NanoLumens Lights Up CenturyLink's New Technology Center of Excellence With a Unique NanoWrap™ Solution

Last March, CenturyLink (www.centurylink.com), a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company, cut the ribbon on its new Technology Center of Excellence. The 300,000 square-foot state-of-the-art (LEED certification pending) R&D center features of a stunning array of NanoWrap visualization solutions from NanoLumens (www.NanoLumens.com), an industry leading manufacturer and marketer of visualization solutions.

The new building’s lobby is a palace of glass that incorporates 37,000 square feet of View Dynamic Glass, making it the single largest installation of electrochromic glass in the country. View Dynamic Glass leverages nanotechnology and pre-programmed intelligence to tint automatically in response to outside conditions and user preferences, eliminating the need for blinds or shades. But, even with that technology, the lobby is still very bright. The exceptional brightness of NanoLumens’ technology, which can be adjusted as the ambient light levels change throughout the day, assures that the video on the solutions will remain clearly and crisply visible at any time, under any conditions. 

“The NanoLumens displays create a stunning effect in the lobby, and it’s fair to say that this sets the lobby apart from any other atrium like it,” said Ben Cating, Senior Consultant-VP of Idibri (www.idibri.com), the Addison, Texas-based consulting firm hired by CenturyLink. “It’s more than just a video installation — it’s a visual achievement.”

The center also includes a technology research and development lab, a network operations center, a customer experience center and a collaborative office and meeting space.  But, said Cating, the space also needed to make a definitive statement that immediately established the facility as a cutting-edge technology location. NanoLumens NanoWrap solutions helped the client make this visual statement and capture the attention of customers as they walk through the door. 

Three columns in the building’s three-story-tall atrium are wrapped with NanoLumens’ 5MM NanoWrap displays in a 42-inch-diameter circular panel that covers 12 feet of vertical surface on each column. The NanoLumens LED panels, made up of thousands of Nixels™, NanoLumens’ patented display module, turn these architectural elements into archi-technological elements. They provide a continuous stream of full-motion video that’s visible throughout the entire lobby and from any angle. Each display can show different video content or all three columns can play synchronously, with content fed over IPTV via fiber from a cloud-based Cisco-AppSpace content delivery system.

The NanoWraps are attached to the columns by a unique circular mounting system, incorporating a custom metal frame around the column in which the panels are attached. This system was carried out by AV systems integrator American AVL, based in Ruston, LA.

“CenturyLink wanted to make this lobby a unique technological experience for visitors and guests,” Cating emphasized. “We looked at a lot of possibilities, and video would keep the columns as an integral part of the aesthetic design. But attaching conventional flat displays to them would have ruined the flow they create visually. Only the flexibility of the NanoWraps, which we could literally wrap around the columns, offered us the solution that we needed. NanoWraps were the only way we could address this particular form factor. The result is striking to look at.”

“The space- and energy-efficient NanoWrap solution offers quiet, low energy consuming cylindrical visualization wherever a customer would like to place it,” emphasized NanoLumens Executive Vice President of Business Development, Karen Robinson. “Whether that’s hanging overhead, in a fixed position on its own, or around the columns of a building, NanoWrap solutions are made to equip customers like CenturyLink with the perfect visualization solution that’s just right for them– no matter what size, shape, or curvature is needed.”

To download additional hi-res images, click here. All photography is courtesy of Idibri Consulting. 

As Real As It Gets: Digital Installation Brings Madame Tussauds Experience to Life at 'The Crossroads of the World'

A giant new LED screen in New York City will give the tens of millions of annual visitors to Times Square - ’the crossroads of the world’ - the chance to see inside Madame Tussauds. 

The attention-grabbing 13 ft. by 12 ft. LED screen, which was installed on June 19th, is visible from 42nd Street. It is already proving to be a big hit with visitors to Times Square to enjoy a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the Madame Tussauds experience.

The project brief from Madame Tussauds (part of Merlin Entertainments Group) to Banner Managed Communication (BMC), its global marketing and communications agency, was to increase the attraction’s cut-through and audience share within the intensively competitive New York tourist scene. BMC brought in its digital experience design partner, OpenEye Global, a world leader in conceiving and delivering innovative visual technology projects, to create the experience from the eyes of the visitor. OpenEye also enlisted Scala and NanoLumens for content management and display installation, forming a solid team of expertise.

The Madame Tussauds and OpenEye teams developed a content strategy highlighting the brushes with fame (and infamy!) that could only happen inside Madame Tussauds. Using actors and a green screen to film reactions to their encounters with Madame Tussauds’ stars, crowds outside could get a real taste of the fun that awaits them inside.

Davey Barrett, Head of Product Development, Midway Attractions, North America at Merlin Entertainments plc said:

"BMC and OpenEye have helped us find a truly innovative way of communicating and visualizing the experience of visiting Madame Tussauds to a vast, untapped audience. We’re undoubtedly achieving our primary objective of grabbing the attention of many more visitors to Times Square. The 4.5MM digital display from NanoLumens delivers impeccable clarity and brightness essential in creating an invigorating experience.”

Catherine Burke, Managing Director of Banner Managed Communication, said:

“Creative thinking and leading-edge technology have combined here to inject new life and contemporary relevance into an attraction with a heritage stretching back almost 250 years.

The project is a perfect example of why we've partnered with OpenEye. They provide precisely the blend of digital innovation and execution expertise which BMC clients are looking for.”

Bryan Meszaros, CEO, OpenEye commented:

“It was clear to us that many people’s perception of Madame Tussauds lags way behind the modern-day reality. So our focus was on creating content and using technology to visualize and bring to life the Madame Tussauds experience, emphasizing what an incredibly dynamic and interactive attraction it is for visitors.”

Dina Townsend, Vice President of Retail, Scala commented:

"The Madam Tussaud's deployment is an excellent example of collaborative, best in class, digital engagement that seamlessly integrates technologies, form factors, platforms and strategic vision.

From the Scala perspective, our content management platform was leveraged to deliver digital signage as well as the #MTSelfie social media experience. Using the Scala platform as a true customer experience engine allowed Madam Tussaud's to integrate a variety of digital experiences all engaging the consumer across channels in new and unexpected ways, but all managed from a single and extensible console to provide the best possible outcomes in a most efficient delivery model." Dina Townsend, VP of Retail at Scala.

Burt Smith, Executive Vice President of NanoLumens commented:

“New York's Times Square is arguably the busiest intersection in the world," emphasized NanoLumens Executive Vice President of Business Development Burt Smith.  "Thousands of retailers, hotels, theaters, restaurants, bars and tourist attractions compete for the attention —and the business— of the millions of consumers who flock to this intersection every year.  Creating an engaging visualization solution that can work with the design limitations of any existing space in New York City is not an easy task for most solutions providers — except NanoLumens.  Our unique ability to listen to the Madame Tussaud team and design a solution in the shape, size, and curvature that works for them is what won the day.  We are very proud to have been a part of this very exciting project."

NanoLumens® Installs the World's First Native 4K 2.5 MM Display at the New Telstra Customer Insight Center in Sydney, Australia

NanoLumens® (www.nanolumens.com), a leading manufacturer and marketer of visualization solutions, today announced the installation of the world’s first native 4K 2.5MM display, part of a larger NanoLumens solution, at the newly redesigned Telstra Customer Insight Center (CIC) in Sydney, Australia.

Spanning 3600 square meters over the entire second level of Telstra’s 400 George Street office in Sydney’s Central Business District, the new center houses a 300-person auditorium, workshop and collaboration spaces, partner pop-up installations, a restaurant, and many hands-on technology demonstration areas featuring state-of-the-art business solutions. 

Andy Bateman, Director of Segment Marketing at Telstra, explained that the new center was designed to bring together leading-edge technologies, innovations and insights to shift customers’ expectations of what’s possible in their business – and how Telstra can help. “We care about developing deep, consultative relationships with our customers to deliver value that goes well beyond sales of products and services. The types of solutions that will drive growth and productivity for our customers are abundant, but rely on bringing together the right mix of partners, designers and system architects. The Customer Insight Center is about bringing all those elements together and co-creating the right solution to give our customers a competitive advantage.”

NanoLumens worked with its regional sales representative, Digital Place Solutions (www.digitalplacesolutions.com), and Portland, Oregon-based design firm Downstream to achieve the goal of realizing a digitally intimate experience through the creation of three unique digital connection zones. The zones consist of a 300-seat auditorium whose focal point is the NanoLumens NanoSlim Engage 2.5MM native 4K display. The 7.5-meter X 7.5-meter display — nearly 25 feet square — is the very essence of digital intimacy, bringing incredibly high resolution images into the theater. That theme is extended to the center’s Partnership Hub — a Stonehenge-like assembly of three 4.5-mm pixel-pitch NanoCurve displays (3.02m x 4.3m, 3.02m x 8.3m and 3.02m x 3.46m) that go from floor to a reflective ceiling and create an immersive space where product and services solutions take on both intimacy and immediacy. 

The center’s Insight Ring, which uses a 1.87m x 7.34m NanoCurve display in 4.5MM pixel pitch, accomplishes this immersive effect within a unique curved space that is enveloped by a circular enclosure that’s suspended at 17 degrees in the center’s newly created visitor reception area to convey at once a sense of intimacy and openness. There, visitors will be welcomed with bits of their own information, such as their names and titles, via RFID-enabled badges given to them by Telstra. Information about products and services useful to them will be shown on the same display.

“Based on our unique abilities and expertise in custom visualization solutions, NanoLumens was able to deliver a complete visual solution at the highest level of design and reliability, while staying true to the customers vision,” noted Almir DeCarvalho, NanoLumens Vice President of Strategic Accounts. “All aspects of this project were custom, from the seamless, curved LED walls that make up the Partnership Hub and Insight Ring to the NanoLumens LED Theater Wall — the first 2.5MM LED display capable of receiving a true 4K signal. In collaboration with our partners, we custom-designed and engineered the displays in the United States and prepared them for final assembly by Telstra Ivision across the world in Australia, on time and on budget.” 

NanoSlim Engage is designed to allow customers to engage their audiences up close and personal.  The new high resolution, large-scale visualization solution from the industry leader in visualization solutions comes backed by an unprecedented corner-to-corner six-year warranty and is designed to serve as the ideal display solution for board rooms, command and control centers, and other areas where clear and up-close viewing is required. It is also the first LED display solution able to be both front installed and front serviced. The installation at Telstra marks the first time that this solution has been installed in a customer environment.

“This is one of a series of important new installations that are now underway in Australia and New Zealand,” DeCarvalho said. “The region is a major focus of our expansion efforts, both now and over the next several years.  Stay tuned to what follows because we have some very exciting projects underway!”

For more hi-res images, click here.

39-Foot Curved NanoLumens® Visualization Solutions Touch Down at London Stansted Airport

London’s Stansted Airport is taking its on-site customer messaging capabilities to a whole new level with the recent installation of a 39-foot (12 meter) NanoLumens® large scale visualization solution that is being utilized to provide advertising space to marketers along with flight information and airport updates.  The massive passenger-engagement solution is the first curved screen to be installed at any airport in the United Kingdom.

Airport advertising agency Eye Airports recently stated that the new addition helps to transform advertising at airports, noting that the solution offers an unparalleled platform for advertisers to inspire and strongly engage with airport audiences. With a second NanoLumens solution going up soon, this marks the latest in Eye Airports' recently announced £8 million “Redefining Airports” investment spanning London’s Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, Bristol and Newcastle Airports. The project aims to offer bold new digital opportunities for advertisers and is said to be the largest investment in UK Airport advertising this decade.

According to NanoLumens EMEA Managing Director David DaCosta, “Airports have a unique need to deliver important information right alongside advertising to tens of thousands of people every day. By utilizing our one-of-a-kind technology, Stansted Airport is making it easier for their customers to find their flight information as well as providing an advertising platform that simply can’t be missed. The display’s curvature attracts the eye and stands as an interesting piece in itself, as people don’t often see such a large digital display, let alone one that curves along a wall.”

London’s Stansted Airport offers more scheduled European destinations than any other UK Airport and is currently the fastest growing major airport in the country serving over 20 million passengers each year. The brightness and sheer size of the NanoLumens solution will serve to make it easy for flyers to quickly find their flight information, as well as for advertisers to have a truly captivating medium to display their messaging.

The gateway is currently undergoing a significant re-development with an £80 million terminal transformation project due to be completed later this year as part of a wider £260 million investment program. 

ADXBA (www.adxba.co.uk) is a respected and established company within the aviation Industry that works directly with a number of airports along with various media owners and agencies. Due to their expertise ADXBA was approached to design, fabricate and install the NanoLumens solution. Another facet to the project was creating a bespoke software management solution for Stansted airport allowing the display and control of both flight information and advertising content. ADXBA’s in house software department worked closely with Stansted Airports IT department and EYE Airports to deliver this completely integrated digital solution.

According to ADXBA Managing Director Jim Kerr, ADXBA successfully completed and delivered the project on time and within budget. “We were excited to be approached for this unique opportunity at Stansted and obviously delighted in playing an integral part in the modernization of Stansted Airport. This project had a number of challenges for us and we are extremely proud with how we overcame these in delivering a fantastic and effective solution.” 

To download additional hi-res images, click here.

NanoLumens Introduces NanoClear™, the Next-Generation Transparent Visualization Solution!

NanoLumens®, the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of visualization solutions in any size, shape, or curvature, today announced the introduction of the next great advance in its solutions offerings — the groundbreaking, fully-transparent NanoClear™ display platform.

“NanoLumens has always been unique in its ability to provide customers with visual solutions in any size, shape or curvature — solutions that in every respect live up to their imagination,” NanoLumens Vice President of Marketing and Business Development Nate Remmes explained. “However, the introduction of our transparent visualization technology takes the company to the next level of innovation. We’re proud to be one of the first companies to commercialize this industry-changing technology, and provide exceptional solutions to customers around the world.”

Utilizing state-of-the-art nano-optical particle diffusion, the new NanoClear display platform allows objects to seamlessly float in space. The display can accept input from nearly any device or content management system to produce specific messaging on the clear display. Extremely slim and ultra-lightweight, NanoClear, like all NanoLumens visualization solutions, is also energy-efficient and feature a bright, seamless, high-resolution picture quality.

The company’s patented display technology and highly innovative visual solutions are transforming the way companies engage their audiences in every type of higher education, retail, hospitality, stadium, arena, casino, transportation and public event environments.

In fact, according to Remmes, NanoClear has recently been installed in major retail locations, airports, and arenas, including the TD Garden in Boston. “We’re thrilled to see this new technology already changing the atmospherics in so many diverse installation environments,” he said.