Hardware and Software

Hardware is the physical devices that make up a computer. Software is the set of instructions that your hardware executes to carry out a specific task for you.

(Information Systems Essentials, 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill Create 32).

All hardware technology falls into one of the following six basic categories:

1. An input device.

2. An output device

3. A storage device.

4. The central processing unit (CPU.

5. A telecommunications.

6. Connecting devices.

(Information Systems Essentials, 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill Create 33).

Dominos uses the following hardware and software:

Primary application

In-store point-of-sale system

Primary hardware

• HP Neoware c50 Thin Clients

• HP t5545 Thin Clients

Primary software

• Domino’s Pulse POS system

• Linux OS

• Microsoft Windows Server® 2003

• Microsoft Windows Terminal Services

• VMware Server

• Remote Desktop Protocol

• HP Factory Express Services

Domino’s Pizza, became the leader in the pizza delivery business by promising customers they will have their pizza in 30 minutes. To deliver on that promise, the company depends on a sophisticated, internally developed point-of-sale system called Domino’s Pulse. Domino’s Pulse is accessed through HP thin clients.

Domino’s chooses HP thin clients to secure credit card information while saving franchises thousands. “Our HP thin clients provide a highly secure, durable, low-cost front end for our point-of-sale system.” Says Wayne Pederson, Vice President for Information Systems, Domino’s Pizza.

Most of the orders at Domino’s start with a phone call. And the employee taking the phone call in every Domino’s store uses Domino’s Pulse. Domino’s Pulse, available through HP thin clients, powers the order-taking stations, kitchen pizza-making stations, and the dispatch station where the order is assigned to a delivery driver.

Domino’s settled on HP thin clients running the Linux operating system, customized with a standard Domino’s image. The thin clients come straight from the factory with the customized image installed. Domino’s has installed more than 12,000 thin clients in some 2,500 franchise stores. In the nearest future, the company will be buying HP t5545 Thin Clients for Domino’s corporate stores and eventually for international locations.

It is beneficiary for the Dominos to use HP t6645 Thin Clients because there are fewer things to troubleshoot - most notably, applications. Those are all provided by an in-store virtual machine using Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 running through VMware Server. Microsoft Windows Terminal Services and Remote Desktop Protocol are used to serve applications. So applications can’t get permanently corrupted by something happening on the thin client. If there is a problem at the user end, employees can simply reboot the thin client.

Maintenance is far easier now as well. In the past, every time Domino’s had a new release of the Domino’s Pulse POS system, the software had to be sent to every workstation for installation. Now, Domino’s updates the central server and that’s all the stores require.

Domino’s in-store thin clients typically are equipped with a PS/2 keyboard complete with credit card swipe reader, a USB or PS/2 mouse, receipt printer and touch-screen monitor. For stores with exceptionally large kitchens, the kitchen-based thin client can be connected to dual monitors.