idXtra Showcases Cutting-Edge Campus Solutions at Bett 2025

We are delighted to share the highlights from idXtra’s participation at Bett 2025, the largest education technology exhibition in Europe, held at ExCeL London from 22–24 January 2025. This year’s event provided an invaluable opportunity for us to engage with education professionals, discuss the latest trends, and unveil our newest innovations designed to enhance security, efficiency, and convenience for schools, colleges, and universities.

Showcasing the Future of Education Technology

At idXtra, we are dedicated to providing integrated solutions that streamline campus management while ensuring a seamless user experience for students, staff, and visitors. As a BESA-approved supplier and ISO 9001-accredited company, our reputation for reliability, quality, and technical excellence continues to grow.

Bett 2025 was the perfect platform for us to introduce two groundbreaking solutions that redefine campus operations:

1. EventPOS Mobile Cashless Catering System

Our Mobile Cashless Catering System is more than just a way to manage school meals; it’s a comprehensive solution that streamlines operations across your institution, enhanced by our latest EventPOS Tablets – The Blackview Active 8 Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro 9.

  • Speed Up Service & Reduce Queuing: With advanced technologies like face, fingerprint, and smart ID card recognition, our system drastically cuts down till waiting times. Students can swiftly make payments, giving them more time to enjoy their meals and return to their activities. The elimination of cash handling further accelerates the process, ensuring smoother, quicker transactions.
  • Mobility Across Campus: Our system’s lightweight and portable design, complemented by padded leather, hand and shoulder straps, allows it to be used anywhere on school grounds. Whether in the canteen, classroom, or playground, the system’s all-weather, waterproof, dustproof, and drop-proof construction ensures durability and reliability in any environment.
  • Cost-Efficient Flexibility: While primarily cashless, our system retains the flexibility to accept cash, debit, or credit card payments where necessary, catering to all your school’s needs without additional hardware costs. Its robust design and efficient operation make it a cost-effective solution that minimizes downtime and maximizes productivity.
  • Real-Time Updates & Parental Control: Parents can top up accounts online, with the convenience of accepting debit or credit card payments. Transactions update in real-time, allowing parents to manage meal payments, receive low-balance alerts, and monitor meal history, all from their devices. This enhances transparency and gives parents greater control over their child’s diet.
  • Discreet Free School Meals (FSM) Delivery: The system delivers FSM entitlements discreetly, allowing eligible students to receive their meals without stigma. This ensures all students are treated equally, promoting a more inclusive environment.
  • Allergy Alert for Food Safety: The system automatically provides allergy alerts during transactions, helping to ensure food safety and reduce risks for students with dietary restrictions.
  • Advanced Reporting & Seamless Integration: Gain instant access to comprehensive reports that help you track trends, manage resources, and make informed decisions. Our system integrates smoothly with most MIS databases, reducing administrative workload and enhancing operational efficiency.
  • Offline Data Synchronisation: Our system ensures seamless operation even in areas with limited or no Wi-Fi connectivity. Offline data synchronisation allows transactions to be recorded and processed once the connection is restored, ensuring no loss of data and continuous service.

2. Smart Kiosk – A Multifunctional Campus Hub

We were also proud to introduce our latest Smart Kiosk, a dynamic solution that goes beyond being just a digital signage or payment machine. This powerful, all-in-one kiosk enhances efficiency across school campuses by integrating visitor management, cashless catering, and serving as an interactive school information panel. It can display event announcements, timetables, staff directories, and emergency alerts in real time. Additionally, the Smart Kiosk functions as an IT helpdesk where students and staff can log technical issues, request IT support, or access troubleshooting guides. This multifunctional solution is designed to be an essential part of modern school campuses, improving communication, operational efficiency, and user convenience in a single integrated system.

Engaging with Education Professionals

Our stand at Bett 2025 was a hub of activity, with live demonstrations, hands-on experiences, and insightful discussions. We were thrilled to engage with school administrators, IT managers, and catering teams, sharing how our solutions can transform campus operations. The positive feedback we received reaffirmed our commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction.

Looking Ahead

As we continue to innovate, our focus remains on delivering fully integrated, cost-effective, and future-proof solutions tailored for educational institutions. We are excited about the journey ahead and look forward to collaborating with schools and colleges to create smarter, safer, and more efficient learning environments.

For more information about our solutions or to book a demo, contact us at info@idxtra.com or visit www.idxtra.com.

See you at The Security Event at NEC Birmingham on 8 – 10 April 2025!

idXtra Shines at the Schools & Academies Show 2024 with Innovative ID & Payment Solutions

We are thrilled to share the highlights from our recent participation in the Schools & Academies Show at the NEC, Birmingham on 20th November 2024. It was a momentous occasion for idXtra Ltd, marking our debut at this prestigious event.

As a trusted partner for educational institutions, we are committed to providing innovative ID and payment solutions that streamline operations and enhance safeguarding. Our status as a BESA-approved supplier speaks volumes about our unwavering dedication to quality and exceptional service.

At this year’s show, we were excited to showcase our latest offerings:

EventPOS: Our cutting-edge Cashless Catering System, is now available for portable tablets and laptops, ensuring faster service and reduced queueing times to keep your customers happy and engaged.

VisiTapp: Our Visitor Management Solution, featured on a variety of touchscreen kiosks and terminals to show its flexibility and capabilities. The system improves security whilst enhancing the visitor experience.

Exclusive Evolis 241 Card Printer Promotion: We introduced our exclusive offer for dual-sided printing for no additional cost. Make a healthy saving whilst improving the quality and performance of your ID card printers.

Participating in this exhibition allowed us to connect with many like-minded professionals in the education sector.  We were delighted to engage in fruitful conversations and networking opportunities. We look forward to continuing our conversations with many new contacts and serving the education community with innovation and collaboration. For more information about our solutions and promotions, please contact us at info@idXtra.com.

The Security Event 2024!

This month we headed to the NEC in Birmingham to exhibit once again at The Security Event.

It was great to make some new connections there!

We were excited to present our new wooden kiosks for visitor sign-in, as part of our fun new ‘Space Invaders’ campaign…

…Who are YOUR Space Invaders? Your visitors of course!

Our visitor management system, VisiTapp, allows visitors to safely and securely sign in to the premises without the support of a member of staff. The user-friendly interface allows them to register quickly, thus diminishing queues and crowds in the front of house and increasing its efficiency.

To find out more about our visitor management system, VisiTapp, please click here!

Queue busting at BETT!

Kicking off 2024 with our favourite event of the year, it was of course the BETT show at ExCeL London! It was great to see so many idXtra friends and customers there, and to make some new connections.

We were thrilled to present our new campaigns for this year which centre around our cashless catering and visitor management systems.

Two different systems, but one shared goal: queue busting!

Our ultra-efficient systems with user-friendly interfaces allow visitors and students to be processed at super speed. But as if that wasn’t enough, we’ve also just launched a ‘queue buster’ tablet!

A portable tablet with an in-built card reader and software, staff members can simply take it down the queue and process more payments, thus easing the thoroughfare. In busy breaktimes, this is a life saver!

Long queues in the canteen and lots of hangry students? Fear not, idXtra can save the day!

How many cheese puns is too many?

To support this new campaign, any visitor who came to our stand and admitted to being ‘cheesed off’ with their cashless system, was given a complimentary mini cheese and entered into our prize draw!

Thank you to all of our customers, old and new, who came to see us at the show – we look forward to the next one!

“Open Sesame” for Chichester College!

As 2023 draws to a close, Chichester College have had a brand new idXtra access control system installed throughout their campus. 

We have replaced their existing system across their campus, so that the premises are much more secure and receiving visitors is more efficient.

The installation was of a Paxton Net2 access control system, linked to the college MIS system in real-time. This means that new learners are added when their card is printed, and any learner that is not currently enrolled in a course within MIS is automatically invalidated and cannot enter the college.

Intrinsic to the system are its links to PaperCut (photocopier and print control system) and to VisiTapp, our flexible visitor management system.  This ensures that learners that wish to enrol onto the new access control system can do so in a self-service manner at the main reception desk. 

All users that had previously enrolled their cards in PaperCut are automatically brought through to the access control system and placed in the appropriate access group.

Thanks Chichester College, we’re glad we could help.

Safeguarding has never been easier with idXtra!

idXtra in Glasgow!

Another month, another exhibition… this time we were in one of the world’s friendliest cities, and the largest one in Scotland – it was of course Glasgow!

We were there to exhibit at The Learning Places Scotland Exhibition and Conference at the SEC.

We enjoyed making new connections and catching up with existing ones!

Until next time, Scotland!

City of Westminster College “tap in”!

The United Colleges Group already had our cashless catering system, EventPOS, and our visitor management system, VisiTapp, and we had installed new ID card printers and ID design and printing software for the group.

We were therefore delighted to be asked to install our attendance tracking solution, EventMarker, for City of Westminster College!

Primarily it was required for monitoring students’ self-study sessions, which are timetabled but not necessarily staffed by teachers, so no formal registers were being taken.

EventMarker consists of simple PoE smart card readers located in the appropriate places, so that learners can simply tap in and out of their self-study sessions. 

If learners arrive on time they are marked as PRESENT and if they arrive late they are marked as LATE. These marks are saved into the ProSolution MIS database under the relevant lessons. 

Teachers and administrators with the appropriate level of access may edit the marks, for example, if a student was late through no fault of their own.

Thanks City of Westminster College, we look forward to hearing how you get on with your new system!

We take on the Education Estates Exhibition in Manchester!

This month we headed up north to a city famous for its railways and records… Manchester! This was where the Education Estates Exhibition 2023 was held.

We had a blast meeting idXtra customers old and new, and of course we set some time aside to check out what this buzzing city has to offer!

Thanks to everyone who came and visited us at our stand. We look forward to our next event!

Tony x2

Very smart cards at Caterham School!

We were delighted to be chosen by Caterham School to upgrade and streamline their smart ID card system. 

The brief was to utilise any serviceable aspects of the existing system, updating where necessary and feasible, and to add state-of-the-art solutions to form a modern student, visitor and staff safeguarding solution. 

The project comprised of adding new ID card printing stations, with internal smart card encoding units, to print and program smart ID cards. 

The solution is streamlined and driven by live data from the iSams MIS database.  Upon card issuance, users’ credentials are sent in real-time to the cashless catering system, the visitor management system and the access control system (Paxton Net2).

This minimises the need for staff intervention and maximises security, keeping students safe all throughout the school and the associated Sports Centre. 

Thanks Caterham, we’re glad you “tapped in”!

Hands up if you love Cashless!

As the autumn leaves begin to fall and the new academic term begins, Kensington Aldridge Academy have decided to go cashless with their catering and upgrade to EventPOS!

Their new cashless catering system replaced a competitor’s system that had not been updated for 11 years – that was expensive and inefficient. 

We happily provided a state-of-the-art new system for less cost, which has made their break and lunch times much more efficient.

They can now enrol fingerprints / thumbprints for a whole year group in around just 30 minutes.

Thanks KAA, enjoy your smoother break times!