Roku Announces That Trials of its Network-Enabled BrightSign Product Result in First Customer Sales

July 1, 2008

Source: Roku

Today Roku announced that Avitour, a Belgian service company comprised of more than 160 independent travel agencies is the first European customer to announce a trial of its new, feature-rich, networked digital signage solution.

The BrightSign HD2000 is a fully integrated, high-definition digital sign controller that offers plug-and-play networking to streamline content management for robust, high-impact digital sign and kiosk applications. Early Customer Acceptance First announced in February of this year, the new features of the BrightSign HD2000 -- a non-PC, solid-state digital sign controller -- are designed to easily deliver networked content to remote units from a secure, central server.

Avitour is one of a number of select European customers who are participating in BrightSign networking trials. Avitour was looking for a way to promote its services, highlight its partners' tours and other offerings in a multimedia, eye-catching, and dynamic way. And, with locations all over Belgium, Avitour needed a system that could be networked together with content that could change quickly and be tailored for diverse audiences. Working with Roku and Studio Promo, which focuses on software development and systems integration, Avitour initially installed 10 HD2000 units working in a networked environment.

"The challenge for us was to be able to connect the BrightSign units in a networked environment that could change dramatically between one travel agency and another," said Alain Kisiel, General Manager of Avitour. "We've been able to accomplish this easily because of the simplicity of the online network management interface and flexibility of the HD2000 itself." Avitour has three assigned networking groups based on language which allows them to easily target their content updates accordingly. Remote units check the server once a day to look for content changes such as last minute travel offers. Standard remote content updates occur on average once every week.

"The reliability and ease of use is impressive. Minimal networking knowledge was required to install and manage the network. Even with a complex network configuration, a simple setting on the BrightSign unit was enough to make the connections work. We were able to send our first update to remote units the same day our network was established," said Alain Roland, Director of Studio Promo, a Belgium-based systems integrator.

Based on such a successful trial of BrightSign's networking features, Avitour has purchased one hundred BrightSign units, all of which are planned to be deployed on their network by the end of the year. Enhanced Networking and Content Delivery The BrightSign HD2000 combines its innovative solid-state hardware with industry standard Web technologies to deliver an all-in-one network solution that provides remote content delivery with ease and reliability.

While stand-alone BrightSign solutions require manual content updates via removable flash memory, networked BrightSign units support remote updates using an Internet connection. By simply logging onto a secure web account on BrightSign Network Manager, customers can easily upload content, create packages to send to networked units and even view reports on networking status.

"We've responded to market demands for a networked product by providing unparalleled performance at an affordable price without the complications of a PC-based solution," said Anthony Wood, Founder and CEO of Roku. BrightSign also supports networked groups where targeted content and content updates can be delivered to specific sets of installed units securely, quickly, and affordably without leaving the office. In addition, the usage tracking data from a networked interactive kiosk can be uploaded to a central database for analysis. With a networked BrightSign solution, content stays fresh and digital sign performance is maximised. Additional Features BrightSign network connections are secured using high levels of industry standard encryption.

Server and client authentication are also supported to eliminate any hacking threats to your digital sign network. Roku's networking software leverages standard, open web-based technologies where possible, to provide lower cost deployment and operation. Content is hosted on a central web server and delivered using SSL and HTTP. The Roku software runs on the lightweight non-PC players and along side the web server to schedule deliveries and provides a web services user interface.

In addition, Roku's BrightScript files, playlists, state files or BrightSign software can be schedule to update at recurring intervals or on an as needed basis, and RSS feeds are also supported.

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