Arista announced a new series of 24-inch industrial LCD marquee display systems. The AMS Series offers a 500MHz Via Eden processor, 2GB of RAM, plus storage and connectivity features, and comes as an AMS-2401 single-display wall-mount system, an AMS-2412 wall-mount system with dual side-by-side displays, or an AMS-2422 ceiling-mount model with dual back-to-back displays.

In the industrial environments targeted by Arista, the company touts several advantages of embedded computer display systems like the AMS Series over traditional LED banners. These include the capability to display not just day-to-day textual communications, but also urgent emergency notices, noteworthy Internet news items, or graphics, the company says. 

The two AMS Series systems with dual monitors can clone the same data to both monitors, extend the information across two side-by-side monitors, or display different information to each monitor, says Arista. The AMS series is said to be controllable over a LAN or via the Internet.

The AMS Series are available in the following configurations, says Arista:

• AMS-2401 — single-display wall-mount (pictured above right)
• AMS-2412 — dual side-by-side display wall-mount
• AMS-2422 — dual back-to-back displays ceiling-mount

The AMS Series systems are available in standalone systems running Linux, Windows XP Pro, Windows XPe, and Windows CE, says Arista. In addition, they can be purchased in an optional "ThinManager Enabled" version, setting up the system to act as a thin client, says the company. This is said to allow for easier replacement, while offering server failover advantages for critical industrial applications.

The AMS Series runs on the venerable, low-power Via Technologies Eden processor clocked at the usual 500MHz, says Arista. The embedded computer is equipped with up to 2GB of DDR memory, says the company.

The AMS-2412 model offers dual wall-mounted, side-by-side displays that can be driven independently or in unison.

Storage features, including a CompactFlash slot and a 2.5-inch hard disk drive (HDD) bay, are said to be optional. Additional storage and peripheral options are made available via four USB 2.0 ports, says Arista. A gigabit Ethernet port is also said to be standard issue.

Depending on the model, each AMS Series display system is available with one or two 24-inch, 1920 x 1080 displays. The displays are said to offer 16:9 aspect ratio, 500:1 contrast ratio, and brightness rated at 400 Nits. Each system is further equipped with VGA and DVI ports, and a five-inch, 5-wire resistive touchscreen is said to be optional.

The AMS-2422 offers dual ceiling-mounted displays facing in opposite directions.

The AMS Series systems are claimed to "meet the needs of most manufacturing plants" and are designed to withstand operating temperatures of 32 to 122 deg. F (0 to 50 deg. C), claims Arista. They can operate in up to 95 percent non-condensing relative humidity, adds the company.

Stated John DelSignore, sales and marketing contact, Arista Corp., "Our customers have provided us with valuable feedback resulting in the design and production of many of our products including the AMS Series, stating they needed a more sophisticated and higher resolution message board marquee solution specifically for the plant floor."

Availability

No information was provided on the pricing or availability of the new AMS Series industrial marquee displays, which are available for Linux, Windows XP Pro, Windows XPe, and Windows CE operating systems.

More on the AMS Series may eventually be found at Arista's Industrial LCD monitors page, here.

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