Overview
AMX designs and manufactures hardware and software capable of remote control of a wide variety of equipment.
Typical uses include room automation in boardrooms, auditoriums, museums or home theaters, where users use fixed and wireless touchscreens and remotes to control devices such as video projectors and displays, PCs, DVD and VCR players and recorders, cameras, teleconferencing systems, audio/video switchers and processing equipment, motorized projection screens, drapes, lighting, HVAC systems, and a wide variety of other types of equipment. Other common uses include entertainment systems, industrial command and control centers, security systems, hotels and restaurants. There are many other applications.
AMX systems are configured from modular hardware, allowing systems to be customized to meet current needs, while providing a foundation for unlimited scalability to adapt to future requirements.
Custom programming allows many functions to be reconfigured with a single button push, providing greatly improved ease of use with complex systems. For example, pressing a button labeled Video could cause the room lights to dim, the drapes to close, the projection screen to roll down, the projector and other components to turn on, switch to their appropriate inputs, and a DVD to start playing at a preset volume level. Remotes and touchscreens can be laid out with only the functions the typical user needs, while technical menus are password protected to prevent unauthorized tampering.
The older AMX Axcess systems consist of local devices running directly on a proprietary Axlink Bus. The newer more powerful NetLinx systems are able to be controlled remotely over IP from anywhere in the world whilst still maintaining backwards compatibility by retaining the Axlink bus as well as incorporating a new proprietary bus 'ICSNet'.
Numerous software programs are available for programming and configuring the hardware, laying out touchscreens and remotes. AMX also offers a variety of 'Integration Solutions', which provide advanced feature packages and services that can be added to touchscreens. There are also specialized software packages for specific applications such as conference, meeting and classrooms, which combines room scheduling, the ability to reserve equipment, and remote monitoring of equipment status, such as automated email and pager announcements if a projector lamp fails.
AMX distributes software for complete customization of display and function of their systems. Their flagship software suite, NetLinx Studio, integrates the NetLinx and Axcess compilers into a full-featured source code editor with organization, debugging, and research tools. Other applications, such as Touch Panel Design 4, allow design of extremely complex and intricate touch panel interfaces. Finally, several utilitarian applications, such as DIP Switch and NetLinx Diagnostics, simplify and expedite tedious or difficult tasks.
AMX home automation controls are now also available through separate applications ("apps") for smartphones and tablet PCs through its authorised product partners such as Touch Panel Control. The application is now also being made available for the Android platform and was demonstrated at the CEDIA expo last year.
Programming an AMX control system, which is commonly a solo project undertaken by in-house or freelance programmers, involves a rare combination of skills in computer science, programming, user interface design, control systems programming, event-driven programming, audio visual systems technology, customer management, scope management and project management.
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