We announced the 2019 CI BEST Awards during Day 1 of InfoComm 2019 and Userful Cloud earned top honors in the Digital Signage Software category.
The reason, according to Daniel Griffin, VP of marketing for Userful, is that Userful Cloud “cuts out a lot of the unnecessary cost and complexity of digital video wall displays.”
The unique solution cuts down on the hardware needed on site for digital signage and video wall deployments. Userful Cloud does this, in part, with a uClient app that loads directly onto LG smart displays and eliminating the need for servers, processors, controllers, media players, cables, extenders and more. Userful says the solution makes possible a zero-hardware video wall.
[related]During InfoComm 2019 where the CI BEST Award winners were announced (and in the video), Griffin stood in front of LG OS displays with the Userful app “that cuts out the need for any hardware at all,” he explained.
“They connect direct to the Cloud. If you look at the back of the display there’s just an Ethernet cable. That’s where it connects to the cloud. That’s where it gets its content. You can put video of unlimited size and resolution onto the displays. You can get unlimited number of displays deployed with Userful Cloud.”
More on Userful Cloud (via company):
Userful Cloud: Design and Technical Innovation
Traditional cloud based digital signage applications only work with individual displays. They don’t allow the creation of video walls and are limited in the types of content that can be displayed on them.
Userful resolves this with our Userful Cloud solution and uClient app which loads directly onto LG smart displays and eliminates all the hardware required for video walls — no more servers, processors, controllers, media players, cables, extenders etc. It is a zero hardware video wall.
You can now use smart displays for a much broader range of applications than ever before: flexible, scalable video walls, information dashboards, digital signs, video displays and more. With Userful Cloud, organizations can centrally manage not just digital signage but a wider variety of content sources: video content of unlimited resolution with each display playing at native resolution, local HDMI sources, content streamed over the network or displayed through a browser. Key features like zones, scheduling, cloud storage are all included.
The displays can connect wirelessly, no ethernet port is required.
Userful Cloud video walls are scalable—you can deploy an unlimited number of displays and Userful Cloud supports artistic video walls with displays rotated to any angle, as well as banner and column video walls with unusual aspect ratios.
A disruptor of the digital signage industry, this breakthrough approach enables low-cost, high-performance solutions to support a variety of business needs—from process automation and operational productivity to improved customer engagement and internal communication.
Userful Cloud: 3 Most Important Features
Userful Cloud is the first hardware free video wall:
- No investment in hardware required, just webOS displays (eliminate media players, thin clients, cables, extenders and other hardware typically required to display content).
- Centrally manage all displays and video walls from anywhere and across multi-site deployments through a browser, with a wide variety of content sources and advanced features, such as zones, scheduling, cloud storage, display synching for video walls, and more.
- Scalable to support an unlimited number of displays and video walls in any layout with unlimited resolution leveraging the display’s full native resolution.
Userful Cloud: Benefits for Integrators
Userful Cloud is the ideal solution for System Integrators to sell larger deals in the enterprise, decreasing total cost of ownership (TCO) by up to 40 percent. Userful Cloud significantly reduces TCO by eliminating unnecessary third-party hardware, simplifying support and management and increasing scalability.
Traditional AV solutions based on proprietary hardware simply do not allow organizations to cost-effectively and securely scale display and video wall deployments. Userful Cloud gives a strong price advantage with no 3rd party hardware and customers are able to easily expand upon their current digital signage solutions.
