Crestron Electronics Enters the Presentation Battle with AirMedia

Crestron Electronics announced their new wireless presentation solution, AirMedia, on Tuesday, August 6, 2013. AirMedia allows for wireless presentation from multiple programs, including Powerpoint, Excel, Word and PDF documents, as well as data from iOS and Android phones or tablets and MacBook and PC laptops. Thirty-two users can connect to use the content viewing feature, sharing and collaboration features, and four different presentations can be shown onscreen simultaneously with Quad View.

AirMedia is not only capable of seamlessly presenting presentations from many devices, but it can also connect both MacBook and PC laptops quickly and easily. It has features like Shot & Show, which allows screen shots to be displayed on the main screen, playback video and Remote View, which lets up to 40 people connect to the presentation from the back of the room or from entirely separate locations. When integrated with Crestron DigitalMedia, their digital AV system, AirMedia is able to distribute content in HD.

AirMedia connects securely to an existing local area network (LAN), so users won’t have to worry about managing new access points. Crestron’s VP of Technology Fred Bargetzi says that “the AirMedia console connects to the LAN, so it leverages existing IT security policies...no additional software, AV equipment or control system is needed.” He also notes that because of this, the desktop app can be put on company devices overnight.

Connecting to AirMedia is instant. By following instructions on the room display, a device can connect without software and begin a presentation immediately. It can also be accessed by downloading the app (available at the end of the month), or having the app installed by a company into a device. The latter two mean that access to AirMedia is available at the click of a mouse, rather than imputing information each time access is needed.