iPort has announced the availability of its Surface Mount with Buttons: an iPad mount and IP keypad combined in one device. Surface Mount with Buttons is the latest in the iPort Surface Mount offering, a series of premium iPad mounts that enable the installer to integrate iPad anywhere, on any surface.
“We believe the best user interface for the home is the combination of an always-accessible iPad and the immediate access offered by hard buttons,” said Ari Supran, CEO of Dana Innovations, the parent company of Sonance, iPort, and TRUFIG. Surface Mount delivers on this philosophy by enabling both iPad and hard buttons to be installed anywhere in the home, hard-wired to network switches to communicate directly with control systems.
The Surface Mount system was unveiled at CEDIA 2015, demonstrating its system that powers an iPad via PoE and encases it in a precision-finished aluminum bezel that doubles as a mounting system. The result is an install that takes a few minutes to integrate iPad onto any surface. Now with Surface Mount with Buttons, every iPad mounted on a wall can have hard buttons alongside iOS apps, providing the best possible user interface.
The buttons are designed to look beautiful and feel elegant to the touch. Each button is LED backlit, revealing subtle and minimalist engraved icons that represent key functions in the control system. Thirty-plus icon-engraved buttons ship with each bezel. For those instances that require customization, iPort has launched a custom engraving program, through which dealers can order buttons custom engraved with words and phrases to identify each button function. Bezels are offered with either six or 10 buttons. In both instances, one button space may be used as a raise/lower multifunction button, or as a single button.
Each button can send a press or press-and-hold function and communicates using JSON standards. Buttons communicate directly over ethernet on the local network via IP to the control system processor. Drivers and profiles for Savant, Crestron, and Control4 will be available when the product ships with many additional drivers to follow shortly after launch.
The Surface Mount with Buttons System is available now for iPad mini 4, with an MSRP of $599 per system, which includes the bezel with six buttons, electronics, and PoE Splitter. Ten Button systems are $649. Systems for iPad Air are available for $649 and $699 respectively. Surface Mount with Buttons is also on sale. Contact a Dana Innovations representative or distributor to place an order. Units begin shipping August.
Later this Summer, Surface Mount with Buttons will be available iPad Pro 12.9-inch models, shipping in the early fall.
