Domino’s upgrades custom unit management softwareDomino’s upgrades custom unit management software

Alan Liddle

ANN ARBOR Mich. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

Pulse is Ann Arbor-based Domino’s custom software supporting point-of-sale and in-restaurant management functions. It also supports the chain’s digital-marketing initiatives, according to officials of Domino’s Pizza Inc., the delivery chain’s parent. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

To date, more than 2,200 of about 5,000 U.S. Domino’s branches are using the new technology, known as Pulse Evolution, as are about 200 of 3,700 international outlets, said DPI executive vice president and chief information officer Chris McGlothlin. He expects Pulse Evolution, which relies on multiple software products from Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., to replace the first-generation Pulse, or Pulse Classic, in most system stores by the end of 2010. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

The use of Pulse Evolution is optional for Domino’s franchisees. But the chain’s management believes the new system makes it easier for franchisees to comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, and that factor will drive adoption, McGlothlin said. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

McGlothlin said that Domino’s needed “the right tools with the lowest possible startup and maintenance costs.” He added that the lower expenses associated with Pulse Evolution permits franchisees “to invest in other areas of the business.” —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

Pulse Classic was configured in a “thick-client” manner, requiring every workstation in a restaurant to be a fully functional personal computer with a hard drive running Microsoft Windows 2000. These “thick” workstations are networked to a more powerful server PC running Windows 2000 Server software. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

The Evolution version uses “thin-client” architecture involving a primary server made from a Lenovo brand personal computer with Intel Core 2 Duo dual-core processors and 3 gigabytes of random access memory. This server uses Microsoft Windows Server 2003 software running on VMware and provides applications to, and collects data from, “thin” workstations. The workstations use solid-state Neoware or HP terminals without hard drives, fans or other moving parts and run Microsoft Windows Server Terminal Service software over a Linux operating system. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

McGlothlin said that in cases of system failure, a backup Pulse Evolution server could be running in less than 30 minutes. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

“Evolution is cheaper than the Classic system due to using thin clients instead of more expensive thick clients on the front line and at the makeline and dispatch stations,” he said. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

The potential for enhanced reliability from solid-state terminals could be “a huge win” for Domino’s operators, McGlothlin said. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

He explained that with Pulse Evolution, Domino’s Pizza Inc. staff uses Microsoft’s System Center Configuration Manager “to push Pulse packages and operating patches [to] both corporate and franchise [outlets].” —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

“We had up to eight hard drives in [a] store,” he said of the hardware deployed in some higher-volume Domino’s units using Pulse Classic. “To be Payment Card Industry [security standards] compliant, every drive had to be patched and monitored,” he added. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

Moving to a thin-client system means “there is really only one machine in the store to patch and monitor, which can drastically reduce overhead and the management burden,” McGlothlin said. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

The Domino’s CIO said Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM is handling Pulse Evolution procurement, staging and deployment. —Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.