Tokheim Corp and Radiant Systems, Inc. to Develop New Dispensers
14 September 1998
Tokheim Corporation and Radiant Systems, Inc. to Jointly Develop New Dispensers for the Global Retail Petroleum and Convenience Store Industry
FORT WAYNE, Ind.--Sept. 14, 1998--Tokheim Corporation , a leading provider of electronic and mechanical petroleum dispensing systems worldwide, announces a long term agreement with Radiant Systems for the joint development of next generation fuel dispensers.These dispensers, and available retrofit heads, will provide global petroleum and convenience store retailers with unparalleled advances in dispenser features, functionality and reliability.
Combining Tokheim's long history of solid mechanical design, technical electronic and dispenser innovation, and superior field support with Radiant Systems' innovative consumer-activated hardware and software platform will yield a family of scalable forecourt solutions designed for all retail petroleum outlets. "Tokheim is dedicated to serving its clients and is constantly looking for new and emerging ways to meet the demands of the marketplace," says Scott Swogger, President of Tokheim North America. "Allying with Radiant Systems will allow us to focus our core competencies in the area of mechanical and hydraulic design, embedded electronics and creative technical solutions, and leverage Radiant Systems' competencies in software and electronics development."
"We have been planning for years to migrate our successful touch screen applications from the POS to the pump and are very excited to be teamed up with Tokheim on this project," says Erez Goren, CEO and Co-Chairman of the Board of Radiant Systems.
The next generation dispensers are being designed by Tokheim and Radiant to incorporate a seamless interface with most POS systems and will be easily upgraded to support a variety of vapor recovery options; new payment types, monochrome and color displays, and multi-media touch screen systems. "Tokheim is a world-class manufacturer and has made a long term commitment to Radiant Systems that signals their intense desire to lead the industry with innovative fuel dispensing designs that will best meet the emerging needs of their clients," says Goren.
Additionally, Tokheim and Radiant Systems will be releasing a complete line of next generation retrofit heads that will install on dispensers made by other manufacturers. These retrofit heads will offer the same consumer-activated features as the new dispenser. "Today's retailers are looking to deploy common technology platforms across their operations in order to more efficiently run their operations," says David Tucker and Rollie White, Business Development Directors at Tokheim and Radiant Systems, respectively. They added, "Being able to install a mix of new dispensers and retrofit heads throughout a retail chain will meet this need and do so at a fraction of the normal cost."
Tokheim will integrate Radiant Systems' Media Client(TM) CE open retail platform running MS Windows(R) CE as the interactive technology foundation with extensive software to its APEX electronics package. "Tokheim and Radiant are focused on supporting and growing their client base. This mutual development effort through our joint relationship is another step in this direction and allows us to continue offering innovative solutions to our retail petroleum clients," claims White. "Radiant has established a long history of interfacing our retail products with a variety of dispenser manufacturers; the project with Tokheim propels this type of interface to a new level of function and performance."
While initial deployments will be scheduled for U.S. clients, the new dispenser and retrofit heads will have a broad application in the international retail petroleum marketplace. Current plans are for prototypes to be completed by the end of 1998 and production scheduled for the latter half of 1999.
"This is a great day for Tokheim," says Doug Pinner, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Tokheim Corporation. "With Radiant Systems on our team and the continued investment we are making in strengthening our global position, Tokheim is now geared to lead the industry as we enter the new millennium."
Tokheim Corporation manufactures and services electronic and mechanical petroleum dispensing systems. These systems include petroleum dispensers and pumps, retail automation systems (such as point-of-sale systems), dispenser payment or "pay-at-the-pump" terminals, replacement parts, and upgrade kits.
Radiant Systems, Inc. provides integrated technology solutions to retailers in the petroleum/convenience store, automotive, entertainment, and hospitality industries. These solutions include consumer-activated ordering, point-of-sale, back office management, headquarters management, and decision support systems. The Company also provides a full range of solution design, implementation, and support services. The Company is headquartered in Atlanta and has installations in thousands of retail sites around the world.