Digital Signage

New Digital Signage Platform Offers More Communication Options

• By Michael Hart
• 05/28/15

A consortium of companies is offering a new digital signage platform designed to improve communication and safety in both K-12 and higher education.

Hypersign, Google and Samsung have created "theconnectEDU," a platform that should allow students, faculty and staff to receive a wide range of content via a similarly wide range of displays and devices. That will include everything from campus broadcasts to emergency alerts.

Each of the three partners in the consortium brings something to the platform:

• Hypersign's cloud-based signage software allows users to create and publish content that can then be distributed to digital signs and desktop PCs all over campus, managed from a single dashboard;
• Google Chrome Devices and its Management Suite enable administrators to manage all of their school's Chrome devices, including Chromeboxes, from a central location that can be accessed from anywhere at any time; and
• Finally, Samsung Commercial Displays produces the high-quality images using commercial grade components in a wide range of sizes ranging from as small as 10 inches to as large as video walls.

"We are very excited about the benefits this solution brings," said Hypersign CEO Neil Willis. "Our objective is to deliver a system that helps protect, educate and inform students, staff and visitors."

The seeds of the partnership were sown late last year when Hypersign introduced a new version of its digital signage software that supported Samsung's D Series Smart Signage displays. That development allowed the display of RSS feeds, YouTube videos, live television, PowerPoint files and a built-in emergency notification system, Hypersign Alert.