NEW YORK -- Jan. 16, 2005 -- New Edge Networks said today at the National Retail Federation's 94th Annual Conference and Expo in New York City that more than a dozen new companies in the past month have joined the Retail Broadband Alliance, a forum that makes it easy for retail merchants to migrate to broadband networks.
New Edge Networks is hosting a "Big Idea Session" during NRF to discuss the growing demand for high-speed multi-location networks and the Retail Broadband Alliance. The session is scheduled for 12 p.m. eastern time, Monday, Jan. 17 in room 3D05 on the exhibit floor.
New member companies include major card payment processors, point of sale solutions providers, hardware and software companies, kiosk producers, security monitoring services, communications integrators, independent sales organizations, among others. More information about the Retail Broadband Alliance and membership is available at http://www.newedgenetworks.com/solutions/rba/.
"The rapid expansion of member companies clearly points to a need in the retail industry for a trusted place to turn for networking solutions that work," said Dan Moffat, president and CEO of New Edge Networks. "Retailers are busy people who don't have IT staffs or time to hunt down new solutions and implement them quickly with minimal cost and disruption."
New Edge Networks formed the Retail Broadband Alliance in November 2004 to bring together companies that represent turn-key products and services used in the retail sales supply chain for data networks. The Retail Broadband Alliance now includes more than 20 member companies.
The Retail Broadband Alliance develops marketing and educational programs to help increase awareness of viable solutions or new offerings that enable use of broadband networking. It will test and certify solutions helping merchants make selections that will reduce their costs, increase revenue, or improve customer experience.
By using high-speed private managed networks, retail merchants can reduce card transaction time 80 to 90 percent down to two or three seconds each. This means shorter waiting lines that attract customers. In addition, companies are able to use the same network for other business applications, such as inventory management, sales polling, and e-mail.
Membership in the Retail Broadband Alliance is open to companies whose core products and services target the retail industry. Member companies must have a minimum of two years of operating history and proven expertise in retail markets. Membership participation also requires execution of a Retail Broadband Alliance membership agreement and pre-defined joint marketing activities.
In addition to New Edge Networks, charter members of the Retail Broadband Alliance include: Payment Resources International, a processing gateway; Precidia Technologies, manufacturer of IP access devices for point-of-sale (POS) terminal equipment; TPI Software, a developer of payment processing software; Secure Path Networks, TopSpeed Data Communications, and W. Lange And Company Inc., all communications consultancies.
About New Edge Networks
New Edge Networks is a single-source national provider of private multi-location broadband networks for business and carrier customers. Through its own network facilities, New Edge Networks uses a wide variety of last-mile broadband access technologies (frame relay, ATM, DSL, cable and satellite) for building blended networks that reach 100 percent of all U.S. business locations. New Edge Networks' product suite of managed WAN and VPN services received Frost & Sullivan's Telecommunications Services 2005 Product of the Year Award. New Edge Networks is listed No. 28 on the 2004 Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in America. The company's Web site is www.newedgenetworks.com. Telephone: 360-693-9009.
