ARMONK, N.Y. — IBM's new Green Retail Store platform offers retailers in every industry a string of tools — from point-of-sale systems to blade servers — aimed at boosting performance, lowering energy use and reducing related emissions. The program seeks to help retailers at stores of all sizes capitalize not only on the need to improve the bottom line through energy savings, but also on the growing demands of consumers who want to shop at environmentally responsible stores.
IBM unveiled its Green Retail Store solutions at the National Retail Federation Conference in New York City last month, where the company also showcased its consulting services as a third element of its plan to help retailers go green. It also showed off a first-of-its-kind green retail kiosk, made of bio-based and non-toxic materials. The metals used in the kiosk were finished with powdered coatings and plastics were dyed impregnated color to avoid the volatile emissions from liquid paints.
At the heart of the Green Retail Store program is IBM's SurePOS 700 point-of-sale system, which includes three different processor options that can reduce power consumption by 36 percent or more. IBM said that a retailer replacing 5,000 terminals with more energy efficient models could save nearly $1 million in energy costs over the seven-year lifespan of the SurePOS machines. Furthermore, around 60 percent of the plastic used in the SurePOS system contains recycled content. On the back-end of the IBM Green Retail Store is a blade server system that can manage the entire IT environment — not just the servers, but the sales terminals, phone systems and even antivirus applications — from a single location, dramatically simplifying a store's IT management system. IBM said that its blade system can lower energy costs by an additional 20 percent.
