TELentice Enterprise 3.0 released

Fujtsu Australia Software Technology is pleased to announce the latest version of its premium Digital Media Network solution, TELentice Enterprise 3.0.

TELentice Enterprise 3.0 provides a range of new and upgraded features, including:

	Media clip booking categorisation for improved content programming and automatic rotation.
	Instant media clip previewing and duration calculation.
	Printing and data export facilities.
	Improved means of implementing booking updates.
	Smarter network-wide play schedule generation automating steps operators previously had to perform.
	Upgraded and fully optimized media clip and play schedule distribution.
	Media clip 'bank' scheduling for pooling and automatic inclusion of digital media in play schedules.
	Full Japanese language version complete with Unicode character support.

Enhancing and improving the original system to meet and anticipate the challenges of today's fast-changing, here-and-now market.

Find out more about the power of TELentice,
or contact Fujitsu Australia Software Technology on +61 2 9452 9900.

TELentice Brings Focus to Revolutionary Camera Retailer

The growth in demand for digital cameras and accessories has increased exponentially over the last four years, as has the number of retailers specialising in this market. To be competitive, retailers must offer more than merely shelves of cameras and the occasional poster.

Tom Saade’s Camera House, Parramatta has taken the retail experience to a dazzling new level in what has been described as the most revolutionary camera store in the world. As part of a total redevelopment of the store, Fujitsu Australia Software Technology recently completed the installation of a shop wide digital signage network of TFT/LCD displays. With each screen promoting a particular stock line, the system is used to educate and inform customers and act as a virtual sales person.

The implementation uses eight 40” Samsung LCD/TFTs as two video walls, a further four fixed to the ceiling and wall, and a combination of five 17” wide screen LCD/TVs and three 15” LCD/TVs mounted on the shop counters. Staff use the award-winning TELentice multimedia scheduling and distribution software to target specific content to each screen, whilst still having the option of scheduling a single network wide message to all screens simultaneously. As the system supports both video and audio, it was important to ensure that sound volumes could be controlled from a central location, another feature supplied by TELentice.

The digital signage system delivered by Fujitsu Australia Software Technology has helped Tom Saade create a truly digital camera store.

See TELentice at Retail Business Technology 2003

7 August 2003
TELentice will be showcased at the Retail Business Technology 2003.

Make the most of this opportunity to see this advanced in-store digital broadcasting system.

Date: 12-14 August, 2003
Venue: Sydney Exhibition & Convention Centre, Darling Harbour, Australia

Experience the POWER and versatility of TELentice at Sydney Exhibition & Convention Centre, Darling Harbour!
We'll show you how TELentice delivers precisely the right message to the right person at precisely the right time.

Find out more about the power of TELentice,
or contact Fujitsu Australia Software Technology on +61 2 9452 9900.

TELentice powers on-board passenger information and entertainment system for Sydney Light Rail

17 July 2003
The Connex Light Rail system in Sydney will soon complete the deployment of a network of 20" LCD screens throughout their fleet of trams that provide passengers with entertainment and information during their trip. The service is supplied and operated by GRV Media, a technology and media company who selected Fujitsu's award winning TELentice as the application backbone for the scheduling, distribution and display of all media.

The on-board system provides unobtrusive, yet dynamic entertainment and news content, focused on the passenger. Using the latest in mobile reception technology, the GRV service offers a multimedia platform for many forms of communication and information delivery with each tram, no matter where it is in the system. The TELentice software is used to schedule and display quality entertainment, news, current affairs and other lifestyle programmes to each of the screens. The flexibility of the system allows GRV to update full video news clips several times a day, and even supports ticker based updates via SMS.

TELentice is a multimedia distribution system created to enable organisations to distribute specific content to a range of display units, according to schedules defined by the system owner. It achieves this by treating every display device in every location as a unique 'channel'. TELentice supports most common digital media formats and is compatible with cable, satellite or wireless networks.

The software is powering digital signage networks in Australia, UK, Singapore, and Thailand in environments as diverse as bars, train stations, elevators, lifts, supermarkets, museums and shopping malls. Developed and supported by Fujitsu Australia Software Limited (FAST) in Australia, TELentice is fast becoming the application of choice for digital signage networks worldwide.

About GRV Media
Formed in April 2001, GRV Media (GRV) is an Australian company who have developed a technical solution to deliver entertainment services to moving passenger vehicles. The idea was conceived as an obvious solution to enhance the rail journey but has applications in other forms of transport including buses. The service provides another communication tool for rail operators to inform passengers about upcoming promotions and service interruptions.

TELentice turns Bangkok Skytrain stations into a multimedia information hub

15 April 2003
One of the major challenges facing Thailand’s sky-train operator today is to turn its stations into an information hub that can deliver dynamic, decision-influencing messages at the right time to the right groups among the almost 470,000 passengers who use the system daily.

In order to achieve this outcome, VGI Global Media Co, Ltd (VGI). the exclusive advertising agency to Bangkok Transit System (BTS), Tomen Telecom and Fujitsu have recently completed a Plasma Display Digital Multimedia Advertising Network. This network, located on the platforms of all 11 major BTS stations, is the world’s first dynamic digital advertising medium to be located on the platforms of a public mass transportation system.

Fujitsu Systems Business (Thailand) Ltd. as a partner and sub-contractor of Tomen Telecom (Thailand) Ltd. has installed more than 40 Fujitsu plasma display screens in 11 stations. The screens are connected via ADSL and integrated within an Optical Fiber Cable network that provides a unique and evolutionary digital signage system far ahead of today’s traditional advertising and communication media.

The system is fully managed by Fujitsu Australia Software Technology’s unique multimedia broadcasting software – ‘Fujitsu TELentice’ and is deployed across Fujitsu plasma displays, world class PC and networking, audio systems and other hardware components – providing a truly state-of-the-art “Plasma Display Digital Multimedia Advertising Network”.

Fujitsu TELentice is unique technology that revolutionizes on-site communications by treating every localized display device as a unique channel. Messages can be scheduled to display at specific times of the day, on specific screens at specific locations. This flexibility enables VGI to pinpoint targetted messages to specific screens at specific times ensuring maximum return on advertising expenditure.

The award winning Fujitsu TELentice allows the entire scheduling and display process to be centrally managed and operated. Multimedia material is stored and managed centrally before being distributed to the individual broadcast locations, along with daily, weekly, monthly or even quarterly play schedules. The material is then distributed to asingle screen at one location, or to literally thousands of individual screens at hundreds of locations. Distributed formats can include MPEG-1, MPEG-2, HTML, Web Sites, Microsoft Powerpoint, Flash, Shockwave and even streaming video files. All material can be displayed on plasma screens, computer monitors, televisions or any other VGA supported device. In short, the impact of one’s message is limited only by the scope of one’s imagination.

Because Fujitsu Plasmavision monitors are flat and include no complicated optics, perfect focus is guaranteed throughout the entire screen. Also, smooth, film-like images are displayed in over 16 million colors so high viewing quality is ensured at large distances and in dim or in ambient light. Fujitsu’s revolutionary display accepts as the latest in video and computer graphics input.

By integrating all hardware, software and professional system-services and support, BTS is able to manage and deliver material with great ease and precision. Dynamic, electronic, multi-media advertising content can be managed from a host building by only one system administrator and it can be distributed to target audiences located at very specific BTS stations at very specific times. The system is designed to target precise demographics over the VGI network so that the right message is delivered to the right audience at the right time.

The target groups for this service are BTS passengers, such as tourists, business travelers, middle-to-upper-income Thai businesspeople, the expatriate community in Bangkok, students and affluent teenagers. The system can also deliver tourist information, weather forecasts, financial information, and BTS train schedules. There are also major benefits for advertisers: third party advertising agencies and brand owners can use the system to advertise and promote their products and services, and all commercial advertising on broadcast TV can be reinforced inside BTS stations by being displayed through Fujitsu Plasma Screens.

About BTS
BTS Skytrain is operated by the Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company Limited and has two major objectives. To help alleviate the chronic traffic congestion problems of Bangkok, and to provide travelers with a fast and more efficient means of transportation within the central business district.

About VGI
VGI Global Media is the exclusive leasing licensor of commercial areas within the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS). VGI Global Media offers full range of advertising media such as light boxes, panels, and plasma screens throughout BTS system, but not limit to inside and around the train body with media stickers. All positioned to be highly visible.

Screens, Broadband & IP Unleash Digital Signage Networks

31 March 2003
The proliferation of multimedia-capable displays in everything from plasma screens to mobile phones, along with advances in software and networks, heralds a new era for multimedia content distribution. Just as Ned Kelly's armour was revolutionary in its day, the multimedia displays in place at the State Library of Victoria are part of a much wider technology shift.

The multimedia content distribution system behind the Kelly exhibition was developed in Australia by Fujitsu Australia Software Technology. According to the company's Business Development Manager, Sanjay Singhai, three major trends are combining to make multimedia content distribution a hot technology issue worldwide. These include the explosion in high-resolution but low-cost display screens, rapid growth in fixed-line and wireless communications capacity and the adoption of IP as the lingua franca of computer networking.

"If there are going to be so many display screens in public areas and these screens are going to be on an IP network, then there is huge potential to display tailored multimedia content to highly-targeted consumers," says Mr Singhai.

Multimedia content distribution is defined as the ability to send everything from SMS-style text messages to full motion video direct to individual display screens. Fujitsu's TELentice product enables users to schedule and deliver unique multimedia content to multiple display screens according to pre-determined timetables.

This might be in response to events like a child going missing in a shopping centre or following an interaction, such as a customer swiping their card in a bank ATM. In the case of a bank, the content might be selected and delivered based on pre-defined rules from a customer relationship management (CRM) system.

After almost 40 man-years of development time since the year 2000, TELentice is being implemented around the world. In addition to the Ned Kelly show, Fujitsu's Australian software group has delivered TELentice-based solutions to British pub chain Translucis, Singapore's Suntec City, Australian elevator advertising specialist InLink and, in January this year, the Bangkok Mass Transit System.

Translucis is using the system to reach the elusive 18-24 year-old demographic with ads and special promotions delivered to plasma screens in pubs and bars across the United Kingdom. At the high-tech shopping centre Suntec, TELentice is used to distribute a targeted mix of news, information and promotions to screens throughout the mall.

In Australia, InLink delivers entertainment, information and video advertising via a network of display screens in high-rise building elevators.

Fujitsu refers to these emerging environments as 'digital signage networks' and notes that they can quickly extend to hundreds or even thousands of screens, each receiving tailored content according to the viewing individual or group. This increase in potential volume in turn presents a challenge to would-be users when it comes to putting a value on their multimedia content and its distribution.

"I think people are very quickly going to realise that the traditional technology challenge of taking a piece of content from location A to location B has changed and instead start asking much deeper questions about costs and business cases," Mr Singhai says.

Fujitsu is solving both the technical and business problems behind digital signage networks. TELentice has evolved from Fujitsu Software projects focused on object-oriented databases able to handle large amounts of multimedia information. Today, the TELentice engine can scale to tens of thousands of screens, with the main bottlenecks being server capacity and network bandwidth - though, there are techniques available to manage both.

To enable business analysis, Fujitsu has developed auditing functions for TELentice to allow users to assess the effectiveness of campaigns and adjust their digital signage strategies over time. According to Mr Singhai, behind TELentice is a powerful statement for new media distribution: "You should be able target it, book it, use it then measure it."

(This article is courtesy of interaction - news and views for ICT decision-makers.)

TELentice revolutionises State Library multimedia exhibition

14 March 2003
The State Library of Victoria has brought Ned Kelly to life with dazzling 3D animations and other multimedia presentations using advanced media distribution software and display technologies from Fujitsu Australia.

The presentations are featured at the Library's Kelly Culture: Reconstructing Ned Kelly exhibition, which runs from 28 February to 25 May. The exhibition has attracted more than 5000 visitors in its first three days of opening.

The centrepiece of the multimedia display is a 3D model of the famous bushranger's armour created by Melbourne firm Metraform. The model is shown on a 50-inch Fujitsu Plasma screen, hung vertically in portrait mode. The presentation runs for six minutes at a time, letting visitors see the suit from every angle and learn how it was made.

Another Fujitsu Plasma screen shows a 70-minute film of excerpts about Ned Kelly. Two multimedia kiosks feature interviews with Booker prize winning author Peter Carey, a video clip of ‘Our Sunshine' by singer Paul Kelly and material about Kelly that appears in everyday life such as TV ads and the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. A touch-screen kiosk also contains a jukebox full of Ned Kelly-related songs.

Driving the displays is TELentice, a powerful software application developed in Australia by Fujitsu Australia Software Technology Pty Ltd (FAST). This system provides the Library with greatly increased flexibility and control over sophisticated multimedia content.

"With TELentice we can program and schedule all multimedia content in advance and easily make changes to content items such as film credits," explains Ms Edwina Portelli, Exhibitions Manager, State Library of Victoria. "Previously all our multimedia displays were standalone and we'd have to set them up to present a continuous block of material."

The flexibility to control display schedules and alter presentation content has greatly improved the Library's ability to support events that occur outside normal exhibition hours, such as school group tours, corporate hospitality events and even rock concerts.

TELentice is a multimedia distribution system created to enable organisations to distribute specific content to a range of display units, according to schedules defined by the system owner. It achieves this by allowing every display device in every location to be treated as a unique ‘channel'. The software has now been sold in locations around the world and continues to be developed and supported by FAST in Australia.

According to Ian Patterson, Technology Services Manager at the State Library of Victoria, the institution is keen to extend its use of TELentice beyond the current exhibition initiative.

"We want to be able to chop and change multimedia content centrally, and we want to be able to manage associated display devices centrally," he says. "We also want to explore the use of the system for all our digital signage and the distribution of messages across the library as a whole."
 

FAST was established in 1989 by Fujitsu, one of the world's leading e-Services organisation. As the first Fujitsu software development organisation located outside of Japan, we offer a unique combination of flexibility that only mid-size companies offer, with the security that comes with partnering with one of the largest IT & T company in the world.

Being part of the Fujitsu global group of companies, FAST offers our customers access to some of the world's best people, processes, intellectual property and technology.