There are many aspects to be considered in a hospitality installation and the POS hardware required is quite different from a busy bar to an elegant fine dining restaurant. Toshiba TEC's range of POS units encompass every conceiveable variant required, which is one of the main reasons why Toshiba POS is now such a popular choice for bar and restautant alike. When this is combined with Toshiba's legendary reliability, a Toshiba POS system becomes a very sound investment, checking all the boxes for the hospitality hardware requirements.

Toshiba TEC have panel PCs which can be mounted above the counter, all in one units on the counter, or modular configurations.

Panel PCs

A Panel PC means all the CPU, interface ports and housing is in the screen unit, which is mounted with a mounting pole above the counter. It is particularly useful for busy bars where the serving area can encounter some spillage, or counter space is at a premium. It is also the choice when the terminal needs to be mounted on a wall.

Toshiba TEC sell and support the Protech range of panel PCs. Protech is an OEM partner company of Toshiba, and a long history between the two companies has ensured that the Protech quality is of a very high standard. The main Panel PC model we sell is the PS-6508PPC, which features a 15" ELO touch screen, a cash drawer port, and a number of RS232 and USB interface ports, and Vesa 100mm x 100mm mounting capability. While there are a range of CPU choices, the main model we sell is the Celeron M 1.5 GHz coupled with 1GB RAM. The Celeron M is a mobile CPU which means it is designed to run in the small enclosed environment of the Panel PC casing. It gives great performance for all POS applications. We also have 17" and 19" Panel PCs available on request.

All in One Units

An All in One description refers to a POS unit which has the CPU, interface ports, screen and housing all in the one unit, but differs from the Panel PC in that it is free standing on the counter. The WillPOS A10 and WillPOS A20 are Toshiba TEC's models in this category, with the WillPOS A20 being a higher spec version of the WillPOS A10. We also have a desk stand for the Panel PC PS-6508 for this purpose.

The hospitality environment differs from retail in that the product files are much smaller, with a restaurant or bar typically having less than 1000 items on file. So the normal operations of this application of bar sales, table tracking and kitchen printing are not very resource hungry. This means that the WillPOS A10 will comfortably handle the majority of applications and hence is the most popular choice due to its lower price. The WillPOS A20 can also have a second customer facing screen added for those POS applications which can run advertising campaigns and promos at the POS. Again both units feature mobile CPU technology, with the CPU choice being high performance and low power consumption options.

Modular Configurations

Modular configurations are not so common in the hospitality environment, with the exception of perhaps the bottleshop. In the bar there is typically no space to locate a POS engine under the counter, and similarly for restaurants a more convenient choice has been the All in One or the Panel PC. However if your location requires a modular POS engine to suit the layout, then we have a range of POS engines and specifications to fit.

Final Note:

There are many brands and models of touch screen terminals in the Australian market today. Being so close to Asia, many companies are importing models from no name factories and then promising end users here all kinds of things like free extended warranties. At first the customer  thinks they are getting a great deal because the terminal might be a bit cheaper, then six months later the company is gone, and with it are spare parts, warranties, etc. Before you decide on any brand of touch POS terminal, find out who is the company actually manufacturing the terminal, and if they dont put their brand on it, ask why not? I am sure you will want to know if something goes wrong with your terminal, who will ultimately fix the problem.