Middle East, 11 October, 2016 - NEC Display Solutions yesterday announced that it will be sharing an open platform modular approach with Raspberry Pi, enabling a seamless integration of Raspberry Pi’s devices with NEC’s displays. NEC’s leading position in offering the widest product range of display solutions matches perfectly with the Raspberry Pi, the organisation responsible for developing the award-winning range of low-cost, high-performance computers.
Originally developed to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and developing countries, the original Raspberry Pi delivered good performance at a very low cost. However, the latest Raspberry Pi 3 compute module boasts significant performance and networking capabilities, making it the perfect for NEC’s display.
With a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, the board is no longer just a basic computer for coding but a reliable intelligent device with unlimited possibilities. In addition to the standard Raspberry Pi 3 compute module, NEC will also offer a customised model to meet the specific performance demands of the display industry.
Being an incremental part of NEC’s Open Modular Intelligence (OMI) platform, the Raspberry Pi 3 seamlessly embeds with NEC’s new range of professional P and V Series large format displays. The new displays allow easy access to embedded intelligence smartly connected to Internet of Things (IoT) for digital signage as well as presentation use. The elegant design of the displays is suitable for smooth installations in any environment. There’s also the chance to customise the screens to individual needs, making the displays a reliable solution anywhere and anytime.
This technology collaboration, the first between a display manufacturer and the Raspberry Pi creator, helps expand NEC’s market opportunity, demonstrating the options it can offer across a wide range of markets and applications. It also helps demonstrate the B2B applications for the Raspberry Pi, solidifying its position as a platform with a credible feature set for applications in retail, aviation, transportation, education and corporate meeting rooms.
“Our strategic initiative to team up with Raspberry Pi is an example of how we continue to ensure that organisations in any sector have the most advanced technology in place to meet their application needs. Our open platform approach provides display intelligence at any time, thanks to our modular and interchangeable design. Integrating the Raspberry Pis with our displays will provide businesses with advanced technology suitable for digital signage, streaming and presenting to enhance the overall visual experience at an affordable price point,” said Stefanie Corinth, Senior Vice President Marketing and Business Development at NEC Display Solutions Europe GmbH.
“When we started Raspberry Pi, we had one main goal of helping people learn about computing and how to make things with computers. However, we’ve been fortunate enough to have sold 10 million Raspberry Pis so far and the commercial success has led to the third generation of a more mature and powerful technology which can be used with NEC’s intelligent display. Our work on the Raspberry Pi mini-computers is driven by the huge community of developers whilst NEC’s work is driven by industry needs, enabling us to meet the demands of the AV and IT industry. Overall, this collaboration shows NEC’s confidence with our ability to provide a platform that can be used in a variety of environments.” said Eben Upton, CEO at Raspberry Pi Trading.
NEC’s new series of state-of-the-art intelligent large format displays with Raspberry Pi connectivity will be launched from January 2017 onwards.