CHICAGO—Netkey Inc. today announced a new release of its industry-leading software platform for retail self-service and digital merchandising management. The Netkey platform allows retailers to secure, manage, monitor and update networks of kiosks and other unattended devices in order to alleviate store IT burden, enable centralized control, maintain maximum uptime and deliver multiple applications.
 
The Netkey software platform helps retailers reduce IT burden and mitigate the risk of deploying and operating geographically dispersed networks of customer and employee-facing kiosks and digital signage systems by providing:

• Device remote monitoring for increased system uptime and reliability
• Content scheduling and delivery for simplified application updates
• Device and application security for network and application protection
• Central administration and management for ease of operation
• Reporting and analytics for detailed performance and usage metrics

The latest release – platform version 6.2 – enhances the Netkey solution, addressing all three major needs: efficiency, reliability and security.
 
Efficiency and reliability:

Integration with major Network IT management software such as IBM Tivoli, hp OpenView and Unicenter Management Portal :  IT managers who are already monitoring their corporate networks using these products can now also access their Netkey monitoring data with their established procedures and view the entire network on one screen, leading to more efficient management of resources.

Intelligent file versioning:  Netkey software automatically detects files that have changed and selects only those for versioning.  This feature allows retailers to be more efficient with their down/uploads improving bandwidth utilization and network reliability.

Compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act:  Federal guidelines encourage giving disabled employees and customers access to technology and information that is comparable to the access available to others.  Retailers can count on this software release to reach all of their customers without having to dedicate additional time and resources to make their systems ADA compliant.

Security:

Increased security for third-party applications:  Netkey provides enhanced suppression of unauthorized external applications, giving developers the ability to prohibit the launching of external applications within their self-service kiosk applications.

“Centrally administering a broad geographic store network and securing the user interface are significant challenges for retailers,” said V. Miller Newton, chief executive officer of Netkey.  “Netkey software is market-proven, scalable and reliable.  It takes the risk and complexity out of operating networks of kiosks or digital signs.”