International Micro Systems, Inc. Blog
Technology, Point of Sale and Inventory Specialists
IMS Recieves IBM Market Growth Achievement Award
May 10th
May, 2011
International Micro Systems, Inc. is a Certified Retail Pro Partner, is organized as a privately held Delaware corporation, and operates from headquarters in Aston, PA as well as satellite sales and support offices in FL. IMS, a recognized and highly valued IBM Business Partner, has been in business for over 17 years.
IMS received an IBM Market Growth Achievement Award for 2010. This IBM award is presented to solution providers who are recognized market leaders within chosen POS Segment(s), and who achieved a year-to-year growth of 40% or greater over the prior year.
IMS currently provides its retail customers with Retail Pro® Point-of-Sale software, integrated and PCI compliant solutions based upon leading IT platforms. Recognized as a leader throughout the retail and Retail Pro communities, IMS provides customizations for Retail Pro® to further enhance our capabilities to meet the unique specific needs of our clients.
Backed by award winning project management, business analysis, implementation, training, technical support, and development teams, IMS is able to deliver your solution; one tailored to meet your precise information management needs and return on investment criteria.
IMS Announces New Baseball Clients and 23.3% STADIS Market Share in MLB
May 10th
STADIS is being implemented at the Houston Astros and the Durham Bulls in time for the opening of the 2011 season. The New York Mets will opt for full deployment of STADIS for 2011 as well.
ASTON, Pa., March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Jim Shrader, founder and CEO of International Micro Systems (IMS), announced today the signings of two new clients, the Houston Astros and the Durham Bulls, as well as the decision by the New York Mets to expand their Gift Card only deployment of STADIS to a full deployment. “These clients will be live and fully operational on STADIS in time for opening day,” according to Shrader. ”We are delighted to welcome our newest clubs and their food, beverage, and merchandising partners to the STADIS fold and are committed to helping them leverage STADIS to drive incremental attendance and food/beverage/merchandise revenues, increase per caps, and create sales uplift and breakage.”
IMS created the loaded ticket concept in 2004 in conjunction with the Philadelphia Phillies and ARAMARK when first installing STADIS at Citizens Bank Park. Today nearly 25% of MLB clubs have deployed STADIS. STADIS is built upon an open Venue Integration Architecture (VIA) that integrates ticketing, concessions POS, merchandise POS, and emerging fan facing cell phone transaction applications such as Mangia.com.
The NY Mets decided to fully implement STADIS after researching the added value ‘alternatives’ to STADIS offered by ticketing, gift card, and point of sale companies. ”We are in the unique position to offer our clients an integration path that incorporates all fan facing transaction systems into their single data base. Competitive offerings are limited to integrating to that particular vendor’s products and often the vendor owns the data, not the club. In the STADIS environment, the client owns their MS-SQL Server based data. Further, the client interfaces to their data via STADIS’ web portal which is built upon the Microsoft .net platform,” explains IMS’ Shrader.
“The term we use to describe our relationship with companies with whom we integrate with in one deal and compete with in another deal is coopetition. It’s sometimes a delicate balancing act. STADIS permits our clients freedom of choice in emerging technologies. We have gone through 3 ticketing applications and 5 POS applications in 3 years at one venue alone,” according to Shrader.
The Durham Bulls are IMS’ second MiLB client and will join the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, as the first MiLB clubs to leverage STADIS.
IMS is an IBM Business Partner. In addition to supporting the STADIS market, IMS also supports Retail Pro ®, the merchandise management application installed at over 50 stadiums, arenas, and race tracks. Kerry Lemos, CEO of Retail Pro ®, states, “IMS has helped establish Retail Pro ® as the Gold Standard in professional sports related retailing. IMS understands the requirements of large venues and how to deploy Retail Pro ® in these environments.”
IMS also markets and supports Volante Systems food and beverage POS, time and attendance, BOH and management applications. Volante features unique application sets for concessions, fine dining, bars, clubs, and suites. It is built upon an architecture that supports features like wireless transmission of mid-game, on-the-fly pricing changes critical to MiLB promotions. Volante’s architecture was a leading contributor to MiLB’s 2010 Promotion of the Year award presented to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.
Please click HERE (http://www NULL.prnewswire NULL.com/news-releases/ims-announces-new-baseball-clients-and-233-stadis-market-share-in-mlb-117950319 NULL.html) to view the article on PR Newswire.
Mangia and IMS Announce Strategic Partnership
Mar 1st
Mangia and IMS Announce Strategic Partnership Mobile phone-based ordering provider Mangia to integrate with value added ticket platform STADIS
ASTON, Penn., Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — International Micro Systems (IMS) announced its strategic partnership with Mangia Technologies today, joining its loaded ticket platform, STADIS, with Mangia’s mobile phone based in-seat ordering technology.
“We are extremely pleased to be partnering with IMS,” explained Nate Checketts, President and Founder of Mangia Technologies. “IMS is the leading provider of loaded-ticket technology, and a company dedicated to enhancing the fan experience. Together we provide stadiums a truly complete solution.” The partnership is two-fold, encompassing both co-marketing/distribution, and integration development. Co-marketing initiatives began with sales and marketing teams from both companies training on the respective applications, services and offerings of each partner.
The second initiative calls for Mangia to integrate with STADIS, the IMS developed open-venue architecture-based integration platform that integrates all fan-facing ticketing, food and beverage POS, including Volante Systems, and retail merchandising applications, including Retail Pro.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Mangia. Their people and product are first class and the integration of Mangia into STADIS supports our 2011 strategic directives in Fan Relationship Management applications and CRM integration,” explains Jim Shrader, President, IMS.
IMS is the inventor of STADIS and the leading provider of Value Added Ticketing systems for the Sports, Leisure, and Entertainment Industry. Leveraging a unique methodology that integrates most of the preferred industry solutions (ticketing, POS, concessionaires, etc.), IMS helps customers increase profit and per cap revenue while capturing valuable information about fan purchases and behavior.
With nearly 1 in 4 MLB clubs and clients in MiLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and the NCAA, STADIS leads the league in generating incremental attendance, per cap spending, sales uplift and breakage.
Mangia, founded in 2007, allows fans to use their phones to order food, drinks and merchandise and have it all delivered right to their seats or prepared for pick-up at an express window. Mangia is currently in operation in nine professional and NCAA venues.
CONTACT: Blake Ferguson, +1-801-717-1144, blake@mangia.com SOURCE Mangia Technologies www.prnewswire.com Copyright (C) 2011 PR Newswire.All rights reserved.
This article was published on CNBC. Please Click HERE (http://classic NULL.cnbc NULL.com/id/41834491) to read the full article.
PCI Webinar
Feb 21st
As previously stated by IMS, it is very important to be PCI Compliant according to the credit card standards. Please consider attending the following webinars that relate to PCI compliancy:
Join Bob Russo, General Manager, PCI Security Standards Council, for Detailed Overview of PCI SSC Training Programs for 2011.
This Presentation Will Outline:
- Overview of the PCI SSC Council training programs
- Detailed look at the course offerings, including who should attend, pre-requisites and topics covered
- Review of 2011 PCI SSC training calendar, locations and costs
- Training FAQ – a quick look at some of your frequently asked questions
Following public release of the PCI SSC 2011 Training Calendar, the Council´s General Manager, Bob Russo, will provide a detailed overview the Council’s training offerings and highlight those courses new for this year.
To view the PCI Security Standards Council, LLC. website, please click HERE (https://www NULL.pcisecuritystandards NULL.org/training/webinars NULL.php )
To sign up for the Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 3:00pm EST webinar, click HERE (http://register NULL.webcastgroup NULL.com/l3/?wid=0500222115537)
To sign up for Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 11:00pm EST webinar, click HERE (http://register NULL.webcastgroup NULL.com/l3/?wid=0500224115539)
*Please note that this webinar is NOT affiliated with International Micros Systems, Inc. (IMS)
Alert: Another Facebook Rogue app to look out for
Jan 30th
The rogue Facebook apps continue. This time the warning is about an app labeled as haha or hahatoyourself. It will appear on a page of someone you know, and may even include a direct message to you saying
Heyy (insert your name here), what are you doing in this video? LOL Embarrassing!
The scam may also list as
Look at you HaHa!
and look like a video post.
In both cases, DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK, the links will attempt to install a rogue app on to your account. If you have clicked on the links already, you will want to do the following
- Remove the posts from your account
- Check the allowed 3rd party applications
You really need to check and see what 3rd party applications have access to your Facebook account. There are many apps in Facebook that people find useful, at the same time, many other Facebook apps are just there to steal your data, or use your account in ways that you don’t want.
To check your Privacy settings for 3rd party apps, click on account (on the top right of Facebook) and then click on Privacy settings.
(http://www NULL.techgeekandmore NULL.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/image24 NULL.png)
- Now (in the lower left corner) select Apps and websites, where it says “Edit your settings”
(http://www NULL.techgeekandmore NULL.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/image25 NULL.png)
- This will take you to the Apps and Websites page where you should remove any app that you either do NOT recognize or that you no longer use
- *Run a full scan on your pc with Malwarebytes or SuperAntiSpyware to check your pc.
- If you need to download either you can download them from www.ninite.com (http://www NULL.ninite NULL.com)
- *Run a full scan on your pc with your Antivirus Software.
- If you don’t currently have an active Antivirus program, you can download a FREE Antivirus program from www.ninite.com (http://www NULL.ninite NULL.com). (Tech Geek and More recommends Microsoft Security Essentials) If you have an old Antivirus program that is expired, you should remove it prior to installing the new Antivirus software.
(*Make sure you update the program prior to running it)
Software: Windows – Optimize your computer for peak performance
Jan 24th
People think a pc is like a TV, just there, you click on the power button and it turns on, and that all you need to do. In fact that is wrong, a computer needs to be treated more like a car than a TV. You should be doing the pc equivalent of an oil change and tune up, so that you can get the most out of your pc.
The following tips can help improve your computer’s performance. These examples are for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. However, you’ll find that these tips work for all versions of the Windows operating system.
By the way, it is not possible for you to blow up your computer or your files with any of these procedures. These tasks use utilities provided within the Windows operating system to help you to achieve the best system performance. This article does not address tinkering with the registry files
Microsoft at home has a great article with tips on what you should be doing. “Optimize your computer for peak performance”. (LINK) http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/optimize.aspx?WT.rss_f=At%20Work%20RSS&WT.rss_a=Improve%20your%20computer’s%20performance&WT.rss_ev=a (http://www NULL.microsoft NULL.com/athome/setup/optimize NULL.aspx?WT NULL.rss_f=At%20Work%20RSS&WT NULL.rss_a=Improve%20your%20computer)
Hardware: (From Microsoft at Home) How to clean your computer
Jan 24th
As a tech I’m still surprised at what I find when I open up customers pc’s for upgrades or repairs. I have seen everything from enough lint to make a sweater all the way to small furry creatures (Keep in mind, the creatures have not all been dead). Microsoft at Home has a post out this morning with 5 basic how to steps to keep your machine clean, and happy.
Remember, a pc needs to be treated like a car, that goes for both software and hardware. These 5 steps are just one more thing you really should do to your pc, just like taking your car in for an oil change or to rotate the tires.
The following is from “How to clean your pc”
I have a dirty secret. I’ve never cleaned my computer. Sure, I’ve dusted my monitor, but I haven’t taken off the cover or tried to reach the crumbs lurking inside my keyboard. And I honestly don’t know the difference between pressurized air dusters and compressed air cleaners.
“Your computer could fry if you don’t keep it clean,” says Jonathon Millman, chief technology officer for Hooplah Interactive.
Whether it’s a desktop or laptop/notebook computer, dust and lint can clog the cooling vents. This can cause your computer’s brain—the central processing unit (CPU)—to heat up. And heat is the biggest cause of component failure in computers. Regular cleaning could save you costly maintenance fees down the road.
Follow the five simple steps (http://www NULL.microsoft NULL.com/athome/setup/cleancomputer NULL.aspx#3) in the cleanup and maintenance routine below to keep your computer and accessories looking shiny and new. It’s an easy, do-it-yourself solution to help them run smoothly and last longer.
To read the complete post go to Microsoft at Home (LINK) http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/cleancomputer.aspx#3 (http://www NULL.microsoft NULL.com/athome/setup/cleancomputer NULL.aspx#3)
Retail Pro Add-Ons
Nov 11th
In our efforts of helping you create new revenue streams, IMS would like to introduce add-ons for your Retail Pro point-of-sale system. Cross Selling / Quantity / Group Discounting and Gift and Award Card Solutions are just a few integrated solutions that can help to maximize your sales oppurtunities over the holidays and throughout the upcoming year.
Click HERE (http://archive NULL.constantcontact NULL.com/fs063/1102632184876/archive/1103867716012 NULL.html)to view the full newsletter…
Credit Card Compliance
Oct 20th
Is your company currently in compliance with the PCI, PABP, PA-DSS regulations?
This is an official notice from International Micro Systems, Inc. (IMS) to make you aware of the recent changes in Credit Card compliancy regulations and how they affect your Retail Pro POS system. Many recent changes regarding payment processing solutions may require changes to your Retail Pro system and overall business operations.
Why do I need to be compliant?
Compliance is mandated by the payment card brands and not by the PCI Security
Standards Council. However, for most merchants, the deadlines for validating
compliance with the PCI DSS have already passed. You should check with your acquire and/or merchant bank to check if any specific deadlines apply to you, based on merchant transaction volume (level) as determined by the card payment brands. All entities that transmit, process or store payment card data must be compliant with PCI DSS.
What happens if I am non-compliant?
Any fines and/or penalties associated with non-compliance with the PCI DSS and/or confirmed security breaches are defined by each of the payment card brands. Fines may reach up to $50,000 per incident and you may lose the right to process credit card transactions for your customers.
What can I do from a Retail Pro perspective to ensure I am compliant?
In order to ensure compliance via Retail Pro, it is necessary to upgrade your current software to:
- Version 8.6 or Version 9.2 (or later)
- PCI-DSS Compliant Versions according to the credit card companies (Shift4 or RBS Link).
- Run the ‘Software Tool’ that comes with version 8.6 or 9.2 to encrypt all of the credit card information that is currently stored into your systems.
**Please note that PC Charge, Credit Pro and/or PPM are NOT complaint, nor they will be because Retail Pro has discontinued these products.
With an active membership, upgrading within Version 8 or 9 comes at no software expense, with an exception of implementation time and services from IMS. If you are currently running a Version of Retail Pro other than Version 8 or 9, it is necessary to do a full Version upgrade.
Who should I contact?
It is important to note that while IMS can help you become compliant from a retail POS perspective, you may still need to contact your merchant services provider and/or banking institution to ensure that full compliancy is met and that no fines will be levied. We would also recommend you speaking to your attorney as well.
Contact your IMS account manager or sales rep ASAP at 484-482-1600 or toll free at 800-882-0627 to get more information regarding the retail POS perspective or if you have any questions regarding the Credit Card Compliance.
