agenda
Panasonic has won a blind shootout of
laser projectors organised by UK Systems
Integrator Pure AV. A number of 6,000
lumens laser projectors from Canon, Christie,
Digital Projection, Epson, Panasonic and Sony
were judgged by industry professionals at
the VictoriaWarehouse, Manchester.
The shootout assessed uniformity,
brightness, contrast, colour reproduction and
greyscale. The 1-chip DLP Panasonic PT-RZ660
took first place with a score of 41.2 out of 50.
Designed for intensive usage and long
lasting brightness in education, museums,
exhibitions and digital signage applications,
the RZ660 delivers high resolution and a
brightness of up to 6,000 lm (ANSI). Equipped
with dual laser modules, a dust-resistant
optical block and a long lasting laser engine,
the projector is designed to be maintenance
free for up to 20,000 hours.
Panasonic comes out on top
Digital skills increase turnover
Lloyds Bank is encouraging small businesses to improve their digital skills, following a survey
which found that highly ‘digital’ small firms and charities are twice as likely to report an
increase in turnover as the least digital.
Based on a survey of 2,000 small businesses and charities, the third annual
Lloyds Bank Business
Digital Index
claims that almost two in five UK small businesses (38%) and nearly half of UK charities
(49%) lack basic digital skills.
The report identifies five key skills needed to get the most out of being online – managing
information, communicating, transacting, creating and problem solving. A lack of digital skills was seen
as the main barrier to doing more business online by 15% of businesses, more than double the 2015
figure.
Tipping point for cloud
UK businesses are taking a cloud-first approach to business software, with 57% now
choosing the cloud over on-premises solutions for new business applications.
The 2016 Cloud Computing Tipping Point
report by ServiceNow reveals that 76% of mid to
senior level managers expect to complete the shift to cloud computing within two years.
It adds that IT departments will have to adapt to this new reality, as 97% of UK companies that
have already moved to a cloud-first model report that their existing IT staff lacked the skillsets
required to make the transition.
Bob Moore, ServiceNow’s UK area vice president, said: “The cloud-first enterprise is at the heart
of enabling the agility, speed and scalability to break new ground in today’s competitive business
landscape. There is a clear shift from traditional data center computing to cloud computing, but it’s
one with far-reaching implications - a shift away from focusing resources, skills and budgets on the
back-end infrastructure to creating a truly service-oriented enterprise,”
The next generation for
NEC
NEC Display Solutions introduced its new
series of intelligent large format displays
with Raspberry Pi connectivity at a Bond-
themed event at the London Film Museum
alongside
Bond in Motion
, the official
exhibition of James Bond vehicles featured
in the iconic film series.
Low-cost, high performance Raspberry Pi
computers, originally developed to promote
the teaching of basic computer science in
schools and developing countries, now boast
significant performance and networking
capabilities.
Used in NEC’s professional P and V
Series large format displays, Pi 3 modules
provide embedded intelligence and advanced
technology for digital signage, streaming and
presentations.
In addition, NEC unveiled a video-
conferencing and collaboration product for
meeting rooms. Called InfinityBoard, it has
InGlass touch technology, an ultra-wide
angle lens and utilises the company’s new
MultiPresenter wireless presenting stick.
