News

Retailer Tesco buys handheld terminals for U.K. stores

July 29, 2003

EVERETT, Wash. -- Supermarket retailer Tesco announced it will buy nearly 10,000 of Intermec's handheld computer device, the 700 Series Color, for use throughout its U.K. store network.

According to a news release, Tesco required a rugged device that offers radio frequency mobile communication and can accommodate moves from a text-based to a graphical platform, as well as from terminal emulation to Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

"We were impressed by the innovation, flexibility and adaptability of the Intermec 700 Color computer," said Philip Robbins-Jones, IT strategic development director at Tesco. "Intermec's outstanding technical capabilities and commitment to providing a solution customized to our needs have helped to speed and ease the implementation of this technology."

Tesco is using the devices for in-store price markdowns in combination with a portable printer, printing new shelf-edge labels, logging general stock transactions and producing planagrams of product layouts and shelf designs. They are being used in the field for checking delivery accuracy by matching deliveries against invoices in real time.

The Intermec 700 Color features a wireless local area (802.11b) radio, a wide area network radio and a fully integrated power-managed Bluetooth radio. It has an easy-to-read color touchscreen that can be used with either pen or keyboard data entry.

The release said the 700 Color is the first enterprise pocket PC to offer an imager suitable for reading barcodes, taking photographs and capturing signatures.