SmartMart, Inc.

SmartMart owner Mike Rivalto had a great idea in 1991: turn shipping containers into automated convenience stores. Making his idea into a reality would be challenging, however. "I had some doubt that we were ever going to get to market," says Rivalto. "When we went to Microsoft® Windows® 2000, we started seeing light at the end of the tunnel." SmartMart has begun production and expects to produce up to 90 unmanned, remotely monitored stores per month. The built-in functionality, plug-and-play support, and remote management capabilities of Windows 2000 make the plan possible.

Customer Profiles
SmartMart, Inc. produces automated convenience stores housed in specially designed shipping containers. Each store carries 2,200 items. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Memphis, the company is about to open its first store. It expects to produce up to 90 per month.

SmartMart will use four workstations and two clustered servers in each store. The data center currently uses two servers and will scale up as needed. The company uses Hewlett-Packard hardware.

With SmartMart, customers drive up to one of four shopping ports and select products from an infrared touchscreen display. Fully automated picking equipment then delivers convenience store products to them within 20 seconds. Customers can pay by Smart Card, credit card, cash, or even a new high-technology iris scan. Each store has four workstations and two clustered servers, connected by a T-1 data line to the data center. Windows 2000 links it all together.

Functionality and Plug-and-Play Support Streamlines Development
"A tremendous amount of flexibility is inherent in the Windows 2000 platform," says Rivalto. SmartMart uses videoconferencing based on Microsoft TAPI 3.0, Advanced Streaming Format, Microsoft Message Queue Service, Microsoft SQL Server^TM 7.0, and other products and services. Jeff Wreyford, the SmartMart project engineer, explains, "Before Windows 2000, we were writing a lot of custom software. Now this overhead development has been eliminated, so we just threw the old code away. Windows 2000 has reduced our development time by approximately 70 percent."

Digital Video System Provides Customer Service and Site Security
The SmartMart business model depends on Windows 2000 to support live video broadcasting between the customer and Smartmart datacenters. Two monitors at each port display the customer interface for selecting products and the SmartMart help interface. Customers are connected to SmartMart customer service via a TAPI 3.0 videoconference session when they touch the help button. Videoconferencing is crucial for checking the identification of customers who are purchasing alcohol or tobacco.

Other video-based functions play a role in store security. "If someone tries to break into a store, vibration sensors are triggered," says Wreyford. "Once the store automation localizes the sensor, a camera zooms in and begins streaming video to the hard drive. Microsoft Message Queue Service simultaneously notifies the SmartMart call center of an attempted break-in."

The Windows 2000 Plug and Play support for low-cost peripherals "works like a champ," says Wreyford. "Now we can use inexpensive and readily available USB cameras instead of dedicated hardware, specialty cameras, and expensive custom software." Multiple monitor support further reduces hardware expenses, as Windows 2000 now enables each port to handle two monitors, says Rivalto. "The savings really add up: the fewer remotely deployed PCs, the less support needed."

Remote Management Enables Monitoring Using Scalable Servers
Remote management capabilities enable the SmartMart data center to monitor the stores via dedicated T-1 lines to track inventory using SQL Server 7.0 and Microsoft Message Queue Service. "If we are about to run out of soda on a hot day, the system automatically sends a message to the data center, which triggers an order for more soda to be delivered," says the CEO. Two servers handle all the monitoring. "As the number of stores grows, we can easily plug in new servers running Windows 2000 to keep up with our increased business."

"There's no second chance to make a first impression," says Wreyford. The level of functionality afforded by Windows 2000 is helping SmartMart make a great start and a new business possible.