Helios has chosen Acquire as the software platform for its first installation of interactive digital signage systems in Turkey. A combination of digital signs and kiosks has been installed in three major shopping malls. The largest shopping mall in Europe, the Forum Istanbul, has 35 systems. There are five in the Forum Mersin and four in Forum Cappodocia.
As a specialist in interactive digital signage solutions, Helios has developed their own 'wayfinder' application that sits on top of the Acquire software platform. This combination enables the kiosk to not only display the 'wayfinder' but to also show an 'attractor' screen (images or video designed to entice visitors to interact with the kiosk) and display adverts on different parts of the screen.
Due to security limitations, content is not permitted to be sent to the devices via the Internet, so new content is sent to the kiosks and LCD screens over the local area network (LAN) using Acquire's Point2Point technology. However, the service level agreement (SLA) does permit Helios to perform remote monitoring of the screens, which they carry out using Acquire's built-in 'Site Manager' tool.
'Site Manager' works in tandem with a software watchdog (called 'Sentinel') installed on the kiosk and digital signage PCs. This software combination has many remote monitoring capabilities, but in simple terms it locks down the PC, preventing external access, and monitors activity such as application resource issues and device failures. In the event of any failure, the support engineer is alerted by email (SMS is also available). The engineer can then connect directly to the PC to perform remote diagnostics.
