By GREGORY ZELLER //
An interesting new vertical continues to soar at Woodbury-based Janam Technologies, where workplace-tough tech is making room for Age of Coronavirus-inspired tools.
The latest example comes from Detroit, where the Long Island firm will deploy its contactless ticketing and venue technologies at Little Caesars Arena, home of the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings and the National Basketball Association’s Detroit Pistons.
Janam’s GT1 mobile pedestal and durable handheld ticket scanners will bring their “plug-and-play” functionality to the game, providing self-service ticket entry that eliminates physical contact and promotes social distancing.
Little Caesars Arena is operated by Michigan-based sports and entertainment company Olympia Entertainment, a subsidiary of Ilitch Holdings that owns both the arena and the Red Wings (billionaire Tom Gores owns the Pistons). The mobile pedestal/handheld scanner combo was exactly what the management company needed to “safely and efficiently welcome Detroiters back to our venues,” according to Olympia Entertainment Vice President of Venue Operations Tim Padgett.
“We appreciate the partnership with Janam and look forward to the enhancements this technology will provide to our fans and guests,” Padgett said in a statement.
Harry Lerner: Game-changer.
All handheld XT3 “rugged touch” scanners can read both paper and digital tickets. The model can also be souped up to support Apple Wallet and Google Pay services and to “easily read all contactless passes,” according to Janam, which notes event tickets and boarding passes as primary uses.
Combined with the mobile pedestals, the scanners create “a tap-and-go experience that eases congestion, moves fans quickly into the venue and complies with state and local health-and-safety regulations for reducing the spread of COVID-19,” the company said Wednesday.
That figures to be a hot commodity in the coming months, as inoculations spread and professional-sports venues slowly reopen across the land. Olympia Entertainment, which also owns Major League Baseball’s Detroit Tigers, is already considering integrating Janam tech at MLB stadium Comerica Park, according to the Woodbury firm.
The Detroit connections supersize a thrilling vertical lunge for Janam, which made its name daring users to damage its workplace tablets, laptops and smartphones and has found new success with “temperature-sensing kiosks” and other innovations prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now add “most trusted hardware manufacturer in sports and live entertainment” to the marquee, according to CEO Harry Lerner, who noted that – for all their indestructability – it’s the evolving technology inside Janam’s resilient line that makes the pivot possible.
“The transition from paper-based tickets to digital phone passes is a key ingredient of the accelerating proliferation of social distancing and contactless consumer transactions,” Lerner said. “We are thrilled to partner with Olympia Entertainment to provide a groundbreaking contactless ticketing solution that enables fans to safely enter the building.”
