National Petroleum News (NPN) has been the independent voice of the petroleum industry since 1909 as the opposition to Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. So, motor fuels marketing and retail is not just a sideline for us, it’s our core competency.
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RETAIL OPERATIONS BY MAURAKELLER New technology to manage sites BEING IN CONTROL decisions. And in an era where today's competitive petroleum industry requires seamless integration of new technology and control of mission critical POS devices and data, site control manufacturers are creating innovative programs that help market- ers establish profitable, well-managed sites. T ODAY'S SITE CONTROLLERS OFFER PETROLEUM marketers a real sense of control over various aspects of their forecourts, POS systems, and fueling operations to help them make smart site management tems that helped control refrigeration, lighting or temperature within the convenience store. "Energy management and associated control systems were primarily found in large office build- ings, warehouses, big-box stores, and grocery retail- ers because they were cost prohibitive for c-stores," Khalil says. "The systems were generally very limit- ed in terms of functionality, features, remote access and control capabilities and provided control or access to a limited number of devices." Today, site controllers are in the process of migrating to a full control system for their site, where they manage all devices at the site including dispensers, dispenser card readers, payment con- trollers and POS systems. Indeed, as Tyler explains, modern site control- lers will be capable of controlling POS terminals, gas dispensers and dispenser payment systems. Additionally they manage remote upgrades of sites systems including payment, forecourt and POS. "Today's site controllers are also serving as HISTORICALLY SPEAKING According to Michael Tyler, senior director of market- ing at VeriFone, traditionally site controllers have served primarily as the control system for the POS, handling communications, back office systems, storing electronic journals, price files and other POS back up information. In fact, as Fawaz Khalil, director, service market- ing with Gilbarco Veeder-Root, explains, c-store site controllers used to refer to either forecourt controllers that provided the ability to control the dispensers via the POS, or energy management sys- 18 SEPTEMBER 2012 media servers, delivering rich content to all media- enabled devices, including dispenser card readers like VeriFone's Secure PumpPAY, as well as media- enabled indoor devices like VeriFone's Lift Retail Station, MX payment devices and in-store digi- tal display monitors," Tyler says. Verifone's Secure PumpPAY is a powerful solution for petroleum sta- tions, convenience stores and supermarkets that want to upgrade their existing fuel dispensers to ensure the greatest payment security for their customers and their brand. Secure PumpPAY is easy to use and easy to integrate into existing pumps and can work seam- lessly with existing components in a fuel station. According to Khalil, the modern c-store has many other types of equipment that can generate a much higher return on assets should they be able to be monitored and managed remotely: such as dis- pensers, refrigeration, HVAC, beverage fountains, coffee machines, food equipment, electronic price signs, and car washes. "The respective equipment vendors can provide remote access capability, but for the c-store owner this means learning a myriad of user interfaces and NPN Magazine n www.npnweb.com