Together with Sprint Corp and Wake Forest, North Carolina-based software house, Post Software International Inc,Siemens AG hopes to expand its position in the US multimedia market and is now testing multimedia technologies for point-of-sale applications in the retail sector. To date, the Siemens subsidiary, Siemens Stromberg-Carlson, has installed a high-speed switching system at the telephone exchange of network operator Sprint Carolina Telephone. The system will enable local stores to show customers a video of goods held at a remote store. This will be done by accessing a video directly from the remote store’s central database or by enabling the local store to go into a video conference with the remote store. The system links Post Software’s point-of-sale terminals with the databases storing the videos. The system enables retail chains to record and track sales and product data for use in later evaluation and advertising. The North Carolinian claims an installed base of more than 500,000 of its point of sale systems worldwide. Siemens’ customers in the US include Bell Atlantic Corp and MCI Communications Corp. Some 500 of its switching systems have been installed in 10 countries worldwide.
