Roving Reporter: Ringing Up POS System Sales with Intel vpro Technology

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Marilyn Hunter
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Roving Reporter: Ringing Up POS System Sales with Intel vpro Technology By Mark Scantlebury The market for point-of-sale (POS) machines is extremely competitive, but POS machine designers can get an

How big of a problem are these two issues? According to Global IT service provider CompuCom, an IT visit can cost USD $187.

1 Roving Reporter: Ringing Up POS System Sales with Intel vpro Technology By Mark Scantlebury The market for point-of-sale (POS) machines is extremely competitive, but POS machine designers can get an edge by appealing to two top retailer concerns: security and maintenance costs. Solve these problems for retailers and they are likely to line up to buy your money-saving solution. How big of a problem are these two issues? According to Global IT service provider CompuCom, an IT visit can cost USD $187. A remote repair, on the other hand, costs just USD $12 that s 90 percent less expensive. Figure 1. Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) enables real-time access and full remote control over POS devices with integrated Keyboard-Video-Mouse (KVM) capabilities even when operating systems or disk drives fail and the device won t boot. What about security? According to the Verizon 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report, the location of 70 percent of retail security breaches is the point of sale. This one remarkable fact shows just how vulnerable legacy POS machines are to identity thieves. The first step to solving these issues for retailers is basing POS solutions on Intel vpro platforms. Platform choices include the Intel Core i5/i7 vpro processor family and the Intel Xeon processor E5-1600, E3-1500, and E product families, as well as numerous Intel chipsets and network adapters. Figure 2. Intel vpro technology enables remotely updating POS machines even if a location is closed and machines are switched off.

In cases where retailers are already using POS machines with these components, IT managers and managed service providers can activate the Intel vpro features in them.

In a matter of minutes, many of the security and manageability features described here can be available.

2 In cases where retailers are already using POS machines with these components, IT managers and managed service providers can activate the Intel vpro features in them. Intel Setup and Configuration Software 9.0 makes implementing Intel vpro processor-based devices simple and fast. In a matter of minutes, many of the security and manageability features described here can be available. Reducing Maintenance Costs Intel vpro technology and its remote device management component, Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT), easily and inexpensively integrate with existing IT environments and management infrastructure. Once activated, Intel vpro technology and Intel AMT work together to support the following management capabilities: Figure 3. This diagram shows how to use Intel vpro technology in a retail enterprise environment for the best results in terms of security and manageability. Real-time access and full remote control over POS devices with integrated Keyboard-Video-Mouse (KVM) capabilities even when operating systems or disk drives fail and the device won t boot (Figure 1) Direct remote boots into the BIOS (via KVM support) Highly secure remote resets of forgotten disk encryption passphrases or PINs Remote system reimages and rebuilds Preboot execution Environment (PXE) support to boot devices remotely using their PXE-capable network interface controller (NIC) Remote shutdown and power-on to reduce energy consumption Provision of a temporary POS device to enable users to continue working while a device is repaired or reimaged Improving Security at the Point of Sale Any compromise of data generated at a retail POS is unacceptable yet many retailers still rely on software-based authentication such as username and password. More than 50 percent of data breaches are caused by misused or stolen user credentials. Figure 4. This is a close-up of the Intel vpro technology portion of Figure 3. A retailer s reputation can be lost right along with any customer identity informa-

3 tion in a fraction of a second. Intel vpro technology helps protect against threats from hackers and identity thieves through exceptional, hardware-based security features. Its security takes a multilayered approach: Protection through hardware-based security access featuring the multifactor authentication of Intel Authenticate Technology. In addition, Remote Secure Erase and Intel Enterprise Digital Fence provide excellent data protection for Intel Solid State Drives. Detection through security features such as BIOS Guard and OS Guard offering hardware-based device and platform protection against BIOS and malware attacks. Correction through remote out-of-band patching and recovery. Use Case Examples Intel vpro technology solutions are helping retail operations all over the world save on maintenance. The Bank of New Zealand, for instance, uses Intel vpro technology for their ATMs to power up devices for delivering patches, distributing software updates, and enforcing security policies. When an ATM experiences a system crash, the bank avoids a costly truck roll by running diagnostics and remediating issues via a remote hardware-based KVM session. METRO Cash & Carry, an international leader in self-service wholesale, uses Intel vpro technology to remotely update POS machines even if a location is closed and machines are switched off (Figure 2). According to internal tests, METRO is saving the equivalent of several IT workdays per month by employing the remote manageability features offered by Intel Core vpro processors. Architectural Considerations Intel vpro technology platforms include features and capabilities to tightly integrate with complex infrastructure components such as Microsoft Active Directory*, DNS, DHCP, public key infrastructure (PKI), enterprise WLAN environments, and standard toolsets such as Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager and McAfee epo Deep Command*. These infrastructure components are optional and depend upon IT requirements around security and investment in existing systems management products. At the highest level, the recommended and most secure version of the solution architecture is comprised of the components shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.

5 Putting Intel vpro Technology on the Sales Floor For over a decade now Intel has continuously improved the feature set of Intel vpro technology and the performance, stability, and reliability of Intel AMT. POS machine designers can choose from a wider variety than ever of embedded boards and POS systems offering Intel vpro technology, including new boards and systems featuring the latest 6th generation Intel Core i5/ i7 vpro processors. With advances in performance, productivity, data security, and identity protection, these processors provide Intel s best solution yet for retail POS. To provide a sample of what s available from members of the Intel Internet of Things Solutions Alliance, we chose a selection based on the mini-itx form factor. Mini-ITX is a good choice because components are on a single board, all I/O is defined and integrated on the board in a standard manner with standard commercial connections, and the boards are competitively priced. Give Your POS Solutions the Intel vpro Technology Advantage Boost your sales by differentiating your POS systems using the manageability and security features that come by starting with a board offering Intel vpro technology. For a complete list of the hundreds of embedded systems and boards targeting the retail market and offering Intel vpro technology, see the Alliance s Solutions Directory. Avalue, Ennoconn, Fujitsu, ibase, IEI, and Portwell are Associate members of the Intel Internet of Things Solutions Alliance. Micro Star International (MSI) is an Affiliate member. Jetway is a General member..

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