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.