Tyco Electronics Announces New Elo TouchSystems Touch Technologies at SID
Multiple Touch Possibilities with an Expanded Elo Touch Technology Portfolio
HARRISBURG, Pa - June 2, 2009 - Tyco Electronics' Elo TouchSystems, the global leader in touch technology, makes multiple things possible with an expanded touch portfolio. Broadened touch capabilities bring a new realm of performance and functionality to the user experience. The newest Elo technologies deliver benefits that have been only partially achieved before by other touch technologies. Bringing multi-touch capabilities to the widely accepted mainstream IntelliTouch surface acoustic wave (SAW) and CarrollTouch infrared (IR) touch technologies is an example of the innovation and performance customers depend on from Elo TouchSystems products. In addition, a new generation of Elo Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR) touch technology allows the touch performance to be easily defined for a first-class user experience.
The new touch capabilities will be exhibited at the Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, June 2- 4, 2009. Demonstrations of CarrollTouch IR and IntelliTouch multi-touch will be conducted on the popular Elo 1939L 19-inch and 2239L 22-inch open-frame touchmonitors in the Tyco Electronics' Elo TouchSystems Booth #659. The technologies will be available for purchase on Elo 19-inch (IR) and 22-inch (IR and IntelliTouch) open-frame touchmonitors or as components later this year. The latest APR functionality is already available as a downloadable driver.
Continuous Innovation
"Elo invented touch technology over 35 years ago," says vice president, Tyco Electronics and general manager, Elo TouchSystems Mark Mendenhall, "and we've never stopped innovating. These new touch technologies join the extensive portfolio of Elo products developed to meet the changing needs and demands of our customers."
"These new technologies are additional examples of our company's drive to delight our customers with novel solutions. We've always put the needs of the customer first," Mendenhall states, "and our success in responding to those needs creates new innovative technologies. We developed IntelliTouch surface acoustic wave touch technology over twenty years ago because of customer demand for a more rugged touch technology and we've added multi-touch IntelliTouch SAW and multi-touch IR to our portfolio for the very same reason. Customers are looking for economical solutions that incorporate a balance of characteristics while delivering state-of-the-art multi-touch capabilities."
IntelliTouch and Infrared Multi-touch
According to Elo product manager Abraham Shen, the multi-touch IntelliTouch technology utilizes the durable Elo surface acoustic wave technology for a precise two-finger touch solution. "Simply stated," says Shen, "the pure-glass construction of the new Elo multi-touch IntelliTouch technology delivers an excellent image and high light transmission just like the single-touch IntelliTouch touch technology customers have trusted for years. With stable, drift-free operation, these new IntelliTouch touchscreens will accurately recognize two-finger simultaneous touches. Shen confirms, "Elo multi-touch IntelliTouch delivers reliable performance and is the cost-effective multi-touch technology for the market. And, it comes from the leader in touch technologies for nearly 40 years, Elo TouchSystems."
But IntelliTouch technology isn't the only Elo multi-touch technology. Over the last year, Elo TouchSystems has demonstrated how the CarrollTouch IR touch technology allows users to interact with a computer's software. At the Wall Street Journal's 2008 "D6: All Things Digital" conference Elo's IR 19-inch multi-touch monitor was featured in a brief demonstration by Julie Larson-Green, corporate vice president, Windows Experience Program Management at Microsoft, of the soon-to-be-released Windows 7 Operating System. According to Steve Haungs, Elo product manager, "The IR multi-touch product has been modeled after the Elo CarrollTouch IR component line with the tested reliability of millions of screens in active use. It provides a true two-coordinate report set with more to come in the future."
Both of these new technologies will be available for purchase on the 19-inch and 22-inch open-frame touchmonitors or as components later this year and will be compatible with Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system.
APR: Now Even Better
"APR combines optical quality, durability and stability of surface acoustic wave and infrared, with the excellent dragging properties of surface capacitive technology," explains Mendenhall. "Plus, it has the advantages of resistive technology - stylus, gloved hand and fingernail activation, and low cost. APR works with water and other contaminants on the screen, is not affected by surrounding metal or poor grounding and can be scaled from 3.5-inch screen size to 42-inch displays. And now, the user can define the specifics of the touch performance to meet the individual requirements of their application and environment."
According to Haungs, "APR, an already outstanding Elo technology, is now even better." A system with APR can now be fine-tuned using pre-defined usage modes: "Point of Sale (POS)" is optimized for fast data entry; "Signature Capture" facilitates an enhanced drag; two other modes called "General" and "Gaming" have parameter sets defined to maximize additional touch performance needs. "The new 3.1 driver series has pre-defined touch parameters that can be selected by the user or by the software application for optimal performance. "With this driver," Haungs continues, "we now support customers who utilize the POS mode for data entry, then a software application can switch to the signature capture mode to obtain the needed signature right on the APR screen. No other touch technology allows users to define the touch requirements to meet their unique needs and environments."
The new APR driver can be downloaded directly from the Elo TouchSystems website, www.elotouch.com.
ABOUT TYCO ELECTRONICS
Tyco Electronics Ltd. is a leading global provider of engineered electronic components, network solutions, undersea telecommunication systems, wireless systems and specialty products, with fiscal 2008 sales of $14.8 billion to customers in more than 150 countries. We design, manufacture and market products for customers in a broad array of industries including automotive; data communication systems and consumer electronics; telecommunications; aerospace, defense and marine; medical; alternative energy and lighting; and public safety communications. With approximately 7,000 engineers and worldwide manufacturing, sales and customer service capabilities, Tyco Electronics' commitment is our customers' advantage. More information on Tyco Electronics can be found at www.tycoelectronics.com/.
ABOUT ELO TOUCHSYSTEMS
Tyco Electronics' Elo TouchSystems is the global leading brand in touch technology. The Elo TouchSystems portfolio encompasses the largest selection of touchscreen technologies, touchmonitors, and all-in-one touchcomputers for the demanding requirements of diverse applications, such as industrial, medical, POS, kiosks, retail, hospitality, transportation, office automation and gaming. Elo founders invented the touchscreen over 35 years ago. Since then, Elo touchscreens have delivered one common, powerful result - advanced computer technology simplified for all users. For more information on Elo products and services, please contact 800-ELO-TOUCH (800-356-8682), or view Elo products website at www.elotouch.com or direct electronic mail inquiries to customerservice@elotouch.com.
CarrollTouch, Elo TouchSystems, IntelliTouch, TE logo, and Tyco Electronics are trademarks. All other products and company names referred to herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders.
