Control Freak

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Presentation Systems

Control Freak

6/1/2007

By John K. Waters

In truth, Thunder takes the whiteboard concept and enhances it with a whole host of computing and collaboration capabilities. At the center of the system is a "group easel," which serves as the digital flipchart. The easel accepts stylus input (a finger works, too) and controls multiple "pages" that can be projected onto nearby walls. It accepts input from virtually any digital source: servers, local laptops, scanners, DVDs. All images can be shared, annotated, saved, recalled, displayed, and distributed via e-mail. And the images can be shared in real time with other Thunder setups anywhere in the world.

Still, the advent of Thunder doesn't mean that the more traditional electronic whiteboards are going away; they're just acquiring features. For example, one of the best-known electronic whiteboard manufacturers, Smart Technologies, is billing its latest offering, the Smart Board 600i, as "a complete classroom media management solution." The system combines an interactive whiteboard with a projector and an audio system. But it also allows users to connect up to six external media sources (computers, VCRs, DVD players, or document cameras) to an extended connection panel, creating a kind of central media hub. Users can switch among inputs from these devices using the interactive whiteboard's on-screen menu. The whiteboard capabilities allow users to write over video or any input connected to the system. And these notes can be saved to a USB storage device.

Thunder's collaboration capabilities definitely set the product apart, but the way it and the 600i unite the old-school markup features of whiteboards (what InfoComm's Lemke characterizes as "the room to scribble") with a central manager of content sources, is catching on in another product category, as well.

Ultimate Control at the Podium

FOCUS ON SMART

The Smart Technologies system combines an interactive whiteboard with a projector and an audio system, and allows users to connect up to six external media sources, switching among inputs via the interactive whiteboard's on-screen menu. Users can write over video or any input connected to the system, and notes can be saved to a USB storage device.

"There's now a real demand for the ability to annotate or draw on top of whatever information is being displayed," says Mike Carter, director of technical sales at control and automation technology company AMX, who explains that the capability is now built into all of the vendor's touchpanels. The touchpanel interfaces are present in many of the company's AV control consoles, which consolidate controls for groups of computers, projectors, media players, document cameras, streaming media sources, and monitors. The product line also includes a series of personal digital media servers designed to store, manage, and distribute digital audio and video.