STRATEGIC PARTNERS
March 8, 2011
MMD, the exclusive marketer and reseller for Philips-branded LCD monitors and public signage displays worldwide, recently announced that this year it would be aggressively developing a range of digital signage displays that implement the Intel Open Pluggable Specification.
MMD said it expects the Intel OPS to become an industry standard form factor for digital signage media players, one that allows them to be inserted into a slot on the side panel of a large display to create a fully integrated system. This will allow users to change or upgrade their media player as their requirements change, as quickly and simply as changing out a PCMCIA card.
"We see it becoming a pivotal technology in the future of digital signage," Craig Rathbun, sales and marketing director of MMD's public signage division, said in the announcement.
The OPS offers a universal, embedded interface which can link external media players with a large video display, thus providing users with integration of their signage and conferencing applications, MMD said. One of the major benefits of the OPS is that there is no need for additional power cords, as the media player can draw its power from the connector in the docking station. Additionally when using a display with the integrated OPS slot, the overall dimensions of the unit are a constant, the company said, so there is no need for concern about where to place the media player – the solution is already at hand by simply sliding it in to the OPS slot.
MMD said it will be promoting the OPS feature in their range of digital signage displays during the course of 2011, with four models planned. The company's first product to incorporate an OPS slot – the full high-definition BDL6540AT, an education-targeted whiteboard due for international launch in June – was set to be premiered at last month's Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas.
