Stuttgart/Paderborn, June, 1st, 2001. Red Hat®, Inc. (NASDAQ:RHAT), the leader in developing, deploying and managing open source internet infrastructure, and Wincor Nixdorf,
provider of retail systems and software, today announced a further step in their joint effort to assist retailers in building modern POS systems based on the Red Hat Linux platform.
Many POS systems are still DOS-based today, especially those operating in the self-service and department store markets. This is due to the fact that a significant number of
retailers are still hesitant about making a choice for their next-generation solution platform. An important consideration here is that retailers are reluctant to lose the enormous investment made in their existing DOS-based applications, most of which are not off-the-shelf solutions, but solutions with a great deal of customer-specific functionality as a result of these retailers' highly differentiated business.
One initial step towards a modern solution environment might be to replace the underlying platform, which need not necessarily involve any changes to the software. This modernization allows them to enhance their POS applications further with features such as touchscreen etc. But they also have another, more far-reaching migration objective: Besides protecting their investment in software, they want the migrated software to run on their existing hardware platform, thus protecting their hardware investment too.
As a provider of retail POS applications to the market, Wincor Nixdorf is familiar with these demands, and has put time and effort into evaluating possible solutions for its
own corporate applications.
Wincor Nixdorf's POSition and CALYPSO store solutions are used by customers with a great deal of built-in customer-specific functionality in almost 80,000 installations. Thus there is clearly widespread demand from customers that their investments in these solutions are not lost.
After evaluating different options, Wincor Nixdorf has now to use Linux as the platform for migrating these store solutions. The company has developed a tool set which enables the technical layer of a DOS-based application to be replaced by a Linux-based technical layer. As the interface to the technical layer does not change for the POS application, implementation of the business rules remains the same, thus protecting the software investment of customers.
A number of CALYPSO customers are installing the new CALYPSO on Red Hat Linux in their stores, including Carrefour and co op Schleswig Holstein eG, among others. Their aim is to benefit as fast as possible from the advantages of the new solution. Carrefour is initially launching this new solution in Switzerland and Slovakia, while co op intends to complete the entire installation process rapidly, so by the end of this year all of its 1,000 or so POS systems will be installed with CALYPSO on Red Hat Linux.
Moreover, Wincor Nixdorf Retail Services - the consulting branch of the Wincor Nixdorf Retail Software house - is cooperating with a number of retailers on migrating customer-owned solutions, one prominent customer being the Spanish retailer DIA. With around 11,000 Wincor Nixdorf BEETLE systems installed worldwide - in Spain, Greece, Argentina, Turkey and Portugal - DIA owns a customer solution with a great deal of customer-specific functionality, owing to the wide range of business requirements it has to meet. Wincor Nixdorf, a long-standing business partner of DIA, is currently consulting with and assisting the customer in the migration of its POS solutions, using the Wincor Nixdorf know-how and tool set.
About Carrefour
Carrefour now serves more than 2 billion clients per annum in its over 9,000 stores, which are located in over 27 countries spread across 3 geographic zones.
Carrefour has installed a total of over 25,000 POS systems in 26 countries, of which 14,000 operate the Wincor Nixdorf CALYPSO store solution.
About co op Schleswig Holstein eG
co op Schleswig Holstein eG - situated mainly in the north of Germany - has around 280 outlets such as supermarkets, department stores and DIY stores, with about 8,000 employees and a total turnover in food retailing alone of around 1.1 billion Euro in 2000.
About DIA
DIA is the biggest discount chain in Spain. It belongs to the Carrefour group and currently operates in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Argentina, France (under the name ERTECO), and from 1st May in Brazil. It will also have a presence in China (Shanghai) by 2002.
It currently has more than 3,800 stores worldwide, operating over 11,300 Wincor Nixdorf POS systems.
About Red Hat, Inc.
Red Hat (NASDAQ: RHAT) offers users one single, trusted point of contact and a common platform for developing, deploying and managing open source across internet infrastructure and devices that connect to the internet, ranging from small embedded devices to high-availability clusters and integrated Web server/e-commerce operating systems. The Red Hat Network, Red Hat's unique management technology, helps companies worldwide easily manage all this by delivering open source products, service, support and information on-line in real-time. In addition to the award-winning Red Hat Linux server operating system, Red Hat offers Stronghold Secure Web Server and Credit Card Verification Software
for secure e-commerce, and is the principal provider of GNU-based developer tools and support solutions for a wide variety of embedded processors. Red Hat also provides run-time solutions such as Linux, eCos, Embedded Red Hat, the award-winning RedBoot, custom engineering services, support and training to organizations in all embedded and Linux maRed Hat is based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. and has offices worldwide. In Europe, Red Hat has offices in France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom. Please visit Red Hat
on the Web at
www.redhat.com,www.europe.redhat.com or www.redhat.de.
For investor inquiries, contact Gabriel Szulik at Red Hat, 919-547-0012.
About Wincor Nixdorf GmbH & Co. KG
Wincor Nixdorf GmbH & Co. KG is one of the leading providers of IT solutions, products and services in the field of banking and retail. The company has approximately 3,600 employees, who generated sales of 1,337 billion Euro in fiscal year 1999/00, with a worldwide scope of action in 40 countries and 28 subsidiaries.
In the field of electronic POS systems, Wincor Nixdorf is the market leader in Germany and number 3 worldwide. In the field of automated teller machines, Wincor Nixdorf is the market leader in Germany, number 2 in Europe and number 3 worldwide.
Wincor Nixdorf offers products and solutions for the entire value-added chain of the distribution sector, from electronic point-of-sale systems to data warehouse applications. With the POS Beetle systems, electronic labeling solutions, electronic registers and automatic scanning, its key offers include products and services for distribution, as well as a portfolio of offers designed to meet consumer demands efficiently and effectively. The offer to the banking business sector includes automatic teller machines, printers, multimedia information systems, microchip cards and terminals for airlines. The latest innovation is a compact modular system combining the basic functions of a small self-service branch. Wincor Nixdorf is the world's only supplier to offer a software package for financial institutions that is based on universal standards and can be used throughout the self-service sector.
The services division renders services for products and solutions, including installation and maintenance of hardware and software products, regular routine inspections, repairs, software upgrades and management of market rollouts. With the founding of the services division, Wincor Nixdorf has added yet another crucial element to the value-added
chain for its customers.
For more information, see our website at www.wincor-nixdorf.com
For further information, please contact:
Bruno Missoni
Wincor Nixdorf
0 30 / 3 86 - 4 32 18
bruno.missoni@wincor-nixdorf.com
Dieter Hoffmann
Red Hat
07 11 / 9 64 37 - 1 60
dieterh@redhat.de
