Contact:
Ann McDonough
Object Management Group
+1-781-444 0404
[email protected]
Object Management Group Prepares First Retail Standard RFP, Welcomes New Members to Retail Domain Task Force
Needham, MA – September 19, 2017 – The Object Management Group® (OMG®), an international, open membership, not-for-profit technology standards consortium, today announced that more than 40 organizations from around the world have joined its Retail Domain Task Force (RDTF), and the group is planning its first request for proposal to initiate version 2.0 of the UnifiedPOS standard.
RDTF membership is comprised of both retailers and technology vendors. Chaired by John Glaubitz of Vertex Inc., Bart McGlothin of Cisco Systems, and Leonid Rubakhin of Aptos, RDTF retail participants include a cross section of general merchandise, grocery, specialty, and department store retailers, such as BevMo!, Books-A-Million, Boscov’s Department Stores, Carter’s, and Sonae, while vendor participation includes most of the top suppliers of retail technology, such as Bizerba, IBM, GK Software, Infor, and SAP.
At the upcoming OMG Technical Committee meeting in New Orleans, September 25-29, 2017, the OMG Technical Committee is expected to issue the UnifiedPOS V2 POS Printer API RFP. Operating system independent and language neutral, UnifiedPOS is the de facto technical standard for device interoperability at the point of sale, supporting 36 different devices such as scanners, printers and scales. Originally managed by the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), it is nearly universally implemented by POS hardware and software vendors, allowing them to be part of the larger ecosystem of the retail POS environment. It allows retailers to select best-of-breed POS peripherals that suit their changing business needs, and to upgrade or completely change out their POS devices at will. A truly international standard, UnifiedPOS supports devices common in Japan (e-Money), equipment required in Latin America (fiscal printers) and newer devices such as RFID, NFC, and biometric readers.
“Version 2.0 of UnifiedPOS does away with the hard-wired connection to the POS, allowing devices to be accessed over a network, which in turn widens the possibilities for mobile devices such as phones and tablets to be part of a retailer’s point of sale network,” said RDTF co-chair Leonid Rubakhin, Senior Principal Software Developer at Aptos, Inc. “This RFP is the first step in that evolution, in that POS printer is the first device that would use the new V2 behavior model to expose its key functionality as a remotable and shareable service."
The OMG also announced that Karen Shunk has joined as Director of Technology Programs. Previously Vice President, Technology Standards for the National Retail Federation (NRF), Karen will assume management responsibility for directing, coordinating, integrating and implementing the transition of domain standards like those from the NRF ARTS division into the OMG technology process. She reports to OMG President and COO William Hoffman.
The RDTF was officially chartered at the June OMG Technical Committee meeting to assume management of standards developed by the NRF ARTS division. Member organizations in good standing of NRF ARTS will receive membership in the OMG RDTF for two years before an annual fee is required. For additional information about joining the RDTF, please contact OMG Business Development at 1-781-444-0404 or send email to [email protected].
About OMG
The Object Management Group® (OMG®) is an international, open membership, not-for-profit technology standards consortium with representation from government, industry and academia. OMG Task Forces develop enterprise integration standards for a wide range of technologies and an even wider range of industries. OMG's modeling standards enable powerful visual design, execution and maintenance of software and other processes. Visit www.omg.org for more information.
###
Note to editors: For a listing of all OMG trademarks, visit https://www.omg.org/legal/tm_list.htm. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.