Entranet plugs different formats into one network

Entranet has unveiled a design for what it claims is the first fully convergent media platform, and demonstrated the challenge of designing for a string of electronic devices.

Designers and technologists have been anticipating the challenge of designing for multiple rather than single digital devices.

The convergence of mobile phones, TVs, PCs, Palmtop Computers, and even the Sega Dreamcast games console has now made this situation a reality.

In partnership with Sun Microsystems, Entranet has developed a working voting system which has already received interest from the Scottish Executive and London’s Camden Council. The system can be accessed by voters securely, from a raft of devices which have identical screen designs and operate over a single network.

“This is the first time that an on-line application of any kind has been able to operate across these different devices. Entranet has devised a technical solution that allows it to run the application through a central, singular architecture,” says Entranet managing director Nick Spooner.

The challenge, according to Spooner, is to design identical operating screens for each device, taking into consideration that they are viewed in different circumstances, and have different screen resolutions.

The information displayed and the user processes have to be the same for each device, he says. Although it uses a single system, the front end displays are designed individually.

The Goring-based consultancy, which is planning to open offices in London’s Soho shortly, intends to apply the concept commercially for many of its clients.