COSTA MESA, Calif. — BenQ, an internationally renowned provider of visual display and collaboration solutions, is ensuring teachers and educators can quickly and easily respond to new demands in the classroom with the launch of the InstaShow WDC20E. The first wireless presentation system (WPS) built for the education market, the WDC20E delivers the same intuitive screen-sharing functionality to meet user and IT standards as leading corporations but fit for a school budget.
“There’s no time to waste in the classroom, and teachers must be ready with easy-to-use, network-free tools that engage and immerse students smoothly and immediately,” said Bob Wudeck, senior director of business development at BenQ America Corp. “Our new InstaShow WDC20E was built in direct response to the rising need for educators and students to share their screens right from their seats and to do so easily, affordably, and securely. Learning is just a tap away.”
Tap & Teach
BenQ’s InstaShow is the WPS of choice for a growing number of K-12 schools and higher education institutions. The WDC20E allows educators to simply tap to teach — sharing content from any digital classroom device to the classroom’s existing interactive display or projector at a touch of a button. The enterprise-grade solution for schools operates independently of the network and doesn’t require any software or apps to use, which means teachers don’t have to remember passwords or take valuable classroom time to log in or run software updates.
The WDC20E also makes the most of interactive display real estate while maximizing engagement in the classroom. The system’s split-screen mode allows up to four users or sources to be shared to the screen simultaneously. The teacher and students can smoothly share ideas or stream 4K video and 16-bit stereo audio wirelessly to an HDMI-equipped display device without limitations. It supports small and large classrooms, with up to 32 participants or input sources at a time — the highest of any network-free WPS.
It connects to the wide variety of devices and sources found in today’s edtech-friendly classrooms, including Google Chromebook, the latest generation of notebooks, phones, tablets, document cameras, and microscopes — any device with an HDMI out port. For mobile devices, teachers and students can either connect via the WDC20E button or wirelessly connect using Apple Airplay, Miracast, or the BenQ InstaShare™ app, available for Android and iOS.
Classrooms equipped with interactive displays will benefit from the Touch Back feature, which allows users to control and annotate their presentations originating from Windows computers directly from an interactive display. In addition, the split-screen mode can be used to control up to four laptops. Annotations made on the touch screen can be displayed and saved on the laptop for a seamless content pipeline that students can refer back to later.
Alleviates Over-Burdened Networks Due to COVID-19
The demands on IT and the network are increasing every day as network-bound technology proliferates in the classroom. As a partner in education, BenQ’s mission is to alleviate IT and network challenges that can be a large source of bottlenecks and frustrations inside the classroom. InstaShow — developed based on feedback from teachers and IT staff — keeps the focus on learning. The entire InstaShow family, including the WDC20E, was developed to operate independently of the school’s network. As a result, it eliminates network configuration and saves school’s bandwidth that is already heavily burdened by the multitude of devices now present in the classroom due to COVID-19. In addition, the WPS doesn’t have software that must be installed, saving time by eliminating the step of configuring hundreds of devices.
It’s also the first all-hardware, plug-and-play WPS designed to ensure data and content privacy using advanced 128-bit algorithms. Because the WDC20E is equipped with Wi-Fi 802.11 ac/n for transfer speeds of up to 700Mbps, IT departments can rest assured content will always be easily and smoothly shared without training or help desk calls. The WDC20E is even interoperable with old-model whiteboards and lamp-based projectors, allowing schools to prolong the life of these displays and lowering total cost of ownership even further. In addition, every InstaShow button deployed in the school can be remotely managed and monitored via the LAN.
Robust Enough for Corporate, Priced for Education
The WDC20E is priced for classrooms. Shipping for $699, it’s packed with all the teacher, IT, and security benefits needed in top corporate and government applications but without the cost to the network or yearly licensing fees of other systems on the market. The WDC20E comes complete with a 4K receiver and one HDMI transmitter button.
Schools interested in testing the InstaShow WDC20E screen-mirroring system can take advantage of the BenQ Try and Buy program by signing up. After 30 days, those that decide to purchase their InstaShow WDC20E will receive $200 off.
More information on the full line of BenQ products is available at https://www.benq.com/en-us/
