Future-proofing Retail Point of Service Through 64-bit Image Support

In today’s fast-paced retail industry, it’s imperative to keep up with the latest evolving hardware.  Not being able to keep up with the pace of change translates into lost business.  As more retail Point of Service (POS) solutions are being built using SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service as a base, being able to future-proof your business from the ground up becomes the ultimate goal.  This is what the new SUSE Linux Enterprise POS Image Server component provides – the ability to create 64-bit images in support of the latest hardware.  In a nutshell, the new SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service 12 Client is:

• Based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2
• Supported on 64-bit hardware only
• Providing support for the latest Intel desktop platforms
• Providing an extended lifecycle with minimal changes during the full lifecycle of deployed hardware.

Here is a fresh look at the retail environment and SUSE architecture:

So, for the 64-bit POS clients, the new SLEPOS Image Server 12 component needs to be used to generate 64-bit images.  For the 32-bit POS clients, you would continue to use the SLEPOS Image Server 11 (based on SLES 11 SP3 or SP4) to build the 32-bit images.

On the server side, the SLEPOS stack remains based on SLES 11 SP3 or SP4.  But in the future, we intend to enhance the server-side functionality by replacing the current server-side components (Admin Server and Branch Server) with SUSE Manager’s enhancements for Admin and Branch.

The 64-bit imaging support based on SLES 12 SP2 is a vital next step towards the next generation POS system, and is available now for download.  SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service Image Server 12 can be installed during installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 (or newer) or after the system has been installed.  In both cases, you will be asked to confirm the EULA and enter the registration code.  To install SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service Image Server 12 during installation, only select it in the list of extensions.  To install SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service in an installed system, start the YaST module for registration and select to install additional extensions.  Then, you will be able to select the extension from the list.

Full documentation is available here: https://www.suse.com/documentation/slepos11/index.html

Direct link to the relevant chapter: https://www.suse.com/documentation/slepos11/book_slepos/data/cha_slepos_buildingimages_sle12.html

Direct link to standalone documentation for SLE12 images: https://www.suse.com/documentation/slepos-12-image/

Release notes are available here: https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/x86_64/SLE-POS/12-SP2/

And learn more about SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service at https://www.suse.com/products/linux-point-of-service .