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Wincor World '06 highlights comprehensive banking, retail solutions

Innovation in system architecture is changing the way retailers do business. At Wincor World 2006, more than 70 Wincor partners from around the world will be in Paderborn, Germany, to show off solutions they've developed with Wincor Nixdorf.

January 8, 2006 by Tracy Kitten — Editor, AMC

The lines that divide banking and retail solutions are blurring, and as they do, rigid boundaries are beginning to fade.

Joachim Pinhammer, marketing director for retail at Paderborn, Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf International, said his company and its more than 70 partners are taking what they've learned on the financial side to enhance retail applications. In the area of cash handling, for instance, banking knowledge has been especially advantageous. "We are well positioned to provide a solution that bridges the retail and the banking side of the cash process."

As 2006 gets into full swing, representatives from some of the world's largest and most-respected technology companies will gather in Paderborn Jan. 24-26 for Wincor's annual financial and retail trade event - Wincor World.

Big names like Fujitsu Siemens, Intel, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems are scheduled to display. Fujitsu Siemens, a leading European IT company with a strong presence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, for example, will highlight mobile computing and communications technology. Intel, the world's largest chip manufacturer, Microsoft Germany, Microsoft Corp.'s largest European subsidiary, and Sun Microsystems, which can be found in more than 100 countries, will showcase, open, thin-client architecture, among other things. (To learn more about Wincor's partners, visit Wincor World 2006.)

"Other competitors don't attempt to compete (with Wincor World) because they would only be followers," said Uwe Krause, Wincor Nixdorf's director of marketing for financial services.

Wincor World highlights innovative solutions that touch the needs of not only bankers and retailers but a wide variety of industries, including lottery, gaming, hospitality and postal services.

As the self-service industry grows, solutions traditionally used only for banking or retail operations are crossing lines, Krause said, especially on the software side. Wincor's ability to bring its partners from across the globe together to showcase those solutions offers attendees a unique perspective.

Sharing new perspectives

Cash handling and recycling: Both touch the banking and retail sectors. On the retail side, innovations in cash handling are changing the way retailers deal with money.

This year Wincor will demonstrate Retail Cash Management, a complete solution for retail cash management from the front end to the teller to the back office. It includes TPiCash - the software components - and the iCash product family, as well as related professional services. The goal: "to provide a 100-percent closed loop for cash handling so that no retail employee will ever touch the cash," Pinhammer said.

"We aren't there yet," he added, "but we're working toward a fully automated solution from the point of sale to the cash-in-transit company. We call it Retail Cash Management, and it really is a solution that consists of a hardware platform, small enough to be implemented in a point of sale environment, with components for the back office. The software and services around it make it fully functioning."

By the end of 2006 or early 2007, Wincor expects to rollout that complete retail cash solution, which will be previewed at the show.

On the banking side, recycling at the ATM and the teller is changing the way bankers handle money, Krause said.

To read more about Wincor's banking solutions, visit ATMmarketplace.

A 50-50 show

Wincor touts its holistic approach to banking and retail innovation. Although previous shows have leaned toward banking solutions, Krause said this year's event will definitely be a 50-50 show - half banking/financial-related solutions, half retail-related solutions.

For the first time, a host of symposiums and workshops divided into two tracks will address the needs of banking and retail operations. "We've offered them every year, but we are going to extend and continue the offerings this year," Krause said. "In the past, we only had one day for symposia and workshops. Now we will be offering them all three days."

On the retail side, '06 marks the first year Wincor will demonstrate its retail solutions on a unified software platform, Pinhammer said.

"This will be the first time that we really show the complete store process with one integrated solution," he said. For retail, the unified solution is TP.net, a Windows-based platform that shapes retailers' IT networks and is engineered for all checkout-related processes. (TPLinux is TP.net's counterpart on Linux.)

`A revolution in the market'

Checkout is one piece that reveals the evolution of Wincor's solutions. "I always like to say there is a revolution in the market," he said. "Everything is going to the next generation of self-service - automation in the store - and the availability of our solution is much more advanced now. We had solutions ready for pilot last year. Now we have solutions that are ready to rollout for self checkout and self-scanning."

TPiScan, a software solution for self-checkout systems, helps retailers improve customer service by freeing employees from the checkout lane. Interfaces and functions can be adapted to individual operations, while existing POS applications can be easily integrated.

Self-checkout would not be complete without mention of mobile devices. Electronic shelf solutions make self-scanning, electronic shopping lists and advertisements for personal shopping possible.

Wincor will showcase hardware-independent software concepts for mobile devices.

The company's tried and true Beetle POS, which hit the market during the early '90s, might not be a focal point but it's sure to garner some attention. Now in its fifth generation, the Beetle line will be equipped with the newest processors from Intel and streamlined according to business requirements, Pinhammer said.

Wincor will display different variants of its modular self-checkout systems from the Beetle iScan family. That portfolio ranges from self-service systems that separate the scanning and payment processes to self-checkout systems with extensive functions.

Where RFID solutions are concerned, Wincor will highlight solutions it's deploying in the retail arena with partners Intel and Texas Instruments. And on the visual-merchandising side, solutions for both Windows and Linux-based platforms will be on display.

For kiosks, Wincor's Certo terminal, which the company introduced last year, takes center stage. It's a modular kiosk that can be used for a wide range of information services. Its compact design, as a freestanding, desktop or wall-mounted unit, makes it attractive for tight retail spaces, Pinhammer said.

The Orbiter, another multimedia terminal -- for indoor and outdoor installations -- also is built on a modular-systems structure, making it open to custom configuration for a range of self-service solutions.

Both will be showcased in Paderborn.

Tying back to the "sharing perspectives" theme, Pinhammer pointed to reverse-vending, a concept grabbing attention in Europe Â… and one that could soon be embraced in parts of North America.

"For environmental reasons in Europe, a customer has to return empty bottles and cans to the retailer," he said. "Then they get a refund. So we have developed a family of products that automate this process."

The reverse-vending system is a Linux-based embedded solution. "A lot of work is involved in taking back the cans and bottles and sorting and handling it all in the store," Pinhammer said. "This is what we automate."

Bringing those global perspectives together is what makes Wincor World atypical, Krause and Pinhammer agreed. Now in its 10th year, the show is unique for the solutions it showcases and the partners it attracts, Krause said. "It's the only event in the world for retail banking that focuses on front, center and back-office processing solutions."