As part of “The Big Upgrade” competition sponsored by Psion Teklogix, the company invited entries over a two-month period. The MSI 2100 from the early 1970s has been found to be the oldest operational barcode device out of the submissions. The portable data collection terminal is battery powered and includes a cassette tape for data memory.
“While barcode technology may not be top of everyone’s mind, it has become ubiquitous and a mission-critical technology for businesses today,” says Lorne Rubis, Ryzex CEO. “Google even paid homage to the 57th anniversary of the first barcode patent recently by replacing their logo for a day with the familiar black and white bar code design.”
While the contest was a search to find the oldest working barcode data collection device, the grand-prize winner was randomly selected from all eligible entries received. The winner, Tyler Templeton from New Enterprise Stone and Lime Co., who submitted his Telxon PTC-600 and 960 mobile computers for portable barcode data capture, received a new handheld computer from Psion Teklogix to replace his old legacy device.
“With this contest, we saw how people stretched the life of their barcode scanning devices to an extreme. This illustrates how hard it can be to recognize when equipment starts to cost a company more in maintenance and lost productivity than it’s worth,” says Chris Glennon, vice president of sales and marketing for Ryzex. “A lifecycle management approach enables companies to conserve devices, while also helping identify obsolete equipment and replace it when it becomes appropriate to take advantage of the latest industry advances.”
