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IAdea intros Android middleware for digital signage based on Intel tech

Digital signage and smart retail technology vendor IAdea will be making its implementation of the SMIL+HTML5 standards available on hardware based on Intel x86 architecture, the company announced today.

September 25, 2014

Digital signage and smart retail technology vendor IAdea will be making its implementation of the SMIL+HTML5 standards available on hardware based on Intel x86 architecture, the company announced today.

The platform will be demonstrated today jointly with Intel at the Shanghai Digital Signage Show; it can be used by digital signage content management system vendors as a way to quickly extend their Windows-based software to Android. The platform standards will be backed by standards groups including the World Wide Web Consortium, International Telecommunication Union and POPAI.

"The Intel Reference Design for Digital Signage (EL-10) as the basis of IAdea’s Android Middleware for entry-level affordable digital signage will help enable innovative, turnkey digital signage solutions," said Intel's Jose Avalos, worldwide director of visual retail and digital signage. "Intel remains committed to enabling a rich digital signage ecosystem that assures all software runs best on Intel architecture."

The SMIL+HTML5 open platform provided a standards-based environment for dozens of CMS vendors to expand beyond the "Wintel" platform, according to IAdea. IAdea's implementation includes a modified Android system kernel to compensate for stability problems often found in the standard Android open source project.

"This solution answers a huge need from the Android community. While ARM-based CPUs provide a low-cost alternative, they have not always delivered the performance expected of digital signage hardware," IAdea EVP Rex Chen said in the announcement. "We are pleased to be a part of Intel's effort to embrace Android for retail applications. IAdea will soon enable our large number of CMS and OEM partners to take advantage of Intel’s latest silicon."