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On with the show, some highlights from RDS

Though last week's BAI Retail Delivery Show in Anaheim, Calif. was sparsely attended, there was still plenty to see and do on the show floor. ATMmarketplace editor Ann All offers her observations.

December 16, 2001

Though last week's BAI Retail Delivery Show in Anaheim was one of the most sparsely attended in recent years, there was no shortage of fresh concepts and fun among friends on the show floor. Here, a few of our observations:

Marketing, over easy:NCRpromoted an event featuring two of its Freedom concept ATMs, one of which is widely called "the red egg," with a solid chocolate egg wrapped in red foil. The accompanying invitation billed the event as a "media eggstravaganza," with a chance to view "NCR's technology revolution in the eggstreme."

Cool name for a band: In their dark shirts emblazoned with Self-Service Touchpoints on the back., NCR's booth crew for some reason reminded me of roadies. Rock on, ATMs!

Not that kind of traffic: Has anyone else noticed how much the EasyPoint 53, NCR's entry-level ATM, looks like a parking meter when displayed on a pedestal? If it controls foot traffic as well as meters curb auto traffic, they've got a winner.

Something for the kiddies: NCR's latest Freedom concept ATM (which resembles a yellow Power Rangers helmet), allows PDA-toting users to download MP3 files or play with Pokemon characters. Though these aren't applications that interest me, I can see where they would draw a younger crowd to the ATM – and targeting a young demographic is how companies stay in business.

Use your image-ination: My vote for this year's ATM "killer app" is the check imaging technology showcased in several booths. With the pending Check Truncation Act and this technology, banks will be able to reduce both their back-office processing costs and expensive armored car runs to the ATM. Unlike the benefits of, say, personalized user interfaces, this upgrade will offer nearly immediate bottom-line benefits when implemented.

Go, speed racer:Dieboldmade membership in Partner Information Xchange (PIX), its user group for business partners, look more fun than humanly possible with a video of a previous event featuring members zipping around a go-kart track in North Canton.Mosaic Software'sChris Klein joked that he received the Humpty Dumpty Award, for "spending the most time on the wall." The video played on a streamlined silver kiosk manufactured by Procomp Industria, the Brazilian ATM/kiosk manufacturer Diebold acquired in 1999.

Drive-up redo: Diebold's 1074ix drive-up unit, one of the financial industry's most popular drive-up ATMs since its 1985 release, got a long-overdue makeover this year. Among the improvements: a more modern, contoured fascia; bigger and brighter leadthrough lights at the card reader and dispenser; a larger color display with touchscreen option; thermal statement and receipt printer; and ANSI keypad.

Most welcome sight in midafternoon: The espresso bar in theWincor-Nixdorfbooth.

Coolest cash: As always, the hippest play money to be dispensed from ATMs came from Wincor-Nixdorf. It wouldn't look out of place in NYC's Museum of Modern Art. Wincor takes obvious pride in its ATM design, right down to this small detail.

Getting closer all the time: There were nearly as many Wincor-Nixdorf ATMs in the IBM booth as there were in the Wincor booth. Signs that a close relationship is getting even closer?

Compliant community: The ATM world has made incredible progress on the ADA issue in the past year, as evidenced by the technology seen in several booths.Triton Systemshas made an audio jack standard equipment rather than an upgrade on its new 9700, a machine designed for the retail market. Triton's Chief Technology Officer Bill Jackson has written a white paper on the issue, which Triton will use to educate its distributors, among others. Diebold is already offering volume control on its audio feature, which is being used byFleetBoston Financial. Fujitsu's audio leadthrough uses a text-to-speech technology that sounds far more human than previous programs.

Ramesh Mengawade of Opus Software Solutions speaks of a boom in India.

Indian opus:Ramesh Mengawade, managing director ofOpus Software Solutions, predicts an ATM boom in India.Mengawade, who said there are currently no more than 12,000 ATMs in India with its population of one billion plus, said the number of ATMs may surpass 50,000 in the next year. He said about 15 banks operate the country's current installed base, and that NCR and Diebold evenly split the market.

Pretty picture: The picture on the 12-inch color SVGA screen onFujitsu's8030 drive-up ATM was so sharp it practically cried out for a DVD and a bucket of popcorn.

Ho-hum giveaway, snappy comeback: Practically every exhibitor gave away a Palm Pilot. When this was pointed out to a booth rep in the CIBC/XtraCashbooth, he said, "Yeah, but ours is the only one with industry names and phone numbers." Darn, I didn't win!

What goes around, comes around: When I visitedLynk'sbooth to get one of their cute little red convertible toys that emits a revving noise when squeezed, there were none to be found. The booth worker told me, "Oh, we don't give those away anymore since you wrote that article," referring to an earlier piece in which I implied that one too many squeezes could drive a parent crazy.

Creepy, yet cool promo:SafePak Corporation'sdisplay featured a lifelike plastic hand reaching out of an ATM cash cassette, which reminded me a little of Thing on the old "Addams Family" series. CEO Buzz Siler spoke with almost as much enthusiasm about his products as the guy riding a unicycle in a straightjacket in the nearby Compaq booth. Siler said his company, which makes a patented night deposit retrieval system among other products, has seen its revenue double each of the last several years. He expects to reach $2 million in sales next year.

Food for thought: I never did figure out what plastic food has to do withACI Worldwide, the makers of BASE24 software. But it sure looked cool in the booth.

Information age: While many press kits were composed of endless stacks of paper crammed into folders, an increasing number of them are now on CD..

The oxygen was flowing at S1's booth.

Air apparent:S1 Corporationoffered attendees the chance to kick back at an oxygen bar, where they could enjoy air in eight aromas: Serenity (lavender and balsam fir needles), Uplifting (peppermint and wintergreen), Chillin' (eucalyptus), The Beach (wisteria), The Grove (mandarin orange), Fresh (cranberry), Vanilla Bean (vanilla extract) and Pina Colada (pineapple and coconut). Hey, it was California. Under the tag line "The Essential Element," S1 also gave away bottled water. To really complete the theme, perhaps they should have served bread. The promotion, without a doubt one of the most unusual, was the brainchild ofAspen Productions.

Most obvious giveaway: Surprisingly few booths did any kind of a Walt Disney tie-in.Inetcowas the exception, with its drawing to give away a large stuffed Mickey Mouse.

Hard-to-get giveaway:Lexcel Solutionsgave away an Xbox, Microsoft's ultra-hot gaming system. So sought after is this toy that Lexcel had to get it from eBay. A Lexcel rep wouldn't reveal what the company paid for it.

New sheriff in town:E*TRADE ATM,the ATM operating arm of E*TRADE Bank, has hired industry veteran Dale Dentlinger to run its program. Dentlinger, who spearheaded ATM innovations such as advertising, stamp dispensing and ticketing while at EDS, has the right idea about advanced functionality. Emphasizing that there is a time and a place for it, he suggested that stamps would make sense – and probably money – at ATMs located in drugstores, which sell a huge number of greeting cards.

Are we having pun yet?:Core Datagave away tops reading: "Fastest turnaround for cardholders' questions" and fortune cookies with a fortune reading: "Core Data says customer service makes the difference." (The fortune's "lucky number" just happened to be the company's toll-free telephone.)

No rest for the weary: Every computer workstation in theIntelbooth was filled with an attendee checking email or scanning news headlines. Yet no one reclined on the bright orange beanbag chairs tossed around the booth. Guess those of us whose teenage years were spent in rec rooms in the '70s weren't anxious to walk down memory lane.

Are you sure this isn't from last year?:Clarke American'sgiveaway was a bag with a silhouette of a jazzman playing a saxophone and the words "In Tune With Our Customers." Although I was assured that these were not leftovers from last year's show in New Orleans, I'm going to get suspicious if next year's giveaway has anything to do with Disney. The bag did contain one of the coolest tchotkes: a tiny radio and headphones.

Go figure: Ignoring the age-appropriate little football fromViecoreand cute rubber duck toy fromRainfinity, my 1-year-old son prefers to play with theInLightenmousepad.

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