ABT Electronics Improves Customer Service and Reduces Costs with Wyse Winterm Thin Clients and Rapport Management Software

Leading Electronics Retailer Minimizes IT Support Costs and Meets the Security and Reliability Requirements of a Busy Sales Force With Thin-Client Computing

San Jose, CA – 09/09/2002 - - Wyse® Technology, the worldwide leader in secure, managed thin clients, today announced that Abt Electronics, a leading appliance and electronics retailer since 1936 deployed Winterm™ thin clients and Rapport management software throughout its new 350,000 square foot sales center in Glenview, IL. With the help of Vector ESP, a Wyse reseller, Abt opened its doors with Wyse Winterm 8360SE thin clients both on the sales floor and in the customer service center. Abt evaluated several desktop solutions, including a type of mini personal computer, but found the security, manageability, affordability and reliability of Wyse thin clients to be the best solution for its needs.

"Abt Electronics can see up to 10,000 customers on a typical weekend. With that kind of traffic on the sales floor, we needed a desktop that could alleviate security and reliability issues for our busy sales force," said Bill Wolfe, CIO of Abt Electronics. "Wyse Winterm thin clients also provide a welcome break for our IT department, which no longer receives the amount of help desk calls that it did before the thin clients were deployed."

With no moving parts, and no demands on users to update or administer software, Wyse thin clients provide the reliability that Abt needs in the more than 100 POS and cashier's stations in the new store. Abt salespeople have access to any terminal in the store, no matter their location, and have noticed significant improvements in speed and reliability with the new system -- improving overall customer service. PC crashes, operator errors, devices failing during peak retail hours and high service and support costs are a thing of the past. With Wyse thin clients, Abt is assured that its financial materials, internal staff information and customer billing records are secure and managed from a centralized location that only authorized staff has access to. In fact, with all vital information saved to a centralized server, Abt has eliminated corporate concerns over unsecured personal computers. Even if a thin-client were to be stolen, all of Abt's information would still be secure.

"Retail stores, such as Abt Electronics, have discovered that thin-client technology is not only a cost-effective alternative to personal computers, but a technology that allows sales forces to work more quickly, efficiently and effectively," said Brad Rowland, director of product management at Wyse. "Abt was able to get the IT system in the new store up and running in a matter of hours, rather than days. By deploying Wyse's Rapport management software, the store is able to manage all of the Winterm thin clients from a central location without ever having to touch the devices, significantly cutting IT administration costs."

Wyse Rapport management software enables Abt Electronics to conduct four critical desktop management functions from a single, central location: software distribution, device diagnostics, device configuration and asset management. Rapport enables Abt administrators to replace all of the software that resides on a Wyse thin client, or update specific applications on a device. With this powerful management tool, Abt is able to track the service history of each device, enabling administrators to remotely diagnose problems that a user might be experiencing. Rapport also delivers hands-free device configuration, enabling Abt to adjust settings for a device. Finally, Rapport enables Abt to track asset information on their network, which includes not only the number, types and location of devices, but specific information about each device. When Abt's IT staff rolls out software updates to the sales floor, changes are made in a matter of minutes, updating all thin-client stations instantly.

The Winterm 8360SE is based on the Microsoft Windows NT Embedded operating system, and includes an optimized Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5 browser. With support for Microsoft RDP, Citrix ICA and 15 additional terminal emulations, the Winterm 8360SE is an ideal fit for the retail market as it can drop into virtually any environment and begin paying immediate dividends in both simplicity of management and reliability of performance. It supports local browsing, local application execution, and multimedia and delivers the flexibility of a personal computer with the reliability and simplicity of a thin client.

About Wyse Technology

Wyse is the #1 vendor the world's largest businesses and institutions trust for scalable thin-client computing solutions. Wyse provides the hardware, software, and services that shift computing complexity to the network, reducing cost, liberating IT departments from unnecessary support and maintenance functions, empowering users to be more productive in their jobs, and protecting and improving access to critical information and business applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California with offices worldwide, Wyse has been #1 in thin-client market share for the last eight years, enjoys a close partnership with Citrix Systems, and has been named Microsoft "Embedded Partner of the Year" for three years. Wyse customers include FedEx, Best Buy (Canada), Quaker Foods, and Gold's Gym.

For more information, visit the Wyse website at http://www.wyse.com or call 1-800-GET-WYSE