Gottschalks Department Stores to Link Entire Chain with Wyse Windows Terminals

Western Department Store Chain Chooses Wyse Thin Clients Over PCs to Aid Transition From Mainframe

San Jose, CA – 2001/01/08 - - Wyse Technology, the originator of the thin-client market, today announced the deployment of Wyse ™ Windows® terminals by Gottschalks Inc. (NYSE: GOT) Department Stores. Over the next few months, all 79 Gottschalks full-line department stores across California, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and Utah will be linked to corporate headquarters in Fresno, Calif. with Wyse thin clients, empowering in-store desktop users with the ability to connect with the central mainframe and access inventory management, Microsoft Office, reporting and email applications.

Managing a network of desktop PCs across geographically-dispersed retail stores presents CIOs with a very costly IT burden. Replacing general-purpose character terminals with PCs introduces a host of new challenges of technical support, end-user training, security and reliability into the management of remotely-located retail locations. Nevertheless, modern retail software applications require a modern desktop device capable of delivering new applications. In choosing to deploy Wyse thin clients instead of PCs, Gottschalks will save thousands of dollars each year per store in IT support costs, and help modernize their IT infrastructure as they migrate away from mainframe technology. Wyse thin clients will also become the standard desktop computing device for more than 250 employees at Gottschalks' home office.

"The more PCs we have deployed out there, the less effective we are as an organization," said John Zavada, CIO of Gottschalks, Inc. "We needed an effective way to run both legacy mainframe-based applications and powerful, modern applications from a single, centrally-managed device. Wyse thin clients allow us to provide the same desktop experience of a PC, but without all of the management headaches and support costs. I seriously challenge any organization transitioning from the mainframe to consider thin clients over PCs."

Expanding Networks Require a Choice

As retail companies expand and build new stores and locations, CIOs have been traditionally presented with few options for in-store desktop systems. Legacy character-based terminals are limited in their ability to run modern (and future) applications. PCs are problematic due to their associated inefficiencies and high and frequently occurring technical support costs. Wyse thin clients bridge the gap between yesterday's mission-critical applications that reside on the mainframe and tomorrow's Windows-, Web-, and Java-based solutions by delivering a single, centrally-managed business desktop that meets all the needs of retail CIOs. Wyse thin clients enable Gottschalks to deploy future-proof, easy-to-use desktop devices that provide the common PC-like experience, but without requiring any local management or administration, thus improving store efficiency and economies, and allowing store personnel to focus on running the store.

"Retail CIOs are becoming more and more dissatisfied with the PC option and are looking for new ways to link desktops at newly-expanded locations more effectively," said Jeffrey Knight, channel marketing manager at Wyse Technology. "Wyse thin clients help bridge the technology gap by providing centrally administered access to legacy and modern applications at a lower cost."

Thin Clients and Windows 2000

Retail organizations such as Gottschalks are recognizing the simplicity and power of thin-client computing. Wyse believes that such adoption will continue to increase with the growing industry adoption of Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server and Data Center Server. Windows 2000 is the first operating system from Microsoft to allow plug-and-play functionality with thin clients right out of the box through Terminal Services, and Gottschalks has been an early pioneer in the deployment of Windows 2000 to support its retail operations. Windows 2000 further cemented thin clients as the desktop peer of the PC.

Wyse's Proven Success In the In-Store Computing Environment

More than two dozen major retailing organizations worldwide, from department stores to grocers to specialty stores, have successfully deployed Wyse products to run their stores' back-office and business operations. Through the deployment of Wyse thin clients, these retail CIOs have realized the benefits of better IT management with significantly lower operating costs.

Wyse Teams with Ryno to Take Deployment from Drawing Board to Reality

To help define, design and implement the appropriate thin-client solution for Gottschalks, Wyse teamed with Benicia, Calif.-based RYNO Technology, a Wyse Gold Authorized Partner. RYNO worked closely with Gottschalks throughout to understand the need, put together an appropriate solution and bring the technology plan to fruition.

About Gottschalks Inc.

Gottschalks is a regional department store chain, currently operating seventy-nine department stores in seven Western states, including California (39), Washington (21), Alaska (7), Idaho (5), Oregon (4), Nevada (2) and Utah (1). Thirty-seven of those stores were opened in the second half of fiscal 2000. Gottschalks offers better to moderate brand-name fashion apparel, cosmetics, shoes, accessories and home merchandise. Gottschalks offers corporate information and selected merchandise on the World Wide Web at http://www.gottschalks.com.

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