WVU Digital Signage Network Leverages Social Media Features and QR Codes to Encourage Student Interactivity on Mobile Devices

MONTREAL -- Jan. 19, 2012 -- X2O Media, a full-service provider of software, network management, and content services for real-time visual communication applications, today announced that its digital signage deployment at West Virginia University (WVU) has earned a 2011 DIGI Award in the category of "Best Deployment, Integration of Digital Signage and Mobile/Cell Phone Technology." Powered by X2O Media's Xpresenter(TM) software platform, the vast, cross-campus digital signage network incorporates innovative social media features and technologies such as Twitter and QR codes to encourage student engagement and interaction with the displays using mobile devices.

Now in their seventh year, the DIGI Awards represent the only industry award program that recognizes the outstanding integrators, content providers, and product manufacturers focusing on digital signage. The awards are selected and presented by Digital Signage Magazine and The Digital Signage Group.

"When selecting this year's DIGI Award winners, we honed in on the entries that really stood out in showing us not just technology packages, but how digital signage and DOOH best practices are playing out in the field, with real-world solutions and products," said David Keene, Executive Editor of Digital Signage magazine and chair of the judges' committee for the DIGI Awards. "X2O Media's work at WVU demonstrates the importance of utilizing mobile devices and social media to increase the effectiveness of a digital signage network."

Spanning three campuses in Morgantown, W. Va., in addition to regional campuses in different parts of the state, WVU's digital signage network is designed to provide nearly 29,000 students and 7,900 faculty and staff members with targeted and timely content regarding events, campus news, athletics, and much more. Integration of the X2O platform with technology from LocaModa allows students to use their smartphones and other mobile devices to text and interact with the digital signage in real time via applications such as Wiffiti, Foursquare, Polls, and Jumbli.

Through Wiffiti, they can send text messages and photos that are then rendered using the Xpresenter Players that drive the WVU Information Station screens. Students can check in at WVU's Foursquare locations using their devices, and view the "mayor" of a location on its screens. Twitter feeds are displayed as tickers and in other formats on the displays. Furthermore, by scanning on-screen QR codes with their devices, students can respond to polls or be directed to a specific website.

"The network at WVU demonstrates how mobile devices are a perfect extension of digital signage networks, creating new interactive channels and opening the door to communication with screens via social media. All of this adds up to an enhanced viewer experience and increased network effectiveness," said X2O Media President and CEO David Wilkins. "We are proud to have our Xpresenter at the heart of the WVU network and honored to have our work recognized with such a prestigious award."

X2O Media's Xpresenter is an end-to-end platform designed to make creating, managing, and distributing broadcast-quality digital signage content on networks of all sizes available to all. Xpresenter's patented authoring module allows Microsoft(R) PowerPoint(R) users to produce compelling content that incorporates animations, video clips, and real-time data sources -- all within the PowerPoint interface.

More information on Xpresenter and other X2O products is available at www.x2omedia.com.

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About X2O Media
X2O Media is a full-service provider of software, network management services, and content services for professional digital signage and corporate communication applications. The company offers a wide variety of software solutions for digital signage and interactive networks of all sizes. X2O's award-winning Xpresenter(TM) provides an end-to-end platform for the creation, management, and distribution of content at broadcast quality, and at a fraction of the time of other solutions. In addition to technology, X2O offers content design, acquisition, management, distribution, and monitoring services for digital signage networks. More information about X2O Media is available at www.x2omedia.com.

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