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Support - Non Technical FAQs |
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Non Technical Questions
What is AMBER Alert?
AMBER Alert is a innovative, cross media alert system used by the Dutch police to alert the whole of the Netherlands when there is an urgent child abduction or disappearance. The AMBER Alert platform uses pop-ups on PCs, large advertising (Digital Signage) screens, e-mail, SMS text messages, Instant messenger, RSS newsfeeds en website Alerts (Flash) to instantly alert all. The goal of the new system is to make use of the general public’s eyes and ears in urgent missing children cases, to help trace the child more quickly.
The AMBER Alert Netherlands software was developed by Netpresenter in cooperation with the Dutch police. Netpresenter has provided the platform to the Klpd (Netherlands Police Agency) free of charge.
More information can be found on the AMBER Alert Netherlands website (also available in English).
What is Netpresenter?
Netpresenter is the world's leading corporate internal communications software suite. Its easy-to-use software allows organizations to instantly newscast targeted news headlines to employees, strengthening the Intranet and reducing the internal email newsletters/memos strain.
News can be selectively displayed as network-friendly media-rich presentations on PCs as Screensaver, emergency Pop-up Player, as Intranet page or on TV/Plasma screens.
With over 1 million active users globally at organizations such as NATO, Sony, Unilever, Philips, Sara Lee, Ford, GE and many more, Netpresenter, founded in 1995, has set the standard.
Why Netpresenter?
It dramatically improves the speed and quality of internal / external marketing, communications and branding initiatives.
Forces your most important news to be seen on all your PCs and TVs in just minutes, without any effort by your staff or customers.
Popularizes your Intranet and WEB site and realizes the benefits and savings you planned.
Provides Intranet kiosk access for all, even those without their own PC. Motivates your employees and enthuses your clients with fast, clear messages and images.
Encourages far quicker adoption of change, by making it easier for your staff to understand the reasons and benefits.
Provides a pro-active secure vehicle to promote employee/customer feedback to quality, efficiency and productivity initiatives. Quickly dissolves any "Chinese rumours" spreading through your organization.
Makes communication complaints a thing of the past!
How can Netpresenter improve my internal communications?
By ensuring that ALL your staff will see your information automatically within minutes. Unlike Email, or even an Intranet, Netpresenter is proactive, informing staff automatically without disturbing them. For example using the Netpresenter Screensaver Player, which as an added benefit, keeps repeating your message so you can be sure your staff will remember it.
I already have an Intranet, why do I need Netpresenter?
An Intranet, although a powerful asset for any modern cooperation, is not the wonder cure for all your internal communications. In fact, many users are having a hard time finding information on an Intranet. Netpresenter not only automatically informs users about the latest news within your organization, but also allows users to click on hyperlinks to jump to your Intranet with one click. Netpresenter complements and strengthens your Intranet with a powerful front-end that popularizes your Intranet in an easy, straightforward way. Additionally, Netpresenter can be connected to existing Intranet Content Management systems, so content is entered just once, but published twice, to both Intranet and Netpresenter, thus saving valuable time.
What are the different software modules?
The Netpresenter 3.8 software package consists of an easy-to-use Editor, with the 'look-and-feel' of a presentation program, for creating news-channels and various Players (version 3.8) for automatically viewing these channels.
The Players are:
The (PC) (Pop-up) Player that can Pop-up your urgent message in an emergency.
The interactive Screensaver Player that presents your headlines while a PC is not being used
The TV Player for displaying information on TV/Plasma screens (digital signage/narrowcasting)
Optional server packages allow users to enter messages for Netpresenter and your Intranet at once using a web browser with the Message Server or for alerts the Emergency Alert Server. Or dynamically insert the latest news from Internet sites automatically with the Netpresenter Newsfeed Server (XML/RSS Newsfeeds).
How much bandwidth does a Netpresenter Player use?
The Netpresenter Desktop Player and Screensaver use a local directory to store information. This self-cleaning cache directory is used to play information so no network connections are needed when the Player or Screensaver is running. Even when the server is offline (or not reachable e.g. notebook) the Player and Screensaver continue to play.
Netpresenter regularly polls a server location for news. Only if new content is available on the server will Netpresenter download it (so-called scheduled pull). This update creates a network load that is equal to a "one-page" web view (20-30Kb).
Netpresenter will intelligently detect whether the whole presentation has changed or just elements. If only text changes and no images are added or changed, the update load is less than 10 KB, because only the script file needs to be downloaded.
Why does Netpresenter use so few network and CPU resources?
Netpresenter Players are developed for continuous usage (24/365), where bandwidth and CPU time are precious. They were designed to operate on global heavily loaded business networks and run even the most stressed-out corporate PCs without any problems.
A typical client installation (without the Editor) will require approximately 1 MB of disk space. This makes Netpresenter an ideal "Thin Client" solution, which can even run CPU/Network critical Citrix servers.
The Netpresenter Desktop Player and Screensaver use a local directory to store information. This self-cleaning cache directory is used to play information so no network connections are needed when the Player or Screensaver is running. Even when the server is offline (or not reachable e.g. notebook) the Player and Screensaver continue to play.
Netpresenter regularly polls a server location for news. Only if new content is available on the server will Netpresenter download it (so-called scheduled pull). This update creates a network load that is equal to a "one-page" web view (20-30Kb).
Netpresenter will intelligently detect whether the whole presentation has changed or just elements. If only text changes and no images are added or changed, the update load is less than 10 KB, because only the script file needs to be downloaded.
Does Netpresenter work on the Internet?
Yes, All Netpresenter Players support FTP and HTTP (internet and Intranet) as well as file sharing.
System Requirements
Client requirements
- 16Mb Ram, 2 Mb free HD space,
· Windows 95 B/98 SE/Me
· Windows NT 4.0 SP3 or later
· Windows 2000 SP1 or later
· Windows XP, all editions
· Windows Terminal Server Systems.
Server requirements
Netpresenter does not require a dedicated server nor special server software. It can store presentations on any existing server (e.g. Window, Novell, Linux/Unix, Apple) using HTTP (web), FTP or UNC/Drive letter (file-sharing) protocols.
What kind of infrastructure does Netpresenter need?
Any network (including FTP/HTTP Internet/Intranet) and networks server that work under Windows clients will work. Servers include for example NT servers, Novell, Unix/Linux, Novell, Vines, Apple and others. Netpresenter does not need dedicated servers or special server programs.
Does Netpresenter bring my network down?
Netpresenter was designed to limit network bandwidth stress to an absolute minimum. Typically it uses less than 50Kb per PC per day (or surfing less than 1 webpage per PC per day) because downloaded channels are stored locally. This results in a daily network load so small that it is hardly measurable.
How do I install Netpresenter on all my PCs?
The Netpresenter client software is very compact (1.6 Mb including the Editor) and does not require or use any additional DLL's. The Netpresenter Network Installer is an msi package (the newest Microsoft Windows installer technology), which ensures automates installations on Client systems.
Roll out to large groups of client systems can be done using group policies, remote launch (Microsoft SMS or other remote management programs), by starting an executable on the network (login-script or batch-file) or by manually branching to an executable from an email or hyperlink.
Can I target presentations locally and globally? How about languages?
Netpresenter presentations (channels) can be nested. This means that for example local (language) sites can have their local presentations in their local language or with local news, while still receiving the corporate presentations. Netpresenter calls a nested presentation a Sub-channel and it is a standard feature of all Netpresenter software.
Why does Netpresenter have a Screensaver Player?
Screensavers are highly effective communication tools and they're low-cost! You could easily equip a whole office of 300 Desktops with the Netpresenter Screensaver for the price of one (1) Plasma wide screen TV. What's more, Netpresenter Screensavers are interactive and can feature hyperlinks that bring users to your favorite (Intranet) website with just one click.
Presentations are automatically displayed without actually interrupting/disturbing the user. Studies show that on average at any time the Screensaver is visible on more than half (60%) of all PCs (with Screensaver timeout set at 20 minutes). Now instead of just one (Plasma TV) screen displaying news, you'll have 180 displays active at any given time! Rest assured there is safety in numbers.
Why an Emergency Alert facility?
The Netpresenter Desktop (Pop-up) Player remains passive, unless it is triggered by a Pop-up signal from the Editor, Message Server or Emergency Alert Server.
While the Netpresenter Screensaver Player is a highly effective way of actively distributing the latest corporate headlines, sometimes when every minute counts, you want to be able to instantly alert users, whatever they are doing. For this purpose Netpresenter has equipped its Desktop Player with an emergency Pop-up facility.
Can I display dynamic content such as tickertapes, web cams and stock quotes?
Yes, Netpresenter Players can monitor, update and display web cam images, stock quotes, weather charts and text (for example Intranet headlines) from the Internet or corporate network. Additionally, by using the Netpresenter Newsfeed Server, newsfeed (XML/RSS) can be easily displayed as well using industry standard XSLT's.
Can I use Netpresenter to display information and videos on TV/LCD or Plasma screens?
Yes you can. Netpresenter is the only program that allows digital signage playback on TV/Plasma/LCD screens, with the TV Player, as well as on Desktops PCs using Screensaver and (Pop-up) Player.
Do I need to be trained in order to use Netpresenter?
You DO NOT require any training for using the Netpresenter Screensaver or Desktop (Pop-up) Player.
If you enter information into Netpresenter using the Netpresenter Message Server and Alert Server, you probably won't need any training (check the online demo of the Message Server on this site).
With the Newsfeed Server, you don't have to do anything, it automatically copies your Intranet headlines and displays them in Netpresenter.
For creating Netpresenter presentations with the Editor, a short training is advised.
Can I update my Intranet and Netpresenter in one go?
Yes you can. Either by using the Netpresenter Message Server which generates both Netpresenter presentations as well as Intranet pages and a Newsfeed (check online on this site).
Or by coupling your existing Intranet content management system to Netpresenter so you enter news for Netpresenter and Intranet in your central database. You can use the Netpresenter Newsfeed Server to import and display your newsfeeds and headlines.
What's the competition?
None on the internal corporate communications market. It is not easy to build robust thin client ''polite push'' low-bandwidth scalable applications for continuous usage on every imaginable corporate network and with near-zero network administration costs. Corporate customers frequently have more than 20,000 Netpresenter Players continuously running at the same time without any noticeable effects on their global network.
Netpresenter not only runs on Desktops as Screensaver and Desktop (Pop-up) Player but also features a TV/Plasma/Kiosk Player for digital signage and an emergency alert function.
Can I display full motion video and multimedia in Netpresenter?
Yes, Netpresenter Players support the Microsoft MCI interface and can playback multimedia files such as Mpeg I/II *(DVD quality), Avi, Quicktime and Wav either in a window or full screen.
*Mpeg II (DVD) Playback requires the PC to have an Mpeg II Player such as WinDVD installed.
How does Netpresenter differ from so-called push or narrowcasting programs?
So called push programs are nothing more than simple viewers with a selection of (fixed) content and (unwanted) advertising. Typically they need a lot of network and computer resources making them expensive to implement and they only display information on expensive large screens. Netpresenter offers an integrated communication solution that allows the user to not only create, but also distribute and automatically display their OWN information without unwanted advertising while only using marginally amounts of network and computer resources.
Why can't I use Microsoft PowerPoint for distributing my corporate news?
Microsoft PowerPoint is a frequently used presentation program. It's designed for on-stage presentations and for presentations in a meeting environment. It was never designed to distribute its presentations automatically over networks to potentially thousands of PCs. It does not have an appropriate Player that would prevent network bandwidth clogging of its usually large files. It does not have playback tools that automatically detect the latest presentation on a server and only download the updated information.
Nor does it feature network administrations tools to do so. There is no PowerPoint server that would take care of selective distribution. However, PowerPoint slides, when exported as BMP, JPG, GIF or PCX can be directly inserted in a Netpresenter channel. |
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