Tuesday, March 23, 2010

IAdea Supports Scala Release 5.1

IAdea is happy to have participated in a number of digital signage events with Scala this year, including the Integrated Systems Europe show in Amsterdam, and the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas.


Scala is making its new software available worldwide as of this week. With this new Release 5.1, IAdea is launching IAdea Bridge Server 1.6 to add a great number of features for using IAdea media appliances with Scala software. Features new since Bridge 1.0 include:
  • Support for Scala Templated Message Snapshots: now users of IAdea media appliances can quickly take advantage of dozens of Scala templates shipped with the Scala Designer software. While IAdea players are unable to natively playback ScalaScript, a new mechanism in Bridge Server now supports playing back static images extracted from the dynamic scripts. Users can quickly create welcome signs and on-sale signs using Scala messages and have them played back on IAdea players.
  • Pairing code for media player provisioning: deploying IAdea media appliances with Scala is now made even easier than deploying native Scala players: when you connect up an IAdea player to a Scala network, a 4-digit code appears on-screen and as soon as it is entered into Bridge Server, system configuration for the player is complete. This allows field maintenance be greatly simplified.
  • IAdea problem codes: IAdea players are now assigned new "problem codes" to help pin-point problems during troubleshooting. Scope for the diagnostics covers file transfer problems, media playback problems, license problems, and storage-related problems.
  • Unified firmware package: now all IAdea player firmware updates come in one unified file regardless of the hardware model you have. This greatly simplifies updating your device to the latest firmware required (and you should always do that) to take advantage of new features now made available.
The list goes on. Scala Certified Partners can now read all about them and download the latest software plus firmware packages at http://scp.iadea.com/ (registration required). According to our beta testers, you will love the new software when you get to try it.

And remember, all features made possible here are done in SMIL script. Learn about the power of the SMIL open standard for digital signage at http://www.a-smil.org/.

Monday, March 1, 2010

IAdea in "The Digital Signage Evolution"

Jason Cremins, CEO of Signagelive, summarizes 17 years of experience with the digital signage industry and forecasts the impact of SMIL devices as the next step for the industry.
The segmentation of the digital signage sector is great if you are in a position to embrace and not fear it. An example of this has been our move to support non-pc devices, such as the SMIL open standard player technology developed by IAdea and OEM’d by several major manufacturers. Initially, we developed support for SMIL devices to provide a network managed option for lock and load compact flash devices that make up 80% of all digital signage displays in Retail. However, after seeing the road map for SMIL and other non-PC technology, 2010 will see devices the size of a pack of playing cards offering the same functionality as full blown HD PC’s at a fraction of the price.


[...] Our decision to concentrate on what we are good at and work in collaboration with others offering their own part of the digital signage eco-system was a great move. We can look forward to the emergence of new industry standards and technology and embrace them to ensure our partners and customers can choose the best technology for their needs without restrictions.


Read more...

CoolSign's press release on IAdea

CoolSign publishes their press release for DSE 2010 on partnership with IAdea:
The latest version of CoolSign's enterprise-class digital signage software solution, being announced at the digital signage industry's largest trade show, incorporates several powerful new features fine-tuned to the diverse needs of partners and their end-user customers.

“CoolSign does software, and only software. We deliver solutions through our global reseller channel, as well as relationships with our hardware, software, and services partners.” says CoolSign President and founder Lou Giacalone, Jr. “Our job is to provide them with capable and reliable software, and CoolSign 4.5 gives our resellers and business partners something that addresses their needs, and allows for customization and integration to make our product part of their own.”

The partner eco-system is a fundamental part of CoolSign’s growth and company culture, says Giacalone. This is clearly reflected by the fact that 20 of CoolSign’s top partners are part of the booth at DSE 2010.

CoolSign is also pleased to announce integration with [...] IAdea, one of the first hardware manufacturers to bring new open standard, SMIL-based media players into the sector.

Other partners at the show included: Christie CRI, DMG, LocaModa, Planar, ScreenFeed, TruMedia, and Vertigo Displays.