Visix Inc. demonstrated its latest digital signage solutions, interactive wayfinding designs, meeting room signs and a host of other new products at the EDUCAUSE 2012 Annual Conference in Denver earlier this week.

"EDUCAUSE provides the absolute best forum for us to connect with campus IT professionals," said Trey Hicks, chief sales officer for Visix. "We've been providing visual communication tools for the higher education community for over 20 years, and this allows us to not only show new products and build new relationships, but to preview potential technologies and get real feedback from the market we are trying to serve."

AxisTV Version 8.0 is the latest release of the company's flagship digital signage software application. It includes a completely new user interface and background library, as well as 64-bit support for Microsoft Server 2008. The software offers enterprise-wide scalability, mixed media display and a wide variety of features and options.

The new Mobile Module option allows AxisTV users to publish content to smartphones and tablets by publishing to an HTML5 Web page. This feature addition is a continuation of Visix's "from anywhere, to anywhere" technologies that include desktop messenger, screensaver publisher and RSS publishing of digital signage content.

Announce is an advanced digital signage content management solution perfect for institutions wanting sophisticated signage The application provides powerful, yet friendly, desktop design tools running within a web browser with robust media management tools, animated templates and themes, and extensive data mapping and scripting tools.

Visix includes its popular Alert Notification technology in both AxisTV and Announce applications. This allows users to supplant scheduled content on the entire system or on selected media players in several ways, depending on the software employed:

• Manually using an easy prompt in the software interface;
• Sending emails to the content manager; or
• Allowing integrated third-party systems to post Common Alerting Protocol messages to the content manager. These external systems can include mass notification and text messaging services, emergency notification systems, public address systems, and others.

Visix also showed a pre-release preview of its newest digital signage application at EDUCAUSE. It leverages the PowerPoint platform to provide an affordable digital signage option for cost conscious markets such as small businesses, churches, municipal governments and K-12 schools.

Visix's booth showcased a variety of custom interactive wayfinding designs from Visix Creative Services, the company said. Designs on display highlighted various wayfinding techniques, interactive directories with supporting scripts, ADA controls and more.

Visix's new Social Media Boards are custom modules that import Twitter, Facebook and YouTube content into a digital signage layout branded to client specifications. A content block for additional playlists is also incorporated.

Two popular dashboard designs also were on exhibit:

• TransLōc is a next generation passenger information system. It offers riders a safe, comfortable, and convenient wait for the bus and gives transit operators a more efficient, more appreciated transit system.
• Lucid Design Group's Building Dashboard enables people to view, compare and share building energy and water use information on digital signs using simplevgraphics designed specifically for buildings and organizations.

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.

Read more about digital signage in education.