ARTS Member Update, January 2008

BIG SHOW Edition!

ARTS looks forward to the NRF Annual Convention every year. It's the most significant event in the retail calendar, a time for major announcements and the opportunity to update members on activities of the previous year.  This year we hope to exceed your expectations by releasing:

	The ARTS SOA Blueprint, a guide to successful SOA implementation
	Retail Transaction Interface (RTI), a new XML specification built according to the SOA Blueprint, that enables reuse of your core POS functionality as SOA services
	Updated Workforce Management RFP, including Task Management.
	UnifiedPOS 1.12 including XML-POS, the foundation for web services device connectivity.

Your ARTS Schedule for the NRF Annual Convention:

Sunday, January 13, 10.15-11.45, Room 1E12/13

ARTS Update Session

We suggest you begin your Convention activities here.  Get an overview of new ARTS products, ask questions and learn about ARTS plans for 2008, including Video Analytics and Data Warehousing.  Speakers from retail and software suppliers, including Greg Wilmer of Big Lots, co-Chair of the Blueprint project, Roland Doemer of IBM traveling from Germany to bring you the inside story for maximizing use of RTI, and Frank May of Microsoft on the great potential of XML-POS to lower the cost of POS devices connectivity through web services. 

Monday and Tuesday, January 14-15, 9.00-18.30, Booth 2155, EXPO Hall

ARTS Standards Pavilion

The Pavilion is the hub of ARTS activities at the NRF Annual Convention.  This year 16 vendors are sponsoring the Pavilion as a testimony to the ever expanding ARTS community.  The ARTS Interactive Solution Center will be the focal point within the Pavilion - choose a common business problem on the touch screen and learn how ARTS standards can play a role in the solution and where in the Pavilion you can find more information on this particular subject.

Several demonstrations in the Pavilion have been directly targeted at today's business challenges:

	Five vendors have join together to show you the latest capabilities of UnifiedPOS now based on XML.  You can also see a better way to protect your customer data via MagnePrint technology, enabled in the new release of UnifiedPOS, that is able to detect cards that have been illegally reproduced ("skimmed") as well as cards that have had their data altered.
	You can see demonstrations of Video analytics - the HOT new technology that allows retailers to improve customer service and safety, reduce theft and streamline operations.  Video analytics turns images into standard data that can create instant messages to alert the store associates of lines at checkout, spills or trash on the floor that could cause unsafe conditions and accurately counts customers in the store.
	The new Data Warehouse model and associated Data Dictionary are nearly ready for release.  We will have advanced information and working examples available in the Pavilion.

Come by the Pavilion review the newly released standards; talk with the experts and register to win prizes, including a free copy of Microsoft Windows Vista and a Microsoft XBox.

Tuesday, January 15, 11.15-12.45, Room 3D05, EXPO Hall

ARTS BIG !deas Session

ARTS is pleased to be working again with IHL Consulting Group and RIS News in a session presenting the 5^th Annual Store Systems Study.  This study provides critical information on what retailers want and need in their POS systems in order to serve customers. 

New ARTS Chapter in Australia

Several leading retailers, including Myer, Coles, Harvey Norman, Harris Scarfe and Reject Shop and supported by Fujitsu, SAP, IBM and Microsoft, have organized an ARTS chapter in Australia.  The Australian Retailers Association has agreed to serve as secretariat.  This is very exciting news for ARTS, since it will almost certainly increase international contributions to the development and adoption of ARTS standards.

New ARTS Board Members

Darrell Riekena has returned to the ARTS Board representing Kroger,  Nada Aried has joined the Board representing Limited Brands and Geoff Pearce of Reject Shop, as the elected chair, is representing the new Australian chapter.  There is one more retailer opening, if interested in serving please contact maderr@nrf.com

2008 Committee Meeting Schedule

The updated schedule will be posted to www.nrf-arts.org/ARTSCalendar.htm after the ARTS Board meeting in New York.  We apologize for the delay; tentative plans are for ARTS-XML and Data Model to meet week of February 18^th on the west coast and UnifiedPOS to meet March 4 - 6 in Tokyo.

Best wishes for a healthy and successful New Year from the ARTS Board and Staff!  As our present to you we have posted all presentations from the successful October Summit Conference on the webboard; great information on SOA and how retailers are benefiting from this implementation.

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It is our hope that you will find ARTS Update a valuable resource and will share it with your friends and colleagues. Please send an email to arts@nrf.com if you wish to unsubscribe. 

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