A big thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth at InfoComm 2019!
It was a busy week, but we never got tired of showing off our Canvus collaboration and Showcase presentation software solutions running on our award-winning, unlimited touch displays.
We were excited for InfoComm to serve as the North American debut for not one, but two new display models.
Thank you Planar/Leyard for lending us your 58’’ interactive LCD display for our booth; allowing us to demonstrate how our Canvus and Showcase software is hardware agnostic.
Aruba Networks, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is a leading supplier of wireless network solutions for businesses and enterprises worldwide.
Based in the heart of Silicon Valley, Aruba designs and builds the technology which powers the mobile-first workplace.
Aruba is changing the way the world works, and wanted to develop an Executive Briefing Center that enables customers to easily discover and engage with the key benefits of the company’s many solutions.
“We wanted an interactive piece of technology that enabled people to immediately explore and connect with different aspects of our brand and truly understand our story.” James Copello, Head of Global Audio Visual Services, Aruba Networks.
The Challenge
The Aruba team was looking for something special; an interactive video wall that could deliver compelling and memorable experiences. Additionally, as the video wall would be the focal point of the briefing center it also needed to be versatile enough that multiple visitors can use the wall at the same time.
The Aruba Executive Briefing Center team had the following key requirements for their overall solution:
The solution must offer the ability to create customized content that showcases marketing information and other rich assets.
The software must be easily operated by the marketing staff at the Executive Briefing Center, and not require a specialized developer to make updates to content.
The video wall must have multi-touch functionality so multiple visitors can use the wall at the same time.
The video wall must be capable of object recognition.
The Solution
The 2 X 2 video wall is made up of four MultiTaction displays, and powered by two MultiTaction software platforms – Canvus and Showcase. The solution allows users to interact with content on the screen simultaneously, using fingers, hands, objects, cards or pens.
The Aruba Executive Briefing Center project team looked at a number of software providers and chose MultiTaction because of its flexibility and the ease of use for creating customized, interactive, multimedia experiences.
“You need an army to run some of the other solutions available. They require a lot of technical heavy lifting, and aren’t designed to change the experience from day to day, let alone week to week, or month to month. This was one of the clear reasons we selected MultiTaction,” according to Copello.
MultiTaction’s unique web-based editor makes live updates possible, allowing for immediate changes to displays in real time without any special assistance required from IT. This makes it easy for the marketing department prepare rich media assets for engaging with clients.
The Results
Ahead of individual tours, the Aruba team uses the Showcase editor to create experiential presentations using videos, images, websites and visualizations.
“Every screen in the space is 100 percent easily customizable, and we can tweak content on the fly,” Copello reports. “If we have customer A coming in, every screen is tailored to Customer A, and if customer B is coming behind them, they get an equally customized experience.”
This is the part of the Aruba experience which elicits the strongest reactions from customers.
“When you put the codice card up against the wall, a little round menu pops up, and you can go where you want from there. Each person picks which content they want to explore, so each person has a completely customized experience.”
“One of the best outcomes is the flexibility of the space. It’s so easily configurable that we no longer have to just throw people in a meeting room for 8 hours and show them a PowerPoint,” Copello concludes.
All Saints Anglican school approached Prendi with a vision for creating a next generation classroom.
Driven by digital innovation and creative thinking Prendi helped evolve their vision to deliver a state of the art experience called The Wonder Room.
It’s whimsical. It’s purposeful. I think in the future, education is going to have to do more of both.
The Wonder Room brings together multiple technologies but the centerpiece is the seamless one by five MultiTaction video wall. MultiTaction screens are the next evolution in touch screens. They have built in infrared cameras allowing for unlimited points of touch. Recognition of QR code markers directly through the screen and seamless touch capability across any number of screens.
The screens require custom made content to bring them to life. Created by Prendi, the content features multiple animated background themes, under the sea, out in space, and the jungle.
The goal was to encourage students to search and find information for themselves without direct guidance or labels. The content features nine categories and hundreds of learning items hidden within the numerous layers of interactivity.
Students and teachers alike benefit from The Wonder Room. Teachers now have a dynamic educational tool with endless amounts of information available through the custom made content enhancing engagement in the classroom.
The Wonder Room also features a slide from the upstairs library to the room, ambient projection, two portrait displays, 4 interactive whiteboards, plus chill out zones.
All designed to provide information to the students in different and more engaging ways. Prendi worked with the team at All Saints Anglican School from initial concept through the technology, procurement, installation, content creation, plus ongoing support and development.
The Wonder Room is an immersive experience. You come in through a slide. You’ve got ambient projection, five MultiTaction screen and interactive glowing whiteboards. It’s nothing like a normal classroom.
Canvus advanced visualization software is changing the way the world works
HELSINKI, FINLAND, August 20, 2019 –
Canvus 2.6 enables companies to solve some of the most pressing issues they face today, such as gaining the competitive advantage, getting to market faster, increasing productivity within teams, and delivering value through big data analytics and business intelligence.
Now, with Canvus, there is a platform that can deliver on the promise of anywhere, anytime, any device collaboration.
“I am excited to announce the release of Canvus 2.6 with many enhancements that our customers have been asking for,” said Ari Rahkonen, CEO of MultiTaction.
Canvus 2.6 has a built in remote desktop protocol (RDP) client, which can be used to connect to an RDP server. The smooth RDP integration will give you the possibility to run and update applications like MS Office, AutoCAD, Photoshop Paint etc. as if they are running in Canvus. Many of our customers already have RDP servers in their network and this allows them to enhance the use of Canvus virtually overnight.
Adding API to Canvus opens new exciting possibilities to integrate with different software such as videoconferencing applications (zoom for instance), data applications (think certain Salesforce integration in Canvus) and many more. This opens the possibility to customize your Canvus with external content in many ways. This will allow for more advanced development or customization of our software.
Key Features
BYOD Support. Screen casting and remote touch capabilities mean that laptops, tablets and other smart devices can easily share and control content.
Scalable. Canvus provides a giant workspace that is easily scalable, which allows for very large amounts of data to be displayed simultaneously. This includes: images, videos, live feeds, browser sessions, remote PC connections or smart device inputs.
Real-Time Collaboration. Canvus makes it possible for teams to share and manipulate data with near-zero latency. Remote users can view, share, manipulate, draw and input data from their individual device. Whether your team members are in the same room, down the hall, in their home office, or around the world, imagine being able to work on video and data in real time.
Split Workspaces. Each canvas can be split into many workspaces, essentially creating a repeat of the first canvas, allowing people to work independently on the Canvus. This is particularly powerful if you want to create a flexible space for collaboration, such as using separate displays for breakout sessions.
Rapid Ideation. The quick note function allows users to create a colored note that can either be filled with text from the virtual keyboard, hand writing from an IR pen, or drag & drop any other content from the canvas. All of these can be combined to enrich an idea captured in the note. Perfect for brain storming sessions.
Videoconferencing Capabilities. Engage agile team members with videoconferencing. Canvus can be integrated with any videoconferencing platform such as Zoom, BlueJeans, MS Teams and Webex.
About MultiTaction
MultiTaction designs advanced visualization and collaboration solutions to improve the way the world works. Its award-winning 3D optical recognition multi-touch displays, and innovative software suite are used by some of the world’s largest corporations, museums, educational institutions and entertainment companies. With solutions deployed in over 50 countries and offices across the United States, Asia and Europe, MultiTaction is a global business.
This is a feature story from Innovestor’s ‘Portfolio insight’ blog series, where Innovestor showcases its portfolio companies and provides insights on their businesses. Multitaction is an Innovestor’s Growth Fund I portfolio company.
Typically any innovation can be fully described in an article like this. In the case of MultiTaction, however, it gets a bit difficult. Text as a format does not seem to do them justice. One must get to try out the touch screens to understand how impressive they are. Seeing truly is believing in this case.
MultiTaction is based on research projects at the University of Helsinki and Aalto University. Those projects investigated touch screen technology based on machine vision. In a decade things have advanced from research to a successful company with around fifty employees and offices in the USA, Singapore, and the UK. Assembly, production, and R&D are still at the company’s headquarters in Helsinki.
As tends to be the case with startups, MultiTaction has had some bumps along the way. Revenues did not increase, products & production encountered challenges, and so on. At the moment the product and the company are in good shape. Sales are soaring and MultiTaction aims to expand its operations by opening a funding round to accelerate the scale-up in Asia and Europe, as well as licensing its software to other device platforms.
Hardware & software working together
Extremely precise 55 inch touch screens are at the core of MultiTaction’s innovation. One can stack them on top of or next to each other, as many as one likes to create a touch wall of desired size. The screens also have dedicated applications which MultiTaction is now considering to license to other environments.
video
The screens currently come equipped with two major software applications: Showcase presentation and Canvus collaboration. The former was designed to give impressive multimedia presentations, whereas the latter is for organizing workshops and collaborative editing from various physical locations.
“We have busted the myth that Finns are engineers who don’t invest in user experience and the wow factor.”
Making the right decisions
The touch screen solution is a true high-end product and that is why MultiTaction is approaching some of the world’s biggest companies. This decision to focus customers was done in 2016. According to the current CEO, Ari Rahkonen, it was the right one: “These Fortune 1000 companies normally have offices all around the globe, which creates a natural need for powerful collaboration tools. Furthermore, these companies don’t want their strategic information lying around in normal cloud services. This suits us because we offer them our own server capacity.”
“Another good decision for us in 2016 was to focus on software and applications. Our hardware was already in good shape back then, but the operating system and various user interface elements still had room for improvements. Lately our software revenues have doubled each year. Last year our revenue split was two thirds hardware and one third software, but this year the ratio has again changed”, Rahkonen continues.
Rahkonen himself joined MultiTaction as the CEO in 2018, having already spent one year with the company, first as an advisor and then on the board. Before MultiTaction, Rahkonen spent about four years headhunting and on various company boards. Before that he was the general manager of Microsoft Finland.
When Rahkonen first encountered MultiTaction’s touch screen solution, he was so impressed about what he saw that he wanted to get on board; “MultiTaction’s story proves that you can go global from Helsinki if your innovation is world-class. That is what we did and took on big guys like Bluescape, Prysm, Cisco, and Microsoft. Furthermore, we have busted the myth that Finns are engineers who don’t invest in user experience and the wow factor.”
3M Opens Data Science and Merchandising Laboratory at Global Headquarters; Scientific Approach Helps Retailers and Consumers
3M is known for applying science to address challenges for its customers and to help make peoples’ lives better. For retail customers of its Consumer Business Group, the omnichannel retail environment, along with acceleration of digital marketing and demand generation provide 3M the opportunity to take a highly data-driven approach to this changing retail landscape. The opening of a new Consumer Data Science and Merchandising Laboratory at its global headquarters in St. Paul, Minn., will accelerate these efforts.
The new state-of-the-art facility integrates data science, retail analytics, marketing and merchandising in one space. These capabilities foster innovation by making it faster and more agile to develop marketing strategies, helping 3M customers make better business decisions for shoppers, whether they are buying online or in a physical store.
“Collaboration is a key part of our brand, and we believe the Data Science and Merchandising Lab will drive even stronger partnerships with retailers as we learn and innovate together.”
“This lab is all about our customers and consumers, who are at the core of everything we do,” said Joaquin Delgado, executive vice president, 3M Consumer Business Group. “The array of solutions and innovation made possible here is unlike any other in the industry. We are applying artificial intelligence and machine learning in the retail landscape to create a better customer and consumer experience.”
The strategic intent behind this lab is to transform how 3M businesses operate and uncover actionable insights for its retail partners. To accomplish this, three distinct yet complementary spaces were created in the Data Science & Merchandising Lab: Data Science and Analytics; Data Visualization Lab; and Retail.
In the Data Science Lab, the 3M team employs science to uncover and apply insights in innovative ways to develop proprietary machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms, which are used to optimize how 3M goes to market. This science increases predictability and the impact of demand generation programs, which in turn accelerates point of sale (POS).
TheDataVisualization Lab offers a collaborative space to further explore the analytics that underlie those strategies and recommendations.
The Retail Lab inspires evaluation and testing of packaging and merchandising in an actual, physical space. The lab offers customers the opportunity to create stronger engagement by learning from and building on input and insights from their shoppers.
“We know that when our customers win, we win,” said Paul Keel, senior vice president, 3M Business Development and Marketing-Sales. “Collaboration is a key part of our brand, and we believe the Data Science and Merchandising Lab will drive even stronger partnerships with retailers as we learn and innovate together.”
The 3M Consumer Business Group develops, manufactures and markets a wide variety of products to make life better at home and at work under flagship brands including Post-it, Scotch, Command, and Filtrete.
About 3M
At 3M, we apply science in collaborative ways to improve lives daily. With $33 billion in sales, our 93,000 employees connect with customers all around the world. Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at 3M.com or on Twitter @3M or @3MNews.
3M, Post-it, Scotch, Command and Filtrete are trademarks of 3M.
Object recognition is not a new concept. Similar to a POS system that can pick up information on a barcode, MultiTaction’s multi-touch displays can process information from 2D codes printed on codice cards.
The codice markers can be printed onto everyday objects such as ID cards, tickets or loyalty cards. They can also be put onto products, so that when the object is placed against our multi-touch display, a unique menu of information is activated.
Unlike most touch technologies, the MultiTaction iWall can see what is touching the display through the glass. As soon as a card has been detected by the touchscreen a menu pops up, which will enable a personalized and interactive experience like none other.
At a time when it is increasingly difficult to capture and hold attention, the iWall delivers a memorable experience that stands out in people’s minds.
James Copello, Head of Global Audio Visual Services at Aruba Networks explains how the company uses MultiTaction codice cards in their Executive Briefing Center to create personalized experiences for visitors to their offices.
We have these props that we will buy, or we will make, and we attach the codice cards to the object. We look for objects that are a good fit to hold in your hand, around the size of a hockey puck. When placed against the MultiTaction wall, it creates a unique digital experience for each visitor.
When Ford came for a visit, we went and found model replicas of the Ford GT40. We attached a codice card on the bottom of each car and placed them all over the conference table where the briefing was taking place. The customer walks in and was immediately curious about the model cars. The first question was the purpose of the cards, what do they do?
When the meeting broke, we asked them all to grab their GT40. Each person put their card against the iWall and it launched a unique set of content for each participant. It created a really fun layer of interaction and a unique experience. And they were all able to use the wall at the same time because of the multi-touch capabilities. They didn’t have to go one at a time – and this really does enhance the experience.
More times than not, we go on YouTube, or our visitors’ website or social feeds and see what content is available. We’ll take videos, images, case studies, or whatever looks cool from their own website, and attach a content menu via the codice card, attached to a prop that they can walk up and place on the wall to see whatever that content is.
We have found it shockingly powerful to show clients their own content on the iWall – they interact with their content in a way they never have before. This has nothing to do with Aruba, but we have enabled that experience.
“From an experience standpoint, the codice cards have been one of the biggest hits in our Executive Briefing Center.” James Copello, Aruba Networks
Activating a hospital lobby with interactive storytelling
Bayhealth is Southern Delaware’s leading healthcare provider, offering a broad range of medical services related to cardiovascular, cancer, pediatrics, respiratory care, and more. Bayhealth Milford Memorial Hospital, a cornerstone of Delaware healthcare for nearly a century, recently closed its doors so that a new chapter could begin with the state-of-the-art Bayhealth Hospital,Sussex Campus.
Watch the video: Bayhealth Hospital Lobby Comes to Life with Interactive Storytelling
The Welcome to Bayhealth media experience complements the coastal-inspired architecture and interior design of the hospital. An abstract, three-dimensional oceanic motif extends across the interactive canvas, and guests tap on different types and colors of shells to discover new content.
The media experience is designed to serve a broad audience including patients, their family members and loved ones, and Bayhealth Hospital staff.
The content on the MultiTaction 6 x 1 interactive video wall features curated stories about the hospital’s rich history, its many satisfied patients, philanthropic donors, and award-winning team members.
Guests can also search the directory to find a physician, watch short profile videos about them, and learn where they practice. And in recognition of the hospital’s ongoing spirit of compassion, guests can use their finger to draw a heart that dynamically blends into the motif, leaving their own mark on the media.
The application is supported by a Content Management System (CMS) that also features an analytics module to help administrators track media engagement.
The demand for change is being driven by the war for talent as companies look to create engaging workplaces.
Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a commercial real estate service provider, embraced this shift in the future of work when establishing its new home in Hong Kong. The project is a step in the longer journey of upgrading JLL’s technology across its APAC offices.
Patrick Stewart-Blacker is a specialist advisor on smart buildings within JLL’s digital solutions. He says: “Our CEO, Christian Ulbrich, has made it very clear to the market that JLL believes that technology will play an integral role in the future of all businesses. As such we need to evolve and change to meet the needs of our clients.”
He continues: “Building people-centric office spaces requires us to deliver a frictionless experience day to day, where the technology enables a better working environment without teams even noticing. We set out to deliver an agile working environment where technology supports this journey rather than being the showpiece.”
JLL’s office in Hong Kong features a variety of meeting spaces ranging from collaboration spaces, breakout areas, and an interactive client suite, JLL NXT Space.
credit JLL
Principle One was chosen as the integrator for the project. Regarding the selection of the integrator, Stewart-Blacker says: “We wanted a partner who understood what we were trying to achieve and who could turn our conceptual ideas into reality with an understanding of how to build an IoT-centric space. Principle One brought its experience of building IT systems and combining audio visual systems to the table.”
As you enter the seventh floor, the first thing that strikes the visitor is a 5 X 1 MultiTaction videowall which is used to start the journey around the JLL space.
Around the modern office you find a mixture of Cisco Webex enabled rooms and simple presentation spaces powered by a Creston ecosystem. Surprisingly, there is little traditional video switching in the JLL space as it was just not required for the business to operate. The simple spaces use Crestron AM-300 units which provide room booking calendar information in the meeting room, wireless and wired connectivity without any user control devices.
Stewart-Blacker details how the separate AV products work in tandem: “The way that the MultiTaction solution has been set up means that most of the content is driven to this display. It has a Crestron Air Media built into the back and there is HDMI connectivity to the server. There is no videowall engine per se, the display is driven by the server which has a capture card built in. The beauty of the system is that the PC is doing the work and generating the content providing a smooth experience.”
credit JLL
The centerpiece of the JLL office in Hong Kong is the JLL NXT Space. Stewart-Blacker details how the AV systems bring it to life: “The JLL NXT Space provides all of our teams with a valuable collaboration and workshopping tool built around our design thinking led engagement principle. MultiTaction gives us a dynamic tool that provides flexibility and interactivity on a standard platform without much need for bespoke programming.”
“We use MultiTaction in our JLL NXT Space to engage with clients in a more collaborative way. For instance, our leasing team uses the space to run client presentations in an interactive environment using live market data, allowing clients to make faster, better informed real estate decisions.” JLL
Tying the AV systems together is a Crestron control system and a Crestron Fusion system. This forms part of the technology ecosystem that JLL has deployed in the Hong Kong space and will continue to develop moving forwards. Stewart-Blacker says: “We bought into the Crestron ecosystem because it is easy to look at a lot of the data from AV systems in silos, but we wanted to look at data from the entire installation and Crestron brings that to the table. It gives us an option, not just in Hong Kong, to start looking across our complete portfolio of real estate.”
He continues: “We wanted to remotely access meeting rooms and for our support engineers to solve issues from anywhere across the world. We wanted to have a room booking system that was adaptive and could help us intelligently use our spaces.”
Krick Lau, executive director of Principle One, talks about the driving force behind the conception and deployment of every AV system: “AV is a tool to enable the operation of the rooms. In combination with the sensors and the IT systems the main aim is to make the lives of the users as easy as possible and enhance their experience.”
“The journey of the user and the user experience comes first. The meeting spaces are not small, so expecting a user to set everything up themselves or calling up the IT department would mean wasted time. So, all the meeting spaces have been automated and are self-driven.” JLL
credit JLL
However, delivering the desired user experience was not always easy. Stewart-Blacker says: “We have a clear desk policy, even for our large meeting spaces such as the boardroom and the JLL NXT Space. You can spend a fortune on such spaces and still end up with wires scattered across the table. We worked together with Principle One to find a way to avoid this.”
On the side of the integrator making sure no wires were visible or evident was a challenge. Lau says: “We didn’t expect JLL to use a lot of HDMI because by definition that means you need to plug in a HDMI cable. Everything had to be wireless which meant that users had to get access to the internet network. This however means that you need to have internal access to the corporate network as well as guest access for the network because you need to protect your information. As you can imagine, this causes firewall issues when external devices try to connect to the network. This is a known issue and wireless presentation at present cannot cater to this situation. This is the reason a single HDMI cable is provided for when external devices need to be used for presentation. A boardroom is also present in case you need further collaboration.”
Audio is provided by a range of QSC speakers and picked up by Shure ceiling microphones. The Shure ceiling microphone is a key product enabling the desired user experience. Stewart-Blacker says: “You can conduct a panel discussion with three to four people in our meeting spaces without a microphone because of the Shure beamforming microphones in the ceilings. They can do audience voice pick-up if you want and the system can be configured to account for a standing or seated audience. This was perfect for us because we did not want to make meetings any more complicated for users and reducing the clutter of technology that you see in many spaces.”
To conclude Stewart-Blacker says: “With the Hong Kong office, we have continued to modernize our workspaces across the world. The next milestone on our journey is the opening of our new Singapore headquarters, which harnesses robust and well considered technology to provide an exceptional working environment for our staff to engage with our clients in more fruitful and innovative ways.”
Professional sports teams rely heavily on data and analytics to improve their team performance.
IBM has a long history in the sports industry. As part of the grand opening of the Toronto Raptors’ BioSteel Centre, IBM created a first of its kind solution, in collaboration with the Raptors and MultiTaction.
IBM iX provides a faster means to share and visualize data, which can inform time-critical decisions, and help the Raptors gain the competitive advantage. Historically, it is a manual, and time consuming process to gather and share relevant data for player evaluation. It is particularly challenging during time sensitive situations, like the lead up to the annual draft.
“We wanted to create a system that eliminated data silos by bringing all the data together – structured, unstructured, internal and proprietary. But, more importantly, we wanted to put management at the center, so user experience was really important.” Farhang Farid, Associate Partner, IBM iX
THE CHALLENGE
Develop a comprehensive advanced visualization platform that can find, view and organize relevant data, so it is possible to build a unique picture around each athlete.
The concept of the war room was both as a virtual and a physical space. Management gets together a couple dozen times a year in person, but they are constantly talking to each other and collaborating.
The environment also had to promote collaboration. Team management could be in this room for 12 to 15 hours. There is a lot of back and forth, and iterations on a particular scenario, or a particular player. While participating in the larger group discussion, it is typical for individuals to be simultaneously working on scenarios independently. Therefore, the ability to accommodate both private and public collaboration, was a top consideration.
KEY REQUIREMENTS
The room had to have a sexy factor. The Raptors want to appeal to the top players to come to Toronto and play for an organization that leverages technology to focus on player development.
The displays had to offer multi-touch functionality. It was critical that the touchscreens could accommodate several different users, working together over long periods of time.
The displays had to facilitate split workspaces. The solution had to support both public and private collaboration.
THE SOLUTION
The advanced visualization space includes a 9 x 1 MultiTaction multi-touch video wall, and a 1 x 3 tabletop.
The solution is designed to transform and automate the Raptors’ talent evaluation processes by reimagining data through cognitive and analytics technology.
IBM customized MultiTaction software by writing a plug-in on top of our Canvus platform. “We’re launching browsers, essentially on top of Canvus that allows us to control the content, such as the browsers, and push information,” Farid explains.
The solution is powered by IBM Watson cognitive business technology. IBM Watson Tradeoff analytics is leveraged to assess possible roster combinations against a variety of criteria. IBM Watson Personality Insights includes linguistic analytics to understand player personality and social characteristics that align with the organizational culture.
THE RESULTS
“What we’ve created is an intuitive and interactive solution that enables the Raptors’ management to have access to all aspects of player data in real time, in a fashion that they can collaborate with each other, and discuss a potential trade scenario or a draft pick, and really help them make those critical decisions,” Farid concludes.
“We obviously recognize that we are not basketball experts. The people in the front office, they have the basketball acumen. Our goal was to augment their process, by bringing data into their world that they may not have previously considered, in order to provide them with new insights.” says Farid.
Briefing Centers are being used by leading brands to create 360-degree environments that immerse attendees in an experience.
Your Executive Briefing Center (EBC), or Customer Briefing Center (CBC), plays a major role in enhancing customer sales. You want to put your best foot forward to captivate your visitors, educate them about your unique value differentiation and up-sell/cross-sell your solutions.
This is where Kaon Interactive can help you help with interactive, 3D sales and marketing applications that tell your story and/or show your complex solutions in a VIRTUALLY engaging, exploratory way.
Kaon recently partnered with MultiTaction to solve these problems, specifically, within briefing centers.
B2B brands, such as Siemens, Abbott and JLL, use MultiTaction iWalls in their briefing centers, to create personalized experiences for their visitors.
The results of this collaboration accelerate customer engagement and provided a platform to quickly uncover unique product/solution differentiation and how it will help solve business challenges.
The MultiTaction iWall creates a collaborative environment for Kaon’s interactive applications, allowing a number of users (only limited by the size of the iWall you choose to install) to explore a 3D tour of your product (zoom, spin, animate) or your interactive solution story independently or collaboratively, at scale.
New tools for our channel partners were added, including a dedicated partner portal and new deal registration program.
Finally, we gave MultiTaction.com a new look that included improved navigation, increased video content and more detailed product content.
“It has been a busy year for MultiTaction. I am blown away by what we have accomplished in the past year and am excited about everything we have planned for 2020. I appreciate the collaboration between our partners, customers, and employees for contributing to our continued success and growth. Happy holidays from all of us at MultiTaction.” Ari Rahkonen, CEO.
As we look to 2020, we are excited to work with our partners and customers to take the user experience to the next level and change the way the world works.
Stay tuned for our 2020 calendar of events, which will kick off at ISE, taking place February, 11 – 14, in Amsterdam.
It is in this spirit we say thank you, or as they say in Finland, kiitoksia oikein paljon!
Happy Holidays from MultiTaction, and we look forward to working with you in 2020!
Our European offices will close for the holidays December 24th – 26th.
U.S. offices will be closed Wednesday, December 25th, reopening on Monday December 30th.
Welcome to our new blog series, On the Road to ISE, where we will be talking to MultiTaction employees about top tech trends for 2020, and what they are looking forward to seeing at ISE 2020.
In this week’s #RoadtoISE interview, we are joined by Jaypaul Barrow.
How many times have you been to ISE?
I’ve been going to ISE as long as there has been an ISE!
I attended the first one in 2004 as a visitor looking at interactive whiteboards. In 2006 I was proud to be an exhibitor on the Electrosonic stand selling command and control systems and I’ve attended as a visitor or exhibitor every year since.
What industry trends do you see making the biggest impact in 2020?
Microsoft Surface 2X will be the “darling of the show” people have been waiting two years now to get to see it and their anticipation will be high.
I’m hoping that “AI Integration” will be a big aspect, but I suspect there will be little said as the SI nature of the show makes it “hard to present AI” in a meaningful way.
DirectVeiw LED has grown year on year at ISE and I suspect this year we will see some really interesting moves from Samsung/LG/Leyard and Christie.
When visitors come to the booth, what is the key takeaway you want them to remember when they think about MultiTaction?
What are you looking forward most to see at ISE this year?
Catching up with all my ex-colleagues and clients. It really is a close-knit community, but the fast pace and rapid developments mean we rarely have time to just catch up. The ISE show provides that opportunity at some of the vendor events.
In a few short weeks, ISE will be here. We look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam!
Welcome back to our blog series, On the Road to ISE, where we talk to MultiTaction employees about top tech trends for 2020, and what they are looking forward to seeing at ISE 2020.
In this week’s interview, we are joined by Gerald Smid, Product Manager at MultiTaction.
What makes ISE a show MultiTaction chooses to attend?
ISE is THE show where we can meet our partners and customers in Europe and beyond. And we have the chance of meeting many new faces and showing what direction MultiTaction is going as a company.
We have seen many new business opportunities coming from ISE, so it is certainly a show we like to attend!
What industry trends do you see making the biggest impact in 2020?
LEDs will get smaller for sure and I expect to see some great looking products with that technology.
Artificial Intelligence has become more than a buzzword. The question is how does this translate to the AV industry? I think that will need to be able to establish connections with the big AI players before it makes a big impact.
At MultiTaction we just enabled our Canvus collaboration software with a REST API, making it possible to open interfaces to outside systems like sales-systems, photoshop, or AI-systems. You will still need a programmer to set this up, but the possibility to start connecting to other platforms is a very important move for us.
When visitors come to the booth, what is the key takeaway you want them to remember when they think about MultiTaction?
MultiTaction delivers the best multi-touch display to the interactive video wall market.
Our software was designed to deliver the ultimate user experience when used with MultiTaction displays. However, we have made our software hardware agnostic, so it can be used on any compatible interactive display. This makes our software far more accessible.
What sets MultiTaction apart from the competition?
MultiTaction is the only company I know that provides both collaboration and highly interactive presentation software with our two software platforms – Canvus and Showcase.
This gives companies the ability to create very sleek interactive presentations, as well as the possibility to continue with an interactive work-session (multisite if needed). I feel that this is really a powerful combination!
On the hardware side, our multi-touch displays are unique because the cameras see more than a normal touch screen. This enables a much more responsive touch interaction, and allows to offer object recognition, which really sets up apart in the interactive display market.
MultiTaction is really in its own league when you start making curved video walls or very big video walls, where the response time and the precision of the touch-interaction is a top consideration.
What is your favorite place to eat in Amsterdam?
Haha, as a Dutch guy living in Finland for decades and having lived in Amsterdam for over a year, I love this question!
One place I always like to go to is the snack bar! We Dutch love our greasy snacks like kroket, patat met (“French fries with” means with mayonnaise) patat saté and the best is “patatje oorlog” (literally translated “french fries war”, which make a lot of sense when you see it ). FEBO must be unique to the Netherlands, they have a wall with all small windowed lockers and you can get your snacks by throwing a coin in a vending machine an just open the right locker to get your snack. Try it!
The countdown is on for ISE 2020! We look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam!
We invite you to register for free using the code: 831695
Our XNB touchscreens are the best for video wall installations. Unique Clearsight Touch technology combines incredible touch response, feeling and image quality.
Our UNB touchscreens are best for cost sensitive applications that need great video wall touch experience and moderate brightness.
Canvus is unbeatable collaboration software to increase productivity within teams. Finally, a solution that fulfills the promise of anywhere, anytime, any device collaboration. On-premises security and performance, true multimedia capabilities and ultra-responsive user interface drive improvements in productivity. Ideal for video walls in meeting space, boardrooms, Executive Briefing Centers, innovation labs, and in higher education. See the big picture with Canvus.
Showcase delivers the ultimate interactive experiences, and brings your presentations to life. With its quick online editor and a powerful multimedia engine, Showcase allows you engage, delight and entertain employees, clients and visitors alike. Ideal for lobbies, visitor centers, meeting rooms and museums. Transform your video,wall into a Showcase.
Stayed tuned for next week’s On the Road to ISE interview, when we speak with MultiTaction’s Director of Marketing, Melissa Adamson.
Welcome back to our blog series, On the Road to ISE, where we talk to MutiTaction employees about top tech trends for 2020, and what they are most looking forward to seeing at ISE 2020.
In this week’s interview, we speak with Melissa Adamson, our Director of Marketing & Partner Development
What makes ISE a show MultiTaction chooses to attend?
There is no other show in our industry where you can engage with such a diverse range of customers—from end users to AV professionals—all in one place and from such a wide geography. This gives MultiTaction a perfect platform for showing off our visually stunning, interactive displays and unveiling our latest developments in collaboration and visualization software. This year we will be demonstrating new features of our collaboration software, Canvus, as well as a few other surprises you will have to see when you come to the booth.
MultiTaction is a solution that makes the biggest impact when you can see and interact with it in person. ISE gives people from all over the world a chance to engage with MultiTaction and experience our unique set of capabilities no one else can match.
What industry trends do you see making the biggest impact in 2020?
It seems like I always see something new that I hadn’t envisioned before, which is exciting. I do foresee a heavy focus in the collaboration space as well as advances in the AI realm.
When visitors come to the booth, what is the key takeaway you want them to remember when they think about MultiTaction?
With over a decade of specialty collaboration hardware and software experience MultiTaction understands the collaboration and visualization market. The market is getting crowded with interactive hardware and software solutions, but MultiTaction has the expertise, flexibility and customer focus to provide innovative products and services that are second to none.
What sets MultiTaction apart from the competition?
We are a company focused on collaboration solutions. It’s not just a part of a large portfolio of products, it is our sole focus. We are small enough to be nimble and create custom solutions to meet a customer’s needs, yet large enough that we have the experience providing for solutions of all sizes, budgets and markets across the globe.
What are you looking forward most to see at ISE this year?
I’ve worked in the AV industry for many years, so it is also nice to see reconnect with former colleagues and catch up on what is happening in the industry overall. Additionally, since I am based in the U.S. (Portland, Oregon), and MultiTaction is headquartered in Finland I enjoy the chance to spend time with my colleagues with whom I do not get to see in person that often.
Our XNB touchscreens are the best for video wall installations. Unique Clearsight Touch technology combines incredible touch response, feeling and image quality.
Our UNB touchscreens are best for cost sensitive applications that need great video wall touch experience and moderate brightness.
Canvus is unbeatable collaboration software to increase productivity within teams. Finally, a solution that fulfills the promise of anywhere, anytime, any device collaboration. On-premises security and performance, true multimedia capabilities and ultra-responsive user interface drive improvements in productivity. Ideal for video walls in meeting space, boardrooms, Executive Briefing Centers, innovation labs, and in higher education. See the big picture with Canvus.
Showcase delivers the ultimate interactive experiences, and brings your presentations to life. With its quick online editor and a powerful multimedia engine, Showcase allows you engage, delight and entertain employees, clients and visitors alike. Ideal for lobbies, visitor centers, meeting rooms and museums. Transform your video,wall into a Showcase.
Welcome back to our blog series, On the Road to ISE, where we talk to MultiTaction employees about top tech trends for 2020, and what they are most looking forward to seeing at ISE 2020.
In this week’s interview, we speak with Sailesh Jalakam, our Director of Customer Success.
What makes ISE a show MultiTaction chooses to attend?
Integrated Systems Europe is a vital show for MultiTaction because it puts us directly in touch with both our dealers and system integrators.
Our products are very interactive, and MultiTaction’s touchscreen technology is more responsive than any other and delivers the best user experience. So, giving partners the ability to really experience the performance of our interactive solutions is a great benefit.
Our products are under constant development and new features are added constantly. ISE allows dealers and end users that are already familiar with our products to see the latest breakthrough features – maybe a little sooner than anywhere else!
What industry trends do you see making the biggest impact in 2020?
The workforce is becoming much more mobile, and more geographically spread out. Teams need to work together at a distance and still be super productive. We have seen the popularity of tools like Slack that enable teams to better communicate. Canvus is MultiTacion’s advanced visualization software that helps teams and individuals connect, collaborate, and be more productive. Whether working at a giant video wall or on a laptop, teams can meet, brainstorm and get work done in ways that were never possible before.
When visitors come to the booth, what is the key takeaway you want them to remember when they think about MultiTaction?
I want them to be delighted! MultiTaction has the highest performance multi-touch displays, and I want visitors to experience this for themselves because they won’t ever forget it.
I want MultiTaction to be the first thing that comes to mind when a project calls for world class collaboration and interactive content.
What sets MultiTaction apart from the competition?
MultiTaction’s software and hardware work together to provide the most intuitive touch interactivity available today.
Our user interfaces are simple and easy to use, and our displays use a touch technology that puts them in a class of their own. Our interactive displays are the only ones on the market that can be configured into a curved touch wall environment. This is because the camera-based touch system is integrated directly into the display panels themselves. Not only can the displays detect an unlimited number of simultaneous touches with pinpoint accuracy, but they can detect physical objects as well.
Codice markers are printable codes that can be detected by the display and trigger events or content to be presented. These codes bridge the gap between physical objects and digital information. Imagine placing an object on a digital table and learning more about that object as interactive content is triggered in the process! It’s a fun way to reach out and engage with an audience.
Our XNB touchscreens are the best for video wall installations. Unique Clearsight Touch technology combines incredible touch response, feeling and image quality.
Our UNB touchscreens are best for cost sensitive applications that need great video wall touch experience and moderate brightness.
Canvus is unbeatable collaboration software to increase productivity within teams. Finally, a solution that fulfills the promise of anywhere, anytime, any device collaboration. On-premises security and performance, true multimedia capabilities and ultra-responsive user interface drive improvements in productivity. Ideal for video walls in meeting space, boardrooms, Executive Briefing Centers, innovation labs, and in higher education. See the big picture with Canvus.
Showcase delivers the ultimate interactive experiences, and brings your presentations to life. With its quick online editor and a powerful multimedia engine, Showcase allows you engage, delight and entertain employees, clients and visitors alike. Ideal for lobbies, visitor centers, meeting rooms and museums. Transform your video,wall into a Showcase.
Welcome to our final installment of On the Road to ISE, where we talk with MultiTaction employees about top tech trends for 2020, and what they are looking forward to seeing at ISE 2020.
This week, we are excited to speak with our CEO, Ari Rahkonen.
What makes ISE a show MultiTaction chooses to attend?
ISE is a unique event where the whole industry meets. This show connects the international ecosystems together. For MultiTaction, this gives us an opportunity to show the latest features and functions to a targeted audience. It also enables partner meetings and offer the possibility to explore the latest technology in the market, all under the same roof.
What industry trends do you see making the biggest impact in 2020?
I see growing demand for MultiTaction’s advanced visualization solutions in several markets. Large international companies are looking for solutions to improve collaboration between teams and across borders. They also have a growing need to excite their customers utilizing technology and content, which is fueling demand for Customer Experience Centers, and interactive Lobby solutions.
Higher Education institutions are transforming the teaching and learning experience. Universities are actively seeking new ways to leverage digital content to enable activities, such as problem solving within teams. Smart content on video wall, VR and AR all provide new dimensions for students to create and learn, with a twist of having fun.
Security will be growing in importance in many industries. We will see more Control Centers in all kinds of property management scenarios, manufacturing plants, financial institutions and government properties. Instead of just reactively monitoring activities, companies are starting to using AI to proactively build various threat scenarios. Touch video walls provide a great platform to mitigate these risks in real time.
When visitors come to the booth, what is the key takeaway you want them to remember when they think about MultiTaction?
MultiTaction provides a unique experience for anybody that spends few minutes at the booth exploring the great content that we have developed for our touch video walls.
The unmatched responsiveness of MultiTaction multi-touch displays are what our visitors will remember most! As well as the limitless opportunities to create, search and share content. This is where we differentiate from our competition.
What are you looking forward most to see at ISE this year?
LED technologies continue to evolve, and I am looking forward to seeing what the LED manufacturers will be showing at ISE.
Our XNB touchscreens are the best for video wall installations. Unique Clearsight Touch technology combines incredible touch response, feeling and image quality.
Our UNB touchscreens are best for cost sensitive applications that need great video wall touch experience and moderate brightness.
Canvus is unbeatable collaboration software to increase productivity within teams. Finally, a solution that fulfills the promise of anywhere, anytime, any device collaboration. On-premises security and performance, true multimedia capabilities and ultra-responsive user interface drive improvements in productivity. Ideal for video walls in meeting space, boardrooms, Executive Briefing Centers, innovation labs, and in higher education. See the big picture with Canvus.
Showcase delivers the ultimate interactive experiences, and brings your presentations to life. With its quick online editor and a powerful multimedia engine, Showcase allows you engage, delight and entertain employees, clients and visitors alike. Ideal for lobbies, visitor centers, meeting rooms and museums. Transform your video,wall into a Showcase.
There’s never been a better time to start working from home, but in order to remain productive, global teams need solutions that support real-time collaboration.
MultiTaction Canvus software enables any time, anywhere, any device, collaboration.
Our Canvus platform is unique in the way it encourages visual collaboration, which enables ideation through advanced visualization of rich media content.
Often confused with video conferencing, visual collaboration leverages technology so teams can work together in a much more visual and engaging manner.
Video conferencing is much like a regular meeting, with one person sharing fixed content with everyone else
This is not collaboration.
Visual collaboration turbo-charges business meetings and it is also a key element in creating modern digital workspaces that deliver better outcomes.
Studies show that we remember just 10 percent of what we hear, 20 percent of what we read and 80 percent of what we see. All large organisations would like to improve collaboration, and they all share the same challenge – how do you get colleagues to work in real-time together across geographic locations?
Canvus collaboration software enables multiple sources, such as video feeds, web-based applications and content from smart devices, to run in parallel. And Canvus makes it possible for remote users to share, manipulate, draw and input information in real-time wherever they are located.
Embrace Remote Collaboration with MultiTaction
Visual collaboration demands that your solution integrates BYOD and enables remote users to interact with the meeting hub. Canvus provides seamless integration of people and technology, and bridges the physical and the digital worlds.
Canvus provides the real-time relay of content and the actions performed on one screen to all others. Annotations, navigations, and live/recorded video are synchronously displayed across devices, like laptops and tablets. And all with low latency.
Even if users leave and rejoin sessions, the current state of content from the meeting hub is instantly synchronized with their devices, and also allows them to zoom and shrink objects independently on their screens.
MultiTaction’s collaboration software allows up to 50 users log in to a single screen at a time in order to add, edit, navigate, visualize and share content simultaneously. Now, remote teams can achieve the same level of real-time communication as teams that are in the same room. Canvus operates in both Windows and Linux environments and can integrate with the latest meeting room technologies such as Microsoft Surface Hub and Cisco Spark.
The rush towards visual collaboration is happening as organizations increasingly adopt remote working.
MultiTaction enables our clients to embrace remote collaboration, so they can develop and communicate their ideas in real time across global locations. This is why leading organizations including: IBM, KPMG, Oracle, 3M, PwC and the Toronto Raptors, use MultiTaction advanced visualization solutions.
We are in uncharted territory as COVID-19 continues to impact communities around the globe, our thoughts are with those that have been affected. While we all work towards maintaining a sense of normality, we know that there is an overlying sense of uncertainty and providing clear communication is important. To that end we wish to share the specific actions MultiTaction is taking to help encourage the health and safety of our employees, customers and partners.
MultiTaction is dedicated to ensuring a safe, effective response to this crisis. We are closely monitoring statements from the World Health Organization (WHO) and local health authorities in the countries where we operate. We are following the WHO and have plans in place to allow employees to work from home. As of now, we have not suspended all employee travel, but we are trying to limit travel as much as possible while maintaining business commitments and ensuring our best-in-class service keeps our customers up and running. If you have any specific questions about scheduled installations or service needs, please contact your local MultiTaction contact or direct to Sales@multitaction.com.
MultiTaction understands the concerns and challenges that have arisen in regard to scheduled events, meetings and training. To that end, we want to remind you are sales team is available for remote training and demos. Please reach out to your MultiTaction account manager or contact Sales@multitaction.com to set up a virtual demo or training.
We are working diligently to ensure a consistent supply of products and services. We promise to keep our partners and customers informed of any disruptions to planned installation and delivery schedules.
We recognize this is a fluid crisis, with news changing daily. We are constantly monitoring the latest information about COVID-19 and are adjusting our policies and plans accordingly.
The codice markers can be printed onto everyday objects such as ID cards, tickets or loyalty cards. They can also be put onto products, so that when the object is placed against our multi-touch display, a unique menu of information is activated.
). FEBO must be unique to the Netherlands, they have a wall with all small windowed lockers and you can get your snacks by throwing a coin in a vending machine an just open the right locker to get your snack. Try it!
