Another Cover Story by yours truly for this month's Digital Signage Magazine
Digital
Signage Content Management Software – New feature roundup
By Jeff Porter, Porter Digital Signage Consulting
Every June marks the annual pilgrimage of “AV Guys and Gals”
to InfoComm, this year being held in Orlando on June 13-19 and digital signage
is always top of mind to those in attendance.
Sometimes, however, it’s hard to keep track of all of the software
updates from the various companies, so let’s take a look at what’s new in
digital signage content management software from some of the leading companies right
now.
Large format displays are big business at InfoComm, and each
of the major display manufacturers such as Samsung, LG and NEC all offer
software options to get you started.
Samsung has a product called MagicInfo (http://www.samsung.com/us/business/easy-and-instant-content-management-with-magicinfo
). There are actually THREE versions of
MagicInfo. MagicInfo Lite is free and offers
an easy way for small networks to update content via USB sticks to the built in
player in Samsung’s commercial screens.
This software is simple to use and requires no network or server setup
(since it’s not a networked product).
Simply save your content to a USB stick and “sneakernet” it to each
screen. The second version called
MagicInfo Premium “S” takes advantage of the Samsung Smart Signage platform
build into Samsung commercial screens for easy update over a network. For a more sophisticated deployment needing
data integration and mobile support, MagicInfo Premium “i” is offered. Both MagicInfo Premium versions are not free,
and will require assistance from an AV/IT person to set up your network. This is not a cloud based system however, and
it will require some training to get up to speed on the Premium version.
LG offers SuperSign TV for their bundled software. (http://www.lg.com/us/commercial/lg-supersign-tv
) SuperSign Lite is a free version of
software that you can download and install on your PC, and either save to USB
stick (like MagicInfo Lite) or connect to up to 50 screens on the same network
(even with the free version!). A paid
version of SuperSign is available for networks of screens over 50. One of the unique features of SuperSign is
the capability to have live TV as picture in a picture with many models of
SuperSign TVs. These commercial grade
screens offer built in media players that have the ability to show live TV from
either Component or HDMI inputs (from a cable or satellite set top box) or the
build in digital TV Tuner (assuming the QAM or 8VSB off the air signal is in
the clear). The LG SuperSign system is
one of the lowest cost solutions for small businesses. The SuperSign TV displays themselves are very
competitively priced. And the SuperSign
software comes with 74 free professionally designed templates to get you going
quickly. Compared with buying separate
media players and software, LG wins the total cost of ownership (TCO) battle
hands down. This is not a cloud based
system however, so makes sure all of your players on the same local in-house
network (and not scattered across the Internet).
NEC is probably best known for their Vukunet software platform
(http://www.vukunet.com) targeted at
digital out of home advertising networks.
But you might want to check out something new at NEC called Creative
Works (http://www.creative-works.com
). We all know that developing
compelling content for digital signage can be a challenge, and NEC’s newest
division is there to help. With content
solutions spanning the very simple to the most complex, if you’re an AV company
looking for help in this area, give Creative Works a look.
In the more traditional digital signage software space, you
have companies such as Scala, Broadsign, Omnivex, Coolsign (owned by Haivision),
but since we’re talking InfoComm, and many of the attendees of this show are AV
integrators, I thought I would include an update on Tightrope Media Systems,
Visix, X2O Media and Capital Networks.
Scala (http://www.scala.com)
is one of the most popular software platforms for digital signage with their
vast network of AV resellers and integrators to deliver digital signage
solutions to their customers. Clive
Fort, Scala’s Director of Product Management noted that Scala Enterprise
Release 11 is just around the corner.
This version is code named “Indianapolis”… how appropriate for this time
of year! The core engine of Scala’s
Enterprise Content Manager was completely retooled to make it exponentially
faster and more responsive, especially with larger networks. Live real-time as you type search results are
just one example of the new responsiveness of the user interface. Release 11 has been formally certified to
work with Windows Server 2012 R2 and IE11.
A new Android Player now supports the latest Android hardware from IAdea
(http://www.iadea.com) with their MBR-1100
“media bar” player. This release also
provides formal support for the Samsung Smart Signage platform, which seems to
be taking off more in Europe than in the USA according to Fort. For Scala’s Designer product, corner styles
and alpha masks on movies make content look “less rectangular”. They’ve also added a nice feature to
graphically format tables of dynamic data more easily.
Broadsign (http://www.broadsign.com)
has a new small form factor PC based player called the “Xpress Pro”. This is even smaller than their Android
Xpress player (about half the size!), but has the full feature set and
capabilities of their PC player with twice the RAM and CPU.
Omnivex (http://www.omnivex.com)
has launched Moxie Cloud, a hosted version of their famous Moxie software. This offers customers a quick and easy way to
get up to speed with Omnivex without having to setup your own server.
As many of you know, Coolsign was acquired by Haivision a
while ago, and Haivision continue to improve the Coolsign product by
integrating Haivision’s streaming video products with digital signage. (http://www.haivision.com/solutions/digital-signage)
Bill Taylor, Haivision’s Director of
Global Digital Signage explains that it is easy to stream a live or on demand
video of the CEO to all of your digital signage screens across the
enterprise. In addition, many companies
need to communicate the digital signage to remote home office employees. Haivision’s integration with Coolsign can
allow a desktop view of the corporate communications to those remote
employees. So whether your focus is
corporate communications, education or government, Haivision has a multicast
capable, network friendly, streaming or on-demand solution for digital signage.
X2O Media (http://www.x2omedia.com)
was recently acquired by Barco, well known for their amazing LED and video wall
display products. X2O Media has always
been known for their stunning real-time graphical effects with drag and drop
ease of use, but they’re also upping the ante for corporate communications with
applications for the Connected Workplace, Connected Workspace, Connected Desktop, and Connected Workforce.
The Connected Workplace application on the X2O platform
allows users to communicate in real time with X2O channels displayed throughout
the enterprise on digital signage, video walls, mobile devices, and more. When
combined with iBeacons, user presence can be instantly detected, allowing
enterprises to interact easily with employees, partners, and on-premises
guests.
Designed for multiple users, the Connected Workspace
application allows groups to collaborate in a shared virtual workspace either
online or in huddle spaces — enabling document and desktop sharing, video
conversations, polling participation, and more. Powered by the X2O platform,
the solution strengthens teamwork by letting users easily engage within a
common environment.
Using the Connected Desktop application on the X2O platform,
users can view and interact with X2O channels directly from their desktop —
improving visual communication within today’s digital enterprise. Specific use
cases include consulting company news channels, integrating business
information dashboards into workflows, and receiving live alerts straight from
workstations.
The Connected Workforce application lets organizations
harness the power of the X2O platform to share real-time content with remote
workers across campuses and around the globe. That means a company can maintain
up-to-date communication throughout its workforce regardless of location.
Capital Networks’ (http://www.capitalnetworks.com)
Jim Vair sees a growing trend towards hybrid media player networks. With support for traditional Windows based
media players, as well as Android Players and Samsung’s Smart Signage Platform,
one size does not have to fit all. Take
the new 10” Smart Signage Screen from Samsung.
With integrated all-in-one screen and player, this device makes a
perfect solution for meeting room signage.
Using a predefined template from Capital Networks, these screens can be
easily integrated with either Microsoft Exchange or Google Calendar for room
scheduling. Need a big board in the
lobby to direct folks to the correct conference room? No problem.
Both large and small format screens can easily be added to a Capital
Networks system. Mass notification and
Emergency Messaging is a big requirement for municipal, government, education
and hospital networks, and this can be easily done with this platform. A new web portal has been recently introduced
to allow resellers to offer a limited web login for their customers to manage
content on a network for both Android and Samsung players.
TightRope Media Systems (http://www.trms.com)
recently introduced Carousel 6.5 with major enhancements to its media rendering
engine (up to 60 times faster!) and allows network operators to seamlessly
scale networks without adversely affecting network performance. The faster
rendering performance specifically benefits the creation and distribution of
weather bulletins, RSS feeds, and other time-sensitive content that requires
real-time display. To achieve this, Carousel 6.5 amplifies its server
performance to more effectively scale across multiple cores. Tightrope’s Carousel
enterprise servers are easily scaled by adding further processing cores as the
number of player end points escalates.
Tightrope also recently introduced Carousel Detective, a
network diagnostic tool incorporated within the Carousel server core. This
allows network operators and Tightrope service engineers the ability to access
Carousel Detective over the Internet from any connected device for
troubleshooting and general performance monitoring, further enhancing the
enterprise-level performance of Carousel 6.5.
Visix (http://www.visix.com)
besides providing traditional digital signage solutions and interactive way
finding applications, also offers a broad range of small form factor signs for
meeting rooms. These signs can be full
color interactive LCD screens using Power-Over-Ethernet (no AC adaptor needed)
but Visix also offers an e-Paper meeting room sign which is not only super
affordable, but also wirelessly connected and battery operated! Content for these screens is managed from the
Visix’s Axis TV software platform and has support for a wide variety of
calendaring applications including Microsoft Exchange, Google Calendar, EMS by
Dean Evans, Delphi by NewMarket, R25/25Live by CollegeNET, and for the DIY IT
person, text file import support.
AxisTV version 9.0 was recently released and features a new
AxisTV Design application – a desktop designer for templates, messages and
layouts. This lets you place design
elements exactly where you want them on the screen making it easy to build
attention getting content with drag-and-drop widgets, guides and rulers with
snap, flexible workspace sizing, familiar Office-like user interface, and
ability to design offline and sync later.
That’s a quick round up of what’s new in the digital signage
software space for InfoComm. Stop by
their booths at the show for demo to find out more.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Porter is one of the industry’s leading experts in
digital signage and is the founder of Porter Digital Signage Consulting. From business planning, to sales and
marketing and technology choices, Porter has been helping his clients get all
the moving parts of digital signage in alignment for success. Prior to heading his own consulting business,
Mr. Porter was employed by Scala, Commodore, Bell Labs and Eastman Kodak. Mr. Porter holds a BSEE from Purdue
University and a MS from the University of Illinois. He can be contacted at
jeff@porterdigitalsignage.comor by phone 610-202-7676.
