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Multimedia Platforms: Top Picks for Converged Networking
9/23/2005
If you’re like most campus IT personnel, you have to deal with both a cell phone and a desk phone at your work area. When both ring at the same time, you need to determine who is most important (or who you don’t want to speak with at that moment). Having multiple voicemail boxes and multiple phone numbers are other annoyances. Campus IT folks are constantly on the run, so having a fixed desk phone d'esn’t make sense. An ideal solution would be a single wireless phone with a single phone number and voicemail that could operate both on and off campus.These “dual-mode” phones are becoming a reality. Multiple manufacturers— Nokia (www.nokia.com), HP (www.hp.com), and Motorola (www.motorola.com), to name a few—now offer products that integrate 802.11 wireless technologies into a GSM or CDMA cell phone. The original intent of adding 802.11 was to provide highspeed Internet access when the phone is within range of a high-speed WLAN, giving the user more efficient means of accessing the Internet. Now these phones are connecting to the organization’s data networks and VoIP systems. Some manufacturers offer seamless integration between the enterprise phone system and a cellular network (Motorola is one; visit www.motorola.com/wlan). This allows the individual to maintain a call when leaving the college campus and moving out of campus WLAN coverage.
Digital signage. When people think of digital signage, they think of monitors that display constantly updated information at an airport, hospital, or some retail/public venue. Digital signage is used to convey directions, important announcements, current weather, etc., to keep visitors or customers informed. While mostly used in the commercial arena, digital signage can be a great asset to most college campuses, as well.
In the past, digital signage relied on having a dedicated baseband video connection to every monitor on the system. This meant having to install coaxial cable to each location and headend electronics necessary to make the system work. Often this can be very expensive, especially when delivering different content to each monitor, sometimes requiring a dedicated PC or server for each display. Lately, the shift has been to deliver this content over an organization’s existing data network, utilizing IP.
But streaming video and IP multicast have enabled digital signage to become a more dynamic and less expensive solution for delivering content. Digital signage can now be placed anywhere there is access to the data network, wired or wireless. The content can be individualized for each display, showing, for example, classroom use, campus activities, or directions for clueless freshmen on orientation day.
IP digital signage on your campus can be a useful tool in attracting potential students. Creatively designed digital signage supplying helpful campus information can ease the students’ (and possibly the parents’) transition into an unfamiliar environment. In the long run, it may be well worth the investment. Some manufacturers offering components of a digital signage system are Tivella (www.tivella.com), Scala Broadcast Multimedia (www.scala.com), and VBrick Systems (www.vbrick.com).
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