It does. Except that only the Santa Cruz Mission St. PH is participating
yet. The web server is in Wichita, Kansas. It uses a database (possibly one
of those address-to-zip+4 databases) to determine what the nearest PH to you
is, and relays the order to them over a data line. PH was in a good position
to do this because they already use SCO systems for their operation. They
installed SCO's Global Access product to get httpd etc., and then set up the
web page with help from SCO engineers. They have a SCO system in every PH,
which receives the order and (presumably) prints it out.
Santa Cruz was a pretty good place to start this off, with SCO here, and
net access easy to come by. UC Santa Cruz (http://www.ucsc.edu), with c. 10K
students/faculty all with net access, is in their delivery range. There are
open-access sites like this one (http://www.armory.com) that give free dialup
accounts to anyone, and there are lots of commercial options starting at $5/mo.
(http://www.cruzio.com). Houses on the net (also like this one) are
proliferating (http://klinzhai.iuma.com/~falcon/geeks/geekhouse.html), with
Santa Cruz Community Internet (http://www.scruz.net) offering cheap
SLIP/PPP/ISDN links.
Here's the press release.
John
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
Rob Doughty Elisheva Steiner
Pizza Hut, Inc. The Santa Cruz
Operation, Inc.
TEL: 316/681-9602 TEL: 408/427-7252
E-Mail: elis@sco.com
Patti Fortuna
Rourke & Company
TEL: 408/453-9194
E-Mail:
pfortuna@rourke.com
SCO AND PIZZA HUT ANNOUNCE PILOT PROGRAM
FOR PIZZA DELIVERY ON THE INTERNET
"PizzaNet'' Program Enables Computer Users
to Electronically Order Deliveries
WICHITA, KS AND SANTA CRUZ, CA, SCO FORUM94 (August 22, 1994) --
(NASDAQ:SCOC) In a revolutionary spin on business use of the
Information Superhighway, The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (SCO)
and Pizza Hut, Inc. today announced "PizzaNet," a pilot program
that enables computer users, for the first time, to
electronically order pizza delivery from their local Pizza Hut
restaurant via the worldwide Internet.
Pizza Hut will launch the PizzaNet pilot in the Santa Cruz area
on August 22 and use it to study the feasibility of expanding the
program to other cities in the U.S. and around the world.
Technology for the pilot program includes the SCO Global Access
product, an integrated Internet business server solution. The SCO
Global Access incorporates advanced NCSA Mosaic software for
browsing the Internet, and the custom "PizzaNet" application
software developed by SCO's Professional Services organization.
SCO Open Server System Provides Access
"The worldwide Internet, along with SCO Global Access software,
present us with exciting new opportunities to offer home delivery
services to our customers," said Jon Payne, Pizza Hut MIS
Director of POS Development. "The PizzaNet pilot will help us
study the technical feasibility and gauge customer response to
these new services, while taking an important step toward
integrating our restaurants with the Information Highway."
To participate in the PizzaNet Pilot, customers in the Santa Cruz
area need computers with Internet access and any version of
Mosaic, such as Windows, Mac, or UNIX. Customers use the
Internet's World Wide Web to access the centralized PizzaNet
server at Pizza Hut Headquarters in Wichita, Kansas. This 486
system runs SCO Open Server and SCO Global Access software, using
the Mosaic and Hypertext Transfer Protocol to present customers
with a customized menu page for ordering pizza deliveries. Mosaic
is widely used at many technology companies, government agencies,
and universities. It is rapidly being adopted by many business
and home users in response to the continuing availability of new
and innovative business and information services.
The customer uses the menu pages to enter name, address, and
phone information, along with orders for pizza and beverages. The
order is then transmitted via the Internet back to Wichita, and
then relayed via modem and conventional phone lines to the SCO
Open Server system at the customer's nearest Pizza Hut
restaurant. The local restaurant can then telephone first-time
users to verify orders. All money changes hand at the point of
delivery.
"Pizza Hut already runs home delivery applications on SCO Open
Server at over 1,000 restaurants, and that makes it relatively
easy to integrate this new application into their operations for
the pilot," said Doug Michels, Executive Vice President and Chief
Technical Officer. "The primary challenge was to create a
graphical menu page that makes it easy and convenient for
customers to order pizza. The Mosaic component of the SCO Global
Access product provided the ideal set of graphical tools needed
for this application."
About SCO Global Access
The SCO Global Access product family provides the foundation for
businesses to develop integrated Internet server solutions. The
Global Access family consists of a supplement for SCO Open Server
systems as well as an integrated desktop product for testing the
waters of the Internet.
Santa Cruz Internet users can access PizzaNet by entering
http://www.pizzahut.com. To obtain more information on SCO via
the Internet, enter http://www.sco.com.
Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of PepsiCo., is the world's largest pizza
distribution company, with more than 8,200 restaurants and
delivery units in the U.S. and more than 2,500 units in 87
countries. Voted "Best Pizza Quality" in a Restaurant &
Institutions consumer poll, Pizza Hut is the recognized leader of
the $17 billion dollar pizza category.
SCO is the world leader for UNIX servers (Source: IDC 1994).
Businesses and governments use SCO Open Systems Software to run
their critical operations, accessing information across local,
national, and international boundaries and networks. SCO sells
and supports its products in more than 80 countries through a
worldwide network of distributors, resellers, systems
integrators, and OEMs.
# # #
SCO, the SCO logo, The Santa Cruz Operation, Open Desktop, and
Open Server are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Santa
Cruz Operation, Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries. All other
brand or product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used
to identify products or services of, their respective owners.