Rep_2_06_E_050906_P1.qxd 05.09.

2006 20:33 Uhr Seite 23

SEPTEMBER 2006 retail 23

These strategies and measures place new
challenges on IT systems and infrastructure.
And for many retailers, these challenges
can be difficult to overcome. The IT sys-
tems of many retailers have not only grown in
size over the years but also in complexity.
Consequently, retailers often need weeks be-
fore they can program systems to manage
new tasks. Quality control, test runs and
the final approval can be time-consuming
processes.
With TP.net, everything is different.
“When the marketing department has a re-
quest for the IT department, TP.net helps ful-
fill it within an hour in the respective market,”
says Michael Schulte, responsible for interna-
tional software marketing at Wincor Nixdorf.
Such a swift realization time is possible be-
cause the TP.net doesn’t program tasks but
rather configures them, similar to how para-
meters are set.
TP.net can map each sales process in a
branch. This makes the platform not only
flexible but also offers users a high level of
investment security. Whether mobile shop-
ping assistants, self-checkout systems, multi-
media displays, RFID technology or reverse-
in the development of TP.net because of con-
crete customer projects. Today, 11 country
subsidiaries support 27 customers, which are
grouped into seven different market segments
(see box below).
These numbers reflect the success that
TP.net has been able to achieve since being
launched 30 months ago. Around 30,000
licenses have been purchased. Compared to
rival products, TP.net has been sold roughly
twice as much.
This success shows that customers are em-
bracing the idea of distributed applications.
Many projects have been realized in a short
time. Even with some of the larger projects,
such as Système U in France, with more than
10,000 systems, only a year was necessary to
install the first version.
The TP.net’s competence center of Wincor
Nixdorf’s country subsidiaries is responsible
for the development and maintenance of
country-specific modules. In this way, appli-
cations have been growing organically. “You
C Self-service food / non-food
can’t develop software from a central base for
use around the world,” says Schulte. “We rely
on a competence network in which the know-
how for local requirements is with the country
subsidiaries.”
Metro Group, which operates in 26 coun-
tries, plans to launch TP.net in its Cash & Car-
ry business. In nearly every country, special
local requirements need to be met so that
products can be adapted. Put another way,
due to legal and regional requirements, local-
ly used software packages vary, but Metro is
still able to work with a uniform, interna-
tional product in each country, enabling the
company to generate comparable numbers
and results.
This process-oriented, module-based and
distributed development approach guarantees
the innovative capability and the long life-
cycle. TP.net matures with the growing inter-
national demands and has a permanent access
to the current pool of knowledge. This is how
best of class originates. C
C Do-it-yourself markets

vending machines, the platform is designed to 7 market C General merchandise C Fashion

segments C Cash & Carry C Cosmetics

manage all of these systems. C Specialty retail trade
When developing the platform, Wincor
Nixdorf software engineers used standards
wherever they could (the company is active in C Austria C Malaysia
numerous standards bodies and has even been C China C Norway

responsible for launching a few). They de- C Finland C Sweden

11 countries C France
signed a system architecture that meets high
C Germany
demands for stability and simplicity and C Greece
exceeds the functions of rival systems.
For users, TP.net is especially economical, C Asfinag (at)
functioning according to the principle of “dis- C Baur Versand GmbH (de)
C Beauty Lines (gr)
tributed applications.” What this means is that
C Carlson (fi)
there is a product core around which solution
C C&A (cn)
modules can be created. The product core is C Citti Handelsges. mbH (de)
developed in the central development depart- C CK Tangs (sg)
28 customers C Decathlon (fr)
ment, which is also responsible for adminis-
C EDEKA, Simmel (de)
tering the total package. Modules are created
C Eurokangas (fi)
where the core competence for the solution C Halonen (fi)
requirement is. This can be departments with- C Heinon Tukku (fi)
C Hondos Center (gr)
in Wincor Nixdorf that are actively involved
C INTERSPAR (at)
C Singapore
C United Kingdom
C KESKO Food (fi)
C Marimekko (fi)
C METRO Cash & Carry (de)
C Mydin (my)
C Pohjanmaa (fi)
C Schwab Versand GmbH (de)
C Solteq (Partner, fi)
C Spar Kjop (no)
C Système U (fr)
C Team Sportia (se)
C Trio Spielwaren (at)
C VCS Timeless (Partner, fr)
C VVAuto (fi)
C Western Stores (de)