MAGAZINE ARTICLES

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  The Road To Survival Is Challenging, But Profitable

  I’ve been writing for a while now about taking the important and necessary action of expanding your line card beyond the core technologies you currently sell. Never has there been a time when this was more important. Evaporating margins are one thing, while increased competition is another. In either case, many reading this article need to change their businesses to survive.

• Salons And Service: Hot Industries For Recurring Revenue

  This ISV (independent software vendor) is building a giant business in a crowded market by creating subscription-based software applications for a variety of hospitality and service-based retailers.

• Take POS To The Cloud

  Moving its customers to a cloud-based POS model has boosted revenue for this VAR.

• POS Evolution Can Boost Receipt-Printer Sales
• Why Resellers Should Fear PCI Noncompliance
• POS, Marketing Combo Drives Repeat Business

EXECUTIVE COMMENTARY

• Getting The Most From Your Payments Partner

  If you are in the POS business, offering a bundled solution that includes payment processing is probably not a new idea for you.  In fact, it’s probably safe to say that most, if not all, of the dealers reading this article are already realizing the value of residual income from the merchant services component of their business.  Regular, recurring monthly income provided by Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) has influenced many VARs in their efforts to move toward becoming a Managed Services Dealer (MSD).

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  5 Ways to Convince Retailers To Upgrade Their Analog Cameras To IP

  When you compare IP vs. analog, IP video simply offers more. More resolution, functionality, scalability, flexibility – the list goes on. With IP video, retailers and small businesses are not only protecting their property, but also optimizing business efficiencies and reducing costs. Yet many of these additional IP video benefits aren’t discovered until after the system is installed. The best surveillance integrators out there know how to position these benefits as part of the sales cycle to prove that, with IP video, there’s much more value. Here are 5 key benefits to help convince your customers to switch today

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  3 IP Camera Selection Mistakes You'll Regret

  If you're new to the video surveillance game, you should be leaning on your vendor and distributor partners as much as possible for help. Making mistakes is unavoidable, but you can take steps to minimize the severity and frequency of those you do make. In addition to help from your partners, I recently spoke with Thomas McIntyre, National Sales Manager for the US and Canada at Merit Lilin USA who identified three common mistakes you could make when it comes to IP cameras.

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  3 Reasons IP Cameras Are Better Than Analog

  Analog physical security solutions continue to be replaced by more advanced IP solutions.  The benefits are clear, and if security dealers arm themselves with the key features of IP solutions, they will be well on their way to migrating their customers over to these productivity-enhancing solutions, while serving as trusted advisors to their customers.

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  IP Video For Mom & Pop Retailers

  IP video used to only make sense for mid- to large-sized surveillance systems [32 cameras or more]. But today smaller systems – and budgets – can reap big benefits with IP video. This is thanks to the continued decreasing cost of IP technology coupled with different storage and migration options of today. Here are a few ways to make the most of the system.

WHITE PAPERS & CASE STUDIES

• 10 Reasons To Switch To IP-based Video

  In this paper we’ll take a look at ten key motivators for switching from analog to IP-based cameras. Obtain a more reliable security system, reduce costs, and create value for your business.

• IP-Surveillance Design Guide

  This document is a guide to setting up an IP-Surveillance system in a small- to medium-sized security installation. It provides an overview of network video’s functionalities and benefits, and outlines considerations and recommendations for implementing such a system.

• In The Best Of Light: The Challenges Of Minimum Illumination

  Light is fundamental to the quality of an image. As a rule, provided it is not overexposed, the image will be better the more light that is available in the scene. If the amount of light is insufficient, the image will be noisy or dark. The amount of light that is required to produce a good-quality image depends on the camera and how sensitive to light it is. In other words, the darker the scene, the more sensitive to light the camera has to be.

• The Mobile Payment Revolution
• Choctaw Casinos Saves More Than $300,000 With IP Surveillance And Serverless Computing
• Rochester Police Department Cuts Crime By 80% With Help From Serverless Computing

POS & PAYMENT PROCESSING HEADLINES

• Partner Tech’s Launches New POS Display Solution
• Mercury To Pay Membership Dues For Resellers, Developers Interested In Joining RSPA
• RSPA Appointed To The PCI Security Standards Council Board Of Advisors
• SmartReceipt Partners With Copperstate Restaurant Technologies And Quality Retail Systems To Further Penetrate Hospitality POS Marketplace
• Lavu iPad POS Provides Upgrades For Restaurant Chains

RECENT POS NEWSLETTERS

• 03.18.13 -- 3 Roadblocks To Retail's as-a-Service Transition
• 03.04.13 -- Untangling The Confusion Around Cloud-Based POS
• 02.18.13 -- All-In-One POS Terminal Product Reviews
• 02.04.13 -- Making Mobile POS Pay

MULTIMEDIA

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  Video Demo: SATO GL408e SATO America took some time at value-added distributor BlueStar's recent VARTECH Canada event in Montreal, Quebec to show off its GL408e desktop barcode printer. As seen in the below video, the printer's versatility with media, maintenance, emulations, and upgradeability all are addressed in the demo I had a chance to sit in on.
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  Panasonic Provides Command Center For Video Security During the ASIS 2010 conference and exhibition in Dallas, Business Solutions magazine Chief Editor Mike Monocello had the opportunity to learn more about Panasonic's video surveillance solutions. In the below video, a quick demonstration is given to show how Panasonic ties video security solutions together in the command center.
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  Panasonic Shows Off Its Line Of Video Cameras The below video was shot at the recently held ASIS 2010 conference and exhibition in Dallas. Mike Monocello, Business Solutions magazine's chief editor, was on hand to get a short overview of Panasonic's line of video security cameras.
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  Panasonic Talks Video Security For Retail At the recently held ASIS 2010 conference and exhibition in Dallas, Business Solutions magazine Chief Editor Mike Monocello had a chance to get a quick overview of Panasonic's video camera and DVR solutions for retail point of sale (POS).

FEATURED PRODUCTS

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  EVO Barcode Scanner Featuring an aggressive scan engine with no moving parts, the extremely durable EVO Barcode Scanner is perfect for use in any Point of Sale or Light/Medium industrial environment.
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  TG3 Series Retail Tag Printers Great looking tags bag great customer sales. The tag and labeling of your merchandise reflects the value of your product and company. Nothing communicates more about your brand, your pricing, and your merchandise than a high quality tag or label.
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  Mobility/AIDC Solutions At BlueStar We at BlueStar, with assistance from our mobility vendors, believe that offering our solution providers with the right tools, solutions, and education we can build a strong foundation for selling and implementing mobility solutions.
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  Captuvo Series Of Enterprise Sleds For Apple® Devices

  Honeywell’s Captuvo series positions discerning enterprises to improve their customers’ overall experience, empower their employees and elevate their brand. Users can capitalize on the mainstream popularity of Apple devices with these unique engagement tools.