LG Announces Partnership with Userful

(Image courtesy LG)

LG Business Solutions USA announces a partnership with Canadian software company Userful to produce an end-to-end, AV-over-IP solution that combines Userful’s visual networking platform and LG’s webOS signage platform. The resulting network looks to optimize display networks for control rooms, digital signage networks, corporate signage, and video walls.

Gianni Restaino, LG Business Solutions USA’s vice president of engineering, says, “With the acceleration of new services and digital transformation, there is a clear need for a centralized platform to manage visual services in combination with data, IoT, and AI.”

The companies say they jointly recognized the growth potential of AV-over-IP in 2019 and began developing a lightweight software solution that runs on top of LG’s webOS signage platform for flat-panel and direct-view LED displays. According to Userful, the resulting platform is expected to deliver hardware and energy cost savings while helping to reduce carbon footprints.

“The industry underestimates the difficulty of optimizing traditional AV products for an IT environment, especially with network distribution challenges and demanding enterprise applications,” states Userful CEO John Marshall. “The AV industry has historically worked with NAB codecs and AV standards, focusing on AV over cabled HDMI technology — the addition of multi-protocol-driven networks is an entirely new challenge. Simply put, this solution simplifies the job of IT and can reduce installation and maintenance complexity.”