Scala, Inc

Infobox Company
name = Scala

type = private
genre =
foundation = 1987
location_city = Philadelphia, PA
location_country = USA
location =
locations =
industry = Computer software
products = Infochannel

Scala, Inc is a producer of multimedia software. Founded in 1987, its headquarters are based near Philadelphia, PA with additional operations in California, UK, France, Norway, The Netherlands, China and Japan.cite web|url=http://www.digitalsignagetoday.com/storefronts.php?sf_id=182|title=Company Showcase - Scala|publisher=Digital Signage Today|accessdate=2008-08-09]

The Company's multimedia software platform powers thousands of digital signs around the world including the digital signage networks of Rabobank, IKEA, Bloomberg Television, Burger King, T-Mobile, Virgin Megastores, Disneyland Resort Paris, McDonald's, Warner Bros., Shell, Esso, Ericsson and The Life Channel.

In February 1999, Scala was nominated by Animation Magazine to be amongst the 13 best companies of 2D software manufacturers. [cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_Feb_15/ai_53875584|title=Scala Named to Animation Magazine's 13 Best 2D Software Companies|publisher=Busines Wire/FindArticles|date=1999-02-15|accessdate=2008-08-09]

History

In 1987 a small group of coders in Oslo, Norway colaberated under the banner "Digital Vision" to create multimedia software on the Commodore Amiga computer platform. In 1989 they released their first product which was named Infochannel 2.15.

In 1990, they redesigned the program with a new graphical user interface. They renamed themselves and the software "Scala" and released a number of successful multimedia applications. The Scala family of programs became widely considered as a professional video titler by various TV broadcast companies worldwide.fact|date=May 2008 It was acquired by investors in the USA in 199x and is now based in the United States with their European headquarters located in the Netherlands.

The name "Scala" was taken from a live actor animation made by the creators of Scala using an Amiga, a video camera and a video digitizer. The animation, named "Lo scalatore" (Italian for 'The Mountaineer'), featured a magic trick of Indian fakirs of a man climbing a ladder and disappearing in the air. [cite web|url=http://www.randelshofer.ch/animations/anims/scala/LoScalatore2.animVE.html|title=Amiga Animations - LosSalatore|publisher= [www.randelshofer.ch] |accessdate=2008-08-09] . This animation was then included into the Demo disk of Scala Multimedia in order to show the capabilities of that presentation software in loading and playing animations whilst also manipulating it with other features of the software.

In 1994 Scala released Multimedia MM400 and Infochannel 500. Infochannel 500 was one of the first applications that could control the streaming of data in a network of computer-driven video peripherals. This completely changed the way people used this type of software.

In 1996, due to the shrinking Amiga market, Scala left the Amiga platform and started delivering Microsoft Windows based programs. Scala Multimedia MM100, Scala Multimedia Publisher and Scala InfoChannel 100 were released for the this platform.

Scala software evolved from a video titling application into a complete multimedia authoring suite, and is used for interactive video TV, presentations, digital signage, and streaming TV into large LAN and WAN, such as information monitor installations and video walls in airports or stations. Scala software provides a complete suite for corporate television.

Scala was a popular application for video titling in TV stations worldwide in the nineties. Amongst its notable users were large broadcasting companies such as CNN, BBC English national broadcast, RAI TV, the Italian national broadcast, and many others.

Scala Multimedia

The first versions for the Amiga computer were only a simple but powerful videotitler. Scala was bundled with a large amount of typefaces, background images, and a selection of transition effects to be applied to them. Scala was also capable of working with Genlock equipment to superimpose titles over footage played through the devices video input.

Succeeding versions of the programme on the same platform added features such as animation playback, more effects and the ability to interact with multimedia devices through a programming language called "Lingua" (taken from the Italian word "lingo" translated as "language").

With its move to the Microsoft Windows platform, Scala then evolved into a complete set of programs capable of allowing the user create very complex animations, video-presentations, and entire usable all-purpose programs, that could be also stand-alone. Scala could now also support more multimedia languages such as Python and Visual Basic.

Modern versions of Scala can interface TV data streaming with databases of information. A typical application in an airport departure lounge would be to have monitors showing recorded streaming video interspersed with up-to-date flight information.

A strong point of Scala Multimedia has been the interaction of the program with presentation hardware (videoprojectors, digital videorecorders and touch-screens). There were many software drivers modules to pilot these hardware peripherals, and cables all integrated with the main Scala suite. Scala was one of the first software that could remotely turn on and off entire consoles of monitors (such as in airports), and could pilot separately the output for each one of these monitors.

Infochannel

InfoChannel is the current main product that Scala produce. It's marketed as Digital signage software suite and is used by companies in retail, healthcare, education, manufacturing and more, to create, manage and distribute electronic messages for advertising or information, which can also be interactive, using various forms of visual display media.

Scala InfoChannel is comprised of 3 main components; InfoChannel Designer which is used to create dynamic content, InfoChannel Content Manager which is used to manage and distribute content, and InfoChannel Player which plays back the distributed content.

The latest version of the software is InfoChannel 5 Release 3.1 which allows compatibility with the Microsoft Windows Vista platform and greater corporate network support. [cite web|url=http://www.computerbusinessreview.com/article_news.asp?guid=EECF267C-FCE9-43AF-81F2-EF01CFD2240F|title=Scala launches new version of InfoChannel with Windows Vista support|publisher=computerbusinessreview.com|date=2008-07-03|accessdate=2008-08-10]

References and notes

External links

* [http://www.scala.com/ Scala inc. Official site]
* [http://media.rz.uni-potsdam.de/mmap/scala1.htm Article review of Scala Multimedia MM200]
* [http://www.dvdcreation.com/HTM/Features/1999/10_99/paulo_scala.htm Scala Infochannel reviewed]
* [http://www.randelshofer.ch/animations/anims/index_sc.html Original animation of "Lo Scalatore" and other Scala demos] preserved for historical purposes on randelshofer.ch site
* [http://www.aonarrowcast.com Digital Signage Software]