Ingenium Museum Network Adopts Cloud-Based Digital Signage

The corporate parent of three Canadian museums has gained new flexibility in digital signage content management and network expansion by transitioning to a new cloud-based architecture. Using Carousel Cloud software, BrightSign media players, and BrightSign's BSN.Cloud service, the Ingenium AV/IT team has rapidly scaled its network from 15 displays at the Canada Science and Technology Museum to 50 across all three of its museums.

Based in the city of Ottawa, Ingenium owns and operates all three museum properties, which also includes the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and Canada Agriculture and Food Museum. All Carousel and BrightSign components live on a common IT infrastructure with native cloud connectivity between all points, empowering network operators through remote management software, secure content delivery and seamless technology integrations. Carousel Digital Signage and BrightSign established an official partnership in 2017, with Carousel Digital Signage among the first to integrate BrightSign's BSN.Cloud service into its software ecosystem in 2019.

The Canada Science and Technology Museum campus also includes the Ingenium Centre, an artifact and archive collection storage facility that is open to the public and is part of the Carousel Cloud network. In addition to public-facing signage, Carousel and BrightSign feed corporate-themed content to staff and visitors on seven displays within Ingenium's corporate office areas. This was in fact the first sign of what was to come.

"I was on staff with the systems integration firm that installed the initial on-prem Carousel servers and corresponding displays in the staff lunch rooms," said Brian Wragg, AV Specialist for Ingenium. "We installed Windows-based media players with those servers. I later joined Ingenium around the time that the Science and Technology Museum went through a major renovation, which included digital signage for visitor information and visual content. We decided to stay with Carousel, but transitioned to BrightSign for media players."

Ingenium stayed with Carousel because mainly because of its ease of use. "We evaluated other systems but they all proved too complicated," said Wragg. "Our creative services team handles most of the content creation, scheduling and uploading, and other users have access to certain zones. There was no reason to shake up that formula, and our decision to shift to BrightSign was another reason to stay with Carousel. Now that we have moved to Carousel Cloud, there is an entirely new layer of simplicity and harmony across the network. The BrightSign players are rock-solid. We can synchronize content between them, and we can pipe content from indoor to outdoor screens without having to switch player inputs. BSN.Cloud allows for that freedom, and gives us the power to remotely manage, monitor and control all players."

The Carousel Cloud network presents a diversity of content across different museums and areas. All museums feature admission screens, which list prices, membership promotions and brief overviews of the daily schedules. The Science and Technology Museum includes a cluster of five screens that offers overviews of current and future events across all three museums plus wayfinding maps for visitor navigation. New to the network are interactive screens that prompt visitors to submit photos for presentation in the Science and Technology Museum and Aviation and Space Museum.

The BrightSign devices installed behind each screen are a mix of players powering 1080p and 4K content. "We have a lot of artifacts with national historic significance at the Ingenium Centre, and very nice images of our staff working with artifacts and prototypes for interactive exhibits," said Wragg. "It made sense to present these in 4K, which visitors see on a 65-inch display. We will also add a 4K player to project a 40-foot-wide image on the side of the Aviation and Space Museum."

Speaking of outdoors, BrightSign players are installed in weathertight enclosures with cooling and heating control to compensate for the dynamic Ottawa weather. "We have had one outside for three years with no performance issues," said Wragg. "We recently added three kiosks with BrightSign players outside of the Agriculture and Food Museum and we expect reliable performance through their first winter. That property is spread out across several buildings, and these screens provide wayfinding and information about exhibits and outdoor activities."

The transition to a cloud network has also made life easier for the IT department and the creative service staff, the latter of whom typically work from home. "They no longer have to VPN 500MB files to the on-prem server, and they can preview new content without having a physical player in their presence," said Wragg. "Carousel Cloud manages everything efficiently, and the supervisor in charge of the IT network loves that Carousel consumes minimal bandwidth and has no VPN requirement. Overall, Carousel Cloud makes it's easy to create, schedule and change content, and BrightSign brings everything to life with exceptional reliability. Everyone benefits."

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