Air Canada Signage Network Keeps Employees Up to Date

Mar 25, 2008 12:00 AM, By John W. DeWitt

X2O Media implemented ACN based upon its Xpresenter digital signage software platform, which uses Microsoft PowerPoint and graphical “smart templates” to facilitate data feed integration and ongoing dynamic content updates. X2O’s implementation team integrated various data sources to the Air Canada templates, according to Porco, including weather for cities that Air Canada flies to; flight information including departure times and gate information; and company indices such as stock price, On Time Performance, and Customer Service Index targets and results. Duocom Canada installed the network’s screens.

Air Canada staff members are able to continually update ACN content using the Xpresenter system and a custom, highly simplified Web control interface provided by X2O that allows realtime updates of PowerPoint presentations, videos, and crawling ticker information.

“Air Canada has various departments producing content that needs to be communicated to its flight crew. Much of that content is repurposed for the digital signage network,” Porco says. However, much of the information fed to CAN is automated—for instance, internal company indices are automatically extracted from existing emails without the need to re-type the info into the templates.

The International Travel Catering Association recently honored Air Canada Network with its Mercury Award in the Systems and Processing Category. Based on the success of its pilot, which began in November 2007, Air Canada currently is considering a rollout of ACN to other facilities.

For more information, visit www.x2omedia.com.