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Technology and the Internet

Elevator Web Access Coming to Los Angeles

By KAREN KAPLAN
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If you’ve got time to stand in an elevator, then you’ve got time to surf the Web.

That’s the idea behind Captivate Network, a Westford, Mass., company that deploys flat-panel digital screens in office building elevators and connects them to the Internet. Its first Net-connected screen in Los Angeles will be installed today at 550 S. Hope St.

The silent, high-resolution screens display breaking news, sports scores, traffic and weather reports, and stock quotes. Information is updated every 20 minutes throughout the day using a wireless local area network connection.

Captivate placed its first flat-panel screen in Boston more than a year ago, and today they are in 50 buildings in cities such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago. Office buildings get them for free if they sign a 10-year exclusive contract, and Captivate recoups the cost by selling ads on about one-quarter of the screens, said Suzanne Griffin, Captivate’s marketing manager.

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Karen Kaplan

Karen Kaplan covers science and medical research for the Los Angeles Times. She has been a member of the science team since 2005, including 13 years as an editor. Her first decade at The Times was spent covering technology in the Business section as both a reporter and editor. She grew up in San Diego and is a graduate of MIT and Columbia University.

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