Case Study

Wake Forest University’s Information Systems Multimedia Technician Preston Neill understands the short life span of cables and adapters. With Ditto wireless presentation software installed throughout campus, those unreliable connectors are one step closer to extinction.

“Our goal is to ultimately stop supplying cables and adapters, because cables go missing and adapters break,” Neill says. “The cost to replace them, plus the manpower involved, is what we’re looking to avoid by having a wireless solution. We’re already getting fewer calls with Ditto.”

Streamlines sharing

Ditto instantly connects computers to classroom TVs and projectors without wires, software installation or end-user configuration. The only hardware necessary is the big screen and either Apple TV or Google Chromecast; Mac and PC users can then project a full screen or app by entering a room code. Ditto works with any network and does not transmit screen content or personal data across the internet.

“Most importantly, it allows professors to be untethered,” Neill says. “They can move around and talk with smaller groups. And it gives students an opportunity to share their work without getting up, walking across the room and plugging in.”

Reliable, easy to use

Wake Forest, a private university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, considered several hardware and software options before putting Ditto in 20 classrooms in fall 2017, Neill says. “Ditto was the only one that made it to the pilot stage because it gave us the most reliable connection, and it was the easiest way for users to get in and get set up.”

After a year of positive feedback— and repeated requests for Ditto to be installed in more spaces—the wireless technology was added this past summer to 180 total spaces that could support it. As older projection equipment is upgraded, Apple TVs are being installed so Ditto can be added to even more classrooms and conference spaces, Neill says.

This ability to scale was one way Ditto distinguished itself from others, Neill says. “Licenses are on a per-room basis, not per-user. So we are not paying for rooms that don’t have it yet. In spaces with Ditto, anyone in the room can take advantage of it, whether they are students, staff, faculty or a visiting lecturer.”

The technology has been such a hit that the university’s law school is now piloting Ditto, and the business school will soon roll out Ditto.

“We’re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel,” Neill says. “We’re moving closer to a wireless future.”

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