DISH Network Corp. subsidiary Blockbuster announced its acquisition of Alpha Bay Corp., a retail software provider. Alpha Bay makes cloud-based software for mobile point-of-sale (POS), inventory management, customer loyalty and business intelligence, offering retailers "real-time decision support," Blockbuster said.

That real-time decision support and other goodies will go towards helping Blockbuster improve in-store customer service, enhance inventory management, and deliver promotional programs to customers. The company plans to outfit its approximately 900 U.S stores with Alpha Bay's solutions.

"A key element of the Alpha Bay solution is mobile functionality that will allow Blockbuster's in-store employees to move out from behind the counter," said Jack Blount, chairman and founder of Alpha Bay, in a statement.

"Mobile checkout combined with Blockbuster's ability to deliver individualized promotions will revolutionize the company's retail experience," Blount said.

Blockbuster president Michael Kelly said Alpha Bay promises flexible deployment and gives Blockbuster a new level of customer service and visibility at the store level and across the enterprise.

"Emphasis on in-store mobility gives Blockbuster and our partners the ability to deliver a powerful transactional experience to customers," Kelly said.

Besides its work with Blockbuster, Alpha Bay will continue to market its enterprise systems to other retailers, Blockbuster said.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.