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BrightSign Unveils New Version of BrightAuthor with Expanded Connectivity and Layout Features

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Easily Links to Virtually Any Live Data Source for Playback
of Up-to-the-Minute Communications

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, 31 January 2012 – Known worldwide for driving the digital signage industry’s innovation, BrightSign® announced today Version 2.5 of BrightAuthor, its highly acclaimed PC-based software, which will be available Q1 2012. Included free of charge with BrightSign’s broad line of high-definition, solid-state digital signage controllers, the software simplifies creating, updating, managing and monitoring digital signage displays. With the latest version of BrightAuthor, BrightSign users can now connect to a wide range of public and private live data sources to playback real-time data from databases in the form of Twitter feeds or new live texts, which are text fields that can be placed on top of video and image content. New layout presentation switching capabilities have also been added to support layout changes within a presentation.

“Previous BrightAuthor releases have primarily focused on adding tools to its visual-based interface that make it very easy for even a novice to create eye-catching presentations,” said Jeff Hastings, BrightSign CEO. “Now, we’re expanding the capabilities to integrate with both public and private live data systems and show controllers. With the new BrightAuthor features, BrightSign users will have all the tools they need to create and update automated displays to make them more relevant, more targeted, more dynamic.”

Live Signage

By empowering users with the ability to easily connect to live data sources, BrightAuthor takes message relevance to a whole new level. With this capability, BrightSign players become more participatory for virtually any application and without the need to republish presentations or update the primary content. Users can Tweet a welcome message for a visitor and it will promptly appear on the BrightSign display. Similarly using BrightSign’s new live text feature, text fields can be placed on top of videos and image content allowing them to be updated quickly with up-to-the-minute information.

When linked to a database, Live Texts can instantly provide content updates for applications such as:

  • Wait lists: Easily add the next person in line to your signage for any number of applications ranging from restaurants to salons, pharmacies and more
  • Menu boards: Instantly change pricing and add specials of the day
  • Point-of-Sale (POS) systems: Update pricing changes, product availability and backorder information
  • Trade shows: Welcome visitors, list events for the day and communicate news
  • Manufacturing systems: Show factory statistics and the day’s goals and achievements on factory floors
  • Bank/financial displays: Provide current CD/home interest rates and stock market status

As part of its commitment to continue improving BrightAuthor’s core capabilities and its presentation creation process, BrightSign has added a new feature that supports layout changes within a presentation. With the “Layout Presentation Switching” tools, a presentation with one layout (i.e., multi-zone) can call up another presentation with a different screen layout (i.e., full-screen) for playback. This feature offers greater flexibility to showcase multiple presentations with different layouts in a series, and allows users to “nest” presentations with different layouts. With this application, a master presentation can launch a set of additional presentations and each can have their own screen layout.

About BrightAuthor

BrightAuthor is the central interface for BrightSign single-site and networked digital signage displays. A versatile, highly flexible signage management solution, BrightAuthor supports full HD at 1080p resolutions as well as 3D video playback for the top-over-bottom and side-by-side 3D formats. With BrightAuthor software, BrightSign PC-less digital signage players and the built-in network support, users have a complete, end-to-end solution that delivers higher reliability and scalability at a lower cost than PC-based signage solutions.

BrightAuthor includes templates, wizards and customisation tools that enable even inexperienced users to create and manage their own presentations. The intuitive interface makes it easy to build full-screen and multi-zone playlists for looping displays without manually configuring coordinates and image sizes. Other features range from day-parting/scheduling, interactivity and synchronisation to simple networking. Publishing the content is also simplified because the software automatically creates the playlist file and bundles it with the selected content, ready to drop onto an SD card for playback or to be delivered over a network.

Availability

Designed to run on a standard Windows PC with Windows XP or Vista or Windows 7, plus Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 or later, BrightAuthor v2.5 will be available free of charge to all BrightSign users at http://brightsign.biz/support in Q1 2012. With this application, presentations can be deployed to BrightSign’s full range of BrightSign digital players and kiosk controllers including looping, interactive, network-enabled, network-enabled/interactive media players, players with built-in Wi-Fi and a free-standing tabletop display that delivers high-resolution video displays instantly without external power or wiring.

Press Contact:             Peter van der Sluijs

                                           Neesham Public Relations

                                           Tel: +44 (0) 1296 628180

                                           Email: peterv@neesham.co.uk

Press Contact: Peter van der Sluijs, Neesham Public Relations

Tel: 44 (0) 1296 628180, Email: peterv@neesham.co.uk

About BrightSign

BrightSign, LLC, based in Los Gatos, California, develops products and software for digital signage.

BrightSign solid-state digital sign controllers set new standards for both stand-alone and networked digital signage applications with their superior video quality, reliability, affordability, ease of use and interactivity.

Online information about BrightSign units is available at www.brightsign.biz.

For sales inquiries, please contact sales@brightsign.biz or call 408-852-9263 in the USA and 44-1223-911842 internationally. Follow BrightSign at http://twitter.com/brightsign and

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BrightSign-LLC/121852744557182

 

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