The MPED-400 is a PCI EMV and Common Criteria approved mobile Pin Entry Device. With a host of connectivity options including Bluetooth, USB and Serial, the PED can be used for a large range of payment applications from fixed point of sale to payments taken in the field. The ergonomic and light weight design make the MPED-400 ideally suited to business on the move.

With the “handpoint Headstart” payment application and the handpoint payment gateway, a vast range of new opportunities are opened up to mobile chip and pin. The PCI and Merchant Bank approved gateway allows payments to be processed efficiently and securely through an internet connection. The platforms which the solution can work upon are Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Windows PC and Android. Early in 2012, IoS will also become available.

Michael Ashcroft, Director of Technical Services at Maxatec commented: “Tied with the MPED-400 and a handheld device, chip and pin payment can now be integrated easily into your mobile application. This tight integration allows PCI compliant chip and pin payments to be made, thereby increasing the cash flow in any business.”

Ashcroft continued, “The “handpoint Headstart” application runs on a multitude of operating systems including Windows Mobile, Windows CE and Android. This provides a simple integration platform for what was historically a complex payment mechanism. With Bluetooth communication and Triple Des encryption, the MPED-400 provides the highest security available for your customer’s confidence.”

The addition of mobile payment solutions to the Maxatec range, reinforces the company’s focus on the mobile market sector and the relationship with Datecs and handpoint typifies the continuing drive to engage with differentiated suppliers.

Jamal Maknin, Director at Datecs; “We are pleased to be working with Maxatec as the MPED-400 fits neatly into their product offering. Combined with the handpoint Headstart solution, we have a fully secure, certified managed solution which should enable us to gain real traction in the mobile payment sector. Mobile payment is new, exciting and an important area that can be delivered to a multitude of verticals and with the MPED-400, Maxatec and handpoint, we are coming to market at exactly the right time.”

Maknin added: “Maxatec has great expertise and experience in mobile products and applications. Their value added, technical approach make them a very important partner for Datecs to deliver product into the huge potential customer base.”

About Maxatec
Maxatec is an ISO 9001:2008 certified Value Added Supplier of Specialist IT Hardware, Software and Services to the Mobile, AIDC and EPOS market sectors. Maxatec supplies CognitiveTPG receipt and barcode printers, TSC barcode printers, Bluebird Pidion mobile computing devices, Smart Terminals mobile computing devices, NCR POS terminals, Longshine POS terminals, Datamax-O’Neil mobile receipt and label printers, as well as a range of barcode scanners, touchscreen monitors, other peripheral devices, and own-branded products. Maxatec also offers software, professional services, and a wide range of media, spare parts and in-house and on-site service capabilities. The Maxatec brand is synonymous with high standards of service as well as high performance, high quality products. (www.maxatec-europe.com)

About Datecs
Datecs was founded in 1990 in Bulgaria and specialises in the design and production of EPOS and mobile products. State of the art factory and distribution facilities teamed with technical excellence and global market knowledge, enables Datecs to design and produce the technologies of today and tomorrow. Datecs’ product range includes EPOS products (printers, ECRs, terminals, weighscales, pole displays) and mobile products (printers, scanners, card readers, payment devices, GPRS terminals) that are operable with consumer, industrial and enterprise products on a range of operating systems (Windows, iOS, Android, Palm, Blackberry). With distribution in over 70 countries and an expansion in local offices, Datecs is able to develop and support products locally for the global market. (www.datecs.co.uk)

About Handpoint
Handpoint was established 13 years ago, and specializes in mobile payments on Smartphones, Tablets and Handheld Devices, enabling merchants to accept all card payments (MSR, EMV and NFC) in a secure way and greatly reducing PCI costs. handpoint has a complete end-to-end payment solution covering mobiles, tablets and PC’s and a fully PCI-DSS certified payment Bureau (also known as a “gateway”), for both authorisations and settlements. (www.handpoint.com)

For more information contact
Andrea Percival
Maxa Technologies

Mistletoe, carols and overeating are all part of a traditional British Christmas. Conversely, in January it is customary to rein in the purse strings and recoup the festive indulgences of the previous month. For one major UK retailer, January 2012 was set to be a particularly frugal beginning to the new year: earlier this month, Tesco reported its first profit warning in 20 years. However the retailer was given a boost when US billionaire Warren Buffett, owner of the Berkshire Hathaway Group invested a reported £500m to raise his stake in the supermarket chain, according to the Financial Times.

On the high street there was positive news as shoppers took full advantage of pre-Christmas price-slashing – sales volumes rose by 0.6% between November and December, according to official figures published in the Guardian. Reported sales were 2.6% higher than the same period in 2010.

In the fashion industry, budget retailer Primark benefited from shoppers making frugal choices over the festive season, reporting a healthy sales period and expansion in Europe. Total sales were up by 16pc in the 16 weeks to January 7 compared to the previous year.

In not-so-cheerful retail news, Home Retail Group, owner of Argos and Homebase, reported a drop in sales compared to last year – 2.6pc at Homebase and 8.8pc at Argos: the retailer has announced that a number of Argos stores will close next year when leases expire. Sales online have increased from 38pc to 41pc of total transactions.

That’s all for January – Maxatec hopes your business fared well in 2011 and wishes you a very prosperous new year.

Arbor Technology, an ISO-9001 certified company, has evolved in recent years as one of the major players in rugged tablet PCs. Established in 1993, and with a firm foothold in the embedded and network computing sector, Arbor has used its wide-ranging expertise to deliver board-level to system integrated solutions to a wide range of industries. The release of the rugged tablet computers in 2010 marked a significant step in Arbor’s strategic plans to expand board-level expertise to complete system integrated solutions.

Steve Berry, Director at Maxa Technologies, said: “The product offering from Arbor is a great fit with our expanding mobile computing product set. The quality and performance of the Gladius range is superb, and we have been delighted with the all-round support offered to us from Arbor UK and Taiwan as we have been moving forward to release the products to our channel. It is essential for us to select supportive partners with high quality products, and Arbor fits this position exceptionally well. We have already seen significant interest from some of our key market areas and this is a really encouraging start to our partnership.”

The Gladius range of rugged tablet PCs from Arbor consist of 7”, 8” and 10” options. The Intel Atom processors used in all the products means that the Gladius range delivers significant processing capabilities with very low power consumption. The Gladius is a fanless design and the dual Li-ion battery packs provide about 8 hours of running time. The G0720 and G0820 both have sunlight readable touchscreens, and a range of industry specifications including IP54 and MIL-STD-810F, making the products suitable for outdoor use.

Phil Bull, UK Manager for Arbor Technology UK Limited, commented:- “Partnering with Maxatec now enables us to aggressively drive forward with our product set into the UK market. We want to leverage our strengths and core competencies so that we can create new and incremental revenue streams, and a strong working relationship.”

Bull continued:- “We all know how dynamic the mobile computing market has become in recent years, and it is so important for our chosen partners to have real focus on both products and markets. Maxatec has a clearly defined strategy and vision with emphasis on partnering with companies for the long-term, and this is one of the key reasons we selected Maxatec as our partner in the UK.”

In addition to the Gladius range, Arbor also offer a range of tablets for the medical and healthcare markets. Key design elements have been taken into account for these products including anti-vibration and shock specifications, biometric fingerprint validation, safety requirements for medical electrical systems, radio disturbance and immunity characteristics and much more.

About Maxatec
Maxatec is an ISO 9001:2008 certified Value Added Supplier of Specialist IT Hardware, Software and Services to the Mobile, AIDC and EPOS market sectors. Maxatec supplies CognitiveTPG receipt and barcode printers, TSC barcode printers, Bluebird Pidion mobile computing devices, Smart Terminals mobile computing devices, Skeye mobile computing devices, NCR POS terminals, Longshine POS terminals, Datamax-O’Neil mobile receipt and label printers, as well as a range of barcode scanners, touchscreen monitors, other peripheral devices, and own-branded products. Maxatec also offers software, professional services, and a wide range of media, spare parts and in-house and on-site service capabilities. The Maxatec brand is synonymous with high standards of service as well as high performance, high quality products. (www.maxatec-europe.com)

About Arbor Technology
Founded in 1993, ARBOR Technology is an ISO-9001 certified designer and manufacturer of rugged tablet PCs, specialising in mobile and rugged computing in the fields of transportation and mobile communications. Arbor Technology has over 10 years of embedding and networking expertise with time-tested ability of providing board-level to system integrated solutions to a wide range of industries. With a sound base in embedded computing products, Arbor has developed a global reputation for delivering solutions to a vast range of customers and has more recently evolved as a leading provider of rugged tablet PCs specialising in the military, industrial and healthcare market sectors. (www.arbor-uk.com)

For more information, contact:
Andrea Percival
Maxa Technologies Limited
+44 (0) 161 942 7850
info@maxatec-europe.com

One major brand feeling particularly frosty this season is HMV. Simon Fox, chief executive of the entertainment retailer, had previously been optimistic in his predictions on sales figures for the Christmas period; citing the ‘X Factor effect’ as a potential boost to sales. However this years’ winners have failed to shift records, with the least sales since 2004’s winner – although Fox blames this on their performance rather than the market in general. HMV has just announced that its live music venues are up for sale, in an attempt to rescue the ailing company, which has recently seen music sales fall by 20pc in six months.

Luckily it’s not all doom and gloom on the high street – grocery sales are far from vegetating, with supermarkets predicted to take 35 billion this week as shoppers stock up on festive fayre. This is a marked increase on last year’s figures,  and will complete a Christmas three-week trading period up to 24 December;  forecast to be worth around £9.2 billion.

We hope your business is thriving this Christmas period. Here at Maxatec we’d like to wish all of our valued customers a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.  The news round up will be back in January with a post Christmas review of the retail sector.

Hoeft & Wessel’s primary focus is on quality and innovation, expertise and reliability offering a wide range of products for the wholesale & retail and logistics sectors. The quality, German designed and engineered products include the skeye.dart, a robust top-of-the-line PDA, the skeye.e-motion, a rugged IP54 rated tablet and the skeye.pos, a versatile mobile or stationary POS terminal.

Hoeft & Wessel is focusing on extending its international business activities for its mobile solutions and has implemented a global channel programme to differentiate partnerships. The Skeye channel programme consists of Value Added Distributor status along with Platinum, Gold and Silver partnerships and has been designed to provide partners with greater support, training and protection in the very dynamic and competitive mobile computing market.

Paul Carrington, UK Sales Manager for Hoeft & Wessel’s Skeye products said: “It is our company objective to aggressively grow our share of the UK market. Maxatec offers the perfect partner for us to reach further into this key market, with a strong understanding of the mobile arena, as well as an excellent reputation for service and support. Maxatec is not only proactive when it comes to sales and marketing, but consistently exceeds expectations with its level of technical expertise and support.”

Maxatec will be distributing the full Hoeft & Wessel mobile product portfolio which, in addition to the products mentioned earlier, includes the skeye.integral mobile rugged handheld device, the skeye.allegro, a flexible rugged mobile device with IP65 rating, and the skeye.pad, a high performance tablet for a wide range of applications in the field service and logistics sectors.

Andrea Percival, director at Maxatec said: “The agreement to distribute Hoeft & Wessel skye handheld products in the UK really complements our existing portfolio. The Skeye brand and differentiated range of terminals from Hoeft & Wessel, make them exactly the type of supply partner we try to work with. The objective is clearly to develop the channel and increase sales, and we are delighted that Skeye have selected Maxatec as their distribution partner. We will be working closely with Paul Carrington to develop the reseller base and develop specific market areas, at the same time driving leads and sales back into the channel. We work very closely with all of our supply partners and our differentiation is not to take on a plethora of overlapping products and cloud the picture for our resellers. Our products are all high quality, high performance and competitively priced – and the Skeye brand and rugged handheld product portfolio is a perfect match for us.”

About Maxatec

Maxatec is an ISO 9001:2008 certified Value Added Supplier of Specialist IT Hardware, Software and Services to the Mobile, AIDC and EPOS market sectors. Maxatec supplies CognitiveTPG receipt and barcode printers, TSC barcode printers, Bluebird Pidion mobile computing devices, Smart Terminals mobile computing devices, NCR POS terminals, Longshine POS terminals, Datamax-O’Neil mobile receipt and label printers, as well as a range of barcode scanners, touchscreen monitors, other peripheral devices, and own-branded products. Maxatec also offers software, professional services, and a wide range of media, spare parts and in-house and on-site service capabilities. The Maxatec brand is synonymous with high standards of service as well as high performance, high quality products, now to include skeye handhelds and mobile rugged handhelds. (www.maxatec-europe.com)

About Hoeft & Wessel

Hoeft & Wessel is the leading IT and engineering technology Group for ticketing, parking and mobile solutions in Germany and Great Britain. Established in 1978 by the two entrepreneurs who gave the company its name, the enterprise has developed into a group of companies with sales revenues of nearly EUR 100 million and a workforce of 500 employees. Its main locations are Hannover, Germany, and Swindon, UK, to the west of London. According to the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, Hoeft & Wessel ranks amongst the top companies in Europe. As one of Europe’s largest manufacturers, Hoeft & Wessel provides with its Skeye brand a wide range of mobile terminals and rugged handhelds, e.g. for retail, logistics, field services, hospitality, as well as point-of-sale solutions. Hoeft & Wessel is the market leader in Germany’s retail sector.

For more information contact

Andrea Percival

Maxa Technologies

Andrea.percival@maxatec-europe.com

+44 (0) 161 942 7850

US ‘Black Friday’ shopping craze may be here until after Christmas
Competition between retailers is set to become even more fierce this year as the American ‘Black Friday’ shopping tradition hits UK shores. Amazon pioneered the pre-Christmas sale period on its UK site last year but was criticised after products sold out ‘within seconds’, triggering mass complaints from customers. This year, retailers including Marks & Spencer, Comet and the Early Learning Centre will be slashing online and high street prices during the run up to Christmas, with industry experts predicting that prices will continue to fall until after the Christmas period.

Ebay opens ‘experimental’ high street outlet
In a five day experiment designed to encourage shoppers to visit ‘real shops’, online auction giant Ebay is opening a high street store near London’s Oxford street. The store will display a pick of bestselling items with QR barcodes for customers to scan with a smart phone and bid online, instead of having tills. The store will also feature tablet computers to enable customers to access the online store. The store will be open for business from 1-5 December on Dean Street, just off Oxford Street.

Everyday use of mobile equipment such as smart phones make it extremely important that manufacturers of any business focused device keep pace with consumer products in terms of compatibility, integration and common platforms. B2B and B2C were once very separate markets but mobile working has changed all that, and hence connectivity has taken many steps forward.

Michael Ashcroft, Director of Technical Services at Maxa Technologies commented: “The availability of a Software Development Kit that covers such a wide range of mobile operating systems is a revelation. These SDKs simplify the development process allowing systems integrators to deliver printing capable applications effectively and efficiently meeting the modern day requirements. Previously integrating printing into a mobile application would have involved developers understanding and coding complex strings of commands that were documented in extensive volumes of manuals. I look forward to working with our customers to deliver mobile printing application across the many devices out in the market place.”

The new SDK provides integration with the Sewoo LK-P mobile label and receipt printers delivering a plethora of opportunity to businesses, and making integration much easier from the ISV perspective.

John Lewis Detail Riot Damage

John Lewis has been one of the first to put figures to the damage caused by the riots earlier in the month. On August 8th rioters and looters broke into the Croydon store, leaving the shop closed for a day. It wasn’t just stores in riot areas such as Leicester (-10.8%) and Liverpool (-17.6%) that have seen a fall in takings but also areas where rioting was suggested such as Watford (-14.0%) and the Bluewater Shopping Centre (-8.9%). However a glimmer of good news suggests online sales were benefitting as customers preferred to stay at home.

Lush Launch New Site after ICO Investigation

Dorset based cosmetics brand Lush have been forced to develop a new website after their previous one had been taken down after it left customer details vulnerable. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found the site had breached the Data Protection Act between October 2010 and January 2011.

Holiday Multi Channel Given Go Ahead

Thomas Cook, The Co-Operative Group and the Midlands Co-Operative have been given the go ahead to launch a multichannel travel company. The company was subject to an investigation by the Competition Commission but was found not to pose a threat to other companies on the high street. The company will be majority owned by Thomas Cook (66.5%) and The Co-Operative Group and the Midlands taking 30% and 3.5% respectively.

The Datamax-O’Neil RL4 is the industry’s most rugged 4-inch portable label printer designed for harsh working environments. Combining flexibility and speed with easy integration, the RL4 has proven its superior reliability by delivering labels even after a series of intensive tests. The Datamax-O’Neil RL4 is the only portable label printer to achieve the MIL-STD 810 drop standard which requires 26 consecutive drops at 6 feet to concrete. In addition to its rugged design, it is also easy to use and ready for integration into all the common barcode emulation languages and communication protocols.

The Bluebird ‘Pidion’ BIP-1500 is the latest addition to the BIP-1000 series which was the world’s first all-in-one mobile POS device, integrating voice and data communications. Equipped with a PXA 320 @ 806MHz processor the BIP-1500 runs on MS Windows Mobile 6.5 operating sysem and supports GSM/HSDPA (3.5G), 802.11b/g, Bluetooth and GPS. Options include integrated 2” or 3” thermal printing, 1D laser scanner or 2D CMOS imager and a 3 megapixel autofocus camera. For secure payment transactions, the device offers a built-in PIN-pad with MSR, IC and RF card reader or a built-in fingerprint scanner with MSR and IC card reader.
Andrea Percival of Maxatec has said ‘We are delighted to be part of the Service Management Expo, it’s always an excellent event full of exciting products.’ She added ‘by showcasing some our most popular lines we hope to show visitors how the technology we supply can improve nearly every industry.’

In addition to the Pidion BI-1500, Maxatec will be exhibiting the full range of Bluebird ‘Pidion’ mobile computing devices, including rugged handheld computers, PDA devices and barcode scanners. The Datamax-O’Neil range of printers being exhibited includes the RL4 rugged mobile label printer, 2”, 3” and 4” Apex portable receipt printers, Microflash portable thermal receipt printers.

SOTI remote management software will also be demonstrated on the stand – delivering customers a complete package for any mobile application requiring a mobile computing device, mobile printer and the ability to manage the system remotely.

Award winning West Lothian butchers, Hugh Black and Sons have increased their productivity and improved cash flow after installing new Electronic Point-of-Sale (EPOS) equipment.

Retail Computer Systems (RCS) designed and developed a butchery software system which controls the purchasing, tracking and processing of meat products and which is fully integrated into the RCS Merchandise system – ‘Streetwise’. Designed to manage both single and multiple sites, the butchery system manages Head Office, Warehouse, Processing Plant and EPOS to provide central control over each stage of the whole process.

The 23 new EPOS systems in operation consists of a FT150 POS terminal, a MT150 receipt printer, space poles, an Advantage LX 2” label printer, a Zebex Z6010 barcode scanner, cash drawers, scales and serve over displays.

The system was supplied by Retail Computer Systems (RCS) using Maxa Technologies hardware. The hardware was adapted using a bespoke pole mounting system to allow the POS system to fit neatly in a limited space and replaced the firm’s more traditional cash registers and scales for meat preparation and sales.

Craig Black, Director comments:

“The new system has been running for six months now and we are pleased with the results. We chose this particular solution against other competitors because we felt we would get a system designed specifically for our needs and would allow us to expand and have more control throughout all stages of the processing to retail sales.”

Managing Director of Retail Computer Systems (RCS), David Boland says:

“We are very happy to have a strong Supply Partner such as Maxatec especially when having to custom design systems such as this. The whole process from original brief, through to design and installation took around 15 months because we needed to make major modifications to RCS software as we went along in order to fine-tune the spec. We also had to make sure that it met all the latest Weights and Measures standards”.

Andrea Percival, managing director of Maxa Technologies says:

“We are delighted that Hugh Black and Sons has benefitted from our hardware and has become yet another satisfied customer to add to our existing customers in this sector. Butchers can start with PC Scales linked to a POS Register and then build on the system to meet their requirements. We have worked closely with RCS for some years now, and value our partnership with them.”