Dell Powers Wal-Mart
(CommunicationsWeek; 12/15/97)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to deploy Dell Computer servers and multimedia PCs in its stores nationwide to allow consumers to preview home videos, CDs and audiotapes before buying. Customers can take a product to an in-store kiosk, scan in the bar code and view a 30-second music video followed by three 30- second audio clips. Stores will be equipped with listening stations. The clips will be downloaded from in-store multimedia libraries loaded on the servers, consisting of 9,000 CDs and tapes, and 400 home video titles. Each of the 1,950 participating stores will have two servers and a PC to power the network, configured with proprietary software, network interface card and MPEG cards, connected by satellite uplink. Wal- Mart will use PowerEdge 2200 servers and OptiPlex Gxi PCs.