Do you think all point-of-sale (POS) terminals are created equally? Well think again.
Our latest addition to our RealPOS™ family will surprise you with its stylish all-in-one design, high performance, versatility, and the ruggedness you expect from a leader in POS. It’s the first all-in-one POS to feature the 4th generation Intel® Core™ processor family and so much more.
The NCR RealPOS™ XR7 represents our latest evolution in design and usability for POS terminals. The product form, materials, and user interface is built on over a century of global retail experience and knowledge. The result is the culmination of design, functionality, and quality that goes beyond any POS in the market. After more than 130 years in retail, we are proud to have reinvented the POS.
NCR XR7
The NCR XR7 features a stylish all-in-one design, best-in-class performance, exceptional versatility, plus the ruggedness and data security you need for mission-critical store environments. Simply stated, it’s POS Perfected.
Brains and brawn meet beauty to give you one impressive point-of-sale - They say beauty is only skin deep, but not true with the NCR XR7—Sure it has a sleek, modern appearance with its slim profile, zero-bezel design and elegant styling that sets it apart from other point-of-sale solutions, but that’s only part of the story. It’s powered by 4th generation Intel® Core™ processor technology—an energy efficient powerhouse—to deliver amazing performance and future-proof your investment. To top it off, it’s smart too. On-board “odometers” capture vital health and usage statistics so we can keep you up and running and keep your customers coming back for more.
Service your customers faster…and look great doing it - We understand how important it is to provide an exceptional experience for your shoppers. That’s why the NCR XR7 delivers the performance you need in a stylish and versatile design that will blend seamlessly in virtually any retail environment, enhancing your brand image. As an added bonus it provides multi-touch and gesture support to make it easy for users to interact in a way that is most familiar to them in their everyday lives. Gesture interactions not only enhance the user experience, but also help you ring up those sales faster.
Because one size doesn’t fit all - The NCR XR7 is available with either a 15”, 18.5”, or a 21.5” touch display. This flexible platform makes it an ideal choice for use as either a POS or a kiosk and its versatile design lets you assist customers just bout anywhere. Place it on a tabletop, kiosk pedestal, or even hang it on a wall or a pole—it fits wherever you need it most and saves space to give you extra room for customer service. You can also customize your solution with integrated options including an encrypted magnetic stripe reader (MSR) and a family of customer facing displays.
Reliability and peace of mind…for you and your customers - The NCR XR7 was designed to offer the sophisticated elegance of consumer grade technology, but with the robustness and reliability of industrial grade quality—giving you the best of both worlds. With its rugged die-cast aluminum chassis, long life LED display, projected capacitive touchscreen, and enterprise class solid state drive (SSD), the XR7 is built to last. Our comprehensive environmental and compatibility testing, along with stringent manufacturing standards, helps ensure your system will provide years of dependable operation.
Ensuring the security of system data and safeguardingcustomer transactions is of critical importance for retailers. The NCR XR7 has an encrypted MSR for enhanced protection.
The bottom line - The NCR XR7 represents the latest evolution of our design and usability thinking around point‑of‑sale terminals. The product form, materials and user interface builds on over a century of knowledge and global experience. The result is a culmination of design, functionality, and quality that goes beyond any point‑of‑sale solution in the market. After more than 130 years in the business, we are proud to have reinvented the POS.
Key features
Technical specifications
PROCESSOR
MOTHERBOARD
MEMORY
STORAGE OPTIONS
CONNECTIVITY:
ASSOCIATE INTERFACE
INTEGRATED PERIPHERAL OPTIONS
CUSTOMER DISPLAY OPTIONS
PRE-LOADED OPERATING SYSTEMS
OTHER SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
PRODUCT DIMENSIONS
The worlds of consumer technology and retail design have been upended in recent years as both have evolved on their own and converged in exciting and challenging ways.
In the home and office, desktop computers and bulky monitors have been replaced by powerful laptops, stylish tablets and dazzling flat screen monitors. Mobile phones continue to get sleeker and more powerful and have become an indispensable part of daily life for more and more people. And digital screens and interactive technology are now the norm for informing and engaging people in just about every environment.
The new norm
Shopping behavior and modalities have also evolved.
The new norm extends beyond the traditional brick and mortar experience with tech-savvy, smart-phone toting consumers shopping across multiple channels, creating a radically new retail norm and heightened consumer expectations. Studies show that 86% of adults will pay more for a better customer experience and 54% will spend more with retailers who improve the overall experience.
Customer experience
As a result the in-store customer experience has become paramount – from the store entrance, to the exit and everywhere in between – it’s all about creating exceptional shopper experiences.
For instance, a recent survey from Piper Jaffray & Co. found that about 77% of teens say they still prefer shopping in stores compared to shopping online and the majority of them say that shopping is also a form of entertainment – not just an exercise in fulfilling a need for new socks, shoes or electronics. Another study, from the Urban Land Institute, found that 85% of Millenials report that they “love” or “enjoy” shopping in malls and stores. In the study, only a tiny minority reported that shopping was a “chore.”
Lead the pack
Leading retailers realize that store technology and design are increasingly important in winning in the new retail environment with today’s design and technology-astute shoppers.
According to a recent Association of Retail Environments study, 63% of retail executives plan to “increase significantly” or “increase somewhat” their investments on in-store technology in 2014. And that’s the No. 1 thing in which retail execs plan to increase spending. Other design elements came in second and third, with 61% of retail execs planning to increase spending on fixtures and displays and 57% of them planning to increase spending on store signage and graphics.
And a recent Deloitte research study indicates that 85% of surveyed retail executive respondents, over the next five years, see a compelling brand experience as a primary focus of the store. This brand experience needs to be integrated into every aspect of the store design. And that’s where NCR’s new design approach – which lives at the intersection of form and function – can help.
Next generation POS
NCR’s new RealPOS(TM) XR7 point-of-sale terminal offers the sleek high-tech look of a tablet to mesh with new store design demands combined with the retail- hardened long life retailers expect.
Retailers need to maximize system uptime and their overall technology investment. A store experience that falls apart at the checkout area – the last and in many cases most intimate point of the shopping and purchase process – can leave a negative and lasting last impression.
The NCR RealPOS XR7 represents NCR’s latest evolution of our design and usability thinking around point-of-sale terminals. It features a stylish all-in-one design, zero-bezel touchscreen, best in-class performance, exceptional versatility and of course the ruggedness and data security retailers need.
stylish all-in-one design
zero-bezel touchscreen, best in-class performance
Creating the experience
The product form, materials and user interface builds on over a century of retail knowledge and global experience. Charlie Rohan, NCR’s Director of Consumer Experience explains that ”NCR’s user-centered design philosophy focuses on both sides of the sales counter – addressing the needs of the sales associate using the POS terminal and the experience of the shopper. All interfaces and visual elements have been considered, resulting in a sophisticated design that does not compromise usability, reliability, or aesthetics.” The end result is a culmination of design, functionality and quality that goes beyond any point-of-sale solution in the market.
Making store design a key part of the retail experience is increasingly important in attracting shoppers and creating experiences they want to come back for and share with their friends and family.
“We take our brand promise seriously, everyday made easier. We design on a human scale and place emphasis on people who use our products on both sides of the counter. Design has to be extensible to organically fit into any environment; it has to be usable for associates and consumers alike.”
Lyle Sandler, NCR’s vice president of Consumer Experience and Design and a noted expert on retail design
NCR RealPOS™ represents the latest evolution of design for usability and reliability thinking around retail point-of-sale (POS) devices. The product form, materials and user interface builds on over a century of knowledge and global experience culminating in a purpose-built solution for retail store environments.
After 135 years in the business and well over a million point-of-sale (POS) devices installed globally, NCR is committed to designing, manufacturing and testing to the unique demands of the retail market. Our POS devices are not general purpose office PCs that have been repackaged or customized for retail. NCR’s solutions are purpose-built specifically for retail store environments. NCR methodically determines what features and capabilities are important to meet the varied needs of retailers, and we design, build and test our terminals to meet or exceed these unique requirements. Many POS devices are based on PC designs that are not able to survive common retail hazards making them more susceptible to failure and giving the customer a shorter production life cycle. Our philosophy focuses on quality and reliability, but does not stop there. A true “purpose-built” POS device has many other important characteristics. This document highlights a few of the areas NCR feels are crucial to a customer’s decision-making process when selecting a new point-of-sale device.
Life cycle
Consumer-grade PCs and POS devices based on generic or general purpose designs normally have a 12- to 18-month lifecycle before the manufacturer moves to a new offering. These changes affect the gold image and compatibility with peripherals. NCR has historically offered 5 years of production and 5 years or more of service after discontinuation of our hardware production. This allows our customers to leverage their hardware investment for ten years and beyond.
Retailer experience proves that changing models or components during deployment results in higher costs due to image changes and the complexity to test applications and peripherals on multiple platforms. Vendors who focus on general purpose/consumer grade PCs are not concerned about supporting multi-year rollouts and long term parts availability. Multiple variations of the product cause increased support risk and cost.
Material selection
Often our competitive analysis and testing indicates that some suppliers’ terminals are designed with plastic, light sheet metal, and hinges that are not intended for a retailer’s use case. A common example is weak stands that do not create a stable platform for touchscreen usage. NCR insists on heavier gauge metal parts and plastic parts resistant to impact, fire and ultra-violet (UV) light. Plus, whenever possible, durable die-cast aluminum is incorporated into our chassis design. PCs and many POS device suppliers leverage the lowest cost components available at the time of production and change the technology often to take advantage of commodity market trends. Our choice of materials differentiates NCR terminals from most other suppliers.
In addition, NCR specifies an extended operating temperature range, and all components from capacitors to CPUs must be able to perform in those environments without failure. This level of design detail is part of our extensive retail hardening. Many POS device vendors are offering the lowest cost solution, but fail to focus on delivering a product with long-term sustainability.
Designed and tested for retail environments
A retail environment exposes terminals to extreme conditions including increased temperatures, dirt, dust, grime, shock, vibration, spills, magnetic fields, and radio frequency (RF) interference. All of these conditions are uncommon in a typical home or office environment. NCR products are tested thoroughly so that they will perform correctly and survive in these harsh environments.
NCR POS devices are designed to endure heavy daily use and accidents that may occur throughout the life of the product. Retail terminals are heavily used and subjected to stress on a daily basis. NCR conducts a variety of operational vibration tests to simulate the abuse a POS device may encounter in a retail environment. This could be from years of opening and closing cash drawers and from constant usage operating on the sales floor.
Designed and tested for retail environments
Electro-static discharge (ESD) is a common occurrence and can have a significant impact on a POS device. ESD commonly causes reboots and blue screens if the terminal is not properly protected. Most PC devices and many POS devices are tested only to the legal specification of 4KV because they are not required to operate in harsh environments. NCR POS devices are tested to pass 15KV of ESD without being impacted or damaged. This means fewer ESD problems which result in fewer support/service calls and longer life expectancy.
Home, office and low-cost POS devices are generally not able to survive spills. NCR has learned that POS devices must be able to survive liquid spills regardless of the situation or typical environment. NCR’s modular and all-in-one terminals have special venting and cooling system components that are carefully designed to prevent liquids from reaching key internal components. NCR displays and touchscreen glass are sealed and not subject to damage from liquids.
Comprehensive testing beyond legal and industry standards to meet the demands of retail
Designed and tested for retail environments
Point-of-sale devices must be able to survive many years in harsh environments that can generate dust and airborne contaminants. Many POS devices are based on traditional consumer product designs where dust and other airborne contaminants are not a primary concern. If proper airflow is not maintained, the terminal can run hotter which reduces the life of the electronic components. Or, in worst case scenarios, the system can overheat and shutdown or fail. Many of our systems are fan-less which means no dust or debris will be ingested. Those terminals requiring active cooling have venting and cooling system components carefully designed to maintain proper airflow. In addition, NCR designs and tests POS devices so they can accommodate years of dust buildup.
NCR Dust Chamber
Designed and tested for retail environments
Many competitors’ POS devices are designed to operate in pristine environments that are rarely subject to extremes of radio frequency (RF) or electromagnetic interference. The reality is that retailers frequently integrate POS devices with a variety of RF devices and electromagnetic devices, such as security system de-activation coils for electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems. NCR has the experience to design our products to co-exist with these devices. This prevents integration conflicts, which results in fewer support or service calls and reduced downtime.
Other purpose-built characteristics
Retail environments rarely have an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) backup system that can prevent power cycles or fluctuations. To help verify that all components, firmware and the BIOS are robust when a power drop or outage occurs, NCR conducts extensive cycle testing under heavy load and varied voltage ranges. This is designed to expose any weakness in the power circuits or system base functionality that would cause a field failure during power interruptions.
Every cable that attaches to a POS device has two potential failure points: one connection on each end. For many years NCR has stressed the importance of using powered connectors with latches for peripheral connections. This will reduce the number of cables and ensure once the cable is connected, it stays firmly in place.
NCR offers several unique features that differentiate our products from all other POS device suppliers. The RealPOS™ X-Series family of POS devices contain a non-volatile memory device to store historical metrics about the terminal such as: system uptime, primary screen on-time, good/bad magnetic stripe reader (MSR) swipes, system startup and shutdown count, cash drawer open count, system fan on-time, CPU throttle time, and hard drive reads and errors. This type of data can be used to proactively service the terminal based on usage data or simply improve the service diagnostic analysis resulting in fewer calls and more accurate, speedy fixes.
Other purpose-built characteristics
In addition, NCR recognizes that many site disruptions are related to file corruptions and not truly hardware failures. To assist our customers with this type of failure, the X-Series POS devices have a new “instant recovery button.” This concealed button on the input/output (I/O) row initiates a fast image recovery system. It activates a password protected BIOS event, which allows a backup image to be restored from the back-up partition on the storage device. This capability enables an instant recovery after a terminal has been corrupted.
Should remote support be required, NCR offers an enterpriseclass remote-support tool known as Command Center. This suite of tools improves availability by providing predictive capabilities and remote resolution solutions to proactively predict failures and increase remote resolution of issues. The suite offers the most advanced tools to remotely monitor and manage security and availability, performance, and service activity, plus the ability to remotely update retail systems.
Conclusion
NCR has been a leader in the retail industry for over 135 years.
We are committed to designing the highest quality and the most innovative pointof-sale devices. Our products are designed from the ground up to be robust and provide many years of service to our customers allowing them to focus on their business and get the most out of their technology investment.
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Features and Benefits
Specifications
Processor
Intel® Core™ i5 - 4590T vPro™ Quad Core processor
Intel® Core™ i3 - 4350T processor
Intel® Celeron™ 1820T processor
Motherboard
Intel® Q87 Express chipset
On-board RAID support
NCR DataGuard™ enabled
Memory
4GB up to 16GB DDR3 1600
Storage Options
80 or 120GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
500GB Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
Connectivity
Twelve USB ports
One RJ50 powered serial port with optional serial expansion
Cash drawer port (12 or 24 volt with dual drawer support)
10/100/1000MB (Gigabit) Ethernet LAN
and Display Port audio/video