At the heart of most innovative IXR devices, including self-checkout terminals, is the Intel® NUC microcomputer, which plays a major role in providing a competitive advantage for products in all respects. The company decided to develop self-service systems based on the Intel solution after a number of studies that proved it to be optimal based on a combination of factors.

Quick integration into the customer's infrastructure

The most important factor when choosing a processor is the ability to quickly integrate into existing infrastructure at customer sites to save time and money.

There are 2 classes of processor architecture in use worldwide:

• Open architecture i5, i6, etc., which has less science-intensive technology. It is manufactured in many countries, including Russia and China.
• The x86 chips, which are produced only by Intel, are more suitable for industrial production and high-volume tasks.

An important factor in choosing Intel was the fact that the majority of retailers today use the corporation's products. For IXR, choosing this architecture meant being able to adapt to customer systems quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.

Economic viability

Cheaper Chinese analogs are not only substandard compared to American models in terms of reliability—they cannot be used in long-term projects due to the marketing strategy of manufacturers who can unexpectedly stop offering a particular model. This means that the hardware manufacturer will not be able to find spare parts to repair or change the power, memory, or other system parameters.

A thorough analysis of existing proposals showed that it is more cost-efficient to initially buy more expensive central computing units from Intel, which have an acceptable industrial manufacturing cycle and support, and, therefore, are better suited for use in long-term projects. In other words, if you need to increase or reduce memory size, or repair or replace a chip on running hardware, IXR is ready to quickly solve system maintenance tasks using Intel's solutions.

Reliable operation and easy maintenance

A microcomputer is a small box-type device, which already has all the ports for connecting scales, scanners, and other self-service infrastructure hardware. It can easily be taken out and put back in if necessary. As a result, you can use innovative technology without losing the speed and ease of maintenance, repair, or, if necessary, replacement.

Our testing of the performance characteristics of many different vendors has shown the advantages of Intel® NUC:

• The microcomputer and the boards do not heat up during lengthy operation, unlike competing products. This is important because overheating can lead to malfunctions and put the entire system out of service.
• The Intel microcomputer does not have a fan that draws in dust, which also leads to overheating and failure. It is difficult to achieve a dust-free environment in stores, so this characteristic must be taken into account.
• The availability of a large number of ports in the design is another plus because you need to connect a lot of paired devices.
• Configuration: the wide product range allows you to adjust the memory and connect a more or less powerful processor.

Configuration: the wide product range allows you to adjust the memory and connect a more or less powerful processor.