The vibrant colors and vivid imagery is what everyone sees and remembers on a display — but the real magic is in how the content is managed.
Sophisticated software does the job of putting the right information on screens in the most opportune places, at optimal moments. Good content management systems (CMS) also make workflows intuitive and efficient and ensure that updates are easy.
Risk-free content management
Samsung has, uniquely, been developing and steadily refining its own digital signage software solution since 2008. Known as Samsung MagicINFO, this CMS is a multicomponent solution used by corporations, businesses and organizations of all sizes.
In our highly uncertain economic climate, Samsung’s CMS software represents a solid, sophisticated and stable option for users who are worried about the long-term business health of most independent software companies. The business model of most CMS software companies is built on subscription revenues from businesses. Using the solutions created by a large, stable organization makes a world of difference when choosing to enter into long-term relationships.
Digital signage content management made easy
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The digital signage industry has also seen an increase in breaches where hackers have successfully broken into display CMS solutions or devices, which can significantly harm a brand either through coopted communications or stolen data. That’s why Samsung purposefully sought out to be ISO-certified to provide the highest level of security for their own CMS. MagicINFO is now the first solution in the industry to acquire both the ISO27001 and ISO27701 certifications.
There are three key elements to a MagicINFO solution: Author, Server and Player.
Author your own story
MagicINFO Author is the software toolset used directly by end users or their contracted service providers to create content to be scheduled and pushed to displays.
Author includes a large library of predesigned, business-ready templates, icons and images, making it easy for operators of any size to quickly develop material for screens, without needing outside creative help.
The software also includes a set of pre-scripted widgets that automate content, such as ZIP code-specific weather conditions and forecasts. Author is also optimized to support third-party creative in a variety of formats — from HD images and videos to Photoshop files and Microsoft 365 documents.
A server for all needs
Think of MagicINFO Server as the hub of a digital signage network — the toolset used to target, schedule and push out content to one, 100, 1,000 or more players and screens.
With Server, each piece of media, as well as each location and screen, can be data-tagged with its key characteristics. You can use this data to quickly schedule a specific piece of content to appear only in specific, relevant locations. On a basic digital signage CMS, this would be a huge chore. But using Server, it’s largely automated by that data-matching capability.
Server also contains all of MagicINFO’s robust device management tools, which are unique to Samsung, and are among the most important features of an effective digital signage CMS.
Server’s monitoring dashboard provides users a real-time overview of the status of each device deployed in a network, as well as stats and data analysis, showing trends and warning you of any developing issues, such as unreliable connectivity. This minimizes outages, maximizes screen uptimes and dramatically reduces the number of costly on-site field service calls. With the right remote management and troubleshooting tools, rolling a truck to off-site locations becomes the exception as opposed to the very expensive rule.
From controlling display content and accessing hardware settings to troubleshooting issues, MagicINFO allows users to remotely manage both the content and the device on a single platform. Server can also deploy up to ten scheduled multichannels and provides the ability for users to create multiple frames within a single display panel that plays its own unique content. If an error is detected, users can use Server’s Multi Screen remote control to view and interact with multiple screens, making it that much easier to diagnose the issue.
The all-star player
Samsung has long been the market leader and innovator of smart displays embedded with system on a chip (SoC) technology. Instead of relying on external media players — which add costs and complications — SoC-based displays have computing and graphics components built right in.
MagicINFO Player is designed specifically for Samsung’s smart SoC displays, optimized for the hardware. Most third-party CMS software platforms were written for external media playback devices (like PCs and commercial set-top boxes) and then adapted for smart displays. MagicINFO Player handles smooth play-out of scheduled media files, logs activity and steadily checks back in with Server to provide analytics and pick up any new instructions and media files.
MagicINFO Player is also compatible with multiple web formats and standards. Samsung is providing businesses with the W player API to unlock real-time web content modification. This offers the upmost flexibility as they have the ability to modify web content in real-time for immediate use on the display. Users have the option to modify HTML content with the web author and API guide or they can change elements such as POS data and order confirmation displays by updating external data via the UDP port or Datalink.
Matched sets
There’s a reason consumers buy matched sets for everything from power tools to cookware to electronics: Matched items share engineering DNA and are designed to work well together.
A decade on, MagicINFO is a mature, matched-set technology platform proprietary to Samsung’s hardware and software solutions, suited to any job and optimized for the smart displays that now dominate the digital signage marketplace.
Get started on your business’ digital signage project — or enhance what’s already been deployed — with this free white paper. And white you’re at it, learn all the ways MagicINFO elevates the power of your displays and improves business performance.