McDonald’s Upgrades Their ECRs

Panasonic JS-170FR w LavaPort-PCIs

When McDonald’s Canada and their POS system integrator Panasonic Canada were looking for a reliable North American manufacturer of serial cards to add into their cash registers, they chose LAVA.

They needed additional serial target devices to run a reliable, up-to-date, and efficient QSR operation. LAVA provided both companies with LAVA DSerial-PCI and LavaPort-PCI cards, which they tested extensively in their in-house labs and then in a series of field tests. Only when the cards had passed a battery of tests were they certified for the company-wide rollout.

LAVA was chosen for several reasons. As the manufacturer, we were able to meet McDonald’s build and deployment schedule while guaranteeing consistent product. McDonald’s were also reassured by LAVA’s 100% testing of all products built, plus our on-going technical support under the LAVA LifeTime Warranty. And it didn’t hurt that Panasonic had previous successfully used the LAVA DSerial-ISA as a cash register interface in the past.

POS RS-232 peripherals

These cards are ideal interfaces for a wide gamut of POS devices: weighing scales, card readers, pole displays, receipt printers, and so on.

As a result, every Panasonic JS-170FR workstation was fitted with two LavaPort-PCI cards, adding four serial ports to the base configuration. Moreover, as the implementation developed, McDonald’s needs evolved, and new backroom requirements added a DSerial-PCI into each restaurant’s backroom server.

McDonald’s Canada continues to use LAVA cards to this day either in new installations supplied by Panasonic, or through account maintenance provided by NCR Canada. McDonald’s values the cost-effectiveness and durability of LAVA cards in restaurants that sometimes rarely close.

Brackets to suit

Low profile PCI cards with full height brackets

Sometimes the card you need is right in every regard, but one: it doesn’t fit! In fact, that was the impulse behind low-profile PCI in the first place — someone realized that full-height computer cases had a lot of empty space inside, and decided to make them slimmer. In doing so, adapter cards needed to become slimmer to match, and the Low-Profile PCI specification was developed to define a standard size for these new, smaller cards.

In becoming smaller, some other things needed to change at the same time. For example, two DB-9 serial connectors would not fit in the height available on the shorter bracket, so instead, they were appended to a fan-out cable.

Similarly for the four-port serial card — a fan-out cable became the solution, instead of having a second bracket holding the third and fourth serial ports. These fan-out cables made it possible to have multiple ports exiting from one chassis opening — a spin-off benefit in some cases.

From time to time it’s necessary for those with full-height cases to take advantage of these low-profile benefits as well. For these situations, LAVA has a simple solution: fitting a full-height bracket onto a low-profile card. The best of both worlds! We can readily supply this optional bracketing on request for the SSerial-PCI/LP, DSerial-PCI/LP, and Quattro-PCI/LP.

New RS-422 Ether-Serial Link

ESL 1-422-RJ45 module

The new LAVA Ether-Serial Link 1-422-RJ45 provides one RS-422 enabled serial port, accessible over Ethernet. It has configurable RS-422 termination and bias settings, as well as being able to supply 5 VDC or 12 VDC to attached peripherals that are designed to receive power on their serial ports. The diagram to the right shows the internal module and its jumper settings.
The ESL 1-422-RJ45, like all LAVA Ether-Serial Links, has a wide range of serial port modes, full serial and network configurability, and complete security settings for both the device and individual serial ports.

Sensor and POS integration

In March 2006 Pier 1 imports, a top American home furnishings retailer, sold its England-based business “The Pier” to Lagerinn ehf., an Icelandic group. Lagerinn went on to own, operate, and grow the group to 32 stores and 17 concessions in the UK, sourcing and selling distinctive furniture and household accessories. It had a small IT department: one head of IT and a staff of nine people. Lean was the word!

The British operation used an older but cost-effective POS system and was constantly looking to leverage its existing IT infrastructure. They asked LAVA to design a unit that would work with their existing front-end equipment from Toshiba TEC, but that also would integrate with door sensors and software to detect and count customers entering the stores. As complications, some stores had multiple doors and the data had to be accumulated internally on the devices before being centralized. LAVA modified one of our existing Ethernet-to-serial device servers to work with the dry contact sensors already installed in “The Pier” stores. LAVA first tested the device in our head office, then piloted the system in several UK stores, and finally worked with a local system integrator – Readycrest Ltd. – to roll out the system throughout the chain.