Spinoza Announces Ajax-Supported Navigator Software

JavaScriptSearch
Monday, June 5, 2006; 03:17 AM

Spinoza Technology announced the third generation of its Spinoza Navigator software, which allows simplified, web-based control and management of hundreds of audio/visual devices across a network.

"This is a breakthrough both for the A/V industry and for IT managers and network administrators," said Randy Massengale, founder and president of the five-year-old Seattle-based company. "For the first time, you’ll be able to use a single web browser to manage any number of projectors, screens, plasmas, and other A/V devices simultaneously."

Navigator uses a number of different open standards such as TCP/IP, XML, SNMP, AJAX, and HTTP to give an administrator access to hundreds of A/V devices from scores of different manufacturers across any network.

"We believe a fundamental shift is occurring in the world of A/V manufacturers, customers, integrators, and solution providers," said Massengale. "In past years, a handful of proprietary vendors have dominated the A/V industry with customized turnkey systems. With the migration to open systems and technologies, with much lower hardware costs, and with the arrival of Spinoza Navigator, the industry will change rapidly."

Spinoza Navigator is designed with network administrators, educators, presenters and corporate executives in mind. It helps to control and manage projectors and screens anywhere on a network, allowing a user to:

• Monitor and manage projectors and other A/V devices from a remote desktop via a web browser.
• Manage devices from many different vendors in many different locations with simple web-based setup.
• Streamline operations by adjusting the brightness and contrast, changing the inputs of the projector directly, and turning projectors on and off remotely.
• Save money by predicting and preserving projector bulb life.

"In the past few years, high-ticket devices such as plasma screens and digital projectors and screens have become more commoditized and prices have plunged," said Massengale. "As the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system arrives next year, we believe the open standards movement will transform the A/V world. Customers will be living in an A/V world of diverse audio/visual devices from many manufacturers, and they will expect all those devices to play together nicely."

"As AV devices have proliferated in boardrooms, conference rooms, and classrooms," said Massengale, "they have begun to present more of a challenge for IT professionals. It has become essential that AV devices are connected to the network, and that IT professionals have the tools to deliver asset management, end user assistance, and device maintenance across the network. Spinoza Navigator fills that void."

The Navigator software will be bundled with leading digital projectors and other A/V devices, and will also be available for downloading directly from the Spinoza Technology web site (http://spinozatechnology.com/navigator) and through distributors.