The Home Depot Rolls with Wincor Nixdorf's Mobile POS Systems for Expo Design Centers; Versatile BEETLE/Mobile POS Serves Dual Roles as Point-of-Sale and Inventory Management System

Business Wire, July 23, 2001

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2001

Wincor Nixdorf Inc., a leading provider of IT products and solutions to the retail and banking industries, today announced that The Home Depot (NYSE:HD) has chosen the BEETLE(R)/Mobile POS platform for supporting their mobile inventory management applications in the company's Expo Design Center stores.

Wincor Nixdorf's Mobile POS incorporates a standard BEETLE system with DC power supply mounted on a cart; it is powered by a standard 12-volt battery and delivers more than 20 hours of continuous operation. The Home Depot will deploy the Mobile POS for pricing and ordering in the store, using its ability to update prices and print labels on the spot. The systems are being installed in existing Expo Design Centers and will be used in all new Expo Design Center stores going forward.

The BEETLE/Mobile POS is the only system in the industry to offer extended battery-powered operation. The system is self-contained within a rolling cart, allowing it to be wheeled to different locations within the store to serve multiple purposes. Untethered by power or network cables, the Mobile POS can be used as a full cash wrap on wheels and as a store management system for inventory, shelf labeling, and other functions. The Mobile POS provides handwriting recognition capability through Wincor Nixdorf's 12.1" TFT resistive touch screen. The systems provide wireless connection to The Home Depot's store LANs using 802.11 RF networking.

"Because of The Home Depot's demanding store environment, we had stringent requirements for reliability and durability in a mobile device," said Danny Branch, vice president of information systems for The Home Depot. "We also had to ensure that the systems were compatible with The Home Depot's existing application. Wincor Nixdorf paid close attention to our requirements and provided the engineering expertise that was needed to ensure that the Mobile POS met our specifications."

"Wincor Nixdorf is delighted to expand our relationship with The Home Depot through this new initiative," said Jeff Soisson, vice president, Wincor Nixdorf Retail Solutions Group. "Our ability to make custom engineering changes to the Mobile POS is a testimony to the versatility of the BEETLE platform and the strength of our worldwide engineering group."

The BEETLE Family of POS Systems

Wincor Nixdorf's BEETLE family of POS systems addresses the complete spectrum of customer touch points in the retail store environment. With solutions that encompass thin-client POS terminals, lean- and thick-client POS systems, kiosks, lottery terminals, and mobile POS devices, the BEETLE family is the industry's most comprehensive POS product line. An open design supporting commonality of components across the entire BEETLE family substantially simplifies software deployment and hardware maintenance, keeping costs down and productivity high.

More than just PCs, BEETLE systems are rugged, designed to withstand the rigors of retail environments. All systems include standard retail interfaces, accept a wide range of peripherals, and are compliant with established retail software standards. Standard operating systems include Red Hat(R) Linux(R), the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) family, and Microsoft DOS.

The BEETLE family of POS systems is the industry's first and only complete line of customer-proven, production-level POS systems that are fully certified on the Linux platform. The systems also offer the most expansive and complete set of JavaPOS(tm) drivers for POS peripherals.

About The Home Depot

Founded in 1978, Atlanta-based Home Depot currently operates 1,225 stores in 48 states, seven Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico, Chile and Argentina. The company was recently named in the Top 10 Most Admired Companies in America by Fortune magazine, which as also ranked it as America's Most Admired Specialty Retailer for seven consecutive years. Its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:HD) and is included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

About Wincor Nixdorf

Worldwide, Wincor Nixdorf Inc. is one of the fastest growing providers of IT products and solutions for the retail and banking industries. Wincor Nixdorf's offerings include hardware, application software, professional services and a complete range of service programs including on-site support, depot service and Advanced Exchange. Wincor Nixdorf is the world's third largest provider of POS systems and automated teller machines. Employing more than 4,000 people, Wincor Nixdorf operates in 40 countries with manufacturing plants in Germany and Singapore. North American headquarters are in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.wincor-nixdorf.com/usa.

BEETLE is a registered trademark of Wincor Nixdorf GmbH.

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