At Kiosk London Expo 2013 (16-17 October 2013, Barbican Centre, London) Star Micronics, the world's leading installer of packaged and modular specialist kiosk printing solutions, will be exhibiting its extensive range of industry-leading products including its new compact kiosk – the AsuraCPRNT™, as well as demonstrating POS printer integration with Apple iOS and Android devices.
Despite its reputation for being the world's largest manufacturer of kiosk printers, Star is predominantly a POS printer solution provider with a range of customers from McDonald's to Harrods of Knightsbridge. With this in mind, Star is constantly developing new and innovative products for the POS market. Its latest development has taken a completely new direction with the production of a unique and intelligent interactive communication platform – the AsuraCPRNT, an 'All-in-One' POS communication system with an integrated printer combining the company's expertise with peripheral management. Star finds this new development lends itself to a recognisable gap in the POS market for a versatile, compact kiosk that the manufacturer envisages could be strategically located on shelves, display stands, mobile units, etc.
More versatile and cost-effective than current solutions today, the AsuraCPRNT has been optimised to support the connection of external USB peripherals from biometric scanners to 3G/4G dongles, and has been developed specifically for low cost integration on Linux or Android operating platforms with effective and professionally supported SDKs for both available. Windows based developers can take advantage of the AsuraCPRNT's Thin Client capability.
At its heart is the powerful ARM A8 Cortex processor that manages the 7" touch screen and 80mm intelligent receipt, ticket and coupon printer housed within. Featuring an internal speaker and with the scalability of external audio in and out ports, the AsuraCPRNT is available with optional integrated MSR, Barcode or combined MSR/barcode readers. NFC options will also be accommodated as connectivity with the mobile world is considered key, with the need to drive applications and web content to other digital devices such as store kiosks, merchant tablets and customers' smart phones as BYOD campaigns become more popular.
The AsuraCPRNT successfully combines Star's expertise with peripheral management and multi-platform integration to create a kiosk that is at the forefront of next generation retail technology. Its success to date is reflected in the range of environments and applications in which it is being deployed from supermarkets in Russia to schools in France. This is due to the uniqueness and sheer versatility of the AsuraCPRNT. Much more than a standard kiosk, this innovative solution offers a unique way to engage customers, simplify and personalise the purchase experience and ultimately maximise sales.
Maximising valuable store space as a compact desktop replacement for traditional POS terminals as well as larger interactive kiosks and information points, the AsuraCPRNT can integrate seamlessly into any environment as a stand-alone terminal, server or Thin Client solution whether at store entry, point-of-sale or shelf edge to run product advertising, retail merchandising and point-of-sale promotions. This cost-effective solution offers a wealth of applications from queue management solutions to in-store browsing and endless aisle reservation systems, loyalty and coupon redemption and ticket validation. Its versatility is further highlighted by the fact it can run different functions at the same time, for example providing a customer interactive terminal while running a series of Ethernet enabled plasmas. The beauty of this solution is that the range of applications is endless.
Beyond the AsuraCPRNT, Star will be demonstrating POS printer integration with Apple iOS and Android devices. Mobile POS printing has a number of different meanings depending on the application required. To Star, this signifies versatile print control from mobile devices/cloud computing including HTML 5 to both desktop and mobile printers using Apple iOS, Windows or Android devices.
With the rapid emergence of iPad and Android POS applications for retail and hospitality and the growing integration of iOS and Android tablets into kiosks, Star is one of the leading providers of advanced driver and platform support for mobile POS applications, as demonstrated by its advanced iOS and Android POS printer SDK: StarIO for iOS and Android.
Annette Tarlton, Marketing Director, Star Micronics EMEA, states, "Kiosk London Expo provides Star with an excellent platform to demonstrate its pioneering approach and extensive range of industry-leading products to a large number of high quality end users and kiosk integrators. From its new compact kiosk, AsuraCPRNT, to its position as one of the leading providers of advanced driver and platform support for mobile POS applications, Star effectively meets changing customer demands with innovative and reliable, yet low cost solutions."
Background Information on Star Micronics
Founded in 1947, Star Micronics is one of the world's largest printer manufacturers and has facilities for worldwide production, marketing and support. Employing over 2600 staff and achieving turnover in excess of £270 million, Star Micronics has developed a POS printer portfolio that spans thermal and dot matrix printers and mechanisms, designed for barcode, ticketing, receipts and labelling. Star's proven technology is also being utilised to develop reader/writer systems for visual/smart and magnetic stripe cards and to install print mechanisms in multimedia kiosk environments. The Star Micronics' range is available internationally via a distribution channel comprising distributors and dealers.
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