The whole world is going remote. From working at home to drive-by graduations to remote learning and weddings over Zoom just about everyone has had to adapt. For audiovisual professionals, that adaptation includes figuring out ways to manage, update, and troubleshoot AV solutions from afar.
PSNI preferred vendor partner BrightSign recently presented a webinar in cooperation with PSNI Global Alliance entitled “Using Cloud Connected Devices to Manage Digital Signage Applications” that provided an overview of BrightSign solutions that enable remote access to digital signage systems and real-time player access anytime from anywhere.
Here are some key takeaways about the benefit of BrightSign players, and the value of remote control and management options for digital signage systems.
Why Cloud-Based Management is Better for Digital Signage
There is one simple reason BrightSign players are the best option for digital signage applications, said Frank Pisano, VP of Sales, Americas said. “It’s because BrightSign players are designed exclusively for digital signage applications. BrightSign players have no moving parts, so they have a low failure rate and high reliability. And, each BrightSign player comes with a commercial-grade Operating System (OS) built for cloud-based management and control of your digital signage system.”
Benefits of a cloud-connected system include:
- Easier network management anytime, from anywhere
- In-depth views of the network’s health and operation
- Real-time performance controls including OS updates, notifications, remote reboots, and content updates
- Better efficiency for digital signage network control
Manage Digital Signage Remotely with BrightSign’s Control Cloud
Based on feedback from end-users, BrightSign recently introduced the Control Cloud, which allows users to set up, connect, provision, and monitor digital signage networks remotely. The Control Cloud adds a robust software management tool on top of BrightSign’s respected and reliable hardware solutions, and it comes free with every BrightSign player.
Some capabilities provided by the BrightSign Control Cloud include:
- Remote set up of new players. An end-user in any location can plug in a new player and an AV professional can set up that player from anywhere through the Control Cloud. Remote set up capabilities include naming the player, assigning it to a network, and assigning a device type. Devices can be configured to pull content from an organization’s own FTP site, or a third-party CMS partner.
- Save set up packages and use them later. The Control Cloud includes multiple set up packages for digital signage players, including standalone players, local file networking, single file networking, and partner applications such as third-party CMS interfaces. Once you’ve designed a set up package, you can save it and apply it to one or multiple players later on, saving you the time of setting up each new player individually. Access to third-party CMS interfaces through Control Cloud also helps future proof your digital signage investment, Frank said. If your system expands and outgrows one CMS, you can easily—and remotely—reconfigure your devices to use a different CMS.
- Create networks of players as connected devices in the cloud. On the Control Cloud dashboard, users can create multiple networks for connected digital signage players. For example, you can create one network for all the players in your lobby, one network for all the players in in your conference rooms, and one network for all the players in your employee common spaces. Creating distinct networks improves the efficiency of your digital signage system because you can monitor, manage and update connected players as a group rather than one at a time.
- Access digital signage management tools any time from anywhere. Through the Control Cloud dashboard you can take a snapshot of what content is currently playing on any device, author and upload new content, view the network configuration, run real-time network diagnostics, debug the network, update the OS, and even get information about the monitor each player on the network is connected to. And you can do it all from wherever you are, whether your digital signage players are in the next room or on the other side of the world.
To learn more about the benefits of the BrightSign Control Cloud, and to see a live demonstration of the dashboard and cloud-connected tools, watch the on-demand webinar today.
