The company recently launched a set of customizable digital signage products for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that can cost little more than a hundred dollars a month and are set up free of charge. Along with the LED hardware, Toshiba is offering assistance with template design and a content “starter kit.” And while Toshiba is a global company, the digital signage products were created out of its Markham, Ont.-based headquarters.

CommerceLab reached out to Alex Mourra, solutions product marketing manager with Toshiba of Canada, to better understand why those commercializing display technology might find a wider market among SMBs.

What was the impetus behind Toshiba of launching its Canadian-designed digital signage technology? Can you speak about market demand among small businesses, especially for HD (e.g., 1080p LED displays)?

There were customers coming to Toshiba with requests for digital signage. They recognized the attractive, HD displays could boost their marketing efforts, customer experience and ultimately sales. However, at the time all we could supply was the hardware not the content management solution. A lot of the existing solutions out there were meant for big businesses and were not easily scalable or affordable for SMB. Danny Lee Yow really spearheaded the project but we saw the need, we had the resources to develop a digital signage solution and we had full corporate support to deliver.

Can you describe the level of control businesses will have over their content? In other words, a quick rundown of how it works? 

It uses a cloud-based Toshiba Content Management System which can support a wide variety of content and file formats including video, images, RSS feeds, embedded YouTube videos and web pages, flash and more. Toshiba will assist with the initial design and content customization, but once everything is up and running users have full, centralized control of their content and can update it anytime, as often as they want via a web browser and internet access. If the user has multiple displays set up they can push out updated content to all screens at the same time, from any location using their laptop.

Can you explain the decision to incorporate remote access via the cloud? Was this another thing you identified as a market demand among small businesses?

Cloud-based computing has largely gained in popularity over the last few years and we know more and more small-to-medium businesses are taking advantage of the flexibility it offers. It allows them to do more with less since all you need is an internet connection and browser, and it offers more mobility in the age of portable computing devices. Manageability and security concerns may present a challenge for larger companies considering cloud computing, (but) SMBs have been quick to jump on the trend, from our experience. And in the case of our Display Solution, the IT infrastructure resides entirely on Toshiba’s side so the only thing clients need to worry about is content which we can also help with.

In terms of tech support, can you distinguish between the customer’s remote monitoring and your own remote monitoring for technical support purposes? Are they linked somehow?

Each package includes 24/7 Canadian live agent technical support and 24/7 remote monitoring service which clients can access by calling our 1-800 line anytime. Remote monitoring means that we are constantly monitoring to make sure the system is up and running. If it’s not, we will try and fix the problem remotely or call the customer to help them with the issue. This is especially helpful if the customer has multiple displays. The owner may not always be on the premises to watch the displays so it’s good to have another set of eyes on them.  The package also includes an on-site exchange warranty for the displays and media box so businesses don’t need to worry about any disruptions to their service. If there is a hardware issue, we will replace it on the spot instead of going back and forth on repairs.

Today, he’s the director of McGill’s Shared Reality Lab. One of the many research jobs he’s been involved in is an international effort known as the Natural Interactive Walking project, which uses a range of high-tech gadgets: audio, visual and, most importantly, a “smart” floor that can simulate walking on different surfaces.

Jeremy Cooperstock,
McGill University

The project: At the lab the NIW project is focused on people’s feet. The smart floor allows users’ moving feet to sense some startling things, from walking on “sand” to “something like ice,” Cooperstock says.

The basic aim of the project is to study the full range of tactile experiences people get from walking on different surfaces. This will, hopefully, lead to new technologies, both hardware and software, that will make the virtual ground seem very real, he adds.

His team at the lab will strive to innovate more, making these sensations seem more real by testing new ways of removing the many technological barriers to achieve the perfect system.

The progress: One of these further scientific explorations includes “developing dynamic levels of friction so that the user doesn’t experience a constant kind of ‘slip factor,’” says Cooperstock. As another effort, the lab is working on rendering vibrations  to the feet that simulates what happens when they water, before the subject physically makes contact with the ground.

The vibrations are created through a tile surface, but if simulation of water contact is needed, it creates a ‘conflict’,” he says. “It’s telling you two competing things.”

“What we want to do is avoid that kind of perceptual conflict and render something that is far more consistent.”

Cooperstock says he hopes to overcome such problems by developing new hardware and software technology that can better “render or simulate the experiences of walking on various ground surfaces.”

The prospects: Cooperstock is confident that the lab’s research will have commercial appeal. The entertainment value alone could be enough to make that happen, he says. For example, the lab will bring in users on a given day and ask them if they want to feel the virtual sensation of walking on snow.

“That’s pretty cool,” he says, adding that he enjoys seeing many people trying the lab’s frozen pond demo “and watching their reactions when the ice ‘cracks’.”

It could also have a plethora of real-life applications in more serious areas, including the medical field. It’s not hard to imagine hospitals treating many kinds of walking problems in a safe and controlled environment in the future.

The passion: What really drives Cooperstock to do this kind of work is the “highly multi-disciplinary” aspect of the research in projects like the NIW.

Many academics from around the world are collaborating and it’s bringing them all closer together. He says this is what keeps him excited and engaged at the lab. The work it’s doing “spans the boundaries of mechanical engineering, computer science, psychology, electrical engineering.”

Combined research in these multiple fields hasn’t been possible in the past, Cooperstock adds. However, IT has opened up new possibilities to do so.

The big motivator for him, as well as his fellow academics, is “the ability to make significant advances in an area that is far removed from one’s own domain of expertise.”

Ultimately, his passion for collaborative research has led to a desire to make a difference in the world. As Cooperstock puts it, “my lab tends to get involved in too many projects for the simple reason that we can’t bear the thought of not being involved in them, especially when the associated applications present opportunities to improve people’s lives.”