Customer Profile - Duke University

The Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy at Duke University recently installed a Digital Signage System driven by 3 Aavelin AV 400 Units. The LCD displays included with the system are Sampo model LME42X8, with a native resolution of 1366x768.

The Institute has labs & offices in 4 locations on campus. Director of Communications Denise Haviland stated that one of the primary goals in implementing this system is to 'connect' people within the Institute. The students and researchers did not feel like they were part of a unified program as they are spread out among 4 separate buildings on campus. Besides unifying the community, the systems are used to advertise various seminars and reiterate the mission of the institute. Prior to installing this system, most communication was handled by email and printed flyers.

Currently there are 5 displays at entry points to 3 buildings. Two Aavelin Units are driving two displays each, and the third Aavelin is driving a single display. All content creation occurs on a single PC at a central location. The content is distributed via TCP/IP over the campus network to the Aavelin Players.

The key reasons for choosing the MagicBox Aavelin Units were the simplicity of the Aavelin Composer Software, price point, IP addressability and the Macromedia Flash Support capability of the unit.

"After demonstrating the Aavelin Composer Software via WebEx, they felt that the software gave them something extra above simply using a PowerPoint presentation," said Allison Thompson, sales rep for ProView, a division of Southern Business Communications, who installed the system.

Thompson added, "In addition, it was very important to Duke to have the ability to upload over their IP network and this seemed to be the best solution. They have incorporated flash programs and the images look better than we had hoped!"

Webmaster Keith Morgan has taken the Flash playback capability to a new level by utilizing his Flash authoring skills to build an interface between the Aavelin and an Interactive Calendar that is used by the university campus wide. By working with Action Script - the coding language of Macromedia Flash - Morgan was able to write what he calls a ‘middleman script’ which automatically pulls information from the XML data output by the interactive Calendar. This information is then pulled into the Aavelin Player automatically, providing unattended updates with current events. This is a major time saver and allows the system to display new information without further interaction.

Morgan has only been working with Action Script for about 6 months, but he has a solid background with using Macromedia Flash. Before writing the script, he would manually update all the changes on a daily basis. Keith states, "Now, I barely have to touch it". Of the approximately 20 pages in the current Aavelin project, 16 of them are Flash pages that are generated from the database interface. The remaining pages are general announcements.

MagicBox is excited to have Duke University as a customer as they are taking full advantage of the power of Macromedia Flash. The time and effort put forth in integrating the Macromedia Flash Player is well worth it when customers like Duke University utilize the features of the Flash Player. Flash is a key element in many digital signage applications due to its flexibility and small file size. It provides a method not only to create and display graphic animations to grab attention, but also interface to a data source to provide a very real savings of time and maintain current information effortlessly.

The entire Digital Signage System was purchased and integrated by ProView, Inc. a division of Southern Business Communications in Morrisville, NC. Sales Rep Allison Thompson recommended MagicBox to Duke. Chuck Jones was the Project Manager.

About MagicBox

MagicBox, Inc. has been manufacturing Character Generators and Video Messaging Systems, for CATV, CCTV, Satellite and Digital Signage applications since 1992. Customers have expanded from cable to include education, government, hospitality, medical, and corporate applications. Product development is focused on ease of use and integration with other systems. For more information, visit www.magicboxinc.com.

MagicBox - Making Digital Signage Simple.