USTT USA Technologies & IBM Intelligent Vending Solution Targets Hospitality Industry
Gaylord Palms Resort First to Use Cashless Payment System for Self-Serve Guest Amenities
WAYNE, Pa., April 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- USA Technologies Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: USTT - news) and IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) have combined resources to develop a wireless service for the traveling public that could ultimately revolutionize the hospitality industry -- guest use of the hotel room key card for unattended guest amenity purchases. With a simple swipe of the guest's hotel room key, guests can make beverage and snack vending purchases, use the Laundromat facilities or access a personal computer and other office equipment in the hotel business center, with the charges conveniently added to their room bill.
The first to implement the solution is the luxurious, 1,400 room Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center that recently opened in Orlando, Florida. The Gaylord Palms Resort, part of the Opryland Hotel Group, provides hotel guests the ability to use their hotel room key-card to purchase beverages from any of the vending machines conveniently located throughout the hotel.
``The room key cashless payment system has added tremendous convenience to our hotel guests for making vending purchases,'' said Kemp Gallineau, Gaylord Palms Resort Hotel Manager. ``Our guests no longer need to worry about carrying money to make a vending purchase. With a swipe of their room key card, they can make vending purchases from any of the beverage vending machines on our property, with the charges added to their room bill,'' added Mr. Gallineau.
``The IBM/USA Technologies systems at Gaylord Palms Resort are among one of the first deployments of cashless, intelligent vending machines in a hospitality industry environment,'' said Dean Douglas, General Manager, Wireless e-Business, IBM Global Services. ``USA Technologies and IBM have a powerful alliance, industry expertise and gameplan to make cashless vending a reality on a global scale, driving an entirely new, exciting, more convenient way to conduct e-business, while opening up opportunity for generating new revenue streams,'' he said.
The intelligent vending machine solution is the combination of USA Technologies' patent protected cashless payment technology, e-Port(TM), combined with USA's proprietary networking software to connect the vending machines to the hotel's POS system. The USA Technologies-IBM solution are operated by sophisticated computer systems and networked software that processes vending transactions and help analyze buying patterns to provide immediate audit control to ensure they never run low on stock.
``Our e-Port cashless payment technology is already revolutionizing the vending industry, allowing consumers to purchase a variety of products and services from vending machines nationwide, with the convenience of credit and debit cards and other cashless forms of payment,'' said Stephen Herbert, President and Chief Operating Officer, USA Technologies, Inc. ``For the past few years, USA Technologies and IBM have worked together to develop and deliver highly innovative cashless, wireless, mobile commerce solutions to customers. The companies intend to continue to combine IBM's marketing and executional might with USA's revolutionary technology to bring the cashless room key vending solution and other wireless solutions to the worldwide marketplace,'' added Mr. Herbert.
The launch of the room key cashless product offering builds on to the leadership role USA Technologies has already established in the hospitality industry with its credit card activated, 24x7 business center solution, Business Express®. Business Express, with over 500 hotel across the USA and Canada including properties with industry leaders Marriott, Hilton, Starwood and Six Continents, continues to provide business travelers access to personal computers, printers, facsimile machines and copiers, around the clock, with the swipe of their credit card. Worldwide, there are over 300,000 hotels and approximately 30 million vending machines.
Following the recently announced acquisition of Maytag Corporation-backed, Stitch Networks, a leading provider of wireless networking solutions that can be used in the intelligent vending arena for remote management and auditing functionality, USA is positioning itself as the clear choice, best in class solution in cashless-mobile commerce and the wireless networked marketplace. Its leading-edge technology is also helping usher in new capabilities such as RFID and mobile commerce as part of the e-Port platform and the associated global network services.
USA also recently signed an agreement with MEI, Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of M&M/Mars, for MEI to market USA Technologies' credit card payment system and associated financial services to the vending industry. MEI is the global leader in manufacturing and pioneer of electronic bill acceptors, coin mechanisms, and electronic payment systems for the vending industry, and has the world's largest installed base of electronic coin mechanisms.
About USA Technologies:
USA Technologies is recognized as a leader in cashless micro transactions, associated financial/network services and interactive media technology. USA Technologies provides credit card activated and other cashless/mobile commerce systems. USA Technologies is an IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) Business Partner and an inaugural member of the Sprint Enabling Application Service Provider Program for e-commerce. It has also established partnerships with a number of global IT, multimedia, and telecommunications companies including Marconi Online Systems, RadiSys Corporation, DoubleClick Inc., and Xerox Corporation. Visit the USA Technologies home page at www.usatech.com.
About IBM:
IBM is the world's largest information technology (IT) company and provider of IT services. For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com
Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act: With the exception of the historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties that may individually or mutually impact the matters herein described, including but not limited to product acceptance, the ability to continually obtained increased orders of its products, the ability to meet installation goals, economic, competitive, governmental impacts, whether its pending patents will be granted or defendable, validity of intellectual property and patents of USA, the ability of USA to commercialize its developmental products, technological and/or other factors, which could cause actual results or revenues to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements.
USA Technologies Contacts:
George R. Jensen, Jr., Chairman & CEO
Stephen P. Herbert, President & COO
Phone: 800-633-0340
e-mail: sherbert@usatech.com
IBM Contact:
Jan Walbridge
Press Relations
914.766.4647
e-mail: walbridge@us.ibm.com
SOURCE: USA Technologies Inc. |
