Self-service kiosks are booming all round the world, and retail is one of six thriving sectors. Genkiosk - the most powerful kiosk software - makes implementation and management both efficient and profitable, with functionality tailored per sector and geography.

Sheffield, UK (PRWEB) April 30, 2012 - Genkiosk, the leaders in self-service kiosk software has announced new services specifically aimed at the growing market in kiosk applications designed for retail.

Genkiosk is the most powerful management system for self-service kiosks, and James Oladujoye, CEO of GWD Media (the Genkiosk developers) outlines how the market is rapidly growing: "Nothing stands still any more, and retail is especially dynamic because of the fierce competion. My own shopping habits have been completely transformed since I became a father. Nowadays I only go to the supermarket in the middle of the night. And I always use the self-service checkouts: my time is precious! Those changes are even more marked in the world of retail kiosks, where we are seeing two distinct major growth trends: standalone and assisted."

Standalone kiosks are used independently by shoppers to browse, order and pay for whatever they want - and are especially popular in regions with low domestic Internet provision.

With assisted kiosks - which may function exactly the same, technically, as the standalone variety - the key difference is that both customer and sales assistant interact together with the kiosk.

In both scenarios, Genkiosk kiosk software maximises up-time and profitability, and self-service kiosks offer major advantages over the more traditional forms of shopping:

• superb product knowledge: no human can possibly know more
• stock-outs can be removed from promotion: why display something you cannot sell?
• up-selling: statistical analysis shows that kiosks are better at it than people (whether it's persuading users to add fries to their burgers, or spend more on a cell phone with additional features.)
  

Jed Fraser, Chief Marketing Officer of Genkiosk emphasizes that the sector is growing everywhere, but in distinct ways per geography: " I am just back from the Philippines for example, and I was really taken by two implementations there. In one, a chain of convenience stores supplemented their offering via retail kiosks selling a much broader range of goods - and the part that I really liked was that goods were delivered to the store, prompting a return visit .... and extra sales like refreshments. In a second example, OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) are buying groceries via kiosks located abroad, and the food is collected by friends or family in Manila: the objective is to overcome situations where money was transferred home, then misspent by the recipients."

And Marek Narkiewicz, CTO at Genkiosk sees his work there as an extension of his personal life to the world: "Me? I hate going to the shops. Ever. That's not how I want to spend my time. So I buy everything online. And what we are doing with self-service kiosks managed by Genkiosk is to make the same benefits available to everyone. Everywhere."

Genkiosk, from GWD Media was first developed to run and manage pay-as-you-go Internet kiosks.

It has now grown to cover the full range of self-service sectors and applications:

•     Paying bills
•     Printing photos
•     Accessing the Internet or information
•     Transferring money
•     Browsing and shopping.
  

After launching in Europe, it expanded first to the Americas, then the Middle East and beyond, going global via multinational customers and now with direct clients as far afield as Fiji in the South Pacific.

Genkiosk is delivered via the Cloud, maximising service and availability in every region of the world.

VeoVend, the sister of Genkiosk, provides the same monitoring and management services for more traditional vending (snacks, drinks, beverages, retail.)

A hardware plug-in, with mobile phone SIM, gives online access to even the most basic vending machine.

GWD Media is headquartered in Sheffield, UK, and operates worldwide.

MONTREAL and CHICAGO — Haivision's KulaByte™ 4.0 software for efficient high-quality cloud transcoding received the 2012 STAR (Superior Technology Award Recipient) Award from the editorial staff of TV Technology magazine at the 2012 NAB Show. KulaByte is a software-based live H.264 video transcoder that delivers the highest quality RTMP Dynamic Streaming for Flash® video and Adaptive HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) for iOS devices. Now available for Linux, KulaByte 4.0 delivers significant gains in transcoding performance and enables cost savings.

With KulaByte 4.0, Haivision has migrated the award-winning transcoding engine to Linux to simplify software deployment within cloud computing environments, which improves long-term performance and reliability, as well as taking advantage of lower-cost cloud instances. KulaByte 4.0 Linux-support delivers a 30 percent performance gain so that high-resolution HD and more HD channels can be supported on each cloud instance. With Linux, users can take advantage of a 30 to 40 percent cost reduction of cloud computing instances, such as on Amazon's EC2™. Additionally, the KulaByte transcoder introduces a simplified user interface and support for closed captioning, ad insertion, and ingestion of H.264 in MPEG-2 Transport Stream encapsulation.

Now celebrating its 12th anniversary, TV Technology's STAR Award is designed to honor and showcase the outstanding technological innovations available to the broadcast industry. A panel of judges consisting of TV Technology editors, columnists, and industry experts reviewed a variety of products, examined the technical applications and overall contribution to the industry, before submitting their award nominees.

"The NAB Show serves as the launching pad for thousands of new products and services for audio and video professionals," said Tom Butts, editor-in-chief of TV Technology. "Our panel of judges walks the show floor in search of the most innovative technologies. The products and services that we select for the STAR Award demonstrate their ability to help advance the acquisition and distribution of entertainment and information across the media spectrum."

"We are honored that TV Technology recognized KulaByte's innovation as a premier transcoding product at the NAB Show," said Peter Maag, chief marketing officer for Haivision "Haivision is focused on continuously optimizing cloud transcoding technology so our clients can be more efficient and deliver the richest media experience across multiple platforms. Receiving the STAR Award is important to Haivision, especially to our engineers, who work tirelessly on making improvements for our clients."

KulaByte cloud transcoding technology is used extensively by Haivision clients and within Haivision's HyperStream™ cloud transcoding service, enabling major global streaming events such as South by Southwest (SXSW), Austin City Limits, the NASCAR Sprint Series, and the Masters Golf Tournament. The KulaByte 4.0 transcoder is available as a server appliance or as software-only for installation within cloud computing environments.

TV Technology (www.tvtechnology.com) is the industry's leading magazine for technology news and reviews, and is celebrating its 29th year covering the television industry. The magazine is published by NewBay Media LLC, the world's largest publisher of audio and video publications.

More information about Haivision's KulaByte 4.0 is available at www.haivision.com.

About Haivision Network Video

Haivision delivers advanced technology for streaming, recording, managing, and distributing secure IP video and interactive media within the enterprise, education, medical/healthcare, and federal/military markets. Haivision is a private company based in Montreal and Chicago, with technical excellence centers in Beaverton, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Hamburg, Germany. With a global sales and support organization, Haivision distributes its products through value-added resellers, system integrators, distributors, and OEMs worldwide. More information is available at www.haivision.com.

DSA Asia-Pacific will provide a new voice for the digital signage and interactive out of home media industries in the region.

Louisville, KY (PRWEB) - The Digital Screenmedia Association (DSA), the world’s premier trade association for the digital signage and interactive out of home media industries with over 650 members, today announced that it had entered into an exclusive Affiliation Agreement to establish a chapter in Asia-Pacific.

The chapter, to be known as the Digital Screenmedia Association Asia-Pacific (DSAAP) will for the first time bring together the entire digital screenmedia ecosystem including retail and advertising network operators, hardware and software suppliers, telecommunication companies, agencies and media buyers to drive growth through information and networking exchanges while promoting best practice.

Asia’s fast growing economies offer enormous potential for the digital screenmedia industry. While the industry has witnessed considerable growth in the past few years, the opportunity it presents can only be fully leveraged through greater industry collaboration and education. DSAAP will provide a forum to facilitate such co-operation.

David Drain, Executive Director of Digital Screenmedia Association (DSA), said: “We are extremely excited by this opportunity to partner with DSAAP and bring our industry platform and expertise to Asia-Pacific. We look forward to working with DSAAP and the region’s industry leaders.”

DSAAP’s headquarters will be in Australia. DSAAP’s launch team includes:

    Warren Poots - Representative North Asia (Hong Kong)
    Ron Graham - Representative South Asia (Singapore)
    Damien Edmonds (photo) – Executive Director Asia Pacific (Australia).

DSAAP’s objectives include:

• To champion the expansion of screenmedia business in every aspect by proactive promotion at a senior level through a motivated and experienced representative association
• To continually demonstrate and promote the effectiveness of digital screenmedia to the wider community through the development of industry-wide standards, best practices and industry wide research
• To provide a forum for revenue generation, creating value well above cost of membership
• To offer independent and objective representation on behalf of all members
• To propagate industry events, awards, PR, webinars and other collective interest activities
• To strive to understand broad industry issues and opportunities and meet them head on
• To grow the digital screenmedia industry in the Asia-Pacific region
• To offer unbiased, objective, accountable and transparent information within digital screenmedia industry.

About Digital Screenmedia Association (DSA):

The purpose of the Digital Screenmedia Association (DSA) is to advance the growth and excellence of the global digital signage, interactive kiosk and mobile community through advocacy, education and networking.

About Digital Screenmedia Association Asia-Pacific (DSAAP):

The Asia-Pacific Digital Screenmedia Association (DSAAP) is the voice of, and advocate for, the digital signage and out of home media industries in Asia-Pacific. Headquartered in Australia with regional representatives in Hong Kong and Singapore, the association covers 14 geographic markets, spanning China to New Zealand and Japan to India.

‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, last year Klocktornet AB and AOpen Europe announced the alliance partnership for their complementing products for the digital signage industry. Klocktornet AB is the company behind Dise software. Dise can be used in small, one-screen systems as well as in large global digital signage networks. Dise has been successfully deployed in systems with over 2000 screens, and has been the software of choice for large companies, banks and airports all around the world. Dise tested the AOpen Digital Engine DE7000 last year and now they have also tested the new models: DE35-HD with AMD Chipset and the DE67-HA with Intel 2nd generation i-core.

Dise has proven to be able to run on both low-end and high-end Digital Engine models without compromising the systems efficiency, providing the customer with a reliable and cost effective system. Dise software and AOpen Digital Engine references can be found all around the world. A few examples are the Bolsa de Madrid Stock Exchange and the Museum of Contemporary Art MACBA in Barcelona. 

Test Reports:

Real Time Informative Signage on the Trade Floor

When it comes to the trading of stocks and bonds, nothing is more important than real-time information. This flow of information can’t be disrupted, because that could cost people large sums of money, therefore a new and more sophisticated system was built and implemented. The newly implemented digital signage concept meets the high demand for up to date information on the trading floor, offering different types of content regarding the condition of distinctive markets at any given moment in time. Key benefits of the AOpen and Dise combination: real time content updates, reliable and powerful and complete control from one single point.
Download the full story


Enriched Multimedia Signage in Art Museum

The museum is not only up-to-date with history but also invests in current times. The museum makes use of today’s growing digital world with endless possibilities. The new concept strengthens the aesthetics of the museum. Visitors’ reaction is positive and the sales of the museum have gone up since the implementation of digital signage. Key benefits using AOpen Digital Engine DE7000 and Dise software: time efficiency, remote control and centralized management.
Download the full story

About Dise

Klocktornet founders and developers have a long experience in digital signage, working with the same concepts since 1989 when they helped to pioneer the business. Back then it was all about TV based installations, videotex and low resolution graphics. Now Plasma and LCD screens have become widely available and the entry cost for a digital signage system has become more attractive to more companies. In addition the demands on the software platform have increased. However the basic concept is still the same, to present your content to your viewers with high quality, dynamic playback, control and reliability.
www.displayevolution.com

About AOpen

AOpen, Inc. has more than 15 years of IT hardware manufacturing experience along with keen insights into IT industry trends that help drive the continuous development of high-end IT solutions. As the leading manufacturer of reliable, powerful and green hardware solutions world-wide, combined with the unique small form factor of the specially designed media player called AOpen Digital Engine, AOpen is able to provide an outstanding platform for 24/7 operability in applied computing. The range of players, from low-end to high-end with fan or fanless, are designed for excellence:  from basic bare systems to state-of-the-art multimedia solutions built to fit customers’ needs. The WarmTouch series complements the AOpen product line with small and extremely sleek displays with or without touch. With in-depth market knowledge AOpen can offer advice for complete digital signage platform solutions. AOpen cooperates with its global value added channel network to go to market.
For more information visit www.aopen.com

AsomaTV migrates its high-profile shopping mall network to BroadSign SaaS and will use the platform for all new installations 

MADRID, Spain and MONTREAL,/PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- AsomaTV, an operator of several digital signage networks in Spain, has deployed BroadSign's Software-as-a-Service at all existing networked locations and will be using the platform for future installations from now on.

The migration from legacy software has involved 110 screens in 15 major shopping malls, most of which are located in Madrid. AsomaTV has also converted 30 of its 250 gym locations from static advertising to BroadSign-powered digital signage and is planning to complete the conversion in 2012, intending to expand the network to 500 gyms by 2014.

At the moment, AsomaTV is also conducting pilots for future digital signage networks in Spain's largest private hospital group and in a Catalonia-based drugstore cooperative uniting 300 pharmacies.

In addition to running their own networks, AsomaTV acts as an outsourced operator of several corporate digital signage networks across Spain.

CTO of AsomaTV Robain de Jong says that BroadSign's automation-focused functionality was a welcome relief after "five years of micromanaging playlists, manual troubleshooting and the lengthy, painful process of installing and configuring players at new locations." By contrast, BroadSign technology made it possible for AsomaTV to migrate their entire mall network to the new software remotely, in just one day, and allowed the company to drastically cut down the time spent on scheduling and monitoring campaigns.

"BroadSign gives you peace of mind," said Robain de Jong. "You just know it works. And no matter what the requirements of your customers are, BroadSign allows you to meet them. We are no longer afraid of remote installations. We configure client players in our operations department, then we ship them to the client and we know that as soon as they plug them in, everything works."

AsomaTV's content loops in the shopping mall network are 90 seconds long, comprising 10-second advertising spots targeted for each location. The four-minute loop in the gym network is a mix of advertising, location-specific messaging and "infotainment" feeds.

The network has numerous repeat advertisers, with such brands as Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Telefonica, Orange, Vodafone, Subway, McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken among them. Campaign effectiveness surveys have shown up to 20% increase in sales for some of the categories of products advertised.

The average Cost-per-Thousand-Impressions (CPM) on AsomaTV is 2-5 euros. The network runs both national and local campaigns, and advertising sales are handled by a third-party media rep as well as by the in-house sales force.

AsomaTV's high-profile locations give their advertisers exposure to affluent segments of densely populated markets of Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia and Bilbao.

According to AsomaTV, showing the capabilities of BroadSign software during demos to corporate clients has helped the company win a number or contracts for operating their networks. The ability to generate accurate proof-of-play reports has also played an important role in winning over advertising-based networks.

About AsomaTV

AsomaTV is a leading digital signage network operator in Spain. The company owns and operates networks in major shopping malls, most popular gyms, hospitals and pharmacies. AsomaTV also acts as a third-party operator of several corporate digital signage networks across Spain.

AsomaTV provides a full range of digital signage services - from network operations and campaign management to content production and network maintenance.

To learn more, visit www.AsomaTV.com , or contact:

Robain de Jong+34607342660 (mobile phone)robain.dejong@asomatv.com

About BroadSign

BroadSign International Inc. is the leading worldwide provider of Software-as-a-Service for digital signage networks.

The software allows networks to target out-of-home audiences, place advertising or promotional campaigns, play back scheduled content on each screen and account for campaign performance.

Some of the world's largest and most successful digital signage networks run on BroadSign's platform. They take advantage of its comprehensive functionality, reliability and virtually unlimited capacity for growing networks without adding personnel. BroadSign is consistently ranked among the top 3 global digital signage software suppliers. The company received the 2012 Global Growth Leadership Award in the Digital Signage Software market from Frost & Sullivan.

BroadSign's Software-as-a-Service model offers digital signage networks the freedom to enjoy the full potential of the most advanced software without the burden of building out, staffing and maintaining their own hosting infrastructure.

BroadSign has extensive expertise in digital signage software, media, advertising, and information technology. The company's R&D team delivers the fastest time-to-market development of both forward-looking functionality and the features to meet its clients' short-term needs.

BroadSign also enables multi-network campaign execution for DOOH media aggregators via its Open API platform. BroadSign's corporate office, operations, support and development facilities are in Montreal, Canada.

For more information about BroadSign Digital Signage Software-as-a-Service, visit www.broadsign.com .

Visible Spectrum, Inc. (“VSI”) located in Burr Ridge, IL . . . having just completed its 1200th custom video composition . . . today introduced VSI 2.0, a major enhancement of its web-based system for effortlessly creating videos in HD for any digital platform.
Creating videos is now easier than ever because VSI 2.0 allows users to more easily drag and drop images and/or video from VSI’s 17.5 million asset cloud to compositions, via VSI’s newly designed media browser and content editor now simultaneously available on the user’s screen.  VSI 2.0 also allows the user to upload directly to Brightcove for distribution, in appropriate file formats, to all digital platforms.

John Malec, VSI CEO, stated:  “One of the key advantages of VSI’s cloud-based video creation tool is the ability to preview compositions in real time, importing stock video and image assets without requiring purchase of these assets at the preview stage.  Only at VSI can a user evaluate stock assets in real time in the context of the composition being created.  VSI 2.0 makes that process easier than ever.”

VSI 2.0 also grants access to a library of images of current consumer packaged goods for the first time.  These images, provided via a partnerships agreement with itemMaster.com, are available via VSI’s platform at no cost for use in point-of-sale promotions and other authorized purposes.

VSI also offers a White Label and an Enterprise License that provide additional capabilities.  Licensed users may create and upload their own templates for subsequent customization on the platform.  They may automate the customization of content by linking to a database to fill in price or text fields.  And, they receive secure private storage of assets in VSI’s cloud.
White Label Licensees run VSI’s functionality on their own web site, wrapped in their branding.  They also are provided with direct placement of video files into their Content Management Software (CMS) via an API.

Founded in 2011, Visible Spectrum, Inc. provides a web-based cloud platform for creating custom HD video for any digital platform – Internet, TV, DOOH or Mobile platforms.  At VSI, you always get to see it before you buy it.  Only when the user is satisfied with the final result is the composition purchased – at a low cost usually between $125 and $250.  Customized copies of any master composition may be produced for only $15.

WASHINGTON, /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Exhibit Explores Social Media's Growing Role in Journalism

On Friday, April 27, the Newseum will open the HP New Media Gallery, an innovative, interactive experience that uses the latest technology to allow visitors to step into a multidimensional social network, demonstrating new media's powerful impact on our world. The 2,500-square-foot gallery is the first permanent addition to the museum since its grand opening in 2008.

"The rapid rise of new media is changing ways that news is generated, reported and absorbed by the public," said Jim Duff, CEO of the Newseum. "The HP New Media Gallery will help Newseum visitors understand, in a fun and engaging way, how social networks and mobile devices have fundamentally altered the journalism landscape."

The HP New Media Gallery blends the latest in digital technology with the Newseum's critically acclaimed multimedia expertise to place visitors at the center of the news revolution.

"As a world leader in technology development, we are excited to be part of such an innovative, engaging exhibit at the Newseum," said Carlos Montalvo, HP's vice president of innovation programs. "The cutting-edge HP products on display in the New Media Gallery illustrate how technology can help create new forms of communication and information sharing, which is reshaping our news media and society."

The gallery features five groundbreaking interactive experiences and a multiscreen video presentation that illustrate the evolution and progression of global media. Live Twitter feeds fill touch-screen monitors and connect visitors with trending news stories.

As visitors enter the gallery, they are directed to the "Check-In" area, where they can post photos of themselves to screens in the gallery and comment on events of the day. At two 11-foot-wide interactive touch walls, visitors are encouraged to explore dozens of important news events and viral videos, including the first Twitter reports of the 2008 China earthquake and the Facebook posts that fueled the Egyptian revolution in 2011.

In the "Choose the News" area, visitors can flip through the latest news stories and build custom news pages, then publish them to a large video wall. The "Game Zone" features motion-tracking technology that allows visitors to use hand gestures to test their knowledge of social media.

Also on April 27, the Newseum will launch newmedia.newseum.org, where visitors can download their gallery photos and custom-made news pages, participate in daily polls and comment on news events as they happen.

The HP New Media Gallery was made possible with support from the Hewlett-Packard Company. HP became a Newseum Founding Partner in 2010. The HP New Media Gallery features several futuristic technologies from HP, including HP Slate 500 tablet computers, HP VantagePoint touch walls and an HP Photon Engine solution, which create an immersive, high-touch experience for Newseum visitors.

About the Newseum

The Newseum -- a 250,000-square-foot museum of news and history -- offers visitors an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits. Within its seven levels of galleries and theaters, the Newseum offers a unique environment that takes museum-goers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made. The museum is ranked one of the top attractions in Washington D.C. Visit newseum.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

ViewSonic Supports B2B and Channel Customers With Industry Resource, Offering Educational Content and Driving Wider Technology Discussion and Engagement 

WALNUT, CA,(MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of computing, consumer electronics and communications solutions, announced the roll out of ViewPoint, a blog that will address the numerous technology industry trends facing B2B and reseller communities in the consumer and commercial electronics market today.

"We aim to offer a content-rich, informational source to assist our many audiences with both purchasing and business decisions," said Jeff Volpe, president of ViewSonic Americas. "The new blog will serve as a destination for valued current and prospective channel partners, product owners and technophiles on the key issues impacting the industry, and what it means to them. We'll share what we've learned in our 25 years of experience in a useful manner, hoping to drive larger discussions and engagement to contribute to the electronic industry as a whole."

ViewSonic will cover industry trends, best practices, revenue generating ideas and the company's view on other industry issues relevant to educators, retailers, VARs and the enterprise on real world applications for tablets, projectors, monitors, commercial displays and the PC market. Posts will be authored by ViewSonic's executive and product leadership staff, in addition to influential guest contributors.

ViewSonic's blog can be found at http://viewsonic.com/blog/ , and at the "Company Blog" icon on ViewSonic's main webpage. ViewSonic will announce a convenient and informative tie to the company's channel program, Finch Club(TM), in the coming months. For further information, visit ViewSonic.com or follow ViewSonic on the Company blog, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

About ViewSonic ViewSonic(R) Corporation, headquartered in Walnut, California, is a leading global provider of computing, consumer electronics, and communications solutions. Founded in 1987, ViewSonic's mission is to be the preferred global brand of visual solutions as we continue to focus on display-centric product offerings including LED monitors, tablets, projectors, digital signage displays, smartphones, and cloud computing solutions. ViewSonic continues to pioneer in visual technology innovation to build a connected and ever-reaching digital future. For further information, please visit ViewSonic.com.

ViewSonic's Finch Club offers resellers an opportunity to benefit from specialized product training and discounts. To sign up, please visit FinchClub.com.

Trademark footnote: All corporate names and trademarks are the property of their respective companies

New wide-aspect touchmonitor well-suited for commercial, entertainment and industrial environments –
 
Kessel Lo, Belgium – TE Connectivity today introduced its Elo TouchSystems 1541L, one of the industry’s first 15-inch open-frame LCD touchmonitors with an LED backlight, that features a 16:9 aspect ratio, suitable for commercial, industrial, gaming and retail applications. The 1541L expands the Elo family of touch solutions for gaming and amusement, information kiosks and self-service with flexible, energy-saving features. The 1541L also has a convenient, space-saving design that makes building touch solutions easier and more flexible for OEMs and system integrators.

“With this introduction, we’re offering a 15-inch LCD open-frame touchmonitor that is a very attractive product,” says Jim Witkowski, Product Manager at TE Touch Solutions. “Casino, retail and point-of-information (POI) applications are making the transition to the 16:9 wide-aspect ratio, and we expect this product to be a good fit for those markets. In addition, its wide-viewing angle and compact, mechanical design give kiosk integrators an edge in developing the most aesthetically pleasing products.”

Elo TouchSystems 1541L Features and Benefits

The Elo TouchSystems 1541L features one of the industry’s first open-frame LCD touchmonitors with a 16:9 aspect ratio, LED backlight and a 150° x 120° viewing angle. Key features and benefits include:

•     Compact size enables slimmer designs for narrower kiosks, with a portrait mode configuration for a larger display space in a smaller footprint
•     Viewing angle of 150° x 120°, wider than most 15-inch open-frame touchmonitors, allowing colours to remain sharp and graphics to retain their integrity in both portrait and landscape modes
•     State-of-the-art LED backlight replacing bulky, glass CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamps) for a slim design, reduced power consumption and lower heat production
•     Three-year warranty
  

Touchscreen Options

The 1541L is available with either IntelliTouch Plus multi-touch surface acoustic wave touchscreen technology – a pure-glass standard of touch and widely used in kiosk and gaming applications that is resistant to scratches, water and other contaminants, providing a clear, bright and long-lasting performance – or AccuTouch 5-wire resistive touchscreen technology, a preferred solution for applications that demand reliability, input flexibility, and contamination resistance.  AccuTouch touchscreens, with TE resistive technology, deliver a touch response that is drift-free and accurate in high-use applications.

Warranty and Availability

The 1541L open-frame touchmonitor is backed by a three-year warranty and 40 years of touchscreen experience. The new Elo TouchSystems 1541L open-frame touchmonitor is now available for shipping worldwide.

About TE Connectivity

TE Connectivity is a global, $14 billion company that designs and manufactures over 500,000 products that connect and protect the flow of power and data inside the products that touch every aspect of our lives. Our nearly 100,000 employees partner with customers in virtually every industry – from consumer electronics, energy and healthcare, to automotive, aerospace and communication networks – enabling smarter, faster, better technologies to connect products to possibilities. More information on TE Connectivity can be found at http://www.te.com.

About TE Touch Solutions

TE Touch Solutions, a global leader in touchscreen technology, develops, manufactures, and markets a complete line of touch screens, touch monitors, and all-in-one (AiO) touch computers under the Elo and TE brands. Backed by over 40 years of touch experience and with multiple touch technology options, including surface acoustic wave (SAW), resistive, surface capacitive, projected capacitive, acoustic pulse recognition (APR), infrared (IR), and multi-touch, Elo touch products are available for diverse applications in retail, point-of-sale (POS), kiosk, medical, industrial, hospitality, transportation, automotive, mobile and gaming markets.  Visit www.elogaming.com or call +32 16 352100 for more information.

AccuTouch, Elo (logo), Elo TouchSystems, IntelliTouch, TE Connectivity, TE connectivity (logo) and TE (logo) are trademarks of the TE Connectivity Ltd. family of companies.

Self-service meeting rooms added to AVI-SPL's bridging as a service offering 

TAMPA, Fla., /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- AVI-SPL, the leading audio and video communications provider, announced today that it has expanded its bridging as a service model to include self-serve interoperable video conferencing services from Blue Jeans Network. This partnership augments AVI-SPL's Unify ME Managed Services strategy with an easy to use "meet me" option for customers looking to connect meeting rooms, desktops and mobile devices running a wide range of popular business and consumer video conferencing endpoints.

Blue Jeans Network is a video conferencing service hosted in the cloud that provides interoperability with a variety of video solutions. Modeled after traditional audio conferencing services, it is designed to be easy, open, and affordable. Blue Jeans is the leader in providing video services that can bring together business video conferencing solutions like Cisco®, Polycom®, LifeSize®, and Microsoft® Lync(TM), with consumer solutions like Skype(TM) and Google®, all in a single video call.

AVI-SPL's announcement today adds an additional layer of services to its cloud-based bridging as a service offering, which is focused on providing dedicated high definition (HD) ports with unlimited use for customers who do not wish to purchase their own infrastructure.

"Access to video communications is becoming a must have for companies today," said Mike Brandofino, executive vice president of video and unified communications at AVI-SPL. "Partnering with Blue Jeans Network to bring customers any-to-any self-service conferencing options, along with our high-end managed bridging services, provides organizations the flexibility they need."

"We are excited to partner with an industry leader like AVI-SPL," said Stu Aaron, chief commercial officer for Blue Jeans Network. "As one of the most established innovators in advanced audio and video communications solutions, AVI-SPL looks to incorporate technology solutions that meet and exceed their customers' expectations. With Blue Jean Network's ease of use and interoperability, we can help customers extend their reach and improve ROI for their existing video conferencing infrastructures."

In January 2012, AVI-SPL acquired Iformata, extending its global managed services to include more robust bridging capabilities with a world-class VNOC® and comprehensive meeting services. AVI-SPL's strong relationships with leading multipoint conferencing unit (MCU) manufacturers provide customers managed bridging solutions using Cisco, LifeSize, Polycom, and RADVISION.

AVI-SPL's Managed Bridging Services give customers:

• Lower cost of entry by purchasing ports not infrastructure
• Immersive Telepresence, High Definition (HD) and legacy system connectivity
• Scheduling, monitoring and reporting functionality through its web portal, mobile device applications, and calendar integration
• Meet-and-greet services
• Call management and monitoring
• Streaming and recording capabilities
• 24x7x365 accessibility
  

AVI-SPL and Blue Jeans Network have a shared goal of expanding the use of video in every day communications. As partners, they can provide easy, high quality, scalable video conferencing. AVI-SPL invites everyone to experience cloud-based video conferencing. Visit http://www.avispl.com/BaasTrial for a 14 day free trial.

About AVI-SPL

AVI-SPL is a global leader in audio video communications technology, providing comprehensive solutions and services for professional AV installation, telepresence and video conferencing, digital media systems, control rooms and network operations centers, hotel rental services, event staging and production. Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., AVI-SPL has highly-trained and certified system engineers throughout 32 U.S. offices and an international network of solution providers in 30 countries. Please visit www.avispl.com for more information.

Digital Cinema Projectors Upgraded for Higher-Frame Rate Movies, New Laser Projector Among Highlights 

CHICAGO, (BUSINESS WIRE) -- NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD displays and projector solutions, announced today that it will showcase its latest digital cinema and digital signage technologies in Booth No. 2717 and the Milano Meeting Suite at CinemaCon 2012, which runs today through April 26 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nev.

CinemaCon is the largest annual gathering of cinema owners and operators from around the world, representing more than 30,000 movie screens in the U.S. alone and greater than 41,000 in multiple countries worldwide.

NEC offers a complete line of digital cinema projectors, including the 2K-resolution NC1200C, NC2000C and NC3200S models, and the 4K-resolution NC3240S models. The NEC projectors were upgraded in December 2011 to prepare for higher frame rates (HFR) in the digital cinema industry. The upgrades enable the projectors to support the HFR with IMB input, allowing 60 frames per second in 2D and 3D, with 48 frames per second in Double Flash 3D. This leads to faster movement, sharper images and a much smoother picture, leading to less eye fatigue for the viewing public. HFR content will be demonstrated on the NC2000C digital cinema projector in the Milano Meeting Suite by appointment.

Besides selected digital cinema projectors, NEC will showcase for the first time a next-generation 4K-resolution laser projector designed for varying screen sizes and installation flexibility using the latest 4K DMD from Texas Instruments. NEC's P Series and X Series of industrial-strength digital signage displays also will be shown, of which the latter includes ultra-narrow bezel models for near-seamless video walls.

"CinemaCon is a great venue for NEC to convey its industry leadership and innovation," said Jim Reisteter, General Manager of Digital Cinema at NEC Display Solutions. "We welcome exhibitors and other industry partners to view our latest technologies, discuss digital cinema conversions through the virtual print free (VPF) agreement before it ends soon and talk about financing options in US market."

NEC digital cinema projectors are Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) compliant, which allows exhibitors to capitalize on current and future growth opportunities, and can be centrally managed, freeing up on-site theater personnel for more strategic activities.

For more information about NEC's digital cinema projectors and financing options with NEC Financial Services, please visit http://www.necdisplay.com/GoDigital or contact NECDigitalCinemaLease@neclease.com.

About NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc.

Headquartered in Itasca, Ill., NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc., is a leading designer and provider of innovative desktop LCD monitors, commercial- and professional-grade large-screen LCD displays, a diverse line of multimedia and digital cinema projectors, and integrated display solutions. NEC Display Solutions develops leading-edge visual technology and customer-focused solutions for a wide variety of markets, including enterprise, healthcare, education and digital signage. For additional information about NEC Display Solutions of America monitors, consumers can call (866) NEC-MORE, or visit the website at www.necdisplay.com.

About VUKUNET

VUKUNET, from NEC Display Solutions of America, is the engine that powers the digital out-of-home advertising business. VUKUNET is the only universal ad serving platform that drives ads to any digital out-of-home network, regardless of content management system. VUKUNET makes the buying, flighting and reporting of digital out-of-home ad campaigns easy. For additional information about VUKUNET, visit www.vukunet.com or call (877) 805-VUKU.

NCR offers hosted digital signage, kiosk and managed services solutions via its solution partners to help increase the competitiveness of community banks and credit unions 

DULUTH, Ga.,(BUSINESS WIRE) -- NCR Corporation today launched an expanded suite of digital signage, kiosk and managed services that have been tailored to the community banks and credit union market. The solutions are being made available via NCR solution partners who are part of the NCR Interact Global Partner Program in select geographies.

Smaller, regional banks are seeing significant demand from consumers for stronger competition and choice in the financial services market. They have an opportunity to increase their affinity with consumers by improving the security and availability of their self-service network and using digital merchandising technologies in their branches to promote products and services in a high impact way.

NCR solution partners in North America, Middle East and Africa, South Asia Pacific and Latin America will be able to offer the NCR Netkey digital signage and touchscreen kiosk solution that enables banks to promote their latest products and services using high impact video and infographics and for consumers to check-in for appointments and complete application forms quickly.

NCR is also offering three managed services to NCR solution partners in North America and Latin America -- Incident Management, which automates the self-service ATM or touchscreen kiosk repair process; Software Patch Management, which ensures that critical software patches are deployed to ATMs; and Integrity Management, which provides day-zero protection against all known and unknown malware by preventing unauthorized code updates and execution. By outsourcing these tasks to NCR, banks can increase system uptime, functionality and security levels while minimizing costs.

"We see significant opportunities for regional banks to grow their customer base with the right enabling technologies, which are now offered by NCR's global network of solution partners," said David Wilkinson, vice president of global channel sales, NCR. "We are pleased that we can bring a wider range of NCR's solutions, which were previously only accessible to big banks, to help smaller players grow their businesses and delight their customers."

Already, CCS Intelisys, an IT and communications solution provider with a 20-year history in Honduras and Guatemala, has improved ATM availability at one of Honduras' largest financial institutions, Banco Ficohsa, by using NCR Incident Management managed services.

CCS Intelisys was one of the first partners around the world to offer NCR Incident Management, which automates the self-service repair process and previously was sold only to NCR direct financial customers. CCS Intelisys has been able to significantly improve Banco Ficohsa's ATM availability by eight percentage points.

"Incident Management was the ideal solution for Banco Ficohsa because of NCR's expertise and best practices. No one else offers a solution like NCR's Incident Management," said Raul Montenegro, CCS Intelisys. "CCS started operations 20 years ago as an NCR distributor. As we've grown over the years, our relationship with NCR has grown as well. NCR is still one of the cornerstones of our operation."

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation is a global technology company leading how the world connects, interacts and transacts with business. NCR's assisted- and self-service solutions and comprehensive support services address the needs of retail, financial, travel, hospitality, entertainment, gaming, public sector, telecom carrier and equipment organizations in more than 100 countries. NCR ( www.ncr.com ) is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia. NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.

PHOENIX,(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Avnet Embedded, a division of Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas, a business region of Avnet, Inc., announced today the addition of IEI Technology USA Corporation (IEI), a leading industrial computer service provider, to its Brilliant Digital Signage program product offering. Avnet Embedded will be IEI's sole distributor in the Americas and will carry IEI's broad single-board computer (SBC) and industrial panel products. To find out more, visit the Avnet Electronics Marketing website.

IEI currently offers design engineers a wide variety of technology for end applications in medical, telecom, mobile computing, digital signage, and in-vehicle info-tainment (IVI). IEI's SBCs include ETX, COM Express and Qseven(TM) CPU modules. Each IEI SBC is powered by industry leading processors including the Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3/5/7, Celeron and ARM(R) family of products. IEI's industrial panel offering includes touch screens, and workstation and rack-console solutions.

"Embedded devices are one of the most important bridges to help people connect with each other," said James Yang, vice president, IEI Technology USA Corp. "Adding Avnet to our distribution channel helps our mutual customers make the right choices when implementing embedded technology into their designs. From SBC, embedded solutions, panel applications, mobile, kiosks and digital signage, Avnet's worldwide services will provide our customers a convenient way to utilize our technology."

"Embedded engineers are searching for options when designing for digital signage," said Chuck Kostalnick, senior vice president, Avnet Embedded. "Adding IEI to our Americas offering enables our customers to choose from a wide variety of both hardware and software solutions. IEI's breadth of products complements Avnet's unique digital signage suite of services -- all created to help our customers bring their technology to market faster."

Avnet's Brilliant Digital Signage program includes a suite of services for both original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and value-added resellers (VARs). Avnet combines its supply- and design-chain expertise and adds industry-leading hardware and software from suppliers, such as IEI, to provide integrated digital display solutions for applications in retail, hospitality, healthcare and transportation. For a full list of digital display services, visit Avnet's Brilliant Digital Signage webpage.

About IEI Technology USA Corporation

IEI Technology USA Corporation is a leading industrial computing service provider integrating computing platforms and customization services. IEI supplies hundreds of industrial computer boards, systems and peripherals in thousands of customer applications, and supports OEM/ODM services to reduce customers' engineering effort and accelerate the product development process to help customers get ahead of the market competition. IEI has an innovative R&D team, intelligent management system, high quality assurance and over 400 products passing through more than 100 distributors providing customers with the fastest time-to-market services all over the world.

About Avnet Electronics Marketing

Avnet Electronics Marketing is an operating group of Phoenix-based Avnet, Inc. that serves electronic original equipment manufacturers (EOEMs) and electronic manufacturing services (EMS) providers in more than 70 countries, distributing electronic components from leading manufacturers and providing associated design-chain and supply-chain services. The group's website is located at www.em.avnet.com .

About Avnet, Inc.

Avnet, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, is one of the largest distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded technology serving customers in more than 70 countries worldwide. Avnet accelerates its partners' success by connecting the world's leading technology suppliers with a broad base of more than 100,000 customers by providing cost-effective, value-added services and solutions. For the fiscal year ended July 2, 2011, Avnet generated revenue of $26.5 billion. For more information, visit www.avnet.com .

Credit union selects self-service leader for responsive integrated services, improved fleet uptime --Diebold Integrated Services® provide remote and local service to enhance uptime for Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union's new fleet of Opteva® ATMs. 

NORTH CANTON, Ohio,  /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Seeking responsive service from a single point of contact, Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union has selected Diebold, Incorporated to upgrade its automated teller machine (ATM) fleet and provide a variety of integrated services. Diebold is replacing the credit union's entire fleet with 48 new Opteva® ATMs, most of which include Diebold's leading deposit automation technology. In addition, Diebold is maximizing Denali Alaskan's ATM uptime and reducing the credit union's maintenance costs by providing remote and on-site services via the Diebold Integrated Services® offering. These outsourced services will help the credit union provide a richer consumer experience and realize improved efficiencies with minimal capital investment.

Denali Alaskan serves more than 56,000 members, primarily in Anchorage, Eagle River, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai and Wasilla, Alaska. With its ATM fleet spanning 18 branches and multiple off-premise locations, the credit union wanted to transition from in-house ATM servicing to a single, third-party provider. Diebold is now providing remote diagnostics and repair services, as well as on-site maintenance, to enhance uptime for Denali Alaskan's fleet. For example, Diebold's OpteView® ATM Remote Services enables remote operators to automatically receive and analyze ATM error codes and attempt a remote fix or dispatch a Diebold technician as needed.

"As we replaced our older-model Diebold ATMs with the new Opteva terminals, it made economic sense to also transition various services to Diebold," said Dory Haworth, director, ATM operations, Denali Alaskan. "Rather than retrain our staff, we can rely on Diebold's remote diagnostics, local facilities and technicians to provide the parts and service needed to keep our new ATMs up and running. Receiving reliable service from Diebold's local support staff is especially important in Alaska, where local service can be hard to obtain."

From preventative maintenance to consumables management, Diebold's service professionals help maximize the credit union's self-service channel. "Providing fast, responsive service is an absolute requirement for Denali Alaskan. Our ability to deliver on that critical need to enhance ATM uptime is the primary reason Diebold has such a strong working relationship with the credit union," said Mychal D. Kempt, vice president, North American sales and service operations, Diebold.

Among Denali Alaskan's new ATMs, 24 will feature Diebold's deposit automation technology, providing convenience for members and eliminating empty envelope fraud for the credit union. These ATMs employ enhanced note acceptors and Bulk Document Intelligent Depository Modules(TM) to facilitate rapid self-service cash and check deposits, respectively.

Like all Opteva ATMs, Denali Alaskan's new terminals meet Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance directives and feature integral enhanced security features such as Advanced Skimming Detection card readers and encrypted personal identification number pads. In addition, the terminals are compatible with highly secure, non-skimmable Europay, MasterCard, Visa (EMV) card technology, which Denali Alaskan is considering adding to its fleet.

About Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union

Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union is a federally chartered financial institution serving more than 56,000 Alaskans and former Alaskans. The credit union primarily serves the communities of Anchorage, Eagle River, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai and Wasilla. However, the credit union's remote access services mean members are never far away from secure account access anytime, just about anywhere. For more information, visit www.denalifcu.org .

About Diebold

Diebold, Incorporated is a global leader in providing integrated self-service delivery and security systems and services. Diebold employs more than 16,000 associates with representation in nearly 90 countries worldwide and is headquartered in the Canton, Ohio region, USA. Diebold is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol 'DBD.' For more information, visit the company's website at www.diebold.com or follow the company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/diebold_inc .

As airports seek to maximize non-aeronautical revenue, NCR four-country survey finds many travelers still unaware of, not shopping airport retail; travelers would welcome mobile offers 

DULUTH, Ga.,(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Airports and airport retailers looking to better serve and generate more revenue from today's time-starved and mobile-enabled travelers are missing opportunities to do so, according to a survey of travelers in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany conducted by Opinion Research Corporation for NCR Corporation, a leader in airline and airport self-service, retail, wayfinding and mobile solutions.

According to the survey, 23% of travelers in Germany, 30% in France, 34% in the United Kingdom and 35% in the United States said they find it difficult to find the stores, restaurants and other retail offerings at airports in the limited amount of time they have.

Considering that over 1.5 billion people travel by air each year, these findings represent a huge amount of lost revenue potential from travelers who may have been interested in making purchases at an airport retailer, restaurant or service provider but feared getting lost or missing a flight because they weren't sure where the outlets were located.

Airports have seen an increase in non-aeronautical revenue in recent years and are increasingly looking to boost this revenue as airline consolidation and other factors cut the revenue airports can generate from airlines. Expanding retail, restaurant and service operations and encouraging more travelers to shop while at the airport are key places airports are looking for these dollars.

"This survey highlights the vast untapped potential airports still have to serve travelers who have the time and inclination to shop," said Tyler Craig, vice president and general manager, NCR Travel. "Airports today get nearly 50% of their revenue from non-aviation sources. By employing some of the technologies used by today's retailers such as mobile marketing and interactive, digital signage, airports can more effectively communicate with and make offers to travelers, boosting revenue while making their airports more welcoming, entertaining and user-friendly."

In France, Germany and the United Kingdom, 65%, 57% and 53%, respectively, of survey participants agreed that an alert on their mobile phone letting them know they should begin making their way to their gate and showing them the way would encourage them to shop more and alleviate their fear of missing a flight (this question was not asked in the U.S. survey).

Mobile solutions also have the potential to drive retail purchases at airport stores and restaurants, with 48% of travelers in Germany, 40% in the United States and 36% in both France and the United Kingdom listing "Retail or food discount coupons delivered to your mobile device or paper boarding pass" as the top incentive to shop more at airports. Other technologies that might tempt travelers to shop more, according to the survey, include self-checkouts to speed retail transactions and endless aisle technology allowing shoppers to browse for and purchase merchandise not available in the airport store and having those items delivered to their homes following their trips.

The survey uncovered a large segment of completely untapped potential customers, with 21% of travelers in the United States, 18% in France, 15% in Germany and 12% in the United Kingdom responding that they never purchase anything at the airport.

Food, beverages and reading material like books, magazines and newspapers are among the most popular items travelers in the four countries said they purchase at the airport. In the United States, 73% of shoppers said they purchased food or drink at the airport, compared to 60% in the United Kingdom, 43% in Germany and only 23% in France. In the United Kingdom, 65% of travelers said they purchased books, newspapers or magazines at the airport, compared to 63% of travelers in Germany, 53% in France and 48% in the United States.

Among items surveyed, only between 2% and 4% of travelers in the four countries surveyed indicated they had purchased services like manicures, massage, haircuts or business lounge access at airports.

"It's not surprising that services should be so low on the list," Craig continued, "since in many airports these services are newer offerings or offerings travelers may not know they can get at the airport. For the retailers offering such services, there may be opportunities to boost consideration and use with mobile- or printed-boarding pass advertising or offers. Airports may also consider wayfinding solutions as a way to direct travelers to these services to maximize revenue for the store owner and the airport."

NCR will be showcasing a variety of the company's travel and transaction solutions to address travelers', airport operators' and retailers' needs in the airport retail and self-service environment at the upcoming Passenger Terminal Expo (PTE) in Vienna, Austria from April 18 to 20. NCR will be located in booth 4000. For more information about these survey results, please email travel@ncr.com.

The online surveys were conducted in March of 2012 in each country by ORC International for NCR. Approximately 1,000 consumers were surveyed in each country.

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation is a global technology company leading how the world connects, interacts and transacts with business. NCR's assisted- and self-service solutions and comprehensive support services address the needs of retail, financial, travel, hospitality, entertainment, gaming, public sector, telecom carrier and equipment organizations in more than 100 countries. NCR ( www.ncr.com ) is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.

Follow us on Twitter: @NCRCorporation, @careersatncr
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ncrcorp
Connect with us on LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/ncrgroup
Watch us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ncrcorporation
NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.

‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, mid-April started with an Intel and AOpen technical seminar in Moscow organized by value added distributor Adissy. AOpen was also presented on the Embedded Technologies conference organized by Quarta Technologies with the support of Microsoft. During these days AOpen demonstrated its new computing solutions, with embedded technology support, for both Intel and Microsoft.

On the 11th of April Adissy brought together leading system integrators in Russia with the goal to educate them on Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) and Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) on AOpen Digital Engine media players. Intel AMT allows IT to better discover, heal, and protect their networked computing assets. Intel WiDi lets you view and share content from your hard disk, network or anywhere a browser can take you; to the display of choice. Both technologies are ideal for implementations that need to be controlled from a single location.

At both events AOpen announced the availability of two new products available in Russia. Attendees at the show got to play with the first samples. AOpen DEC-II-Digital Engine is developed for in-vehicle transportation. The system supports GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System), a radio-base satellite navigation system operated for the Russian government that provides an alternative to the US GPS. The new Thin Client TC900 was presented to target the finance and corporate sectors, because of the smart card reader support that ensures the safety of company confidential information.

More than 350 professionals in the embedded solutions market attended the Embedded Technologies conference organized by Quarta Technologies with the support of Microsoft that took place on the 12th of April. Natalia Vorontsova, Business Development Manager Eastern Europe and CIS of AOpen presented on the hardware solutions that fully support the Microsoft Embedded platform. Together with its value added distributor Adissy, AOpen had a perfect opportunity to showcase the latest developments and new technologies. Next to the Digital Engine series, the WarmTouch22 was presented: an all-in-one multi touch panel PC with FriendlyWay Store Navigation software.

According to Alexander Pivovarov, CEO of Adissy: “This is the third year that Adissy participated in this event. I’m surprised and pleased with such a growth of the Embedded conference, almost doubled compared to last year. This is clearly corresponding to the growing demand in the embedded solutions industry and DOOH market. A big thank you to the organizers.”                     

About AOpen

AOpen, Inc. has more than 15 years of IT hardware manufacturing experience along with keen insights into IT industry trends that help drive the continuous development of high-end IT solutions. As the leading manufacturer of reliable, powerful and green hardware solutions world-wide, combined with the unique small form factor of the specially designed media player called AOpen Digital Engine, AOpen is able to provide an outstanding platform for 24/7 operability in applied computing. The range of players, from low-end to high-end with fan or fanless, are designed for excellence:  from basic bare systems to state-of-the-art multimedia solutions built to fit customers’ needs. The WarmTouch series complements the AOpen product line with small and extremely sleek displays with or without touch. With in-depth market knowledge AOpen can offer advice for complete digital signage platform solutions. AOpen cooperates with its global value added channel network to go to market.
For more information visit www.aopen.com

New solution addresses growing need for On demand payment and printing 

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill.(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Zebra Technologies Corporation, a recognized global leader in technologies that extend real-time visibility into business operations, today announced a joint partnership with Hybrid Paytech (freeport capital inc:FAS), one of the world's first companies to enable PIN/debit transactions over consumer smart phones and tablets, to provide mobile credit and debit payment and printing solutions to their global customers. The companies will offer a joint solution combining Zebra's MZ(TM) mobile receipt printers with Hybrid's payment platforms to fulfill the increasing demand for mobile payment acceptance in fleet, delivery, logistics and retail industries.

"Zebra is pleased to partner with Hybrid Paytech to address a growing demand for fast, reliable, on-the-go payment and printing technologies," said Keith LeFebvre, VP of product management, Zebra Technologies. "Customers all over the world can benefit from our combined mobile payment and receipt printing solutions. These offerings help increase mobile workforce productivity, reduce operating costs, enhance the customer experience and drive customer loyalty--from in-store mobile payment acceptance to acceptance of credit or debit payment on delivery for courier services to onboard transportation ticketing."

Hybrid Paytech is one of the first mobile payment companies to develop Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant debit and credit applications across the mobile market's four major consumer-based operating systems. According to research released by VDC in 2011, the mobile worker population exceeded one billion in 2010.

1 With an increasingly mobile and distributed workforce, this population will grow by over 10 percent during the next three years.
2 Mobility--and the technology that drives it, including mobile printers--is critical for improving business agility and responsiveness.

''The high demand for mobile payment technology is creating opportunities for the entire partner ecosystem. The relationship between Zebra Technologies and Hybrid Paytech is an excellent example of a complementary relationship,'' states Kevin Conabree, head of global partnerships, Hybrid Paytech. ''We are leading the way with Zebra to expand accessibility to mobile payment technologies in global markets."

Initial rollout of the joint solution is scheduled for April in the Canadian market. It will be available in the US market by the end of Q2 2012.

About Zebra Technologies

A global leader respected for innovation and reliability, Zebra Technologies Corporation provides enabling technologies that allow customers to take smarter actions. Our extensive portfolio of bar code, receipt, card, kiosk and RFID printers and supplies, as well as real-time location solutions give a digital voice to assets, people and transactions that provides greater visibility into mission-critical information. For more information about Zebra's solutions, visit http://www.zebra.com.

About Hybrid Paytech

Part of First Equity Strategy LLC, a division of Freeport Capital Inc. (fas:CNSX) and based in Montreal, Canada, Hybrid Paytech is a technology leader in the mobile payment space for credit and debit acceptance. With a global footprint, Hybrid is an enabler of easily-deployable payment systems focusing on authentication, approved security and quick merchant adoption in fleet, delivery, logistics and retail. With its current banking and fund-transferring partnerships, Hybrid Paytech has market access to over 3 million merchants worldwide. For more information on Hybrid Paytech, please visit hybridpaytech.com.

1. VDC Research, "Mobile Worker Trends: Fears of Managing an Increasing Mobile Workforce", February 2011

Haivision Offers Internet Streaming Upgrades to all Makito™ and Barracuda™ H.264 Encoders, Furnace™ IP Video Systems, and Viper™ Stream and Record Appliances

MONTREAL and CHICAGO — Haivision today announced that it is empowering its latest products with over-the-top (OTT) streaming capabilities as well as adding a "single-click connect" feature to its HyperStream™ cloud-transcoding and CDN connectivity service. HyperStream unifies, simplifies, and automates cloud-based transcoding on Amazon EC2™ with connectivity to the Akamai HD Network for global content delivery.

The company is supporting the launch of HyperStream Internet media services by incorporating Internet streaming capabilities (RTMP) across its popular product line. The products will now be able to connect directly to HyperStream Live, Haivision's software as a service (SaaS) for Internet media delivery. With HyperStream, users can take advantage of cloud transcoding to use uplink bandwidth more efficiently, delivering the highest quality RTMP Dynamic Streaming for Flash® video and Adaptive HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) for iOS devices.

"With the acquisition of the KulaByte™ technology, Haivision's expertise and commitment to Internet streaming is strengthened by enabling OTT capabilities across our product line," said Mirko Wicha, president and CEO of Haivision Network Video. "We are giving our installed base over-the-top capabilities through a series of product upgrades, while enabling cloud transcoding and CDN connectivity with the launch of HyperStream Internet media services. This is certainly the largest single increase in Internet video capabilities the streaming media industry has ever seen."

Haivision's Makito™ encoder is the world's most popular HD H.264 video streaming appliance, widely deployed within the education, enterprise, medical, sports, entertainment, and federal markets. The encoder is renowned for its low latency, compact form factor and density, and performance handling up to 1080p60 HD. A no-charge upgrade will be made available for the Makito, giving it RTMP and HyperStream Live connect capabilities and thus, enabling thousands of new Internet broadcasters. Additionally, Haivision will issue OTT upgrades to the Barracuda™ SD H.264 encoder, the Furnace™ IP video system, and the Viper™ stream and record appliance.

More information about Haivision is available at www.haivision.com.

About Haivision Network Video

Haivision delivers advanced technology for streaming, recording, managing, and distributing secure IP video and interactive media within the enterprise, education, medical/healthcare, and federal/military markets. Haivision is a private company based in Montreal and Chicago, with technical excellence centers in Beaverton, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Hamburg, Germany. With a global sales and support organization, Haivision distributes its products through value-added resellers, system integrators, distributors, and OEMs worldwide. More information is available at www.haivision.com.

All trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

NCR is Presenting Mobile, Interactive and Kiosk Solutions That Help Airports and Airlines Improve Services for Passengers before and During Journey 

AUGSBURG, Germany & Vienna,(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Airports and airlines face the challenge of coping with increasing passenger numbers while providing an adequate and up-to-date service. In addition to this, airports are looking for ways how to optimize the revenue of on-site retailers. At Passenger Terminal EXPO (18 to 20 April 2012), booth #4000, NCR Corporation is presenting products and services that offer a better and faster customer service in the lobby, terminal and gate areas of airports. The portfolio includes the next generation of mobile applications and kiosk systems for check-in, as well as modern cash management and interactive digital signage and wayfinding solutions.

An NCR survey of passengers from four countries (Germany, France, Great Britain and the United States) found that around a third of those asked report they find it difficult to find the stores, restaurants and other shopping and business options available at airports in the limited time they have to make their flights. In the United States, United Kingdom and Germany (the question was not asked in France), between 16% and 20% of travelers surveyed said they actually did or almost missed a flight because they were using airport shopping or dining options.

Travelers report that mobile alerts, interactive maps and self-checkout at airport retailers would help make their airport experience better and encourage them to buy more, as these tools speed up paying and shorten waiting times.

In support of the findings from the survey, NCR is launching its interactive NCR Netkey Wayfinding at PTE that helps improve orientation in airports. The solution helps passengers of Dubai Airports, owner and operator of Dubai International Airport and Dubai World Central (DWC), find gates, flight information, shops and special offers in the three terminals of Dubai International Airport more easily. The solution also offers interactive access to additional useful information, such as hotel reservations and local places of interest.

NCR will also demonstrate the NCR Mobile Pass, a solution that converts a smartphone into a boarding pass. With the Mobile Pass, NCR is expanding its Mobile Suite, enabling passengers to arrange their flight using an internet-enabled, mobile device: from booking and reservation to check-in, and now even to boarding at the gate. Airlines that offer their customers the NCR solution can improve customer service, shorten waiting times and make the entire check-in procedure more convenient and efficient.

"Through improved service, airport operators can offer customers a pleasant airport experience," says Tyler Craig, vice president and general manager at NCR Travel and Gaming. "For this to happen, passengers need to be able to organize as much of their journey themselves as possible. With the NCR mobile solutions, passengers are in a position to book, change and track their connections themselves using easy-to-use functions on their smartphones. Our self-service solutions, for example at the check-in, meet the requirements of airport operators and travelers."

In the Conference Panel Discussion 'One platform, many advantages: why airports are adopting common-use technology' Craig will be demonstrating how airports can react quickly to the changing needs of airlines, optimize the revenue of on-site retailers and improve conditions for travelers. The panel is held together with Paul Behan, Head of Passenger Experience at IATA, on 19 April at noon in the Conference Area, dark blue room.

For more information about NCR's travel solutions, please visit NCR at PTE booth 4000 during the show.

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation is a global technology company leading how the world connects, interacts and transacts with business. NCR's assisted- and self-service solutions and comprehensive support services address the needs of retail, financial, travel, hospitality, entertainment, gaming, public sector, telecom carrier and equipment organizations in more than 100 countries. NCR ( www.ncr.com ) is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.

Follow us on Twitter: @NCRCorporation, @careersatncr Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ncrcorp Connect with us on LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/ncrgroup Watch us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ncrcorporation

NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Self-service kiosks are growing in popularity around the world. Applications are multiplying, especially where labor costs are high, or end-users rely predominantly on cash. Kiosk software determines which functionality is available - and provides monitoring and management to maximize efficiency and profitability. Whether providing a single service inside a corporate office, or multi-use kiosks in public spaces, Genkiosk is the most powerful management system for self-service kiosks.

Sheffield, UK (PRWEB) - The world of self-service kiosks is expanding.

And growing more sophisticated.

These facts combined have led to commercial growth in both total volume, and sales per kiosk.

And Genkiosk, the most powerful management system for self-service kiosks is seeing the consequences, with record sales around the world.

James Oladujoye, CEO of GWD Media (the makers of Genkiosk) expands: "In some countries especially where labor costs are high, we are seeing growth because self-service provides economies, as well as extending the hours of availability. In other regions, particularly where there is a high proportion of under-banked amongst the population, self-service meets the needs of users who live in a cash environment: now they can access services that were previously unavailable to them."

These dual aspects have led to a sales boom for kiosk software - such as Genkiosk - in specific geographies.

Kiosk software plays two key functions:

• ensuring end-users receive the services required via applications
• maximizing productivity and profitability for operators through increased uptime and visibility.

And the increased sophistication is also affecting the market. Jed Fraser, Chief Marketing Officer at GWD Media explained at the recent Retail Banking Conference in Manila, Philippines: "In some situations, you just want one single application on the kiosk. Say it is for paying bills in the lobby of a utility company. You want users to pay and go - it is all about efficiency and freeing up staff. In other locations - say a kiosk inside a gas station - it is usually better to have as many applications as possible. You want customers to be drawn to the kiosk - increasing sales of fuel (and whatever else is available as the retail offer.)"

Genkiosk, from GWD Media was first developed to run and manage pay-as-you-go Internet kiosks. It has now grown to cover the full range of self-service applications:

• Paying bills
• Printing photos
• Accessing the Internet or information
• Transferring money
• Browsing and shopping

After launching in Europe, it expanded first to the Americas, then the Middle East and beyond, going global via multinational customers and now with direct clients as far afield as Fiji in the South Pacific.

Genkiosk is delivered via the Cloud, maximizing service and availability in every region of the world.

VeoVend, the sister of Genkiosk, provides the same monitoring and management services for more traditional vending (snacks, drinks, beverages, retail.) A hardware plug-in, with mobile phone SIM, gives online access to even the most basic vending machine.

GWD Media is headquartered in Sheffield, UK, and operates worldwide.

HyperStream Provides Live Video Streaming Automation for Cloud Transcoding On Amazon EC2 and Content Delivery Over the Akamai HD Network

MONTREAL and CHICAGO — Haivision today announced HyperStream™, the company's new Internet media services portfolio. HyperStream simplifies and automates media distribution through cloud transcoding and CDN connectivity for delivering the highest quality, adaptive, live HD video over-the-top (OTT) to Internet viewers. Available as both a user-controlled software as a service (SaaS), and as a fully managed service, HyperStream brings together the power of cloud-based transcoding on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud™ (Amazon EC2™), and easy connectivity to Akamai's SOLA Media Solutions for global delivery, security, and analytics.

HyperStream Live (www.hyperstreamlive.com) is a pay-per-use live cloud transcoding SaaS, which enables simplified, adaptive delivery of source video content to desktop and mobile devices over the Internet. HyperStream Concierge is a fully managed service for Internet media delivery, including cloud transcoding, CDN distribution, video player configuration, event setup and management, and on-site support as needed.

With HyperStream, users can readily establish live transcoding and stream management instances automatically within any or all of Amazon's eight EC2 regions around the world. Initiating multiple instances simultaneously can deliver higher regional quality of service and greater resiliency. Available by the hour, HyperStream allows users to reserve and initiate transcoding services within minutes. HyperStream also provides seamless connectivity to the Akamai HD Network, the world's largest media distribution network designed specifically to accelerate diverse video applications.

"HyperStream provides an easy-to-use layer on top of cloud transcoding and video CDN services for our users," said Peter Maag, Haivision's chief marketing officer. "It not only simplifies and automates complex technical setups and processes, but also streamlines the associated business relationships. As a single point of contact for our clients, HyperStream combines live video encoding, cloud transcoding, and distribution into a unified, managed environment. We are adding HyperStream connectivity to our products to drive over-the-top media adoption throughout our user base."

"The benefits of transcoding and encoding content in the cloud are clear," said Brad Rinklin, chief marketing officer at Akamai. "Moving these complex transactions to the cloud, especially for live, global events online, translates to lower costs and higher bandwidth availability. Combined with the delivery, security, and analytic features in Akamai's SOLA Media Solution portfolio, HyperStream adds new capabilities to the live video streaming ecosystem for our valued customers."

Cloud-based transcoding has two important benefits for live video workflows. Adaptive and dynamic streaming techniques require many streams of different bitrates to be made available to users. Cloud transcoding allows operators to minimize onsite encoding hardware and maximize available uplink bandwidth from event locations by sending a single high-bandwidth stream to a live transcoder. Then HyperStream uses the cloud's ample bandwidth and computing capacity to replicate that stream into the many required formats needed.

Concurrently, Haivision will enable more than 10,000 devices with OTT capabilities by offering "Connect to HyperStream Live" functionality to the installed base and as part of future releases of Makito™ HD H.264 encoders, Barracuda™ SD H.264 encoders, Furnace™ IP video systems, and Viper™ IP video record-and-stream appliances.

Haivision will be demonstrating the HyperStream portfolio at the 2012 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 16-19 and expects to launch the user-controlled HyperStream Live SaaS environment in June 2012.

HyperStream has been deployed as a managed service for more than a year, and the Haivision HyperStream team has supported numerous global events including Austin City Limits, SXSW, The Masters Golf Tournament, and the European Commission's EDD.
More information about Haivision is available at www.haivision.com.

About Haivision Network Video

Haivision delivers advanced technology for streaming, recording, managing, and distributing secure IP video and interactive media within the enterprise, education, medical/healthcare, and federal/military markets. Haivision is a private company based in Montreal and Chicago, with technical excellence centers in Beaverton, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Hamburg, Germany. With a global sales and support organization, Haivision distributes its products through value-added resellers, system integrators, distributors, and OEMs worldwide. More information is available at www.haivision.com.

All trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

ComQi held its annual Latin America partners’ event in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on April 12th - 13th at the beautiful Melia Caribe Tropical resort. The event was organized exclusively for ComQi’s system integrator and network operator partners and ComQi’s latest distribution, content management and interactive technologies were showcased.

Participants came from all over Latin America and Europe, representing Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Spain and ComQi launched a certification program at the event for its accredited partners.

The latest version of ComQi’s content management system, Engage 7.0 was launched at the event and ComQi showed new interactive solutions connecting digital signage screens to mobile phones and social networks. Finally the latest revisions of ComQi’s award winning digital and streaming distribution solutions - DSVD, ScreenGate IP Streamer, and DS Vision3000 – were also demonstrated.

In addition to showing these innovations, the event also covered global digital signage industry trends and trends in Latin American and launched a series of webinars on a variety of topics including Industry Trends, Lowering the Cost of your Digital Signage Network, Solutions Overview, and others. Prior to next years LATAM partner’s event, ComQi will be awarding the Webinar attendees with the highest frequency of participation partnership awards.

Below are participant and presenter quotes on their thoughts of the event:

Eduardo Alejandro: Video Networks in Mexico

“This event has directly helped me build my business and makes me more competitive in my market.  I found the ComQi vision exciting especially as it relates to new applications such as EnGage’s interaction with mobile and social media.  Also looking forward to the release of the next generation of ScreenGate IP Streamer.  I have an immediate opportunity to use it in my projects.”

Esteban Perez: ComQi in Switzerland

“This event is another milestone in building ComQi’s strong presence in Latin America as we work to grow and develop the digital signage industry and our business within this region. The educational programs and support to our valued partners is the cornerstone of this effort.”

Juan Fernando: Punto Cardinal in Columbia:

“This has been a terrific experience, I got back my investment after the first 20 minutes of the event.  See you next year”

SAN JOSE, CA, – AOpen, Inc., a leading global provider of ultra small form factor (uSFF) media players and digital signage services, today announced a new exciting partnership with KOLO, a system integrator based in Mexico. By entering into this partnership, KOLO will become AOpen’s first official Certified System Builder in Mexico and other Latin American countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Peru, etc.

Headquartered in Mexico, KOLO is a leading system integrator focusing largely on Digital Signage LED displays. The company has over 8 years of consolidated IT knowledge, and has always been deeply involved in digital signage industry. KOLO was also the first Latin American company that was qualified into the Intel Branding Advantage Program. Their other partners include LG Electronics Mexico, Samsung Mexico, and INTEL. Besides providing many different digital signage services to customers, the company had also established the KOLO Academy in 2010 with the objective of providing the most extensive training to all digital signage partners. “We are moved by the passion, the taste of know-how.” said Andrea Mereghetti, CEO of KOLO who has 16 years of expertise in IT and Digital Signage industry.

Guided by their shared service philosophies and this partnership, AOpen and KOLO believe joining forces will enable them to provide customized solutions and first class experience to their customers. In addition to leveraging KOLO’s extensive resources in Latin America, AOpen is most excited to be able to provide timely and comprehensive services to existing and potential customers in Mexico and Latin American countries in the near future.

On April 26, 2012, KOLO will be hosting their 5th Digital Signage Mexico Forum in the World Trade Center in Mexico City. They are expecting approximately 150 to 200 attendees, and many of these attendees will be VARs, System Integrators, Distributors, and Internet Service Providers. AOpen is pleased to be invited as one of the key presenters at the event. Our Director of Business Development, Vernon Slack, will be discussing the importance of choosing commercial hardware in a Digital Signage implementation and share more insights on implementation costs and more.”

“The most important cost measurement in purchasing digital signage solutions is the Total Cost of Ownership.” said Vernon Slack, “If you purchase equipment that runs cool and can be managed remotely, you will see significant savings.  If you purchase “consumer” equipment you will save a few dollars on your capital expenditure but nothing like the money saved on service and performance of a commercial grade solution.”

For more information about this event or to register, please visit: http://bit.ly/Hy8Hej.

About KOLO

KOLO is a specialized system integrator who is always thinking differently in order to offer state-of-art technology for the ever evolving digital signage industry. Their professional team offers consulting services, implementation or optimization of digital circuits, as well as creation of attractive content for customers. In Mexico we represent and distribute different solutions of leading international brands, for LED displays, digital signage software and content management, digital frames and equipment for control and content distribution.

About AOpen

AOpen Inc., founded in 1996, is headquartered in Taiwan with offices in America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. AOpen has more than 10 years of IT hardware manufacturing experience along with keen insights into IT industry trends that help drive the growth of AOpen. As the leading manufacturer of digital signage hardware solutions world-wide, AOpen keeps expanding its products and services for digital signage and other vertical application markets. With in-depth market knowledge, AOpen can offer advice for complete digital signage platform solutions. AOpen has cultivated a sophisticated ecosystem of premium solution providers to offer its solutions via its value added channel network to the market.

Developer of the revolutionary line of NanoFlex™ and NanoSlim™ LED displays to demonstrate specially designed 9’ X 9’ 4.5mm pixel pitch fixed LED display at Vizrt Booth #SL5605.

NORCROSS, GEORGIA, – Underscoring its commitment to revolutionize every segment of the LED display market, NanoLumens® today announced that it will unveil a specially designed LED display at NAB 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The pioneering Norcross, Georgia based company will showcase a spectacular 9’ X 9’ 4.5mm pixel pitch LED display at Vizrt Booth #SL5605, according to NanoLumens President & CEO Rick Cope.

According to Cope, the massive display will weigh only 383 pounds and feature a silhouette that is less than three-inches thick. What’s more, the display will feature easily adjustable brightness levels and a 960 Hz refresh rate that results in superior image quality, even on camera, while emitting virtually no heat or noise.

“By showcasing our display in the Vizrt booth, we’re introducing the broadcast industry to the future of display technology in broadcast environments. Our displays are easy to install, completely bezel free, and are available in any shape or size, thus allowing every broadcast studio the opportunity to utilize LED display technology tailored to their individual purposes.”

“The NanoLumens display will be a centerpiece of the booth for us at NAB,” stated Håvard Myklebust, Executive Vice President, Products and Marketing of Vizrt. “It is the perfect match for our dynamic graphics and media display systems.”

Partnering with Vizrt at NAB 2012 will provide the company with the opportunity to showcase its breakthrough LED display technology to a wider broadcast audience than ever before. Vizrt’s product suite is used by the world’s leading broadcasters, publishing houses and telecom operators, including: CNN, CBS, Fox, BBC, Sky, ITN, ZDF, SVT, Star TV, Network 18, TV Today, CCTV, NHK, The Globe and Mail, The Telegraph, Welt Online, Etisalat, and Telia Sonera. Furthermore, many world-class production houses and institutions, including both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, utilize Vizrt solutions.

“We look forward to introducing our technology and our commercially available solutions to Vizrt’s customers as well as to the larger audience attending the NAB Show,” Cope emphasized. A NanoLumens representative will be present in the exhibit throughout the show to answer questions and provide additional information.

NanoLumens displays are extremely slim, ultra-lightweight, energy efficient, and feature a seamless, edge-to-edge picture quality (up to a brightness of 5,000 nits) that can be viewed from any angle or any distance without color shift or picture drop-off. Designed and engineered with the environment in mind, NanoLumens displays consume significantly less energy per-square foot than conventional digital displays. Further emphasizing their commitment to eco-friendly technology, the NanoLumens displays are composed of up to 50% reclaimed materials, and are completely recyclable. What’s more, some new NanoLumens displays can be serviced from the front, making maintenance easier than ever before possible.

Designed and assembled entirely in the United States, NanoLumens displays are available in both flexible and fixed frames in five product lines: NanoFlex™, NanoFlex Wrap, and NanoFlex Ribbon flexible displays; NanoSlim™ fixed rectangular displays; and NanoShape™ fixed round, square, and triangular displays.

The company’s technology has been recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as a 2011 future-proof tech trend and was cited by The Wall Street Journal in its 2010 Technology Innovations Awards. NanoLumens’ technology also received the 2011 Breakthrough Technology of the Year Award at the American Technology Awards. Digital Signage Magazine awarded the NanoLumens NanoFlex a 2011 DIGI Award for “Best New Display Device – NonLCD or Plasma”.

Vizrt provides real-time 3D graphics and leading-edge asset management tools for the broadcast industry – from award winning animations & maps to online publishing tools. Due to Vizrt’s local presence in all the major markets around the world, Vizrt installations are found in more than 80 countries, powering over 3,500 TV channels and around 600 Internet media sites. For more information, please visit www.vizrt.com.

New wide-aspect touchmonitor well-suited for commercial, entertainment and industrial environments
 
Kessel Lo, Belgium – TE Connectivity today introduced its Elo TouchSystems 1541L, one of the industry’s first 15-inch open-frame LCD touchmonitors with an LED backlight, that features a 16:9 aspect ratio, suitable for commercial, industrial, gaming and retail applications. The 1541L expands the Elo family of touch solutions for gaming and amusement, information kiosks and self-service with flexible, energy-saving features. The 1541L also has a convenient, space-saving design that makes building touch solutions easier and more flexible for OEMs and system integrators.

“With this introduction, we’re offering a 15-inch LCD open-frame touchmonitor that is a very attractive product,” says Jim Witkowski, Product Manager at TE Touch Solutions. “Casino, retail and point-of-information (POI) applications are making the transition to the 16:9 wide-aspect ratio, and we expect this product to be a good fit for those markets. In addition, its wide-viewing angle and compact, mechanical design give kiosk integrators an edge in developing the most aesthetically pleasing products.”

Elo TouchSystems 1541L Features and Benefits

The Elo TouchSystems 1541L features one of the industry’s first open-frame LCD touchmonitors with a 16:9 aspect ratio, LED backlight and a 150° x 120° viewing angle. Key features and benefits include:

•     Compact size enables slimmer designs for narrower kiosks, with a portrait mode configuration for a larger display space in a smaller footprint
•     Viewing angle of 150° x 120°, wider than most 15-inch open-frame touchmonitors, allowing colours to remain sharp and graphics to retain their integrity in both portrait and landscape modes
•     State-of-the-art LED backlight replacing bulky, glass CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamps) for a slim design, reduced power consumption and lower heat production
•     Three-year warranty
  

Touchscreen Options

The 1541L is available with either IntelliTouch Plus multi-touch surface acoustic wave touchscreen technology – a pure-glass standard of touch and widely used in kiosk and gaming applications that is resistant to scratches, water and other contaminants, providing a clear, bright and long-lasting performance – or AccuTouch 5-wire resistive touchscreen technology, a preferred solution for applications that demand reliability, input flexibility, and contamination resistance.  AccuTouch touchscreens, with TE resistive technology, deliver a touch response that is drift-free and accurate in high-use applications.

Warranty and Availability

The 1541L open-frame touchmonitor is backed by a three-year warranty and 40 years of touchscreen experience. The new Elo TouchSystems 1541L open-frame touchmonitor is now available for shipping worldwide.

About TE Connectivity

TE Connectivity is a global, $14 billion company that designs and manufactures over 500,000 products that connect and protect the flow of power and data inside the products that touch every aspect of our lives. Our nearly 100,000 employees partner with customers in virtually every industry – from consumer electronics, energy and healthcare, to automotive, aerospace and communication networks – enabling smarter, faster, better technologies to connect products to possibilities. More information on TE Connectivity can be found at http://www.te.com.

About TE Touch Solutions

TE Touch Solutions, a global leader in touchscreen technology, develops, manufactures, and markets a complete line of touch screens, touch monitors, and all-in-one (AiO) touch computers under the Elo and TE brands. Backed by over 40 years of touch experience and with multiple touch technology options, including surface acoustic wave (SAW), resistive, surface capacitive, projected capacitive, acoustic pulse recognition (APR), infrared (IR), and multi-touch, Elo touch products are available for diverse applications in retail, point-of-sale (POS), kiosk, medical, industrial, hospitality, transportation, automotive, mobile and gaming markets.  Visit www.elotouch.com or call +32 16 352100 for more information.

AccuTouch, Elo (logo), Elo TouchSystems, IntelliTouch, TE Connectivity, TE connectivity (logo) and TE (logo) are trademarks of the TE Connectivity Ltd. family of companies.

SEOUL, Korea - Samsung Display Co., Ltd, a global leader in display panel technologies and products, announced today that it has been officially launched as a new corporation, spun off from Samsung Electronics. Samsung Display held its inauguration ceremony yesterday and will begin business operations in earnest after carrying out incorporation registration on April 3.

Donggun Park, executive vice president and head of the former Samsung Electronics' LCD Business was elected CEO of Samsung Display. The company, which recorded 22.7 trillion KRW (approximately 20 billion U.S. dollars) in annual revenue in 2011 as Samsung Electronics' LCD Business, became the world's largest display manufacturer overnight, based on its 20,000 employees and five production facilities worldwide.

Park said at the inauguration ceremony, "We will make Samsung Display a well-respected company through continuous efforts to supply a wide variety of customized products that provide great value to our customers." He added, "By continually staying one step ahead of our competitors, we can make our company the very best in the display market."

More than 350 employees attended the inauguration ceremony. At the inauguration, many reflected on the success of Samsung Electronics' LCD Business over the past 21 years and expressed a widespread determination to once again become ‘The No. 1 Global Display Manufacturer'.

Samsung Display began as an R&D arm of Samsung Electronics in 1991 and has developed and released some of the world's most creative and innovative displays for two decades. Now, as a separate corporation, it will respond to rapidly changing market conditions more efficiently, while providing timely, well-differentiated products and services this year and well into the future.

About Samsung Display Co., Ltd.

Samsung Display Co., Ltd. is a global leader in display panel technologies and products. Employing approximately 20,000 people at its five production facilities and five sales offices worldwide, Samsung Display specializes in high-quality displays for consumer, mobile, IT and industrial usage. For more information, please visit www.samsungdisplay.com.

Axiomtek’s desktop NA-340 supports six Gigabit LANs, CFast™, Intel® HT Technology, LAN Bypass, and BIOS redirection to provide stable network performance and improve IT efficiency and security

Taipei, Taiwan, – Axiomtek announces its new compact, low power NA-340 1U-type network appliance with six Gigabit LANs, utilizing dual core Intel® Atom™ processor D525 at 1.8 GHz with Intel® ICH8M PCH chipset. The NA-340 comes in a small package with a height of just 44mm (1.73in) and a weight of 2.5kg (5.5lbs), which can easily fit into any confined spaces and harsh environments. This low-power unit supports a high bandwidth DDR3 SO-DIMM slot with memory up to 4 GB. In addition, it features a 2.5" SATA HDD and mainstream CFast™ for storing event log. To help with unexpected shutdowns, the NA-340 supports a LAN bypass function through WDT and GPIO pin definitions. One PCI Express Mini card (USB-type) is available for WiFi card installation.

“Powered by a high-performance yet low-power Intel® Atom™ processors D525 processor with ICH8M chipset, Axiomtek’s NA-340 network appliance platform offers users a high-end and stable network performance with low power consumption at a reasonable cost. It is an ideal network security solution for VPN, firewall, UTM, network bandwidth controller, and network management applications. To provide faster response time in multitasking environments, the NA-340 supports Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology which comes standard in the CPU. This network appliance platform offers six high-speed Gigabit network connections using Intel® 82583V LAN chip. To enhanced reliability, it supports data protection via bypass segment for fail-over option. The platform also features BIOS redirection to console port,” said Philip Wei, Product Manager of Product & Marketing Division at Axiomtek.

In order to address the various network application needs, the NA-340 features one 2.5” SATA HDD, one CFast™ slot, one console port, and two USB ports, and one PCI Express Mini card (USB-type). For easy maintenance, the front panel has a front-facing LED indicator for power and HDD activity monitoring. The SOHO network appliance also supports mainstream Linux kernel 2.4 and 2.6 operating systems.

The Atom-based NA-340 will be available in the middle of May, 2012. For more product information and ODM/OEM project demands, please visit our global website www.axiomtek.com or contact our sales representative at .

Main Features:

•     Low power and high performance Intel® Atom™ processor D525 1.8 GHz with 1M L2 cache and Intel® ICH8M chipset
•     Supports 6 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet ports
•     Supports one DDR3 SO-DIMM sockets max. up to 4 GB unbuffer and none-ECC Memory
•     Supports BIOS redirected to COM port
•     Supports LAN bypass function
•     Supports 2.5" SATA HDD and CFast™
•     Supports Intel® Hyper-Threading technology
  

About Axiomtek Co., Ltd.

Axiomtek Co. Ltd. is one of the world's leading designers/manufacturers of PC-based industrial computer products. From our roots as a turnkey systems integrator specializing in data acquisition and control systems, Axiomtek has mirrored the PC evolution in various industries by shifting our focus toward the design and manufacture of PC-based industrial automation solutions.

Axiomtek Co., Ltd. established in 1990, has more than 60 distributor partners globally.  Axiomtek offers Industrial PCs (IPC), Embedded Computing Platforms (ECP), Rugged Embedded System (eBOX and rBOX), Touch Panel Computers (TPC), Medical PCs (MPC), Human Machine Interface (HMI), Digital Signage & Displays (DS), Industrial Network (iCON), and Network Appliances (NA).

LOS ANGELES, /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Gores Group, a leading Los Angeles-based private equity firm, today announced that through an affiliate it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire TE Connectivity's Touch Solutions business for $380 million in cash.

The Touch Solutions business is a global supplier of touch screens, touch monitors and all-in-one touch computers that are marketed under the Elo TouchSystems brand. Elo TouchSystems, which is widely recognized as the preeminent brand in the touch systems industry, is well known for delivering a superior breadth of offerings and for the quality and reliability of its products. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the business generated sales of $413 million in fiscal 2011.

The Gores Group noted that the touch systems industry is enjoying strong secular growth driven by the mainstream adoption of touch interfaces and proliferation across commercial and consumer vertical markets.

"As a pioneer and global leader in high-performance touch solutions, Elo TouchSystems is a compelling addition to The Gores Group portfolio of companies," said Ryan Wald, Managing Director of M&A for The Gores Group. "Elo TouchSystems is well positioned in the industry because of its premier brand name and strong relationships with customers and channel partners. We plan to expand its offerings through investment in organic growth and strategic acquisitions."

Tim Meyer, Managing Director of Operations for The Gores Group, added, "Elo's leadership position and strong technology and product portfolio provide an excellent growth platform. We look forward to partnering with management to achieve the full potential of the business."

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the second calendar quarter.

About The Gores Group, LLC

The Gores Group, LLC is a private equity firm focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing businesses which can benefit from the firm's operating experience and flexible capital base. The firm combines the operational expertise and detailed due diligence capabilities of a strategic buyer with the seasoned M&A team of a traditional financial buyer. The Gores Group, which was founded in 1987 by Alec E. Gores, has become a leading investor having demonstrated over time a reliable track record of creating substantial value in its portfolio companies alongside management. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Gores Group maintains offices in Boulder, CO, and London. For more information, please visit www.gores.com .

Matt Anderson to lead new business development initiatives

DALLAS – Reflect Systems, Inc., the premier full-service provider of digital out-of-home merchandising and advertising solutions for digital signage, interactive applications and assisted shopping, announced today the addition of Matt Anderson as Senior Account Executive.  Matt brings over ten years of business development and sales expertise to Reflect, with an emphasis on B2B software and digital marketing services.

“Matt brings to Reflect outstanding leadership skills and a clear focus on understanding customer needs and delivering outstanding software and services,” said Bill Warren, Chief Executive Officer of Reflect. “We could not be happier to bring aboard an individual with Matt’s talent and experience.”

As Senior Account Executive, Anderson will provide sales and consulting services on in-store digital media solutions to ensure clients maximize their ROI.  In this role he will oversee the sourcing, managing and implementation of new business activities to help facilitate company growth initiatives.

Anderson’s extensive background includes managing business development activities, digital marketing services and technology consulting to drive revenue.  Throughout his career, Anderson has held business development positions with a variety of B2B companies, such as ADP and Blackbaud.

“I am excited to be a part of the Reflect team and look forward to using my experience to impact the profitability of the company through strategic and tactical management decisions and new business development results,” said Anderson.

Anderson received his bachelor’s degree in communications from Baylor University.

About Reflect

Founded in 2001, Reflect is a leading, national full-service provider of digital out-of-home merchandising and advertising solutions for digital signage, interactive applications and assisted shopping. ReflectView is the most flexible, scalable and proven digital media management solution on the market. Headquartered in Dallas, Reflect has a decade of industry experience developing some of the largest digital media networks in North America, including Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Verizon Wireless. Reflect serves mid- to large-size companies, specializing in retail, banking/finance, hospitality, and entertainment.   For more information, please visit www.reflectsystems.com.

Magnetic 3D Unveils Next-Generation Media Engine At Avnet’s Global Solution Center

New York, NY (PRWEB) - Magnetic 3D, the global leader in autostereoscopic “glasses-free” 3D displays and digital signage solutions, unveiled its next-generation media engine yesterday at the Avnet Global Solutions Center in Chandler, Arizona. Magnetic 3D’s glasses-free 3D was one of fifteen premium digital signage solutions showcased at an open house to celebrate Avnet’s unveiling of a new Digital Signage Video Tour at its state-of-the-art Global Solutions Center. The event included tours of the facility, live demonstrations of suppliers’ solutions, and a virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony by Avnet CEO, Rick Hamada.

“Our unique glasses-free 3D solution is achieved through the combination of our industrial display with integrated Enabl3D™ lens technology, a powerful media engine, proprietary software, and award-winning content,” said Michael Dorin, Magnetic 3D’s Vice President of Business Development and Operations. “These elements all come together to astound audiences with the impressive illusion of 3D on an otherwise flat display.”

Magnetic 3D’s next-generation media engine is a full-featured player based on Intel’s Sandy Bridge Chipset and is specifically designed for commercial applications including digital signage, QSR, display walls, large venues and stadiums, education, medical, and hospitality. It boasts an all metal chassis and small form factor making it an ideal companion to any Magnetic 3D display. The unit runs on Microsoft Windows Embedded POSReady7, an operating system optimized for Point of Service solutions with built-in point-of-sale functionality. In partnership with Avnet, the unit was also configured with an advanced installation of Windows Embedded Device Manager allowing for even easier discovery, deployment, and manageability across remote networks.

"We are very excited to demonstrate our glasses-free 3D solution as part of Avnet’s Brilliant Digital Signage Event," said Thomas Zerega, Founder and CEO of Magnetic 3D. “It is a privilege to be included among the industry’s technology thought leaders.”

Further to the unveiling, Magnetic 3D’s glasses-free digital signage solution will remain permanently installed at the Avnet Global Solution Center Showcase.

About Magnetic 3D

Headquartered in New York City, Magnetic 3D (http://www.magnetic3d.com) designs and produces industry leading end-to-end autostereoscopic 3D display solutions, digital media and creative services. Magnetic 3D’s proprietary Enabl3D™ technology modifies flat panel displays, enabling them to show High-Definition 3D video content without the need for any special eyewear, providing audiences with a realistic visual experience that includes both captivating off-screen “pop” and the immersive perception of depth on what would otherwise be a flat display. The company focuses on exceeding client’s 2D expectations by delivering the highest quality, glasses-free 3D visual experience in retail digital signage, hospitality, movie-theaters, casino gaming, hotels and other public venues.

Digital Signage Platform Helps Energize Downtown Phoenix With Broadcast-Quality Content From Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns, Live Scrolling News Tickers, and More

MONTREAL — X2O Media, a full-service provider of software, network management, and content services for real-time visual communication applications, today announced that its Xpresenter™ digital signage platform is powering the Legends Entertainment District's extensive digital LED network in downtown Phoenix. For the unique 55,000-square-foot outdoor marketing and entertainment district, Xpresenter is being used to display targeted broadcast-quality content from the Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns, and their content partners on full-color, full-motion LED boards, in addition to live news, weather, and more for scrolling tickers.

In an unprecedented partnership between two professional sports teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Phoenix Suns teamed up to create the Legends Entertainment District to energize downtown Phoenix, attract visitors, and keep them in the area longer before and after events. Spanning from the US Airways Center to Chase Field, a key feature of the district is a state-of-the-art digital LED network that keeps visitors entertained and updated throughout the area, while creating advertising revenue and providing outdoor marketing opportunities for Legends' partners.

Content management is a vital aspect of our LED network," said Stacie Roberts, Director of Operations of the Legends Entertainment District. "It is essential that our staff be able to update content quickly and easily to capture the attention of visitors, in addition to having the ability to target different content to the appropriate LED boards. To meet these needs, we chose X2O Media's Xpresenter digital signage platform."

Among a mix of static and custom signage, two massive LED tickers on the Jefferson Street parking garage grace the corridor between the US Airways Center and Chase Field. Xpresenter is delivering five different types of live content to the 4-foot by 125-foot displays — sports from around the country, news, entertainment, business, and weather. The tickers feature additional full-color, full-motion, LED running content such as ticket information on upcoming games for the Diamondbacks or Suns; dates for upcoming concerts in the Legends Entertainment District; or paid content from partners such as Anheuser-Busch, APS, Chevrolet, Fox Sports Arizona, Fry's Food Stores, Cox, FIAT, Arizona Rattlers, Gila River Casinos, and more.

There are three 50-foot towers located outside Chase Field and the US Airways Center, each featuring three 13-foot by 22-foot LED boards, in addition to top and bottom LED halo rings. The towers display 30-second content segments from each facility's respective team, the Legends Entertainment District, and content partners, and the bottom halos also feature scrolling tickers. In addition, a giant 35-foot by 73-foot LED board, dubbed the "Big Board," is featured on Chase Field's façade and displays District content.

"The Legends Entertainment District has been a huge success, and Xpresenter has certainly played a central role in achieving that," added Roberts. "The platform provides the ease of use and targeting capabilities we require, in addition to displaying broadcast-quality content. Furthermore, X2O is providing the RSS feeds that automatically populate tickers with real-time weather, scores, and more. We look forward to working with the company as we continue to grow and add more functionality to the network."

X2O Media's Xpresenter is an end-to-end platform designed to make creating, managing, and distributing broadcast-quality digital signage content on networks of all sizes available to all. Xpresenter's patented authoring module allows Microsoft® PowerPoint® users to produce compelling content that incorporates animations, video clips, and real-time data sources — all within the PowerPoint interface.

More information on Xpresenter and other X2O products is available at www.x2omedia.com.

About X2O Media

X2O Media is a full-service provider of software, network management services, and content services for professional digital signage and corporate communication applications. The company offers a wide variety of software solutions for digital signage and interactive networks of all sizes. X2O's award-winning Xpresenter™ provides an end-to-end platform for the creation, management, and distribution of content at broadcast quality, and at a fraction of the time of other solutions. In addition to technology, X2O offers content design, acquisition, management, distribution, and monitoring services for digital signage networks. More information about X2O Media is available at www.x2omedia.com.

All trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Next LED Signs chooses Omnivex Software to enhance sign owner experience.
Wichita, Kan – Next LED, a Wichita-based display manufacturer, has partnered with Omnivex Software to power a rapidly growing digital signage network.

Next LED is committed to providing the best software service and support possible to their digital sign dealers, operators and owners.  Next LED will offer Omnivex’s digital signage software “Moxie”.

“Partnering with Omnivex to offer their digital signage software Moxie was a perfect fit,” said Luke Luttrell, chief technology officer. “Next LED is focused on strong marketing for its’ LED sign operators and Omnivex Moxie is the best software for our customers’ needs.”

Omnivex Moxie allows LED sign operators the ability to effectively engage audiences at the perfect place and time with the most relevant messaging. In today’s fast paced world, contextual communication is key.

“People are being bombarded by messages today like never before,” said Luttrell. “Contextual communication is crucial for businesses and Omnivex Moxie provides the software tools to deliver messages to their intended audience every time.”

Since opening their doors, Next LED has aggressively expanded their product line and customer support capabilities. Partnering with Omnivex to offer Moxie digital signage software fits perfectly with Next LED’s core values.

About Next LED Signs

Next LED specializes in the sales, service and management of high quality, full-color LED video displays. Based in the Midwest, Next brings Midwestern values, common sense and expectations of value to the LED sign business. Next products are designed, engineered and quality-assured from its plant in Wichita, KS. Products marketed by Next have been installed in more than 5,000 projects in over 100 countries. For more information, visit NextLEDSigns.com

About Omnivex

Founded in 1991 in Toronto, Ontario, Omnivex Corporation is a leader in software development for digital signage networks and electronic displays. Omnivex software is used by over 2,000 customers, including many Fortune 500 companies, to manage all aspects of digital signage networks, including content management, real time data acquisition and distribution, and remote device monitoring and management. For more information, visit www.omnivex.com.

BrightSign announces new line of solid-state HD digital signage players lower cost, smaller form factor, better media handling plus BrightSign's signature reliability, ease-of-use and easy integration

Los Gatos, CA –  BrightSign, LLC, a leading innovator in digital signage solutions, announced today an all-new line of HD solid-state digital signage controllers that are more affordable, and have a smaller form factor than ever before. Offering the same reliability, ease-of-use and easy integration that have made BrightSign a trusted name in the digital signage industry, the new HD line has three models to support a wide variety of applications ranging from stand-alone kiosk displays to networked solutions with engaging interactivity.
 
“We’re excited about the new players because they deliver the same robust features, signature reliability and ease-of-use our customers require, but at prices that are now lower than ever before and on an updated platform that delivers even better media handling capabilities,” said Jeff Hastings, BrightSign CEO. “It’s unusual to be able to significantly improve products and, at the same time, reduce the cost; but that’s exactly what we’ve done.”

Hastings explained that the new HD players are integrated with a next-generation microprocessor that allows BrightSign to deliver improved media playback performance as well as save on manufacturing costs and pass the savings on to its customers.

Using power-efficient technology, the new players deliver consistently high performance and reliability – even for 24x7 applications. All of the models in BrightSign’s new product line also feature Full HD quality for flawless video playback, solid-state
(PC-less) reliability and free BrightAuthor signage management software plus a variety of networking options.

BrightSign’s new HD Digital Signage player line includes:

BrightSign HD120 – Basic Interactive Model:  BrightSign’s most affordable, Full HD solution brings stand-alone displays to life and combines solid-state reliability and simple GPIO interactivity with BrightSign’s signature ease-of-use and integration.
Updates can be made with an SD card. MSRP is US$250.00

BrightSign HD220 – Networked Looping Model: Enables easy, networked content updates and live data feeds (Live Text), along with video playback and Ethernet synchronization.
MSRP US$350.00

BrightSign HD1020 – Networked Interactive Model: Offers a wide range of interactive options to engage customers using GPIO, USB, serial and UDP connections and networked content for a truly impressive display. MSRP US $500.00

With BrightAuthor, a PC software application included with all BrightSign digital signage controllers free of charge, creating, publishing, managing and monitoring digital signage displays is simplified. The application also offers dynamic capabilities such as:  

•    Incorporation of Live Text  – simple data integration to connect Twitter feeds,
stock tickers and other private and public databases to POS displays, menu boards, wait lists, financial/manufacturing displays, and more
•    Creation of synchronized video walls for vibrant exhibits, events and promotions
•    Utilization of dynamic playlists to update a set of content without republishing
an entire presentation

Measuring 4.9 x 1.3 x 5.4 in. (W x H x D) and weighing only 16.6 oz., BrightSign’s new HD players are easy to integrate and can be easily tucked out of sight.

Availability, Pricing

The new BrightSign HD product line of stand-alone and network-enabled interactive players will be available from the BrightSign Store beginning April 17, 2012.
Distributor pricing is available upon request.  Backed by a one-year warranty, the players include wall mounting brackets and BrightAuthor, a PC software application that simplifies creating, publishing, managing and monitoring digital signage displays.

BrightSign’s new HD players will be demonstrated during Screenmedia Expo, in
Earl’s Court, London; May 16-17 at BrightSign’s Stand #B47.  

BrightSign will continue to offer its award-winning flagship players, the HD210w and HD1010w digital sign controllers with built-in Wi-Fi, respectively priced at US$450.00 and US$700.00; and the TD1012 portable tabletop player for US$1,300.00.

KioWare has expanded its kiosk mode software line to include products for the Android OS, releasing KioWare® Lite for Android™ version 1.0 and KioWare® Full for Android™ with Server version 1.0.

The new KioWare for Android product line protects self-service applications by securing the OS, home screen and browser, as well as limiting the Android applications a user can run. There are two types of KioWare for Android software: a client version, KioWare Lite for Android and a version that includes a server, KioWare Full for Android with Server. KioWare Lite for Android protects your application by securing the OS, home screen and browser, as well as limiting the Android applications your users can run. The software works with Android versions 3.0 or higher. KioWare Full for Android with Server gives you the additional ability to remotely monitor the health and status of tablets running the Android OS. This is done through the KioWare Server component, which works with the Windows OS.

“The advantage of using a tablet with an Android OS as opposed to an iPad is that the security issues with iPads are mostly unavoidable. The iOS operating system is not well suited for self-service as this environment imposes many demands on an operating system that are far different from the standard consumer use of the device. Since the iOS is a closed operating system, it restricts the robustness and security of self-service applications, while the Android operating system is very open and well suited for self-service,” explains Jim Kruper, President of KioWare.

Specific KioWare Lite for Android features include:

Protect the Home Screen/Launcher

It is critical to prevent the user from accessing the Home Screen (the Android equivalent to the Desktop) and App Launcher. KioWare for Android products only allow your specified applications to run, preventing the user from executing, downloading or installing any other applications.

Browser Lockdown

Through allow or revoke lists, KioWare for Android products limit the user to only the domains or pages you choose. In addition, if displaying Internet web pages, links such as mailto tags or file downloads can be blocked.

Limit Android Apps

Similarly to how KioWare locks down the browser, it also allows you to control which Android Apps a user can run.

Application Resetting

Once the user has finished with the application, all traces of the user’s previous session are removed by automatically clearing cookies and cache and returning to the start page.

KioWare Full for Android with Server additionally includes:

Remote Monitoring

It is essential to remotely monitor your tablet mobile devices to determine the current status. The Server component, installed on your machine running the Windows OS, allows you to monitor multiple Android tablets from a central location. Specifically, it can let you know if your application is still running, if certain components are reporting errors, and the percentage battery life.

More information can be found on our Android Products Page. Or you can download KioWare Lite for Android here or KioWare Full for Android with Server here.

KioWare has been providing OS, desktop, and browser lockdown security for the kiosk and self-service industry since 2001. The KioWare for Android product line works with Android devices; Android is a trademark of Google Inc.

Louisville, Kentucky-based Networld Allliance has changed its name to Networld Media Group.

Louisville, Ky. (PRWEB) - Networld Alliance, the parent company to such fast-growing digital media titles as MobilePaymentsToday.com and DigitalSignageToday.com, has changed its name to Networld Media Group and adopted a new brand image to reflect its transformation and rapid adoption of new media capabilities and concepts.

Headquartered in Louisville, Ky., the 12-year old company offers 10 digital media titles with broad coverage of consumer experience, retail, food, payment, self-service, mobile and out-of-home digital advertising markets.

“We have been an online B2B publisher for 12 years, so we have become accustomed to change,” says chairman and CEO Alan Fryrear. “Our new name — Networld Media Group — reflects our coming of age as a full-service media company. We address some super-niche markets with engaged audiences that advertisers cannot find anywhere else. And with our new custom media division, we are able to dive deeper to help our clients with video, market research and white papers.”

“In addition to offering a full range of B2B content-marketing and media services,” adds SVP of sales and marketing Kathy Doyle, “we have recently added out-of-home digital B2C advertising to our service portfolio. Over the next several years, a big focus for Networld Media Group will be to engage with audiences that are increasingly global in scope and to continue adding to our product and service portfolio.”

Networld Media Group’s 10 digital media properties reach a collective audience of some three million unique visitors. The company also produces industry-leading networking events including the annual Fast Casual and Retail Customer Experience Executive summits. In addition, Networld Media’s custom media division develops premium content and marketing services for leading associations such as the ATM Industry Association and other event producers such as Foodservice Social Media Universe (FSMU) who want to draw on Networld Media’s industry information and content expertise.

Networld Media Group’s new brand imagery is showcased in this brief YouTube video. More details about the group’s digital media properties and other offers can be found at http://www.networldmediagroup.com.

About Networld Media Group

Founded in 2000, Networld Media Group is a leading business-to-business (B2B) media communications company specializing in digital media, associations and events in the mobile, self-service, digital signage, retail, food service and financial services industries. Properties published by Networld Media Group include: ATMmarketplace.com, DigitalSignageToday.com, FastCasual.com, KioskMarketplace.com, PizzaMarketplace.com, QSRweb.com, RetailCustomerExperience.com, SelfServiceWorld.com and ChurchCentral.com.

46-inch X463UN Boasts Direct LED Backlighting, Full High-Definition Panel, Ultra-Narrow Bezel, and Multiple Digital Loop -Through 

CHICAGO, (BUSINESS WIRE) -- NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, announced today its next-generation ultra-narrow display, the X463UN, to its X Series of displays. This professional-grade large-screen model is designed for the 24/7 operation required in a variety of digital signage, corporate and broadcast video wall applications.

The X463UN is a direct LED-backlit LCD display, which allows for improved brightness uniformity, reduced power consumption and mercury-free components. The X463UN has a 5.7mm distance between active screen areas of two neighboring displays. The model supports Intel’s Open Pluggable Specification (OPS), which is the first industry-wide standardization in option slots to simplify digital signage. The OPS option slot allows for easier installation, use and maintenance of digital signage

“Video walls are making bold statements for the organizations deploying them, and these large-scale canvases are growing in numbers and complexity,” said Keith Yanke, Director of Product Marketing for Large Screen Displays and Projectors at NEC Display Solutions. “The NEC X463UN display brings reduced power consumption and improved edge-to-edge brightness through direct LED backlighting, while also providing a decreased active-area-to-active-area gap and multiple digital loop-through connections.”

The X463UN includes the following features:

-- Direct LED backlighting source, which allows even distribution of light across the panel, resulting in improved uniformity from bezel-to-bezel

-- Professional-grade LCD panel with advanced thermal protection and sealed panel design for the most formidable digital signage industry requirements

-- Full 1080p high-definition resolution

-- Brightness of 500 cd/m² (typical)

-- Contrast ratio of 3500:1 (typical)

-- Power consumption of 120W (typical)

-- Full digital connectivity with DisplayPort In/Out, DVI-D In/Out and HDMI

-- Network Control and Communication through RS232C or LAN, which allows the highest level of remote display management

-- TileMatrix™ technology for video walls up to 100 displays

-- Built-in expansion slot, which allows for seamless integration of NEC-branded or Intel OPS-certified cards

-- Optional color calibration solution, which ensures color and brightness uniformity across multiple screens, creating a perfectly matched image in tiled environments

-- Carbon footprint meter, which calculates and tracks carbon savings

-- ENERGY STAR® 5.1, which meets strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy

The X463UN will be available in March 2012 at an estimated street price of $5,149. The display ships with a 3-year parts and labor warranty, including the backlight.

About NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc.

Headquartered in Itasca, Ill., NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc., is a leading designer and provider of innovative desktop LCD monitors, commercial- and professional-grade large-screen LCD displays, a diverse line of multimedia and digital cinema projectors, and integrated display solutions. NEC Display Solutions develops leading-edge visual technology and customer-focused solutions for a wide variety of markets, including enterprise, healthcare, education and digital signage. For additional information about NEC Display Solutions of America monitors, consumers can call (866) NEC-MORE, or visit the website at www.necdisplay.com .

About VUKUNET

VUKUNET, from NEC Display Solutions of America, is the engine that powers the digital out-of-home advertising business. VUKUNET is the only universal ad serving platform that drives ads to any digital out-of-home network, regardless of content management system. VUKUNET makes the buying, flighting and reporting of digital out-of-home ad campaigns easy. For additional information about VUKUNET, visit www.vukunet.com , or call (877) 805-VUKU.

TORONTO, ONTARIO, (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- iSIGN Media Solutions Inc., a leading provider of interactive mobile advertising solutions that serves advertisers, manufacturers, retailers and advertising agencies throughout North America, is pleased to announce an update on several of its initiatives.

iSIGN has released its financial statements for the third quarter of its fiscal year ending April 30, 2012. The Company is reporting revenue of approximately $219,000 and $341,000 for the three and nine months ended January 2012 respectively. This revenue was generated by advertising revenue on the Company's digital signage network and by hardware sales.

"Although we are still in the pre-revenue stage of our growth, we do see light at the end of the tunnel," said Alex Romanov, iSIGN's Chief Executive Officer. "We believe that we have made major strides forward over the past several months, including improvements made to the signage network in the Mac's/Couche-Tard chain; growth in our relationships with our two new advertising sales rep organizations; the closing of our private placement which provided funds for the building of our award winning Smart Antennas for new installations."

"The past number of months have been very hectic ones for us, in that we have made costly investments of both time and money in our digital signage network and with the installation of our Bluetooth antennas into the approximately 1,400 store network," added Mr. Romanov. "We are looking forward with great anticipation to the next number of months, when we expect to realize a return on our investment on the improvements that we have made in the network, as well as realizing strong revenue growth from our advertising sales reps."

"In addition, we will shortly be starting the installation of our Smart Antennas into 124 Circle K stores in the Maritimes as well as into selected stores in the Mac's/Couche-Tard chain in the rest of Canada", stated Mr. Romanov. "Our expectation is that the Mac's/Couche-Tard network will shortly become the benchmark for all other retailers."

"We are especially pleased that the Digital Screen Media Association announced on March 28 that our Smart Antenna was the winner of its prestigious DSA Industry Excellence Award for the Best Retail Deployment - Mobile," stated Mr. Romanov. "Receiving this recognition is an excellent endorsement of our product by both the judging panel, which consisted of senior executives of several major firms and the Association as well. It is very pleasing to note that this is our third major award in the past three years."

iSIGN is also pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has approved the Shareholder Rights Plan ("Plan"). The Plan is designed to encourage the fair treatment of shareholders, in the event that a take-over bid be made for the Company and will provide the Board and Company shareholders more time to consider unsolicited take-over bids of the Company. The Plan is intended to discourage coercive or unfair take-over bids and gives the Board time to pursue alternatives to maximize shareholder value, if appropriate, in the event of an unsolicited take-over bid.

The Plan has not been developed in response to, or in contemplation of, any specific proposal to acquire control of iSIGN. The Company will be forwarding the Plan to the TSX Venture Exchange for their approval and will present the plan to the Shareholders at the Company's next annual general meeting tentatively scheduled for October 2012.

Once final approval has been received from the TSX Venture Exchange, a complete copy of the Plan will be made available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

The Company would also like to announce the resignation of Michael Minor from its Board of Directors effective March 31, 2012. Mr. Minor has announced that due to the pressures of launching a new national company, he does not believe that he has the time to devote to the needs of iSIGN's Board. The Company has accepted his resignation and would like to thank Michael for his past years of service to iSIGN.

About iSIGN Media

iSIGN Media is a North American leader in multiplatform advertising solutions that utilize Bluetooth, Mobile, WiFi and Location-Aware technologies to deliver rich media, permission-based messages to engage consumers more deeply and cost-effectively. The resulting business intelligence and real time metrics, gathered through iSIGN's patent-pending advertising platform, deliver insights into emerging consumer behaviors that help advertisers measure their efforts and make better business decisions to increase ROI and customer loyalty. Headquartered in Richmond Hill, Ontario, with R&D and customer support operations in Vancouver, BC and Tampa, FL, the Company has also grown to become the largest owner/operator of in-store digital media in Canada with 5,600 digital signs in 1,400 locations. Partners include: AOpen America Inc. and IBM, with solution distribution by BlueStar Inc. iSIGN is publicly traded in Toronto (TSX.V) Additional information can be found at www.isignmedia.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations, which involve risks and uncertainties associated with iSIGN Media's business and the environment in which the business operates. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking, including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but reflect iSIGN Media's current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. iSIGN Media assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements.

Copyright 2012 iSIGN Media Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

New Scala Executive Driving Business Growth in the Financial Sector

Exton, Pa. (PRWEB)- Scala Inc. today announced Daniel Rubenstein has joined the company as Senior Director, Financial Sales. Mr. Rubenstein will be responsible for driving business growth in the financial sector and will report directly to Scala Senior Vice President, Americas Oscar Elizaga.

Mr. Rubenstein has extensive experience in the financial sector through his 12-year career at Bloomberg Media where he was responsible for digital out-of-home sales and new media business development. His credentials include a successful track record in the development, marketing, distribution and monetization of content via advertising-supported and subscriber-based models; including digital out-of-home networks, web, mobile, radio and television outlets.

“Financial services is a fast-growing digital signage opportunity as companies look for ways to engage more effectively with customers, and promote new products and services,” said Mr. Elizaga. “Daniel Rubenstein brings stellar knowledge of the financial sector that strengthens Scala’s position in providing digital signage solutions in retail banking and other financial services.”

About Scala

Driving more than 500,000 screens worldwide, Scala Inc. is a leading global provider of digital signage and advertising management solutions. Scala is the world’s first connected signage company, offering the leading platforms for content creation, management and distribution in digital signage networks and the first unified platform for advertising management of both traditional and digital signage networks. Scala is headquartered near Philadelphia, Pa., and has subsidiaries in Canada, The Netherlands, France, Norway, Germany, Japan and India, as well as more than 500 partners in more than 90 countries. For more information, visit: http://www.scala.com/ or their blog. Connect with Scala via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, – CAYIN Technology, the professional supplier of digital signage solutions, unveils a new generation of dual-display digital signage player, SMP-WEBDUO. The new player is smaller, lighter, but more powerful. It provides a wider selection of multimedia content and upgrades user experience.

New SMP-WEBDUO digital signage player goes smaller and lighter. Compared to the old model, this new media player reduces the size by one quarter and sheds half of the weight as well to facilitate installation in different venues.

Users can enjoy more value-added functions without paying more. New SMP-WEBDUO adds the video-in function, and thus enabling users to play real-time video by directly connecting to a TV tuner, DVD player, or other multimedia devices. TV programs, movies, and even surveillance video can be easily adopted to enrich digital signage networks.

SMP-WEBDUO also features its capability to control two screens simultaneously and demonstrate plentiful sets of screen combinations both in landscape and portrait orientation. Users can select from the clone, distinct, or extended mode to display identical, different, or even stretched multimedia content from one screen to another.

The digital signage player also supports 4 audio output jacks, and therefore enabling users to control the sound independently for each jack and output video or audio to 4 sets of speakers. It increases agility with flexible multimedia distribution for multi-screen applications.

In addition to DVI and VGA, the new player adds an HDMI connector and widens display choices. The lossless digital audio output also produces higher sound quality and increases enjoyment.

The powerful remote management functions of SMP-WEBDUO can maximize efficiency and minimize daily operating costs. Users can update contents, schedule playlists, adjust volume, and turn on/off screens via Ethernet, WIFI wireless, or 3G data network.

With advanced integration of GPS technology, administrators can easily locate each player on Google Maps and monitor the overall connection status instantly. Players installed in moving vehicles can even playback content based on the current location.

SMP-WEBDUO can playback 1080p Full HD video, music, HTML/Flash, image, ticker, clock, and live feed information, such as the weather and news. As a web-based digital signage player, it is equipped with great flexibility to present multimedia content created by web languages, such as HTML, JavaScript, and Flash. It can also be extended to integrate with databases, web servers, RFID devices, QR codes, barcode scanners, and touch screens and develops more interactive applications.

CAYIN Technology has dedicated itself in developing high quality and high technology products continuously to satisfy customers’ demands with better solutions. SMP-WEBDUO, with well-designed functions in both hardware and software, is definitely the right choice to have a double great visual experience.

City of Industry, CA – Shuttle Computer has announced that it has joined the prestigious Digital Screenmedia Association (DSA). DSA is a non-profit trade organization serving the digital signage, interactive kiosk, mobile and self-service technology industries.

Shuttle Computer specializes in digital signage players, servers and interactive solutions that are ideal for a variety of environments including retail, hospitality, healthcare and corporate, with features such as a durable chassis, patented cooling design, powerful performance and flexible configuration. 

Shuttle offers both customized and pre-configured solutions, in addition to barebone units, all of which are available in a wide-range of sizes and designs, from cube, slim and ultra-slim to all-in-one.  Shuttle also offers with all new models, at no extra cost, its industry-leading 3-Year Limited Product Warranty with complimentary Lifetime Technical Support.

Peter Liu, General Manager of Shuttle Computer says, “It is an honor and privilege to be a member of DSA.  We have been a market leader in small form factor PC designs for many years, and ever since expanding our product offerings to digital signage, we have experienced phenomenal growth.  We know it is a move in the right direction and look forward to becoming an active participant of DSA.”

“The DSA membership is a who’s who in digital screenmedia,” said David Drain, DSA executive director. “We have a broad cross-section of members, from small start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Our membership includes users, vendors, network operators, agencies, brands, integrators, pro A/V firms and more. Companies join DSA meet people and companies, gain access to valuable information and to save money – in other words, to be successful.”

About Shuttle Computer

Shuttle Computer, a PC manufacturer specializing in high-performance desktop computers in compact designs, serves the Digital Signage, Point-Of-Sale (POS), Kiosk, Healthcare, and Cloud Computing industries as well as other specialized markets, with its line-up of innovative small, powerful and flexible Cube, Slim and All-In-One designs.  For more information, please visit us.shuttle.com.

About Digital Screenmedia Association

The Digital Screenmedia Association was formed through the April 2010 merger of the Digital Signage Association and the Self-Service & Kiosk Association. With over 650 members, the purpose of the DSA is to advance the growth and excellence of the global digital signage, interactive kiosk and mobile community through advocacy, education and networking. See www.digitalscreenmedia.org. 

Sussex County Federal Credit Union uses live, remote tellers over ATMs to provide better service to its members

DULUTH, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) began installations of its virtual teller ATMs, APTRA Interactive Teller, at Sussex County Federal Credit Unions during the week of March 19, beginning the proliferation of NCR’s new technology designed to revolutionize the delivery of personal banking services.

NCR will begin additional installations at other financial institutions throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia and other countries during the next three months. APTRA Interactive Teller helps financial institutions resize their business model for delivering the traditional branch banking experience. APTRA Interactive Teller gives cost-effective options for reducing customer wait times during busy periods of the day and staying open for business longer – such as during evenings and on weekends.

Sussex County Federal Credit Union (FCU) serves more than 18,000 members throughout Delaware. In 2011, Sussex County FCU installed personal teller machines equipped with early version uGenius video teller technology. The resulting efficiencies prompted Sussex County FCU to expand their delivery strategy across their ATM network, using NCR APTRA Interactive Teller ATM solution to facilitate. With APTRA Interactive Teller, customers at the ATM now have the choice of either self-service or a highly interactive, live audio and visual experience with a centrally based teller who can drive multiple transactions for them using remote processing technology, enabled by NCR’s multi-function ATM capability.

“We’ve been able to serve members faster during busy times using the kiosk experience, and its received increasingly heavy transaction volumes,” said Pamela Fleuette, CEO, Sussex County FCU. “By working with NCR to deploy APTRA Interactive Teller ATMs, we can move that virtual teller experience outside the doors of the branch, which will let us offer the service after hours and not just when the branch is open.”

The efficiency and security created through the centralization of tellers enables financial institutions to transform their branch locations into more effective service and sales environments. APTRA Interactive Teller lets financial institutions offer access to teller services during non-traditional banking hours, build new small-footprint branches, and provide full teller services in areas not served by branches, all while taking advantage of the advanced features of NCR ATMs such as intelligent deposit, bill pay and new account and loan initiation.

“As branch transactions decline, financial institutions must find ways to continue to provide personal service at a lower cost,” said Nicole Sturgill, research director, Tower Group. “Teller centralization enables cost reduction while also expanding service hours, a winning combination for both financial institutions and customers.”

NCR introduced APTRA Interactive Teller in 2011, in partnership with uGenius Technologies – a Utah-based pioneer in video banking solutions.

“Every financial institution is looking closely at how to redefine their branch experience. They want their branches to better differentiate themselves, enhance their brands, and offer enhanced services to their customers and members,” said Michael O’Laughlin, senior vice president, NCR Financial Services. “NCR knows that technology can help banks and credit unions rethink the branch banking experience. APTRA Interactive Teller puts a human touch to technology, mixing efficiency with ease-of-use to help branch transformation become reality.”

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a global technology company leading how the world connects, interacts and transacts with business. NCR’s assisted- and self-service solutions and comprehensive support services address the needs of retail, financial, travel, hospitality, entertainment, gaming, public sector, telecom carrier and equipment organizations in more than 100 countries. NCR (www.ncr.com) is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.

Furnace IP Video System, Makito High-Performance Encoders, and Stingray Set-Top Boxes Distribute Lectures From 90 Classrooms on Brand-New University Campus

MONTREAL and CHICAGO — Haivision Network Video, a leading provider of the most advanced video networking, digital signage, and IP video distribution solutions, today announced that Zayed University, a leader in knowledge and education in the United Arab Emirates, is now equipped with the Furnace™ IP video system, 91 Makito™ HD encoders, and 10 Stingray™ set-top boxes (STBs), which together power the university's new lecture-capture system. The end-to-end IP video system makes lectures from 90 classrooms available across the whole of Zayed University's brand-new Abu Dhabi campus.

The new lecture-capture system encodes course lectures with Haivision's HD Makito encoders at the lowest possible latency, 55 milliseconds. The Makito is a full-featured, high-performance encoder that combines the efficiencies of H.264 video compression and the image quality of full 1080p60 HD video. These encoded video streams are handled by the Furnace IP video system, a complete infrastructure that streams live lectures throughout the campus, while also recording, storing, and cataloging the lectures onto the university's network for future access.

The Haivision IP video distribution system allows students, faculty, and staff to access the content and view the lectures either with Haivision's "zero footprint" InStream™ soft player on their desktops and laptops, or via Haivision's Stingray STBs on televisions. Moreover, the system requires very little effort from the university's IT staff, providing ease of use for all users from anywhere on the new state-of-the-art campus.

Once a recorded session is archived, all of its catalog references are published in HTML onto the university's network in a simple, intuitive Web catalog, which staff and students can access at either high or low quality — depending on the user's network connection — thanks to the Makito's HiLo-Streaming™ feature.

"We're excited to be a part of Zayed University's modern, new campus project — helping bring lectures to students on such a massive scale," said Mohammed Ghafari, vice president of Haivision for the Middle East. "This grand project is a prime example of what Haivision can supply to the education market in the Middle Eastern region."

In addition to providing flexible, secure, and easy-to-use video delivery of classroom lectures, Haivision's equipment was easily integrated with a variety of other services that were deployed on the new campus. These include Zayed University's new translation system, digital signage system, large format LED screens, and video conferencing/distance learning systems.

More information about Furnace, Makito, Stingray, and other Haivision products is available at www.haivision.com.

About Haivision Network Video

Haivision delivers advanced technology for streaming, recording, managing, and distributing secure IP video and interactive media within the enterprise, education, medical/healthcare, and federal/military markets. Haivision is a private company based in Montreal and Chicago, with technical excellence centers in Beaverton, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Hamburg, Germany. With a global sales and support organization, Haivision distributes its products through value-added resellers, system integrators, distributors, and OEMs worldwide. More information is available at www.haivision.com.

All trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

Enhanced features meet the growing demand for an advanced digital marketing solution

New York – YCD Multimedia, a global leader in providing smart digital media solutions to the retail business world, today announced the integration of its Retail Advertising and Merchandising Platform (RAMP) with C-nario Messenger digital signage software. C-nario Messenger was developed by C-nario, a company recently acquired by YCD.

The integrated solution enables YCD partners and customers to leverage the power of C-nario Messenger's advanced multi-display playback engine with the user-friendly graphical interface of YCD|RAMP. This optimized, web-based, platform creates a more efficient and retail-focused solution to provide the ultimate customer experience.

Developed for marketing professionals, YCD RAMP addresses the needs and challenges of retailers for quick time-to-market of promotional campaigns, offering a single, comprehensive platform to manage in-store digital media and workflow. A new promotional campaign can be uploaded by third-party agencies and approved by the corporate headquarters.  YCD|RAMP allows for distribution to all, or any subset of location, region or personnel. In addition, the digital campaign can be scheduled for immediate playback or later day-parting. With built-in content creation technology, a retailer can create customized content and generate tailored promotions to suit local needs.

C-nario Messenger is a complete digital signage display, distribution and management software platform that provides better-than-broadcast quality playback in any shape, size and resolution. C-nario Messenger is characterized by its superb multi-display playback engine, as well as its advanced management, monitoring and control tools. In addition, the system is based on open architecture, which makes it easy to customize and adapt to different needs.

"The combination of YCD|RAMP and C-nario Messenger creates a powerful solution enabling retailers to create and implement truly spectacular displays that strengthen the brand with efficient campaign management," said Dani Zeevi, YCD's CTO. "This is only the first step in our integrated product roadmap which aims to introduce a complete suite of integrated, RAMP-based solutions, through cooperation with leading hardware and software partners."

This joint effort will, for the first time, enable a single retail-centric solution for content management that covers all digital marketing strategy with great efficiency. The new integrated solution addresses a direct and consistent customer demand for a simple digital marketing platform across all points of contact.

About YCD Multimedia

YCD Multimedia is an industry leader providing corporations and organizations worldwide with advanced digital media solutions and applications within the retail environment, as well as other industries. YCD’s flexible platforms help businesses attract clients, reinforce branding and ensure a measurable impact on their business. YCD’s end-to-end offering combines strategy, professional services and technology to increase profits, optimize product mix and enhance the customer experience. To date, the company has partnered with over 2,000 customers, including Fortune 500 corporations and some of the world’s most recognized brands, such as Coca-Cola, Toyota, Estee Lauder, Ferrari, Hilton Hotels, Cartier, and Hugo Boss. Founded in 1999, YCD Multimedia is headquartered in the United States with offices in the United Kingdom and Israel, and has an international network of resellers serving clients around the globe. In October 2011 YCD acquired C-nario, a global provider of digital signage software solutions. For more information, visit www.ycdmultimedia.com

Next Generation of KulaByte Encoding Software Combines the Highest Quality Live Video Transcoding With Cloud Computing and Linux Simplicity for Better Performance at Lower Cost

MONTREAL and CHICAGO — Haivision is set to launch its KulaByte™ 4.0 software for efficient high-quality cloud transcoding at the 2012 NAB Show. KulaByte is a software-based live H.264 video transcoder that delivers the highest quality RTMP Dynamic Streaming for Flash® video and Adaptive HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) for iOS devices. Now available for both Linux and Windows®, KulaByte 4.0 delivers significant gains in transcoding performance and cost savings.

With KulaByte 4.0, Haivision has migrated the award winning transcoding engine to Linux to simplify deployment of the software within cloud computing environments, improving long-term performance and reliability, and taking advantage of lower-cost cloud instances. KulaByte 4.0 Linux-support combines a 30 percent performance gain and a 30 to 40 percent cost reduction when deployed in cloud environments, such as Amazon's EC2™. Additionally, the transcoder introduces a simplified user interface and support for closed captioning, ad insertion, and ingestion of H.264 in MPEG-2 Transport Stream encapsulation.

"KulaByte is cornerstone technology in the over-the-top (OTT) video streaming segment," said Peter Maag, chief marketing officer for Haivision. "Migrating KulaByte to Linux was only natural. Linux is the foundation for almost all of Haivision's systems and appliances. Now, KulaByte will benefit from true carrier-grade performance, both within the server systems and in the cloud."

KulaByte cloud transcoding technology has been in use extensively by Haivision clients and within Haivision's HyperStream™ cloud transcoding service, enabling major global streaming events such as South by Southwest (SXSW), Austin City Limits, the NASCAR Sprint Series, and the Masters Golf Tournament.

The KulaByte 4.0 transcoder will be available as a server appliance or as software-only for installation within cloud computing environments in Spring 2012.

More information about Haivision's KulaByte 4.0 is available at www.haivision.com.

About Haivision Network Video

Haivision delivers advanced technology for streaming, recording, managing, and distributing secure IP video and interactive media within the enterprise, education, medical/healthcare, and federal/military markets. Haivision is a private company based in Montreal and Chicago, with technical excellence centers in Beaverton, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Hamburg, Germany. With a global sales and support organization, Haivision distributes its products through value-added resellers, system integrators, distributors, and OEMs worldwide. More information is available at www.haivision.com.

All trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

New York – YCD Multimedia, a global leader in providing smart digital media solutions to the retail business world and other industries, today announced the appointment of three senior-level personnel. Arik Roztal has been appointed as General Manager of International Operation and two additional senior managers joined YCD's U.S. staff - Mark Bohs as a Channel Sales Executive, and Jonathan Glanz as Director of Retail and Direct Sales.

Roztal brings to YCD more than 15 years of experience in various management positions in the high-tech industry. He comes to YCD from eXaudios Technologies where he served as Senior VP of Sales. Prior to eXaudios Arik worked at NICE Systems, where his last position was Director of Sales EMEA. Previously, he served as Radcom's Director of Sales APAC.

Jonathan Glanz brings 20 years of experience in design strategy and construction of retail environments for leading brands like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Luxottica, Tiffany & Co., Macy's and Coca-Cola. Prior to YCD he served as VP of Global Business Development at Creative Realities. Previously, he was President and Founder of JGlanz Associates, a retail consulting and design implementation firm.

Mark Bohs has over 25 years of experience in the networking and communications industries. He joins YCD from ComQi (formerly Minicom Digital Signage) where he served as Director of Strategic Accounts. Prior to Minicom he held various executive sales positions with Adva Optical Networking and MRV Communications.

"The new appointments underscore YCD's expansion momentum, and the strategic focus on strengthening our market position," said Noam Levavi, YCD's CEO. "The new managers have extensive experience that will contribute to YCD's growth and continued success."

About YCD Multimedia

YCD Multimedia is an industry leader providing corporations and organizations worldwide with advanced digital media solutions and applications within the retail environment, as well as other industries. YCD’s flexible platforms help businesses attract clients, reinforce branding and ensure a measurable impact on their business. YCD’s end-to-end offering combines strategy, professional services and technology to increase profits, optimize product mix and enhance the customer experience. To date, the company has partnered with over 2,000 customers, including Fortune 500 corporations and some of the world’s most recognized brands, such as Coca Cola, Toyota, Estee Lauder, Ferrari, Hilton Hotels, Cartier, and Hugo Boss. Founded in 1999, YCD Multimedia is headquartered in the United States with offices in the United Kingdom and Israel, and has an international network of resellers serving clients around the globe. In October 2011 YCD acquired C-nario, a global provider of digital signage software solutions. For more information, visit www.ycdmultimedia.com

Bank is Hungary’s first financial institution to deploy deposit automation technology

BUDAPEST, Hungary – To enhance the consumer experience and streamline operations, UniCredit Bank Hungary Zrt. launched a service that enables consumers to deposit cash via an automated teller machine (ATM) to their bank accounts. UniCredit Bank also selected Diebold, Incorporated as its exclusive ATM provider to set-up the new ATMs. The new ATMs deployed by Diebold supported UniCredit Bank to be the first financial institution in Hungary offering automated deposit services.

A successful pilot of envelope-free transactions that authenticated and validated deposit of banknotes in real-time on approximately 10 Diebold Opteva® ATMs was completed in early 2011. These ATMs were equipped with Diebold’s Agilis® multi-vendor software application and enhanced banknote acceptor (ENA). Following the pilot, the bank ordered 25 additional terminals with ENA modules. The bank plans to continue the deployment of additional modules, with the goal to increase the number to 60 by the end of 2012. These cash deposit-enabled ATMs will help the bank improve efficiencies and provide new services for its customers.

The agreement also includes maintenance and professional services for approximately 180 Opteva ATMs deployed across the country. Additionally, UniCredit Bank is deploying personalized ATM marketing which will enable it to deliver targeted marketing campaigns to its customers, empower customers to personalize their ATM experience and extend the bank’s brand. UniCredit Bank is the first financial institution in Hungary to implement Diebold’s Agilis Campaign Office one-to-one marketing solution.

UniCredit Bank was recently named “The Most Innovative Bank of the Year” by MasterCard for integrating deposit automation into its self-service offerings to consumers.

“When we started envelope-free deposit transactions in February 2011 it was clear during the pilot period that customer demand is significant for this kind of service,” said Gyula Bunna, managing director of the retail marketing and segments, UniCredit. “Branches where these new types of ATMs are installed reported an increased percentage of terminal usage instead of cash-desk.”

Diebold has leveraged its strong deposit automation experience and technology expertise to design the ENA to deliver deposit automation improvements, such as simplified servicing and ease of operation. The ENA enables the deposit of up to 50 mixed-denomination notes in an easy, envelope-free transaction that authenticates and validates deposits quickly and accurately, which will continue to allow UniCredit Bank to make deposits available immediately to customers. Diebold’s ENA was certified to accept Hungarian currency by the local central bank.

“Deposit automation technology is key to transforming the branch’s role within the retail banking industry,” said Gerhard Gierer, area sales manager, Central Europe, Diebold EMEA.  “We are excited to partner with UniCredit Bank in Hungary to provide it with innovative products and services that will streamline operations and enhance the consumer experience.”

About UniCredit Bank Hungary Zrt.

UniCredit Bank Hungary Zrt. is a determining player in the Hungarian banking market, which offers comprehensive and flexible financial products and services under favourable conditions. It provides its customers with a wide range of state-of-the-art banking products and services from loans for private and corporate customers and factoring services to big development projects realized with supports from the European Union, from bank accounts and deposits through asset management to investment banking services. This offer is completed by the services of the Hungarian leasing company of UniCredit Group, UniCredit Leasing Hungary Zrt. and also of Pioneer Fund Management Ltd., and is also supported with financial resources by UniCredit Jelzálogbank Zrt.
 
UniCredit Bank has been awarded several times in recent years. It earned the title of “Superbrands” in 2008, 2009 and 2010, the title awarded to top brands of sectors by a jury consisting of Hungarian professionals. In addition it was also awarded the title of “Business Superbrands” in 2009. Moreover UniCredit Bank won the title of “The retail saving product of the year” in the competition of “The bank of the year” in 2008 and also in 2010, while 2011 brought an all time record for the bank. In the competition “The bank of the Year 2011” UniCredit Bank Hungary won first place in the categories of “The most innovative bank of the year 2011” and “The retail credit product of the year 2011”, while finished second in “The retail bank account of the year 2011” and in “The retail saving product of the year 2011” categories.

All these further strengthen UniCredit Bank’s commitment to providing customers with high-level services and to innovation, and supports the success of its strategy.
 
About Diebold

Diebold, Incorporated is a global leader in providing integrated self-service delivery and security systems and services. Diebold employs more than 16,000 associates with representation in nearly 90 countries worldwide and is headquartered in the Canton, Ohio region, USA. Diebold is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘DBD.’ For more information, visit the company's website at www.diebold.com or follow the company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/diebold_inc.
 

ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Employees in the military, medical and industrial fields know that their electronics take a lot of abuse from daily operation in the field. Dirt, heavy usage and careless handling can quickly wear down and damage expensive display screens, leading to work delays and added costs to replace equipment. To protect these fragile devices and increase their longevity, 3M is adding ARMR220 NC, a new screen protector for industrial electronic devices, to its trusted line of display enhancement and protection films. 3M ARMR220 NC provides a durable hard coat barrier when applied to the front surface of LCD displays, offering long-lasting protection to help reduce warranty and repair costs and downtime in the field.
Product Benefits:

•    Near-color neutral anti-reflection and anti-glare properties reduce ambient light reflection and diffuse mirror-like reflections, allowing for improved readability.
•    Durable, scratch and scuff resistant barrier film to protect devices from daily exposures in harsh environments.
•    Display grade non-conductive coating technology protects electronic device screens against scratching and damage.
•    Innovative stay-clean technology prevents dust and dirt from getting trapped along the edges of the film.
•    Screen protectors maintain responsiveness of touch panel technology.
•    Residue-free adhesive technology is easy to apply and remove on a wide variety of display screens.
•    Available in several sizes through 3M resellers or custom sizes for large volume opportunities.

For More Information: www.3m.com/displayenhancement

About 3M

3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $30 billion in sales, 3M employs 84,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 65 countries. For more information, visit www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter.
3M is a trademark of 3M Company © 3M 2012

New York, - ComQi, a leading global solutions provider for multi-channel message management and digital signage, announced today that it won the DSA Industry Excellence Awards for best hospitality deployment and best food services deployment.

Stu Armstrong, Managing Director of ComQi North America, said, “On behalf of our valued customers  Restaurant Associates and CTM Media Group, we are honored for these projects to be recognized as best in the industry.  In every project we do at ComQi, we strive to deliver engagement through expertly delivered deployments and innovation.  Both of these projects are a shining example of these efforts”

The DSA Industry Excellence Awards, which honors the best digital signage, mobile and self-service technology deployments across all vertical market segments, delivered the Best Hospitality Deployment award to CTM Media Group's Ettractions ExploreBoard using ComQi’s Engage Content Management System.

CTM Media Group and ComQi developed this customized touch screen solution by combining ComQi’s EnGage Content Management System with a custom Flash application and the ettractions.com content library to provide an intuitive and easy to use user interface to allow travelers to gain information on local points of interest, dining, and shopping. For more information on the CTM Media Group's Ettractions ExploreBoard, Click Here

Restaurant Associates and ComQi received a second DSA Industry Excellence Award for Best Food Service Deployment for their project with The American Museum of Natural History in New York City.  The solution deployed, designed by ComQi, comprises of a custom-built media wall featuring two arrays of three synchronized screens so that content is displayed across all three screens. It is driven by ComQi media player and it is using ComQi’s EnGage On Site Manager (OSM), which is a browser-based application that enables users to update a template, or upload pictures or a video with an interface designed as a Web 2.0 application, with all the simplicity of drag and drop. 

For more information on EnGage On Site Manager at the American Museum of Natural History, Click Here

The Award was presented last week at the Award Ceremony opening CETW in San Francisco.

About ComQi

ComQi is a global leader providing a powerful multi-channel message management platform that controls a network’s content and infrastructure, closing the loop between digital signage, mobile, web and social media within a venue. ComQi won numerous awards including the AV Technology Award for the Best Digital Signage Product in 2011. It has been voted as the number one global digital signage provider for three years in a row by DailyDOOH and a Tier One player by Frost & Sullivan for the second year in a row.
Created through the merger of Minicom Digital Signage and EnQii, ComQi’s mission is to deliver an end-to-end solution that is tailored to engage consumers by optimizing communications and marketing strategies that provide the best ROI. By putting the consumer at the center of the experience, ComQi enables Connected Experiences through a single platform that offers media distribution, network and content management, interactive experiences and impact measurement. ComQi offers all these solutions directly or by partnering with systems integrators, distributors and marketing agencies. ComQi’s hundreds of customers include leading brands around the world, such as Care Media, Compass Group and Six Flags (in the US), McDonald's and The Premier League (in the UK), CinemaxX (in Germany), Toys ‘R’ Us (in China)  and Carrefour and Credit Lyonnais (in France). With over 12 years of expertise and an installed base of more than 400,000 displays worldwide, ComQi is a global company headquartered in New York with offices in Jerusalem, Toronto, London, Zurich, Paris, Hong Kong Shanghai and a representative office in India.

Interactive BlackBerry® PlayBook™ Tablet App Receives Top Honor in the Best Entertainment Deployment — Mobile Category

MONTREAL — X2O Media, a full-service provider of software, network management, and content services for real-time visual communication applications, today announced that the interactive X2O Rogers Cup Experience tablet app developed for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ was honored with a 2012 Industry Excellence Award by the Digital Screenmedia Association (DSA) in the "Best Entertainment Deployment — Mobile" category. The app — which was specially developed for the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Toronto and Montreal — enabled select VIP fans to take advantage of a number of powerful features for a more visually exciting, informative, and interactive tournament experience — all at the touch of a finger.

The DSA Industry Excellence Awards honor the best self-service, digital signage and mobile technology deployments across all vertical market segments. This year's awards were presented at the DSA party held on March 28 in San Francisco, during the annual Customer Engagement Technology World (CETW) West event.

"We are honored that the DSA and the award judges recognized our X2O Rogers Cup Experience app with a 2012 Industry Excellence Award," said David Wilkins, President and CEO of X2O Media. "This tablet app demonstrates what is possible when content is taken beyond the large-format display and made available on different screen types — not to mention the added effectiveness of incorporating interactivity and social media. With the X2O Rogers Cup Experience app, the result was the ultimate companion for tennis fans that took the game to a whole new level."

The best men and women in professional tennis annually battle it out at the Rogers Cup presented by the National Bank. In 2011, the women's tournament took place in Toronto and the men's tournament was held in Montreal. The summer of 2011 marked the first time in the Cup's 131-year history when both tournaments were played during the same week in August.

Beginning with the semifinals, the X2O Rogers Cup Experience BlackBerry PlayBook app was made available to select VIP guests in the Cisco Systems hospitality suites at the Toronto and Montreal tournaments. With the application, watching live videos of Cup matches and game highlights from both cities was only the start. Users were able to access all match scores, view player profiles, follow and send tweets on the action, and even view live weather feeds with radar maps. In addition, fans interacted with a large-screen version of the app on digital touchscreens displaying the same content available on the tablets.
More information on X2O products is available at www.x2omedia.com.

About X2O Media

X2O Media is a full-service provider of software, network management services, and content services for professional digital signage and corporate communication applications. The company offers a wide variety of software solutions for digital signage and interactive networks of all sizes. X2O's award-winning Xpresenter™ provides an end-to-end platform for the creation, management, and distribution of content at broadcast quality, and at a fraction of the time of other solutions. In addition to technology, X2O offers content design, acquisition, management, distribution, and monitoring services for digital signage networks. More information about X2O Media is available at www.x2omedia.com.

All trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Two New Elo Touchmonitors Offer Multi-touch and a Sleek, Frameless Design
 
Kessel Lo, Belgium – TE Connectivity today announced the expansion of its Elo
TouchSystems portfolio with two of its leading touchmonitors now available with projected capacitive (PCAP) touchscreen technology.

The Elo TouchSystems wide-screen 1519L 15-inch and 1919L 19-inch LCD desktop touchmonitors now offer multi-touch functionality and increased touch sensitivity for the demands of retail, hospitality and high-traffic commercial use. Adding PCAP technology to the 1519L and 1919L touchmonitors provides a unique, aesthetically pleasing seamless design, a sensitive touch response and is able to withstand repeated touches, - an advantage for heavy, public usage applications. These new PCAP touchmonitors offer multi-touch functionality (when used with Windows 7 operating system) and a seamless, glass-to-edge, frameless design while maintaining fast, accurate and stable performance.

“The PCAP touchscreens available on these touchmonitors demonstrate our commitment to providing a variety of the best solutions on the market for commercial applications,” stated Ehsan Ayar, senior product manager at TE Connectivity for Elo TouchSystems products. “The seamless, smooth, frameless designs of the 1519/1919L touchmonitors come packaged with the speed and performance you would expect in an Elo TouchSystems product. We are also excited to add PCAP touch technology to these models to increase touch response and add multi-touch capability.”

Well-suited for use with the fast-changing retail and hospitality applications such as point-of-sale (POS), point-of-information (POI), point-of-service, interactive digital signage and kiosk information systems, these touchmonitors with a wide-aspect ratio screen provide more space to display additional content on the screen and are easier to use and incorporate into a wider variety of environments than traditional desktop touchmonitors. The new PCAP touchmonitors are suitable for customers who are looking for a reliable, frameless, cost competitive touch solution. The 1519L and 1919L PCAP touchmonitors provide reliable, durable operation and expand the globally trusted Elo TouchSystems touchmonitor portfolio.

The 1519L and 1919L now feature a choice of five touchscreen technologies: AccuTouch five-wire resistive touchscreens, the most widely used for retail applications and proven to withstand splashing liquids, food and grease; IntelliTouch pure glass surface acoustic wave touchscreens, for outstanding optical quality preferred in dry retail and hospitality applications; iTouch pure glass surface acoustic wave for outstanding optical quality and glass-to-edge design; APR (acoustic pulse recognition) touchscreens; and now multi-touch, zero-bezel PCAP touchscreens for a glass-to-edge seamless design.

About TE Connectivity

TE Connectivity is a global, $14 billion company that designs and manufactures over 500,000 products that connect and protect the flow of power and data inside the products that touch every aspect of our lives. Our nearly 100,000 employees partner with customers in virtually every industry – from consumer electronics, energy and healthcare, to automotive, aerospace and communication networks – enabling smarter, faster, better technologies to connect products to possibilities. More information on TE Connectivity can be found at http://www.te.com.

About TE Touch Solutions

TE Touch Solutions, a global leader in touchscreen technology, develops, manufactures, and markets a complete line of touch screens, touch monitors, and all-in-one (AiO) touch computers under the Elo and TE brands. Backed by over 40 years of touch experience and with multiple touch technology options, including surface acoustic wave (SAW), resistive, surface capacitive, projected capacitive, acoustic pulse recognition (APR), infrared (IR), and multi-touch, Elo touch products are available for diverse applications in retail, point-of-sale (POS), kiosk, medical, industrial, hospitality, transportation, automotive, mobile and gaming markets.  Visit www.elotouch.com or call +32 16 352100 for more information.

AccuTouch, Elo (logo), Elo TouchSystems, IntelliTouch, iTouch, TE Connectivity, TE connectivity (logo) and TE (logo) are trademarks of the TE Connectivity Ltd. family of companies.

Dynamax’s cloud-based product- digitalsignage.NET will be introduced to new markets thanks to Exen2ric’s expansion into the Caribbean. Exen2ric delivers a wide range of data solutions including electronic signature interfaces such as multiline information panels, intelligent queuing systems and fully integrated digital signage displays with advanced touch-screen functionality.
Given Exen2ric’s local knowledge and contacts, addressing the Caribbean market was a natural decision, both companies believing in the potential of their joint offer in the new digital signage market.

Robert Lake, Director at Exen2ric comments on the project: ‘’ The Caribbean has been a market we have been looking into exploring for a while, and we took the time to find a suitable digital signage product for that  region as it was important that the desired solution can be centrally managed. One of the major reasons we wanted to work with Dynamax and digitalsignage.NET was their software’s ease of use and the company’s lengthy experience. digitalsignage.NET ticks all the boxes- it’s  a cloud based application that is feature rich and works on multiple devices, allowing us to deliver a polished, off- the shelf solution that will scale to our customers’ needs."

With headquarters in London, Exen2ric will soon open a new office in the Caribbean, making its digital signage products powered by Dynamax readily available to the local market.

Interactive Products Developer Partners with Self-Service Kiosk Manufacturer to Offer Tourist Assistance Portal to Visitor Centers

Marion, IN/Savannah, GA (PRWEB) - ZIVELO, a recognized leader within the self-service kiosk and digital signage manufacturing industry and BlueFocus Media, an innovative developer of digital networking solutions announced today their partnership agreement. This agreement grants BlueFocus Media direct access to ZIVELO’s complete line of products.

BlueFocus Media turned to ZIVELO to integrate their successful TAP (Tourist Assistance Portal) platform with the kiosk manufacturer’s industry-proven designs to offer a complete turnkey solution to their clients.

“ZIVELO manufactures high-quality products that can handle the abuse of thousands of tourists poking and prodding the touchscreen kiosks,” says Chad Warner, President of BlueFocus Media, “Not only are their terminals built to last, but the CVBs we deal with like the range of size and display format options available. ZIVELO makes something for all applications.”

TAP (Tourist Assistance Portal) is an interactive touchscreen kiosk which is placed in high traffic tourist locations such as a visitor’s bureau and acts as a virtual tour guide and public information hub. Offering easy access to local history, culture and events, weather forecasts, and current local business guides--complete with maps, menus, and photo galleries--the TAP system is a valuable tool for any community that wishes to generate revenue and a positive perception of their area.

“We are excited to team up with BlueFocus Media to provide the hardware platform for their TAP system,” says Ziver Birg, CEO of ZIVELO, “Their streamlined system offers the perfect way for cities to involve visitors and residents alike in the community and to boost local business revenue, ultimately stimulating economic and cultural growth.”

About Blue Focus Media

BlueFocus Media is based in Savannah, Georgia, where the very first TAP system was rolled out in 2009. TAP is an interactive information system that uses a touch-screen interface and is an eco-friendly way to provide tourists with easy access to local accommodations, dining, shopping, events, weather, culture and events. Since its inception, the TAP network has expanded to assist visitors to several U.S. cities, and has plans to expand to several more within the year.

For more information about BlueFocus Media, please visit http://www.bluefocusmedia.com or contact info@blufocusmedia.com.

About ZIVELO

ZIVELO has rapidly grown to become the world’s largest self-service kiosk manufacturers, with over 250,000 square feet of manufacturing facilities and over 200 employees. The design, engineering, and manufacturing of their public terminal systems are completely contained within the United States, allowing them to offer rapid turnaround of product delivery.

ZIVELO’s product line is well known globally and with over 50 resellers and distributors throughout the US, Canada, Europe, South Africa and Australia has been utilized by customers across multiple industries such as Coca-Cola, Nike, Verizon, Hilton, US Steel, CIA, FBI, Siemens, Boeing, MIT, NASA and the US Army.

For more information about ZIVELO or its line of kiosks and digital signage, please visit http://www.zivelo.com or contact .

CYPRESS, Calif.  – Christie® MicroTiles® are drawing rave reviews at the recently remodeled University of Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The 15,500-seat arena is the home of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the university's wrestling (winner of 23 NCAA championships – including 11 straight starting in 1975), men’s and women’s gymnastics, and volleyball teams.

Located in the main lobby of the new entrance, the 10 wide (13 feet 4 inches) by 7 high (7 feet) Christie MicroTiles array greets Hawkeye fans with commissioned video art, slideshows and graphics of upcoming events, and videos of current players and alumni of the college powerhouse.

“We collaborated with KJWW Engineering on this project and originally there was another brand of traditional LCD-type video wall that was supposed to go in there,” said Nate Lawrence, vice president of operations, Electronic Communications Systems (ECS). “We saw the Christie MicroTiles and thought this renovation project would be a good application for them. ECS has done a lot of video walls and we were really excited to get this new technology in there.”
 
“KJWW Engineering provided the engineering consulting for the project, including technology engineering services, which incorporates telecommunications, AV and security,” said Jeff Carpenter, associate principal/national director of technology, KJWW Engineering Consultants.
 
Carpenter said the university wanted a solution with “pop” since the MicroTiles video wall is in a high profile location with both natural and artificial ambient light.

“From a brightness perspective, the university wanted something that jumped out at you when you walked in the space,” Carpenter added. “We set up a demonstration of the Christie MicroTiles for the athletic department and they realized the MicroTiles were the solution they wanted to move forward with.”

Lawrence said the virtually seamless display of a Christie MicroTiles display wall means a more cohesive set-up than other technologies.

“When you see the MicroTiles in person, it blows you away when compared with the standard LCD display walls. The ability to create different shapes and sizes with the MicroTiles is also great. The reaction has been extremely positive. When we were putting the wall up, we couldn’t work more than a couple of minutes without somebody walking by making comments  and wanting to see the wall get fired up and have content running,” added Lawrence.
 
The staff and students at the school are also impressed.

“We’re very excited about the MicroTiles. We have the most advanced technology and our young people – who are very aware of the latest technologies – know that,” said Dr. Jane C. Meyer, senior associate director of athletics, University of Iowa. “We wanted the most vibrant, high quality pictures on multiple screens – with very small mullions – and we have accomplished that with the MicroTiles display.”

Meyer added: “The arena has this wonderful sunlit, airy entry with a video wall that hits visitors with the display; it’s a very powerful experience for people first entering the arena. The MicroTiles have the vibrancy in a bright atmosphere that LED would never have achieved.”

“The MicroTiles wall is definitely a big focal point of the entire renovation project, both from the people just walking through and from the standpoint of the university itself,” concluded Lawrence. “With the overall image quality, brightness and how well it displays full motion video, the MicroTiles have created quite a buzz – everyone’s really excited about the overall look and how well everything integrated together.”

About Christie®

Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. is a global visual technologies company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ushio, Inc., Japan, (JP:6925). Consistently setting the standards by being the first to market some of the world’s most advanced projectors and complete system displays, Christie is recognized as one of the most innovative visual technology companies in the world. From retail displays to Hollywood, mission critical command centers to classrooms and training simulators, Christie display solutions and projectors capture the attention of audiences around the world with dynamic and stunning images. Visit www.christiedigital.com.