4G Digital Signage

In arguably its biggest show ever, CES allowed consumers and companies alike to see what the future holds in the consumer technology marketplace. From Ultra-flat panel 3D TVs to Justin Beiber, CES delivered the goods.

MediaTile was prominently featured in both the Verizon Wireless and Alcatel Lucent booths in the form of The GameTime Media Table. After winning the 2012 DIGI Award for "Best New Content Management Software/Web-based”, absent was “The HumanKiosk” featuring Video Presence. But born from the same value propositions of being cellular connected and cloud controlled, The GameTime Media Table delivered the rich on screen content and unique experiences over 4G LTE that drew visitors to both booths consistently over three days. This is super-powered cellular digital signage. 

The GameTime Media Table showcases multiple interactive features including the ability to upload and display pictures instantly from your smart phone, play music, watch movie previews and the coup de grace: playing video games (single or multi player) where smart phones act the controllers. So if you are thinking to yourself, ‘MediaCast can deliver media like movie/music files, streaming videos, live intelligently routed video calls, interactive gaming and everything in between!’ your thinking would be spot on. Verizon’s network and Brass Monkey’s video games deliver the blows, but it’s the MediaCast muscle that ensures maximum impact (also in attendance at CES was UFC Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem, hence the metaphor). Gaming on digital signage... and then some!

It was great to be part of CES and MediaTile is honored to partner with industry leaders like Verizon Wireless and Alcatel Lucent to launch solutions that will steer the industry and delight users for years to come…or at least until CES 2013.

For any retail brand that struggles to maximize their sales reach due to a limited store footprint or for an organization that wishes their outstanding customer service team could be literally face-to-face with customers instead of being distanced by a telephone, the HumanKiosk™, powered by
MediaCast^® Video Presence, is a 4G enabled interactive digital signage solution that revolutionizes user engagement and brand-to-consumer relationships. 

The HumanKiosk delivers a live, 2-way video session between a consumer and a remote expert agent over a cellular-connected, cloud-controlled touch screen digital signage system that can also run pre-scheduled interactive digital promotions to attract users. Now you can add a human element and experts on demand where and when it matters most taking customer engagement to a higher level.

The technology solves problems that traditionally required placing trained personnel in store. For customers, it allows them to pose questions directly to the product expert and have their questions answered immediately and correctly. 

For brands and other authorities, their benefit is three fold:

1. It puts them in direct contact with the buyer, eliminating inaccuracies in information transfer, and helps build brand trust.
2. It keeps retail sales associates continually up to date on products and services.
3. It gives brands the flexibility, and lower cost benefits, of not having to staff every store location with a highly trained product expert.

The HumanKiosk boasts all the benefits of MediaTile’s award wining digital signage solutions which can be deployed anywhere and only require power, but Video Presence now can intelligently route customer’s video calls based on the information entered on the touchscreen end-point and ensure the video experts who answers video call is the most qualified based upon predetermined qualifications set by the retail brand.

With HumanKiosk, brands in retail experience the following business value and advantages:

•  A new level of customer engagement while delivering product and service expertise across more locations, faster
• 5x market reach at 1/5 the cost of traditional staffing
• Direct face-to-face conversations with highly qualified experts, based on on-screen selection criteria such as product selection or language choice
• On-demand experts can now act as human middleware to facilitate complex business transactions or support, eliminating expensive systems integration
• Integrate with text-based and QR-code marketing activities and programs to extend the brand to consumer relationship beyond the initial interaction
• Unique and delightful experience generating extensive customer recall making them more likely to buy and more brand loyal

(Today's guest entry comes from Mike Foster,
CMO and Co-Founder of MediaTile)

Yesterday, I blogged about the exciting activities being staged for tomorrow’s unveiling of two new interactive digital signage hardware platforms in the DFI TECH booth  (#4583) at InfoComm 2011 – both systems are powered by our MediaCast Video Presence system to deliver live, 2-way video sessions over 4G.  This is real 4G digital signage! 

Today, I’m pleased to report that our MediaCast Content Management System is also front and center at the show, powering Chilin Solutions’ digital signs and media players.   While many people think of MediaTile as a digital signage solutions provider (hardware & software), MediaTile's software division works directly with hardware solution providers – enabling them to deliver all the unique cloud-based, and personal advantages we bring to digital signage solutions.

This photo was snapped by Simon Wilson, MediaTile’s CEO during today’s setup.  Chilin Solutions’  70” portrait mode 1080 x 1920 display is being showcased at InfoComm, and is powered by the MediaCast  Content Management System running a variety of high resolution video content including our own MediaCast  advertisement.

(Today's guest entry comes from Mike Foster,
CMO and Co-Founder of MediaTile)

The MediaTile team is very excited to participate in this week’s InfoComm 2011 show in Las Vegas. This year we’ll have “presence through partners” and an exclusive focus on our digital signage cloud-based “software” offerings. And we’ve got a big announcement in the works with one our partners, DFI TECH, who will be unveiling two brand new interactive digital signage systems that use MediaCast Video Presence to deliver live, 2-way, face-to-face video over 4G networks. 

If you haven’t seen cloud-based customer service systems in action before, stop by booth #4583 (DFI TECH) and check them out – and catch our CEO, Simon Wilson, or Andy Lu from DFI TECH. You can read the pre-release announcement here on the blog, and stay tuned for the real announcement on Wednesday this week.

DFI TECH, a leader in design, manufacturing and integration of custom solutions, along with MediaTile, will be showcasing two new MediaCast Video Presence-powered hardware platforms: a portrait mode 22” and portrait mode 42” system.  Both systems are based on MediaTile’s HUMANKIOSK® HDRP (hardware design reference platform), and deliver a breakthrough in cloud-based customer service for brands, banks, retailers and other markets.

(Today's guest entry comes from Mike Foster,
CMO and Co-Founder of MediaTile)

More “big news” today from MediaTile – make that “small news.”   This morning we announced a new, smaller form factor of our HumanKiosk. The new system is a 19” configuration that provides a more personal, and intimate experience.  But best of all, it can be deployed in far more locations than the larger, floor-standing versions. 

We’ll be demoing the new system, which our engineers internally refer to as “mini-me,” in booth #712 at this week’s CETW (Consumer Engagement Technology World) show in San Francisco on April 27 and 28.  Stop by and get a personal demo of this digital signage technology if you’re headed there.

As with our 32” and 42” HumanKiosk systems, the 19” system is powered by 4G networks and the cloud-based MediaCast Video Presence system. From recent discussions we’ve had with our 4G technology partners, it appears we have the only commercially available, cloud-based video call routing and content management system. 

More simply put, we have the ability to deliver a fully integrated interactive digital signage solution with live, 2-way video support. Why is this important? Well, for brands and retailers, they can now make their products experts available in real-time “through the cloud,” to answer detailed questions that consumers have, and in any language. Now that’s “big stuff.”

To learn more, check out our HumanKiosk video.  

(Today's guest entry comes from Mike Foster, CMO and Co-Founder of MediaTile) 

Over the past six months MediaTile has been very active with both Sprint and Verizon Wireless 4G launch events across the country as new cities are “lit” with a new generation of high-bandwidth wireless services. 

As we near our 50th 4G launch event this week, customer reactions to our “cloud-based” solutions – which deliver  both the advantages of 3G and 4G cellular (wireless) digital signage and SaaS-based content management services – continue to be met with a combination of relief and awe.

Simply put, cloud-based digital signage eliminates many of the costs and complexities associated with traditional deployments that require heavy investment and maintenance in on-site IP-based network gear and services.  Unlike these traditional systems, cloud-based digital signage is remarkably simple to deploy, and easy to use.  While in Phoenix, at a recent Verizon Wireless 4G LTE launch event,  it was fortunate that I was demonstrating our HumanKiosk with MediaCast Video Presence next to an artistic display in the US Airways center that featured a 20-foot power cable, plugged into a 10-foot representation of a power outlet.  

Thinking back on one of our earliest taglines at MediaTile, which was “Just Add Power™” I couldn’t have asked for a more representative location.  With 3G/4G wireless services being built-into our media players, and complete control through our web-based MediaCast system, all you need for next digital signage deployment is a standard power outlet.  And with advanced 4G services, even on-site T1 networks pale in comparison to what is possible with cloud-based digital signage. 

This week the West region of Verizon Wireless held their 4G LTE kickoff event in Denver and while guest speaker Mark Schlereth was a big attraction (both literally and figuratively), the speed of Verizon's 4G LTE network was front and center. It's this same speed, coupled with increased bandwidth, which allowed MediaTile to develop and deliver our Human Kiosk featuring video presence.

Speed is the key ingredient insuring there is limited lag in the peer-to-peer video exchange taking place on the MediaTile unit. Speed also gets that video call answered by the right advocate operator, speaking the right language, anywhere is the world.

MediaTile's HumanKiosk isn't like a "Skype-type" of application where two parties agree to a virtual meeting; there is an actual video call placed and when one operator is not available, that call moves to the next qualified operator until one is reached. Obviously this has to be done quickly because no one will wait too long and because 4G LTE is so fast, video operators can be found, connected, and speaking to callers in no time. All with digital signage. 

The Denver event showcased a few different vertical examples - hospitality and utilities – but those who attended quickly understood how a solution like the HumanKiosk could be used for crisis communication, dynamic advertising, retail customer service, and more. 

The future is 'fast' approaching...don't forget to tip your waitress.

After only one day at CES demonstrating our MediaCast Video Presence platform on multiple HumanKiosk solutions, we’ve been told repeatedly that it’s truly impressive.  But what makes the solution so compelling is having the remote MarketStar on-call video attendants available to answer real questions, and in a number of different languages.  And all through the magic of 4G networks from Alcatel-Lucent, Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

The HumanKiosk Video Concierge solution has interactive content at the bottom of the screen, running looped video promotions highlighting some of the shows here in Vegas, including “Jersey Boys”, “Peepshow” and “Phantom.”  There’s also a version that highlights products, and a video jukebox, but I’ll save those for later, and continue with the Video Concierge.

If you’re interested in one of these shows, you can push one of the six call buttons that represent the different language options – English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese which are represented as flags.  Pressing the “Japanese” flag, for example puts into a direct, 2-way face-to-face conversation with an on-call attendant who speaks Japanese and who can provide you with information about the show, show times, and even a discount code. All right on the digital signage. 

It’s no wonder by brands, agencies, and even our good friends at MarketStar are interested in this next generation of interactive digital signage.  They can make local-language and subject-matter experts directly available to their customers, and get the added value of real “face time” without the need to put brand advocates who speak all these languages in every location.  This is a great example of business value both in terms of increasing brand coverage while slashing costs.

And thanks to 4G networks from ALU, Sprint and Verizon Wireless all that’s needed at each location to support this solution is a power outlet. Just a power outlet. Pretty amazing. 

4G Abounds!   From the Verizon Wireless booth #35216, in the heart of the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, MediaTile has two advanced prototypes showcasing the power and simplicity of 4G LTE networks on a next-generation interactive digital signage solution.
More than just demo-ware, there are two MediaTile HumanKiosk solution concepts in the booth that are powered by the latest version of MediaCast Video Presence.    Through the MediaCast system, we are showcasing a 4G LTE-enabled interactive digital sign that goes one step farther by providing a live, 2-way video session to remote video attendants located in Utah. 

Thanks to our teammate MarketStar, live, on-demand video attendants (remotely located in Ogden Utah) are providing the face-to-face interaction and experience to Verizon booth visitors and answering questions about Vegas shows and the latest products from Verizon.  Visitors have the luxury to select their language of choice when requesting a video-attendant, including English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese. 

With 4G LTE and MediaCast Video Presence, MediaTile and Verizon Wireless are providing a true breakthrough for brand-to-consumer communications in retail, hospitality, heathcare and other venues where product or service experts can assist visitors remotely, and without the need for any network gear or IT infrastructure – the all-in-one solution simply needs a power outlet! 

4G LTE is like having 5 T-1 lines without any of the network gear, IT Infrastructure, or supportive maintenance.