AV Technology - November/December 2008 - (Page 43)

wanted to have an approval scheme already set up so a clerical worker could create and schedule messages, and then a manager could review them and approve them for posting.” Another consideration was cost. “Some of the other systems were extremely expensive,” Bottemiller notes. “Everybody else has a very high licensing cost per site. What they expect you to do is use one player to cover a given another firm and set it up that way, we would have been paying $3,000 to $4,000 per year per player, and that was just unacceptable.” Topping adds that, “it’s just a matter of specifying the IP addresses for the players that will receive a particular channel.” A third consideration was flexibility. The Carousel system allows U of M to divide the monitor screen into several zones, each of learning process.” Content creation is easy and intuitive. LINKS TO OTHER UNIVERSITY SYSTEMS Topping says that the University is making a big effort to streamline its systems and eliminate multiple points of entry for the same data. “We expect to see a lot of use of the signage systems for room scheduling,” he reports, once CTS ties Carousel into Resource 25 (R25), the University’s scheduling system. “Each department will be able to interface Carousel to the Resource 25 server, and that will automatically pull the data for each room. Then, as the room schedule is updated in R25, the schedule is automatically updated at the display location. The information is refreshed every five minutes.” The Emergency Management team, who has been very supportive of the signage system, is also looking at tying Carousel into their other systems. Right now, Carousel is set up so that the department can override any or all of the signage system’s messaging channels should there be an emergency on campus. But signage is not their only emergency notification method, and they need to originate messages in their text messaging, email, radio alert, and other systems separately. “It turns out that Carousel is able to output information on an RSS basis, also,” Topping says, “so one of my long term projects is to see if we will be able to refine the process to where we can create content within Carousel, then output the messages to the other systems.” According to Topping, this is just one more reason why the signage system continues to grow so quickly on campus. “We feel digital signage and interactive digital signage can revolutionize the overall experience faculty, staff, students, and guests have at the University of Minnesota. CTS is striving to turn this vision into a reality.” IN MAY, 2007 THE SIGNAGE SYSTEM INCLUDED EIGHT DISPLAYS ACROSS THE CAMPUS. BY MAY 2008, THERE WERE 31. BY AUGUST, THE UNIVERSITY HAD 15 MORE INSTALLED WITH AN ADDITIONAL 102 PLANNED FOR INSTALLATION WITHIN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS. area, then set up an RGB infrastructure to send the signal to your various monitors. That model didn’t work very well for us, because it would have been very costly to install all the coax cable, while we already had data infrastructure everywhere.” Instead, the University purchased a large number of players and installed them on the University’s IP network, in most cases running just one monitor from each. “If we had used PHOTO BY DON KRESKI which can originate from a different source. “It’s easy to set up zones in various shapes, sizes, and configurations,” Topping adds. Topping says that training and support have been minimal. “We do offer a training session where we walk them through just about every facet of the signage software. I don’t expect everybody to retain 100 percent of the information at that time, but at least they have seen it once, and that helps their INFO www.avtechnologyonline.com NEC: www.necvisualsystems.com TIGHTROPE MEDIA SYSTEMS: www.trms.com Don Kreski, president of Kreski Marketing Consultants, has been writing about the AV industry for almost 30 years. You can reach him at www.kreski.com/contact.html november | december 2008 | AV TECHNOLOGY | 43 http://www.necvisualsystems.com http://www.trms.com http://www.kreski.com/contact.html http://www.avtechnologyonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AV Technology - November/December 2008

AV Technology - November/December 2008 Contents Precedent Corporate: Finishing with Style Government: It’s Still About People Education: Surviving Budget Cuts Applying Metrics to AV ROI Selecting Room Scheduling Software Six Things You Need to Know About Webcasting The Way I See It: Becoming an Internet Native Casino Uses AV for Dramatic Impact Just What the Doctor Ordered The Loneliest Help Desk in Town Product Forum Product Spotlight Tech Horizons New Products Ad Index AV MO

AV Technology - November/December 2008

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