Digicom Technology News

After the digital switchover, the 800-MHz band will no longer be used for TV broadcasts. ComReg is clearing the 800-MHzband TV channels (61 to 69) to match spectrum being released in other European countries (European Harmonisation). This will benefit people across Ireland because the spectrum will be able to be used for next generation mobile broadband services. However, this switch further limits a consumer’s ability to use ultra high frequency (UHF) wireless products, as there will be fewer frequencies available. Ultimately, this will reduce the maximum number of wireless products that can coexist in the UHF band at any given time.

These products consist of any device operating between 550 MHz to 606 MHz and 790 MHz to 862 MHz. This change is taking place to make room for both HDTV transmission and mobile broadband services, and will require anyone using any device operating in this space to replace it with an approved alternative.

The UHF band has been under review by most countries around the world, as it is a great option for wireless broadband services, which are in much higher demand than wireless microphones. While the 2012 switchover is the first major change to the UHF band and its availability for wireless microphone usage, it has been made clear that it is not necessarily the last. There is always the chance that more of the band will be sold off in the future, resulting in further limitations in UHF wireless microphone usage.

If you would like more information regarding UHF microphones, please contact Digicom today.

Buyers Laboratory (BLI) is a leading authority and provider of critical intelligence on the imaging industry. They are completely independent in all of their testing processes and subsequent reporting. Recently BLI announced its Summer 2012 “Pick” award winners in ten document imaging software categories. Bestowed twice a year by the editors of BLI, the awards honor the top-performing solutions evaluated in BLI's lab during the previous six months.


Reducing print-related costs, increasing print-job security and recouping print and copy costs where appropriate are the imperatives driving the growth in the print management category. BLI editors have selected PaperCut MF 12 as “Outstanding Print Management Solution” for this Summer 2012 “Pick” season thanks to its robust feature set and affordability.

PaperCut MF facilitates the tracking of (and charging for) print, copy, scan and fax jobs. The solution also includes features such as secure print release and “follow me” printing, as well as cost-saving features such as re-routing of files to lower-cost devices and the ability to enforce duplex printing or restrict output by application type.

“After putting PaperCut MF through its paces, there’s little doubt it’s among the best software platforms in this class on the market,” said BLI Associate Editor Carl Schell. “Not only does the solution have all the necessities for cost accounting, control and recovery needs, it also includes outstanding print management tools that can help organizations better understand their document output and reduce TCO—for a price that’s lower than many other competitive offerings.”

If you would like more information on PaperCut, please contact Digicom today.

A recent survey by Ricoh which stems from an IDC whitepaper shows companies are spending less money on improving document-driven business processes designed to mitigate risk, such as business continuity/risk assessment, business monitoring and controls, and compliance/audit processes, areas that Ricoh recommends companies spend more time understanding and improving. The survey also found driving paper out of processes doesn’t necessarily improve efficiency and companies are too dependent on internal staff to re-engineer critical processes.

“In general, the more deficient the processes are, the less organisations are investing to improve them,” reads the IDC white paper, sponsored by Ricoh. “So even though risk mitigation and other ineffective processes are receiving some investment, they are getting less than other processes and arguably should be receiving a large degree of attention [to minimise impact to the security of the organisation].”

The good news is that well over half of the respondents said improving document processes governing organisational compliance and risk mitigation/management would deliver benefits across business oversight/control, compliance risk, information security risk and business continuity risk. Ricoh’s approach to improving document-driven processes like these includes: definition of the desired state and the creation of a plan that includes critical metrics and key performance indicators; creating a new information infrastructure designed and checked for alignment with business objectives and customer expectations; and a campaign to educate and create awareness with end-users of the new process.

“It’s vitally important that organisations take a holistic approach to fully understand their information infrastructure, where they may need to make improvements, and work with an experienced partner who can help them transform their processes to be more efficient,” said Chas Moloney, director, Ricoh UK and Ireland. “But in the case of processes that are theoretically designed to minimise risk, such as compliance and audit processes or business continuity processes, it is even more vital for companies to continuously monitor, evaluate and invest in improvements. Our research shows this is not occurring in many cases, and we are urging companies to address this growing concern now before they incur even greater risk to their organization.”

A high percentage of business processes (30 to 40 percent) remain paper-driven, the research found, and many processes “jump back and forth” between paper and electronic workflows. Nonetheless, “the least effective processes [in the study] are also the least paper-based. This exposes the myth that simply driving paper out of processes necessarily makes them more efficient. Rather, the health of the process also depends on deeper-level assessment of workflows and attributes of the process itself.”

If you would like to find out how an improvement to document-driven processes can benefit your business, please contact Digicom today.

Sony has unveiled two new series of projectors ideal for application in small office, corporate or education environments. The new models include the VPL-D100 series, designed specifically for the SMB and corporate markets and the VPL-E200 series designed with features specific to the education market. Both series also incorporate convenient eco-conscious features that cut energy consumption and extend lifetime, making them more productive and cost efficient for all uses.

Common features include an auto lamp dimming function, which enables the projector to intelligently detect if it is left on with a static signal being fed. When a static signal is detected, the lamp can be dimmed to 30 per cent of the original brightness at certain time intervals set by the user. When a new signal is sent, the projector returns to full brightness instantly.

To avoid unnecessary power consumption, the new projectors have an Auto Brightness Adjustment function, where the brightness of the lamp’s output is automatically adjusted depending on the brightness of the projected image. For example, when showing darker images that don’t require high brightness, the lamp output will decrease.

An Eco Mode function on all of the projectors gives users the ability to switch between three brightness modes (high, standard and low), allowing the user to control the power consumption of the projector, increasing the life of the lamp and projector. In addition, by applying a new fine-tuned cooling system to reduce clouding of the bulb, Sony has extended the lamp life by approximately 7,000 hours, depending on the lamp mode selected.

The new Picture Mute function also reduces power consumption to 30% usage, saving costs and lamp hours. There’s also no need to completely power-off or turn back on which increases power consumption and can be time-consuming. The new models in the VPL-D100 series and VPL-E200 series will be available in the coming weeks through Digicom.

Last month we hosted our 3rd event of the year in Fitzwilliam Hall, Dublin 2 and Digicom would like to thank all who attended. The event proved extremely popular with attendees. Samsung's specialists demonstrated their new MobilePrint App which makes it possible to print, scan and transfer on the go. The app further bolsters Samsung's connected ecosystem across their product portfolio. Other demonstrations on the day included how Samsung's MFPs make it possible to scan to cloud services such as Evernote and how Samsung's Multi Function Device Software "Papercut" monitors and controls photocopying, scanning and faxing options.

Mark Gillick, Samsung Tablet givewaway winner

The event was very relevant to today's business environment with many businesses committed to moving strategically to cloud services, improving flexibility, scalability and cost management. Digicom also contributed to the presentation, detailing how Google Apps for Business has benefited us. Ultimately this technology will revolutionise the way people work allowing them to enjoy a faster and easier working life.

Digicom will be hosting further events in 2012 which we will keep you informed of.

Finally, congratulations to Mark Gillick from Repak on winning our Samsung Tablet giveaway.

If you would like more information on Samsung's range of print hardware, please contact Digicom.

InfoComm is the AV industry event where new products and services are launched and new industry trends are first observed and detected. InfoComm 2012 had 34,268 AV professionals attending from more than 90 countries. This represents a four percent increase in attendance over InfoComm 2011.There were 933 exhibitors participating this year. Below are some of Digicom's highlights.

SMART Technology's booth at InfoComm was extremely popular, and with good reason. As one of the pioneers of the industry, their solutions have had more actual use (and testing… and R&D) in the field than most of their competitors. Perhaps more significantly, SMART offers its Bridgit conference software, which connects SMARTboards together for interactive whiteboarding and doubles as a cost-effective web conferencing tool allows for the sharing of any application being used on a board.

Cisco Synch is a clever little black box that intuitively integrates interactive whiteboards with Cisco TelePresence. One of the problems with using interactive whiteboards with a video call is the board must be calibrated. Often the board needs to do double duty as a display as well and when you minimize the board to add video the minimized board needs to be recalibrated. Cisco Synch eliminated this and allows format of the board to change throughout the meeting while keeping the board calibrated for both whiteboarding and as a touch screen peripheral.



WolfVision introduced the VZ-C3D, the world’s first 3D visualizer, a 3D stereoscopic ‘live’ presentation solution. The VZ-C3D visualizer is ceiling mounted, and features two high-precision lenses and an onboard stereoscopic mixer. Real-time ‘live’ high-definition 3D images can be viewed in amazing quality, with or without glasses on any suitable 3D-enabled display screen.


12X optical zoom capability ensures that items of all sizes can be picked up quickly and easily, and the synchronised lightfield which is projected onto the working surface means that it’s also easy to find correct positioning for display materials. A frame rate of 30fps ensures smoothness of motion, and 3D images are output via HDMI in native 1080p format. The VZ-C3D can also be switched to output standard 2D images in 1080p format if required.

Wolfvision believes the device could be useful in specialist medical and telemedical applications, product design and engineering, science and education, videoconferencing and telepresence applications.

Sennheiser has unveiled its first microphone that employs Audio-Video Bridging (AVB) technology, making it one of the first companies to use this technology in a product.

The microphone was developed as part of a study – it it still a prototype and will not be available in this form as a product on the market. However, Sennheiser believes the successful outcome of the study proves that high-quality audio can be transmitted into a digital Ethernet network without problems.

The 27th of this month will mark the beginning of the XXXth Olympiad. As well as the athletes, the main sponsors are working tirelessly to make The Games a success, two of which are Digicom's partners, Cisco and Samsung.

Samsung kicked off their Olympic Torch Relay programme in May 2012. The programme represents an opportunity for the general public to take part in the Olympic Games by offering them a chance to carry the Olympic Flame. The Samsung Caravan is bringing torchbearers around the UK during the 70-day relay. An interactive LED screen built into the side of the caravan features the Olympic Torch Relay hightlights as well as avatars of participants for Samsung Hope Relay, a virtual Olympic Torch Relay that allows everyone to take part.



In conjunction with Visa, Samsung have launched a limited edition Galaxy S III Olympic handset for the games. The NFC-capabilities of the handset coupled with a special themed version of its payWave Android application will provide contact less payments to competing athletes in a number of retailers across the city and on official Olympic sites.












As well as being the official network infrastructure supporter of The Games, Cisco have also created "Cisco House" which is nestled in a unique roof-top location above Westfield Stratford City with stunning views over the Olympic Park. The purpose of Cisco House is to deliver an experience illustrating the opportunities for businesses to save money via the creation of new business and service models. Cisco House has been open since the end of April showcasing the best of Cisco's technology. The inspirational experience is rich in video technology with many of its meeting rooms and boardroom facilities having TelePresence suites. Communication pods dotted around the facility offer visitors the opportunity to connect with colleagues, friends and family via social media. Guests can enjoy live sporting events and visual case studies either on large LCD displays or on their own mobile devices.



The ground floor of Cisco House is largely taken up by the interactive walkthrough experience. Key to this is an engaging multi-media business transformation journey which looks at how innovative organisations are using the network today,as well as the opportunities they can look forward to in the future. The top floor of Cisco House consists of a large networking lounge which has spectacular views of the Olympic Stadium.

Both companies have really capitalised on the exposure the Olympics provides and through the use of technology are bringing unique experiences to the public.