During the show, this global ISO 9001-certified supplier showed off its two-way video communications solution for bank tellers — a customized solution that one IEE customer requested.

Infonox is the name behind many solutions, and the brand is well known in the kiosk and ATM spaces. It’s specialty: financial transactions. At the Infonox booth, the Active Kiosk Suite, built on Infonox’s Active payment platform was the highlight. "We focus on transactions, and we help our customers build an application library that’s intuitive," said Randy Johnson, Infonox’s vice president of solution engineering. At this show, Infonox showcases its turnkey kiosk platform, a modular set-up that provides an end-to-end solutions infrastructure. It can include everything from biometrics to check-reading.

Intas Co. Ltd. is a leader in LCD open-frame monitors that hone in on the gaming and POS industries. Monitors range in size from 6.4 inches to 42 inches.

King Kiosk showed its adaptable turnkey Internet kiosk. The kiosk can be used for Internet

The C-store Zone, sponsored by the Texas Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, included line-busting/POS solutions by Casio, aggregate bill payment kiosks by TIO, and ATMs by Triton.

browsing, VOIP, 100-person WiFi hotspot access, or a variety of other applications, including advanced financial functions. King manufactures its own kiosks, which are sold as customizable, out-of-the-box solutions.

KING Products & Solutions Inc. unveiled its security kiosk, designed specifically for airport deployments. The KAVEO includes a biometric feature, allowing deployers to verify identify with a fingerprint or iris scan or combination of the two for back-up. "It really is meant to be used anywhere that needs security," said Brian Chamberlain, KING’s senior U.S. sales director. "We even envision this working in a theme park, where identities need to be verified, and members don’t want to carry cards."

The KAVEO also includes a chip-card reader, which complements airport deployments — users can verify their biometric data by comparing it to what’s saved on the card.

KIOSK Information Systems showed its bevy of self-service solutions, including the Self-Service World Magazine Outstanding Achievement Award gold medal winner in Travel & Hospitality, the Amtrak Quiticketing kiosk. Its booth also included a catalog-browsing and 3D product demonstration kiosk developed with YES Solutions. The Web-based software included the ability to page through a virtual catalog via touch interface, shown on a KIOSK Stealth.

"It’s an interactive way to bring excitement to a product," YES national sales manager Todd Frick said.

Kodak Service & Support, though out in the service and support market for some time now, made its Kiosk & Self-Service Show debut in San Antonio. The company is interesting in spreading its service and support message to the entire kiosk industry, not just the photo side.

LA GARD Inc., a well-known lock brand on the ATM circuit, is just beginning to show its wares to the kiosk audience — an audience that’s beginning to appreciate the important role a good lock plays, said Orlando Consalvi, LA GARD’s national product manager. At the show, LA GARD highlighted features offered on and through Navigator — a Web-based system that allows deployers to monitor online access to their kiosks’ electronic locks. The company also showcased its line of electronic locks, the LG Basic and LG Audit.

Garnering additional attention during the show was LA GARD’s SmartPoint safe-access biometric system, expected to complete its beta-testing and hit the market in December. With SmartPoint, a deployer can manage up to five locks on each kiosk or safe. The system incorporates LA GARD’s SmartLink lock with biometrics technology from Integrated Biometrics. To access the lock, deployers can require a fingerprint scan and a PIN, or just one of the two.

Landel's DataBug collected evaluations of The Self-Service & Kiosk Show.

Landel Telecom wants to be the go-to provider for remote data-capture. The company is marketing its data-capture devices, which use dial-up connectivity, for credit information, inventories and other applications to small and mid-sized operations, said Bryan McCormick, the company’s vice president of marketing and business development.

Landel’s data-capture unit sells for about $145.

Livewire International, well known in the kiosk and ATM space for its ticketing-software engine, had some tried and true offerings on display. But it was the company’s electronic concierge that took center stage for this season’s show. The electronic concierge, set up for a hotel or tourist environment for the show’s viewing, uses VoIP and allows users to buy tickets right at the kiosk. It also provides information about area attractions, including restaurants and lounges.

Max International, a well-known thermal-printer provider, showed its new repositionable thermal printer at the show. And no, those weren’t sticky notes that donned Max International’s booth — the repositionable printer dispenses receipts that can be adhered to any surface, making it easy for order-takers to post tickets over kitchen counters and users to review nutritional facts when they get home. Of course, the user possibilities are endless. The cool attribute is that the printer can dispense receipts that stick without getting all gummed up.

MaySteel highlighted its custom-fabricated steel enclosures, including the Corporate Safe Specialists’ Self Out System, which it built. The company also builds a variety of security products, custom electronic enclosures, office furniture and equipment. MaySteel provides manufacturing, integration and supply chain management for IT, retail and service industry companies.

Mitsubishi Digital Electronics showed its DPS photo-processing kiosk. The self-service photo processing system can be used as a desktop kiosk or with a pedestal. The kiosk features instant digital printing, reads from most digital media, incorporates photo editing and enhancement, accepts prepaid cards and can be used in conjunction with a Web-based photo-sharing service.

In-store interactive display developer Nanonation, winner of Self Service World Outstanding Achievement awards for retail and hospitality applications, showed its digital sign and kiosk solutions. Their exhibits included a virtual concierge designed for a 65-inch touch screen on Royal Caribbean ships, to demonstrate spa services (demonstrated on a smaller screen). Vice president of business development Brian Ardinger also demonstrated a conjoined digital sign/kiosk retail solution.

"You can use a traditional touchscreen and it controls the digital signage," Ardinger said as the

The Photo Kiosk Zone, hosted by the Photo Marketing Association, collected several photo kiosks for attendees to sample.

digital sign changed images while he maneuvered the kiosk interface. "Or, the new feature, cell-phone-activated digital signage."

Netkey focuses on software that meets self-service needs. Netkey enables secure, reliable and cost-effective marketing and human-resource applications on interactive kiosks. Netkey can remotely distribute, schedule and manage content.

New Edge Networks offers broadband connectivity for kiosks. What was most interesting at season’s show: the connectivity New Edge provides in the retail space. "We partner with providers for hardware, content, etc.," said Rich Hancock, New Edge’s marketing coordinator. "We can point our customers in the right direction, and we make the connection seamless."

Printer manufacturer Nippon Primex showed its wide array of small-form-factor printers, including two new models: the NP 3511 and NP 3512. Both are three-inch thermal printers, 10mm in height with "jam-free" cutters. The printers are made to endure extreme temperatures from –20 to 60 degrees Celsius. The 3511 is built to handle standard thermal receipt paper, while the 3512 accommodates heavier stock for ticketing and similar applications.

Palm Desert National Bank represented its ATM and kiosk cash-handling and transaction services. Their booth included a Cricket bill-pay kiosk by TIO, built to accept cash and/or card payments on Cricket cellular phone accounts. TIO, one of the largest providers of self-service financial solutions to unbanked and underbanked consumers in North America, has contracted PDNB’s cash management services since Dec. 2004.

"We’ll custom build whatever a customer needs," Pesce said.

Japan’s PFU Systems Inc., a Fujitsu company that develops kiosks, media terminals and technical solutions, is a relatively new market entrant. As such, PFU is spreading its products and message to and through the United States. One of the largest kiosk manufacturers in Japan, PFU has shipped more than 30,000 units since 1995. PFU showed off its Media Engine – a tight system that runs on Windows CE and attaches to the back of the LCD. It’s been on the market about six months, and the company has big plans for its deployment.

Planar Systems handed out CDs that better explained its DS15 integrated marketing solution. The DS15 kiosk hit the market more than two years ago, but it is still relatively uniqueness in the marketplace. The DS15 is a mountable end-cap, shelf or wall kiosk that can act as a payment terminal, digital sign, interactive kiosk or all three rolled into one. It sells for about $3,500, including software.

Provisio CEO Heinz Horstmann demonstrated his company’s suite of secured browser and backend remote management software, designed to be as user-friendly as a typical Windows business application. Used by OfficeMax, KIOSK and Verizon Wireless, the platform includes the ability to update content remotely, collect metrics, and do all standard kiosk software maintenance.

"This can be installed, maintained and managed by anyone who has basic computer skills," Horstmann said.

RealTime Shredding Inc. is ripping papers to shreds, and helping retailers and banks turn a profit in the process. RealTime put out the market’s first public-access shredder last year in a mall. Since then, said Johnny Podrovitz, vice president of business services, consumers have caught on to the shredder’s simplicity.

RealTime had two models on display at the show — The Business Center and Enterprise models. The Enterprise model is designed for more volume and is connected wirelessly to the Internet. The Business Center model isn’t network-connected. Each machine can shred 25 pages in six seconds.

RESOLUTE TAP Services marketed its end-to-end kiosk solutions, including conceptualization, building, software development, management and maintenance. RESOLUTE TAP Services offerings include complete project management for kiosk deployments.

"We’ve been explicitly doing kiosks and kiosk services for 20 years," president Thomas Pappalardo said. "We have a very good grasp of the environment."

Rhombus Services offered its full range of logistical and maintenance services, including its North American maintenance network of field technicians available in technical and non-technical commercial services. Rhombus offers ADA improvements, networking and telecommunications services, data cabling, remodels, retrofits and a variety of general maintenance services, as well as a comprehensive installation and rapid rollout program for commercial installations.

EuroTouch supplied the hardware and partner Advanced Method put up the content for the wayfinding kiosks found around the Show floor.

Richardson Electronics specializes in digital displays. At this season’s show, the company touted its 3-D 21-inch to 42-inch digital displays, and the grabbed quite a few attendees’ attention. The smaller displays are attractive, especially for those who value counter space. "They cost less and they take up less room. It’s a good combination," said Richardson’s Mike Craig.

St. Clair Interactive proffered its myriad kiosk and self-service software solutions. The company won yet another of a string of awards for its Shopping Solutions/Giant Food Stores: The company took the gold in the retail category of Self-Service World’s Outstanding Achievement Awards. Company president Doug Peter was also inducted into The Self-Service and Kiosk Association’s Hall of Fame. It also displayed the Media Igloo DVD burning kiosk, from which customers can buy whole videos, or portions of video referenced by scene.

SCAN COIN North America Inc. proves that kiosk deployers can make big bucks from small change. The manufacturer of loose-coin-conversion kiosks has supplied more than 1,400 SCAN COIN CDSs (Coin Deposit System) to Safeway since 2003. The systems use alloy detection and five points of measurement on each coin to determine how much a customer has dumped in from his pockets. The vault holds about $3,000 in change, and retailers typically charge an 8.9 percent fee for the coin-to-cash redemption service, said Per Lundin, the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. The SCAN COIN CDS, which comes as stand-alone unit or with a mounted touchscreen, sells for between $8,000 and $25,000.

Seiko Instruments showed its line of micro printers: Small form-factor printers for electronic devices, including kiosks. Their offerings include the LTP line of printers made especially for the kiosk market, with small, lightweight design and low-power models available.

SLABB showed its large-format X14 kiosk, which can accommodate a 30- to 67-inch plasma screen mounted either vertically or horizontally, and available in a variety of color schemes. SLABB also showed its XR desktop kiosk, with hospital demo software, a modular unit that can also accommodate an overhead digital sign. The company also announced it can soon wrap kiosk enclosures in full-color printed vinyl graphics.

Source Technologies demonstrated its scalable, multifunctional transactional kiosks, which included its Cox Communications Xpress Pay Kiosk — the kiosk won two Self Service World Outstanding Achievement Awards this year. The device includes the ability to accept cards, cash and checks as well as scans bills, transacting payments in 1-1.5 minutes. Source also showed its new Concourse 5-Series, which can include ID scan, biometric identification, camera, a Triple-des pin pad, RFID reader and signature pad.

StacoSwitch showed its touchscreens with Immersion actuators, which add tactile feedback (a feeling of pushing or moving a graphical switch or button). StacoSwitch marketed its ability to create whole kiosks, or touch screens. It also showcased sealed, rubberized, waterproof keyboards for military, police and first responder use.

Star Micronics showed its OEM printers, which it markets as bringing "the ultimate and flexibility and performance to kiosk printing." Its offerings include the TUP900 Direct Thermal Kiosk Mechanism with a looping presenter meant to provide "jam-free" operation. The printer is marketed for ticketing, gaming, lottery ticket and similar applications.

Tata Consulting Services, a $3 billion IT company, does more than consult. It provides end-to-end kiosk offerings that include bill-payment and tickets.

Tatung Company of America Inc., which designs and manufactures LCD open-frame monitors, some with touch technology, showed off innovative designs that ranged in size from 6.4 inches up to 42 inches. Soon the company expects to push its high-end display up to 50 inches. During the show, the 32-inch open frame monitor, introduced six months ago, was the highlight. It sells for about $1,000.

At TEAMSable, it’s all about touch. The company showed off interactive advertising units that included a 50-inch plasma touchscreen.

TECHnical TRANSportation Inc.’s One-Touch program provides a turnkey solution for ATM and kiosk deployers. Tech Trans provides the transportation, logistics and installation throughout North America. Focusing on the enclosure solution is just part of the equation. "Getting your idea out the market is the hard part," one Tech Trans spokesman said.

Technik Mfg. Inc. grew up on the vending side of the tracks, but the ISO 9001-certified mechanism company is taking its payment-acceptance expertise to the kiosk industry. Technik’s range of bar-code and mag-stripe readers has been a focus for the last five years. Today, the market is interested in Technik’s customizable solutions for vending CDs and DVDs, said Tim Graf, a sales representative for the company. One such device, the CD1, Technik’s newest CD and DVD dispenser, was introduced at the show. Like its predecessor, the CDJ, the CD1 costs about $400. The only difference: The CDJ dispenses CDs and DVDs in jewel cases; the CD1 dispenses media in paper jackets.

Telecast Canada’s Visionpoint hub manages content delivery via satellite, allowing kiosk deployers the flexibility to upload their content to Telecast’s Web site, from where Telecast handles the rest. The company’s satellite-driven communications network makes content distribution easy, for large and small deployers alike.

Telequip showed its coin-dispensing solutions, commonly found in self-checkout systems, which can handle U.S., European or U.K. currency. Also in the booth was sister-company CashCode, showing cash-handling solutions including the Bill to Bill Currency Management System. Bill to Bill could hold 300 notes for recycling, deposit 1,000 notes into a drop box, and accept up to 25 unbundled bills at a time at a speed of one second per bill.

Telpar, an OEM of impact and direct thermal printers, offers a wide array of printers in a variety of form factors, including the MP260, a modular printer that can be customized to the requirements of different applications including gaming machines, and the SP 2021, 8.5-inch thermal kiosk printer, designed to print variable-length documents for a variety of kiosk applications.

Top Global showed its suite of remote enterprise hardware including portable wireless communications gateways, routers, and the pyramid-shaped 3G Phoebus, an integrated WLAN and third generation cellular router for home and home office environments.

TouchMate Interactive Solutions exhibited its kiosks with curving, brightly colored, hand-shaped fiberglass cases. One, shaped like a TV plucked from inside of a children’s cartoon, housed a digital display and video game system, and has been deployed in 30 Australian libraries. The units incorporate 3M touchpanels on NEC monitors and 2.8ghz Intel processors, and sell for less than $4,000.

US Exhibits showcased its complete end-to-end kiosk and digital sign solutions, proffering its ability to conceptualize, build, program, deploy, manage, and market kiosks throughout a project’s lifecycle. Their booth included digital signs showing exclusive early trailers of Hollywood films, including Ghost Rider, and a gift-card-dispensing kiosk, hardware and software, which can brand and/or personalize cards on demand.

"Gift cards have become the number one gift in the U.S.," president and CEO Bob Douglas said. "Last year was the first Christmas in 15 years when the sweater was overtaken as the number one gift."

Ventus Technologies offered its proprietary virtual financial network products and remote management capabilities. Ventus manages thousands of ATMs networked wirelessly via cellular routers, enabling the machines to be deployed in remote places that might otherwise be hard to network. Their routers support standard protocols, legacy protocols and cellular WAN connections; they also include built-in diagnostics and signal strength detection. Their VFN includes the ability to perform fallback routing, in which deployers can configure alternate paths to hosts for disaster recovery.

WebRaiser Technologies Inc. demonstrated its digital sign content management system. The software offers remote management, with a locally available file browser that could be used on-site to manage signs locally. The package included an SQL console and log viewer, and a system of prioritizing content by time and importance. The system also enables download to the sign, or direct streaming for real-time viewing via the Web, and RSS syndication for news, sports scores and similar content.

White Electronic Designs showed its hardware offerings, including the Pro Series Touch Tablet PC. The ultra-mobile PC features a five-wire resistive touchscreen, Windows XP tablet PC functionality, Motion Speak Anywhere with dual-array microphones that recognize voice commands and cancel background noise, Max-Vu technology to optimize contrast in direct light, SVGA display and Intel Centrino processor.

Although Whitech USA Inc. provides a variety of innovative solutions that are designed for the retail environment, it’s Whitech’s Photo.Teller kiosk that attracted the most attention. And since the company announced the release of its newest photo-software solution, which includes an array of products like story-book and photo-movie templates, at Photokina last week, Whitech doesn’t plan to shift its gears of focus anytime soon.

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