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KioskCom Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards: Best software application in a kiosk project

Like a "threepeat" basketball team in the NBA, the kiosk industry has its own three-time champ. Apunix Computer Services recently won the KioskCom 2004 Interactive Kiosk Excellence Award for best software application in a kiosk project.

November 22, 2004

Like a "threepeat" basketball team in the NBA, the kiosk industry has its own three-time champ in Apunix Computer Services. The company recently won the KioskCom 2004 Interactive Kiosk Excellence Award for best software application in a kiosk project. The award is Apunix's third from KioskCom in the last three years. The runner-up for best software application in the category was Marsh Supermarkets Customer Facing Networks.

Sylvia J. Berens, Ph.D. and vice president of Apunix, said she's proud of her company's accomplishment. "Each year the competition becomes more challenging," Berens said. "We see that as a sign that the industry is growing and maturing. We attribute the award-winning success to our company's focus on technology and its application in solving customer problems. Over the years we have invested a great deal of effort in researching and developing state-of-the-art software that facilitates kiosk deployments."

"We view the best-software award as the most prestigious of the award categories," said Peter H. Berens, Ph.D. and president of Apunix, of his company's most recent win. "Software is really what makes or breaks a kiosk product, and it's where the true differences for kiosks lay. By winning this award for the third year in a row, we feel the industry has validated our unique approach to kiosk software and kiosk deployments."

Software toolkit for Java platform

Apunix won

Levin Furniture used Apunix's software for kiosk-based credit authorizations.

the award for its off-the-shelf kiosk software toolkit - the Apunix Kiosk for the Java Platform. Apunix uses the same software for all of its kiosk applications. The rapid application development tool is used to create different applications from a single software package.

Levin Furniture, which used kiosk-based credit authorizations to boost sales by an average of 20 percent, was one of the customer applications featured in Apunix's entry. Also featured in the entry was RIP Griffin Travel Centers, which realized an ROI on its kiosks and loyalty program in three months.

The

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kiosk engine and software integrate content from existing databases and other sources such as graphic images, video, audio, Web and html pages, along with Java applets. Remote Kiosk Management includes immediate tracking of kiosk use and performance (including the status of peripherals), as well as quick content updates. The kiosk software makes it easy to develop customized, graphically-rich and multifunctional kiosks for various environments.

"Our kiosk content development tools let us tie in easily to existing back-end databases, Web-service portals, via XML, and proprietary systems, and our tools present the information from those sources in a graphically-rich and easy-to-understand way," Peter Berens said.

DBAccess is Apunix's GUI-based database information-extraction tool, which enables users to easily extract information, such as text and images. The advantages to using the Java tool include: easy database information extraction in creating kiosks, the ability to run on any platform and support for a variety of input devices, including magnetic stripe readers.

"Our software application is designed to create kiosks which can serve the needs of demanding environments, ranging from 24/7 operations in casinos and truck stops to retail environments where kiosk software must integrate to the enterprise," Sylvia Berens said.

Founded in 1981,

We attribute the award-winning success to our company's focus on technology and its application in solving customer problems.

- Sylvia J. Berens, VP, Apunix

Apunix's focus has been to develop leading edge software, hardware and cross-platform solutions. Its kiosk technology is the result of developing software in the areas of GUI and database interfaces, imaging and multimedia under the UNIX platform. Apunix's kiosk engine was one of the earliest to use Java technology. It is a platform-independent solution that can run on any system.

Apunix has partnered with companies like Wincor-Nixdorf, Elo TouchSystems, Olea Exhibits, Swecoin and IBM to provide kiosks solutions. Apunix also developed Henry Company's "Ask Henry" kiosk, which is used in Home Depot stores to assist customers in purchasing and using Henry Company's asphalt and roofing solution products. Home Depot shoppers simply go to the "Ask Henry" kiosk, look up their problems and watch short and informative how-to video clips.

According to Henry Company's Web site, Apunix kiosks have won several other awards, including the Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering Award for Product Innovation in 2000, the Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering Award for Technology Innovation in 2002 and Kiosk Magazine's Year 2002 Award for Most Innovative Product. Apunix also has won Kiosks.org's Best of Show Award three consecutive times.

[Editor's note: Info Touch Technologies became Tio Networks in April 2006.]