LOUISVILLE, Ky.: Leaders in the development, installation and design of self-service solutions will exhibit at the upcoming Self-Service & Kiosk Show in San Francisco, and are beginning to announce the technology they'll put on display.
The show, to be held Oct. 17-18 at the South San Francisco Conference Center, is designed to provide business leaders across a spectrum of industries with hands-on opportunities to try out self-service systems and to learn about the merits of implementing self-service programs to boost the bottom line by increasing sales and decreasing personnel cost.
Officials expect the fall show to be the best attended yet, and exhibitor space has been filled for a couple of weeks. Greg Swistak, kiosks.org association executive director and Self-Service & Kiosk Show organizer said, "I think the fact that we have a full exhibit floor is evidence that self-service is one of the hottest trends in business today. The market demand for self-service technology touches virtually every industry including retail, hospitality, financial services and beyond, and these exhibitors are ready to meet that demand."
Exhibiting companies and their new technology include:
Hand Held Products Inc., based in Skaneateles Falls, N.Y., will launch its Image Kiosk 8560 at the show. The mini-kiosk, powered by the company's Adaptus Imaging Technology and the Windows CE 5.0 operating system, enables retailers and their customers to check prices and retrieve product information. Promotions delivered to the customer on the kiosk can be varied by location with retailers having the flexibility of targeting customers by demographics, personalization and one-to-one marketing. The kiosk has extensive capability for customer interaction with information delivered in seconds.
Hand Held is excited to be exhibiting at The Self-Service & Kiosk Show. Nick Daddabbo, the company's senior product manager, said, "For all answers in self-service — whether how to implement self-service technology, what to use, the benefits of the technology, or new things coming out — this show is the place to be. Every vendor who is anyone in the self-service industry is going to be at this show. You can walk in and walk out with a solution because you can find everything from hardware to software and peripherals in one place."
Livewire International of York, Pa., will showcase a gift/travel card activation and dispensing kiosk it is developing. The kiosk will be one of the first to sell, dispense and activate VISA, MasterCard or American Express cards. Two travel-related companies have expressed interest in launching the kiosk by the end of the year. Livewire also plans to exhibit kiosks designed to sell, activate and dispense RFID toll tags for state highway agencies; it also will exhibit its next-generation electronic concierge, an advertising application for travel and tourism kiosks that can produce gift cards and gift certificates for area stores and restaurants, restaurant menus, movie and venue tickets and more.
Officials from Branford, Conn.-based Netkey Inc. have announced plans to demonstrate Netkey 6.5, the company's latest version of its kiosk application development toolkit and management software platform. The product, which Borders Books selected for its Title Sleuth kiosks, helps businesses develop, deploy and manage applications such as gift registry, human resources and online banking, delivered to customers and employees via kiosks, digital signs, PC terminals and other self-service and digital merchandising technologies.
The software enables reliable kiosk deployment. V. Miller Newton, Netkey's chief executive officer, said, "Companies deploying kiosks are challenged by issues related to application development, security, content management and remote monitoring. Netkey 6.5 provides … a powerful and robust software platform that lets them get to market faster with secure, reliable kiosk applications."
Kiosk software company Kioware, also of York, Pa., will exhibit a mobile kiosk it is developing with partner Citywide Transportation. The interactive taxicab kiosk provides passengers with information on topics such as attractions, maps, restaurants, nightlife and hotels. The kiosk also can provide public service information such as Amber Alerts, severe weather notifications and information on community events. Citywide Transportation uses Kioware to secure the kiosks and uses Kioware's attract screen feature to advertise local attractions and businesses.
Swistak is excited about the number and diversity of the companies that will exhibit at the show.
"Our show has always been a place for companies to showcase their offerings in self-service applications. What we're seeing with this show is that many companies are taking advantage of the show's media coverage and primarily end market audience to launch new programs. Anyone wanting to learn about the state of the art in kiosks and other self-service devices should come to San Francisco."
About NetWorld Alliance
NetWorld Alliance is the publisher of SelfServiceWorld.com, KioskMarketplace.com, Kiosk magazine and kiosks.org, and manager of the kiosks.org association. In addition to covering the kiosk/self-service industry, NetWorld Alliance owns and operates Web sites providing news and information on the ATM (ATMmarketplace.com), food services (PizzaMarketplace.com, QSRweb.com and FastCasual.com) and church leadership (ChurchCentral.com) industries. The dynamic Web sites are leading resources for content, community and commerce.
