Perto Veloh Smart Delivers Improved Speed and Ruggedness to Perto’s Retail Customers

Quick Facts

Company

Perto
www.grupodigicon.com.br/perto/en

Customer Profile

Since 1988, Perto S.A. has been providing leading edge value-add technology in commercial and banking automation. The company is part of the Grupo Digicon and exports technology to Latin America, Europe, North America and Asia.

Objectives

Develop a price-competitive wireless point of sale solution that would provide fast operations and ruggedness
Compatible with 3G networks with fallback to 2G
Remotely manageable and upgradeable

Results

Veloh Smart is the first Smart POS device designed in Brazil
Meets or exceeds the market’s need for speed, ruggedness, security and battery operations
Supports mass firmware upgrades
Braille keyboard and voice system guides visually impaired users through transactions

Sierra Wireless Products & Services

HL series
AirVantage® – this is a Sierra Wireless Retail Solution

Background

Since 1988, Perto S.A. has been providing leading edge value-add technology in commercial and banking automation. The company developed the first Brazilian cash dispensing mechanism and entered the market for full automated teller machines (ATMs) in the 1990’s, deploying a strategic technology that ensured security and reliability. Later, Perto developed solutions for other self-service applications, including payment, information and recharge terminals. Perto’s mainstay in the retail market is Pertochek, the first bank check printer to feature customer credit checks. The company also developed and marketed the first Brazilian POS device, as well as Self-Checkout.

The company is part of the Grupo Digicon and exports technology to Latin America, Europe, North America and Asia.

Challenge

From 2018 to 2024, the global point of sale terminal market¹ is expected to grow at an annual CAGR of 7.4% to be over $92B by 2024. While the fixed terminal market is a large part of this market, fixed solutions require a power source, are more expensive to maintain and don’t offer the same flexibility to the end customer. Mobile point-of-sale solutions provide more convenience, are chargeable and more cost effective. The mobile POS device market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.6 % from 2018-2024.

Wireless point-of-sale devices are invaluable in a retail environment, providing a “portable cash register” to patrons. Whether it’s in a retail store, restaurant or entertainment complex, these devices are in constant use, and need to be durable to withstand multiple users and environments.

To be competitive in the Brazilian market, Perto wanted to develop a wireless point-of-sale solution that would provide fast operations and ruggedness. The product needed to connect to a 3G network, and fallback to 2G when necessary. It had to be rugged enough for a fast-paced retail environment while supporting extreme conditions like dust, heat and water splash. But it also had to be price competitive. Finally, Perto wanted a solution which could be maintained centrally so that software upgrades could be performed for all devices at once.

Our customers will benefit from the improved speed and ruggedness of this product. With a faster processor, printer, increased RAM and longer battery life, and the reliable connectivity of the Sierra Wireless module, we believe we are delivering the best wireless point-of-sale terminal to the market.

Diego Silva
General Manager, Perto’s POS business

Solution

Perto selected the Sierra Wireless HL8549 embedded module to provide wireless connectivity for the Veloh Smart. The HL8549 module provides scalability between 2G, 3G, 4G and LPWA networks and delivers up to 21 Mbps download speeds.

Perto is also taking advantage of Sierra Wireless’ AirVantage® with FOTA (firmware over the air) services to enables remote upgrades to all modules from a single platform.

Results

The Veloh Smart is a unique product and the first Smart POS device designed in Brazil. It’s price-competitive and meets or exceeds the market’s need for speed, ruggedness, security and battery operations. Based on an Android platform, the product supports mass firmware upgrades. The Braille keyboard and voice system guides visually impaired users through transactions.

“As we move away from cash and more toward credit payment for virtually everything we buy, retailers need solutions that enable them to service clients as quickly as they could with cash. The Veloh Smart offers significant differentiators for our retail customers” said Mr Silva.

When we researched solutions for the Veloh Smart, it became evident that by working with Sierra we could shorten our development cycle and get to market quickly.

Diego Silva
General Manager, Perto’s POS business