Panasonic made some major announcements on Press Day at CES 2014. There is much to cover and the announcements will be examined in several thematic articles: 4K for the enterprise, 4K for the consumer, and strangely enough, Panasonic Beauty. The bulk of the press conference focused on the enterprise, and the majority of the launches followed suit.

4K For The Enterprise

4K OLED Video Wave

The press conference began with a look into Panasonic’s enterprise division. Panasonic CEO Joseph Taylor began by introducing the ambitious, if dabbling in absurdity, 4K OLED Video Wave (above). The Wave is a more than 20 ft. long selection of both convex and concave panels. The Wave was pitched as a business oriented product, but that seems a stretch; it seems more of a way to show off profits than anything truly functional.

Tablets

The Panasonic brass stated a lofty goal before diving into the products: to become the leader in tablets for the enterprise. In pursuit of this goal, we saw the first of Panasonic’s product launches: Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 (below). The Toughpad was billed as, “the world’s thinnest and lightest rugged 7-inch Windows tablet, built to enable mission-critical mobile worker productivity without compromise.” The company announced that the rugged tablet is the result of a partnership with both Microsoft and Intel.

There was also a look back at the massive Panasonic Toughpad 4K Tablet that was announced at last years CES, which has

4K CCTV Surveillance

Panasonic announced a new line of 4K HD CCTV Cameras (above – I dropped the ball on the photos, this is the best one I took). There is a very convincing argument for such a security system: the high quality and large line-of-sight cut down the total number of cameras needed.

4K Video “Big Board”

In what is no doubt the first of many such displays, Panasonic closed the discussion of the enterprise with the revealing what was called the “Big Board.” The “Big Board” is the only display in an outdoor arena capable of 4K display. The video board is currently being installed at Churchill Downs, the legendary racetrack that holds the Kentucky Derby. The instillation is set be completed by mid-March, and unveiled to the public in time for the 2014 Derby.

There is much more coming in our coverage of CES and of the Panasonic announcements.