Author: JT Smith
the launch of OpenCheckout, a joint venture which will build complete
Point of Sale (POS) solutions based on open source software
components. The first product of the venture will be OpenCheckout
Retail Suite, an integrated point-of-sale, back office, and cash
management solution. OpenCheckout Retail Suite will combine Global
Retail’s Mercator POS, a sophisticated and configurable open-source
POS front end, with Linux Developers Group’s GNC Components
accounting/back-office software to provide complete point-of-sale,
inventory tracking, employee tracking, and POS reconciliation
functionality.
“Mercator POS is a mature, open-source POS application,” said Global
Retail Technology CEO Quentin Olson. “It is positioned to break open
a market that is largely dominated by closed, proprietary systems.
Combining it with back office and cash management functions from Linux
Developers Group’s GNC Components will allow us to provide a
complete systems solution for small and enterprise retailers.”
Written in Java and using the JavaPOS retail peripheral standard,
Mercator has been under development by Global Retail Technology for
three years and has been an open-source project since May, 2001.
Mercator provides complete POS front-end functionality, including
sophisticated inventory management, customizable user interface,
stand-alone or networked operation, per-employee auditing, and
advanced data replication and fault tolerance capability. JavaPOS is
a standard software environment developed by IBM which allows
compliant devices to be used easily from Java software.
GNC Components is a modularized and enhanced version of the accounting
technology in GnuCash, the most popular and functional personal
accounting program for the Linux operating system. Financial logic,
data storage, user interface, and reporting/analysis routines are
independent components which can be combined to fit the needs of a
particular application. Linux Developers Group, the corporate sponsor
of GnuCash development, has developed the GNC Components to bring
powerful open-source accounting tools to businesses from small-scale
to enterprise-scale. The GNC Components architecture provides
flexible financial reporting, multiuser networked operation,
sophisticated PostgreSQL database backend, and a powerful transaction
query engine. Special-purpose POS extensions, including end-of-day
cash reconciliation, client-server extensions for use with thin-client
POS installs, and redundant data-storage modules, are under
development.
“We are very excited to be working with Global Retail Technology,”
said Linux Developers Group CEO Bill Gribble. “The GNC Components are
the best open-source accounting toolset around and Mercator is the
most mature and functional open-source point of sale system. It’s a
perfect match. We think the time is right for an open-source POS
solution to shake up the marketplace a little. Companies around the
world have learned to trust their mission-critical Internet services
to Linux; trusting their day-to-day financials to Linux is the next
step. With no per-seat license fees, we can provide our customers
with a customized enterprise-class POS solution at a fraction of the
cost of those offered by the established vendors. What they would
have spent on license fees can be used instead to customize the
package to the precise needs of the business.”
The OpenCheckout Retail Suite will be released in the first quarter
of 2002. No pricing has been announced for the product or associated
services. The joint venture will offer a full range of consulting,
customization, installation, and support services for individual
retail outlets, retail chains, and systems integrators.
ABOUT LINUX DEVELOPERS GROUP, INC
Linux Developers Group, Inc. is a software development and consulting
firm based in Austin, Texas. It develops custom software and turnkey
solutions for e-business, finance, and retail applications. Linux
Developers Group, Inc was founded in May 2001 by CEO Bill Gribble and
a group of private investors. For more information, see the
Linux Developers Group web site, http://www.linuxdevel.com.
The LDG development staff is the core of the GnuCash development
team. GnuCash is the leading personal accounting program for the
Linux operating system. For more information about GnuCash, see the
GnuCash web site: http://www.gnucash.org.
ABOUT GLOBAL RETAIL TECHNOLOGY, LLC
Global Retail Technology, LLC, provides custom software and consulting
services for the retail industry. It was founded in 1995 by CEO
Quentin Olson. It is a privately-held company based in Seattle,
Washington. Quentin Olson has been developing retail business
software for various enterprises since the early 1990s. Worldwide, his
software is a part of tens of thousands of installed point of sale
systems. For more information, see the Global Retail Technology
website, http://www.globalretailtech.com.
Contact:
Bill Gribble
Linux Developers Group, Inc.
(512) 851-8731
grib@linuxdevel.com
