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.
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