*** Vertical Systems Reseller ***

We are pleased to announce the appointment of David Gosman to the VSR (Vertical Systems Reseller) Advisory Board. David is the Senior Project Manager at Budget POS and the senior programmer for Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express. VSR is a key magazine in our industry and can be found at www.verticalsystemreseller.com. This month's key article is called "Retail Trends to Watch."

*** A Cool New Product ***

Iomega (those people who invented the Zip Drive) has come out with a new device called the Iomega REV 35GB/90GB Drive. The 35 GB is not compressed. The 90 GB drive is compressed. "The new Iomega REV drive offers fast, reliable, and affordable backup and disaster recovery." The drive is a USB drive and extremely fast for backup and restore. I have not personally used it. The ad sounds great. I mention it for two reasons...#1...You need to have a good backup system. You will need it perhaps today, tomorrow, or three years from now. But, you need a backup system. The Iomega sounds great. There are lots of other backup systems that you can choose. Just make sure you have a good backup system!!!

*** #2 Backup System...The Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas ***

I was actually at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas during their power failure. The Bellagio Hotel had an ineffective backup system. When they built the hotel, they decided to save money and run both backup systems through a single conduit. I am not sure what that means, but the key here is they decided to save money. The lights went out and the backup system would not work, apparently, because both sets of wires were run through a single conduit. The cost to the Casino was $3,000,000 per day. I received a FREE room for the week at the Mirage Hotel complements of the Bellagio. Three thousand other guests received free rooms. The Casino was closed. The restaurants were closed and the shows were closed. So, even the big guys don't always do the right thing. Just ask yourself, what would I do if my computer fails? What would I do if the electricity fails? Our experience shows that only about 25 percent of our customers do a daily backup.

*** Version 10.0 To Be Released on May 14, 2004 at our Resellers Conference ***

Version 10.0 is our 10th major release in 10 years. Each of the new releases has included major new functions and additional ease of use. Our latest version of CRE offers quick checkout that major stores seem to love. If you are in the middle of an invoice, you no longer need to end a transaction. All you need to do is scan a credit card and our software detects the card and automatically ends the transaction and approves the credit card (using PC Charge). Version 10.0 will add lots of new time-saving features. More information will be available soon. Remember, updates are FREE to all with tech support contracts.