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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Planet Antares Vending: Uniformity In DEX Standards

Nowadays, vending operators are blaming the equipment manufacturers for not doing enough to standardize their DEX hardware and software.

It is agreed by many people that the manufacturers did not adopt a set of standards and these are too broad. Different manufacturers have different understandings about the ways of sending information.

This has resulted in a few vending operators including Planet Antares vending operators demanding more stringent DEX standards to be adopted by NAMA. Even several equipment manufacturers agree that standards can be improved to a certain extent. Some of the operators have had problems when they first tried to utilize DEX.

In certain cases, the DEX standards have been too broad. The more stringent ones may be able to sort out the problems that are being faced by some Planet Antares vending operators. According to manufacturers, not all machines require the same type of data. Moreover, not all customers want the same information from the machine. There is risk of extra cost in excessive standardization without providing any additional benefits.

What needs to be understood is that standardization will not always assure Planet Antares vending operators that manufacturers will abide by new protocols. Some manufacturers even claim that competitors have not supported existing DEX standards. Further, they have pointed out that the task of gathering data in a usable form is one that should be handled by the software company only.

Even if additional standards are adopted by NAMA, manufacturers will add to that list for specific equipment needs. It is a matter of debate whether minimum standards are essential, since many protocols are already being followed for the sake of convenience and simplicity.
Some DEX data tends to be standard in all vending machines including Planet Antares vending machines. These include:

  • Coin mechanical fields
  • Coin to tube
  • Coin to coin box
  • Coin from tubes
  • Total coins
  • Cash from validator
  • Total vends
  • Total cash

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