by Judith Rubin
ABOVE (L to R): Jason Pontius, Zach Strauss, and Stephan Villet of Smart Monkeys. Photo by Judith Rubin.
Smart Monkeys’ Stephan Villet and Jason Pontius were representing Smart Monkeys Inc. at InfoComm 2019 and showcasing – in tandem with RealMotion company and its creative studio FLOAT – Smart Monkeys’ latest update of ISAAC, and the integration of the RealMotion server platform with ISAAC.
A recent high-profile example is the 2019 upgrade of the iconic “Time Tower” clock tower display in the Tom Bradley Terminal at LAX (the terminal opened in 2014). Smart Monkey’s ISAAC rose to widespread attention and garnered many awards as the innovative content delivery and control system behind the extensive LED multimedia display in the terminal; ISAAC is an acronym for Integrated Scheduling And Automation Control. [See “ISAAC takes control,” InPark #60, and “Building Bridges,” InPark #53.]
“ISAAC acts as a full CMS for the RealMotion platform, and ISAAC continues to get smarter,” said Villet. A leading feature of the current version of ISAAC is what Villet termed its “new integratory content media management capability.” A drag-and-drop interface enables it to ingest new content – then distribute, manage and archive it, and make it available for editing – without the user needing to load it onto the server. “Using templates, it can be incorporated and part of the display within seconds,” said Villet. Benefits include protecting IP and brand consistency.
As ISAAC gets smarter and is adopted by more integrators, it augurs a paradigm shift for the industry; not just in the way technology is configured and used, but in the software/hardware ratio and reduced physical space requirements for equipment. This is because what has traditionally existed as hardware – a group of networked PCs, for instance – can exist virtually on ISAAC, carrying out the same functions and providing redundancy.
Smart Monkeys is growing and looking for talented professionals in engineering, project management, show control, AV/IT and technical sales. Joy Burke recently joined the team as Senior Manager of Special Projects, specializing in the Orlando market.
