The other option is our Power over Ethernet solution, the Airtame PoE Adapter. Wireless screen sharing requires power and a constant, stable network connection. That’s why we’re big fans of Power over Ethernet (PoE). If you’ve got an Airtame in a hard-to-reach place and a lot of traffic on your network, you probably are too.

The Airtame PoE Adapter will soon be available for sale. While you’re waiting for the release, we suggest you sign up to our newsletter to receive the latest news on when the Airtame PoE Adapter is ready, plus receive many other cool product updates and inspiring articles.

How does the PoE Adapter work?

In order for a device like Airtame to work, it needs 1. a network connection in order to be able to communicate with the display and your computer, tablet or smartphone and 2. a power connection that delivers the electrical power your Airtame needs to operate.

But what if your power outlet is far away or if you have heavy traffic on your network? Enter the Airtame PoE to USB Adapter! It’s a product that provides the necessary power as well as an Ethernet connection over USB to the Airtame. When a user’s network is set up accordingly to provide Power over Ethernet, the Airtame only needs a network connection as it will receive power from the same cable.

There is nothing the user has to do to actually ‘enable’ PoE for the Airtame – just make sure that the network is all geared for PoE.

When you combine the Airtame PoE Adapter with the Aircord, it is a three-in-one solution that provides the Airtame with power, an Ethernet connection, and connects it to the HDMI port on your display. This gives you a nice, clean setup.

To use the PoE Adapter with the Aircord, our custom power cable supplied with every Airtame 2, simply plug the Aircord’s power cable into the PoE Adapter. On the other end of the PoE Adapter is where you plug in your Ethernet cable.

Note that you’ll need a PoE-enabled network switch (or an injector, whatever works in the setup) already set up on your network. A PoE-enabled switch is a network switch that has Power over Ethernet injection built-in.

Just connect to the switch like you normally would, and the switch will detect whether there is a PoE device (in this case the Airtame PoE Adapter) on the network and negotiate power with it automatically. Take a look at our Help Center for more information on network requirements for Airtame and the PoE Adapter.

Want to learn more? Check out our nerd-friendly deep dive on all things PoE.

Benefits of using PoE

Power over Ethernet is known for making IT admins’ lives a lot easier. These are the reasons IT admins often prefer this setup:

Higher Airtame 2 performance reliability

A wired Ethernet connection is much more stable than a regular WiFi connection. But it’s not just more reliable, it’s faster too. According to our hardware team, you can actually increase the connection speed up to  5 times.

Cleaner setup with fewer cables

Using the Airtame PoE Adapter allows for a single cable (the Aircord) to provide the Airtame with HDMI, as well as power and ethernet. Because the PoE Adapter pulls power from the switch, it removes the need for an AC power adapter and plug.

Lowers operation costs

PoE allows for power to be delivered to more areas in a building without the need to install additional electrical infrastructure or have power outlets at every endpoint. So there’s no need to get an external contractor to install extra power outlets.

With the Airtame PoE Adapter, you can also utilize pre-existing cabling infrastructure and take away the need for added power receptacles in the hard-to-reach places.

Easy to install

No need for expensive, external contractors to come by and help you set things up. Just plug the USB Type-A from the end of the Aircord into the Airtame PoE Adapter, and the other end into a PoE-enabled network cable.

Are you ready for PoE? Reach out to our sales team today to get a free product demonstration or sign up for our newsletter for the latest product updates and interesting articles.

The post Introducing the Airtame PoE Adapter and Extension Cord appeared first on Airtame.

This 1.7 update continues on that track to keep improving the foundation before we move on to begin adding new features.

Highlights

The 1.7 widget update includes some different bug fixes and improvements that will greatly improve the ease of use. The more noteworthy improvements we’re proud to share are:

• Improved Discovery feature
• Added a “Device Busy” message
• Fixed a “Cannot Connect” bug
• Improved search field
• Fixed Windows bug causing crashing
• Fixed bugs on Linux

The 1.7 release for the desktop application improves our discovery functionality, which has been an ongoing process for a while. We’re excited about this release, because we know it will make a lot of our users happy.

Attila Sukosd, Airtame CTO

Improved Discovery feature

Discovery is when the Airtame software finds (or “discovers”) the available Airtame devices connected to your WiFi network. We made a lot of improvements to this and fixed several bugs related to this process.

Connect to IP to Discovery

If the widget discovers a device after you have connected to it with its IP address, it will automatically merge the new device with the IP. This will make your user experience much more consistent and organized.

Changing a network

Changing a network is now detected by the Airtame software. This is a bug fix that will now allow your list of available devices to refresh.

Windows bug fixed

There was a bigger Windows bug that was not discovering devices. This is now fixed and your Airtame devices should show up nicely in your app.

Note: If you’re interested in reading a bit more about the technology behind Discovery and how to enable/disable it, check out our help page on Discovering Airtame in Your Organization.

General Fixes

Device busy message

If you try to connect to an Airtame device that is already in use, you will now receive a “Device busy” message.

Previously, you would receive no indication if you tried connecting to a device that was being used by another person. This added feature will make Airtame even easier to use in a multiple user workplace.

Fixed a cannot connect bug

There was a bug that was not allowing some people to connect to Airtame devices. There should no longer be any problems connecting to a device that appears on the widget’s list of available devices.

Try again button fixed

When you use the search field in the widget to try and connect with an Airtame’s IP address and it fails to find a device, there is a “Try Again” button that shows to the right side of the search field. In some cases, this button didn’t work, but now there should be no problems.

Fixed Windows bug causing crashing

There was a bug on Windows that was causing the widget to crash at startup. The widget would crash if the app icon was clicked repeatedly 3 or more times. This is now resolved.

Fixed bugs on Linux

Several fixes and changes were made for Linux users. For example, the application was renamed from electron to airtame-application. In addition, a bug that was crashing the widget because of Discovery was fixed.

Go update your app

Now that you’re caught up on the changes included in this new desktop update, go update your software!

When a software update is available, the widget shows a green alert banner that asks you to restart the application.

Update the Airtame computer software.

Not sure what version you’re running? Check here.

IMPORTANT: If you experience any problems related to this update, please go to our website and download the latest version of our software and install it. This will replace your old version and fix any issues caused from the update.

If you are still experiencing problems, please fill out a form on support.

The post Desktop Update 1.7: Improved discovery, notifications, and more appeared first on Airtame.