Wartburg Castle transports visitors through history

services that can be created or extended in this way.

Motivational films, BMW Group advertisements and announcements, and messages from board members, HR and numerous different teams are included in the content mix, ensuring communications are visual, engaging and easily available to all. Digital displays are used for disseminating practical information about things like Covid security measures and staff cafeteria menus. For example, there are many currently showing restaurant menus with plans to increase this number by the end of the year. Information provided includes details of which items are sold out. Employees of the BMW Group can book conference rooms all over the world using one of many available interactive Bluefin screens set up in meeting rooms with built-in BrightSign HS123 / HS124 SoC (system on a chip) players. The RoomNext system lets employees find out if a room is free and then reserve it either on the player itself, or by phone using a QR code on the door panel or on RoomNext itself. Other appli- lection of BrightSign technology. The players are very well protected against potential threats, and the network itself prevents issues. The BMW Group uses different types of security mechanisms such as 802.1X authentication to protect its enterprise network, and the players can manage these easily.

Administration of the global system is also very straightforward, even though the location of the players and those responsible for their content are often many miles apart from each other. It is possible to manage all the players and change or upload content from a single laptop, anywhere in the world, and it’s also much lower maintenance and much more stable than using PCs. Many people across the organization are currently registered to 450 BrightSign accounts to program and manage content on local devices. Setting up new devices is also quick and easy. Employees are advised what type of media player to buy for their intended purpose and the players are delivered with special configuration files on an SD-card so that plug-

Located on a hillside overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany, Wartburg Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site steeped in history and religion, and rich in quintessential medieval architecture. Originally built in the Middle Ages c.1067, the castle’s name is a German play on words for mountain (Berg) and fortress (Burg), coupled with a further play on "warte" wait and "Warte" watchtower. The castle was the setting of the fabled Battle of non-profit foundation under public law supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Free State of Thuringia and the City of Weimar. The foundation owns over 27 museums, castles, historical houses and parks as well as art and literature collections. Since it was founded in 1922, the foundation has had the task of preserving the Wartburg and its art treasures in a dignified form as a cultural site of internationally standing and torical and cultural experience portal for the public. Dr Franziska Nentwig, Managing Director Klassik Stiftung Weimar, in charge of the Wartburg site, said, “Built in 1930, the Chauffeur House had been standing vacant for a few years. We wanted to inject a new lease of life, making the inside and outside area more attractive, including the routing to and from the castle. We planned for a complete redesign and renovation of the house with a visitor experi- cations that are also being considered include an emergency notification system, whereby the BMW Group’s fire department can press a ‘rescue button’ if an intruder or fire alarm has sounded in a particular building.

BrightSign XT1144 players are used for some types of HTML content and RSS feeds, while HO523 OPS-compatible players are used in some cases with LCD displays that allow open pluggable specification as an option. Content is created using BrightAuthor, and BrightWall is used to manage media for video walls. The whole network runs on BrightSign Network Enterprise Edition (BSNEE) hosted in BMW Group’s data center. For the BMW Group, security of the digital signage network was the single biggest factor in the se- and-play is ensured. BrightAuthor is very intuitive and people that are new to it can create simple presentations almost immediately. As well as being very low maintenance, the BrightSign players are also exceptionally stable. The BMW Group are still on the first generation of players that have been running for eight or nine years now without a break. The players are very reliable, and it makes running a network of this scale much easier. the Bards, a tale immortalised in Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser. It was also the home of Saint Elisabeth, still revered to this day, and it provided a refuge for the exiled Martin Luther, who a monument of German history and making them accessible to the general public.

The foundation contracted system integrator inSynergie GmbH at the end of 2020. The objec- ence portal at its core. For this multi-media exhibition element, we commissioned inSynergie to manage the project, including sourcing of products and installation.” translated the New Testament into German here.

The Museum is operated by Klassik Stiftung Weimar, a tive was to transform the Chauffeur House, based at the foot of the Wartburg, at the start of the castle grounds loop, into a his-

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