PPDS Wave has been available on the market for a year. Over 5,000 displays are already remotely managed via the platform. Wave supports all families and generations of Philips professional displays and, from spring on, will also be available for Philips LED and Philips Tableaux ePaper displays. In addition to remote device management, the platform also offers IT security and green signage features.
Display providers with software solutions are currently on everyone’s lips. Samsung is launching the new experience platform VXT at ISE, while PPDS looks back a year after the launch of the Remote Device Management platform. Invidis talked to Sian Rees, Global Business Development Director Software at PPDS.
“Over 5,000 Philips professional displays are already managed via Wave. At PPDS we are proud of this milestone, which continues to grow quickly with hundreds of displays being added to the platform each week.” Unsurprisingly, interest has so far been greatest in Europe, but PPDS sees remote device management of professional displays is also picking up in Asia and North America.
Every new Philips professional display with our Android SoC – and starting in Q2 also Philips LED and Philips Tableaux – is delivered with Wave preinstalled. And more and more partners are registering their hardware on Wave, the basic version of which can be used free of charge. “PPDS believes in long-term partnerships. We want to provide system integrators and B2B users with value-adding tools enabling the use of their Philips AV solutions for as long, safely, and sustainably as possible.” said Sian Rees in an invidis interview.
High IT security
As a part of one of the largest manufacturers in the world – TPV, who manufactures Philips displays, as well as other brands – PPDS offers display hardware, SoC, Android OS and Wave all from a single source. “When we design for security we look at the entire technology stack. Adopting Wave gives users access to the highest IT security, a display claimed in Wave has a unique certificate that cannot be duplicated, and allows options to lock ports like USB and RC to avoid tampering with the device onsite.” The Wave team, located in Belgium and India, is already ISO 27001 compliant. Due to be certified in Q2, the audit is already underway.
In addition to IT security, PPDS Wave also offers green signage features, such as scheduling the displays from on to standby when not in use. This can be done either via the Wave portal or via the API. “We designed Wave to be API first so all features could be surfaced for easy integration to our application partners. Our mission is to complement the premium and unique CMS offerings in the industry and allow them to provide the best customer experience with access to all display features. More and more CMS are available via our professional app store.”
The offering of the professional digital signage app store – called PPDS ProStore – has also been expanded in the year since its launch. Using Wave, apps on the marketplace can be installed and maintained completely remotely. At ISE we will feature solution partners for CMS and multi-vendor RDM, including : Telelogos; ScreenCloud; Appspace; NowSignage; SignageOS; and NoviSign. “When commissioning, integrators can simply select their preferred application on the pre-installed ProStore and the digital signage solution is remotely installed on the device. In addition to updates, the Wave ProStore allows us to give access to our latest hardware and settings to install applications optimally and give the best out-of-the-box experience, as well as simplifying updates. Onboarding is quick and easy and can be done for the public marketplace or on a private (custom) marketplace only visible to the Wave account owner.”
Partnerships are particularly important to Sian Rees. “We recognize there is no one size fits all for our industry and we are open to new partners, both local and global, who support Philips professional displays.”
