Amber Technology is the only non-American distributor of touch panel displays from Perceptive Pixel by Microsoft. But what is it?

Founded in 2006 by Jeff Han, Perceptive Pixel shipped its first multi-touch workstation and large wall solutions in early 2007.

In 2008, the company’s technology gained widespread recognition for transforming the way CNN and other broadcasters covered the US presidential election, and in 2009 the Smithsonian awarded the company the National Design Award in the inaugural category of Interaction Design.

Amber Technology was appointed to sell the touch screen technology in Australia and New Zealand.

Now, Perceptive Pixel’s technology, which was acquired by Microsoft in July 2012, is used across a wide variety of industries such as government, defence, broadcast, energy exploration, engineering and higher education.

“When Perceptive Pixel decided to commercialise their product and take them out of the US, we were one of the first people to be in touch with them about representation,” Amber Technology general manager of broadcast and professional Ross Caston says.

Amber remains as the only distributor of Perceptive Pixel screens outside of the United States.

“We have been quite successful in selling their systems. SBS was the first broadcaster locally to take on a Perceptive Pixel system, which they use on air, and they were followed by Nine Network, Fox Sports and Channel Seven.

“In the government space we have supplied a lot of systems to the Australian Defence Force, where they are used for situational awareness and briefings.”

Now, Ross says, the incorporation of Microsoft’s technology is making Perceptive Pixel a lot more accessible to corporate customers.

“The screen is the only projected capacitance (ProCap) touch screen available at 55-inches and 82-inches.

“ProCap technology means thin copper wires run behind Gorilla Glass and uses radio transmission to send a signal from one layer of wires to another layer of wires. This signal is interrupted, or changed, when the electrical field of a finger comes near it. This is how iPads and iPods work, just on a smaller scale.

“The problem, though, with using ProCap technology on a larger scale is that those copper wires act as an antenna and pick up all the noise in our modern environment – WiFi, etc. So Perceptive Pixel developed patented scanning technology that’s embedded into the hardware that goes into the back of the screen and allows the development of projected capacitance at larger sizes, and they’re the only company to offer that.”

Ross explains that Perceptive Pixel screens are infinite multi-touch. They support any number of touch points.

“You may only have 10 fingers, but if you then put a palm or an elbow on the screen the number of touch points increases astronomically.

 “What you can do with a screen that supports any number of touch points, as well as up to 8 styluses per screen, is that you can build a system that delivers a satisfying single- and multi-user experience.”