Helius Digital Signage Wins Two IMS Learning Impact Awards

Posted on Jun 17, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am

From Digital Signage Today.com, we learn that Helius digital signage company has won two IMS Learning Impact Awards:

• 29 May 2009

LINDON, Utah — Helius, a Hughes company, announced it has been named as a recipient of two Best in Class Awards at the 2009 IMS Learning Impact Awards in Barcelona, Spain. The Learning Impact Awards are designed to recognize the compelling use of technology in support of worldwide learning. This unique program evaluates established, new, and research efforts in context at an implementing learning institution.

The Best Corporate Training Solution Award was given to Helius and JCPenney for use of educational technology in a business environment. JCPenney has over 1,100 store locations and approximately 150,000 store associates that are required to take 35 hours of training during their first 90 days of employment in addition to ongoing training. Managing training and ensuring consistent quality at the individual level for such a large employee base can be difficult, which is why JCPenney selected the Helius next-generation training system. Using Helius technology, JCPenney is able to broadcast both live and on-demand training via satellite to associates in all store locations, thereby saving over $20 million in related training costs in the last several years.

“The Helius MediaClassroom system enabled us to facilitate live and on demand training sessions at all of our store locations,” said Deborah Masten, vice president and director of associate development for JCPenney. “We now have over 600 on-demand courses available that can be viewed by associates at their convenience. Furthermore, we have significantly reduced costs associated with in-person training and travel, as well as duplication and distribution of training materials, and increased productivity due to flexible training hours, all without increasing my department head count.”

The Best Association Training Technology Award was given to Helius and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) for use of technology in a non-profit organization. The CCES is an independent, national, non-profit organization responsible for fostering ethical sport for all Canadians, which includes administering the Anti-Doping Program for Canadian athletes. Under the 2009 World Anti-Doping Code, there is a strong emphasis on education to ensure athletes are aware of their rights and responsibilities.

Faced with a dated and expensive training program that depended on live instructors, CCES turned to Helius to provide an affordable next-generation online training platform to support the education of over 20,000 geographically dispersed athletes every year. Using the Helius Portal e-Learning system, CCES now creates, deploys and tracks Web-based anti-doping training for athletes in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, Canadian Colleges Athletic Association, Football Canada, Canadian Hockey League, as well as elite athletes in other organizations. Several of these organizations will not let their athletes compete until they can certify completion of their anti-doping training.

“Helius has helped us to achieve our mission by providing an affordable eLearning platform that appeals to a younger target audience,” said Paul Melia, president and CEO of the CCES. “According to our surveys across all athletes, 91 percent agree the material is thorough and informative and that the new online training system better informs them of their anti-doping rights and responsibilities. With this success in mind, our long-term plan is to create values-based sport and character development eLearning courses that can be offered to over 750,000 high-school students and reach them at an earlier point in life.”

“It is an honor to be recognized by the IMS as a global leader in the training and learning field,” said Mike Tippets, president, Helius. “Helius continues to provide innovative solutions that help today’s leading organizations provide anytime, anywhere education solutions for their learners. We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with great organizations like JCPenney and CCES in meeting unique training objectives.”

Datacasting For Digital Signage

Posted on Feb 23, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am

The following article, from Digital Signage Today.com, is by Lyle Bunn, principal and Strategy Architect for BUNN Co.  Bunn is highly regarded as an advisor and educator in North America’s digital signage industry.

Datacasting is emerging as an attractive alternative to DSL, satellite and cellular connectivity for digital signage/DOOH network operators because it combines the cost-effectiveness of multicasting with the addressable media transport associated with DSL/Internet. Datacasting offers the rapid, low-cost deployment that makes cellular attractive, but can provide much higher connectivity capacity and speeds.

One of the major players in this area of the digital signage industry is National Datacast, a commercial, wireless data broadcasting subsidiary of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). NDI has acted as a content delivery provider since 1988, but is turning its capabilities in connectivity service and media management to the digital signage and digital out-of-home sectors. National Datacast provides regional or national connectivity through partnerships with PBS member stations and their satellite networks.

While digital signage software from firms such as BroadSign, EnQii, Harris, Scala, STRATACACHE and others can provide flexibility and ease of use in designating display groups and specifying content spots for playout on even individual displays, I believe past connectivity options have not offered a cost-effective combination of network-wide media fueled with fast, player-targeted download.

Today’s connectivity model is a fundamental element of digital signage, in-store TV and DOOH dynamic displays since centrally-controlled networks are “media-fueled” to present information or ads according to pre-defined, often day-parted playlists.

The typical architecture is to forward media spots and a playlist file from a network operations center to media players at display locations, and then to add live inputs from databases or external feeds such as weather, news, sports scores or financial information.

Internet connectivity, such as DSL, and cellular treats each media transfer as a separate connectivity transaction, and as such requires large connection capacities to process network traffic.

Multicasting, the transmission of the same files to multiple locations at the same time, can offer media transfer value, but can add an overhead to media management at each location.

The datacasting model NDI’s datacasting network (short for “data broadcasting”) uses digital file transfer techniques that are similar to delivery of content via other means – that means a digital signage player can readily utilize content files delivered by datacasting. Datacasting applications are numerous and include transfer of video and audio files, corporate digital file transfer, updating of software, gaming and information, training and education, alert notification, safety and security and information services.

Datacasting empowers the capabilities of available software tools and offers operational cost-effectiveness that can allow digital signage/DOOH network operators to expand networks and better apply their day-parting capabilities.

This reliable, national infrastructure of commercial-grade digital connectivity has been used by a long list of clients such as Movie Gallery, Update Logic, TV Guide, Microsoft, Disney, VISA, IBM and others.

The receiving equipment is also very simple in nature. A standard antenna is connected using coaxial cable to a specialized digital television receiver which is then connected by USB to a media server or on some other type of content processing computer/ display. The antenna and receiver typically costs under $200 retail.

Other datacasting service features important to digital signage/DOOH network operators include:

Nationwide coverage that allows network operations in multiple regions to be provided by a single connectivity operator.

Transmission reliability is not affected by user volume, cable breaks or environmental conditions such as rain, snow, smog and dust.

Multicasting allows satellite transmission to deliver value to a large network deployment.

Multiple file formats can be transported, reducing the need for transcoding or file re-formatting, which increases overheads and can degrade playout quality.

Security at the highest level associated with an enterprise application.

The NDI Network Operations Center (NOC) can manage media distribution in any predefined display architecture.

Helius Chosen By Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

Posted on Feb 18, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has chosen the Helius digital communications system to “inform and train its employees, as well as to keep inmates abreast of correctional facility rules and regulations.”

With Helius digital signage, the Sheriff’s department will be able to “optimize the flow of information from central command to local offices. . . quickly and efficiently.”

“We tested other solutions, but in the end we chose Helius because the system allowed us to conveniently provide digital signage, on-demand training, and department-wide communications in an affordable, all-in-one package,” said Sergeant Steve Strange.

“The Sheriff’s decision to implement our multi-purpose solution further validates the importance of using a media system that offers both communication and training capabilities. We welcome the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to our broad base of corporate and government customers who use our system at tens of thousands of sites across North America,” said Mike Tippets, president of Helius. “Helius is proud to offer solutions that enable law enforcement and first responders to remain current and receive key information as they valiantly serve and protect our communities.”

You may read the article in its entirety on Digital Signage Today.

Woodcreek Church Spreads the Word Via Helius Digital Signage

Posted on Feb 2, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am

LINDON, Utah, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ — With the grand opening of their 55,000 square foot facility, Woodcreek Church in Richardson, Texas is delivering state-of-the-art communications to their 1,500 member and growing congregation. Partnering with Helius, a Hughes company, the leaders of Woodcreek Church deployed the Helius digital signage solution, MediaSignage, in conjunction with their new facility opening. Woodcreek Church members now receive live broadcasts of worship services at convenient locations within the facility and are able to maintain a feeling of being connected to one another through digital displays that show event schedules and other pertinent information in easily accessible areas.”Helius has helped us better communicate with and meet the needs of our congregation,” said Scott Winn, Outreach Pastor at Woodcreek Church. “We now are able to reach individuals with our worship services who would not have been able to participate otherwise. Members appreciate the event schedules and other advertisements that now are available in the atrium of our building.”

SOURCE Helius, LLC