CHICAGO, April 18, 2000 — Today at the Retail Systems 2000 Conference and Exposition, Microsoft Corp. announced the winners of the fifth annual Retail Application Developer (RAD) Awards, highlighting the most innovative Microsoft-based software solutions for the retail and supply chain industries. The Microsoft® RAD Awards recognize application developers that demonstrate industry leadership by creating best-of-breed solutions built on the Windows® platform and which maximize retail business benefits.
“The applicants for the RAD Awards this year brought forward exciting and powerful solutions that take advantage of the reliability and interoperability of the Microsoft platform,”
said Tom Litchford, retail industry manager at Microsoft.
“The winners delivered best-of-breed solutions in a tight field of competition, offering new and improved ways to conduct business in the demanding retail and supply chain markets.”
Of the many entries received this year from the industry’s top retail and supply chain solution developers, only a select few were honored with a RAD Award:
GenesisIntermedia.com Inc. – Best Retail Headquarters Application, Core Retail: Marketing
Solution: CENTERLINQ
CENTERLINQ attracts a diverse audience with one of the most valuable loyalty shopping programs in the United States, providing coupons, directories and quick-touch access to high-profile national advertising partners. CENTERLINQ is accessible via Internet kiosks in shopping malls and provides information regarding the preferences and interests of the consumers who utilize them, enabling businesses to mine the database and successfully target consumers likely to purchase their products and services in the future.
“Our broad use of Microsoft products provides us with a secure platform to support our high volume of traffic while enabling us to continue delivering innovative solutions to consumers and clients,”
said Michael Costa, vice president of Product Management at CENTERLINQ.
“The introduction of Windows 2000 offers us the power to leverage convergence technologies to the benefit of our business model.”
CENTERLINQ, a subsidiary of GenesisIntermedia.com Inc. (Nasdaq
“GENI”
), is a fast-growing portal network accessible to the general public via Internet access kiosks in shopping malls and on the World Wide Web.
InfoGenesis – Best Retail In-Store Application, Hospitality: Food Service
Solution: Revelation
is a robust client/server application designed to stand up to the harsh demands for 100 percent reliability that are common to multirevenue outlet operations in hospitality environments. Whether management of a single restaurant or a combination of fine dining, bar, room service and gift shop operation is at issue, is a complete point-of-sale management solution that can support from two to more than 500 POS terminals.
“InfoGenesis is honored to be a Microsoft RAD winner for 2000,”
said Karl Willig, president and CEO at InfoGenesis.
”
The gratifying success of our product is due in large part to the technological advantage of using Microsoft software and technology. Revelation was developed from the ground up on the Windows NT® platform and utilizes Microsoft SQL Server TM to give our customers powerful knowledge management. Microsoft technology and the exceptional skills of our development team have allowed us to create the most powerful and feature-rich hospitality point-of-sale solution in the world today.”
InfoGenesis is a privately held corporation headquartered in Santa Barbara, Calif. Since 1986, it has specialized in developing and marketing POS application software for the hospitality industry. It currently serves the lodging, gaming, cruise line food service, and amusements and attractions vertical markets.
Ipex Information Technology Group – Best Retail Supply Chain Application, Integration
Solution: RetailTrade.net
In simple terms, RetailTrade.net is a virtual marketplace where sellers can easily display and promote their merchandise and retailers can effortlessly find what they need and buy it. RetailTrade.net is an Internet-based service offered to suppliers and retailers (owners of brick-and-mortar stores). The community is hosted by a market maker, which can be a wholesaler, a distributor, a buying group or any other player in the retail market wishing to capitalize on the value-added services that a trading community has to offer. The role of RetailTrade.net is to place all common business data on a central community portal, enabling multilateral access, communications and transactions. RetailTrade.net’s services are of the earliest adopters of the Microsoft BizTalk TM initiative. Ipex is currently using the BizTalk Framework to design business document schemas for information exchange between trading partners.
“RetailTrade.net provides a different perspective, it being geared toward both vertical and horizontal marketplaces,”
said Aaron Samuel, vice president of marketing and business development at Ipex-ITG. We set up sites that can focus on an industry and a region, for example, sporting goods in Germany. This targeted approach speaks to our customers, who can get the information and the products they need without sifting through Web sites.
“
Ipex Information Technology Group (ITG), established in Australia in 1982, is privately owned and currently employs 1,400 people worldwide. Ipex operates via four main divisions: system integration, software development, products group and consulting services.
NCR Corp. – Best Retail In-Store Application, Food: Grocery and Drug; and Special Recognition, Greatest Business Impact
Solution: NCR Web Kiosk Solutions
The Web Kiosk Solutions from NCR provide an interactive shopping experience that can affect consumers’ behavior while enabling retailers to expand their e-commerce environment, blending the virtual store and physical store. The solutions are a combination of hardware, software and services that allow businesses to increase revenue by offering products and services electronically on the kiosk at the point of decision, and improve customer service by providing detailed, interactive product information.
“NCR’s Web Kiosk Solution builds on the foundations of Microsoft Windows DNA architecture to support the development, distribution and maintenance of customer-facing applications in the store,”
said Tracy Flynn, vice president for Food Industry Marketing at NCR.
“It is a key touchpoint in NCR’s Relationship Technology Solutions for the retail industry. This solution Internet-enables the store, allowing the retailer to repurpose existing Web content for kiosks throughout the store. The use of self-service applications such as the NCR Web Kiosk allow consumers to save valuable time during their shopping store experience, resulting in increased sales, customer satisfaction and loyalty for the food retailer.”
NCR Corp. is a recognized world leader in providing Relationship Technology solutions, including store automation, ATMs and privacy-enabled Teradata warehouses, for the retail, financial, communications, travel and transportation, and insurance markets.
The Pinnacle Corporation – Best Retail Supply Chain Application, Execution
Solution: Fuel Smart
Fuel Smart is a comprehensive, integrated fuel operations, accounting and management information system that automates fuel buying and storing, sales quoting, dispatching, inventory management, billing, tax reporting, and credit and collections. This is the second consecutive year that Fuel Smart has won the RAD Award.
“This award reinforces the impact Fuel Smart has had on petroleum distribution,”
said Bob Johnson, president of Pinnacle.
“Fuel Smart has revolutionized the way petroleum companies manage their fuel purchasing and inventories. The ability to buy fuel at the best market price and deliver it in a timely and accurate manner is critical to the success of c-store and petroleum retailers.”
The Pinnacle Corporation is a leading supplier of automation technology to the convenience store and petroleum industries.
Radiant Systems Inc. – Best Retail In-Store Application, Food: Convenience Store
Solution: Lighthouse POS
A highly graphical touchscreen point-of-sale (POS) system, Lighthouse POS incorporates an excellent user interface, superior architecture and a broad set of functionality. Lighthouse POS goes beyond ordinary point-of-sale systems by making extensive use of video, pictures and animated icons to communicate tasks and processes.
“E-commerce has captured the imagination and much of the attention in the retail industry today,”
said Mark Schoen, director of marketing at Radiant Systems.
“Winning this RAD Award for point of sale is a great reminder that we also continue to build and deploy innovative, practical systems for inside the store. We understand that supply chain efficiency begins by collecting accurate, detailed data at the point of purchase.”
Radiant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq
“RADS”
) is a leader in delivering innovative technology to businesses that serve the consumer. It provides transaction and management systems to support enterprise processes for its clients, which include major oil companies, convenience retailers, quick-service restaurant chains and cinemas.
Sales Management Systems Inc. – Best Retail In-Store Application, General Merchandise; and Special Recognition, Electronic Commerce: Best Use of Web Technologies
Solution: QuickSell Commerce
QuickSell Commerce (QSC) adds multichannel sales to proven in-store management by integrating with best-of-breed Web tools. QSC manages multiple e-stores and traditional business information in one database.
QuickSell Commerce brings Sales Management Systems (SMS) its third and fourth Microsoft RAD Awards. QuickSell 2000 won RAD Awards in 1996 and 1997.
“Retailers’ costs plummet because QSC delivers click-and-order plus brick-and-mortar,”
said Cung Phan, president of SMS.
“Building with Microsoft technologies gave us the tools to deliver the multichannel integration that retailers need to compete. We thoroughly exploited Microsoft SQL Server 7, XML and Windows DNA to pave a smooth highway for retailers’ expansion.”
“Brick and mortar make the best foundation,”
said Eric Hawthorne, director of Product Development at SMS.
“We strengthened our total retail management and easy daily use. QSC bridges bricks and clicks into a multichannel marketing solution. It’s the fourth SMS package that retailers helped us design and Microsoft technology helped us build.”
Exclusively developing off-the-shelf retail packages serving single stores through national chains, SMS is a consistent innovator in Windows-based retail technology. SMS is headquartered in Anaheim, Calif. Its products are sold on five continents through a worldwide network of resellers.
The STS Group – Best Retail Headquarters Application, Core Retail: Merchandising
Solution: MerchantWorks
MerchantWorks is the centerpiece of Connected Merchant, the comprehensive merchandising component of the Connected Retailer suite of software solutions. A Web-enabled, enterprise-focused solution, Connected Merchant simplifies common retail business procedures such as ordering, receiving, price management, inventory monitoring and warehouse management while optimizing their efficiency. Designed on Windows DNA, MerchantWorks features an Internet-enabled infrastructure that allows retailers – and their field-based personnel – to access merchandising applications from any location, enterprisewide.
“We’re most honored that Microsoft has recognized an STS application three out of the past five years,”
said Howard Stotland, president of the STS Group.
“For over a quarter of a century, STS has been committed to developing practical, innovative retail business solutions that impact a retailer’s bottom line. We view this award as the definitive validation of our direction and our accomplishments.”
The STS Group is an international supplier of integrated computer applications designed specifically for retail. Since 1972, it has led the retail software industry with innovative solutions for the entire retail enterprise: merchandising, warehousing, finance, marketing and POS.
Versatil, The IT Company – Special Recognition, Greatest Business Impact
Solution: VENEZIA
VENEZIA was developed based on industry standards, customer feedback and the Versatil experience gained from previous products. It offers full graphical user interface (GUI) merchandise, headquarters, back-office and in-store functions. It also includes integrated POS, telemarketing and virtual store distributed operations, and POS support for OLE for Retail POS standards.
“Versatil is proud to be acknowledged by Microsoft for our efforts in developing barrier-free technology for our customers,”
said Moises Galindo, president and CEO of Versatil.
“VENEZIA is a tool for the new competitive retail generation, offering multilingual support and integrated functions that enable retailers to focus on customer services and business issues instead of technology.”
Versatil, The IT Company, headquartered in Guadalajara, Mexico, has extensive experience in developing software for commercial back-office, in-store operations, POS, telemarketing and, recently, Internet virtual stores. The company’s products and services operate today in more than 380 supermarkets and more than 250 department and specialty stores in Latin American markets.
Honorable Mentions
The judges awarded honorable mentions to Dunn & Dunn Data Systems Inc., The Pinnacle Corporation, Compris Technologies Inc., ICL Retail Systems, Store Automated Systems Inc., R-Net EDI Corp., Kronos Inc., Cost Plus Computer Services and New Market International Inc.
The judging criteria included quantifiable business benefits, best use of Microsoft Windows DNA 2000-based technology and the Microsoft family of platform products, ease of use and adoption, and integration and exploitation of Internet and intranet technology. Applicants were judged on several factors aimed at rewarding solution developers that meet business objectives and satisfy customer needs.
This year’s judges were James R. Poll, architecture program manager at Meijer Inc.; Richard Mader, president, Mader International Consulting, and executive, Association for Retail Technology Standards of the NRF; Tia Potter, publisher, Executive Technology, and editor and publisher, NewsletterGroup, Fairchild Publications; Matt Nannery, senior editor at Chain Store Age; Barry L. Wise, president of Wise Retail Consultants; Robert Grimes, chairman and CEO of CynterCorp. Inc.; John Stiehler, senior manager, Kurt Salmon Associates; and David M. Szymanski, associate director of the Center at Retailing Studies, Al and Marion Withers Research Fellow, and associate professor of marketing, Lowry College and Graduate School of Business, Texas A & M University.
More information on Windows-based solutions in retail is available at http://www.microsoft.com/industry/retail/ .
About Microsoft
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“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.
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