Where AV meets IoT: Ideal for corporate and educational environments, the award-winning Crestron XiO Cloud™ platform allows customers to deploy, monitor, and manage their Philips OPS displays from a centralised location, reducing installation time and increasing uptime.

PPDS, the exclusive global provider of Philips digital signage, LED and pro TV products, software and innovations, is excited to announce it is among the world’s first manufacturers to gain Crestron XiO Cloud™ certification.

Part of PPDS’ adoption of Crestron’s full ecosystem for seamless end user experiences, this unique and highly collaborative partnership opens up incredible opportunities for a multitude of industries – including corporate, education, hospitality, retail and others – with PPDS bringing the most advanced and complete version of the award-winning XiO Cloud™ control and management solution available anywhere in the current market.

This deep collaboration brings the greatest levels of integration and support to the Crestron ecosystem from a display manufacturer – driving productivity and long-term financial gains for customers.

With Crestron technology now embedded and compatible across almost all Philips professional displays (including pro TV, digital signage and interactive), PPDS has become one of the world’s few display manufacturers to support all four of Crestron’s key technology integrations, including its Control, Remote Management, Video Distribution and Unified Communications solutions.

Bob Bavolacco, director, technology partnerships at Crestron, commented: “PPDS has become a deeply integrated Crestron partner, adopting and rapidly embracing our technology at a level that surpasses anything else seen in the current marketplace.”

Future-proofing the workplace
With the ever-evolving Crestron XiO Cloud™, the ability to deploy, manage, monitor and evolve your workplace displays is now a simple, fast and secure process, enabling remote control of the display’s functions from a single location (including via a Crestron touchscreen device or a web UI dashboard).

Built on the Microsoft® Azure® platform – trusted by some of the world’s leading and most data sensitive organisations, including Fortune 500 companies ¬– the long, often costly and disruptive configuration process for new displays and other devices is now a thing of the past, with customers able to centrally configure and provision all their Philips professional displays (and other compatible solutions) in all rooms before the products have been installed and without visiting the site. This can cut installation times for new devices by up to 90pc.

Once displays are connected to the network, they will automatically retrieve their settings, programmes and firmware specific to the environment being used, and immediately begin reporting data. With Crestron XiO, customers can configure thousands of Philips professional displays in the time it takes to configure one – no programming and no hassle.

Updates can be scheduled on individual displays or collectively, entirely remotely for greater levels of efficiency, consistency and security to the workplace. Troubleshooting can also be tackled immediately and entirely remotely, with Crestron XiO Cloud™ monitoring all devices at all times, sending AV/IT managers instant alerts whenever an issue is detected. This allows problems to be addressed as and when they occur – even before the user realises – reducing potential disruptions or equipment shutdowns to keep spaces up and running, without running to them.

Workplace analytics
With rooms and devices automatically monitored 24/7, Crestron XiO Cloud’s workplace analytics helps give managers better understanding of how rooms and systems are being used. These include system usage versus occupancy, and new people counting functionality to understand how many people are actually using rooms versus their current capacity.

Sian Rees, International Product Manager Software at PPDS, commented: “We’re absolutely delighted to be able to bring this revolutionary solution to our partners and customers, strengthening our relationship with Crestron and taking our Philips professional displays further into the Crestron ecosystem. For XiO Cloud, we’ve gone deeper than many other manufacturers to maximise the benefits and capabilities of the ground-breaking solution. Offering the ultimate experience and performance for our partners and customers.”

Bob, added: “With PPDS, the end client is able to purchase a world-class Philips professional display solution, designed for use in almost in any vertical, that from day one is natively embedded and fully integrated into Crestron’s full ecosystem of products and solutions, of which XiO Cloud is the latest.”