Omnivex Corporation has announced that United Mobile Broadcasting Corporation (UMBC) is using its software on GO Trains throughout the Greater Toronto Area, to power a unique network of wireless digital signage. The project provides commuters with an informative and entertaining digital signage network to one of the fastest growing regions in North America. Mobile broadcasting is an extension of the wireless revolution and is being developed to provide audio, video and multimedia contents to mobile communication devices and in moving environments. This is one of the first mobile broadcast installations on commuter trains and subways in North America.
GO Transit operates over 400 bi-level passenger railcars in the GTA, serving over 170,000 passengers daily, and over a million impressions per week. The majority of passengers are affluent professionals, who use the trains to commute to and from work. The average passenger rides the train for 35 minutes, twice per day. Each car is being fitted with eight 15 inch LCD monitors (four per level) to display an informative and entertaining digital signage network featuring news, weather, sports and business content, movie previews, videos, and advertising. Audio is available via FM radio stations.
An in-house software solution was considered to run the On-Train TV (OTTV) network, but ultimately, Omnivex was selected for its flexibility when working with new communications technologies (such as wireless EDGE), cost-saving ability while maintaining a network, and the ease of collecting proof of play data.
"We face unique networking challenges when deploying on moving trains. Omnivex was able to address these challenges by interfacing with the EVDO cellular network that the digital signage is managed through," said Jonathan Rhee, VP Operations, UMBC. "In addition to this, Omnivex software is fully scalable, allowing it to expand with UMBC's network as it grows."
For more information on UMBC products/services, visit www.umbc.tv.
For more information on Omnivex Corporation products/services, visit www.omnivex.com.
