EPSON demonstrates OPOS-compliant products; OLE-for-point-of-sale standard increases versatility with plug-and-play hardware & software

Business Wire, June 11, 1996

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 11, 1996--EPSON's commitment to provide plug and play hardware for the POS market was further underscored Tuesday as the company exhibited its extensive line of OPOS-compliant TM printers and customer displays at the Retail Systems show.

EPSON's OPOS-compliant products include the TM-U950, TM-U375, TM-U925, TM-H5000, TM-U200 and TM-T85 POS printers and the DM-D202II, DM-D1010II, DM-D203 and DM-D102 customer displays.

"With OPOS, the POS application need not know vendor-specific characteristics of the hardware, connection port or other physical properties," said Bud Weist, business unit director, EPSON. "This simplifies and shortens the software development process."

EPSON, along with Microsoft, NCR and Post Software Inc. (PSI) initiated work on the OPOS standard last year. The standard was developed to increase product versatility and ensure open architecture hardware and software products. In the past, developers would have to know the detailed characteristics of each manufacturers peripherals and write a driver for each and interface it with the desired software program accordingly. Today, under the OPOS standard, "generic" control objects are written for POS printers, displays, cash drawers, scanners and other peripherals to save time in software development. Vendor-specific "service" objects take care of details for each manufacturer's individual product requirements so retailers can put a variety of hardware and software products together into a custom POS solution.

In addition to developing service objects for their TM and display products, EPSON is working with third party vendors to help ensure compatibility with other peripheral products such as cash drawers, scanners and touch screen products.

EPSON offers an array of technology products for the OEM market, including liquid crystal displays (LCDs), PC cards, storage products, handheld computers, point-of-sale printers and intelligent terminals. For the consumer and business markets, EPSON offers ink jet, laser and dot matrix printers as well as scanners, LCD video projectors and digital cameras.

Founded in 1975, Epson America Inc. is an affiliate of Seiko Epson Corp., a global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality technology products that meet customer demand for increased functionality, compactness, systems integration and energy efficiency. Epson America has headquarters in Torrance, Calif.

For more information on OEM products, please call 310/787-6300 or visit EPSON's corporate Website at http://www.epson.com. -0-

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CONTACT: EPSON, Torrance

Janette Reynolds, 310/782-5161

310/782-5179 (fax)

or

Base One Marketing

Julie O'Brien, 310/792-1877