Scala Launches InfoChannel 3; Dynamic Signage Software Includes Powerful, New Network Management, Broadcasting and Authoring Functions.Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 11, 2002 Scala(R), Inc., a leading international developer of broadcast multimedia software and service solutions for dynamic signage, television and web applications, today launched its third-generation software platform for large-scale dynamic signage networks. The InfoChannel(R) 3 (IC3) product suite incorporates state-of-the-art features that facilitate the rapid creation, deployment and monitoring of digital information across broadband transmission networks to dynamic displays. Scala dynamic signage solutions are in use in diverse environments including Store 24 convenience stores The following is a list of convenience stores organized by geographical location. Stores are grouped by the lowest heading that contains all locales in which the brands have significant presence. , the Hollywood & Highland retail/entertainment complex in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and Best Buy consumer electronics stores. "Our product suite is the industry's only complete software infrastructure for building dynamic signage networks," said Jeff Porter, Scala president and chief executive officer. "Quite simply this means it is all you need from content creation and scripting to network management and monitoring. Our software architecture is robust and scalable as proven by the fact that we have two Scala-driven networks with over 1,000 screens in operation. Because we provide this end-to-end capability, our partners and end customers are free to concentrate fully on their content and not reinventing the wheel Reinventing the wheel is a phrase that means a generally accepted technique or solution is ignored in favor of a locally invented solution. To "reinvent the wheel" is to duplicate a basic method that has long since been accepted and even taken for granted. in infrastructure," Porter added. Product Suite The IC3 solution builds on Scala's history of powerful, engaging, yet easy-to-use software. The new platform consists of five components: InfoChannel Designer 3; InfoChannel Network Manager 3; InfoChannel Player 3; InfoChannel Broadcast Server3; and InfoChannel Reporter3. InfoChannel Designer 3 features an intuitive interface - improved and streamlined in IC3 -- that is easy to learn and use Easy to learn refers to software that is well designed and capable of being used right away without having to wade through documentation. If you make the program work with little effort, it is easy to learn. . New features added to make the software even friendlier include a multiple-level undo To restore the last editing operation that has taken place. For example, if a segment of text has been deleted or changed, performing an undo will restore the original text. Programs may have several levels of undo, including being able to reconstruct the original data for all edits feature, grid and layout guides to help line up objects on a page and spell checking in nine different languages. Multiple new creative elements have been added such as background designs, additional type fonts A set of print characters of a particular design (typeface), size (point size) and weight (light, medium, heavy). See font. , alpha-transparency, text crawl To search the Internet for hosts, Web pages or blogs. See crawler. and new wipes. These ease-of-use and creative features help to maintain the high standards of simplicity and engaging content for which Scala has become known. Creative excellence and ease-of-use, however, are of little value in the absence of a robust capability to manage and distribute content. InfoChannel Network Manager 3 is the means to assure quality and accountability throughout the distribution process. Among the capabilities this new product provides is support for multiple authoring stations - more than one person working on the same script at the same time -- allowing more content to be produced, scheduled, broadcast and verified sooner, which delivers a high ROI (Return On Investment) The monetary benefits derived from having spent money on developing or revising a system. In the IT world, there are more ways to compute ROI than Carter has liver pills (and for those of you who never heard of that expression, it means a lot). . The new software employs a "pull" as well as a "push" approach to distributing content to players. This enables multiple players to receive content at the same time, rather than serially. It also gives users the flexibility to schedule updates at particular times of the day if they choose. In addition, Scala has separated design and broadcasting components that were previously combined in a single application in its predecessor product IC200. This frees design stations to resume the design process immediately after publishing to the InfoChannel Network rather than being tied up in the broadcasting process. A new network-monitoring feature automatically alerts the administrator to problems anywhere in the network. No longer tied to a specific console, the administrator can now access and control the network from anywhere using a Web browser The program that serves as your front end to the Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field; for example, www.computerlanguage.com, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. . InfoChannel Player 3 incorporates a powerful, new feature that enables pinpoint, automated scripting for a new level of effectiveness. Specifically, the player incorporates Windows(R) Script Host, which manages popular languages such as JavaScript and VBScript, to seamlessly and automatically interface with other systems. For example, the player could be tied in to a store's inventory system to automatically pull out-of-stock items from the screen content and substitute them with other items. Additional player improvements include support for MP3 audio, as well as the ability to now play MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). 2 files without the need for additional hardware on the PC, helping to lower the cost of the target system. InfoChannel Broadcast Server 3 allows users to broadcast multimedia content to hundreds or thousands of sites. The broadcast system makes content distribution easy to manage for large installations and allows multiple players to be addressed with a single transmission. It is designed to support several network architectures including satellite and IP multicast A one-to-many transmission of data over an IP network. It is used for a myriad of purposes including updating routers, announcing and discovering services and streaming media. IP multicast saves network bandwidth, because packets are transmitted as one stream over the backbone and only . It also enables producers to segment the network so individualized in·di·vid·u·al·ize tr.v. in·di·vid·u·al·ized, in·di·vid·u·al·iz·ing, in·di·vid·u·al·iz·es 1. To give individuality to. 2. To consider or treat individually; particularize. 3. programming can be targeted to individual players or groups of players within the network. A confirmation feature assures that data has been received and is being correctly displayed. InfoChannel Reporter 3 enables local management to easily create and update multimedia messages on their InfoChannel system using a standard networked PC. With Reporter's Windows-based template (1) A pre-designed document or data file formatted for common purposes such as a fax, invoice or business letter. If the document contains an automated process, such as a word processing macro or spreadsheet formula, then the programming is already written and embedded in the interface, anyone in an organization can become a news editor with minimal time and training. Templates can be customized to meet the needs of any corporate communications Corporate communications is the process of facilitating information and knowledge exchanges with internal and key external groups and individuals that have a direct relationship with an enterprise. , advertising, school, or cable TV network. Many Scala clients have expressed an interest in obtaining Scala's help in design, and even operation of their systems and networks. To that end Scala has formed a new division, Broadcast Media Services, to provide such assistance, particularly on very large-scale deployments. The company believes that this service offering aspect of its business will become increasingly important in the future, in keeping with the global trend toward outsourcing (1) Contracting with outside consultants, software houses or service bureaus to perform systems analysis, programming and datacenter operations. Contrast with insourcing. See netsourcing, ASP, SSP and facilities management. . The range of services that the company will provide includes: production and training; project management; scripting and custom integration; network monitoring The term network monitoring describes the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing systems and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages via email, pager or other alarms. and management; and creative resources such as its extensive art library. As part of this service offering Scala is able to coordinate the booking of advertising by day part, geography, demographics The attributes of people in a particular geographic area. Used for marketing purposes, population, ethnic origins, religion, spoken language, income and age range are examples of demographic data. , and many other differentiating factors. "We have built a robust, network-centric architecture from our very origins that emphasizes reliability and scalability," said Peter Cherna, Scala's vice president of Engineering. "IC3 builds on these core values and delivers new capabilities that will enable our clients to enhance their operations as never before. The time is ripe for businesses such as retailers to leverage the existing network infrastructure that so many of them already have, not just to improve productivity but also to drive incremental Additional or increased growth, bulk, quantity, number, or value; enlarged. Incremental cost is additional or increased cost of an item or service apart from its actual cost. sales as well as entirely new revenue streams. The Scala software architecture enables them to do so with maximum efficiency, reliability and flexibility. This is an exciting time for our industry and for our company. We see dramatic growth in digital dynamic signage in the coming years," Cherna added. Scala is collaborating with EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) An acronym occasionally used to reflect an advancement in transmission or transfer speed. For example, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR provides a dramatic increase in speed over the previous version. See Bluetooth. Corporation in support of a new network for Best Buy, the leading consumer electronics retailer. Commenting on that application, Peter Vrettas, president of EDR said: "Anybody can write code to move MPEG files from point A to point B. The ability to do it 100% reliably, always on/always up, is a whole different class. We put Scala through its paces. It proved to be the most robust, flexible and well documented software out there. It also had many unique features that no one else had. "Our core competency A core competency is something that a firm can do well and that meets the following three conditions specified by Hamel and Prahalad (1990):
"The convergence of abundant, low-cost bandwidth, declining costs of plasma and other large, high-impact displays, and ever more powerful low-cost PCs will stimulate dramatic growth in the application of dynamic digital displays," said Norman McLeod
Norman McLeod, (17 September 1780 – 14 March 1866), was a Presbyterian minister from Scotland who led a significant settlement of Highlanders to Nova Scotia and finally to , associate director, CAP Ventures. "We call this market space 'narrowcasting in public spaces'. For retailers, these new display systems can both improve sales productivity and generate new revenue from vendor advertising. "For brand managers and advertisers the opportunity to place their messages directly into the shopping environment should not be missed, especially as in-home TV audiences continue to fragment. Scala's new product suite, incorporating content creation, management and distribution is an excellent tool for realizing the potential of dynamic digital signage Digital signage is the generic name for any electronic signage from monocolor LED to full video screen. Dynamic Digital Signage is the generic name for digital signage that works dynamically with a server/client infrastructure that enables the user to schedule any possibility from at a time when the hardware infrastructure is really clicking into place," McLeod concluded. Availability and Pricing The InfoChannel 3 product suite is available now. Pricing ranges from $1,200 to $24,000 and up depending on individual module. About Scala Scala is the leading international developer of multimedia software content and technology solutions for dynamic signage, television and web applications. Scala software enables users to create and broadcast rich media productions via satellite or the Internet to dynamic signage and computer-based displays. Thousands of retailers, corporations, advertisers, cable television operators, educators and consumers use Scala's product suite. Through its global distribution network, Scala offers complete software, content and technology solutions and services to the exploding dynamic signage market. Scala is headquartered in Exton, Pa., near Philadelphia, with offices throughout the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and Europe. More information on the company can be found at www.scala.com. Editors Note: The additional information listed below can be found at www.scala.com/presskit -- Corporate overview -- Five case studies -- Photos of installations -- Screen captures from Scala software A presentation given to market research analysts can be viewed at: http://www.scala.com/jeff/ic3 |
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