Wireless Media Technology: An Introduction To The Tech of Today

     By now you have the words "Apple TV" and "Chromecast" thrown around on the Internet and in everyday conversation.  These technologies are great solutions for the residential environment, but what about the professional one?  Wireless presentation has been a sought after goal for some time, and recently there have been some products released that offer some great capabilities.  These professional level products offer things that consumer products don't, and they each have their own niche.  This post is going to describe the technology and highlight some of the main contenders.

     Professional wireless presentation technology allows users to walk into a room and present from their laptop, tablet, or smartphone without the use of cables.  There are many different flavors of wireless presentation.  Some are catered towards presentation, while others are more for collaboration.  These professional versions of wireless tech is secured and dedicated so the content shared is protected.  This is something that the consume level devices cannot do.  It is for this reason that consultants hate putting consumer level presentation devices in large-scale professional environments.  Let's take a look at some examples.

Crestron Air Media:

First up is Air Media by Crestron.  This device is very similar to the Apple TV.  The device connects to the display and allows the user to wirelessly stream content.  The difference is that the Air Media device uses your company's wireless network access points, so it is very easy to integrate.  The device is also more secure.

AMX Enzo:

Next is Enzo by AMX.  This device is focused around collaboration.  It works in a similar way to Air Media, but allows you to access various cloud clients from the device itself.  So you can pull up your Dropbox account and share the presentation.  Enzo also allows the presenter to share the presentation with those in attendance.  No longer does the presenter have to gather emails and send the presentation at a later time.  Instead, a QR code appears on the screen and each person can scan the code to get a copy of the content.

Crestron and AMX are the top two contenders in the professional wireless presentation arena with new ones popping up.  This market has been a need for a long time in the professional realm and it is great to see manufacturers taking it seriously.  It's also great that each manufacturer offers their own flavor so there are multiple options depending on the type of project.  User needs have always been the driving factor in designing systems, and seeing these manufacturers coming out with unique products is definitely a breath of fresh air.

-Jon Owens, CTS