ScreenScape Networks, the Charlottetown-based video display developer, has named Ken Schneider, a former system engineer at Research In Motion Ltd., as its new Chief Technology Officer.

Schneider has been working with the company for the past six months, and CEO Mark Hemphill said the parties worked well enough together that Schneider has invested in the company and joined management. He will be based in Ontario and oversee the engineering team, most of which is based in Charlottetown.

ScreenScape is a software company that develops the systems that allow state-of-the-art video displays in public spaces, whether they’re stores, restaurants, sports facilities or other venues. Last summer, Hemphill said the company had produced 250 percent increases in revenue three years in a row, and he said Thursday it is still in a growth trajectory.

“We’re superpumped,`` he said about the hire of Schneider. “Ken is a genius at coding and has that software vision that you love.”

The appointment is important because Schneider has a deep background in devices and mobile applications, having worked in a variety of senior roles with RIM, including being responsible for overall system architecture of the BlackBerry solution. Hemphill noted that personal computers accounted for 95 percent of the online market when ScreenScape started six years ago. But now half the market is taken up by cell phones, tablets and online systems, so it will be a huge advantage to have someone on board with Schneider’s background in devices.

What’s more, the company is now reaching a critical mass in customers (Hemphill would not say how many sites it operates in) so innovation in product development will be felt by a large number of clients.

“To appreciate the potential of this industry you have to understand what’s happening at the device level,” said Hemphill in a statement. “The rapid evolution of smart TV, the advancement of the Android platform along with steep declines in the price of Internet-connected devices are combining to simplify the way businesses deploy place-based media solutions.”

ScreenScape now has the ability to run on a cheap device the size of a cigarette lighter that clips on to the monitor, which drives down the operator’s costs and increases ease of use.