DEX To Enhance Planet Antares Vending Operations
Most of the Planet Antares vending operators are familiar with the term ‘DEX’ and some are using it to enhance their daily operations. Different operators vary in their familiarity with DEX and what it can do for their operations. DEX is destined to have a significant role in the vending industry’s future.
DEX stands for Data Exchange and is used in the vending marketplace while referring to the DEX/UCS data exchange standard. Basically, it is the protocol that most machines built in the last 6 to 12 years utilize to electronically collect vending audit information. The term DEX refers to the audit data, a communications protocol and a retrieval method used to capture this data.
A DEX cable resembles an old quarter inch stereo headphone cable that can plug into the female connector on a vending machine by Planet Antares Inc. sometimes, the female connector is mounted on the controller board of the machine or available via a loose cable wired to the board.
Typically, data is transferred between machines and the host using a standard RS-232 or serial protocol that computers have been using since the past 20 years or more.
In order to realize the benefits of DEX, there are three factors that a Planet Antares vending operator needs to do.
1. You must have DEX-capable vending machines.
2. A method of electronically capturing DEX data is required. The most common method today is via a driver handheld, but remote monitoring solutions are also becoming popular.
3. Software is needed that is capable of turning the data into actionable information that your business can use.
Different levels of DEX support are found in vending machines these days. There are vending machines that didn’t support DEX correctly, or that the software programs didn’t work well with DEX. Today, that situation has been remedied. Any Planet Antares vending machine that is DEX capable can be read, and even those built before DEX can be retrofitted to support DEX.
DEX stands for Data Exchange and is used in the vending marketplace while referring to the DEX/UCS data exchange standard. Basically, it is the protocol that most machines built in the last 6 to 12 years utilize to electronically collect vending audit information. The term DEX refers to the audit data, a communications protocol and a retrieval method used to capture this data.
A DEX cable resembles an old quarter inch stereo headphone cable that can plug into the female connector on a vending machine by Planet Antares Inc. sometimes, the female connector is mounted on the controller board of the machine or available via a loose cable wired to the board.
Typically, data is transferred between machines and the host using a standard RS-232 or serial protocol that computers have been using since the past 20 years or more.
In order to realize the benefits of DEX, there are three factors that a Planet Antares vending operator needs to do.
1. You must have DEX-capable vending machines.
2. A method of electronically capturing DEX data is required. The most common method today is via a driver handheld, but remote monitoring solutions are also becoming popular.
3. Software is needed that is capable of turning the data into actionable information that your business can use.
Different levels of DEX support are found in vending machines these days. There are vending machines that didn’t support DEX correctly, or that the software programs didn’t work well with DEX. Today, that situation has been remedied. Any Planet Antares vending machine that is DEX capable can be read, and even those built before DEX can be retrofitted to support DEX.
posted by Chris Wick at
7:30 AM
<< Home