Tech vendors work toward open standards for store systems

Leading retail technology firms including IBM, Intel, and HP Inc. are collaborating to accelerate the scalable deployment of solutions optimized for physical retail, from the edge to the cloud.

Known as the Open Retail Initiative (ORI), the effort promotes a common, open framework that enables an ecosystem of interchangeable retail store components. As a result, the ORI seeks to enable faster deployments, more accessible data across applications, and greater flexibility and scalability across retailers’ technology environments. 

For retailers, the ORI intends to simplify IT management and create a future-ready foundation to accommodate ongoing technology developments. The initiative also has the goals of simplifying development and deployment for independent software vendors (ISVs) and system integrators (SIs), as well as easing the development process for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs).

ORI standards will apply to technologies including (but not limited to) in-store AI, analytics, and process automation; POS terminals; information kiosks; digital signs; intelligent cameras and other sensors; automated refrigeration; stock handling; and intelligent shopping carts.

The ORI ultimately intends to produce three major outcomes: A reference architecture, suggested retail use cases, and a forum for collaboration through the Open Retail Initiative events and the EdgeX Foundry Vertical Solutions Working Group. The open source framework is a sub-project of EdgeX Foundry.