Intel Corporation
2200 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95054-1549
Intel Unveils Technology for IoT-Ready Vending
The Intel® Reference Design for Intelligent Vending Offers Streamlined Solution
for Upgrading Computing Power in Vending Systems
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
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Intelligent vending offers a more personal, interactive and fun experience for
consumers while allowing brands and operators to utilize cloud services and data
analytics while reducing operating costs.
The Intel® Reference Design for Intelligent Vending provides a standard based (nonproprietary) scalable and flexible solution for re-architecting traditional vending
machines into highly-capable, internet-connected machines.
This new reference design combines an Intel® processor platform with a vending
machine I/O (VMI) board and a robust software stack to deliver all the tools needed to
architect or re-architect a full, IoT-ready vending solution.
The Intel® Reference Design for Intelligent Vending is being showcased at Venditalia
2014 in Milan, Italy.
ASSAGO, Milan, 7 May 2014 – Intel today announced the Intel® Reference Design for
Intelligent Vending, a scalable and flexible solution designed to bring the vending
industry into the Internet of Things (IoT). The Intel® Reference Design for Intelligent
Vending is on display today at Venditalia, the premier international event for the vending
sector, taking place in Milan (Fieramilanocity), from May 7-10.
Intel’s vision of the future of vending
The vending machines industry is undergoing a digital transformation as it
embraces the growing trend toward Internet-connected devices to attract and engage
more customers. Adding intelligence to vending machines provides a more personal,
interactive and fun experience for consumers while allowing brands and operators to
utilize cloud services and data analytics, leading to reduced operating costs and the
establishment of new innovative business models within the vending sector.
Intel architecture can bring technology advances to vending machines with a
flexible design environment. By using Intel architecture developers will have a .platform
that is compatible with the most widespread development environments for efficient
management and integration of innovations for vending, including touch screens,
connectivity or mobile or NFC-technology payment systems.
New reference design benefits
The Intel® Reference Design for Intelligent Vending provides a scalable and
flexible solution for developing or redesigning traditional vending machines and
transforming them into high-capacity, Internet-connected systems. Most current systems
are designed with a Vending Machine Controller (VMC) that manages many base and
independent subsystems, such as control of payments, cooling and lighting, or cash and
products management. Since VMCs are generally based on a low-end microcontroller,
they do not ensure the levels of processing power, connectivity, security, manageability
and software flexibility required for latest vending platforms like interactive touch
screens, and flexible payment methods.
The Intel Reference Design for Intelligent Vending addresses this issue with an
integrated hardware and software solution by moving the VMC functionality to an Intel®
processor. Intel architecture ensures the availability of Ethernet or broadband wireless
connectivity and provides access to the processing power required for distributing
emerging services. The manufacturers of vending machines can also choose between
Intel® Core™ vPro™ and Intel® Atom™ processors, which execute the same code (i.e.
they are compatible with earlier technologies), and which are also provided with a broad,
consolidated Independent Software Vendor (ISV) ecosystem.
The new Intel technology also introduces I/O interface models. Today’s vending
machines are based on a broad range of bus protocols for communication between VMCs
and devices, such as lighting controls. The Intel Reference Design for Intelligent Vending
includes a Vending Machine I/O (VMI) card which supports these I/O interfaces, and
more. Lastly, a software stack is provided which includes an operating system,
programming interfaces (APIs) for devices, and various applications.
The Intel Reference Design for Intelligent Vending has already been adopted by a
number of major market players including Advantech*, Cantaloupe*, Ingenico*,
Promate* and SAP*, who are currently developing innovative prototypes and products
based on this new platform.
“The support of such important players in the target market enables us to
introduce an innovation-oriented technology that may very well change the future of
vending, where software flexibility and full connectivity shall drive new innovative
business models within the vending market”, says Jose Avalos, Worldwide Director for
Visual Retail at Intel’s IoT Solutions Division. “The new Intel reference design already
makes available an infinite number of openings for use and development of the Internet
of Things within the field of vending machines. We firmly believe that this technological
revolution shall benefit vending operators, brands and consumers alike by enhancing the
day-to-day user experience”.
The first prototypes based on the new Intel platform
• Advantech: as an Intel® Internet of Things Solutions Alliance Premier Partner,
Advantech delivers a wide range of industrial hardware solutions from standard
products to fully customized design to cover all requirements of vending machine
manufacturers. Intel® Reference Design for Intelligent Vending and Advantech
SUSIAccess can be integrated in all Advantech products. The resulting solution
gives vending machine manufacturers the flexibility to develop their own vending
platforms.
• SAP: the basic challenge of operating a fleet of vending machines or other
marketing equipment is the operator has limited or no insight into machine status
and inventory levels resulting in inefficient replenishment and service and
subsequently lost revenue. SAP* and Intel have partnered to provide a
comprehensive solution that can significantly reduce machine management costs
and increase revenue through new marketing and business models using the
Internet of Things (IoT) to connect, monitor and operate vending machines in realtime. Running on an Intel® processor, the solution enables efficient replenishment,
real-time operational status (temperature, power, vends), service ticketing and
dispatching, theft monitoring, and 1:1 marketing to consumers through mobile
payments, digital couponing, and loyalty programs.
• Promate Solutions: Promate Solutions is dedicated to bringing customer product
visions to life. Critica, our unique interactive platform, offers M2M (Machine to
Machine) services which link sales & marketing with operations through real-time
remote information. Connectivity will decrease total cost of ownership by
decreasing operational costs and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Adopting the Intel® Reference Design for Intelligent Vending makes
the integration easier and flexible.
• Ingenico: Ingenico is delighted to confirm the seamless integration of its iUC180B
product with the innovative Intel® Reference Design for Intelligent Vending.
Thanks to the Ingenico Payment Communication Layer, the iSelf Series was easy to
integrate with this new platform. The iSelf Series offer all the cashless payments
methods to easily secure any Vending machine. A simple and easy-to-use interface
offers a great consumer experience. All modules comply with the EVA (European
Vending Association) standard. The latest security embedded into the modules
facilitates the activity of the kiosks integrators or maintainers.
• Cantaloupe Systems Inc: Cantaloupe Systems Inc. has partnered with Intel over
the past 3 years. Seed Cloud Products, (the end-to-end vending retail solution for
web and mobile) are seamlessly integrated into the Intel® Reference Design for
Intelligent Vending. Cantaloupe Systems first brought to market Dynamic
Scheduling and Dynamic merchandising to the vending industry. Today, when
implementing the Cantaloupe Suite of products, the average customer boasts a
profit 5 times that of the industry average.
Italian start-up wins Intelligent Vending Competition
At Venditalia 2014, within the ambit of the first edition of the “Intel Intelligent Vending
Competition”, Intel has also rewarded the project of the Italian start-up, WIB-Warehouse
in a Box, for quality and innovation. WIB is an advanced vending machine. Thanks to its
patented technology, it can manage a vast catalogue of products of all kinds enabling
customers to select, also by remote mode via their personal computers, and then collect
the products directly from the machine at their own convenience. Made up of founder and
CEO, Nino Lo Iacono, co-founder and marketing manager, Marco Bicocchi Pichi,
developer, Francesco Patronaggio, and mobile user experience designer, Andrea Picchi,
the winning team was able to join the current edition of Venditalia free of charge in order
to present its project at the Intel stand for the entire duration of the event.
About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company
designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s
computing devices. As a leader in corporate responsibility and sustainability, Intel also
manufactures the world’s first commercially-available “conflict-free” microprocessors.
Additional information about Intel is available at newsroom.intel.com and
blogs.intel.com, and about Intel’s conflict-free efforts at conflictfree.intel.com.
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Intel, Intel Atom, Intel Core and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the
United States and other countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
CONTACTS: Nicola Procaccio
Intel Corporation Italia S.p.A.
Tel. 02 – 57544.1
Fax 02-57501221
nicola.procaccio@intel.com
Marco Catalani
Barabino & Partners
Tel. 02-72023535
Mob. 340-6462551
m.catalani@barabino.it