Developer documentation

Introduction

The scope of this chapter is to describe the Aera terminal integration protocol, including example messages, provide general implementation recommendations and requirements, and describe the Aera use of and adaptations to Nexo Retailer. Intended audience is developers responsible for developing ECR integrations. 

The Aera terminal integration protocol is based on Nexo Retailer v3.1. ECR integrations are achieved by implementing the Nexo Retailer 3.1 protocol in the ECR and interfacing with the AIC server. The AIC server is responsible for communicating messages between the ECR and the terminal. No library (DLL or otherwise) is required in the ECR. See [3] for the AIC installation guide.

General Nexo Retailer 3.1 specifications can be downloaded from https://www.nexo-standards.org (NIS v4 package).  The specific XSD file for this implementaton is available on request. For further details regarding Nexo Retailer, please see [1] and [2]. 

Aera integration is available in two variants:

1. On-premise AIC - a software package provided by Aera, to be installed by the merchant directly on the individual ECR machines or on a central on-premise server in the store.
2. Cloud AIC - hosted by Aera as a highly available service over the Internet.

The following diagram shows common integration scenarios:

References

Glossary