Signage software has 'reverse access' feature

Acquire Digital Multimedia has announced the launch of version 3.4 of its digital signage editor software.

The company said that there are more ACQs, helpers and plug-ins that add an extra dimension to Acquire's functionality.

The number of ACQs available has led to the addition of a categories section on the ACQ chooser page.

The RSS functionality in Acquire has been completely rewritten so that the plug-in will now 'pull down' any RSS or Atom feed - for example, Media RSS (MRSS) feeds usually used for podcasts.

This is said to be ideal if the user wants to make their players collect different feeds for their locations, and saves them from having to make many different deployments throughout the day.

Images can be made to change as different RSS text scrolls along the page.

The Textanimate ACQ plug-in can also be used in combination with RSS feeds.

Instead of a straightforward scroller, the text is animated into a graphic design but it can also present a seamless tickertape across multiple pages.

'Drag-and-drop' media control has also been added.

Media files can be copied from anywhere in Windows Explorer by using a mouse - for example, from the Windows desktop into the media selector, or directly onto a page.

A selection of new system variables is now available.

Variables are 'place holders' but are said by Acquire to expand the power of its software beyond a simple playlist-based media player.

For example, instead of making a page for each player showing a message such as 'Welcome to this store in Leicester, your store manager is Julie Smith' and then keeping track of all the pages for each player, users can replace 'Leicester' and 'Julie Smith' with a variable and use one page, which will show something different on each player.

It can also be used so that each player can collect a different RSS feed based on its location, or to keep a count of how much money has been inserted, or to change animations in a Flash graphic, and so on.

A fully functional support 'ticketing' system has also been added to Site Manager.

Site Manager is the remote monitoring and access tool provided with the Acquire suite of products.

Acquire users no longer have to worry about buying a support system or integrating with an existing support system because all subscribers to the Plus network will have free access to a ticket-based support system.

This ticketing system provides a full history of tickets raised, SLA timers, and can also integrate with some existing ticketing systems to allow automated status changes.

Using Site Manager, users also now have the ability to use Google Maps to pinpoint their sites.

Players are simply added to physical locations (sites), and information such as the site owner's telephone number, details of the installation, and the address are then available to the user's support teams.

With the 'reverse access' feature players can be remotely accessed even if they do not have fixed line connectivity.

In addition, if a player is located on a LAN behind a firewall or a series of routers, and 'port forwarding' has proved to be a nightmare to set up, 'reverse access' can use an outbound port instead (needs a signed acceptance form prior to activation).

Finally, for customers who purchased Acquire since July 2009, the Mini Ad Manager allows the creation of playlists by combining adverts and filler.

Back to top