Back in April 2014, we launched the Compute Module to provide hardware developers with a way to incorporate Raspberry Pi technology into their own products. Since then we’ve seen it used to build home media players, industrial control systems, and everything in between.
Earlier this week, NEC announced that they would be adding Compute Module support to their next-generation large-format displays, starting with 40″, 48″ and 55″ models in January 2017 and eventually scaling all the way up to a monstrous 98″ (!!) by the end of the year. These are commercial-grade displays designed for use in brightly-lit public spaces such as schools, offices, shops and railway stations.
Believe it or not, these are the small ones.
NEC have already lined up a range of software partners in retail, airport information systems, education and corporate to provide presentation and signage software which runs on the Compute Module platform. You’ll be seeing these roll out in a lot of locations that you visit frequently.
Each display has an internal bay which accepts an adapter board loaded with either the existing Compute Module, or the upcoming Compute Module 3, which incorporates the BCM2837 application processor and 1GB of LPDDR2 memory found on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. We’re expecting to do a wider release of Compute Module 3 to everybody around the end of the year.
The Compute Module in situ
We’ve been working on this project with NEC for over a year now, and are very excited that it’s finally seeing the light of day. It’s an incredible vote of confidence in the Raspberry Pi Compute Module platform from a blue-chip hardware vendor, and will hopefully be the first of many.
Now, here’s some guy to tell you more about what’s going on behind the screens you walk past every day on your commute.
‘The Power to Surprise’ live stream at Display Trends Forum 2016 – NEC Teams Up With Raspberry Pi
NEC Display Solutions today announced that it will be sharing an open platform modular approach with Raspberry Pi, enabling a seamless integration of Raspberry Pi’s devices with NEC’s displays. NEC’s leading position in offering the widest product range of display solutions matches perfectly with the Raspberry Pi, the organisation responsible for developing the award-winning range of low-cost, high-performance computers.