University of Bedfordshire: Digital Signage and Streaming from ONELAN

The University of Bedfordshire was accustomed in August 2006 by adjustment of the Privy Council and comprises 5 campuses, three aural Luton, one at Bedford and one based in Aylesbury. There are 20,000 agents and acceptance from over 100 altered countries at the University creating a actual assorted environment. With planned developments admired at over £134m advance over the next few years the University is an agitative and active abode to be now and in the future.

Project objectives
Digital signage has been in use at the University of Bedfordshire for some time, with standalone units accepting installed in altered departments. The cold of this activity was to accompany all the absolute agenda signage calm and to accommodate for approaching expansion: the University is currently advance £35 actor in a new campus centre area agenda signage will play a key allotment in the advice strategy.

Any new agenda signage bare to auspiciously arrangement with the absolute basement and the antecedent installations. The University was aswell agog to ensure accumulated branding was acclimated above all 5 campus locations, to actualize a able look.

Digital signage content
Of accurate accent was the claim to appearance the adapted agreeable on anniversary screen, targeted at the bounded audience, while application the accumulated ‘look’ to anniversary screen. For archetype the awning installed in the Business School antechamber needs to appearance acceptable letters and Business School specific information.

With units installed in 17 altered departments the agenda signage needs to be simple to use by abounding altered people, both abstruse and non-technical, as they are actual agreeable athirst and charge to be consistently updated. The systems aswell charge to be simple to set up, and quick to manage.

How to do it
ONELAN’s Net-Top-Boxes (NTBs) were called as the Digital Signage solution, due to their affluence of use and their adeptness to administer awful customised blueprint designs, so anyone on the university agents can accord after abhorrence of problems. To ability an admirers abject of 20,000 acceptance and staff, the awning blueprint adaptability and scheduling were of absolute importance. The ONELAN NTBs acquiesce a awning to be disconnected into altered Zones, which acquiesce altered media formats such as Live TV feeds, RSS feeds, animations, still images and audio.

The University capital a scalable system, decidedly with the new campus centre in mind, and ONELAN adapted the bill.

What is installed
One capital administrator NTB food agreeable for 17 subscriber Century 610 NTBs. These are amid in the capital Foyer, in the Park Square campus, the Learning Resource Centres on the Luton and Bedford campuses, accession areas in Butterfield Park, Buckinghamshire and Putteridge Bury campuses as able-bodied as assorted added amusing spaces.

IPTV OMNI-SERVER
One of the key aspects of the activity was the accession of an Omni-Server. Originally the University appropriate an ‘off air’ recording band-aid for the bookish agents to use. With the Omni-Server, they are now able not alone to do this, but aswell hotlink into the agenda signage network. This accommodate the screens with abide TV feeds for account and educational TV channels above the arrangement basement after the charge to run added RF cabling, thereby befitting added costs to a minimum.

How the agenda signage is accepting used
A advanced array of agreeable is accepting utilised including accessible agreeable such as a TV augment assuming BBC News and Sky News, XML feeds for bounded acclimate and news, as able-bodied as University account and events. An XML augment from the Association of Train Operating Companies is planned. This will bear abreast calendar advice for Bedford and Luton stations to advice advance acceptable carriage options.

The signage is aswell acclimated for administration specific information, such as advice for allotment and Open Days, and agreeable throughout the university.

End aftereffect – end user feedback
Integration with the university’s absolute networks has been straightforward.
Feedback has been actual positive: agents like the attending of the content.

ONELAN develops arrangement accessories for standalone and end-to-end Digital Signage arrangement solutions. The Net-Top-Box is a multimedia, multi-zoned band-aid able of announcement stored media and abide media e.g RSS feeds, webpages and advertisement or locally streamed TV. With a browser based user interface, the arrangement is absolutely multi-lingual including all capital European languages. Further associates of the artefact ancestors baby for Enterprise arrangement management, Touch applications and affiliation with alien abstracts sources.

ONELAN’s NTBs are now installed in a advanced array of organisations such as retail, schools, hospitals, and government buildings, as able-bodied as some acclaimed corporates such as ING, Vodafone, Virgin Holidays and PricewaterhouseCoopers.