MI9, the Intelligent Retail System software company, has just announced the acquisition of Software Development, Inc. (SDI) of Pleasanton, California. In business since 1979, SDI is a recognized leader in developing and implementing full-featured store systems that deliver exceptional competitive advantage to their customers. Over the years SDI has installed its solutions in over 7000 retail stores and enjoys a distinguished list of highly successful and loyal customers that include: discount and mass merchandise, home improvement, chain drug, and specialty retailers.

MI9 and SDI have had a productive partnership over many years working with joint customers - Aubuchon, Benny’s, Marc’s and Marvin’s. As a result, MI9’s entire Intelligent Retail System application suite has been fully integrated with SDI’s IRIS family of store products.

MI9 was founded in 2001 in Toronto, ON; but its history stretches back nearly 25 years to the UK where the company began and achieved recognition as an innovative developer of visionary retail applications. MI9’s product suite, the Intelligent Retail System, includes: MI9 Foundation – the unique architectural framework and data management facility underpinning its systems, MI9 Business Intelligence – the premier Business Intelligence System for retail, and MI9 Merchant – a state-of-the-art Merchandising System fully integrated with Business Intelligence.

SDI’s IRIS Store application includes both POS and In-Store Back Office processing. IRIS POS is designed to give retailers significant customer service advantages while minimizing store operational costs. Special features, such as: complex promotion handling, integrated customer loyalty programs, management of commercial credit sales, and extensive order processing put IRIS POS in a class by itself. IRIS Back Office applications are modular in design and highly parameterized. Real-time updates from POS insure that store personnel have up-to-the-minute information concerning merchandise, sales and customers. Back Office applications include: Audit and Cash Office Management, Customer Management, Inventory Control, Automated Replenishment, Price and Promotions Management, and much more.

With the acquisition of SDI’s IRIS family of products, MI9 is well positioned as a one-stop shop for retail with systems that can manage the entire business, from delivering superior performance at POS to addressing the most sophisticated business analytics’ requirements at the corporate office or in the field. To better underscore that MI9 and SDI form a single, unified company with a completely integrated set of product offerings, MI9 will be incorporating SDI under the MI9 name and re-branding the IRIS product as MI9 Store.

To learn more about MI9 and all of its products, please visit our website at www.mi9retail.com.

About Columbus Consulting, Inc.: Founded by Richard Amari in 2001, Columbus Consulting comprises a team of highly experienced specialists in retail business process and systems. Its distinguished client list includes: American Eagle Outfitters, Ann Taylor, Saks, Big Lots, Guitar Center, CVS Pharmacy, and New York & Company. While Columbus Consulting provides a variety of services, their primary focus is planning & allocation, reporting & analysis, data warehousing and IT strategy/leadership. Projects range in scope from short-term, high-impact, executive-level advisory services to large, multi-disciplinary, multi-million dollar projects, lasting more than a year. For more information on Columbus Consulting, visit www.columbusconsulting.com.