---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Sun in The Retail Industry SunFLASH Vol 37 #2 January 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This article shows the changing nature of Sun's business. The fact that three of the companies mentioned (Burdines, Carnival and RCCL) are covered by my office is sheer coincidence!. -johnj ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun Systems Now Used For Many Applications In Various Segments Of The Retail Industry MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --January 13, 1991-- Sun Microsystems Computer Corp. (SMCC) is significantly expanding its presence in worldwide retail markets, as seen by recent sales of its SPARC(R) computer systems. New domestic and international customers represent a broad range of industry segments and include McDonald's, JC Penney, John Menzies, Brewers Retail, Sears Canada, Burdines, Shottenstein's Value City Department Stores, Kash & Karry, US Order, Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Hotel Grand Central. Retailers are using networked Sun SPARCstations(TM) and SPARCservers(TM) for a wide variety of "mission critical" (critical to the success of the organization) retail applications, such as point-of-sale support, inventory management and control, credit card authorizations, electronic data interchange (EDI), sales tracking and research, online transaction processing (OLTP), decision support, financials and accounting, labor management, and advertising layout and design. "The competitive challenges we are facing in the retail industry today are intensifying almost daily and we recognize the importance of providing the right information systems platform to support strategic business decisions," said Denis Fredrick, vice president of MIS for Value City. "By implementing our network of Sun systems chain-wide, we will dramatically increase our inventory management capabilities and improve the timeliness of analyzing critical financial data." In addition, SMCC's new global retail customers are capitalizing on the power and flexibility of SMCC's Solaris UNIX(R) environment for communication tasks, such as two-way data transfer between multiple store locations and corporate headquarters, as well as robust electronic mail and other functions. Summit Strategies Research stated in a recent report that SMCC is the clear leader in selling workstations into networked desktop commercial environments. "Retailers are like other commercial users in that they really need open, high-performance, low-cost systems to give them a competitive edge," said Bob DeLaney, SMCC's market development manager for retail. "Our rapid success in the retail market parallels success in other commercial markets, such as transportation, publishing, banking, securities, insurance and telecommunications." SMCC's recent sales wins underscore its position as a leading supplier to the many retailers who are "rightsizing" their computer operations in response to today's competitive economic climate. For many companies, the strategy of rightsizing is best implemented with networked UNIX-based workstations, replacing or integrating expensive and proprietary mainframes, minicomputers and PC networks. RETAIL CUSTOMERS A good example of an SMCC retail customer is McDonald's, which designed a very sophisticated executive decision support system on Sun SPARCstations and is running this application on the SPARCstations, as well. McDonald's system is a powerful strategic planning aid that assists in marketing analysis, site evaluation, operational performance and product line evaluation. So successful has this program been that McDonald's is marketing it to other companies under the name Quintillion. Now other firms can utilize this advanced software tool running on Sun SPARCstations. Other SMCC retail customers include: BREWER'S RETAIL operations in Canada, from point-of-sale (POS) reporting to order processing and distribution, are increasingly managed by a network of Sun SPARCservers and SPARCstations running Sybase database applications. BURDINES, a regional department store chain with 45 locations in Florida uses a network of Sun workstations and servers for all of its print advertising design and layout work. CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES utilizes Sun workstations on many of its passenger liners for point-of-sale support activities for retail and food and beverage service, as well as general administration tasks such as passport and visa checking and activity requests from boarding passengers. HOTEL GRAND CENTRAL, an Asian hospitality chain, will be using Sun systems for reservation, reporting and interfacing with POS and CALL accounting. JC PENNEY chose Sun SPARC systems for a new application that will increase its productivity. Penney's headquarters now has a computerized "help desk" to assist users in resolving computer-related problems quickly. JOHN MENZIES LTD., a major convenience store/news agent chain in the United Kingdom, selected Sun SPARC systems in order to give it new capabilities while utilizing existing computers. KASH & KARRY, a grocery store chain with 120 locations, uses Sun systems in a network for inventory management and control, purchasing, marketing and executive decision support applications. ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE LINES uses Sun systems for field management, market research and cost analysis. In the first two months after installation of the Sun systems, the company increased its net profit by two percent. SEARS CANADA uses Sun SPARCstations for electronic publishing of product catalogs. VALUE CITY will have Sun SPARCstations in each of its 58 department stores in the Northeast and Midwest for collection of inventory and markdown information for financial analysis and control. Each store's SPARCstation is linked via telecommunications lines to an IBM AS400 at the company's Columbus, Ohio, headquarters. US ORDER, an innovative start-up company that allows people to order groceries from Safeway and other stores, mail order and pay bills electronically from their homes, is using Sun systems for back-end processing, online transaction processing, as well as office automation, accounting, and publishing. Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc., is the world's leading supplier of client-server computing solutions, which feature networked workstations and servers that store, process and distribute information. Used for many demanding commercial and technical applications, Sun's products command the largest share of the computer industry's fastest-growing market segment: workstations and servers. The company, founded in 1982 and headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a multi-billion dollar corporation doing business worldwide. PR contact: Sun Microsystems, Inc. Lauren Swingle (415) 336-7273 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu. All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.