06.18.2009 — Belkin does about $2 million worth of commercial business per year, says product manager Louis Ariz. But it took its time before launching solutions for the fast-growing digital signage product category.

In fact, Belkin worked on its AV360 modular AV system and CAT5e Extenders connectivity solutions for more than two years, finally launching it this week at InfoComm 09 in Orlando, Fla.

“The reason we’ve taken so long to launch the products is because of the research," says product development manager Sydney Wen. "We’ve gone to the distributors and even the bars asking installers what is most important to them.

Belkin discovered that in digital signage installations, which often occur in complicated environments like schools, conference rooms, restaurants and hotels, ease of installation and ability to reliably send high-resolution content over long distances are most important to installers.

The Belkin system is designed to support video displays up to 1080p at 100 meters and up to UXGA resolution at 300 meters. Installation-wise, the Belkin solutions offer a modular system of cables and wall plates. AV360 provides a color-coded, plug-and-play connection for digital-signage and audiovisual solutions.

“The reason for the color coding, is we understand that when installers are installing lots of systems they’re worrying about a lot of things at the same time," Wen says. "They’re under a lot of pressure. With the color-coding it’s very clear and gives them the piece of mind that when they’re connecting a system they’re doing the right thing.”

Its pull cap is designed to rotate 360 degrees to enable easy routing from any angle while also withstanding up to 90 pounds of pulling force. This is a patent-pending technology by Belkin. Basically, “when the installer is pulling cable through conduit, it doesn’t get stuck going through the bends,” Wen explains.

The CAT5e Extenders are designed to provide long-distance, point-to-point audiovisual connections between content-management systems and public displays. The CAT5e solution runs HDCP-compliant HDMI technology over a single Cat 5e cable.

Belkin’s digital signage solutions are available now in the U.S. and Canada.

AV360 Modular AV System

• AV360 Component Video Wall-Plate Set (up to 100 ft) (AV360-CSP11-WP) - $59.99 MSRP
• AV360 Analog Video Extension Cable, 100 ft. (AV360-CSC11-100) - $478.99 MSRP
• AV360 VGA + Audio Wall-Plate Set (AV360-VSA11-WP) - $139.99 MSRP
• AV360 VGA Extension Cable, 100 ft. (AV360-VSC11-100) - $99.99 MSRP
• AV360 HDMI Wall Plate (AV360-HSH11-WP) - $389.99 MSRP
• AV360 HDMI Extension Cable, 100 ft. (AV360-HSH11-100) - $499.99 MSRP

CAT5e Extenders

• 1:1 VGA+RS232 Over CAT5e Extender (WV-VGA121-30M) - $385.99 MSRP
• 1:4 VGA Over CAT5e Extender (WV-VGA124-30M) - $1,209.99 MSRP
• 1:1 HDMI Over CAT5e Extender (WV-HD121-100M) - $ 609.99 MSRP
• 1:4 VGA Splitter (WV-VGA124-SPL) - $219.99 MSRP
• 1:4 HDMI Splitter (WV-HD124-SPL) - $389.99 MSRP

View Belkin's AV360 Modular AV System and CAT5e Extenders