Communicating with digital signage.

Communicating with digital signage. AN INCREASING NUMBER OF K12 DISTRICTS ARE BEGINNING TO INSTALLDIGITAL SIGNS--FOR displaying announcements, weather conditions, welcomemessages, event information and more--in their lobbies, hallways,libraries or cafeterias. Digital signage can also play an important roleas part of an emergency notification system, as administrators canimmediately display crisis response information on every connectedmonitor throughout a school building or district. There are three essential components to a digital signage system: atelevision monitor, preferably a commercial-grade unit capable ofhandling continuous operation; a digital signage player, which is asmall hard drive that connects to the monitor and plays the content; anda digital signage software program, which is needed to createpresentations. As installations get larger and the number of displaysincreases, it becomes more necessary to have network-connected playersand monitors so content can be easily and instantly uploaded across aschool or district. Software can also be fully hosted online instead ofinstalled on a single PC, allowing administrators to control and updateschool signage from any Internet-connected computer. If administratorsare not using such Web-based software, large systems will usuallyrequire a fourth component--a content management server with greaterstorage capacity and administrative capabilities, which connects tomultiple players and monitors. Here are some of the options to considerfor implementing digital signage in your district. NEC MultiSync LCD4615, LCD monitor, Hardware, $1,699 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Perhaps the most crucial part of a digital signage system is themonitor itself, and NEC's new MultiSync LCD4615 is a good exampleof how affordable commercial grade HD digital signage has become. This46-inch, 1080p display has a contrast ratio of 3,000:1 and is designedspecifically for digital signage applications, with more rugged andhigh-performance components than consumer televisions so it can betterhandle continuous operation without image retention or loss of imagequality. Additional features include a screen saver and a schedulingfunction for powering on or off at preset times. www.necdisplay.com Similar products are also available from. LG, Westinghouse,Samsung, Vizio CISCO Digital Media Manager, Digital signage program Internet, Pricing varies depending on installation Cisco provides complete digital signage systems, includingdisplays, routers and cabling, as part of its Digital Media Systemsolution. The company's Digital Media Manager is a Web-basedsoftware application central to managing the content for a Cisco digitalsignage system. It allows administrators to upload, catalog, edit,package and publish digital media content for live or on-demand playbackon digital signs as well as desktop computers over a network. A varietyof features also included that are specific to users who manage andschedule content, users who design content, and IT support personnel. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] www.cisco.com Similar products are also available from: StrandVision, Rise Vision, Aerva AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS SVS-2103, Digital signage player, H a rdwa re, $799 AIS offers a range of digital signage players, which act asinterfaces with a television display. Users migrate their multimediaPowerPoint slideshows into the bundled AIS digital signage software andthen upload the converted presentation onto a model such as theSVS-2103, which has a 46B capacity, enough for storing and displaying upto 1.8 hours of 1080p HD images and video to one monitor. Hard drivecapacity of up to 80GB is optional. Content can be uploaded via flashdrive or wirelessly from the administrator's PC, and this model canalso connect to and display an RSS feed. Partition tools allow users todivide screens into zones for simultaneous presentation of images, videoand a scrolling text bar. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] www.aispro.com Similar products are also available from: Sony, Black Box,Advantech VISIX AxisTV, Digital signage program Software, Pricing varies depending on installation Visix provides digital signage hardware including media playerappliances and signal extenders for large installations, but thecompany's flagship product is its AxisTV software. The programenables users to create, schedule and broadcast media not only todigital signage displays but also to other platforms, including desktopmessengers and screen savers on desktop PCs, or cell phones, RSS feeds,PDAs and Web pages. Users can also access the program to create and sendcontent remotely from any browser-based Internet device, such as asmartphone, laptop or PDA. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] www.visix.com Similar products are also available from: 3M. Sharp, Scala