HP Makes Retail Push With POS Device

Hewlett-Packard Co. is looking to grab a bigger piece of the retail pie with its introduction Monday of a new POS (point-of-sale) device.

The HP rp5000 is designed to withstand the rigorous front-end retail environment—with such improvements as hardened cooling and power capabilities—and with serial and USB ports for such peripherals as scanners and receipt printers, according to officials with the Palo Alto, Calif., company.

The rp5000, which is being introduced at the Retail Systems 2003 show in Chicago this week, also has a five-year lifecycle and is based on industry-standard PC components.

"We are integrating the point-of-sale [device] with the rest of the [computing] architecture around the store," said Brian Schmitz, senior manager of product marketing for business PCs at HP. "We can now offer a complete retail solution, from point-of-sale to the back office."

HP is pushing to increase its presence in the retail space, where officials said it has generated $1.9 billion in revenue since its acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. in May 2002. The company is the latest top-tier vendor to roll out a POS device. In January, Dell Computer Corp., of Round Rock, Texas, announced it was combining its various server, PC, storage and networking products with peripherals and software from third parties to automate such processes as sales transactions and inventory management.

HPs rp5000 is powered by a Pentium 4 chip from Intel Corp. and supports Microsoft Corp.s Windows 2000, Windows XP Embedded and XP Professional operating systems. It also features four powered serial ports, four powered USB 2.0 ports, two standard USB 2.0 ports and two PCI slots.

The small form factor also is designed for space-constrained spaces, and the device offers a single latch for entry into it as well as tool-less drive and motherboard removal, all for easy maintenance.

The rp5000 is scheduled for release this summer, with pricing starting at $1,000.