Modular Point of Sale Terminal is the Clear Choice for Glass Museum

By Lisa Kerner

Being in the right booth at the right trade show helps point of sale VAR Pippard, Inc. close the deal with the Corning Museum of Glass.

Last year, more than 280,000 people visited the Corning Museum of Glass to learn everything there is to learn about glass, including how to make it. The museum is located between Niagara Falls and New York City, in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. In 1999, the museum underwent extensive remodeling, opening the Corning Museum of Glass Shops featuring seven retail boutiques.

Being in the right place at the right time helped point of sale (POS) VAR Pippard, Inc. land the sale of new POS terminals to the museum. “BlueStar Distributors (Florence, KY) invited us to demonstrate its new MRT (modular retail terminal) POS system at the 1998 RISCON trade show in Denver,” explains Al Pippard, president of Pippard, Inc. (Burlington, Ontario). “A BlueStar Software Solutions Partner had interested John Fish, retail operations manager for the Corning Museum of Glass, in the MRT. I met with him about the solution.” After RISCON, it took numerous phone calls, faxes, and e-mails from Pippard to Fish (and a visit from Fish to Pippard) before a deal was struck. The sales cycle took approximately six months.

IBM Terminals Replaced with Custom Configured MRTs
The Corning Museum of Glass had been using IBM 4694 POS terminals. According to Pippard, the terminals’ shortcomings included slow processing speed, a small display, and unsightly wiring. In addition, it was difficult to move the terminals to accommodate sales and special events held throughout the museum. One requirement the museum had was that the new system has fiber-optic, high-speed LAN (local area network) connectivity.

Pippard sold the museum 27 MRT terminals at a cost of $5,820 each. Because the MRT is modular, each component is selected to meet a retailer’s specific requirements. For the Corning Museum of Glass, Pippard chose the following components: the IEE pole display, Preh touch monitor, Keytronic keyboard, Welch Allyn magnetic stripe reader, and Symbol bar code scanner. Other components included the Ithaca impact printer, Flytech book-size computer, Minuteman uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and Wintegrity POS software (later changed to Synchronics software). Pippard sourced the components through BlueStar.

The IEE pole display was chosen for its “clarity of presentation” and its customizable pole height (Corning uses an 8-inch pole), according to Pippard. The display is also OPOS (object linking and embedding for point of sale)-compliant, which the museum required. OPOS-compliant hardware is designed to integrate easily with other OPOS-compliant devices.

The MRTs articulating (adjustable height) flat panel display and remote (under the counter) cash drawers reduced the overall system height by 10 inches. The new system has no exposed wires, connectors, dials, or switches, meeting the museum’s desire to remove “unsightly” wiring.

Learning the Lay of the LAN
Pippard is well versed on MRT configuration, having installed more than 1,500 of the terminals. However, the Corning Museum of Glass installation presented Pippard with some integration challenges. “Installing and testing the dual-function Ethernet / fiber-optic LAN cards was a new process for us,” notes Pippard. The preloading of the POS software required special programming of the field separators for the magnetic stripe readers. Also, the Symbol 6000 bar code reader was new to the market – and to Pippard.

The MRTs arrived as the museum from Pippard’s facility fully assembled. Installation involved placing the units on the counters, sliding the cash drawers in place, plugging in the power cords, connecting the cash drawer RJ-12 connectors, and connecting the LAN. The MRTs were operational within minutes of installation.

“The employees required very little training on the MRT,” says Pippard. “We provided instruction sheets highlighting lock and security features. Manuals outline the care of the printers. The Corning Museum of Glass organized operator training on the software.” Pippard is providing the museum with a one-year warranty that includes telephone support and same-day dispatch of replacement modules.

Pippard reports that Fish is pleased with the new system. “Corning continues to recommend the MRT, inviting potential MRT users to visit the museum,” notes Pippard, who’s landed more business as a result.