Tactile Technologies launches touch solution to trade on SA`s growing appetite for touch screens With its growing market for touch screens, South Africa seems to be following in the footsteps of the US and Europe, says a leading touch technology distributor for the region.

Tactile Technologies, the sole distributor of the Elo TouchSystems range in sub-Saharan Africa, recently expanded its offering to a `total solution` for its clients in a bid to capitalise on this growth.

The company no longer only provides the touch hardware, and services it, but provides the kiosks or housings for this hardware as well as software tailored to clients` needs.

The three-year-old company recently also cemented its presence in Gauteng in August with the opening of a branch at The Innovation Hub in Tshwane.

"Most touch-screen business lies in Gauteng, even if it is not deployed here," indicates Ernst Ohlhoff, who heads up the branch.

And, he adds, The Innovation Hub is a great launch pad for the venture, offering networking opportunities with other tenants, while facilitating business in its high-tech environment. Already two Hub tenants have shown an interest in Tactile`s offerings. The Hub itself will soon be using the `I-Directory`, an interactive alternative to the traditional two-dimensional information map used in most shopping malls.

Until now Tactile Technologies has traded its Elo TouchSystems products in Gauteng through Johannesburg-based distribution channel ScreenVision. Although this partnership will continue, with ScreenVision continuing to service the hardware of Tactile Technologies` clients, the latter will now be selling directly to clients in Gauteng.

Tactile Technologies will continue supplying its wares to the rest of the country via a network of resellers, value-added partners and system integrators.

Ohlhoff adds that one of his roles is the continued education of the business community regarding the benefits of touch technology.

"Generally, a touch screen can be used anywhere where interaction with a PC is required, but especially where a mouse or keyboard are at risk of vandalism, or where users might be intimidated by them. Clearly, the product would have the largest application for organisations in the public domain, followed by the banking and retail sector."

Other sectors include industrial, medical, point of sale, hospitality, transportation, office automation, and gaming applications.

"Although touch screens cost about three times more than traditional monitors, due to higher hardware costs as well as lower production volumes and economies of scale, we have recently launched a series of LCD monitors that are more competitively priced for developing countries."

Touch screens are ideal applications for self-help information kiosks in government spaces, airports and shopping malls, and are increasingly being applied in shop fronts to extend the shop floor area, he elaborates.

A good example is the solution it recently provided to the Seeff Property Group: instead of posting a series of photos of properties on the limited shop-window space, a single Through Glass touch monitor is located within a Seeff store, but can be accessed 24 hours a day from outside the shop. Users have an option to e-mail or MMS themselves photos of the property, or drop an agent an SMS to contact them about selected properties.

Ohlhoff indicates that Mercedes-Benz dealerships, Toyota`s Durban manufacturing facility, Medi Clinics, and Virgin Active clubs countrywide have also employed its technology. Elo founders invented the touch screen over 30 years ago, 10 years before the advent of the PC, notes Ohlhoff.

Elo offers a range of eight different touch sensor technologies. Currently Tactile Technologies is able to offer over 200 different monitor configurations, from 15-inch to 42-inch screens.