Set against the backdrop of Pinewood Studios, last week’s NEC Solutions Showcase was well attended, generating an excited buzz, not just about the filming of the new Harry Potter film, but about some of the new technologies on show as well.
On March 4 NEC and key partners set out their wares in Heatherden Hall at the famous studios that have hosted numerous James Bond films and Stanley Kubrick classics, amongst other blockbusters. Last week, what once was the backdrop to the well-loved Carry On films, was taken over by Nexus, Pixel Inspiration, Parity Medical, AMX, Sedao, CBS, Lifesize, Displaylite, Utouch, Minicom and Harp.
The event attracted more than 200 channel and end user visitors, 96 per cent of which rated the event as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. A large proportion of visitors, 26 per cent, had come to explore digital signage solutions.* Although there were a couple of comments that suggested guests would have liked to have seen a greater number of large outdoor signage solutions, most visitors seemed happy about the wares on show. Dr Martin Strohbach, a research scientist from NEC’s Network Research Division, demonstrated new interactive signage that would direct users around a shopping centre and interact, via blue tooth, with shoppers’ mobile phones. Additionally there were a huge amount of solutions on show that allowed interaction via touch screen technology.
With such positive responses the event seemed to be useful for NEC, its partners and all those who attended. Trevor Town, purchasing manager from Electrosonic, said: “We have since been in discussions with touch screen solutions providers whom we met at Pinewood and are in progression of genuine business opportunities arising from the Showcase.â€
*According to exit interviews conducted by NEC