Product category:
Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Zilog | Subject: eZ80Acclaim!
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 15 October 2004
Microcontrollers enable cashless vending
The new Generation 5 (G5) e-Port, a cashless transaction application developed by USA Technologies in conjunction with Zilog, will be shown this week at the NAMA National Expo in Chicago.
The new Generation 5 (G5) e-Port, a cashless transaction application developed by USA Technologies in conjunction with Zilog, will be shown this week at the NAMA National Expo in Chicago The G5 e-Port, powered by Zilog's award-winning eZ80Acclaim! family of Flash microcontrollers (MCUs), is both smaller and more affordable than its predecessors and can be installed into devices such as vending machines in five minutes or less
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 19 Feb 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Its wireless connectivity instantly enables vending locations to accept credit/debit card transactions.
USA Technologies believes it to be the world's first "one-piece" design for implementation of cashless vending.
The G5 e-Port solution is proving popular with customers, including one of the USA's largest Coca-Cola bottlers.
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This solution has already been installed in some of the company's vending machines.
Feedback from other customers who are beta testing the solution has also been very positive.
e-Port offers numerous benefits to the consumer such as the convenience of cashless transactions.
Just as US motorists swipe their cards at the petrol pump to purchase petrol, consumers swipe their cards at a vending machine to purchase items.
This fact is especially relevant when you consider that credit and debit card purchases now surpass cash purchases in the USA.
Operators and vendors can also capitalise on the fact Americans prefer to use debit or credit cards rather than carry cash - this aspect of convenience can increase sales.
The network connectivity of e-Port also enables vendors to manage their assets, in this case vending machines, more effectively by having remote access to sales data.
In addition, less cash is left in the vending machines, making them less vulnerable to theft.
The G5 e-Port promises to accelerate the adoption of cashless vending by offering greater return on investment in the form of reducing the overall cost, driven by a lower purchase price, reduction in installation time and improved serviceability.
The Generation 5 e-Port is one of the products made possible by the recently announced networking application that combines USA Technologies' e-Port software for global transactions with Zilog's eZ80Acclaim! family of Flash microcontrollers.
"By integrating e-Port software into our eZ80Acclaim! Flash MCU in the new G5, we have the ability to strategically expand into other application areas such as networking distributed assets and many other innovative distributed applications", said Zilog President Mike Burger.
"Using the eZ80 Acclaim! Flash MCUs, businesses can install the e-Port networking capability into every day commercial applications with a new-found convenience and at a very affordable price".
"Because of low development costs and the ease of implementation of the Zilog eZ80Acclaim! MCU for e-Port technology, there is new potential for customers to cost effectively network every day devices".
"The eZ80Acclaim! Flash MCU for e-Port solution comes with added functions and versatility, making it suitable for numerous kinds of technology serving a variety of commercial industry applications, ranging from vending machines, point-of-sale terminals, unattended kiosks such as photo booths, self-service business canters and laundry machines, such as the e-SUDS initiative which is running in several US universities".
"We also envisage this technology being utilised in equipment servicing the security, health care and home appliance markets", continued Burger.
Zilog's eZ80Acclaim! Flash MCU is the first in a family of high-performance flash microcontrollers that provide a complete Internet development environment.
The eZ80 Acclaim! MCU, with Embedded Webserver Software Suite including a full featured TCP/IP protocol stack, is designed to perform the complicated functions required by industrial control, factory automation, building and facility management, remote monitoring and control, security, online information kiosks, vending machines, home and office automation, and Internet and digital appliances.
USA Technologies' will be showing the G5 e-Port as part of the VendTec Pavilion for new technology (Booth 963) at the NAMA National Expo at the Lakeside Centre at McCormick in Chicago from 14th to 16th October 2004.
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