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Omnivex Digital Signage Helps Grand Hyatt New York

Omnivex software provides guests with wayfinding help.

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The Grand Hyatt Hotel of New York wanted to help guests find their meetings and conferences amidst its complex floor plan. The hotel selected software provided by Omnivex Corp. (Concord, ON, Canada) to manage the digital-signage network so screens can be automatically updated by interfacing with the hotel’s existing scheduling system, called Daylight.

On the newly redesigned Conference Level, four, 40-in. LCD displays are suspended in mid-air in front of the glass that overlooks the main floor. The content directs guests to their meetings, illustrates the floor plan and informs guests of onsite restaurants and upgrades, such as Hyatt Gold Passport. Outside each meeting room, 15-in. wide-screen LCD panels provide automatically updated schedules to show what’s taking place in each room.

Displays on the Executive Suite Level provide dynamic listings of events, directions, and the correct elevator and level. Custom monoliths that encase large-screen LCDs stand vertically in high-traffic areas facing elevator banks and present welcome messages, schedules, navigation, real-time news and weather, and branding of guest companies hosting events at the hotel.

Omnivex software also manages content on the guest-room channel on the hotel’s in-room cable-television system. The channel features content with the details of upcoming meetings and events taking place at the hotel, so guests have access to the information directly from their room. </p><p>The next step, according to David Alter, director of engineering and project management for AVT Communique, the systems integrator, will be to extend the digital-signage network for the Ballroom Level, which is being renovated.

AVT manages the system remotely from its Chicago office, while the administrative staff at the Grand Hyatt NY can also post messages and make changes to the content as needed.

Omnivex

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Founded in 1991 in Toronto, Omnivex is the “longest-running, privately held, digital-signage software provider,” according to Jeff Collard, Omnivex’s president. The company’s software has been used extensively by the hospitality sector, airports, retail, factories and football stadiums. Many Fortune 500 companies and public institutions rely on Omnivex to manage content and real-time data acquisition and distribution, as well as remote-device monitoring and management.

Collard said, “We focus on customer and staff experiences, not sales. We provide real-time information to facilitate decisions. Our solutions aren’t pre-canned.” </p><p>Omnivex often finds solutions that have already been used in one industry and applies them to another. For example, the financial sector had solved many digital network problems that stumped call centers, and Omnivex showed them how the financial solutions worked. </p><p>“We provide the toolbox to build whatever is needed,” Collard said. “We first solve the what, who and how with the software, then we create the engineering solution, and finally the screen type.”

So that screens seamlessly mesh with their surroundings, the Omnivex/AVT team photographs the rooms involved in order to match the design and color scheme. Even the screen colors and modulated according to room lighting at different times of the day.

Collard said the next trend in digital signage, RFID, has already been helping hotel staffs to, say, set up a banquet room, where a movable screen can be carted into the room to update the staff if projectors, audio equipment and other screens need to be set up, in addition to essential banquet-setup details. “No supervisor is needed. The screen supplies real-time data for a higher-level of service, which lowers operation costs.”

Also, networked screens can read guest badges embedded with RFID and supply precise directions to the meeting(s) the guest must attend.

Airports increasingly rely on digital signage to update constantly changing flight information. Also, fewer passengers and airlines at airports challenge port authorities to finance the facilities, and advertising on digital screens can help supply needed revenue. Collard said, “Funding for airports has changed. Digital screens can provide other functionality than just BIDs and FIDs. Digital screens can run ads for hotels, entertainment venues and transportation options.” </p><p>The manufacturing sector, which had employed basic LED message boards and safety signs, has turned to digital-signage networks to update supervisors and machinery operators on current and ongoing projects. Statistics and supply levels can be easily grasped through charts graphically displayed on instantly updated screens.

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