It may have been the venuefor the eleventh annual NACStech tradeshow - the colossal Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn. - that attracted more than 1,300 attendees and 120 companies related to the convenience store industry.

Keep up-to-date on the latest ATM news. Sign up for free, twice-weekly e-mail alerts

Or maybe this year marked the first bright spot in the economy in recent memory.

Either way, said Jeff Lenard, director of public affairs for the National Association of Convenience Stores - which puts on the show - NACStech 2005 broke its 2001 records for the number of companies in attendance and the number of square feet covered by exhibitor booths. He also expected the total number of attendees to be up. 

All in all, the show's size increased 21 percent from last year.

But as attendees and exhibitors roamed the showroom floor, they quickly began to notice that most companies in attendance were showcasing similar products. In fact, it appeared that the number of booths touting touchscreen pay-at-the-pump technology far outnumbered the booths that had other systems to promote. That was no shock to show organizers, Lenard said, since 70 percent of a c-store's sales are gas.

"If you don't innovate and figure out how to sell more while you have the customer's attention, somebody else will," Lenard said. "We sell time. … If you don't get what you have more efficient, it's going to be difficult to compete."

ATM technology, however, was not a show highlight, but it did have a presence - even if attendees had to keep their eyes peeled to find it.

Here's a glimpse of what NACStech 2005 had to offer:

At the heart of the c-store. The POS is the heart of the c-store, and therefore should be the center of the c-store's focus. At least that's the way Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf International and Reston, Va.-based Transaction Network Services Inc. see it.

Wincor showcased its i-Service Station, a range of solutions built around NAMOS Compact, a holistic POS solution that's based on open-architecture Microsoft software. "The POS is the center of the store, so we've designed a system that's built around the POS," said Claus Vorbeck, senior product manager for Service Stations International, a part of Wincor's retail division. "We look at everything and bring it together. We partner with other companies because we can't do it alone. … If our customers want something, they can contact us and we can get it for them."

Wincor's i-Service Station is a range of solutions built around the NAMOS Compact POS solution, which is shown above.

NAMOS connects the back- and front-offices, bringing everything from the c-store's ATM to its gas pump together.

Wincor's NAMOS Compact software, the foundation of i-Service, is being used in 17 countries. And earlier this year Wincor inked a deal with Chevron Texaco Corp. for service in Australia and the Philippines, as well as other parts of Asia. Wincor expects deployment of the software to hit the States in October, when it's launched Oct. 29-Nov. 1 at the NACS Show 2005 in New Orleans.

During the show, Wincor demonstrated its solution on the Wincor Beetle POS system.

Like Wincor, TNS also views the c-store from an all-inclusive perspective. But TNS brings it all together through networking.

Yes, the POS is the core of the c-store, but peripheral services also are economic drivers. As more self-service options come to the forefront, network connectivity and communication will be a necessity for c-stores, said to Don Bumgardner, vice president of sales and marketing for FusionPoint from TNS.

TNS focuses on bringing a c-store's POS, ATM and lottery machine data, for instance, together and transmitting it over an IP network.

TNS's network and communications services help c-store operators manage connectivity. With FusionPoint from TNS, a c-store can send data from different systems over one network connection, Bumgardner said. FusionPoint is an extension of TNS's Retail Link solution.

"We have a converter point that communicates with the network. … so even if it's a dial-up ATM, we can transmit the data over the IP," Bumgardner said. "We have connections to all major processors for ATM and credit, and we have a back-end connection to processors around the world."

TNS has different options it offers for data-conversion and transmission, including petroleum tank-level monitoring. Bumgardner said IP connectivity also saves connection fees, allowing most customers to realize ROI within four to 18 months.

The tried and true way. Systems like Tidel's Sentinel Cash Management System - which integrates the POS with a safe - popped up around every corner. But tried-and-true methods are hard to shake, especially for c-store operators who want to know their investments are going to pay off. And many of those methods, like the Sentinel system, have been technically enhanced, giving them an edge.

For example, Tidel tracked and calculated cash management for one of its Sentinel c-store customers, and found that the c-store chain reached 100 percent ROI after one year, said Matt Johnson, Tidel vice president of marketing. "The saved manager time, saved courier expense, PIN-based audit system and back-office/POS integration and reporting capabilities put the Sentinel in a new class of cash-management systems," Johnson said.

Allied Electronics and Flexible Manufacturing launched the PayQuick Island Cashier about 18 months ago.

At the Tidel booth also stood the Tidel 3600, a flexible ATM with a small footprint - which makes it attractive for most c-store operators.

The Colony, Texas-based Armor Safe Technologies and Pasadena, Calif.-based AT Systems Inc. showcased under-the-counter cash-dispensing safes that can reconcile the drawer or till at closing time. AT Systems, which has a fleet of about 1,200 armored trucks, also transports cash. Its CashLINK system, which is geared toward retailers, electronically monitors transactions and reconciles balances from the safe.

PavQuick Island. If expediency is a c-stores' primary focus, then Bristol, Pa.-based Allied Electronics Inc. and Santa Ana, Calif.-based Flexible Manufacturing LLC are on the right track.

The two companies introduced the PayQuick Island Cashier about 18 months ago. With the looks of an ATM, this self-service cashier accepts credit, debit and cash, and will soon dispense change in coins and bills, said Dave Silberfarb, FMI's project manager. "It will have full ATM functions, once we add the cash-dispensing (option)," the addition of which is underway. FMI manufactures the PayQuick cashier; Allied provides the proprietary software.

Allied also had its NeXGen site controller on display - a forecourt controller with a single Ethernet connection that can connect multiple forecourt devices. The controller has ports to connect up to 16 devices.

The NeXGen will be available at the end of 2005 and will complement the ANDI (Allied Network Dispenser Interface) forecourt controller, introduced during the early 1990s, and the ANDINet controller.

TNS displayed its FusionPoint by TNS solution, an extension of Retail Link, which pulls a c-store's networks together.

"We can connect all of their devices and make an Ethernet connection without changing any of the platforms they're running," said Al Magro, an Allied sales representative.

Making a connection. And though there wasn't much in the way of ATM interest, Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv Inc. was on hand to answer questions about the ACCEL/Exchange ATM network.

Since 2004, the number of ATMs on Fiserv's network has grown 62 percent, no doubt a result of VISA U.S.A. Inc.'s two-tier interchange rating, which hit the fan earlier this year.

Fiserv expects its ATM base to hit between 90,000 and 100,000 ATMs by the end of the year, said David Munno, vice president of sales for Fiserv. "We're growing," Munno said. "We also provide access to debit gateway(s) … and we work with third-party processors that drive ATMs."