Monica Heck

Freelance journalist & copywriter

Switzerland

Experienced journalist, specialises in technology and the arts.

Portfolio
Installation
02/02/2024
Mapping Gaudí's architectural masterpiece - Installation

AI technology, teamwork and art collided to give birth to the recent exclusive mapping of Casa Battló, entitled 'Structures of Being', by Argentinian artist Sofia Crespo. Speaking on the ISE Show Floor Stage, the Entangled Others studio team founded by Crespo and her technical sidekick Feileacan Kirkbride McCormick discussed the intricacies involved in creating and [...]

Installation
02/05/2024
Making smart buildings pay off - Installation

Does a building being smart increase its value? It depends on who is looking at it, according to Michael Grant, co-founder and COO at Metrikus, speaking as part of a panel session on the ROI of smart buildings at yesterday's Smart Building Conference. "There is an ROI for building developers who look at the full [...]

Installation
02/05/2024
Building the education world of tomorrow - Installation

Education facilities are evolving and must incorporate this into their designs, according to Juan Antonio Martínez Carrascal of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). "Higher education institutions have to consider the evolution from classical space by providing new features to encourage people to attend campuses, as it provides better outcomes," said Carrascal, speaking at the [...]

Installation
02/05/2024
The devil is in the interface - Installation

Some glaring weaknesses remain when it comes to managing the security of large commercial buildings, according to Michael Skurla, chief product officer and co-founder at Radix IoT, who was speaking on a cyber security panel at the Smart Workplace Summit, which continues in room CC56.1 from 15:30 today.

Installation
01/31/2024
Barcelona: The centre of the pro-AV world - Installation

Jaume Collboni, mayor of Barcelona, opened the inaugural European/Latin American AV Summit in style by pointing out that the city once described by writer Gabriel García Márquez as "bella, lunàtica e indescifrable" (beautiful, moody and inscrutable) is home to 70% of Spain's tech companies, including Cisco, Microsoft and Intel, and the summit is an important [...]

IBC2017 Daily Executive Summary
10/02/2017
Various interviews

The official newspaper of IBC2017: the IBC Daily

IBC Daily
04/25/2017
Ingrid Deltenre: From Brexit to DSM

A calming voice among the frenzied clamour surrounding Brexit, Ingrid Deltenre is measured when assessing the potential impact of a UK exit from the European Union (EU) on the broadcast industry just as the Digital Single Market (DSM) initiative promises to 'tear down regulatory walls and moving from 28 national markets to a single one'.

IBC
04/25/2017
Leaving Europe: a legal eye view of Brexit

A Partner at Dentons law firm, Ingrid Silver has had a front row seat for the rapid evolution of the entertainment industry and its practices. She advised on the first-ever webcast of Big Brother in the UK back in the year 2000, and had had a hand in the launch of mobile and online TV projects around the world.

ISE Daily 2017 Preview digital edition
12/01/2016
Signs of the times (p54)

Monica Heck asks two prominent digital signage consultants to pick out some of the trends for 2017 in the digital signage space

Svgeurope
08/26/2016
Live streaming app gives IRFU and FA coaches a real-time edge during games : SVG Europe

Live streaming app gives IRFU and FA coaches a real-time edge during games In the unforgiving world of coaching, the live streaming of video content to mobile devices is changing the face of video analysis by giving coaches and analysts in the fields of rugby and football a competitive edge, making them more mobile, nimble and responsive whether the teams are playing on home ground or abroad.

Channel Pro
05/12/2016
Lifting the veil on the new Avaya

Avaya chose Dublin as the location for the European premiere of its reincarnation as a digital, software-centric enterprise. The company's Nidal About Ltaif explained that in a world of economic and political uncertainty, Avaya's digital transformation was driven by macro economic disruption.

InfoComm International
03/21/2016
Digital Signage Embraces Fast Cellular Networks

As 3G and 4G LTE cellular technology - and now 5G trials - make headlines around the world in the field of mobile video delivery, the same technology has quietly emerged in the digital signage space.

IBC Content Everywhere
LTE Trials: Next Generation Mobile TV Success in Italy

Italy is poised to be an early adopter of LTE broadcast technology according to Alberto Fontana, sales and delivery manager at Ericsson. Commenting on the recent success of Italy's first LTE broadcast concert during Expo 2015 in Milan, Fontana noted that while the Italian market is behind on things like IPTV, it is much ahead in terms of the use of mobile and personal devices.

InfoComm International
04/30/2015
Making Digital Signage Stand Out

How can digital signage users ensure their solutions achieve their goals instead of just generating visual noise?

Installation International
02/10/2014
The ISE Daily 2015 Digital Editions

The official newspaper of the Integrated Systems Europe show. Contributing journalist, front page stories.

Retail Technology Magazine
12/31/2014
December 2014 issue

This page contains the Flash digital edition of the December 2014 edition of the magazine, which I wrote, edited and laid out.

Retail Technology Magazine
10/06/2014
Autumn 2014 issue

This page contains a Flash digital edition of the Autumn 2014 edition of the magazine, which I wrote, edited and laid out.

IBC Content Everywhere
01/14/2015
Q&A: John Hardie, Chief Executive Officer, ITN

The relationship between technology and quality journalism is at the forefront of the conversation that John Hardie, CEO of ITN and chair of the RTS board of trustees, intends to have at the IBC CE Opening Keynote panel session on 22 January.

InfoComm
01/12/2015
Global AV: Spotlight Europe

With Integrated Systems Europe 2015 right around the corner, we talked to AV professionals about the $17.5 billion European market for AV products and services. Which countries are growing the fastest? Which are growing the slowest? And which AV technologies and applications offer the greatest opportunities?

Retailtechnology
11/04/2014
Spotlight on mobile and geolocation in Dublin

The Autumn 2014 cover 20,000 attendees from 109 countries have descended on the Irish capital for three days of tech innovation. Monica Heck seeks the retail angle at the Web Summit The Web Summit in Dublin, now in its fourth year, is a pot-pourri of technology-related themes, where the likes Bono, Lily Cole and Eva Longoria rub shoulders with bleeding edge tech gurus, angel investors and people who use virtual reality to treat war-induced post-traumatic stress disorder.

Retailtechnology
10/30/2014
Spotlight on warehouse management: Doctors without Borders

The Autumn 2014 cover The humanitarian organisation recently opened the doors of its Brussels warehouse to Retail Technology. Monica Heck reports "We are the purchasing and forwarding agency of MSF," explained deputy site manager of MSF Supply Pierre-Paul Lamotte. "We run emergency projects in 68 countries.

InfoComm
10/27/2014
Digital Signage Best Practices: Matching Content to Solution

Do you start your digital signage conversations with technology? Think about kicking things off with content. Experts say the best way to start is to learn what needs to be displayed and where, so you as an AV professional can recommend the best way to display it. Read the special report.

Retail Technology
07/10/2014
Mobile BI good news for retailers

The coupling of mobile and BI, which will flourish in the next two years, is already benefitting retailers. Monica Heck reports from Barcelona

InfoComm
09/09/2013
Everyone’s a Broadcaster, Part 1: Production

Many non-traditional broadcasters (schools, churches, corporations) are now using broadcast-grade equipment to create compelling video content for a variety of purposes.

InfoComm
05/22/2014
Is 4K Just a Pit Stop for 8K in Digital Signage?

With the recent arrival of 4K players, digital signage seems to be joining the rush towards bigger and better resolutions. However, there's a feeling in the industry that it's too soon to talk about 4K, never mind 8K for most commodity, real-world deployments. Monica Heck provides an in-depth look.

InfoComm
11/25/2013
5 Trends Changing Unified Communications

Whether you call it simply unified communications (UC) or you also throw collaboration into the mix (UCC), it's clear that this years-old-yet-bleeding-edge technology has finally gained its footing.

ChannelPRO
11/19/2013
NetApp reveals flash storage play

Speaking at NetApp’s three-day Insight EMEA conference in Dublin this week, director of technology and strategy, Matt Watts, reflected on how best to handle operations that have now become “low value, commodity IT”.

ChannelPRO
04/30/2014
HP: Selling the converged cultural shift

HP’s converged systems business unit, which launched at the end of 2013, says working with partners is the key to the success of its new ConvergedSystem portfolio, a family of integrated IT systems built for key workloads such as virtualisation, big data and hosted desktops.

Redsharknews
02/14/2014
4K rivals print poster quality

4K has a perfectly natural habitat outside the living room. Screens are now big enough to rival printed posters, and, while there's a huge gulf in price between the two mediums, the fact that a 4K screen can show video and be updated over a network means that the high-resolution technology could conceivably become widespread soon.

InBroadcast
04/01/2014
InFile: Managing broadcast media assets

As the broadcast industry buzzes with 4k excitement, the MAM world, once a trendy headline term, has kept on evolving quietly behind the scenes...

ChannelPRO
02/13/2014
Westcon opens UK demo centre

New demo centre at Westcon HQ allows partners to see array of multi-vendor products working together.

InBroadcast
05/13/2014
InMedia: post-production workflows in the cloud

Already established in the #multiscreen delivery, #streaming and #storage environments, cloud-based solutions are increasingly appearing across the #broadcast chain for #production and #post-production.

InfoComm
03/10/2014
Digital Signage Best Practices: Incorporating Interactivity

Interactivity is a human instinct. Toddlers have always explored the world using their senses but they now graduate from chewing their toys to gaming on a tablet. Society may have sought to curb those instincts in the past, but recent evolutions in technology have turned tablets and screens into acceptable extensions of our hands, a trend that has transferred to digital signage.

InBroadcast
03/03/2014
InFocus: 4k & beyond

4k, the catch-all term for what is essentially 3840x2160 UHD-1 in the broadcast world, has reached cruising speed in 2014.

Retail Technology
06/16/2014
Hackers pressure Domino's Pizza

Hacker group 'Rex Mundi' demand €30,000 by 17 June or it will publish over 600,000 stolen French and Belgian customer records online, reports Monica Heck

NearFM, 90.3 - 'Qu'est-ce que c'est le Craic' (Soundcloud)
11/05/2013
Le point sur le Budget 2014 en Irlande.

Monica Heck discusses Ireland's recent budget announcement for 2014 on NearFM's French language programme 'Qu'est-ce que c'est le Craic'.

ISE Daily Newspaper 2014
02/05/2014
Looking behind digital signage

It can sometimes be difficult to get a top-level view of digital signage. This article investigates this fragmented and diverse market.

Sunday Independent
05/11/2014
The 50 most influential and powerful women in business

THE inaugural Sunday Independent 50 most powerful and influential business women in Ireland list provides a snapshot of the game-changing executives at the helm of some of the country's most innovative, fast-moving and profitable companies.

InfoComm
10/01/2013
Everyone's a Broadcaster, Part 2: Streaming

This is the second in a two-part special report. Many non-traditional broadcasters (schools, churches, corporations) want to deliver video content to viewers by either uploading pre-recorded programs for on-demand viewing or streaming content live over the Internet.

NearFM, 90.3 - 'Qu'est-ce que c'est le Craic' (Soundcloud)
10/01/2013
Le point sur l'avortement en Irlande

Monica Heck fait le point sur la loi sur l'avortement en Irlande sur l'emission 'Qu'est-ce que c'est le Craic'. Monica Heck discusses the ups and downs of the Irish abortion legislation on NearFM's French programme 'Qu'est-ce que c'est le Craic'

Sunday Independent
05/25/2014
Cutting edge technology...Are you being served?

You need to find a pair of blue shoes to match your suit for a wedding. You hate shopping and wish you were still home in bed. Unfortunately, you're standing in the middle of a shop. Suddenly you hear a voice. "Hello, Sir, can I help you?"

ChannelPRO
03/26/2014
AVG looks to UK channel to ramp up SaaS

AVG outlines managed services push followinglast year’s LPI acquisition. Following the 2013 acquisition of remote management and monitoring (RMM) company LPI Platform to accelerate its cloud-based services model, AVG is in the process of...

The ISE Daily Newspaper 2014
02/06/2014
Projector lamps: the fightback begins

In a development that may come as a surprise, lamp-based projectors were a major focus for manufacturers at this year's ISE2014 show.

SVG Europe (Sports Video Group)
12/04/2013
Observe OB supporting RTE for Gaelic games coverage

The roar of the 80,000 people rises like a war cry around the iconic north Dublin Croke Park stadium on an All-Ireland Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Final weekend, writes Monica Heck.

IBC Content Everywhere
04/25/2014
ChannelSculptor Dubai connects MENA operators and broadcasters

In a bid to keep pace with the ever-growing number of MENA TV channels, one of the Middle East's fastest growing telecom service providers, du, has tasked ChannelSculptor with the management of its IPTV-related free-to-air (FTA) channel portfolio.

ChannelPRO
05/06/2014
Symantec unveils redesigned partner programme

Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) has unveiled the details of its new partner programme, which delivers more financial rewards and focuses on helping partners develop competencies around specific subject matters.

ChannelPRO
05/19/2014
McAfee hails partner profitability

McAfee top partners outstripping market; increased adoption for partner programme. McAfee has announced its top partners are growing at three times that of the security market.

Siliconrepublic
08/22/2007
Making virtual progress

Virtualisation technology in the Intel server environment has stepped up to the next level, so why aren't we reading more about it? Just say the word 'virtualisation' in the right context and you are greeted with grave shakings of heads and knowing looks.