INSIGHTS TO HELP ANY RETAILER PREPARE FOR SHOPPING PEAKS HOW TO MAKE A LOW-COST MODULAR KIOSK SOLUTION USING REUSABLE COMPONENTS FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022 ISSUE 35 IN THIS ISSUE: GREEN SIGNAGE AND DOOH: AV PREDICTIONS FOR 2002 THE IMPORTANCE OF MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENTCONTENTS 2KIOSK AND DIGITAL SIGNAGE MAGAZINE A round up of some of the latest kiosk and digital signage news to hit the editor’s inbox. Denis Kondopoulos looks at the options for making a low-cost modular kiosk solution using off the shelf components. If the past two years have shown us anything, it’s that it’s never been more important to make use of data to drive customer loyalty, trust, engagement and safety. Dahwood Ahmed, Regional Director UK&I, Extreme Networks shares three insights to help retailers prepare for shopping peaks. Even organisations with the best intentions can spend too much time and energy looking internally rather than addressing their customer base’s wants and needs. Get to Know Your Customer Day serves to encourage companies to remember the cornerstone of their business – the customer. 2KIOSK AND DIGITAL SIGNAGE MAGAZINE 04 NEWS 03 FOREWORD 26 HOW TO MAKE A LOW-COST MODULAR KIOSK SOLUTION USING REUSABLE COMPONENTS 22 THREE INSIGHTS TO HELP ANY RETAILER PREPARE FOR SHOPPING PEAKS 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT 12 GREEN SIGNAGE AND DOOH: AV PREDICTIONS FOR 2022 Publisher: Abacus Communications Editor: Laura Vallis Advertising: Hillview Media www.kdseurope.com Surrey Technology Centre, Surrey Research Park, 40 Occam Road, Guildford, GU2 7YG ISSN 2756-1097 The author and publisher, and its officers and employees, do not accept any liability for any errors that may have occurred, or for any reliance on their contents. All trademarks and brand names are respected within our publication. However, the publishers accept no responsibility for any inadvertent misuse that may occur. This publication is protected by copyright © 2022 and accordingly must not be reproduced in any medium. All rights reserved. From sustainability to transforming the retail sector as we know it for the post- Covid consumer, Tim Matthews, Senior Product Manager B2B, at Vestel gives his AV predictions. Promotions, organisational changes and new recruits across the kiosk and digital signage industry. 29 MOVERS AND SHAKERS Would you like to contribute to KDS? Please submit news stories, articles, press releases and industry expert opinions to Laura Vallis editor@kdseurope.com. Please include high resolution (300dpi+ CMYK) images. We publish all news and articles that adhere to our editorial guidelines free of charge. This ensures our content is unbiased and relevant to our industry. The views expressed in the articles and technical papers are those of the authors and are not endorsed by the publishers. It’s been two long, hard years, but with the Covid-19 restrictions slowly being lifted in a ‘learn to live with Covid’ attitude, it feels we are finally beginning to see the light. Spring helps of course and this season is always one that encourages new beginnings, to see the green shoots of business and to grow and improve what we already have. In this issue of Kiosk and Digital Signage magazine we have a variety of feature articles enabling us to take advantage of those Spring-like feelings, supporting new technology concepts to effect our business with a positive focus. Our article on green signage and DOOH concentrates on sustainability transforming the retail sector as we know it. Tim Matthews, Senior Product Manager B2B at Vestel gives his AV predictions for 2022. Even organisations with the best intentions can spend too much time and energy looking internally rather than addressing their customer’s wants and needs. Looking at the importance of meaningful customer engagement, ‘Get to Know Your Customer Day’ serves to encourage companies to remember the cornerstone of their business – the customer. We look at how various experts and operators intend to get to know their customers better. If the past two years have shown us anything, it’s that it’s never been more important to make use of data to drive customer loyalty, trust, engagement and safety. Dahwood Ahmed, Regional Director UK&I, Extreme Networks shares three insights to help retailers prepare for shopping peaks. Kiosks have been increasingly used throughout the past two years aiding customer purchasing, wayfinding and engagement. In addition, kiosks can capture data that isn’t necessarily obtained in face-to-face environments. However, they can be considered a costly, and perhaps, extravagant item to the smaller operation. Denis Kondopoulos looks at the options of making a low- cost modular kiosk solution using off the shelf components. If you’d like to contribute a feature article, contact me at editor@kdseurope. com and we can help you put something together. Our next issue’s editorial programme is due to cover food service, smart technology and printers, but don’t let those subject matters restrict you. If you think our readership would be interested in reading about it then send it through. Laura Vallis Editor FOREWORD 3 KIOSK AND DIGITAL SIGNAGE MAGAZINE EDITOR’S NOTENEWS IN BRIEF 4KIOSK AND DIGITAL SIGNAGE MAGAZINE EXTERITY IS NOW VITEC Exterity is now officially Vitec, following the acquisition of Exterity in April 2021. Vitec is a provider of IPTV, video streaming and digital signage solutions that helps organisations harness the power of video to engage, empower and evolve. The organisation will continue to deliver a wide range of best-in-class solutions across its markets, leveraging the expertise of the combined teams to best serve customers and partners around the globe. The move has been further signified by new branding, giving a fresh new look to accompany the change. “Since the acquisition, a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes – integrating business processes, gaining deeper understanding of the combined product range, and bringing our teams together,” says Colin Farquhar, Senior Vice President of Sales at Vitec and former Exterity CEO. “We have been focused on coming together as ‘one Vitec’, exploring product integrations and shared technologies to best serve our customers.” Early 2022, Vitec will launch its first jointly developed product; a next generation transcoder, bringing the best of Exterity and Vitec transcoder technology into the Vitec Prism transcoder product. Prism is a high- performance IP transcoder that enables IP video content to be easily converted into the right format to suit a wide range of devices and applications. Philippe Wetzel, CEO, Vitec, said “We knew the many natural technology and customer synergies between the two companies would enable us to extend our reach into new geographies, market verticals and partners. We have enjoyed the collaborative process of finding out more and learning from each other over recent months. It is clear that the strategic acquisition will be hugely beneficial, and I’m delighted that we are now all one Vitec, working together to achieve our goals.” Absen has announced its first public event held at its European HQ, in Mörfelden-Walldorf near Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Germany. Situated just a 15 minute drive from Frankfurt airport, the new state of the art showroom will be open to the public for a full two days of discussion and market sharing. The first day of the event (15th March) will offer a number of scheduled seminars where visitors can delve into discussions surrounding MicroLED, corporate immersive spaces and what Absen has planned for 2022 and beyond. Day two of the showroom open day (16th March) will act as a more informal ‘drop-in’ opportunity for partners, distributors and users to speak with Regional Business Development Managers and access seminars throughout the day if they wish. There will also be a chance to explore and interact with the popular Absenicon series of fine pitch indoor LED and the renowned Clear Cobalt Series which launched in autumn. The CL1.2 model of this series will be showcased during the event. It features Absen’s custom HDR image algorithm technology, to render optimum peak brightness and contrast for every frame image, wide colour gamut and full flip chip technology. Visitors will have the opportunity to learn first-hand about the capabilities of these products with Absen professionals. ABSEN HOSTS FIRST EVER IN-PERSON EVENT AT EUROPEAN HQ INTERACTIVE SCAPE AND DISPLAX COLLABORATE Interactive Scape and Displax have announced cooperation to pioneer European solutions for large-scale multitouch screens and surfaces. The collaboration will advance the exciting combination of touch displays and object recognition, creating unique experiences for areas such as retail, museums, exhibitions and many others. Hauke Helmer, CEO and founder of Interactive Scape, said: “We are thrilled that the integration of Displax Mesh sensors works so well, even on our largest screens. The world- class performance of the sensors has enabled us to further develop our one- of-a-kind, AI-based object recognition technology, which worked almost immediately with the new sensors. We look forward to strengthening our partnership going forward and working closely with Displax’s latest sensor technologies.” Miguel Fonseca, CEO of Displax, said: “Our partnership with Interactive Scape has really shown how flexible and adaptable Displax is. Interactive Scape moved from 3MTouch to Displax because it is an easy, reliable transition and guarantees top performance. " 5 KIOSK AND DIGITAL SIGNAGE MAGAZINE ITL CASHGENIC PARTNER WITH PERFECTMONEY Innovative Technology (ITL) has secured several distribution suppliers for its CashGenic hygienic cash automation solution both in the UK and throughout Europe including Germany-based, PerfectMoney. Commenting on the success of the roll-out, Thorsten Labusch, VP of Sales said, “We are delighted with the fast pace of the CashGenic partner acquisition programme. It was first launched in May 2020 during the Covid pandemic to enable customers to pay with cash hygienically and safely. One of our partners, PerfectMoney, a payment solutions provider based in South Germany, are proudly building their own machines which they have rebranded ‘Vicky’. This high- performance, smart cash dispenser has space-saving dimensions so fits onto any counter, making installations quick and easy.” Christian Dieterich, CEO, PerfectMoney commented, “We made the decision to expand our product portfolio to include ITL’s CashGenic kit built into our own payment machine. We are pleased with the success of the roll-out so far with several businesses reporting an uplift in cash takings after Vicky was installed. Although Covid may have initially triggered this development for hygiene reasons to reduce staff handling money, it brings many more advantages to the retailer. Securing cash payments, reducing accounting errors and cost efficiency continue to be key for the retail industry. Plus, cash remains the preferred payment of choice here in Germany, so we foresee take-up growing significantly over the coming years.” Zytronic has introduced ZyBrid touch sensor technology, developed to create stunning multi-screen interactive video walls and tables. Designed to mirror the narrowest bezel video wall monitors, the glass sensors feature an ultra-narrow border (from 3mm to zero), creating a sleek appearance by using the maximum display area. The sensors can be linked when used with the associated ZyBrid controller to enable seamless touch transition between screens, with potentially no gap whatsoever between adjacent active areas. Typically, AV installers fix a huge protective glass over the entire interactive video wall. They then often use a clip-on infra-red or camera- based touch detection system around the outside of the tiled screens. This arrangement creates a large, unsightly, protruding bezel around the edge of the wall, even if interactivity is only required on some displays. It also means that if a monitor needs to be adjusted or replaced, the entire cover glass has to be unmounted from the touch detection frame. These touch detection technologies tend to be susceptible to false and accidental touches. They can also be confused by strong, direct sunlight. Worse, if dust and debris accumulate on the surface, the effectiveness of optical transmitters or receivers can be impacted, stopping the interactive video wall from working altogether. Current alternative technologies, such as conventional projected capacitive or acoustic-based touch systems have wider borders that detract from the very closely tiled, aesthetic appearance that an interactive video wall should have. “The new Zytronic projected capacitive solution eradicates both these issues, enabling ultra-fast, accurate touchscreen responses and providing borders that match the latest near borderless LCDs,” says Ian Crosby, Sales and Marketing Director, Zytronic. Each narrow-border ZyBrid sensor is supported by a dedicated ZYX500 based multitouch controller linked via a set of RJ45 data cables. The connected associate controllers then finally connect to a single, leading primary controller. The controllers are fitted with a manual toggle switch that changes the onboard firmware settings, allowing AV installers to quickly choose whether to make it an associate or a primary controller. Only needing one type of controller reduces system complexity and component inventory. Zytronic has also designed proprietary new firmware for the special ZXY500 controllers. The firmware allows the data from the individual associate controllers to be ‘stitched’ together by the primary controller, which then presents a single set of x-y coordinates to the host computer as a USB HID ‘plug and play’ touchscreen device. “Instead of individual touchscreens, the computer only ‘sees’ one giant touch sensor,” explains Crosby. INTERACTIVE VIDEOWALL’S SEAMLESS MULTITOUCH TRANSITIONNEWS IN BRIEF 6KIOSK AND DIGITAL SIGNAGE MAGAZINE DISPLAX’S NEW OBJECT RECOGNITION SOLUTION Displax has announced its latest solution for object detection on touchscreens. Displax Tag - Active OR is a combination of hardware and middleware which enables interactive solutions developers to integrate and deliver powerful Object Recognition (OR) interactive experiences, going beyond traditional OR solutions. The Displax Tag is a solution of active tags that, besides the common features of all the typical OR tags, delivers some features that actually give the user feedback, such as visual feedback (RGB LED ring light); haptics (vibration motor); tap detection; in-range and in-contact reporting; joystick mode (to enable the usage of a tag away from the screen). The Displax Tag allows up to six tags to work simultaneously with 84 different IDs, allowing the user to switch tags on the table without any extra configuration. The new wireless charger allows a quick and simple placing of the tag on top of the charger to get it fully charged. This wireless charger can also be integrated into the table itself for a more premium look. Pedro Marques, CTO at Displax said, "This is a remarkable team effort that has been under development since last year. It continues our commitment with innovation, following a road that has been the DNA of this company for the last 15 years." He continued, "We wanted to improve the user experience, combining a touchscreen and an object, involving more senses and emotions when in contact with the tag and this product really opens a new cycle for the object detection market." RDS TO PURSUE MED-TECH DEVICE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE Review Display Systems has achieved accreditation to ISO13485:2016 medical device quality management system standard. ISO13485 enables RDS to actively partner with med- tech businesses to provide medical device design, development and product manufacturing. As a result of achieving accreditation, RDS are now actively seeking to engage and develop partnerships with established med-tech companies, medical device design and consultancy businesses, and new start-up businesses, to aid and assist product designers and system engineers in the design, development and production of electronic medical devices and equipment. RDS have considerable technical expertise and commercial experience in the design, development and manufacture of electronic systems featuring high performance embedded computing platforms and high-quality display solutions. ISO13485:2016 has been implemented to support medical device manufacturers in designing and developing quality management systems that establish and maintain the effectiveness of their processes and procedures. The standard ensures consistent design, development, production, installation and delivery of medical devices that are safe for their intended purpose. If you would like to discuss one of our advertising or advertorial packages contact: sales@kdseurope.com Innovative Technology has been approved as a participant in a UK Government programme piloting age verification technology for the retail sale of alcohol. The Home Office invited organisations to propose digital methods of checking customers’ ages while purchasing alcohol. The regulatory ‘Sandbox’ trial running between January and May 2022, will still require humans to check customers’ ages, but the technology will be used to help retailers abide by the law to prevent alcohol from being mis-sold to anyone underage. Dr Andrew O’Brien, ICU Product Manager said, “We are delighted to be accepted into the UK Government Sandbox scheme and see all our hard work undertaken over the past few months come to fruition. Our team have liaised with local licensing authorities, local police officers and local councils to ensure our solution (ICU) is safe, legal and meets the criteria of the scheme. ICU age verification technology will now be piloted in several convenience stores in the Northwest of England, and we will closely monitor our test sites to ensure we support the retailers and collate the relevant data throughout the trial. “ICU performs anonymous age estimation completely offline, so no images or data are stored, maintaining privacy. We design and train our own algorithms to check the age, and the accuracy of our solution has been independently tested by the Age Check Certification Service (ACCS) who found that it underestimates age by only 0.19 years, which establishes ICU as the most accurate independently tested system worldwide.” The Sandbox trial provides an opportunity to test the practical use of age verification technology in real-world situations to gain a better understanding of the implications. GOVERNMENT TRIAL ACCEPTS AGE VERIFICATION TECHNOLOGYNEWS IN BRIEF 7 KIOSK AND DIGITAL SIGNAGE MAGAZINE Musgrave, has rolled out an ESL (Electronic Shelf Label) solution from Pricer across its SuperValu and Centra stores in Northern Ireland as its looks to digitally transform its store estate. With a 145-year heritage in food and brand innovation, Musgrave is one of Europe’s largest family-owned grocery businesses, with its network of brands including SuperValu, Centra, Frank and Honest, and Musgrave MarketPlace, extending to 1,400 stores across Ireland and Spain. Employing 41,000 staff, its combined total retail sales is now in excess of €5.4 billion. Musgrave has digitalised its stores with ESL capabilities using a solution from Pricer which will allow the grocer to enhance store efficiency and customer DIGITAL SHELF- EDGE CAPABILITIES FROM MUSGRAVE experience (CX), while also contributing to its sustainability goals. Implementing the solution with local partner and ePoS specialist, Unipos, across its SuperValu and Centra stores, the ESLs enable Musgrave to centralise pricing and promotions, enabling them to be updated digitally and in-real time, to ensure pricing accuracy. Delivering operational efficiencies, as store staff no longer have to spend considerable time manually replacing Epson, has released its latest mPOS label printer for the take-away, click-and-collect and food delivery hospitality market. The TM-L100 is a highly compact, liner-free label printer offering full and easy ePOS iOS, Android & Java integration with users’ existing POS systems. The printer includes Bluetooth connectivity with rapid sync and charge functionality, which means users can quickly and conveniently synchronise their devices to existing workflow systems. Devices will now have a more efficient operation with increased productivity, fewer errors and faster turnaround times when producing labels. The eco-friendly printer eliminates plastic waste from labels and the media requires no back-peeling saving time. Using a label printer also reduces errors associated with handwritten labels and means information such as customer name, delivery address and food contents are all clearly displayed. The liner-free printer supports a wide range of plastic-free media including thick highly adhesive semi-permanent labels. Another environmental feature is Epson’s advanced paper reduction function which significantly reduces paper consumption and waste. Dayle Guy, Business Solutions Business Development Manager, Epson UK, says: “The new TM-L100 is designed to help food take-away, click-and-collect and delivery providers operate more efficiently and save time with the added benefit of using eco-friendly plastic-free labels. Liner-free labels can improve operational workflows by eliminating the need to manually peel and write-on labels, which is time-consuming and prone to error.” EPSON LAUNCHES NEW LINER-FREE LABEL PRINTER FOR HOSPITALITY AND RETAIL FOOD PROVIDERS IKAST.IO STRIKES PARTNERSHIP WITH NPAW Ikast.io, owned by Getblocks, has chosen NPAW as its video analytics technology partner to reinforce its data management capacities. With the rise of over-the-top (OTT) services and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels, it has become key for content editors and providers to master digital rights management if they want to keep track of all royalties to collect and copyrights to be compliant with. This strong demand not only comes from media and entertainment studios and TV channels but also from brands, organisations and individual content creators. Discovering how best to fight back illegal copies and ensure that content owners are fairly remunerated are becoming increasingly important issues. Ikast.io is designed to track viewership history in real-time and enable dynamic, transparent and accurate real-time reporting and insights into the authenticity of content to detect its unauthorised use and distribution. paper-labels, allowing them to redirect their efforts to customer-service focused activities that add value to shoppers’ buying journeys. It is also contributing towards Musgrave’s sustainability goals by reducing paper consumption associated with traditional labels. NEWS IN BRIEF 8KIOSK AND DIGITAL SIGNAGE MAGAZINE ZYTRONIC GIVES TAIWANESE MANUFACTURER THE MAGIC TOUCH Innolux had been searching for different haptic solutions for its touch displays to enrich the user experience. Until the company engaged with Zytronic’s Taiwanese representative, Chris Su, the Innolux engineering team had yet to achieve a suitable tactile solution for their rugged touch displays designed for self-service kiosks and other public displays. Following the engagement, Innolux created an innovative multi- haptic control panel, and Zytronic provided the missing tactile dimension to the touchscreen. The Innolux concept incorporates a 13in customised ZyBrid multitouch sensor with precision-engineered 3D surface features, machined in 4mm thick toughened glass, to guide the user’s fingertips to the appropriate position on the screen. Zytronic’s ZXY500 controller delivers multitouch functionality and supports complex gestures including, contactless ‘hover’ touch plus palm rejection, high noise immunity and millisecond fast speed of operation. On the surface of the touchscreen, using its latest 5-axis CNC (computer numeric controlled) glass machining equipment, Zytronic machined precise, polished “dimples”, grooves and a dial into the glass. Precision machining the tactile finger guides into the glass surface, rather than drilling through and mounting physical dials, buttons and sliders means that it is far easier to create a waterproof, hygienic user interface with fewer exposed moving parts – enhancing reliability. “These machined features can be located around the periphery of the display or over the LCD itself,” says Su. “Zytronic offers this tactile glass touch sensor technology in a variety of different glass types, including anti- glare, anti-reflective and even anti-microbial.” COMPUTER-ON-MODULE DELIVERS SERVER-CLASS PERFORMANCE Review Display Systems (RDS) has announced the availability of a new Kontron COM Express Basic Type 7 Computer-On-Module. Extending Kontron’s product family of server-grade COM platforms, the industrial specification COMe-bEP7 features AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 SoC processors which deliver cost effective, highly scalable server-class performance in a compact form factor. Suitable for a broad range of high-performance server applications, the Kontron COMe-bEP7 Type 7 offers scalable performance with up to 16 processor cores. Four optional SODIMM sockets provide up to 128Gb DDR4 RAM of memory. Networking capabilities and connectivity are ably supported with four 10Gb Ethernet interfaces and up to 32 PCIe Gen 3 lanes. Two SATA ports are provided, with the option to integrate an onboard NVMe if required. Peter Marchant, Embedded Division Manager, RDS said, “With a wealth of experience and knowledge in design, manufacture and support, Kontron continue to deliver high quality, high performance, cost-effective embedded computing platforms. The COM Express-bEP7 is no exception and features a robust design offering a versatile, scalable solution with comprehensive high- speed connectivity, and a broad range of memory options.” The industrial-grade COMe-bEP7 module can operate reliably in extreme temperature environments from -40°C to +85°C. On board peripheral support includes four USB 3.1, four USB 2.0 as well as LPC, SPI Flash, SMB, dual staged Watchdog and RTC. Additional specific features include a Trusted Platform Module (TPM 2.0) for enhanced security. With compact mechanical outline dimensions of just 95mm (h) x 125mm (w), and designed for use with a carrier board, the robust Kontron COMe-bEP7 is suited for a range of headless (no display) high-performance server applications. BIG BOX UPDATES Upon completion of phase two of the Big Box Entertainment Ltd project, Ventola Projects has announced the facility is in its final stages, ahead of a launch to the public. The Leisuredome, based in Ashbourne, Ireland, saw technicians enter the facility at the beginning of its creation to install both stunning and efficient lighting solutions. Mick Ventola, Managing Director and founder of Ventola Projects, said: “It’s been a new challenge for the team, working on a project so early on in a facilities creation. “To be able to come into a completely empty facility and begin the installation of our VAvR lighting solutions allowed us to work with a clean canvas, but also challenged our skills, as we had to envision how the lighting would work to complement the facility once other final elements were installed.”NEWS IN BRIEF 9 KIOSK AND DIGITAL SIGNAGE MAGAZINE Publish your news and company announcements here Contact: editor@kdseurope.com INVENDA RAISES $7.5 MILLION FOR GLOBAL GROWTH Invenda Group AG has announced the close of a 7 million CHF ($7.59 million) round and the expansion of its board of directors. Invenda develops smart software and hardware for vending machines, smart kiosks and digital signage, and is active in 14 countries. The news comes after the close of major US deals with long time client Mars Wrigley and with the Houston Astros’ Minute Maid Park (other major clients include Coca-Cola and Lindt & Sprüngli). The funding round indicates confidence among Invenda’s core investors in both Invenda’s corporate culture, with its commitment to transparency, and the drive to expand global growth. "Our goal was to collect 3 million francs by the end of 2021, but now the amount is more than double. This confirms we are on the right track with Invenda and that our backers believe in the future of Automated Retail," says Founder and CEO Jon Brezinski. “We are changing the way customers are engaged, creating smarter ways to manage inventory and maintenance, and using our imaginations to expand the entire industry.” The round was led by former Emmi CEO and Head of M-Industry at Migros, Walter Huber, and well-known financial specialist Gregor Greber, who both bring valuable experience in food and retail and will join Invenda’s board. Philippe Gaydoul of the Gaydoul Group and former CEO of Denner also participated in the financing round which will fund growth in sales and development. The investors praised Invenda’s commitment to European quality management and disclosure of all figures and strategy considerations. "I am fully convinced of Invenda's technical approach and look forward to seeing the highly qualified and dynamic team grow and achieve great things," said Huber. In addition to major orders, 2021 also saw the installation of Invenda’s first outdoor machines; continued innovations in its patented A-Z touchless transaction technology, gamification and crypto capabilities; and the move into new, larger headquarters in Alpanch, Obwalden. “Here in the heart of Switzerland, we now have enough room to present our products,” said Brezinski. “Invenda’s AI promotions, our massive touch screens and all of our other innovations can be used. Clients can experience the way we’ve moved this machine-age field into the 21st Century.” EXTERITY IPTV SYSTEM TRANSFORMS PATIENT EXPERIENCE Exterity has announced that Overlake Medical Center, a 350-bed, non- profit regional hospital in Bellevue, Washington, USA, has installed a state-of-the-art Exterity IPTV system. Designed to improve the patient experience and manage the hospital’s in-house video requirements, the new system is a key part of Project FutureCare, an upgrade and refurbishment project currently in progress at the award-winning healthcare facility. The cornerstone of Project FutureCare is a newly built, 240,000sqft tower which opened in February 2021. This new facility offers larger, single- patient rooms that combine the space for family zones as well as state-of-the- art technology. Jeni Connelly, IT Senior Project Manager at Overlake, and technology lead for the new building, said “We evaluated our legacy video system – largely coaxial-based cable TV – and realised it didn’t support the in-room entertainment experience we wanted to offer our patients. We decided to opt for a state-of-the-art IPTV system as we felt it would be the ideal solution to address our ‘patient experience’ quandary, as well as service the full array of our day-to-day video needs.” Neurilink, based in Boise, Idaho was chosen as the AV systems integrator for the project and started work in March 2020. The company worked with Exterity to design an IPTV system that would satisfy the varying demands of the hospital staff and patients alike. The system comprises a 4TB Management server that hosts all applications and devices on the system including VoD services and recordings, and in-house custom channels, including a patient education VoD library. Next >