Contact Information: Gordon Adams Vue Technology, Inc. 949-334-6227 gadams@vuetechnology.com Alicia Libucha Lois Paul & Partners 781-782-5703 alicia_libucha@lpp.com
VUE Technology and Creativesystems Deliver World's Largest Item-Level RFID Retail Deployment
Leading Portuguese Book Retailer, Byblos, Uses RFID to Track More Than 150,000 Items and Improve the Customer Shopping Experience
| Source: Vue Technology
LAKE FOREST, CA--(Marketwire - January 9, 2008) - Vue
Technology, the leading provider of item-level RFID solutions, today
announced that Byblos, a major Portuguese book retailer, has rolled out the
world's largest single-store, item-level RFID deployment in Portugal's
largest bookstore, Byblos Amoreiras. Byblos is using the TrueVUE RFID
Platform to help track more than 150,000 items across its 35,000 square
foot retail outlet. Every individual item within the new Byblos Amoreiras
store is equipped with a UHF RFID tag. The company is using the item-level
RFID solution to help maximize store operational efficiencies and on-shelf
product availability, as well as provide a better customer experience. The
Lisbon store is the first in a series of "superstores" planned to launch
across Europe.
"Our goal is to combine the most sophisticated means and the maximum
attention to detail to provide a superior experience to the customer," said
Rui Gaspar, COO of Byblos. "With the new Lisbon store, our goal has been to
leverage and incorporate RFID technology from the very beginning -- when
the store opens -- to make us more efficient and customer-focused. Based on
what we have seen in other trials of item-level RFID, we are confident that
our investment in RFID will provide the best shopping experience available
and ensure that customers can always find the products they need."
The deployment of the TrueVUE RFID Platform was completed by
Creativesystems, the leading RFID integrator in Portugal and Spain and
newest reseller of Vue Technology, in advance of the store opening. The
solution enables the tracking of books, software, DVDs, CDs, and
periodicals from the back room to the front room. Additionally, as items
move around the store floor, it allows each item to be tracked to one of
more than 2,000 locations within the store. Inventory counts and location
information are maintained on an ongoing basis using 10 handheld readers
located in the front of the store. With this information 40 RFID-enabled
customer kiosk stations located throughout the store allow customers to
quickly identify where an item actually is located. The inventory tracking
system is also updated by RFID reads at 14 point of sale stations and as
they move through the front gates of the store.
After considering various competitive offerings, Byblos, together with
Creativesystems, chose Vue for two primary reasons -- overall retail
experience and the ability to deliver a single, unified hardware and
software platform. "Vue Technology's experience and focus within retail
environments provides the combination of functionality and scalability that
we needed to ensure the success of such an ambitious item-level solution,"
said João Vilaça of Creativesystems. "In addition, with the scale of this
project, we needed a single technology platform that would not require us
to integrate technologies from multiple vendors."
"We are excited to be a part of this milestone for item-level RFID," said
Robert Locke, CEO of Vue Technology. "Byblos Amoreiras is another example
of how we are successfully bringing RFID to the item-level and making it
valuable to retailers. We have long believed that such large-scale
deployments are possible. In fact, they are the precursor to where the
market is headed -- large enterprise wide deployments across multiple
retail chains."
About Vue Technology
Vue Technology is the leading provider of item-level RFID solutions,
offering breakthrough RFID infrastructure components and a powerful
software suite that delivers the most scalable, reliable, and ROI-driven
RFID solutions on the market. Vue's TrueVUE™ RFID Platform provides the
industry's only unified RFID infrastructure that allows customers to manage
dock doors, portals, mobile devices, smart surfaces and smart shelves to
achieve RFID visibility down to the item-level. With its patented RF
Networking devices and UHF enabled VUEPoints, Vue allows standard readers
to network across thousands of antennas, exponentially increasing the
number of zones that readers can support and dramatically reducing the cost
barriers previously associated with item-level RFID roll-outs. For more
information, please visit www.vuetechnology.com.
About BYBLOS
Byblos Bookstore opened its first "Smart Bookstore" in December 2007. The
concept is much more than a bookstore, enabling visitors to track any book
to its exact location (being a shelf, table or other). RFID antennas at the
point of sale enable a seamless, convenient and fast checkout,
simultaneously reading several books even if they are piled up. The
implementation of RFID creates a unique experience and level of service for
the customer that is only available in Byblos' Lisbon store.
Byblos was founded by a Portuguese editor and leader in "fiction and
non-fiction." The company is now set to lead this specialized retail
industry in Portugal, with plans to open four superstores in 2008 and five
in 2009.
About CREATIVESYSTEMS
With a customer focused organization, Creativesystems is an Iberian
integrated solution provider in the field of smart information acquisition
and management, operating in Portugal and Spain. It has a broad knowledge
and experience in information technology coupled with operations management
and centered on simple, scalable and competitive customized solutions
supported by expert consultancy in process optimization and efficiency.
A pioneer in the application of RFID in a series of industrial, logistics,
retail and services applications, Creativesystems holds vast experience in
these fields. The developed solutions focus on providing simplicity and
scalability, integrating RFID as well as other automatic identification
technologies, such as portable data terminals and barcode systems, among
others. Creativesystems represents RFID equipments and solutions from Vue
Technology, Alien Technology, Printronix and Ekahau. For more information
please visit www.creativesystems.pt or www.creativesystems.es