Putting Multimedia into the Market

Background

Over the past few years, multimedia applications have gone from projects requiring man years of effort and costing half a million dollars to man months of effort costing ten thousand dollars. In fact, by making use of clipart and stock photos combined with stock video and audio, a very exciting prototype application can be built in a weekend.

Multimedia Today

Years of effort in development of development tools have resulted in creation of application development tools with sophisticated user interfaces and high performance capabilities. These tools are available from a variety of software companies and are priced low enough that individuals can afford to enter the market as multimedia developers.

The ultimate consequence is an explosion of small shops developing applications that challenge the output of major long-time multimedia producers, including companies as big as IBM.

Today, using a three thousand dollar personal computer equipped with a thousand dollar writable compact disc drive running a fifteen hundred dollar development program, multimedia companies can produce applications and distribute them to the public on CD at a cost for materials of less than fifteen dollars each.

With such inexpensive prices, even small companies can easily justify multimedia applications to promote their products, inform their customers, and manage transactions that were so expensive ten years ago even Fortune 500 companies couldn't afford them.

Opportunity

Entrepreneurs on both sides of the fence are contributing to the multimedia explosion. Graphics designers, artists, even ad agencies are now providing their services as producers of multimedia titles. In some cases, the traditional customers are using internal resources to produce demonstration and prototype applications that show high levels of sophistication.

Clients are ready to take on applications that leverage the Internet, are distributed to large numbers of customers on CD ROM, or expand their sales presence by running on interactive kiosks. In many cases, these developers' design talents and presentation skills have produced tremendous applications that present their clients' vision in innovative, attractive forms. However, moving these programs from the developers PC onto networks, distributable media or kiosks often exceeds the capabilities of the creative developer.

Interactive Kiosks

Creating an effective kiosk for interactive applications is a formidable task, one that often is ignored until the very last phases of a multimedia project. Even though a kiosk might include the same desktop PC, monitor and printer on a graphics artist's desk, integrating the parts successfully requires much more than throwing the parts into a wooden box.

What's worse is that building the kiosk doesn't finish the task. Installing these boxes in locations where the developer can't keep an eye on the users or visit the machine on an hourly basis sometimes defeats an otherwise promising application.

The concepts of hardware serviceability, software reliability, remote communications and database integration required to develop an application capable of twenty-four hour/seven day a week operation are not familiar subjects to most creative experts. But these are topics which are critical to the ultimate success of most interactive kiosk programs.

As a result, the explosion of multimedia applications and of developers tackling these applications has produced a tremendous opportunity. The opportunity is developing a solution for support requirements of the interactive kiosk market.

Providing the Solution

There are four major components to the interactive kiosk solution, they are:

• A reliable, attractive kiosk
• A robust, customizable interactive engine
• An effective, open communications component
• A open, customizable information distribution component

In many cases, multimedia developers have developed or purchased some of these components. This should not prevent the developer from making use of other components to produce an effective result. Therefore, while a tightly integrated solution made up of all four parts may be attractive, the best solution provides a mix and match approach.

Kiosk

The multimedia kiosk is a critical element in attracting users to an interactive application. In combination with the application software, the kiosk presents an applications image to the user. A kiosk which is unattractive, inconvenient to use or out of service will prevent the most innovative, well designed software from being successful.

'Semi custom' kiosks, those using standard internal parts with customizable externals, can be extremely cost effective. Highly serviceable enclosures can be created which are extremely "friendly" at the same time. Overall reliability is a function of the enclosure that cannot be overlooked. To allow for individual developer's choice of internal components: CPU, monitor, printer, etc., the design must allow flexibility for configuration.

Interactive Engine

Software that performs user interface management for interactive applications, the interactive engine, implements the designer's vision. This software must provide flexibility and expandability to satisfy the developer, but must support ease of use and be extremely high performance to keep the end user's attention. In addition, the software must support self diagnostic reporting functions to allow monitoring of the program and its end user performance.

Communications

Interactive kiosk applications often gather information from the end user and provide tailored output based on their desires. The applications are also gathering demographic or usage information for centralized analysis and reporting. While it is possible in some cases to collect and distribute the information manually, via a service person's visit to each individual kiosk, it is certainly not cost effective when compared to electronic communication of the information. And as the number of installed kiosks and geographic regions of installation increase, it becomes impossible. A well-designed communications component is essential to the ongoing operation of interactive kiosks.

Information Distribution

Today's interactive applications are often outdated tomorrow. The look needs to be updated, information must be added, and user options change. In some cases, the software itself is revised. Fundamentally, each of these items represents a distribution of information, whether it be in the form of database queries, executable files or interactive scripts.

An information distribution component, particularly when integrated with a communications component, means that interactive applications can provide real-time database access, timely program upgrades, and end user interface tailoring based on kiosk location, season, or other considerations.

Most importantly, all these things are accomplished in an automated, cost effective fashion. Updates aren't delayed because service personnel forgot a disc, didn't remember to reboot the machine, disrupted users to take down the kiosk, or simply wasn't able to visit a kiosk location.

The Package

Analytic Concepts has developed custom solutions that integrate the four key components for a variety of applications. Currently, this experience is being used to develop a general solution targeted to interactive multimedia developers.

This solution is tailored to meet the needs of each application. Developers can choose options ranging from purchasing kiosk hardware or software to complete turnkey applications including application development and network management.

Kiosk Option

Analytic Concepts can provide an extensive background as well as manufacturing contacts to produce kiosks based on either ground up custom designs or "semi custom" solutions. Key features of the kiosk include:

• Designed-in serviceability
• Rugged, attractive enclosures
• Support for multiple customer specified internal components
• Complete turnkey systems

Kiosks can be developed for direct sale or to be integrated with other options to form a complete package.

Interactive Engine Option

Analytic Concepts has developed and continues to improve the ProMedia software. This software provides an extensive base of display, printing and flow control capabilities plus extensive add-in functionality. The architecture allows for easy extension via loadable object libraries. Some features of the ProMedia software include:

• Extendible object oriented architecture
• Designed for interactive kiosk applications
• Support for multiple languages
• Kiosk management
• Includes components for integration with Communications and Data Distribution options

ProMedia software is available as a complete product for end user development or as part of a solution other package options.

Communications Option

Analytic Concepts has developed its Kiosk Survival Kit software which allows communication between remote kiosk networks and a central site.

• Dial-up or on-line operation
• File transfer, message based and management support
• Low cost transport infrastructure

The communications software is well integrated for use with other package options, but can be licensed as a stand alone product. Analytic Concepts can also manage ongoing operations of kiosk communications facilities.

Data Distribution Option

Analytic Concepts extensive experience with database design and information distribution is available for design and development of data distribution solutions. Generally, data distribution involves custom software for access and translation of kiosk and host based data. Data distribution and communications options are typically tightly integrated solutions, but database design and data translation can also be provide as stand alone services. If desired, Analytic Concepts can provide ongoing management, data entry and operation of client database management systems.