Out-of-Home Digital Media are - Cleverdis

SMARTreport 

Information Intelligence by 

CLEVERDIS Edition • JANUARY-JULY 2008 

> Applications 

Applications 

> Market Market Data, Data, 

Analysis Analysis & 

White White Papers Papers 

> Managing Managing a Project Project 

from A to Z 

> Directory Directory to 

Key Players 

Players 

Out Of Home 

Digital Media

Richard BARNES 

Editor-in-chief 

SMARTreport 

OUT OF HOME DIGITAL MEDIA 

EDITORIAL 

Tel. +33 (0)4 42 77 46 08 

richard.barnes@cleverdis.com 

2 ISE 2008 - It’s a sellout! – Interview with Mike Blackman, 

Integrated Systems Europe 

3 Exhibitors Flock to Screen Expo Europe – Interview with Mark 

Pigou, Screen Expo 

5 PART 1 • Out Of Home Digital Media Applications 

6 Digital Signage: From Humble Beginnings to an Exciting Future! By 

Gary Madgwick, ScreenRed 

8 Building Retail Brand Equity with Digital Signage – Interview with 

Steven Keith Platt, Platt Retail Institute 

12 Towards a True Industry Standard – Interview with Moti Gura, 

TruMedia 

13 Capturing Audience Figures – Interview with Catherine Moore, 


14 Neo Advertising – “a Fresh View” of Out of Home Digital Media 

– Partner Profile, Neo Advertising 

16 Making Custom TV Effective at Point of Sale – – Partner Profile, 

PosTV 

18 “Mall in the Family” – Case Study, Adspace Networks 

18 600 Public Busses in Sao Paulo are taking Entertainment and 

Information on Board – Case Study, APB Prodata 

19 Edinburgh Directory – Cab screens to tap into the tourist market – 

Case Study 

20 Digital Signage Installation at O2 Arena – Case Study, O2 Arena 

21 Minicom distributes content to the big screen – Case Study, Arena 

22 Custom TV – Focus on Top Worldwide Projects – Case Study, 

FamilyMart 

23 International airport uses Omnivex Software to communicate in 

multiple languages – Case Study, Vancouver International Airport 

24 Digital Media Remodelled by the CIO – Case Study, 

DaimlerChrysler AG 

25 Selected Scala InfoChannel Case Studies 

27 PART 2 • Market Data, Analysis & White Papers 

28 The Out of Home Digital Media Market 

29 “Ad-support is definitely going to be a dynamic growth area” – 

Interview with James Henry, Out-of-Home Media 

Most people reading this SMARTreport probably travel a great deal for business. We do. In fact writing this 

editorial, I am sitting in the departure lounge at Los Angeles International airport on my way back to France. 

In addition to the now classic horizontal LCD screens indicating flight information, a very large (around 60 inch) 

JCDecaux digital display is strategically positioned around 20 feet away from me, just at the right angle to attract 

my attention as I work on the laptop. Another one is a little further down, attracting the gazes of a seated “captive 

audience” in the waiting lounge. There is no TV… just advertising messages… very well done mind you, with clever 

ads timed to be short enough to get the message across in the time one tends to gaze at the screen. At the hotel 

yesterday, as I arrived, I was able to use a 42 inch vertical LCD touch screen to get information about the hotel, what 

events were on in town, and so on. One might say out of home digital media has come of age. But I don’t think so. 

I think we have come to a maturing point of OOH DM 1.0 and are entering the era of OOH DM 2.0 which is set to 

be much more exciting still! The reason I say this is that major players are only really starting to hop on the 

bandwagon today, while the tradition “big boys” are consolidating and finding new ways to add value. I believe 

there will be three major trends that will emerge this year. Firstly I believe there will be a major onset of interactivity 

(see more in market section); secondly, I think this will be the year that the numerous business models based around 

ad-supported networks get well and truly “off the ground”; and thirdly, partly associated with the latter, and partly 

responsible for it as well, ad-planners will finally have solid metrics to go by, which will very much sort the wheat 

from the chaff when it comes to the true performance of networks. In other words, there will now be a requirement 

for a network to perform… to really deliver value for money in terms of faces in front of screens (CPT and GRP) that 

didn’t exist in the past… because it can be measured. These and many other exciting developments are outlined in 

this SMARTreport. We sincerely hope its contents will be of use in planning your next project! 

31 Alternative Out-of-Home Media Forecast 2007-2011 – An 

exclusive primary research source from PQ Media 

33 Up-beat Market Projections and “Digital Signage 2.0” – Interview 

with Ignacio Lamarca, Focus On Emotions 

34 The OOH Digital Display Market By Bob Raikes, Meko Ltd 

35 OOH DM Market Evolution… as seen by Chris Connery, 

DisplaySearch 

36 POPAIdigital – All about digital media in retail by Jason Cremins, 

POPAIdigital UK 

37 Calculating TCO of Operating Systems – White Paper by Brian 

Dusho, BroadSign International 

38 A New Era of Point of Purchase (POP) Promotions – White Paper 

compiled by MediaTile 

39 The Emperor’s New Clothes – White Paper by Xavier Capellades, 

Wututu 

41 PART 3 • Managing Project from A to Z 

42 Out of Home TV or Dynamic Digital Signage? 

43 SPECIAL DOSSIER: Turnkey Solution Providers 

44 Developing a System That Works – Interview with Brian J. 

Douglas, ScreenRed 

47 Interview with Dick Tuinebreijer, Adtraxion Systems 

49 SPECIAL DOSSIER: Software, Servers, Players 

51 Interview with Rick Engels, BroadSign International 

52 Scala on Top – Interview with Oscar Elizaga, Scala Broadcast 

Multimedia 

54 Providing the backbone for a complete digital signage 

system – Interview with Jeff Collard, Omnivex 

55 Interview with Chris Frampton, Dynamax 

57 SPECIAL DOSSIER: Displays 

58 Toshiba Leading Innovation – Interview with Gerd Holl, Toshiba 

Europe GmbH 

60 Innovative Mounting Solutions – Interview with Melinda von 

Horvath, Chief Manufacturing 

61 SPECIAL DOSSIER: Infrastructure & Transmission 

63 PART 4 • Directory to Key Players 

84 Trade Shows & Conferences 

CONTENTS

SMARTreport 

© Photo: ISE 

Interview with... 

The show is growing every year. It’s a long 

shot from the first show in Geneva! 

The increase has been phenomenal... even 

we were surprised with the growth we’ve 

experienced... we’re going to be sold out. 

Back in Geneva, it was about one-sixth the 

size of what we are now. The first show had 

3,500 attendees, and last year we had 

almost 17,000. We anticipate for this year 

between 19 and 20-thousand. 

This growth has shown those companies 

who weren’t there that the market comes 

here... the system integrators, the 

distributors, the resellers... they’re all 

coming to see what’s there. Companies are 

realising that if they want to meet these 

people they have to participate. In addition 

to that, we have also been pushed by our 

exhibitors to look at some vertical markets 

Mike Blackman 

Managing Director, Integrated Systems Events 

2 / Out of Home Digital Media SMARTreport January-July 2008 

Integrated Systems 

Europe (ISE) 

ISE 2008 - It’s a sellout! 

and actually have some specifiers come in 

as well... people like architects and interior 

designers covering the residential and 

commercial areas. You’ll see facilities 

managers and IT people. In the field of 

digital signage, we 

have focussed on 

bringing in 

advertising 

agencies that use 

digital signage in 

shopping centres 

and venues so they 

can get a better 

understanding of the facilities available to 

them. We run our own digital signage 

system at the show, because we feel that 

ISE is a classic example of an event that 

should have digital signage and can 

actually benefit from it... so we are putting 

“...we have added onto the 

plan a ‘digital signage track’, 

so visitors can easily identify 

the companies who are offering 

solutions in digital signage” 

it in ourselves to show just what can be 

done. Year on year we improve upon this. 

This year you’ll not just see digital signage, 

but also IPTV being incorporated within that 

as well. 

What’s going to be different at ISE this 

year? 

We’ll be seeing a substantial number of 

new companies, like Cisco, who are very 

much pushing what they’re doing in digital 

signage as well as in conferencing 

facilities. You’ll be seeing Harmon Pro here 

for the first time in a big way and we have 

Digital Projection for the first time. There will 

be a lot of digital signage this year, and we 

have added onto the plan a “digital 

signage track”, so visitors can easily identify 

the companies who are offering solutions in 

digital signage. There is also now a search 

database for attendees. Those people who 

have been to InfoComm will know 

InfoComm IQ –- a searchable database 

that exists all year round for the AV industry 

in the USA. We’re launching that for Europe 

now with ISE IQ... it’s the same engine. You 

can actually plan 

your visit beforehand 

by using this 

database. In 

addition, there is a 

meeting tool in there 

where you can just 

press the button and 

it will automatically 

send a meeting request to someone in that 

company who will get back to you and 

arrange a meeting beforehand. So there 

are more tools with which to make the 

attendees’ experience of ISE much more 

efficient. 

www.cleverdis.com


www.cleverdis.com 

Marc Pigou 

Director, Screen Events Ltd. 

PART 1• Out of Home Digital Media Applications 

Screen Expo 

Exhibitors Flock to Screen Expo Europe 

Screen Expo appears to be going from 

strength to strength… tell us about the 

evolution of the show. 

We are delighted to report that Screen 

Expo 2008 has increased by 50% the 

number of exhibitors from 2007 and current 

visitor registrations are significantly up year 

on year! From its humble beginning as the 

first and only pan European trade event for 

the digital signage and out of home digital 

media markets in 2006 the show has finally 

cemented its position on the trade calendar 

as THE event for this rapidly developing 

sector. 

The show always set out to be a showcase 

for the very latest hardware, software and 

content creation tools for the industry and to 

try and attract a true cross section of people 

from within the industry and its end users. 

This is what makes Screen Expo unique and 

for 2008 an extra emphasis has been 

placed on attracting even more brands, 

advertisers and media buyers to the show. 

To give this audience some real reasons to 

visit we have created a Network Owners 

Pavilion, with some of the leading network 

owners showcasing their media offering 

and supporting this with a series of 

presentations to highlight and explain the 

incredible potential of out of home media 

networks v’s traditional media. As well, we 

have created a Digital Media Gallery, a 

series of screens that will showcase great 

examples of campaigns run on in store and 

out of home digital media networks. 

There will also be several new product 

launches at the show and this is what is 

particularly pleasing to see – when a show 

becomes the annual forum for the latest 

research and latest new products, you know 

you have achieved the goal of making it the 

leading industry meeting and marketing 

forum. We are also delighted to welcome 

our first exhibitors from Russia, India and 

Greece in 2008, taking the countries 

represented at the show to 18 and we 

expect visitors from over 50 countries in 

2008… a truly global event! 

What would you say is the “philosophy” or 

“raison d’être” of the show? 

The “raison d’etre” of the show has always 

been to provide the out of home digital 

media market with a platform to showcase 

the technology and potential of out of home 

digital media but above all it is a place 

where visitors from every potential market 

and each piece of the jigsaw can meet, 

exchange ideas, network and learn from 

not just the exhibitors but also attending over 

40 top presentations during the show. 

Screen Expo should be and is a great 

“learning experience”. 

The Out of Home Digital Media Market is 

evolving all the time… what are the main 

trends for you this year? 

The big issues this year will include 

audience measurement/media accountability, 

with the final emergence of some 

standards for counting consumers and 

measuring their engagement with out-ofhome 

screens. In terms of technology, 

interactivity will continue to be a big growth 

area where we will see some innovative 

approaches. While screens themselves will 

not fundamentally change, it is likely that the 

trend among display manufacturers toward 

offering super-large sizes will be evident 

again in 2008, and this year we may even 

see some real-world deployments of large 

sizes that to date have been essentially 

curiosities. Finally, we expect a number of 

changes in the shape of the industry: some 

consolidation among network operators, 

and more big tech/media names entering 

the sector via acquisition. 

What will be some of the highlights of this 

year’s show? 

The Network Owners Pavilion; the Digital 

Media Gallery; the over 40 top 

presentations in the 4 show floor theatres – 

the Cleverdis Thought Leadership Pavilion, 

The Content Theatre, The Advertising 

Theatre & The Network Owners Theatre –; 

the Platt Retail Institute Research and the 

Digital Signage Showcase. 

Out of Home Digital Media SMARTreport January-July 2008 / 3 

© Photo: Cleverdis

PART ONE 

Out Of Home Digital Media Applications 

Out of Home Digital Media is a world apart, perched on the frontier between 

television, the internet, the CD-Rom, interactive terminals and the traditional 

billboard or poster. A medium that links to all of those worlds although with its own 

rules and regulations. 

The ability to remotely control multimedia displays across any number and type of screen 

instantaneously makes Out of Home Digital Media an ideal means for informing, 

communicating as well as driving sales and taking the pain out of queueing. Out of Home 

Digital Media can add dynamism to points of sale and waiting areas both indoor and outdoor. 

Out of Home Digital Media is used by government bodies, corporations and small to mediumsized 

businesses alike. Thanks to its ability to adapt to any kind of environment, Out of Home 

Digital Media is increasingly found in every situation delivering messages and relevant 

content for every imaginable kind of public grouping. And therein lies the key to Out of Home 

Digital Media, the relevance of the information carried on the medium is what decides whether 

it succeeds or fails. 

Out of Home Digital Media is increasingly enabling applications that were never possible or 

even thought of only a few short years ago. The composition of each message in terms of 

words, images, colour codes and visual effects, as well as the creative scheduling of different 

messages are at the heart of the success of any project. Digital Signage or Out of Home 

Digital Media is the most powerful mode of communication to an audience of our era, adding 

new forms of adaptability and reactivity to mass market messaging.

SMARTreport 


Gary Madgwick 

Chief Technical Officer 

Gary Madgwick has a unique 

vision of Out of Home Digital 

Media solutions having been at 

the “technical heart” of digital 

signage for almost two decades. 

To gain an insight on the evolution 

of the market, Gary takes us on a 

trip through time... 

Humble beginnings: The first thing I can 

remember was NAPLUS… graphic chips 

that drew polygons on a screen in such a 

way that they built up a picture. The first 

company I remember using this was the 

Halifax Building Society in the UK. 

Advertisements were played from a 

laserdisc player... one that used to play 

those big discs. 

Initial attempts to advertise: One of the 

first times I saw an advertising model tried 

(one of many initial trials in the UK) was for 

something called Centre-vision. There were 

only about 100 screens in the whole of the 

UK, so it was practically impossible to 

entice advertisers to buy space! Then JPEG 

came along as a new graphics standard 

and Poster-vision emerged, designed for a 

company called Food Town in New 

Zealand. This system used a floppy disc 

with a graphics display... you plugged the 

floppy disc in, it updated the pictures and 

you got all your latest offers out there! I went 

out to New Zealand to get a satellite system 

working to replace the floppy discs, but 

then somewhere along the way, someone 


realised there weren’t enough people in all 

of New Zealand to support the cost of the 

advertising, so that one died as well!! But 

the theory was established, and we began 

seeing a number of systems running JPEGs 

with transition effects. They were updated 

using either floppy disc or modems. The 

latter ran at 1200 bauds, which was the 

fastest you could get, so it took forever to do 

the updates! 

Welcome to the 90’s: Around 1990, 

MPEG1 came along. This enabled you to 

play back full-screen video using a standard 

386 PC. Generally, the operating system 

was still DOS in those days. We actually 

built the first MPEG1 system with graphic 

and text overlay and had the first 

commercially available MPEG1 encoder as 

ScreenRed 

Since 1991, Gary has led ScreenRed’s technology and digital marketing development, fully 

managing the design, integration, content distribution and administration of new technology 

applications in sites in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Gary’s career background is 

focused in aerospace and broadcast industries. His early career was with British Aerospace 

during which time he combined a number of roles, including system design and testing for the 

Concorde advanced flight deck, Airbus, VC10 Tanket, Harrier Jump Jet and Tornado projects. 

Later, at Alphameric PLC, he was a founding member of the service organisation that 

managed data and live satellite broadcast networks. Information systems clients included 

Kleinwort Benson, Barclays and Prudential. Satellite business TV clients included BMW, 

Norwich Union, Digital and Land Rover. 

Digital Signage: From Humble 

Beginnings to an Exciting Future! 

well. In the beginning, it used to work for 

about 25 seconds before crashing, which 

was very frustrating, because all our ads 

were generally 30 seconds! So we spent 

around a year designing the board, 

building it and getting it tested, and then it 

took about a year to get the encoder to 

work. But MPEG1 really did enable us to 

start doing nice video with graphics 

overlays. Another problem with MPEG1 

was that it took up about 12 MB per minute 

of video, which in those days meant you 

had to have satellite bandwidth to deliver it, 

and that made the whole system very 

expensive. I remember that with MPEG1, 

there was only ever one piece of video 

available: Bon Jovi singing “Young Guns”... 

so everybody used to go completely mad 

hearing that all the time! Then MPEG2 

© Photos: ScreenRed 

www.cleverdis.com

© Photos: ScreenRed 

chips came along, but basically this was 

just a better quality version of MPEG1. 

Atari consoles change the face of digital 

signage: We started seeing early software 

solutions at the time the Atari games console 

came out, because it had 3D graphics... 

But when this moved to the PC, it was 

always a bit tricky because PCs and their 

operating systems weren’t very stable, 

meaning you always had to write your 

software player for specific hardware and 

graphics cards. By the time you did this, the 

graphics cards weren’t made any more, so 

it became a vicious circle. Finally, around 

the time of the release of NT4 and 

Windows 2000, software-based solutions 

started becoming more stable and we 

started standardising all the drivers. 

XP – The Quantum Leap: When XP came 

along, it was the jump that made PCs much 

more easy to use because the hardware 

became so much more stable. We can buy 

any system off the shelf now and make our 

system work on it. I can’t remember the last 

time we had a hardware conflict of any 

sort. 


More bandwidth – smaller files: Over all 

this time, bandwidth has become cheaper 

and cheaper. There’s more of it and it’s 

become more stable. Delivery mechanisms 

have become so much cheaper as well, 

and we no longer have to use satellite 

delivery. The strange thing is that with recent 

video and graphics codecs like WMV9 

and Flash, all the content is getting smaller, 

so we have more bandwidth but less need 

for it! This makes it very easy to run a system 

over a network now. 

Current state of affairs: Today we have 

stable, cheap players, some of which use 

only video, and some use technologies like 

Flash as well... but what’s lacking is the 

experience of running large networks. 

Anyone can make a player, because it’s 

reasonably easy to play one piece of 

content followed by another and another... 

but the difficulty is in the “head-end” where 

you programme the systems to govern 

what’s going to play and where. When we 

made our first system in 1990, it was a 

group-based system that allowed us to 

separate content that went to the south from 

that which went to the north and so on. We 

very quickly realised this wasn’t perfect, 


because a marketing person might, for 

example, want one type of content to go to 

all their malls that have an ice cream bar in 

them, which we didn’t have a group for. So 

that’s why we developed our system to be 

able to do what it does. I have seen 200 

site networks that have ten people working 

12 hours a day just updating content 

because the system is inefficient and based 

on simple groups, whereas today, we never 

have to use more than two people, and we 

can localise content very easily. Some very 

large companies have great delivery 

solutions or player solutions, but they realise 

we have a system “in the middle” that 

allows you to use those systems. Without 

this, what happens is that people often say 

‘this is too difficult’ and they simplify what 

they send out. The content thus becomes 

boring and people don’t watch it... and 

advertisers don’t pay for it. It becomes a 

vicious circle! So that’s where we have a 

real asset at ScreenRed, having more 

experience and software that drives the 

systems in such a way that we can 

individualise content for each site based on 

its characteristics. 

Improving on a good thing: Even a system 

like this can be improved upon, with local 

particularities affecting what’s played. 

Feedback from devices around the store... 

like “footfall counters”, people answering 

questions and other store data (what’s been 

sold and what hasn’t been sold) can be 

collected at a central site. For marketers it’s 

like a window on their retail network where 

they can see what’s working and what isn’t 

and make instant changes. It’s taking the 

guesswork out of marketing in real time, 

meaning marketers don’t have to try 

something and wait three weeks to see 

whether it will succeed... just to discover 

they’ve just wasted three weeks and it’s just 

not going to work! 

Interview Extracted from Cleverdis 

SPECIALreport “The Fine 

Art of Retail Marketing” 

sponsored by ScreenRed. 

For further information on 

ScreenRed and their 

unique Out of Home 

Digital Media 

solutions, pick up a 

copy of the 

SPECIALreport at the 

ISE 2008 or 

ScreenExpo 2008 or 

download the PDF 

version at 


Out of Home Digital Media SMARTreport January-July 2008 / 7

SMARTreport 

© Photo: Scala Broadcast Multimedia 


Steven Keith Platt 

Director 

What is the scale of the US retail market 

compared to Europe? 

According to the National Retail 

Federation, 6 of the 10 largest retailers in 

the world, ranked by revenue, are from 

Mr. Platt is the Director of The Platt Retail Institute, a retail research, consulting and analytics 

firm. PRI’s mission is to initiate and secure the funding of studies by its Research Fellows on 

specific retail business issues. PRI functions as a conduit, bringing together retail executives 

with leading researchers. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and 

Marketing from the Boston University School of Management. He also has a Law Degree 

and a LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University, where he served as Articles Editor for the 

University's Journal of Tax Law. He has co-authored five major research papers about 

digital communications networks, and has published articles in journals including Digital 

Signage Quarterly, Display & Design Ideas Magazine, the Retail Navigator, VM+SD 

Magazine, the National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers Magazine, POP 

Magazine, the Journal of Mergers and Acquisitions, the Computing Technology Industry 

Association’s, the Computing Channels Magazine, The Mergers & Acquisitions 

Handbook, and the Corporate Legal Times. 


Platt Retail Institute 

Building Retail Brand Equity with 

Digital Signage 

It’s interesting to bring someone to the fore from the “other side of the pond”… as the US point of view is 

certainly different from that of Europeans. Indeed, InfoTrends, a market-research and strategic-consulting 

firm, reports that the North American digital-signage industry is headed for sustainable growth. They 

predict compound annual growth rates of around 18.5 percent for revenue, 8.9 percent for the number of 

sites with digital signage, and 11.9 percent for the total number of screens over the next five years. By 2011 

total revenues are expected to reach $2.59 billion, up from InfoTrends’ current valuation of the industry at 

around $1.1 billion. We asked Steven Keith Platt of the highly reputed Platt Retail Institute what he believes 

are the main differences in approach… 

North America. These include Wal-Mart, 

Home Depot, Kroger, Target, Costco and 

Sears. 11 of the 20 largest retailers 

globally, ranked by revenue, are from the 

US, so we know something about retail 

marketing. 

Where does the success of retail marketing 

stem from? 

It all starts with a focus on the retail brand 

itself. This simply refers to the image of a 

retailer in the consumers’ mind – forming the 

basis of brand equity. A retail brand 

identifies the goods and services of a 

retailer and differentiates it from its 

competitors. It is why we shop at one store 

versus another. It is why, in the States, we 

shop a drug chain such as CVS rather than 

Walgreens, or frequent a Target rather than 

Wal-mart. In other words, a strong brand 

can affect the customer buying process, 

motivate repeat visits and purchases, build 

loyalty, and enable a retailer to charge 

higher prices. According to a McKinsey 

study: “consumers make more frequent 

visits, check out larger than average 

shopping baskets, or pay price premiums at 

the stores of brands they perceive as 

strong.” 

www.cleverdis.com

So what are the inputs into building a retail 

brand? 

Marketing functions, such as broadcast 

television, radio, and print are essential to 

building brand equity and store traffic. But 

once in a store, it is the experience therein 

that builds loyalty and repeats visits. The 

customer store experience IS a critical 

marketing component that impacts brand 

equity. There are five dimensional aspects 

of a store’s retail brand equity, the most 

important of which is the customer store 

experience. In summary, the five are: 

• Physical access – Store location and 

access: no longer a major influence in 

store choice, yet still a key component in 

consumer assessment of total shopping 

cost. More important for retailers seeking 

consumer fill-in trips and small basket 

shoppers. Example: think of consumer 

willingness to travel for a major portion of 

purchases at warehouse club stores; 

• Price and promotion strategy – As 

relevant to consumer image and choice, 

store price perceptions (i.e., the 

frequency of price advantage), retail 

price format (i.e., everyday low pricing 

vs. hi-low promotional pricing), and price 

promotions to induce store switching (i.e., 

frequent discounts on a large number of 

products); 

• Cross-category product / service 

assortment – The breadth of different 

products and services offered can create 

customer value by offering convenience 

and ease of shopping; 

• Category brands and assortment – The 

depth of assortment within a product 

category is also an important dimension 

of store experience and a driver of store 

choice. 

• Customer store experience – The 

customer store experience is an important 

component of a retailer’s brand, and it is 

the most susceptible to influence by retail 

marketing activities 

So tell us more about why the customer 

store experience is so important… 

We define the customer store experience as 

the cumulative impact upon a consumer of 

a store’s collective environmental attributes. 


These attributes generally include design, 

lighting, music, the clientele, employee 

service, communication package and 

signage, etc. With lots of retailers 

competing for customers, it is the customer 

store experience that dictates why we shop 

and are loyal to a particular retailer. It is the 

reason why marketing at-retail is so critical. 

Traditionally, marketing at-retail includes 

POP, signage, graphics, fixtures, store 

design, etc. Emerging marketing 

technologies include digital signs, mobile 

phone marketing, etc. Of course, store 

personal, return policies, etc. are critical to 

the store experience, but for our purposes 

these fall outside of marketing at-retail. Even 

if the merchandise is similar to that sold by 

other retailers, the ability to create a strong 

in-store experience can play a crucial role 

in building retail brand equity. 

How do Digital Communication Networks 

(“DCN”) offer opportunities to impact the 

customer store experience and increase 

retail brand equity? 

It is the ability to deliver the right message, 

at the right time, at the right place, to the 

right consumer, which makes a DCN a 

unique medium to build customer 


commitment to a retailer’s brand. 

Configured correctly, a digital 

communication network influences the 

customer store experience by impacting the 

4-stage buying process: recognizing the 

need, the search for information about 

merchandise, evaluation of merchandise 

and the purchase of merchandise. 

So let’s look at these steps more closely. Tell 

us about “recognizing need”. 

The buying process is triggered when a 

consumer recognizes an unsatisfied need. 

Need may be stimulated externally as well 

as in a store. In-store, need recognition 

occurs from exposure to a stimulus, such as 

a message, merchandise, etc. The 

recognized need can then lead to an 

increase in the likelihood of a purchase. 

Dynamic messaging can stimulate 

functional and psychological need at the 

store-level. 

And the search for information about 

merchandise? 

To satisfy a need, consumers seek both 

product/service information, as well as 

information pertaining to how and where 

the product and/or service can be 


© Photo: BroadSign International

SMARTreport 

obtained. Outside the store, advertising is 

one source of such information. 

Merchandise selection, service offerings 

and pricing strategy, among other things, 

are geared to drive customers into the store 

to seek this information. Inside the store, 

visual merchandising and static signs, for 

example, supply shoppers with additional 

information. Dynamic messaging can 

provide timely product/service and store 

information that can easily scale to provide 

specific types and amounts of information 

that may aid in satisfying consumer 

information requirements. 

…And evaluating merchandise? 

Consumers evaluate available information 

about a product/service and available 

retailer choices, ultimately selecting the one 

that best satisfies their needs. Intuitively, 

consumers evaluate and rank the 

product/service and retailer based upon 

various relative attributes (such as product 

features, price, store convenience, 

assortment, store environment, etc.), and 

how important these attributes are to the 

individual consumer. DCN messaging can 


scale to impact both relevant 

product/service and store information, and 

can impact the relative importance placed 

on these individual attributes by a consumer 

due to its ability to rapidly change 

messages to appeal to various consumer 

segments. For example, DCN delivered 

messages may impact consumer price and 

merchandise assortment perceptions due to 

its flexibility. Store attribute importance can 

be impacted by deep and varied content 

that addresses, for example, product 

education and demonstrations. 

Finally, the purchasing is all-important … 

tell us about how DCN can impact directly 

here… 

A consumer’s conclusions on 

product/service/retailer attributes and the 

weight ascribed thereto can result in a 

consumer purchase that fills their need. 

DCN targeted messages can be useful in 

educating consumers about a store’s 

performance characteristics, can shift 

consumer shopping attribute preferences, 

and, provide flexibility to rapidly introduce 

new products/services that can impact 

consumer store preferences. Post purchase 

buyer remorse, a common occurrence when 

large ticket items are purchased, can also 

be addressed. For retailers to maximize the 

benefits to be derived from a DCN requires 

a closed-loop, intelligent content 

systemisation. 

You have spoken about extending DCN 

messaging to Behavioral Merchandising. 

What is this about? 

Behavioral Merchandising is the 

methodology for understanding, 

predicating, and influencing consumer 

purchase behavior in-store by messages 

delivered via a digital signage system. In 

other words, to leverage the inherent 

benefits of DCN, advertising and other 

messages must evolve from a traditional 

awareness approach toward the 

establishment of customer relationship 

driven content. This relationship building is 

stimulated by the delivery of the right 

message at the right time with the right offer 

to the right customer. By knowing who is in 

a store or aisle at a specific time, presenting 

relevant content, understanding the impact 


www.cleverdis.com

an ad is currently having upon consumers in 

the store, and by predicting what messages 

and promotions will be most relevant to 

these consumers, combined with the ability 

to dynamically alter messages based upon 

such relevant information, a DCN can build 

retail brand equity. The collection of 

customer demographic and behavioral 

data makes precision in-store messaging 

possible. The output is strategies and 

processes for creating and distributing 

targeted messages. 

So messages should be readily tailored to 

respond to and/or stimulate a consumer 

need? 

Yes… by knowing which and when specific 

consumers are in a store, as well as 

incorporating other relevant market factors, 

advertisers can direct their spending to the 

most likely time and place that a consumer 

is ready to buy. A simple example… if it is 

raining outside, umbrella sales can be 

advertised; if the local soccer team is 

winning, video segments and related 

merchandise can be promoted. 

What about leveraging cross-product and 

up-product relationships? 

By understanding product relationships 

relative to consumers in the store, BEM data 

analysis will illustrate and adapt to obvious 

and not-so-obvious customer/product 

relationships, and deliver relevant 

advertising real-time to stimulate purchase 

behavior. 

Tell us about other direct advantages in 

retail… 

The introduction of new products or services 

or their uses is a major one. Consumer 

targeted in-store messages in a similar 

manner to current in-store marketing, such 

as POP and graphics, but in a consumer 

directed, dynamically enhanced manner. In 

terms of dynamic pricing, BEM enhances 

the ability to quickly alter product pricing 

relative to changing environmental factors. 

This can range from increasing the price of 

umbrellas on rainy days to targeted price 

reductions based upon inventory levels. 

These price adjustments may be facilitated 


by the retailer, the CPG, or both. Then there 

are targeted promotions. Here, data 

analysis and predictive modeling powered 

by BEM enables advertisers to optimize 

promotions. BEM collection of customer 

demographic and behavioral data makes 

precision targeting of promotional ads via 

RDS possible. Further, predictive 

promotional modeling can isolate 

promotional attributes with the highest 

customer impact, with the benefit that ad 

promotional effectiveness can rapidly be 

tested and refined prior to rolling out a 

national campaign. As a result of increased 

message relevancy, brand recall and 

persuasion will be positively impacted. A 

DCN can impact brand equity, which 

results in increased loyalty, by building 

brand awareness, brand associations, and 

brand reinforcement. 

How does “predictive promotional 

modeling” work? 

The goal of predictive promotional 

modeling is to isolate and emphasize those 

aspects of a specific promotional campaign 

that will achieve the maximum impact upon 

customers at the store level. This modeling 

may include the use of experimental design 

and other statistical prediction rules to 

project the impact upon consumer purchase 

behavior relative to individual promotional 


stimuli to determine which promotional 

attribute would likely result in the strongest 

consumer response. 

Then comes campaign management. What 

are your thoughts on this? 

Based upon analytics and modeling, 

content and play lists are developed. This 

information is feed to content management 

software for store level programming. 

Integration into other promotional activities 

being undertaken by the retailer and CPG 

should also be considered. 

How can one measure the effectiveness of 

the campaign? 

The intersection of POS data and content 

play lists reveals whether the message is 

achieving the intended result. This 

information will aid in comprehending the 

following: the messages sales impact; 

advertising and promotional effectiveness, 

organizing future campaigns and cross 

sell/up-sell accuracy. The BEM system is 

updated with new information to become 

more intelligent to further enhance 

customization and ad effectiveness. This 

envisions a reincorporation of learning’s into 

new campaigns to fully leverage RDS’s 

potential through BEM. 


© Photo: ScreenRed

SMARTreport 


Moti Gura 

Chairman 

Moti Gura is the co-founder and Chairman of TruMedia. Under his visionary leadership, 

TruMedia has become the worldwide leading provider of real-time audience measurement 

solutions for out-of-home advertising on digital displays, window displays and in-store product 

displays. As active Chairman, Mr. Gura is responsible for defining the company’s strategic 

direction, focusing his efforts on strategic partnerships. He also ensures that TruMedia has an 

exceptional technology road map delivering end-to-end real-time audience measurement 

solutions. With over 25 years in hi-tech entrepreneurship, Mr. Gura has led a number of 

incubators from start-up to successful IPOs. 



Towards a True Industry Standard 

The Birth of Metrics and Analysis for Digital Signage 

Mr Gura, please tell us about TruMedia’s 

background… 

TruMedia spun-off from the video 

surveillance company, MATE, of which I 

was CEO. This technology was used for 

five years for customers such as the US Air 

Force, Canadian Navy and Pfizer. About a 

year ago we discovered there was a 

growing market in the field of digital 

signage and decided to launch TruMedia. 

We transferred a team of 8 people to 

TruMedia then. Today we have over 50 

employees and run offices in Amsterdam, 

San Francisco, and Barcelona, with 

research facilities in Israel and our 

Headquarters in Tampa. So we’re growing 

very fast. It is important to note that unlike 

homeland security applications TruMedia's 

solutions are fully respectful of the 

audience’s privacy and are completely 

anonymous: no personally identifiable 

information is ever collected; no video or 

still images are ever recorded and there is 

no personal data repository. 

Who are the main clients and what is the 

roadmap for the company? 

Our main clients are the largest retail 

signage networks. TruMedia is doing very 

well in the US, with many companies like 

Reactrix and AdSpace already deploying 

iCapture. We’re also working with 

companies like PRN in the States who run 

the Wal-Mart network and CBS Outernet 

who are growing in the retail sector. In 

Europe we have large customers such as 

the La Caixa bank in Spain who are rolling 

out major digital signage network. 

Digital Signage has become mature now, 

but advertising through digital signage 

networks is still at a very early stage. How 

big do you think it’s going to get? 

There is only one way for this market to go, 

but for this there will have to be a currency 

that people can measure. Right now, if you 

are an advertising agency, you might have 

a budget of millions of US dollars for a 

campaign; of which only the last fifty 

thousand dollars might be allocated to a 

digital signage network as a favour or an 

afterthought. What is needed in this industry 

is a measurement standard. We need to 

have an equivalent of Nielsen in Digital 

Signage. 

TV and radio are analysed in 15 minute 

segments, but what you are proposing here 

gives metrics in real time. So while before 

there were no metrics at all for digital 

signage, it appears that your system will 

now give more detail than we have for 

other media... 

Yes, that’s correct. Real-time metrics is 

essential if you want to be able to target 

messaging to your captive audience. 

TruMedia goes beyond just audience 

measurement, our real-time metrics make it 

possible to target ads to the current viewing 

audience based on their demographics. I 

believe that one day people might even use 

the same technology for in-home 

measurement. It’s much more advanced 

than current systems, because we can not 

only prove that the person is watching the 

screen – not doing something else while the 

screen is on, but actually proactively 

change the message to a product or service 

that is relevant to them. For now we hope to 

get to a point where our measurement 

technique is used as a standard in all 

markets for digital signage. 

© Photo: TruMedia 

www.cleverdis.com

© Photo: TruMedia 


Is anybody watching? When... and for how 

many seconds? What are the 

demographics? All these questions and 

more are now being addressed by 

iCapture... at the heart of TruMedia’s 

audience measurement solution... We asked 

Catherine Moore, International Sales 

Director of TruMedia, to give us an overview 

of the futuristic possibilities offered by 

TruMedia’s tracking and analytical 

devices... 

iCapture generates true viewing data for 

digital displays and screens by analyzing 

face images of people watching the 

displays. Proprietary video analytics 

technology is used to automatically detect 

and track faces captured by high-resolution 

cameras in order to determine: 

• Actual Impressions – by detecting and 

counting only those viewing the media 


Catherine Moore 

Director International Sales 

• Viewer Demographics – gender and agegroup 

• Impression Length – duration of viewing 

• Impact Ratio – viewers vs overall traffic 

(when combined with our iTally overhead 

people counter) 

The system is reported to be easy to set up 

and operate. All the operator needs to do is 

install and orient the cameras... iCapture 

does all the rest. 

What are the main features and benefits of 

the system? 

There are several... 

• Accuracy in audience counts: iCapture 

provides a true count of impressions with an 

accuracy that surpasses any other direct or 

indirect measurement technology. 

• Detailed, real-time information: iCapture 

provides more than just viewer counts. 

Demographics segmentation and facetowards 

time measurement allow better 

media planning and targeted advertising. 

• Proactive: Real-time viewer counts, 

behaviour and demographics can be trigger 

a change in the advertisement, tailoring it to 

the viewer. 

• Non Cooperative: iCapture does not 

require audience cooperation, providing 

true and unbiased information. 

• Scalable: The iCapture SmartBox, is a 

small video processing device deployable 

on a large scale. Unlike PC based 

measurement systems, it is small enough to 

be attached to the back of a digital signage 

screen. 

Can you please tell us about the new 

version? What is different about it? 



Capturing Audience Figures 

Is anybody watching? When... and for how many seconds? What are the demographics? All these questions 

and more are now being addressed by iCapture... at the heart of TruMedia’s audience measurement 

solution... We asked Catherine Moore, International Sales Director of TruMedia, to give us an overview of 

the futuristic possibilities offered by TruMedia’s tracking and analytical devices... 

In October 2007, TruMedia Technologies 

announced the worldwide release of Version 

1.4 of iCapture providing gender and agegroup 

(adult/child) information – important 

demographics which will allow our 

customers to understand their audience in 

more depth. The latest release also includes 

extended viewer tracking capabilities, 

correlating multiple gazes of the same 

viewer that may be up to 30 seconds apart. 

So even if viewers are temporarily face 

away from the screen, the correct number of 

unique viewers and accurate attention spans 

are reported. 

Aren’t people worried about their images 

being recorded? 

The question of privacy is an important one. 

Wherever there are cameras there will 

always be the concern that “big brother is 

watching”, but this is not the case with 

TruMedia. We are fully respectful of the 

audience’s privacy... No images are ever 

recorded, and no uniquely identifiable data 

is extracted. 

Interviews Extracted 

from Cleverdis 

SPECIALreport 

“Achieving Viable 

Metrics” sponsored by 

Trumedia 

For further information 

on Trumedia and their 

unique Audience 

Measurement solutions, 

pick up a copy of the 

SPECIALreport at the ISE 

2008 or ScreenExpo 

2008 or download the 

PDF version at 



SMARTreport 

Neo Advertising – “a Fresh View” of Out 

of Home Digital Media 

Close-up on one of Europe’s largest 

networks 

Coming from a banking background, Neo Group CEO, Christian 

Vaglio-Giors entered the Out of Home Digital Media sector with a 

“fresh view”. With his partner, Mr. Vaglio-Giors had spent a lot of 

time traveling in Anglo-Saxon countries where the idea of renting 

out screens for advertising first came about. “We thought that it was 

a definitely good idea and we thought it might one day become a 

medium”. In 2003, having identified this potential mass media, 

Neo Advertising was launched in Switzerland. “The timing was 

really good, and we had expertise in dealing with large client 

retailers in the specific area. My partner had an entrepreneur family 

in media, so he had the connections and basically we decided to 

join forces,” says Mr. Vaglio-Giors. 

Neo has two main axes; firstly they have developed an advertising 

network using plasma and LCD screens and operating mostly in the 

retail, supermarkets and hypermarkets. Neo operates in shopping 

malls, with by far the largest network in the nation, running 40 of 

the top shopping malls there. They also operate in pharmacies and 

travel agencies. 

Christian Vaglio-Giors 

Neo Group CEO 

Neo Advertising is a European leading 

provider and operator of Digital Out Of 

Home networks. Neo Advertising 

operates 15,000 public displays, 

partners with tier-1 institutions such as 

French retail chain Carrefour, German 

retail chain Edeka as well as most 

prestigious real estate owners. Neo 

Advertising operates in Belgium, 

Canada, Germany, Portugal, Spain, 

Switzerland and in the Netherlands. 


With more than 1,300 screens, Neo already boasts more than 75million 

impacts per year in Switzerland. While that seems like a lot 

of people, major advertising agencies are just starting to catch on 

to Out of Home Digital Media. According to Mr. Vaglio-Giors, 

agencies are just beginning to understand the interest of this 

medium: “What agencies are requesting now is to increase the 

number of screens, the number of locations, and the number of 

people, because we are still marginal in terms of contact. The 

reach of the coverage is not enough.” 

www.cleverdis.com

Success Stories 

Neo already has three major success stories in Switzerland. They 

managed to convince the three largest retailers in the country to 

“take the leap” into Digital Signage… quite an achievement! “As 

you know, these people are extremely difficult to deal with and 

convincing them was not an easy task. Now the market really sees 

the Neo Project as one of the key ways to institutionalise this 

media.” 

Broadsign Adds Value to the 

Offering 

In its early days, Neo used a “lite” software solution, but with the 

understanding that a high performance network was needed, they 

turned to Broadsign. “During the course of 2004 we were advised 

that developing software was definitely not the function where we 

had the most value,” says Mr. Vaglio-Giors. “We reviewed many 

solutions and finally decided to go for Broadsign. I always believed 

that for me technology should take no more than 1 hour per week, 

and using this software was certainly the best way to achieve this 

goal.” The application offers a lot of flexibility in creating content 

playback schedules, and it has media buyer-friendly documents 

such as insertion orders, campaign progress reports and affidavits. 



The estimation of CPM values for comparison to other media and 

ROI analysis is made possible through the use of Broadsign’s 

Dynamic Rate Card tool built into the software interface. 

Neo assists clients in content creation 

After two years of operations, the fact that only “broadcast” content 

was available became frustrating when planning campaigns. This 

fact had also hampered business: “We were not getting some 

business because at that time the clients often had no content for 

this medium, so we decided to create a service department to help 

clients make the shift from traditional media to digital signage.” 

Firstly this was done by creating light flash animations and today 

Neo has 8 full time staff working on content development for tier 

one clients. “I think this was key in our process to educate the 

market and to help them develop the right and appropriate content 

for this medium. My dream is that tomorrow we can broadcast 3- 

5 second spots and by developing our internal production team 

that certainly is the best way to achieve this goal.” 

5 Years Out – Massive Growth 

Potential 

The future looks very bright for Neo if growth projections are 

correct. “This market can definitely grab 5-10% of the entire media 

market in the next years,” says Mr. Vaglio-Giors; “10% being very 

aggressive and 5% being more realistic. If we assume that we will 

reach that objective over the next 5 years that still puts us in the 50- 

70% average growth rate!” Mr. Vaglio-Giors’ forecast echoes that 

of many others in the industry today. Given the right combination of 

talent, competencies and ideas, and with ongoing intense 

development of software by Broadsign in order to finally make 

media planning in Out of Home Digital Media “child’s play”, it is 

evident the major agencies will finally hop onto the bandwagon. 


SMARTreport 

POSTV Pioneers the Way for 

Successful Retail Media in Holland 

POSTV differentiates itself by having a firm focus on developing 

Out of Home Digital Media in the retail environment. “We are a 

true believer in relevancy and we think advertising is most relevant 

at the point of sale or as close to the point of sale as you can get”, 

says POSTV Director, Michiel Reinoud. POSTV position their 

displays in high traffic areas of supermarkets or in relevant 

categories, where they narrowcast what Mr. Reinoud describes as 

highly targeted “inspirational” programming: “The things you see 

on the TV can not be seen anywhere else in the store. That’s one of 

the most important things. They are not showing the promotions you 

have already seen in flyers or through other Point of Sale messages. 

What we do is to make a unique TV programme with tips on 

beauty, on cooking, on the household, and through this we add a 

blend of advertising from the suppliers of the supermarket chain.” 

The screens carry a maximum of 20% advertising, in the form of 

branded campaigns and specific promotions. “We believe in 

creating an environment in which the advertiser feels happy”, says 

Mr. Reinoud. “Just like on national TV, there are high quality 

programmes running and advertisers want to be a part of that.” 

According to Mr. Reinoud, the key is to inspire, but doing this in a 

supermarket is different to how it is in a consumer electronics store. 

Making Campaigns That Work 

Of course, working in the retail sector often means dealing with big 

advertising agencies. Until recently, one of the greatest difficulties in 

convincing agencies that Out of Home Digital Media was a viable 

medium in its own right came from the fact that there was very little 

Michiel Reinoud 

POSTV Director 

Making Custom TV Effective 

at Point of Sale 

Founded in 2006, POSTV is the 

leading Dutch digital signage network 

operator focusing on the retail 

environment. Their networks are 

deployed at leading retailers such as 

Media Markt, t for telecom, Vodafone 

and Makro. They are part of the Neo 

Group, a Swiss Based company with 

activities in 8 countries. 


valuable data available when it came to audience statistics. In 

supermarkets and fast moving consumer channels, POSTV now 

provides feedback from AC Nielsen (to which almost every food 

retailer is connected). This means advertisers are now able to get a 

sales impact report in a format they are used to working with. 

POSTV also undertake exit interviews on a regular basis. Every three 

months, 800 customers are interviewed about their experience and 

the way they evaluate the content they have seen: whether or not 

they are inspired, the recall rates on advertising etc. 

Are ad agencies starting to catch 

on to Out of Home Digital Media? 

It’s just the beginning. According to Mr. Reinoud, “The industry is 

one or two years ahead of the agencies, but we have to keep 

providing them with ways of simplifying the process so that with 

one touch on their screen they can also book and plan campaigns 

in the digital industry.” While this is a fully digital medium, 

throughout the world it is not yet possible to plan and process a 

campaign in the same way it is done for national radio or TV. 

“That’s one of the things we are working very hard on implementing 

before the end of the year,” says Mr. Reinoud. 

www.cleverdis.com

The Importance of Broadsign’s 

Hosted Software Solution 

According to Mr. Reinoud, it is essential to use the most reliable 

platform: “One thing is having flexibility and the fact they are fully 

dedicated to development. Every three to five months there is a full 

new release, with new features. That’s very important. 

The other thing is the constant feedback that Broadsign gives us. We 

need that feedback in order to give our reporting back to the 

agencies and advertisers. When an advertiser asks for 16,000 

impressions, we are able to get the feedback that shows that we did 

indeed make those impressions. That’s one thing Broadsign does 

very well.” 



2 Business Models: 

POSTV currently uses two business models in the rollout of Digital 

Signage. The first is called “Corporate TV”, wherein a client such 

as Vodafone simply employs the company for their services, and 

POSTV take care of all aspects of the network. The second 

possibility is that of the “advertising” model where POSTV go as far 

as investing 100% in the creation of the network, and then work on 

a revenue-share basis. 

POSTV consists of five divisions (IT, channel exploitation, channel 

management, content production and marketing services) that work 

closely together to optimally enhance the power of Captive 

Audience Networks.POSTV network currently reach over 6 million 

shoppers per 4-week periods, making POSTV the largest digital 

advertising network in the Dutch retailing. POSTV connects with 

shoppers by providing engaging entertainment content, relevant 

shopper information and highly effective advertising. POSTV 

network comprises of leading nationwide retailers, such as 

MediaMarkt, Makro, T for Telecom and Vodafone. It counts 

amongst its advertising clients tier-one companies such as Canon, 

Gillette, Heineken, Nokia, Samsung and Unilever. 


SMARTreport 

“Mall in the Family” 

ADSPACE NETWORKS 

AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT PROJECT IN US 

MALL 

Project Overview 

Adspace Networks Inc. (web site: 

www.adspacenetworks.com) builds, owns 

and operates the Adspace Mall Network, a 

network of full-motion digital displays located 

throughout select malls across the United 

States. 

Objectives 

Digital Signage has remained a largely 

unmeasured medium. Advertisers are asking 

for proof of effectiveness and Adspace 

wanted to provide that proof by accurately 

measuring audiences viewing their digital 

signs in malls. The objective was to determine 

how many people watched the screens, how 


long they looked for and get a better 

understanding of viewer demographics. 

Solution 

TruMedia iCapture audience measurement 

solution was installed on 6 screens in 3 

different malls. The iCapture Ultra Cam, a 

unique high-resolution, wide dynamic range 

camera was placed above each screen and 

oriented towards the audience. While videobased 

solutions often have difficulty 

functioning accurately with bright back lights, 

harsh lighting conditions were easily 

overcome with the use of these wide dynamic 

range cameras. Viewers' faces are analyzed 

in real-time by the iCapture video processor to 

determine true "face towards" counts and 

individual exposure times. Further real-time 

classification algorithms determine the 

viewer’s gender and age group. 

The project is still under way. Final results will 

be released early 2008. 

600 Public Busses in Sao Paulo are taking 

Entertainment and Information on Board 

APB PRODATA / MIXER, BRAZIL, 

WINMATE 

APB Prodata is the largest manufacturer and 

Installer of ticketing systems in Brazil. The 

company’s systems are installed in around 

80 000 public buses. APB evaluated the 

solutions available for this particular 

application and finally decided to use the 

Winmate Digital Signage solution MSS300. 

A rugged, small Digital Signage network 

player with high reliability, it is able to play 

MPEG 1, MPEG2 and MPEG4s in standard 

definition. Key points concerning this decision 

were the small form factor with very high 

reliability, the extremely long lifetime of the 

product and the support of an API Software 

Development Kit, that allowed APB to 

implement full player management within only 

3 months. 

The first pilot run with 600 installations went 

very smoothly. Each bus was equipped with 

2 19” LCDs, one in the front and one in the 

middle, in order to ensure every passenger 

has the best possible view. Each bus has one 

Network Player MSS300 installed which 

plays simultaneously on both LCDs. Thanks to 

improvements and optimized features in 

network communication, the system is able to 

update over 400GB of Content to the 600 

Busses in a few hours. 

The system works with Wireless-LAN to 

update the 600 buses in their garage 

overnight, so that the next morning when the 

buses start their tour, customers can see new 

content such as weather forecasts and news. 

The system ensures the entertainment is never 

boring. Winmate’s MSS player series is 

equipped with industrial grade CF cards and 

it takes only 5 Watts of power. All 

components are chosen to have an expected 

lifetime of around 10 years. 

During the first testing of API integration, pilot 

installation of 20 players and then the rollout 

to all 600 Players, the co-operation between 

Winmate and APB Prodata was very close. 

Each of the companies designated a 

dedicated team for optimum communication, 

support and integration. Ken Lu, General 

Manager of Winmate, said: “This is our style, 

we work very closely with all our customers, 

to ensure the final result is a success! We 

know the difficulties in the PC and Digital 

Signage Business but with this strategy 

Winmate is continuously growing and 

developing very fast!” Marcelo Ceccon, 

Project Leader APB Prodata, added: “As a 

solution provider we need strong and 

professional partners and very good support. 

The system is very high quality and has 

amazing reliability. It has so many 

advantages compared to a “PC-based” 

solution. As we are also in charge of servicing 

the system, we care a lot about the service 

costs and the total cost of ownership. We are 

sure we can have huge success after this first 

Pilot run.” 

Nearly Empty Bus Parking during the day. Over night it 

is packed with 600 buses. 

© Photo: Adspace Networks 

© Photo: Winmate 

www.cleverdis.com

© Photo: Tapinto 



Edinburgh Directory - Cab screens to 

tap into the tourist market 

Tapinto is an innovative new city-based 

Information, Entertainment and Advertising 

Directory, to promote Edinburgh’s ‘BEST’ local 

businesses and local events to residents, 

tourists and visitors. The Tapinto systems were 

recently installed into 50 local executive, 

private hire cars operating within Edinburgh. 

An 8’’ high resolution touch screen, situated 

within the passenger headrest presents the 

advertiser’s messages to a potential 90,000 

customers each month. The passengers can 

navigate their way freely through Tapinto’s 

interactive ‘touch screen’ directory, taking 

them to the classification of their choice. In 

A Cleverdis Publication • 45 avenue jules Cantini • 13006 Marseille • 

France • Tel: + 33 442 77 46 00 • Fax: + 33 442 77 46 01 • 

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SARL capitalised at €128,250 • VAT FR 95413604471 • RCS Marseille 

B 413 604 471 - 00024 

• Publisher: Gérard Lefebvre (gerard.lefebvre@cleverdis.com) 

• Publishing Director: Jean-Guy Bienfait (jeanguy.bienfait@cleverdis.com) 

• Editor-in-Chief: Richard Barnes (richard.barnes@cleverdis.com) 

• Editorial Coordination & Design: Valentina Russo 

(valentina.russo@cleverdis.com) 

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• Cover © photo: C-nario • Printing: Imprimerie Toscane (Nice – France) 

• With the participation of: Clément Lariviere 

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(jeanfrancois.pieri@cleverdis.com), Gary Smith 

(gary.smith@cleverdis.com), 

Bettina Spegele (bettina.spegele@cleverdis.com). 

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2815 

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results could differ materially from the expectations outlined in these statements. 

Cleverdis assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking 

statements during the period of publication. Photo Credits and Copyright: All Rights 

Reserved 

addition, the system’s Bluetooth feature makes 

it possible to distribute electronic flyers, 

discount offers, location maps or even a 

promotional AV presentation directly into 

potential customer’s mobile phone. They can 

then reclaim the offer when they visit the 

advertiser’s business. The system feature’s the 

‘BEST Edinburgh has to offer' to passengers 

whether their visit is for business or pleasure, 

including the ‘best’ restaurants, bars and 

clubs, attractions, shopping experiences, etc. 

It also includes up-to-date information on local 

theatre programmes, cinema listings and local 

events. Mark Greenhalgh, managing director 

of Tapinto Ltd, said: “Tapinto is a world-first for 

Edinburgh and gives visitors instant access to 

information they don't get when visiting other 

cities. The taxi company with the systems 

installed into their fleet have reported 

passengers are calling to book taxis and 

requesting a taxi with the system fitted”. 

About Tapinto 

Tapinto are expert in the provision of 

mobile narrowcast digital screen networks, 

principally for use in taxis and 

buses. These captive audiences are 

engaged by relevant information, interactive 

and entertainment experiences, creating 

location and non-location sensitive 

advertising opportunities for network 

owners to exploit. The systems are remotely 

updateable, which allows network 

owners and managers to control the network 

from a single location. Tapinto’s services 

also comprise the design, supply, 

installation, support and maintenance of 

bespoke hardware and software solutions 

both in the UK and internationally. 

www.tapinto.info 

stand C47 


SMARTreport 

© Photo: C-nario 

Powered by C-nario – Digital Signage 

Installation at O2 Arena, UK 

The Challenge 

The Millennium Dome, located on the bank 

of the Thames River in Greenwich, London, 

had stood deserted for a number of years 

when the Anschutz Entertainment Group 

(AEG, www.aegworldwide.com) decided 

to renovate and transform the forgotten 

attraction into the largest entertainment 

venue in Europe. Many millions of pounds 

sterling later, the O2 Arena consists of two 

sprawling performance arenas, an 

exhibition center, leisure and dining 

attractions and more. AEG looked for the 

right tools to create a high-impact, dynamic, 

and cutting-edge atmosphere using several 

screens in and around the Arena. The 

requirements were simple: top quality 

playback devices, capable of supporting a 

wide range of resolutions, synchronizing 

video streams, and geometrically correcting 

presentations on 360 degree displays; the 

ability to capture live HD feeds from 

cameras and distribute it to designated 

screens; and the convenience of uploading, 

designing, managing and controlling all the 

displays and content from a central 

operation center (NOC). Other critical 

factors were the ability to create playlists, 

distribute them, and monitor the network 

performance at all times, as well as control 

lighting devices via DMX protocol, screens, 

and video matrices via serial ports. 


The customer 

AEG is one of the leading sports and 

entertainment presenters in the world. A 

wholly owned subsidiary of the Anschutz 

Company, AEG owns or controls a 

collection of companies including facilities 

such as STAPLES Center, Toyota Sports 

Center and The O2 Arena; Sports 

franchises including the Los Angeles Kings 

(NHL), Los Angeles Riptide (MLL), and more; 

two hockey franchises operated in Europe, 

AEG Marketing, a sponsorship, sales and 

consulting company; AEG Merchandising, 

a multi-faceted merchandising company; 

and AEG Creative, a full-service marketing 

and advertising agency. 

The Solution 

C-nario Messenger V3.1 provides all of the 

features AEG was looking for, and more. 

Brought to the project by Philips Vidiwall, Cnario 

Multilayer player supports all 

resolutions, from 50 x 80 pixels to HD 

1080p, and synchronizes any number of 

content streams to any number, size, 

resolution, or arrangement of screens. Cnario 

provides full control over lighting 

devices, displays, matrices, and any other 

controllable device, and provides top 

quality content management and distribution 

tools as well. The C-nario Messenger 

addresses all the challenges: To generate 

several play-lists to different screens 

according to differing parameters and rules: 

A few content items are scheduled to a 

specific time (exactly at 21:00, when the 

show begins, for example), while other 

spots are scheduled by number of exposures 

(400 exposures a day for a specific 

sponsor). Additional items function as fillers 

on a free time basis, and real-time feeds are 

streamed from the cameras during the show 

to specific screens. Such complex tasks 

require robust and flexible management 

tools. The C-nario Calendar workflow 

plug-in, created for such demanding 

challenges, provides a perfect solution to all 

these needs. 

The Success 

Tom Mudd, the broadcast manager at the 

02 Arena, describes the C-nario Messenger 

3.1 and its Calendar scheduling tool as an 

example of what makes C-nario’s 

technology such a good fit for the venue. 

“The C-nario Calendar enables me to 

allocate targeted content to different 

displays at different parts of the day. It is a 

very precise and accurate tool, and it is 

very easy and intuitive to use because of the 

visual representation and graphic interface. 

Plus, its efficiency is a real time-saver.” 


www.cleverdis.com

Minicom distributes content to 

the big screen 

Arena is a Swiss cinema chain. In March 

2007, it opened its latest cinema complex in 

Zurich. The complex was designed to be sleek 

and modern, including 90 digital screens 

throughout the cinema complex, for example in 

the lobby, in the concession stands and in the 

bathrooms. The screens showcase coming 

attractions as well as other promotional content. 

Ad Notam, a Swiss company, who specializes 

in delivering moving images with sound on 

mirrors and glass surfaces were called in to 

install the system. They originally turned to VGA 

cable but it was unable to deliver quality images 

over long distances. Subsequently, they 

recommended the use of Minicom’s Video 

Display System (VDS) and VGA Data Transmitter 

(VDT). The VDS is the quickest and most efficient 

way to transmit rich multimedia content in realtime 

from the player to multiple displays. The 


VDT is for screens which need to be connected 

directly to the source and is the most reliable 

way to ensure real time delivery of rich, 

dynamic content without burdening the network. 

Moviegoers get a genuine thrill from seeing 

screens in unusual locations such as the lobby 

floor and in the bathrooms. The system is easy 

to update and features adapted multimedia 

content, while requiring minimal supervision 

and maintenance. 

www.minicom.com 



© Photos: Minicom

SMARTreport 

© Photo: Cayin Technology Co., Ltd. 

Custom TV 

Focus on Top Worldwide Projects 

CAYIN TECHNOLOGY 

CO., LTD. 

Taiwan – FamilyMart Roll 

Out A 1,500-Site Island- 

Wide In-Store TV 

Network 

FamilyMart, an international convenience 

store chain, is utilising its strength in retail to 

deploy an in-store TV network in its high 

density outlets in Taiwan. PilotTV, a pioneer 

digital media company, has incorporated 

with FamilyMart to host what is currently the 

largest in-store TV network in the region: 

Fami Channel. 

The Challenge – Stand Out 

From Brutal Competition 

Taiwan covers 36,000 km 2 with a 

population of 23-million people. In this highdensity 

environment, more than 8,000 

convenience stores run 24 hours a day, 7 

days a week. 

The aim of Fami Channel is to create a new 

retail media for consumers and advertisers. 

The implementation also provides 

FamilyMart with the opportunity to promote 

its own brand name and products. 

Successful Deployment - 

Cooperation With Dedicated 

Partners 

The pilot began in July 2006 with 112 Chi 

Lin 32” LCD displays and CAYIN SMP 

players installed in 60 stores. Six months 

later, the positive result had inspired the final 


decision to go for a full-scale deployment. In 

2007, FamilyMart had rolled out the instore 

TV network, including around 3,000 

screens and players in 1,500 stores islandwide. 

The successful deployment resulted from a 

number of dedicated partners: Chi Lin 

Technology, PilotTV, Cayin Technology, Bit 

Control, other content providers and 

advertising agencies, just to name a few. 

In this project, Chi Lin, a member company 

of the world-famous conglomerate Chi-Mei 

group, provides industrial-grade flat-panel 

displays and broad capability in highlyintegrated 

resources. PilotTV, a narrowcast 

media company 100% owned by Chi Lin 

Technology, cooperates closely with 

FamilyMart to operate the Fami Channel. 

Bit Control is in charge of the installation 

and maintenance of each store. 

In addition to the digital signage system, 

Cayin Technology also provides server 

hosting, content update, management of 

playlists, live system monitoring, and 

complete reporting of the system and 

playback details. 

Eye-catching Content – 

Creating Informative And 

Effective Media 

Fami Channel presents appealing and 

flexible media composition. Content on the 

screen includes daily news, commercials (2 

areas for video), life information (weather 

information, stock prices), ticker text (RSS 

feeds of promotional messages) and various 

Flash banners. Most stores installed two 32” 

LCD displays, one in-store for the shoppers 

and the other behind the store window for 

the outside pedestrians. 

Mac MA, general manager of PilotTV, said, 

“The FamilyMart in-store TV has actually 

announced a new media era for the 

Taiwanese market. PilotTV is one of the 

many media companies who have seen 

and believed the new media trend, but they 

are also pioneering, successfully realising a 

real deployment. The critical point is 

resource management, content creation, 

and platform stability for 24/7 operation 

and its accountability. I am pleased to 

cooperate with so many dedicated partners 

for this project and I feel that Cayin’s 

products and services can satisfy our needs. 

PilotTV can concentrate on the operation of 

Fami Channel and commercials thanks to 

the worry-free platform and support from all 

partners. PilotTV’s ambition is to set up a 

benchmark for in-store TV network in 

Taiwan, and I am happy that we are 

approaching the goal steadily!” 

© Photo: Cayin Technology Co., Ltd. 

www.cleverdis.com

© Photo: Omnivex 

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is 

Canada’s second busiest airport. It served 

17.5 million passengers in 2007. YVR’s 

terminals are architecturally striking, with the 

rugged beauty of British Columbia and the 

rich, cultural heritage of its people 

celebrated in the design and public art on 

display. 

The airport employs the latest technology, 

and offers more than 160 shops, services 

and restaurants to provide first class 

customer service to passengers and airport 

visitors. YVR consistently ranks among the 

world’s best airports in passenger customer 

satisfaction surveys. In addition to being the 

major West Coast airport closest to Asia, 

YVR is ideally situated on the Great Circle 

Routes, with infrastructure and services to 

handle the largest aircraft in the world under 

extreme weather conditions. Vancouver 

Airport Authority, a private, communitybased 

company, is responsible for 

managing, operating and developing YVR. 

After reviewing other digital signage 

software on the market, YVR chose 

Omnivex Display Management Software. 

Omnivex worked with the Vancouver Airport 

Authority’s Information Technology 

department to determine the goals of the 


digital signage system and outline the 

solutions Omnivex could offer them. All of 

the content for the screens is created and 

managed by YVR using Omnivex Display 

software. 

The content is shown on a variety of 

displays including LCD, plasma and LED 

boards. Using Omnivex DataPipe and 

SQLLink software, YVR is able to interface 

with their existing flight information 

database as a content source and as a 

means of triggering the appropriate content 

to be displayed. 

A key feature of this deployment is that all of 

the facility maps, directional instructions and 

baggage claim information are shown in 

the language appropriate to the current 

flight schedule. For example, if the flight is 

arriving from Hong Kong, information is 

shown in English and Chinese. With 

Omnivex DataPipe software, these changes 

take place automatically. In addition, the 

customs and immigration area features a 

large, full-colour LED board that welcomes 

passengers and display messages in 

multiple languages to aid the customs 

process. The ability to support multiple 

languages in the vast number of passenger 

communication situations makes visitors 

more comfortable and facilitates much 

smoother and more organized traffic flow 

throughout the terminal. 


International airport uses Omnivex 

Software to communicate in multiple 

languages 

YVR wanted to decrease perceived wait 

times by entertaining passengers using a 

live television feed and by showing news 

headlines and airport messages. Rather 

than run expensive television feeds to each 

display, the television channels are 

streamed over the network. Omnivex 

Display provides a borderless window for 

the desired television channel on the 

appropriate screen. This allows for the 

remaining space on the screen to be used 

for important airport messages, as well as 

date, time and weather. 



© Photo: Omnivex

SMARTreport 

© Photo: Dotflux 


Peter Muller-Bruhl 

CIO 

In this case study we pop up to 

Berlin where Peter Muller-Bruhl is 

in charge of all retail activities for 

the Mercedes Benz and Smart 

brands plus for the heavy trucks 

and vans and the Chrysler brand: 

approximately 150 Daimler 

Chrysler-owned locations and 

dealers and 200 independent 

dealers. We asked him to give us 

the background to this remake… 

Over the last couple of years I have seen all 

kinds of digital signage solutions coming 

and going which were all designed and 

manufactured centrally at our Stuttgart 

headquarters. We had digital signage pilot 

schemes in various stores, but the system 

gave us a lot of problems… the reason 


DaimlerChrysler AG 

Digital Media Remodelled by the CIO 

The Fascinating Case Study of Daimler Chrysler AG 

being that the company that formulated the 

concept did not consider what is technically 

and financially required to keep the system 

up and running. The other reason was that 

there was no 

consistency in the 

content stream. The 

infrastructure was 

not being managed 

properly because 

nobody considered 

this when the system was being designed. 

So the screens kept going blank. Then we 

had the football World Cup in Germany, 

and most dealers bought huge flat screens 

and projectors, which remained in the 

shops after the competition… but because 

there wasn't any content, they switched on 

MTV and BBC or some other news 

channels. Every time I went into one of 

those stores, I’d see commercials for other 

“...I started to invest hoping that 

the marketing people would see 

the benefits... and they did so 

much earlier than I expected...” 

brands! This made me want to find a 

solution and to do this I took the approach 

of an IT person. I was looking for an easyto-manage, 

centrally maintainable and 

relatively cheap 

architecture but I 

discovered that it 

was simply not 

available. All digital 

signage solutions 

require a relatively 

expensive or totally inflexible and difficult to 

manage IT infrastructure. Then I found 

Dotflux, a peer to peer data distribution 

system including the sort of infrastructure that 

could centrally manage the whole of the 

operating system, including all patches and 

potential changes to the software. There is 

also centralised control over the hardware, 

which is very important to me. 

This means you can monitor the screens 

and turn them on and off… 

Yes, and you can monitor the hardware that 

plays the content. You don't want IT people 

constantly having to check whether the 

screen is on or whether the player is on or 

if it’s overheating or if the hard drive is at the 

end of its lifecycle. You want somebody 

managing this centrally. If there is a 

problem, you want to find the problem and 

get somebody there as fast as possible. 

And what I found in the Dotflux solution was 

that they had provided everything I needed. 

Even though the system wasn't completely 

focused on managing digital signage, it 

was a technology solution that from an IT 

perspective was easy to manage across 

www.cleverdis.com

one, five or ten thousand locations. I don't 

need more staff except on the hotlines, and 

from a technology point of view, it is totally 

scalable. 

How often are the updates sent out and 

how much material is there in each 

update? 

Every new car is shown on the screens for 

about a month and then they are stored in 

an archive. Initially, it was important to find 

a solution that could show existing content 

as well as specially produced material. That 

guaranteed that we wouldn’t have any 

more blank screens because the marketing 

people weren't able to produce specialised 

content. And by using existing TV campaign 

content, I had about two to three hours of 

material that could be looped. So I didn't 

have to convince the marketing people to 

create new jobs and spend money. Now 

they see the potential and have started 

producing special campaigns for the media 

channel. Using Dotflux provides content 

from day one that is relevant to the brand. 


Even if it is not specially made for the 

channel, it is way better than MTV or BBC. 

How is the business model working inside 

Daimler Chrysler? 

We are at a very early stage. The 

marketing people are just beginning to 

envisage what the benefits are. The other 

day a colleague came to my office and told 

me "That's great, I can start saving on 

printing leaflets because I can put them on 

the screens." And it’s true that with printed 

leaflets, by the time you print it and put it in 

the stores it is already spring and nobody 

needs it anymore. I can be much more 

responsive and spend much less money on 

regular media such as print. 

At the moment, is it still a matter of 

convincing the marketing people to invest? 

I started to invest hoping that the marketing 

people would see the benefits... and they 

did so much earlier than I expected, to the 

point that they asked to sponsor the rollout, 


because they wanted it to be faster. That’s 

fine but it is also very important for me that 

our dealers invest financially in the system. 

They most usually want everything for free 

but in this case they have to pay a licence 

fee for the product and they pay for the 

financing of the hardware. The marketing 

department subsidizes a one-off fee to set 

up the screens and install the player, but the 

dealer pays the running costs. If you give it 

away for free, the dealers will tend to see it 

as some annoying idea from headquarters, 

but I want them to learn that this is a real 

tool for them. They get to choose the 

content, where the screens should be so 

effectively they are managing the system. 

And it’s very important that they have a 

sense of ownership. This has nothing to do 

with technology, it is pure psychology. I 

think this is where a lot of signage solutions 

out there go wrong. If you give it away for 

free, there is no sense of ownership of the 

effect at the point of sale. But on the other 

hand, I don't want them to feel like they 

own the technology, I want them to take 

ownership of the content side. 


© Photo: DaimlerChrisler

SMARTreport 


Selected Scala InfoChannel Case 

Studies 

Scala has an installed base of more than 50,000 licenses over the world. Below you will find a selection of 

a few case studies per vertical market Scala is operating in. 

Retail 

Ikea, UK 

The objective of IKEA TV in the initial phase 

is to promote the “Hero” product line, to be 

soon complemented with other initiatives 

including “Welcoming Customers to the 

store”, “How to shop” and “How to plan an 

IKEA Kitchen”. 

Throughout the UK, fourteen stores have 

been equipped with Scala InfoChannel 

software to distribute eight separate 

channels of content to screens distributed 

throughout the store in key locations. Each 

IKEA store uses an average of eight 

screens, placed at selected points-ofpurchase. 

Phase 2 of the IKEA TV Network will see 

three of the stores add ten additional 

channels and an excess of twenty screens 

per store. Phase 3 will expand the digital 

signage network with the remaining eleven 

IKEA stores after an evaluation process. 

When complete, IKEA TV could well be 

broadcasting two hundred and fifty (250) 

channels managed by over a hundred 

InfoChannel licenses. 


Betting 

Norsk Rikstoto, Norway 

Norsk Rikstoto has implemented an 

ambitious and innovative Digital 

Marketplace Channel for Rikstoto’s 1300 

commission agents located throughout 

Norway. 

Norsk Rikstoto, the foundation that 

administers racetrack betting in Norway, 

was searching for a more efficient and cost 

effective solution for delivering betting 

solutions to its customers. 

Traditionally, they printed a daily racing 

form, which provided information on 

racetrack odds, statistics on individual 

horses, and race day and location 

information. The printing costs and 

distribution logistics limited Rikstoto’s ability 

to expand their marketplace. 

The most significant issue was the timely 

delivery of betting information to the many 

outlets located around the country. The 

process relied on outlet managers to 

manually display the correct betting 

information at the right time and replacing it 

when new information became available. 

Delivering the correct betting information at 

the right time became the key issue to 

ensuring every customer was provided the 

same level of service. 

Rikstoto, in conjunction with Scala Nordic, 

Sony PSE, ELO, LG and HP is implementing 

a Digital Marketplace Channel of 1300 

kiosks for its commission agents located in 

90 gas stations and more than 1000 small 

local stores throughout Norway. 

Pharmacies 

Pharma Channel, Morocco 

A Scala InfoChannel Digital Signage 

Network has been deployed at more than 

one hundred (100) Pharmacies throughout 

Morocco. Scala Certified Partner Impact 

Net recognized a new opportunity in the 

Moroccan market to promote 

Pharmaceutical products. As a result the 

Pharma Channel was created to offer a 

new digital and interactive advertising 

channel for pharmaceutical companies, 

focused at enhancing their sales. The most 

significant challenge in this project was to 

convince each pharmacist to approve the 

implementation of all necessary equipment, 

including: LCD screen, computer and 

Internet connection on their premises. 

“Pharma Channel” partners were able to 

convince about one hundred pharmacies in 

main locations in cities, like Casablanca 

and Rabat, to contract them for a three-year 

period, without paying anything for the 

deployment! 

This network is the biggest InfoChannel 

network in Northern Africa and consists 

currently of more than one hundred 

InfoChannel Players. 


www.cleverdis.com

Digital Signage Market - The Snowball Effect 

In the past year, a plethora of studies have appeared covering the out of home digital media 

market, all investigating different aspects of market growth and all valid within their spheres. 

While there are several economic models, the market for advertising through digital signage 

per se (known as “Narrowcasting”) is reportedly set to experience more than 25% CAGR 

(Compound Annual Growth Rate) over the next few years. 

Inflection Point 

While Out Of Home Digital Media Networks come in all shapes and sizes, over the past few 

years, growth in advertising revenues from specific “ad-based” networks has been under 

target. The reason for this is that expectations were too high due to overly enthusiastic 

promoters and unsophisticated or unadventurous ad agency account managers. The problem 

for the agency people was a total lack of usable data... so – no metrics – no money! This is 

now changing with new ways of measuring audiences, including such things as webcam-like 

cameras placed on screens that measure not only the time someone is in front of the screen, 

but whether they are facing the screen or not, and even, shortly, what sex they are. 

Harbingers of the Future 

PART TWO 

Market Data, Analysis & White Papers 

In January 2007, Cisco Systems jumped into the growing digital signage market with the 

introduction of a new Digital Media Manager and Digital Media Player duo. Cisco are very 

bullish, reportedly expecting the digital signage market to top $3.6 billion by 2011. 

According to IDC analyst Melissa Webster, "It's been a hugely fragmented market. What we 

haven't seen is an enterprise plug-and-play approach from a very large vendor. Cisco is very 

able to provide plug-and-play solutions." Many large display manufacturers in the space – like 

Sony, Panasonic and JVC – are now proposing broader offerings for Digital Signage 

applications, including specialised software and/or hardware packages. Meantime with 

Google announcing a “way-finding kiosk” and Microsoft reportedly planning to join the fray, 

all we can say is “WATCH THIS SPACE”.

SMARTreport 

The Out of Home Digital 

Media Market 

An Overview by Cleverdis 

The Out of Home Digital Media market is 

further consolidating this year as one might 

well imagine given its impetus, the onset of 

yet more “big guns” in the sector, and 

increasing competition fostering increased 

professionalism. People now have a 

broader choice in Central Management 

Systems and software suites with the latter 

becoming on the one hand easier to use, 

and on the other, far more able to handle 

bigger networks, with more choices of 

group configuration and day-parting. 

Suppliers such as Scala, Broadsign, Cisco, 

Digital View Media, YCD, or 3M in this 

respect give a plethora of choices. 

When it comes to infrastructure, suppliers 

such as KPN, Arqiva, Hughes, and now 

Cisco (via various partners) are creating a 

colourful variety of offerings. 

Interactivity Becoming a Key 

Value-Add 

Screens are generally attached to the 

internet somehow, right? This being the 

case, and with the Internet being the 


ultimate interactive media, it has taken 

about until now for project planners to figure 

that it may be an idea to USE that 

interactive capability to add value to digital 

media in many applications. “All in One” 

service providers such as ScreenRed use 

interactivity as a key selling point in many 

cases. Various means can be used to 

interact with screens, such as SMS, 

Bluetooth, or touch screen interfaces. The 

latter are becoming increasingly common, 

and today a number of vendors are 

proposing touch screen interactive 

initiatives, such as those deployed recently 

at Marks and Spencer’s in the UK last year 

by Avanti ScreenMedia. 

Retail Networks Come of Age 

While business models are very numerous, 

it appears that advertising funded retail 

networks (partly or fully funded) are finally 

coming of age, for three primary reasons: 

• Vastly improved understanding of what 

works and what doesn’t work in terms of 

Out of Home advertising campaigns and 

how to relate them to other media; 

• Improved content creation and 

management, meaning better ROI for 

campaigns; 

• Finally, the ability to measure results 

thanks to several new audience 

management systems coming onto the 

market, such as TruMedia. Where 

before, ad planners had NO metrics at 

all to go by, today, they have the 

possibility of obtaining even more 

detailed results than those of traditional 

electronic media. 

We believe that these factors, coupled with 

more savvy selling techniques (A new 

company, Dunnhumby, took over the 

running of TescoTV in 2006 and thanks to 

their good knowledge and clever use of 

CRM, club card and loyalty schemes, are 

starting to create revenue and benefit for 

that network. 

■ 


www.cleverdis.com



James Henry 

Chairman and co-founder 

Digital View Group Ltd 

How do you see the digital signage market 

developing in 2008 ? 

Generally the market has continued to 

develop more or less as we anticipated a 

year and a half or two years ago. That is to 

say that there hasn’t been any dramatic 

explosion of sales where all the companies 

involved suddenly grow into huge entities. 

Rather there has been a lot of trialling and 

experimentation as the market finds its feet. 

One of the things that has continued which 

I don’t see as a positive is that some markets 

are extremely competitive. We have been 

aware for some time that the barriers for 

entry into the market, where people could 

say that they were offering digital signage 

solutions were quite low whereas the 

barriers to true expertise are comparatively 

high. The problem is that the customers are 

often unaware as to who really has the 

expertise and, due to the competitiveness of 

the market, you will often find several 

companies chasing the same deal, which 

can be very confusing for clients. 

This year we’ve seen Cisco enterting the 

market and they clearly have big 

ambitions. What do you think about their 

move ? 

I think it was fairly obvious for a while that 

Cisco and companies of that size would be 

entering the signage market. The sector 

does require a big infrastructure element so 

from that point of view it was unsurprising 

that they made their move. We were aware 

for some time that companies were trying to 

sell digital signage to Cisco’s clients and 

this no doubt attracted the attention of the 

company’s management. 

Out-of-Home Media 

New growth areas are something that 

seems to have been on the back burner for 

a while, but with the arrival of adsupported 

signage networks and ever 

more sophisticated means of gauging 

customer impact, 

how big do you 

think digital signage 

could become ? 

To answer that we 

have to consider 

how retail might 

develop over the 

next few years. 

Increasingly in town 

centres we are seeing single-brand retailers, 

when I travel I see that major cities all 

around Europe are increasingly dominated 

by this sort of outlet and so the question 

becomes – ‘where do ad-supported 

networks fit in to all this ?’ One immediately 

thinks of department stores, major 

supermarkets and superstores such as B&Q 

DIY outlets. Ad-support is definitely going to 

PART 2 • Market Data, Analysis & White Papers 

“Ad-support is definitely going to be a dynamic 

growth area” 

“A hybrid model where 

funding is mixed, with costs 

underpinned by one source 

and augmented by 

ad-support, provides 

an extra element of security 

and is the most solid 

emerging business model.” 

be a dynamic growth area but I also think 

that we’ll see a hybrid model where funding 

is mixed, with costs underpinned by one 

source and augmented by ad-support. This 

provides an extra element of security and is 

the most solid 

emerging business 

model. 

Metrics are 

increasingly accurate. 

How important is this 

ability to measure 

faces in front of 

screens ? 

If you’re going to try and sell time on a 

screen, some form of credible measurement 

is already important and it will become 

critical in the future. The fact that more and 

more networks will be competing for 

people’s attention and ultimately for their 

dollars, means that advertising agencies 

are going to want to know what sort of 

return they are getting on their investment. 


© Photo: Out-of-Home Media


Executive Team: Patrick Quinn, President/CEO; 

Leo Kivijarv, Ph.D., Vice President/Research; 

Tabor Ames, Vice President/Marketing 

Methodology 

The PQ Media Alternative Out-of-Home 

Media Forecast 2007-2011 provides 

exclusive data and analytics tracking 

spending and trends in video advertising 

networks & screens, digital billboards & 

displays, and alternative ambient 

advertising. In defining the alternative out-ofhome 

sector and which media segments to 

include or exclude, we quickly eliminated a 

number of ancillary industries that have 

applications closely related to alternative 

out-of-home, including promotional 

strategies such as in-store and point-ofpurchase, 

and event marketing strategies 

aimed to create a buzz known as word-ofmouth, 

guerrilla or street marketing. In 

defining the alternative out-of-home 

category, we sought the advice of our 

aforementioned media leader panel 

regarding various data and information that 

should or should not be included in the 

segments or subsegments of this sector. 

Alternative Out-of-Home Media 

Analysis, 2001-2006 

Arguably the world’s oldest mode of 

advertising, out-of-home (OOH) media has 

been electrified in recent years by what 

could be dubbed a perfect storm: the 

convergence of favorable consumer, 

advertising and technology trends 

All three subsegments of alternative OOH 

media — video advertising networks & 

screens, digital billboards & displays, and 

alternative ambient advertising — are 

fueling the segment’s strong growth. Indeed, 

the development, advancement and 


employment of new technology, creative 

conduits and unconventional locations to 

connect with consumers are the driving 

forces keeping the OOH sector ahead of a 

fast-moving media curve. 

Consumer Trends 

Various recent data indicate that Americans 

are spending more time out of their homes. 

U.S. residents spend twice as much time 

outside their homes and workplaces than 

they did just a few decades ago. In 

addition, the average commute time to and 

from work each day in a personal vehicle 

or via mass transit has increased steadily for 

the past several decades to almost one hour 

per day currently. As a result, consumer 

exposure to OOH media is increasing in 

captive environments. 

Advertising Trends 

Faced with fragmenting audiences, 

diversifying demographics and an elusive 

youth market prone to media multitasking, 

leading brand marketers in recent years 

have been shifting ad dollars away from 

traditional mass media to alternative media 

strategies and tactics 

In short, marketers are seeking to improve 

their return on investment by creating and 

delivering more effective ads through 

multiple channels that will engage 

consumers without disrupting them. 

Marketers are endeavoring to do this in a 

measurable, cost-effective manner. Data 

gleaned from an exclusive survey of the PQ 

Media Global Opinion Leader Panel, 

which includes top media industry 

executives, indicates that there are nine 

important reasons why brand marketers are 

investing more money in alternative OOH 

media: 

• Product category exclusivity; 

• Proximity to point-of-purchase; 

• Measurable sales impact; 

• Ability to buy national, regional and 

local; 

• Niche audience targeting; 

• Quantifiable traffic exposure; 

• High engagement; 

• Flexibility in media format, location and 

time; 

• Cost effective – CPMs comparably low. 


Alternative Out-of-Home Media 

Forecast 2007-2011 

An exclusive primary research source from PQ Media 

Technology Trends 

New technology has been the key variable 

driving change in the media business for 

centuries, and its impact has become even 

more pronounced over the past decade as 

the rollout cycle of new or upgraded 

platforms has accelerated. These 

technologies have given consumers more 

control, efficiency and options than ever 

before. Consequently, advertising is 

transitioning from the traditional push model 

to a consumer-controlled pull model. A 

notable exception to this trend is the OOH 

media sector, which benefits from captive 

audiences and is using digital platforms to 

drive future growth. 

Video Advertising Networks & 

Screens 

Video advertising networks & screens 

(VANS), are also sometimes referred to as 

captive video networks, narrowcast 

entertainment, educational and advertising 

content to target audiences in various OOH 

locations. Growing financial investment and 

ad spending in the VANS segment is being 

fueled by research indicating ad 

effectiveness and technology enabling the 

accelerated rollout of advanced systems in 

a range of locations. 

Digital Billboards & Displays 

Digital billboards & displays (DBD) deliver 

advertising messages through boards and 

displays, with newer versions serving 

multiple brands and changing ads at 

predetermined times, as well as by motion 

recognition. DBD are located at-road, atretail, 

at-transit and at-events. 

Alternative Ambient Advertising 

Alternative ambient advertising, sometimes 

referred to as place-based media, includes 

advertising delivered via conduits and 

locations not used traditionally by OOH 

advertisers to reach consumers during their 

daily routines. The emergence and growth 

of the ambient market has been spurred by 

brand marketers seeking to target 

audiences using methods that are relatively 

non-intrusive and often unexpected. For 

example, signage targeting younger 

demographics in rest rooms at bars. 


“Digital art has become a major current of artistic 

expression within contemporary art. 

It engenders other innovative concepts such as 

dynamic art which adds movement to images and 

gives digital creations the breath of life that the 

surrealists dreamt of. 

Dynamic art uses a concept of perpetual movement as 

a basis for artistict creation. It is founded on the 

progress of time and its action on the artistict 

environment.” 

Patrick Goubet - January 2008 

Artist and founder of ArtDisplay 

www.artdisplay.fr 

ArtDisplay

© Photo: Focus On Emotions 


Focus On Emotions is a multi-task, 

International OOH Digital Media 

company, handling project, 

technological and content 

management, as well as 

undertaking general consulting 

projects in the field. We asked 

company CEO Ignacio Lamarca to 

give us his current views on the 

market… 

There are a lot of signals indicating that the 

digital signage revolution is here to stay 

and is ramping up quite rapidly. There are 

more and more references to new projects 

and wider deployments throughout Europe 

and, most significantly we have seen at 

least one important new digital signage 

network launched per month during the 

course of 2007, and we expect the market 

to grow over 70% in 2008. 

Is the market ready to show profits and a 

positive return to investments in digital 

signage? 

It is still a challenge to evaluate the real 

impact of point of sale solutions, mainly 

because they need to be seen in a broader 

context, but the potential for personalisation 


Ignacio Lamarca 

CEO 

Focus On Emotions 

Ignacio Lamarca is a former consulting director and European knowledge leader 

at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He leads Focus On Emotions' strategic planning. 

has both long and short term effects on 

customer relations. As the industry matures, 

there is clear proof emerging of its value. 

Do you have any metrics to underpin these 

opinions? 

If you provide tailored communication at 

point of sale you can increase traffic at your 

establishment by at least a 10-15%, and 

most of the customers consulted -- more than 

90% -- are generally satisfied with the 

media. Franchises, dealers and local 

retailers are almost 100% satisfied with the 

results and perceive it as a good 

innovation. Plus we have seen clear success 

stories like increasing sales of directly 

promoted products by a 10/15% over the 

previous period. 

What do you think are the key success 

factors in digital signage communication 

projects? 

It is very important to 

tailor the message to 

specific segments of 

the audience. Digital 

signage is not just 

about substituting 

printed material. The 

full potential of this 

media is about targeting messages to 

selected audiences. This means sending the 

right message to the right audience in the 

right moment and place. We worked with 

Orange to enable their points of sale to 

select their own promotions based on 

knowledge of their audiences, and then 

tracking this information back to 

headquarters. This of course requires a 


“We expect the digital signage market to grow over 70% in 2008…” 

Up-beat Market Projections and “Digital Signage 2.0” 

“The only way to assure the 

future success of digital 

signage will be by giving real 

short and long term value to 

customers at the point of sale 

or at point of service.” 

good market information system and a 

good multidisciplinary approach in terms of 

technology, content, information, analysis 

and market strategy. We combined this 

approach for Orange TV with mobile (SMS, 

Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) and kiosk feedback, 

enabling a complete multichannel proximity 

marketing strategy at point of sale. 

What do you think will be the next 

generation of digital signage? 

Digital signage 2.0 will be based around 

‘two way’ interaction between 

communicators and 

customers at the point 

of sale; using a cross 

section of different 

media (TV screens, 

mobiles and kiosks) 

alongside the 

increasingly 

sophisticated use of 

audience metrics and analysis of CRM 

data. In the future, these channels will 

inevitably be fully integrated with the data 

captured and the consequent CRM strategy 

approach. Channels are going to have to 

be value added, interactive and nonintrusive. 

The only way to assure the future 

success of digital signage will be by giving 

real short and long term value to customers 

at the point of sale or at point of service. 


© Photo: Focus On Emotions

Source: Meko Ltd. 

SMARTreport 

The OOH Digital Display Market 

Meko report confirms predictions of previous year 

Last time we contributed to the Cleverdis 

report on digital signage, we said that we 

expected to see some firming up of LCD 

prices during 2007 and that this 

development might lead to PDP makers 

having something of a revival after a long 

period of being squeezed out by LCD 

technologies. 

It looks as though we were right on this. 

Because of the strong demand for LCDs, 

price reductions for LCD panels slowed 

down in 2007 and in some cases, such as 

32”, the prices of panels actually rose 

during the year. We also saw in Q3 2007, 

the first quarter for a long time that PDP 

increased its share, quarter on quarter. 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

Bob Raikes 

Meko's Principal 

bobr@meko.co.uk 


However, we don’t expect this trend to 

continue. Samsung has new LCD capacity 

with a plant in Korea optimised for 46” and 

52” panels, so PDP is likely to be under 

some pressure. 

This year, there is real nervousness in the 

market because of the financial fallout from 

the sub-prime loan market in the US. The 

LCD market is very nervous and panel 

prices will probably fall slightly in Q1 of 

2008. However, we expect increased 

demand for LCD TVs in China to kick in by 

the end of Q1 2008 which will stop prices 

falling further. In addition, LCD makers have 

only limited capacity expansion plans after 

Q1 of 2008, as they were losing money in 

LCD vs Plasma By Volume - European Public Displays 

Plasma 

LCD 

0 

Q4 2005 Q1 2006 Q2 2006 Q3 2006 Q4 2006 Q1 2007 Q2 2007 Q3 2007 

Meko Ltd 

2006, when they needed to make the 

investment decisions that would have lead 

to a big capacity boost in 2008. 

As a result, we expect to see a real 

shortage in the LCD market for the period 

from around April to Q4 of 2008. PDP 

supplies could also be tight as the makers 

also cut back their expansion plans for 

2008. Prices for panels could rise. 

The other big story is that a technology 

breakthrough for PDP may see it clawing 

back market share from LCDs. One of the 

key metrics for PDP makers is the number of 

‘lumens per watt’ – that is the amount of 

light that a PDP can produce from a given 

amount of electricity. A lot of the cost of a 

PDP is in the electronics. Reducing the 

power consumption can dramatically 

reduce the cost of the electronics and so the 

cost of the whole panel. At the time of 

writing, commercial PDPs in the market 

produce around 2.0 – 2.5 Lumens per 

watt. However, Panasonic has privately 

demonstrated a panel with 5 lumens per 

watt and the Advanced Plasma 

Development Center in Japan (a joint 

project of Pioneer, Hitachi and Panasonic) 

is trying to develop 10 lumens per watt 

technology. If this high efficiency PDP can 

be developed, it will significantly reduce the 

cost of PDPs and could allow the 

technology to hit back at LCD, although PDP 

has a poor reputation in digital signage 

applications because of past ‘burn-in’ 

problems. These problems have been 

significantly reduced in the latest panels, but 

‘Once bitten, twice shy!’ 

www.meko.co.uk 

www.cleverdis.com

Chris Connery, vice president of 

market research at DisplaySearch 

(and former head of marketing for 

NEC Mitsubishi in the US among 

other things), has kindly passed on 

some of his most recent material. 

Following are some brief extracts… 

General Trends 

Some of the key trends we have noted in 

some of Chris’s recent presentations include: 

• The changing and emerging perceptions 

of “Commercial Grade” and “Consumer 

Grade” flat panels especially in OOH 

(Out-of-Home) markets 

• IT/AV buying confusion for installers of 

Digital Signage Solutions where they are 

seeing a “creep” of consumer-grade TV 

product being sold through commercial 

channels even though these products may 

not be optimal for OOH environments 

• The potential entrance of “big media 

companies” into the Digital Signage 

space (e.g. JC Decaux) and how the 

market looks to explode when this 

become more of a reality (with concerns 

such as “who pays for the CAPEX 

infrastructure change” from printed poster 

boards to flat panel displays being THE 

big issue du jour). 

The Public Display Market 

(Overall) 

By Size 

• Being pushed not only by PDP as a 

technology, but also by the absolute need 


Chris Connery 

Vice President, PC and Large Format 

Commercial Displays 

chris@displaysearch.com 

for larger size displays for Digital 

Signage and other Public Display venues, 

52” and 57” LCD displays are is 

forecasted to enter the mix in coming 

quarters but with the sweet spot still 

remaining in the 40”-42” category. 

• The single best selling size/resolution 

category, the 32” WSXGA+ category, is 

expected to continue to grow but growth 

in the combined 40” and 42” segments 

are expected to put this category ahead 

of 32” as soon as next quarter. 

• As is the case with the LCDTV market, 

many 42” LCD solutions are priced 

below 40” solutions as two of the biggest 

players in this space, LPL and S-LCD 

(Samsung and Sony) focus on 42” and 

40” respectively with 42” share growing. 

• The 55” category looks to be phasing out 

of production for now but a last-time sell 

out of this size is not unexpected (and is 

indeed forecasted for the 2nd half of 

2007). 

• It is unclear at this moment if demand for 

this size will shift up to 57” or down to 

46” but as of this forecast, 57” isn’t a 

player yet in the LCD Public Display 


DisplaySearch 

OOH DM Market Evolution 

…as seen by DisplaySearch 

market with NEC and Samsung being the 

only players to offer Commercial products 

based on this size (with Sharp also selling 

product in this size but in the case of 

Sharp it is more the fact that they are 

selling 57” LCDTVs commercially rather 

than selling Commercial-Grade product). 

WW Brand Results 

• Samsung remains the WW #1 leader in 

Large-Format Commercial displays 

having taken that spot from NEC in 

Q4’06. 

EMEA Brand Results 

• Samsung also remains the leader in LCD 

Public Display shipments in Q2’07 in 

spite of selling 1K fewer units into this 

region than the prior quarter. 

• NEC grew its market share lead in 

Q2’07 to almost 18%. 

• Philips grew its regional share from 

under 14% in Q1’07 to almost 18% in 

Q2’07. 

“Typical” price points for the most popular 

sizes/resolutions in Q2’07 (in $US): 

Q3 06 Q4 06 Q1 07 Q2 07 Q3 07F 

32" LCD $1,299 $1,119 $899 $899 $849 

40" LCD $2,599 $2,299 $2,199 $1,699 $1,499 

42" LCD $1,999 $1,799 $1,599 $1,399 $1,459 

46" LCD $3,899 $3,599 $2,999 $2,999 $2,699 

42" ED PDP $1,399 $1,249 $1,199 $999 $899 

42" HD PDP $1,999 $1,699 $1,299 $1,099 $949 

50" HD PDP $2,799 $2,399 $1,999 $1,699 $1,399 


Source: DisplaySearch

© Photo: POPAIdigital UK & Ireland 

SMARTreport 

Jason Cremins 

Head of POPAIdigital UK 

Digital signage, screen media networks or 

captive audience networks, whatever your 

take on the title of our fast moving industry, 

POPAIdigital has set up as a truly 

independent voice of the digital community. 

Now, for the first time, it is heralding 

revolution and metamorphosising, from the 

ground up, to provide a better, more 

positive, more in touch instrument of the 

industry, for the industry. 

POPAIdigital is all about retail and so it is 

vital to bring in retail organisations and 

personnel to our ranks as, after all, they are 

the very organisations and people that the 

industry is for. And this will strengthen our 

remit in providing access for members to 

research, education, training and 

networking, at the same time as offering 

access beyond the membership to a 


comprehensive supplier database for the 

industry as a whole. 

We remain aware that the world of digital 

communications is complicated, fragmented 

and often hard to understand: it is now our 

mission to ease the 

complication and 

bring together all 

parties to further the 

industry as a 

resounding success 

for the benefit of all. 

POPAIdigital UK 

POPAIdigital 

All about digital media in retail 

It was my pleasure, as newly appointed 

Chairman of POPAIdigital, to unveil our 

brand new Digital Media in Retail Forum, 

inaugurated specifically to provide a focus 

group targeted at exploring every aspect of 

what makes digital media in retail work. 

“We remain aware that 

the world of digital 

communications is 

complicated, fragmented and 

often hard to understand” 

We set out to include stakeholders from 

every discipline involved in the deployment 

of digital media in retail including, I am 

extremely pleased to point out, several 

retailers. 

Going forward with 

our rapidly 

advancing industry, 

this Forum will set the 

agenda for 

POPAIdigital moving 

ahead. That means 

homing in on obvious 

and perhaps basic aspects such as just 

what is digital media and how can it be 

used, to exemplifying the technology in 

retail and also providing more in-depth 

business models and nailing to the mast 

how we should establish objectives and 

measure success. 

This Forum will also be represented at all 

future POPAI events, reporting back on 

progress and findings, keeping members 

informed of developments in digital media 

in retail and lending an ear to suggestions 

for future research and important industry 

topics arising that need addressing. The 

ultimate objective of the Forum is to create 

an invaluable on-line resource for anyone 

considering, embarking on or even 

improving on digital media in retail. 

The inaugural meeting of the Forum took 

place on December 5. I believe it is the 

inauguration of a highly effective resource 

that our industry needs and can certainly 

use. 

www.cleverdis.com



Calculating TCO of Operating Systems 

A White Paper by Brian Dusho, Executive VP, 

BroadSign International (Extracts from AKA.tv article, June 2007) 

The two operating systems most widely used for digital-signage networks are Windows and Linux, and the 

purpose of this article is to help you get an idea of the advantages and the total cost of ownership. Many 

start-up network operators choose Linux because they don’t have to pay for the licence. But some of them 

discover later that the resulting cost of running Linux is not necessarily lower than that of using Windows. 

Microsoft clearly dominates the market. A new Windows version appears every two to five years. You do 

have to pay for a Windows licence and the fee depends on the version - XP Professional, XP Embedded, 

and so on. Linux, on the other hand, has no central owner and most of its components are free software 

(free to copy, modify, and distribute). 

Is Linux truly free? 

The zero cost of licensing for free Linux 

distributions is often the most attractive 

aspect of this choice, 

especially for large 

digital-signage 

networks. But this 

may be misleading, 

as the licensing fee is 

only part of the 

overall expense that 

you have to project. 

The most-commonly-overlooked cost related 

to deploying a network of Linux players is 

that of hardware support. 

In fact, hardware-support service providers 

are the market to which enterprise Linux 

distributors are catering. All enterprise 

versions come with a list of officiallysupported 

hardware, and a support 

schedule (which might state, for example, 

that this version will be forward-compatible 

for a certain period). 

This is similar to what Microsoft has been 

doing with new releases of Windows for 

well over a decade. Such support is not 

usually available with the free versions, 

though notably the Ubuntu Linux distribution 

comes with a guarantee of forward 

compatibility for five years. This is why we 

at BroadSign have standardized our Linux 

offerings around this distribution. 

TCO issues 

One of the biggest advantages of the 

Windows operating system is that it 

“From a digital-signage 

operations perspective, there 

are more things in common 

between Linux and Windows 

than there are differences.” 

supports all the newest hardware. Because 

of market pressures, hardware 

manufacturers always develop device 

drivers for Windows. 

While some provide 

them for Linux, not all 

of the many different 

distributions of Linux 

are covered. Driver 

support in Linux is not 

really a problem for 

pc components that 

are in widespread usage, or that are a little 

older. The DIY-and-share philosophy of the 

Linux community and increased investments 

by corporations integrating Linux into their 

enterprise means that somebody in the 

world will eventually fix the problem and 

everyone will benefit. However, you may 

have to wait until you get the required 

driver. 

No magic bullet 

From a digital-signage operations 

perspective, there are more things in 

common between Linux and Windows than 

there are differences. What is important is 

that you select your hardware in conjunction 

with your operating system and digitalsignage 

software. While Windows has an 

upfront licensing cost, its costs are fixed and 

predictable. Linux has the potential of a 

lower total cost of ownership, but much 

investment must go into the expertise for 

selecting the hardware platform, otherwise 

costs can balloon out of control. There is no 

magic bullet that will let you dramatically cut 

costs if you choose Linux. If you don’t 

already have a Linux-savvy IT department, 

any cost saving on the licence fee will 

backfire with the increased cost of training 

or hiring qualified people. 


© Photo: Broadsign International

SMARTreport 

A New Era of Point of Purchase 

(POP) Promotions 

A White Paper compiled by MediaTile 

A new era is upon us – the move from 

paper-based point-of-purchase promotions 

to digital signage. Recently, digital signs 

have been popping up everywhere in retail 

environments. With 70% of today’s 

consumer purchase decisions made at the 

shelf, more and more vendors are 

increasing their point-of-purchase 

promotional budgets in an effort to directly 

influence consumer purchase decisions. 

Combined with today’s lackluster TV, radio 

and print advertisement effectiveness, more 

than $40 Billion of the $165 Billion spent 

each year on advertising by US vendors 

will move to new advertising mediums 

within the next five years. These mediums 

include Out Of Home (OOH) Digital Media 

networks, mobile and Internet based 

mediums among others. According to 

recent research reports, sales of products 

promoted across Digital Signage Networks 

rose by as much as 300%. It’s no wonder 

that more and more retailers and vendors 

are adding in-store digital signage to their 

marketing and promotional plans. 

Advantages of Networked 

Digital Signage: 

Attract – Digital Signs use video and flash 

– they are bright, colorful and full of sound 

and motion, attracting more consumers to 

the products that are being digitally 

promoted in the store. 

Influence – Digital Signs influence 

consumer purchase decisions with 

compelling demonstrations, lifestyle selling, 

entertainment and more detail than paper 

promotions. 

Uplift – Digital Signs have demonstrated 

that they can increase product sales by as 

much as 300%, and are ideal for product 

tie-ins, cross-selling and other multi-product 

promotions. 

Comply – Digital Signs ensure that all stores 

have received and are playing the vendor’s 

product message; they do not require instore 

personnel, managers or others to take 

any action. 


Deliver – Digital Signs can accept the 

delivery of scheduled and approved 

promotions to thousands of stores 

automatically and virtually instantly. 

Target – Digital Signs can accept targeted 

messages on a per device, per store, or per 

region basis, enabling the right message to 

reach the right consumer. 

Train – Digital Signs can help train retail 

sales associates better understand the 

products in their category through ongoing 

exposure to promotions, or access to 

additional information. 

The Drawbacks of Wi-Fi / 

Ethernetbased Networked 

Digital Signage: Infrastructure 

Although Digital Signage Networks provide 

a breakthrough in product visibility, 

positioning, and instant message delivery, 

Digital Signs that are connected through 

Satellite or DSL services have traditionally 

required an in-store network using Ethernet, 

Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. These solutions have a 

major drawback: the requirement of in-store 

IT infrastructure. 

Infrastructure Cost – Network infrastructure 

is expensive to purchase, deploy and 

maintain – in many cases the hardware and 

networking infrastructure and deployment 

costs can exceed $10,000 per store, not 

including ongoing support fees. 

Infrastructure Complexity – Networked 

infrastructure is complex – stores must be 

refitted with new hardware and networking 

infrastructure that may have to be updated 

or replaced within a short 2 to 3 years. 

Infrastructure Time – Networked 

infrastructure takes time to deploy – because 

each store has to be refitted, many 

departments will be involved, including 

finance, operations, IT, and marketing. 

Infrastructure Security – Networked 

infrastructure that uses Wi-Fi or Bluetooth 

wireless networking could present security 

risks whereby hackers could push 

inappropriate content to store displays. 

Infrastructure Maintenance – Networked 

infrastructure requires maintenance and 

support by expensive IT professionals that 

must visit each store on a regular basis. 

The MediaTile Solution 

MediaTile is the world’s first provider of 

cellular-based digital signage networks. 

MediaTile enables retailers, brands, 

banks, facilities and narrowcasters of all 

types to deploy digital signage networks 

in far more places, in much less time, and 

realize ROI sooner. With our unique and 

patent-pending cellular-based approach, 

our award winning Digital-Sign-in-a-Box 

and web-based Broadcast Portal, we've 

made on-site network management, 

application software, and upgrades a 

thing of the past. The MediaTile Solution 

is the first Digital Signage Network 

system that completely eliminates the 

need for, and the problems and costs 

associated with, infrastructure-based 

systems. Now you can realize all the 

advantages of digital signage without 

any of the headaches. MediaTile 

products and services are available 

worldwide through our affiliate offices. 

For more information visit: 

www.mediatile.com 

© Photo: MediaTile 

www.cleverdis.com



The Emperor’s New Clothes 

A White Paper by Wututu’s CEO Xavier Capellades 

“Digital signage and POP media make no sense if their effectiveness cannot be measured” 

POP (point-of-purchase) and especially out-of-home digital media are no longer unknown for most 

marketers and advertisers. In fact, they have become the latest and most cut-though media to use. Although 

it is still a bit tricky to work out what the role of every actor in the digital signage industry is, the sector’s 

business structure has certainly reached a point in which the players concerned fundamentally know what 

digital media networks are for, how to manage contents, how to get advertising in and, more recently, how 

to measure their true impact on the audience. 

The Big Picture 

It is still hard, even for experts and bloggers, 

to give digital signage a particular identity 

within the advertising mix. So, in this sense, 

it may definitely be of great help to have a 

look at the big media 

picture to place digital 

media properly. We 

can set up a general 

distinction among four 

big media groups: 

traditional media, 

traditional out-of-home 

(OOH), new media, and, perhaps, digital 

out-of-home. The traditional media group 

includes the classical triumvirate: press, 

radio and TV. Traditional OOH has 

typically been referred to three main 

categories: billboards, street furniture and 

signage in transit areas (the last including 

POP elements). Later, the new media group 

came up, referring to Internet, mobile 

advertising and interactive TV. Yet there was 

a further age to reach: the out-of-home 

digital media’s, which was not included 

within the new media group but was clearly 

an innovative, technologically cut-through 

way of reaching potential customers out-ofhome. 

Digital signage shares features with 

other media: it has dynamic contents like 

TV; it is usually located in public venues like 

traditional out-of-home; and, similarly to 

new media, it has a high interactivity 

potential. 

Is Digital Media Naked? 

Marketers and advertisers immediately saw 

great potential in targeting dynamic 

advertisements to the audience in public 

venues. The problem appeared when they 

realized they could not really measure their 

effectiveness. Nobody dared to point out 

that this was an important issue that could 

greatly affect the value of digital media 

networks and, more generally, of any OOH 

& POP. 

Measuring the 

audience, 

a l t h o u g h 

impossible then, 

was suspected to 

be the key for 

s u c c e s s , 

especially by 

advertisers. Advertisers are now aware that 

allocating budget for OOH audience 

measurements systems is far from being 

useless. Such devices meet three basic 

needs: measuring the contents’ audience; 

effectiveness and ROI of the screens; and 

tailoring the contents to specific audiences 

“Measuring the audience, 

although impossible then, 

was suspected to be 

the key for success, 

especially by advertisers.” 

in real-time. This is crucial for purchasers of 

digital media networks, whether they use 

their own network to advertise themselves or 

sell the advertising space to other 

advertisers. At the end of the day, all this 

information mainly favors the decisionmaking 

process with regards to digital 

media. 

About the Author 

Xavier Capellades is CEO and partner at 

Wututu, a start-up that develops exclusive 

systems to improve the effectiveness and 

control of any out-of-home promotional & 

communication media. Xavier Capellades 

(MBA and BA in Telecommunications 

Engineering) joined Wututu after holding the 

position of Manager for the Entrepreneurship 

Program at La Salle’s Innovation Park 

(Barcelona, Spain) and after having helped a 

great number of technological companies 

start up their business. 

He can be contacted at info@wututu.com or 

by phone on +34 931 623 448. 


© Photo: Wututu

PART THREE 

Managing a Project from A to Z 

AnOut of Home Digital Media project calls upon a range of skills: strategy, finance, communication and 

technical just to name a few. While it’s normal to see a number of service providers – advertising 

agencies, software editors, content creation and management specialists, hardware manufacturers, 

installers and integrators – all intervening at different levels on a project, it is paradoxically rarer that the full range 

of services offered by one single operator be used. Projects are most commonly piloted by a marketing / 

communication department head working with general management. At the outset, they assume the strategic 

character of the project and are the final decision makers in financial terms. More recently, one of the main trends 

in major groups is the growing involvement of Information Technology Management. Intervening upstream, they 

include Out Of Home Digital Media into broader projects linked to the convergence of media, computing and 

telecommunications. These IT specialists are thus more and more at the heart of designing the infrastructure at the 

service of the different applications being developed by the company. As for other services, such as audiovisual, 

general, purchasing, human resources etc., they are often brought into play too late in the planning stages – 

sometimes when specifications have already been established. It is crucial to consult all services concerned at 

an early stage in planning, because for an Out of Home Digital Media project to work efficiently, all services 

have to work together in concert, with the support of everyone within the company. This also allows for the logical 

selection of the right “conductor” to bring harmony and rhythm to the orchestra. In order to assist you in your 

choice of "conductor", we have collected together in the following section the experiences of a number of major 

players in the current market that dealing with the broad range of skill sets required to put together a successful 

Out Of Home project.


SMARTreport 

Out of Home TV 

or Dynamic Digital Signage? 

The two predominant fields of media currently emerging in Out-of-Home Digital Media are “Out-of-Home TV”, and 

“Dynamic Digital Signage”. While the distinction between the two is sometimes hard to pin down, some distinctions can 

be made. 

Out-of-Home TV 

In the doctor’s waiting room, at an airport, 

or even in a queue at the post office or 

bank, we’re seeing the emergence of 

highly targeted video programming. This 

programming may be disseminated in 

various ways – either via high speed 

internet, through coded terrestrial TV 

channels or by satellite. Rather than being 

“broadcast” media, this is known as 

“narrowcasting”. It allows for highly 

specific programming and more importantly 

highly targeted advertising. In some stores, 

this kind of medium can also be used to 

create “ambiance”. 

The decision of whether to employ an Outof-Home 

TV network or even in-store video 

content, as opposed to brief messages, will 

largely rest upon how long the customers 

linger (dwell time) within eyeshot of a 

screen. The kind of advertising that works 

on an Out of Home TV network is NOT the 

same as that produced for broadcast TV. 

Specifically tailored advertising has to be 

regarded as an essential element. 


Dynamic Digital Signage 

Digital Signage is basically the 

replacement for traditional paper posters by 

screens. It is becoming very popular in 

many areas firstly, and most importantly, 

because in the medium to long term, it is a 

lot cheaper to set up a network of regularly 

updated screens, than printing, distributing 

and putting up advertising posters. The 

math is easy to do. Secondly, and also very 

importantly, Dynamic Digital Signage is just 

that – DYNAMIC … 

Through the use of colour, movement and 

creative imaging, the screens attract the 

attention of the passer-by. Here again, you 

must take into account dwell time when 

planning content and placement of screens. 

On a screen mounted in a shop window, 

you only have a a few seconds to attract 

a potential client’s attention – so the 

message has to work first time. “As people 

spend more and more time out of home the 

opportunities, and the audience for outdoor 

media grow ever stronger. This interactive 

experience shows how advertisers can 

reach people in a way that engages and 

entertains them. It’s about using outdoor in 

a creative way to reach people in the right 

place at the right time, in a way that is 

relevant to individuals. We’re not at the 

Minority Report stage yet but we are using 

technology and techniques developed by 

our Innovate division which enable brands 

to interact on a one-to-one basis with 

consumers.” - David McEvoy, Group 

Marketing Director of JCDecaux 

Two Kinds of Media with 

Undeniable Benefits 

According to POPAI, something like 70% of 

sales are decided in the shop and sales of 

featured products can increase by 

anywhere between 10 to 30% thanks to 

digital media – according to the results of 

several surveys on the subject. 

The reported effects, which can often work 

in tandem, are as follows: 

• playing a part in increasing turnover by 

encouraging the public to acquire 

products that are implicitly or explicitly 

promoted 

• accelerating the introduction of new 

products on to the market by facilitating 

awareness of their existence amongst 

both the public and retailers 

• allowing the communication of the 

existence of a wider range of product 

choice helping customers to find exactly 

what they want 

• offering advertising partners a dynamic 

medium of communication in the retail 

environment 

• heightened awareness of a company or 

group of companies amongst the general 

public 

• modernisation of a display area by 

making the point of sale more attractive, 

dynamic and contemporary 

• reinforcement of the feel or identity of a 

brand. 

www.cleverdis.com


PART 3 • Managing a Project from A to Z 

SPECIAL DOSSIER: Turnkey Solution Providers 

Defining the context: numerous factors have to be taken in to account. The first concerns the business model. Is the aim of 

your AV project to improve sales directly, to heighten awareness of your brand, create an atmosphere, to direct people to 

other locations?… The list goes on. Then comes the definition of the content and the technical considerations. 

Business Models – The 

Question of Financing 

There are 3 main business models in the 

Out Of Home Digital Media Sphere… 

Self Financed: The most common is the Self 

Financed project where 100% of the cost is 

paid by the client. This is the case in 

numerous internal communication projects 

and signage in the transport sector. 

Generally here, the client's aim is to create 

impact and improve brand image without a 

DIRECT cash return. 

Finance through Advertising: 100% 

financing through advertising is still quite 

rare although this is the fastest growing 

model right now. This model is being 

implemented in areas with major public 

thoroughfares. The network may be run by 

an ad-placement agency or directly in case 

of specialised shops. 

Mixed: Between these 2 extremes lies the 

Mixed model. It consists of opening part of 

the programming to advertising from 3rd 

party companies. For example a bank may 

open its screen network to advertising for 

cars – combined with promotions for 

personal loans. Here, ad-placement 

agencies may be brought into play. We 

suggest that you consider all these 

models… each has its advantages and 

disadvantages! 

Content 

What kinds of people will be looking at 

your screens? Where will they be and most 

importantly, what will the dwell time be ? 

For long dwell times, video is a good 

solution, whereas if people are walking by 

shelves or shop front windows, you need to 

look at developing bright, eye catching 

“digital posters”. 

For simple signage projects, content 

creation may be done inhouse, whereas for 

more complex video projects you should 

consider outsourcing. Defined audiences 

demand targeted content. 

Content has to be managed. You will have 

to create “playlists” just like radio or TV 

stations. Specific software packages exist 

for the purpose of scheduling and 

uploading content. 

Content is created in a central location and 

delivered across a network, generally over 

the Internet. This requires special software, 

as it’s not quite as simple as sending an 

email… although with some of the new 

software packages available it almost is! 

Technology: Physical Network 

& Screens 

In most cases each screen is equipped with 

a PC which has its own IP address and is 

thus able to display different content. Some 

screens now also have the option of having 

a built-in PC board, meaning you don’t 

have to have a big box under the screen. It 

is also possible to have one central 

computer sending content to a number of 

screens. More recently, this kind of solution 

has been developed to the point that one 

computer can play different content on 

different screens at the same time in one 

location. The right decision here will save a 

lot of money over time. 

The type of screens you use will depend on 

their position: 

• Image Wall – If you need a VERY big 

picture, consider a front projection 

solution. Many of today’s projectors are 

bright enough to give an excellent image 

over a very large space, and you are 

able to play with surfaces and effects in 

numerous ways. In addition, digital 

projectors have come of age and are 

able to be used even in 24/7 situations 

depending upon the model. “Tiled” 

plasma and LCD units are also a 

solution. Rear projection (tiled) is 

disappearing from the scene. 

• 50-150” – Plasma screens are generally 

used for applications using a screen of 

over 50”. 

• 37-50” Screens – LCD and Plasma are 

competing neck and neck here. LCD has 

less of a problem with image burn-in, 

and generally has better contrast than 

plasma in bright conditions. Plasma has 

better contrast than LCD in dimly lit 

conditions. 

• Up to 37”, it’s now LCD all the way. 

ALTERNATIVE – To be different, you may 

consider a “holographic” (i.e. “Holopro”) 

screen, or even a “fogscreen” – an invisible 

wall of vapour on which you can project 

images that seem to be floating in the air!! 

Maintenance issues 

Maintenance will be important when 

considering Total Cost of Ownership. Look 

closely at the maintenance contracts on offer. 


© Photo: ScreenRed

© Photo: ScreenRed Developing 

SMARTreport 


Brian J. Douglas 

Could you please give us an overview of 

the key points people should take into 

account when developing a system that 

works? 

There are several key points to take into 

account. A successful pilot is one thing, but 

when a roll-out extends to a large number of 

sites, things can go very differently. 

Currently there are over 200 suppliers in the 

marketplace for digital signage solutions; 

some have been proven and some haven’t. 

Unfortunately a lot of companies looking at 

digital signage don’t always study what’s 

behind the pricing, and cheap and cheerful 

normally means that when a network starts 

to grow the software will not keep up. It is 

vital for a company to look behind any 

pricing... asking for references, looking at 

sites, and investigating how a system 

performs in real life situations. This sorts the 

wheat from the chaff. Additionally the 

required resources to manage a digital 

signage system need careful consideration 

Director of Business Development & Marketing 

Brian is responsible for Marketing within John Ryan. He most recently ran his own Marketing 

Consultancy for over four years, and prior to this worked at Nortel as Director of Marketing, 

Industry Solutions, and at Unisys looking after Marketing for Southern Europe. Brian has a 

BCom in Business from Edinburgh University, a Diploma in Grocery Marketing, Diploma in 

Marketing, Masters in Marketing from Greenwich University, is a Chartered Marketer and most 

recently completed a Programme in Management Development from IESE Business School. 


– what might appear to be straightforward 

and simple can transform into a veritable 

sponge for company resources when size 

or complexity is added to the network: we 

currently have one client for whom we 

manage a network of over 1,000 sites 

(where content is updated on a daily basis) 

with three channels per site and each site 

having one unique channel, and we only 

have one person working part-time. This is 

an example of a low total cost of ownership 

that few solutions can match. ScreenRed 

calls its system the “Digital Marketing 

Platform”, so it’s not just digital signage – 

we’re coming from a marketing 

background. Indeed, we’ve taken the 

approach of bottom-up rather than topdown. 

We first developed our system 

based on specific customer requirements 

17 years ago and have gone on to 

develop it further from there, based on the 

feedback from that customer and many 

others over the years about what they 

wanted to do with digital signage. 

ScreenRed 

a System That Works 

How important is it for a company looking 

at doing a digital signage project to get 

advice from someone who knows exactly 

what type of content they should put on the 

screen... for example, should it be in-store 

TV or simple messaging etc? 

While external input is important in giving 

some direction, the true value in a digital 

signage project stems from a clear and 

defined strategy from within the company. 

Unless that company is going to employ an 

outside agency to develop, manage and 

come up with ideas on a long term basis, 

the moment the agency steps back from the 

project, the company will find it hard to 

continue along that route, having their own 

ideas and developing their own content. 

What has originally been put on the screens 

has to keep moving... keeping the content 

fresh is very important. Most of our clients 

actually change their content on a daily 

basis. This is crucial to ensure that customers 

look at the screens and refer to them for new 

product information, new service information 

and any further developments the company 

wants to communicate to them. 

But your system does more than that... 

Absolutely... A lot of solutions on the market 

claim to be scaleable and robust, but at the 

end of the day, very few of them are actually 

able to capture customer feedback at pointof-sale. 

Interactivity is still something that is 

very new to this marketplace, but which is 

today extremely important and useful. Some 

companies are trying to play catch-up, but 

we already had interactivity in our platform 

17 years ago! I look at interactivity as a kind 

of “perpetual customer learning tool” for a 

company. Without this valid feedback from 

www.cleverdis.com

© Photo: ScreenRed 

customers, it is much more difficult for a 

marketing person, or anyone managing 

content, to know which route to take... to 

know what customers actually think about 

the content they are showing. So it’s a 

virtuous circle with this constant flow of 

information. Different types of questionnaires 

can be pushed out on a daily basis, and 

then on analysing the results, one can 

constantly improve and tailor-make 

messages, services and offers. We have the 

example of a customer who, at board level, 

could not decide the new look and feel of a 

credit card, and for about six months, the 

board was split between a number of colour 


proposals that their agency had put forward. 

The marketing director finally decided they 

should use their ScreenRed digital 

infrastructure. In a number of branches they 

asked customers to vote on an array of 

different looks and feels for this particular 

card. Within one day they already had 

received thousands of responses confirming 

what customers preferred. From one day to 

the next they went from in-fighting in the 

boardroom to having a clear preference for 

the look and feel of the credit card which 

was subsequently launched very quickly and 

had a large take-up by the customers. By 

missing key feedback from customers, you 


have to rely on suppositions, or if you do 

wish to embark upon questionnaires, it 

involves employing people to actually get 

the information. As a rule, people don’t like 

to be questioned in public, but will happily 

proffer the information by pressing a few 

buttons on an interactive screen. The 

information is captured very easily, with very 

little potential for error or misinterpretation. 

What differentiates ScreenRed? 

We’ve been around for 17 years. There are 

not many companies that can actually state 

that. Secondly, we did build our solution 

from the bottom up, based on customer 

requirements, rather than a system that was 

developed from a technical viewpoint only. 

Many solutions boast scaleability and 

robustness, but we have 17 years of proof. 

Some of the largest networks in the financial 

sector run our platform. 

Another thing I could say is that a lot of our 

competitors’ solutions are “out of the box” 

software platforms. Ours is a flexible one, 

and we built in this flexibility for a number of 

reasons: needs evolve – while a company 

has a set view about a project at the outset, 

over time, this tends to change as they gain 

a better understanding of what they can do 

with a tool like this. Having a platform that is 

open and flexible is integral in adapting to 

specific customer’s requirements. This keeps 

the relationship with the customer going and 

also means they will not have to continue 

making sizeable investments just to bring 

themselves up to date. We can do that work 

for them. Last but not least, since our 

platform’s inception, it has never gone 

down. It has been running constantly for 9 

million minutes... something few products or 

solutions in any environment can claim! 

Interview Extracted from Cleverdis 

SPECIALreport “The Fine 

Art of Retail Marketing” 

sponsored by ScreenRed. 

For further information on 

ScreenRed and their 

unique Out of Home 

Digital Media solutions, 

pick up a copy of the 

SPECIALreport at the 

ISE 2008 or 

ScreenExpo 2008 or 

download the PDF 

version at 





Dick Tuinebreijer 

Can you give us some background on the 

Adtraxion Systems organisation? 

CEO 

d.tuinebreijer@adtraxion.com 

Actually we have quite an interesting 

history. Adtraxion Systems as we know it 

now was founded only in 2006 however 

our product, the Adtraxion Digital Signage 

Solution is already in the market since 

2003, the concept was developed and 

successfully marketed by Philips Electronics. 

However product portfolio management 

and focus on core products (displays) 

resulted in a disinvestment and we've 

decided to take over the Adtraxion solution 

activities as well as core development and 

marketing staff. Our organization now has 

a full focus on these activities and, I must 

say, it pays off. Geographically, we have 

more than 500 projects running in over 25 

countries. Of course we cannot do this all 

by ourselves. Key in our go-to-market 

approach are our certified resellers in 

various local markets, who we support both 

technically and commercially. 

You're talking about the Adtraxion 

Solution, can you tell us a bit more? 

Yes we prefer to talk about a solution 

instead of products. With Adtraxion we can 

offer our customers a total solution for their 

Digital Signage needs. So not only a 

central software package for scheduling 

and distribution but also the hardware with 

embedded software for play-out. Both the 

software and hardware are developed inhouse. 

We're rather unique in this approach 

where as a main benefit we see optimising 

and matching of both the hardware and the 

software. New developments are 

simultaneously implemented in hard and 

software to work flawlessly. Our system is 

fully scalable to the customers needs and is 

display independent. From a single display 

to thousands in a network. From a 5" LCD 

to a huge stadium Videowall. The 

scheduling and distribution software, which 

Adtraxion Systems 

S Y S T E M S 

we call Adtraxion Manager, is a powerful 

but easy to use package. Intuitive operation 

and user friendly GUIs make the software 

accessible for everyone. The hardware, 

what we call the Adtraxion Player is 

designed for professional purposes and for 

24/7 operation. 

Many people think retail if they think about 

Digital Signage. 

True, Digital Signage is often directly linked 

to retail and it might have its roots there. The 

Adtraxion solution can also be found in 

many different retail outlets but not 

exclusively. In fact we have more systems 

installed in non-retail then in retail. We 

believe our offering is open to many 

different vertical markets like public areas, 

banking, corporate, hospitality, 

manufacturing plants, airports, educational, 

medical and more. Actually through our 

Spanish partner we will also equip Expo 

2008 in Zaragoza. 

How do you see the market developing? 

Well, it's always difficult to look into the 

future but with display prices dropping, 

investments in Digital Signage become 

more affordable to many more customers. 


It's our belief that the market will grow 

rapidly. We see High Definition slowly 

entering in the broadcast market and will in 

due time also enter the Digital Signage 

domain. Many of today's LCD screens are 

already HD prepared and when HD 

content creation becomes more affordable 

we will also see it more in Digital Signage 

applications. 

We are also very excited about the 

developments of 3D. In our research 

laboratories we have already done some 

promising experiments and it really adds 

another dimension. 

References 

With more then 500 projects installed 

many customers worldwide have entrusted 

their Digital Signage needs to Adraxion 

Systems, amongst them are: 

Ikea, NXP, Fortis, Credit Mutuel, Grando 

Keukens, Coca Cola, Arcelor Mittal, 

Elektroskandia, Heineken, Boston Scientific, 

Philips, Tarkett, Scandic Hotel, Schiphol 

Airport, Roadchef, Park Theater Eindhoven, 

SCS Furniture, Volvo Trucks, Tenerife 

Congress Palace and many more 

www.adtraxion.com 


© Photo: Adtraxion Systems

© Photo: Mirane 

SPECIAL DOSSIER: Software, Servers, Players 

Software 

This makes it possible to remotely create, 

distribute and manage content. The main 

differences in the different packages lie in 

their functionalities, ease of use, capacity to 

be integrated into existing networks and the 

cost of their licence. The ergonomics of the 

man/machine interface and its intuitive 

character are also very important. The 

"upgradeability" of the software guarantees 

the longevity of a project. It is thus a 

question of prioritising the necessary 

characteristics and functionalities according 

to your specific needs. 

Content creation tools 

Several solutions are available, from 

complete sets of creative tools in 

proprietary format, down to sets with 

restricted functionalities. The intermediate 

option, assistance in creation, may well be 

sufficient. In this case, templates make it 

possible to manipulate images and texts to 

create messages according to a preset 

model - although with a limited number of 

characters. 


Managing sources 

The software makes it possible to post the 

number of windows needed on the screen 

to segment the messages, or to integrate a 

scrolling text. 

It may be useful that the software can 

handle different video and image 

standards such as PowerPoint, Windows 

Media, DivX, Flash, JPEG, DVD, GIF, AVI, 

Mpeg2, WAV, MP3, HTML, etc. – keeping 

in mind that not all players are multi-format 

capable. 

The software can also establish the link to 

external sources, in particular the TV and 

therefore it allows for the distribution of 

several sources of information 

simultaneously. 

Certain software offers multi-flow, as 

opposed to the more traditional mono-flow. 

In this model, one player distributes 

different content to various screens. This 

represents a siginificant economy of PC 

costs and licences. 

Content management 

Content management can be carried out 

by a single or several administrators – both 

regional and local – within the company or 

through the use of subcontractors. 


The software can provide the possibility to 

intervene, from anywhere and at any time: 

• to modify certain parts of the content; 

• in deciding whether or not to lock the 

content transmitted to the sites so that the 

latter cannot be modified; 

• to establish program grids – just like a 

radio or TV station – customised right 

down to the last screen. 

The software also enables: 

• the transfer of data between the server 

and the player in a secure manner - by 

two methods, "push" and "get": either the 

player receives information, or the player 

will actively seek information; 

• programming for groups of screens, 

according to different criteria – 

geography, sales turnover, frequentation, 

demographics, etc. The player 

then narrowcasts the content 

exclusively for the groups 

identified according to these set 

criteria; 

• to generate random playlists 

according to pre-defined sets of 

themes. The software respects 

fixed weighting - for example 

30% commercial information, 

50% entertainment and 20% 

general interest. 




SMARTreport 

Managing and monitoring 

hardware devices 

This is done according to predictable or 

foreseeable needs – it is always advisable 

to anticipate some form of logical evolution 

of the system – and it will be necessary to 

determine whether the software should be 

able: 

• to supervise, from the position of the 

administrator, the content narrowcast at 

the various sites; 

• to remotely control the screens, to turn 

them on and off in a pre-planned way; 

• to check on the physical condition of the 

various elements that make up the 

system; 

• to automatically alert the administrator or 

service provider of any breakdowns; 

• to obtain a report on failure rates and on 

the reasons for incidents and resolution 

times; 

• to formulate a distribution report with 

statistics which justify advertising costs 

and to adjust campaigns. 

Servers, Players 


Here, the choices are very broad. In the 

early days, content was played from DVD 

or individual computers linked to each 

screen. Now, thanks to IP addressability, 

content is often simply sent to display points 

and stored either on a central server in the 

store, or increasingly on hard disc drives 

integrated into the screens in special 

expansion slots. 

Servers 

The server is the administrative console of 

the solution. It allows content to be sent to 

the various players and can be a stand 

alone unit or be linked to other systems. It 

can be housed either in your work place or 

at the suppliers or in a specialised facility. 

In terms of control of the solution, there are 

three distinct types of system corresponding 

to differing usages: simple, modular et 

collective. 

The first system, and the most basic, is 

known as a 'stand alone'. This autonomous 

system is housed in a remote control unit - 

not unlike that used for a DVD player or a 

Flash card reader – and allows for the 

distribution of a content loops. Particularly 

economical, this solution is ideally suited to 

content that needs little updating such as 

presentations of instructions for the use of 

products in large DIY stores. 

The second system is a dedicated 

application, in other words a software 

installation where content is created and 

updates are carried out from a work station. 

The system demands a relatively simple 

infrastructure and is easily secured. Previsualisation 

of the content loop on the 

control screen, control hierarchy 

management, authorisation of network 

availability, preparation of programming 

grids and a comparatively low impact 

installation are some of the many 

advantages of this solution. 

The third system, known as ASP, is a webbased 

application allowing for remote 

control of the solution by accredited users. 

The main advantage of this system is the 

collaborative management of the 

information being disseminated and the 

ability to frequently change and update 

content. It is ideal for large, broad-based 

companies. 

Players 

The player is the playback device that 

receives the content and transmits it to the 

various screens. It can come in the form of 

a small PC, a dedicated device known as 

a shuttle or even be integrated in to the 

screen. 

The PC, one of the more costly solutions, is 

also the most susceptible to atmospheric 

conditions and needs to be well ventilated, 

which can cause extraneous noise. The 

shuttle is the more robust and compact and 

is the most suitable for heavy usage. 

However, PC or shuttle, the most important 

element is that they be appropriately 

housed and protected. 

Add-ons which allow the integration of 

alternative content or programming created 

upstream - such as with a camera or from a 

video input – can also be grafter on to the 

player. This process is based on the 

principle of commuting the camera signal 

into the original message. 


www.cleverdis.com



Rick Engels 

CEO 

Many companies hesitate to invest in Out 

of Home Digital media projects, as they 

don’t know how to estimate Return on 

Investment. The heart of BroadSign’s 

communication today is about making a 

network an “accountable medium”. Tell us 

about this... 

Lack of metrics that would allow marketers 

to compare their digital signage buys to 

other media expenditures and also measure 

the advertising ROI has certainly been one 

of the key impediments both for advertisers 

and investors. Although the retail and 

outdoor segments of digital signage have 

been growing almost as fast as the Internet 

lately, the need for standards and 

measurements remains largely unsatisfied 

and that may affect future growth. 

Our core product is software for executing 

digital signage campaigns across large 

networks, and performance accountability 

has been our primary focus as of day one. 

The fact that you can target your messages 

to virtually every screen individually and 

ensure the playback is one of the main 

differentiators of digital signage versus TV 

broadcasts. The flip side of this pinpoint 

targeting capability is the necessity to prove 

to the advertisers that each of their ad 

versions ran as scheduled. While this may 

sound easy on the surface, producing 

accurate proof of play reports becomes a 

challenge when the network grows over 

100 screens, given all variations of 

schedules and ad versions. 

We are proud to say today that our 

reporting system has been proven to be 

accurate by some major media 

measurement companies. Soon we will be 

able to refer our client networks and their 

advertisers to third-party playlog audit 

services in order to help them validate their 

rate cards and justify billings. The other 

benefit of solid proof of play data is that it 

allows for more accurate impression counts. 

BroadSign International 

The growth of the ad-supported digital 

signage market is dependent today on 

media buyers coming onboard for major 

campaigns. BroadSign claims to have the 

most “media-buyer friendly” digital 

signage software on the market. What 

makes it media-buyer friendly? 

Since the very beginning we had the vision 

that digital signage was destined to 

become the next mass medium and 

advertisers would inevitably come to use it. 

We worked with media companies to make 

sure that our workflow reflects the standards 

of traditional media buying and combined 

those with the specifics of digital signage. 

This effort is paying off now as network 

operators are telling us that it is easy for 

them to show the ad space inventory to 

media buyers and plan their campaigns. 

Our near-real time campaign performance 

reports are also part of this flow. 

What main applications is BroadSign 

working with, and in what geographical 

regions? 

We have a strong client base in North 

America and Europe, mostly in retail and 

entertainment sectors. We are now 

expanding into India and China. 

What “drives” BroadSign? 

I think the short answer would be: talented, 

professional and energetic people with 

great vision and perseverance. Their efforts 

produced the state-of-the art platform that is 

now powering major digital signage 

networks. 

Tell us more specifically about BroadSign 

Suite… what it is and what the main 

benefits are… 

The BroadSign Suite is a Software as a 

Service (SaaS) solution for operating digital 


signage networks. The application resolves 

the challenges facing modern digital 

signage networks: the need for full 

campaign execution functionality, 

accountability and true scalability. The 

BroadSign Suite enables operators to target 

out-of-home audiences, sell network airtime, 

reliably play back scheduled content on 

each screen and account for campaign 

performance. The enterprise-scale software 

makes it easy to manage media space 

inventory, view avails, as well as target 

campaigns by demographic and 

geographic criteria. 

The Suite consists of the BroadSign Server 

cluster, BroadSign Administrator and 

BroadSign Player, and an optional 

BroadSign Edge Server for bandwidth 

management. Your BroadSign account can 

be set up within a few hours, no matter how 

large and complex your network is. Clients 

pay a low monthly fee per BroadSign 

Player license that includes safe and secure 

server domains, essential support services, 

and unlimited use of the BroadSign 

Administrator, as well as software 

upgrades. 




SMARTreport 

Oscar Elizaga 

Vice President EMEA 

Scala on Top 

What is your global growth strategy for 

2008? 

We will continue to improve our already 

very competitive product line and 

incorporate Scala services to complement 

our software offerings. We are also aiming 

to get closer and provide better service to 

our clients through our partners and our own 

regional offices, where we have organized 

our sales and services teams to maximize 

our reach in the markets we serve, with focus 

on customer satisfaction and excellence in 

execution for projects of all sizes. 


Scala Broadcast 

Multimedia 

Scala continues to control the lion's share of the Digital Signage industry as major competition is appearing 

on the sidelines... 

What are the main markets that are 

developing at the moment (i.e. ad-based 

retail, corporate...)? 

Advertising-based retail continues to be one 

of the markets with the highest potential 

growth, although the process is slow in 

committing to large network rollouts in the 

retail sector. While a number of projects in 

the retail sector continue to take up an 

increasing amount of our time, at the same 

time we are very busy in a growing number 

of emerging markets such as pharmacies, 

healthcare, hospitality, financial institutions, 

petrol pumps (indoors and outdoors), 

entertainment, restaurant chains, 

transportation and, always, internal 

corporate communication channels or 

“employee TV” as it is often called. 

What about geographical strengths and 

weaknesses? Where are you strongest? 

Scala during 2007 delivered its products to 

over 60 countries around the world. Our 

strength comes from our partner network, 

now over 350-strong worldwide, with the 

support of our regional offices. Today we 

have operations in the United States of 

America, the Netherlands, the UK, 

Norway, France, Japan and Hong Kong 

and we are getting stronger every day. Our 

strategy continues to be to get closer to our 

clients and their projects on a worldwide 

basis, so you can expect to see us to 

continuously reinforce our regional offices 

hand in hand with our partner network. 

What makes the difference with your 

solutions? 

That would make a long list! However, the 

key points are: 

Proven – With field proven scalability and 

24/7 reliability, Scala InfoChannel is 

installed in more digital signage networks 

than any other digital signage software 

platform. 

www.cleverdis.com

Cutting-Edge Architecture – Features 

including easy upgradeability, broad 

compatibility, secure database backend, 

proof of playback reporting, and simplified 

content delivery. 

Fully Customizable/Extensible – 

InfoChannel’s script-based infrastructure 

makes it easy to adapt and connect any 

Scala system to any other system without 

programming. 

Complete – Scala InfoChannel offers built-in 

rapid authoring, web-based content 

management, data driven templates, 


supports both interactive (e.g.: touch 

screens) and non-interactive displays, and 

both terrestrial and satellite communications. 

Easy to Manage – With state-of-the-art web 

accessible content management, planning 

and scheduling tools included in Scala 

InfoChannel, management and control of 

your network is simplified – minimizing the 

resources required to control and maintain 

your network. 

Scalable – Over 50,000 InfoChannel 

Players throughout the world are driving 

hundreds of thousands of screens in 


networks ranging from one display to 

thousands of displays, all with the same 

software platform and the same rich 

functionality. 

Largest provider – With more than 

50,000 systems deployed worldwide 

driving hundreds of thousands of screens, 

Scala is the world leader in software 

solutions for dynamic signage networks. 

Scala InfoChannel is used managing more 

screens than all of our competitors 

combined. 


© Photo: Scala Broadcast Multimedia

© photo: Omnivex 

SMARTreport 


Jeff Collard 

President 

Omnivex claims to have the industry’s most 

complete software suite designed 

specifically for managing electronic 

signage networks covering content, device, 

and data management. Please tell us about 

these three software products... 

Omnivex Display (content creation and 

management), Omnivex Control (device 

monitoring and management) and Omnivex 

DataPipe (data management) provide tools 

for different aspects of a digital signage 

network that may be deployed in different 

parts of an organization and across 

different vertical markets. These applications 

can be placed on a network and will work 

together to manage the network and can 

scale easily from one display to thousands. 

The current Omnivex platform is a third 

generation system and has been operating 

for five years providing a mature, solid 

platform for operators. At Screen Expo 

2008, Omnivex will introduce a completely 

new generation of products based on the 

latest graphics technology from Microsoft. 


You also deal with serially driven LED 

devices such as Tickers and Wallboards 

with real-time data from multiple sources... 

Tell us about this... 

When Omnivex first started in 1991, many 

of the displays used were monochrome or 3 

color LED boards (tickers and wallboards) 

for financial markets indicating actual 

trading data. Omnivex continues to support 

this business and this technology is still 

common in the banking industry. 

As content is often a major question, it’s 

important to have access to media 

services... Can you please tell us what 

media services are offered by Omnivex? 

Omnivex provides the backbone for a 

complete digital signage system. Many 

large media networks operate on Omnivex 

software. In response to this we offer a 

complete set of software tools to support the 

media services that those operators require. 

Omnivex operates on a Windows platform 

Omnivex 

Jeff is the driving force behind the company’s sales and marketing activities and 

relationships with its business partners. He previously held senior positions at ESAB 

and Union Carbide in marketing, sales, R&D, production and operations over a 

period of 20 years. Jeff holds a degree in Engineering from the University of 

Windsor. 

Providing the backbone for a complete digital 

signage system 

and supports all media that Microsoft 

supports. In addition, Omnivex provides 

tools to access real time data or interface 

with external hardware to allow operators 

to incorporate live information in their 

content. 

What about content creation? 

Omnivex Display software is our content 

creation engine. It has a flexible drag and 

drop interface that allows the user to create 

sophisticated content without any scripting 

or programming required. Our new product 

will feature advanced graphics capabilities, 

not currently seen in other software products 

in the market. 

Are you able to help companies when it 

comes to project management or training? 

The Technical Services department at 

Omnivex provides training, installation, 

consulting, and project management 

services to our customers. Our Technical 

Services Engineers can operate remotely or 

at the customers’ site and our worldwide 

resellers offer Omnivex Certified technicians 

in each location. 

What kind of support is offered? 

Omnivex has created a series of video 

tutorials for help using the software which 

are accessible from our web site and come 

with the software. Sample content and 

templates are available to customers 

through our software. Omnivex technical 

services team provides training, installation, 

consulting, creative services and technical 

support to our customers. 

www.cleverdis.com


Dynamax offers specific software solutions 

for Digital Signage applications. Please tell 

us more about the latest features of your 

POV ng solution. 

POV ng has existed for 9 years, and has 

developed a solid reputation in the Digital 

Signage industry for being robust, reliable, 

and scalable – three important requirements 

of any digital signage solution, especially 

those operating in the Out of Home 

markets. V3 POV ng builds on the 

functionality and ease of use of the original 

system whilst incorporating more of the 

Microsoft Office 2007 GUI "look and feel" 

coupled with additional Networking and 

systems monitoring capabilities. 

How does POV ng maximise ROI for the 

customer? 

Three elements in Digital Signage impact 

directly on ROI – System Costs – 

Operational Costs – Revenue Generation. 

Our solution has a very simple cost structure 

allowing customers to pan their investment 

in their Signage solutions. It is designed to 

work the way they work, making it easy for 

a single operator to manage a large 

network and to 're-purpose' existing content 

where necessary. 

POV ng links real time data sources and 

makes rules based decisions about content. 

In the largest of networks the ability of our 

software to make real time decisions based 

on EPOS and Stock (inventory) information 

is crucial to making the best use of an 

investment. 

What are the strong points of your 

solution? 

It was developed to meet the evolving 

needs of our clients. Very few digital 

signage systems are the result of such close 

collaboration. One thing that we are very 


Chris Frampton 

International Business Development & Marketing Director 

proud of is the fact that our customers’ 

solutions are profitable, as a result of 

reliability and low cost of operation of our 

solution. POV ng is uniquely easy to use and 

scalable, with powerful integration 

capabilities, offering world class 

companies a proven, robust solution to their 

digital signage needs. 

What advantages do you offer to your 

partners? 

POV ng allows customers to build their own 

solution for their specific market. We have 

worked with Global Reach in London who 

developed a digital signage solution for 

boats, busses and trains: Our software 

integrates with Global Reach’s Telemetry 

and positioning system to ensure that the 

right adverts and information are delivered 

to the right place at the right time. Similarly, 

K3 have integrated POV ng with their EPOS 


Dynamax 

system so that Inventory information and 

even bar code scanning can trigger adverts 

and information. 

What are the current industry standards for 

Digital Signage software, and how does 

the Dynamax solution comply? 

Signage already has a range of established 

standards, whether it is OOH, POS or any 

Printed literature. Also POV ng is a "Standards 

Based" Digital Signage solution based on 

.Net and Microsoft SQL. Furthermore, POV 

defined the method for delivery and 

deployment of TV news media in the OOH 

sector with Titan Transvition, establishing the 

standard for capturing and displaying TV 

news automatically in virtual real time. 

POV ng is a driving force in setting the Digital 

Standards for the Outdoor industry and is 

helping to define the standard for Digital 

Signage Solutions. 


© photo: Dynamax

SPECIAL DOSSIER: Displays 

Projectors 

Projectors make it possible to work on 

supports of almost infinite size, even 

projecting an image onto a holographic 

screen – giving the impression that the 

image is suspended in the air. In a market 

where differentiation by any means is 

becoming important, projectors are 

increasingly being turned to in projects that 

require a different kind of “dynamic” 

created by the vast range of images that 

can be beamed from projection devices. In 

addition, drawbacks previously 

experienced in projectors (short lamp life, 

regular maintenance, possibility of 

overheating etc.), have now largely been 

overcome. The principal criteria to be taken 

into account in the choice of display are: 

Size 

This dictates the amount of information to 

be displayed and the distance from which 

the image can be seen. It is estimated that 

a distance of 3 to 5 times the size of the 

base of the surface of diffusion is necessary 

for optimum visual comfort. Not forgetting 

that one of the principal objectives is to be 

seen and seen again. 

Resolution 

The resolution refers to the number of pixels 

on the screen (the tiny dots that make up the 

image). HD Ready displays are generally 

sufficient (More than 720 vertical lines) for 

most digital signage projects. Resolution 

also influences the amount of information 

that can be displayed. 

Brightness and contrast 

These contribute to the quality of the image. 

It is important that contrast be good in 

BRIGHT conditions. In other words do not 

pay too much attention to the published 

contrast ratio which is measured in a dark 

room. 

Viewing angle 

Ensure screens can be easily seen from an 

angle and that there is no colour shift. 

Older LCD screens had a major problem in 

this respect. 


Connectivity 

Associated with specific functionalities, this 

is one differentiating factor between 

professional monitors and consumer 

television sets. 

Technology 

Different technologies apply to different 

applications. For example, LCD is often 

better suited for bright light conditions while 

plasma is more cost efficient when it comes 

to larger sizes. In bright daylight, LED is a 

very bright idea! The use of 3D screens 

(now available without the use of 3D 

glasses) can be a good differentiator. 

Projectors make it possible to work on 

supports of almost infinite size, even 

projecting an image onto a holographic 

screen – giving the impression that the 

image is suspended in the air. 

Mounting Solutions 

Whatever type, size or weight of the 

display you choose, a correctly adapted 

mounting solution is of prime importance. 

Criteria for choosing mounting solutions in 

digital signage applications include: speed 

of installation – an element that can lead to 

major savings if many screens are to be 

installed; facility of intervention for 

maintenance, esthetics, safety and security 


Different technologies apply to different applications. For example, LCD is often better suited for bright light conditions 

while plasma is more cost efficient when it comes to larger sizes. In bright daylight, LED is a very bright idea! The use of 

3D screens (now available without the use of 3D glasses) can be a good differentiator. 

(anti-theft) as the screens are often within 

reach of the public. 

Sound systems 

Digital Signage is usually installed in a 

noisy environment, but to the contrary, can 

also be installed in areas that demand 

minimum disruption. Solutions now exist for 

the directional diffusion of sound – 

sometimes known as a "sound tunnel" – 

making it possible to limit the sound to a 

preset zone. Thus the effect of attraction 

and comfort are immediate. 

Innovation and interactivity 

The use of interactive terminals and touch 

screens has now become commonplace 

with an ever increasing number of projects 

including some form of interactive content 

to supplement and enrich the "passive" 

content. Interactivity starts to take on yet 

another dimension when the device is able 

to communicate with personal devices like 

mobile phones or PDAs. Another innovation 

is the linking of digital signage systems to 

the information system of the company and 

its data bases. For example, when a 

product is out-of-stock, it is automatically 

removed from the screens, terminals, the 

Internet and even from search engines. 


© Photo: Cleverdis

© Photos: Toshiba 

SMARTreport 


Most people link Out of Home Digital 

Media with flat displays. How can 

projectors be an attractive alternative to 

Plasma and LCD displays in this field? 

The term “digital signage“ has mainly been 

associated with displays – until now. The 

advent of Extreme Short Throw Projection 

(ESP) technology has necessitated an 

expansion of the concept to include today’s 

projectors – in fact, given their flexibility and 

wider range of applications, modern 

projectors are even more suitable for the 

task than their fixed-installation 

“competitors”.Why? While a display is 

static by nature, projectors are mobile, and 

can be used independently of location. 

Gerd Holl 

General Manager Projection 

and Display Technology EMEA 


Toshiba 

Europe GmbH 

Gerd Holl joined Toshiba Europe GmbH in September 1996, initially serving as 

Marketing and Sales Manager for Toshiba Professional Visual Products, establishing 

and expanding the market position of Toshiba data and video projectors in 

Germany and Europe, before taking over his current position as General Manager 

Projection & Display Technology EMEA. 

Toshiba Leading Innovation 

Let’s take an example. A projector can be 

set up for a week in the entrance hall of a 

railway station, then moved to the service 

hall for a different campaign requiring 

smaller-format images. In addition, 

projectors are easier to install, and the ESP 

models offer larger projection formats which 

can be adjusted to suit the task at hand; 

image diagonals of between 90 and 250 

centimeters can be produced with no more 

than 1.5 meters maximum throw distance. 

In addition to these technical aspects and 

the flexibility of projectors, financial 

considerations also play a significant role. 

An ESP projector, with its broad array of 

uses, is ultimately far more cost-effective 

than a range of displays in different sizes. 

Please give us a general description of 

Toshiba’s new short-distance beamer… 

Toshiba’s new projectors featuring Extreme 

Short Throw Projection (ESP) technology 

have an ultra-wide angle lens. This enables 

far larger images to be projected from a 

minimum throw distance than conventional 

projectors are capable of: image diagonals 

of around one meter can be projected from 

a throw distance of a mere 50 centimeters, 

and the maximum image format of around 

three meters requires only 1.5 meters’ throw 

distance. These new conditions are 

significantly more customer-friendly, 

enabling far smaller rooms to be used for 

presentations. 

ESP projectors also operate with a high 

offset angle: a ceiling-mounted projector 

projects the image from a short and high 

angle so that the speaker is not blinded by 

the projection, does not run the risk of 

casting shadows and has complete freedom 

of movement. 

One of the biggest problems in Retail 

Multimedia applications is installation. 

How does Toshiba’s new projector help 

here? 

In addition to introducing useful features and 

guaranteeing outstanding image quality, we 

have naturally considered practical 

handling. Toshiba’s new projectors can be 

ceiling or wall mounted depending on 

requirements and the type of application. 

Ceiling-mounted devices have the lamp 

replacement opening on the underside, 

enabling lamps to be replaced easily 

without needing to remove the projector 

from its mounting. Operation is also 

simplicity itself. 

www.cleverdis.com

© Photo: Toshiba 

The projectors can be linked to the 

company network by cable or WLAN, 

enabling content to be transmitted and 

maintenance to be performed centrally – a 

significant factor for major companies with 

a large number of projectors in use. 

Where do you mainly see this projector 

being used? 

ESP projectors are not only ideal for 

business applications, but also for the 

education sector – in schools or universities, 

say. As I already mentioned, these 

projectors offer mounting and positioning 

options which effectively eliminate all 

obstacles to the speaker’s freedom of 

movement, enabling teachers to move freely 

in front of the board. 

The ex20 and ew25 can also be used with 

an interactive whiteboard, an additional 

feature enabling teachers to design 

fascinating interactive class content which 

involves the students dynamically, 

enhancing their motivation and accelerating 

the learning process. Students can use the 

touch-sensitive board to select icons, 

progress through websites and move 

images. Handwritten notes can be created 

at the touch of a fingertip. This simple 

access to information encourages students 

to pursue ideas in depth and to organize 

their work – an educational concept which 

has already reported extensive success in 

the UK. 

The fact that the projector has Wi-Fi builtin 

means it doesn’t have to be hooked up to 


a PC or other source… how important is 

this in the retail scenario? 

The WiFi function plays a key role in userfriendliness. 

Firstly, thanks to the Windows 

Vista embedded software, no additional 

software for PC is necessary and any Vista 

notebook can be used directly to operate 

the projector. 

Secondly, the built-in WiFi connection 

eliminates the need for connection cables 

between PC and projector, solving the 

frequent problem in presentations on 

customers’ premises that the best positions 

for speaker, projector and laptop are 

determined by the projector’s cabling needs 

alone. 

How do you work in this market? Can 

buyers deal direct? Who should they talk 

to? 


Toshiba operates a long-standing, proven 

multi-level sales model in which we supply 

our products to specialist dealers via 

distribution companies. These companies 

offer our product portfolio to end users, 

including complementary accessories as 

required. 

Since Toshiba has always prioritized the 

specialized dealers because of its high-level 

expert advice and extensive familiarity with 

the products, we work closely with these 

dealers and provide support where needed 

– for sales promotion projects, say, in the 

form of training courses, marketing material 

and PoS/PoI support. In addition, Toshiba 

may support projects which involve special 

product prices depending on the scale of 

the project. 

Those interested are invited to contact Joerg 

Welsch, Head of Sales, or Henrik Ask, 

Business Development Manager, at Toshiba. 

What other innovative products will you be 

presenting at ISE? 

At the ISE we will present the ESP models 

plus our smallest projector – the ultraportable 

p9. 

Weighing in at a mere 1.3 kg, this DLP 

projector features an integrated USB port 

enabling data to be read and projected 

directly from a memory stick without the 

need for a PC. The p9 is particularly useful 

for frequent travellers, for example field staff, 

enabling them to travel light and maximize 

their flexibility. 

In addition, we are focusing on models 

offering native reproduction of the new 

16:10 notebook format, eliminating the 

need for quality-impairing input signal 

conversion. Offering WXGA resolution 

(1,280 x 800), the wx2200 scores in all 

applications requiring wide format, for 

example spreadsheet presentations. 


© Photo: Toshiba

© Photo: Chief Manufacturing 

SMARTreport 


Within Digital Signage applications 

considerations such as screen size, screen 

distance from the floor or ceiling and 

whether displays need to be visible from 

multiple angles, are critical to actually 

enhance the end-user experience. Airports 

and rental companies already are 

demanding flexible mounting solutions 

today in order to be able to use displays for 

customer information in the morning facing 

the outside of the shopping hallway, but use 

the same displays for advertising purposes 

facing the inside of the same store in the 

evening. Manufacturers need to respond to 

this call for flexibility in installations with 

innovative solutions that are secure, easy to 

use and flexible all at once. 

There is a certain curiosity in the market 

about what the extended price is for a 

mount. How are your products situated in 

this respect? 

There are many low cost mount providers 

on the market. For both System Integrators, 

Melinda von Horvath 

Sales & Marketing Director 


Chief 

Manufacturing 

Innovative Mounting Solutions 

Adding value to the Digital Signage Sector 

In any digital signage project there are a wide variety of installation factors to be taken into account. One that is becoming 

increasingly important is that of “how to fix the displays to the wall to the ceiling, or even inside walls or ceilings.” 

Melinda von Horvath, Sales and Marketing Director at Chief Manufacturing, gives us some useful tips. 

Installation companies as well as end users 

it is critical to understand that high quality 

products that provide a faster installation 

and are long-lasting at the same time is 

what actually creates the final cost picture. 

This is exactly how Chief differentiates itself 

from the competition. By providing 

installations that are fast, secure and long 

lasting. This is what makes the extended 

end-user price in the end. 

Safety and security are important factors… 

can you tell us about the options you have 

developed to maximise these aspects? 

We have developed the Q-latch system 

which works with either plasma or LCD 

displays. It's a tear-drop shaped mount, 

meaning the device can't fall off, because 

it's embedded in the teardrop system. 

When the Q-latch is closed one can also 

secure it with a simple lock. This reduces 

the probability of the unit being stolen when 

it is in any kind of open environment. To 

take this one step further, we have custommade 

screws with 

individual patterns 

meaning they cannot be 

undone easily. As an 

example of our 

commitment to quality, 

Chief became a UL 

Certified Test Facility this 

last year. This means UL 

qualified our facility to 

perform our own UL 

certification testing. This 

along with our history of 

providing quality solutions continues to be 

an area that we strive to lead the industry 

How vital has it been for you to listen to the 

market? 

Incorporating market feedback and 

translating that to actual products is a 

fundamental part of Chief. Firstly this is 

apparent through our line of accessories 

which has grown in the past year to literally 

1000s of mounting solutions that were 

often the result of our customer service 

group talking directly to installers for the 

past 30 years. This is reflected in the 

numerous patented features such as Centris 

Tilt technology, Microzone adjustment in 

projection alignment and the Q-Latch 

system that provides installers hands-free 

levelling and a very quick connect / 

disconnect of the screen without tools. We 

are proud the reason we work with so 

many industry partners is that Chief is 

known to have a solution for virtually every 

installation problem that peeks around the 

corner. 

Secondly, another important piece is of 

course watching industry developments & 

trends very closely. A good example here is 

the enormous trend for Short Throw 

Projectors. Chief has been working 

alongside key projector manufacturers in 

the industry to create mounting solutions for 

the applications. As a result Chief is now 

the the first manufacturer in the industry to 

launch Short Throw Projector Solutions 

across EMEA. 

www.chiefmfg.com 

www.cleverdis.com

SPECIAL DOSSIER: Infrastructure & Transmission 

When an Out of Home Digital Media project is being planned, the tendency is to concentrate on the content, the display 

screens and the software. However, the rest of the equipment involved also demands some important choices in order that 

the whole system functions properly. 

Dedicated infrastructure or 

integration into the existing IT 

system? 

It is crucial in making this choice that either 

the team running the existing information 

systems or the data processing department 

are involved and that a specialist integrator 

is consulted. 

The main objective is to define the system's 

architecture – along with the parameters of 

the servers, routers, player and screens – 

plus the means by which all these elements 

communicate. It is also important not to 

forget how the system is to be put in place, 

network security and its ability to withstand 

fluctuations in the timing of updates etc.. 

Transmission 

The term transmission refers to the routing of 

information between the server and the 

players and then between each player and 

the screens. The means of transmission of 

audiovisual content to the screens is the 

central question at the heart of the overall 

solution. This choice can have an important 

impact on the overall cost, therefore it is 

advisable to consider the possibilities 

offered by any existing IT infrastructure. The 

elements that should be taken into 

consideration are cost, existing capacity 

and the required performance plus the 

ability to withstand technical irregularities. 

Routing of information from the 

server to the players 

First it is important to make a distinction 

between transmission from an external 

server and what the internal network is 

capable of handling. 

External transmission can be done via ADSL 

which is the most popular solution. 

Transmission can also be done via satellite 

which means that all players are linked to 

an antenna and updated from a single 

point. This is the solution of choice of 

companies whose geographical 

location does not have high-speed 

internet connections. Finally transmission 

can also be carried out through 


GSM/EDGE/UMTS systems. These 

wireless communication systems are 

comparatively slow and usually need to 

perform updates unit by unit as opposed to 

collectively. 

For internal use, three types of transmissions 

are possible: wireless using either the 

internal system or from an external network, 

via a telephonic network – using the 

company's existing system to gather and 

distribute updates – or by fibre-optic cable. 

The most widespread type of transmission 

uses the telephonic network linked to an IP 

network and supported by cabling of 

category 5 or 5+ or 6. 

Transmission from the player to the 

screen 

Currently this is most usually done using a 

standard VGA cable of the same sort that is 

used to link a PC to its monitor. However, 

this means is limited to distances of 10 


meters or up to 40 meters using specially 

insulated cable. 

Category 5 cable is used when all the 

players are grouped together in the same 

place and the distance to the screens is 

merely a few meters. This type of 

connection also needs interface boxes 

which transmit the video by encoding the 

video output signal from the player and 

decoding it as it arrives at the screen. An 

alternative form of cable, FTP, can transmit 

audio and video signals as well as 

commands from the RS232 remote control 

which enables remote maintenance and 

also gives information about the screens. 

This kind of cable is scaleable which 

means that as the system is upgraded, the 

infrastructure does not need to be replaced, 

merely the interface boxes. Very soon 

wireless HD transmissions will be possible 

over short distances. 


© Photo: Cayin Technology Co., Ltd.

PART FOUR 

Directory to Key Players 

The different roles in dynamic audiovisual communication 

An Out of Home Digital Media solution will most usually bring in to play anything up to ten 

or so different participants representing a wide range of skill sets. 

In order that you are able to find the ideal partner for the planning and realisation of your 

project, you will find here below the definition of the principal roles involved: 

• Consultant Agencies: Communication or marketing agencies specialised in advising on the 

deployment and installation of the narrowcast apparatus, as well as the internal 

communications needed 

• Consultants: Out of Home Digital Media specialists in marketing and communication 

research with emphasis on point of sale installation. 

• Content Creators: graphic designers specialised in the production of content specifically for 

Out of Home Digital Media. 

• Content Suppliers: companies who supply regularly updated content both online and offline 

including weather bulletins, traffic updates, financial information etc. 

• Constructors: makers of screens, servers, players and other accessories. 

• Distributors: companies that take care of the importing and distribution of Out of Home 

Digital Media hardware and software. 

• Software Developers: developers and publishers of software solutions for Out of Home 

Digital Media systems, data transfer and control of systems such as allowing multimedia 

players to work autonomously or be programmed remotely. 

• Storage Houses: companies specialised in the storage of servers and data. 

• Integrators: specialists in the optimisation of hardware and software packages as well as the 

set up of systems. 

• Installers: screen deployment and system maintenance specialists. • Advertising Brokers : 

companies who look after the commercialisation and maximisation of the financial potential 

of a given network.

BroadSign 

International 

DIGITAL SIGNAGE SOFTWARE MANUFACTURER 

Corporate Headquarters 

4400 Baker Road 

Minnetonka, MN 55343 

USA 

(International) Tel.: +1 (877) 399-1184 

Fax: +1 (514) 399-1187 

REFERENCES 

Canada Office 

(Development & Support) 

1080 Côte du Beaver 

Hall, Suite 1200 

Montreal, 

Quebec H2Z 1S8 

Canada 

welcome@broadsign.com 

www.broadsign.com 

"We looked at many solutions and chose the 

BroadSign Suite as a platform... The playlist 

creation process is automated and flexible. We 

can easily adjust the loop length and ad slots to 

the customers' dwell time, track the results and 

make quick modifications when needed." Gary 

Quasebarth, Vice President of Operations, 

Digital Promo Network, USA. 

"The release of 6.0 continues BroadSign's 

market leading technology position by 

delivering the most powerful, reliable and cost 

effective digital signage platform. This new 

version not only adds critical new features such 

as improved remote management, but the user 

interface has made managing our complex 

networks much simpler." Christian Vaglio-Giors, 

Managing Director of Neo Advertising 

"The BroadSign Suite has dramatically changed 

our business. Scheduling is now a breeze and 

proof of play is no longer a guess. The system 

gives us confidence that we are delivering all 

that our advertisers are asking for." Yezen 

Hamad, co-founder of Digital Ad (USA). 

CONTACTS 


COMPANY PROFILE 

Brian DUSHO 

Chief Strategy Officer 

brian.dusho@broadsign.com 

KEY FIGURES 

Legal form: Corporation 

Year of creation: 2004 

Headquarters: Minnetonka, MN 

Number of staff / offices Europe: 1/1 

Number of offices Worldwide: 4 

Brian Dusho is responsible for strategy and all business development 

activities. Brian created a global sales organization, which resulted in 

a strong client base growth worldwide. 

Eugene CUYLER 

Sales Director EMEA BroadSign, Europe / Middle East / Africa(EMEA) 

eugene.cuyler@broadsign.com 

Eugene has 20+ years of sales, marketing, media and advertising 

experience. He was involved in major digital signage projects ranging 

from Dubai Airport to CBS/London underground. 

BroadSign International is a leading worldwide provider of hosted software for managing digital 

signage networks. BroadSign combines extensive expertise in digital signage software, media, 

advertising, and information technology and is a member company of the Out-of-home Video 

Advertising Bureau (OVAB), OAAA, POPAI, In-Store Marketing Institute and The Screen 

Association. The company's corporate office is located in Minnetonka, Minn., USA. 

KNOW HOW & MAIN PRODUCTS 

stand D09 

The BroadSign Suite is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for operating digital signage 

networks. The application resolves the challenges facing modern digital signage networks: the 

need for full campaign execution functionality, accountability and true scalability. The BroadSign 

Suite enables operators to target out-of-home audiences, sell network airtime, reliably play back 

scheduled content on each screen and account for campaign performance. The enterprise-scale 

software makes it easy to manage media space inventory, view avails, as well as target 

campaigns by demographic and geographic criteria. 

The Suite consists of the BroadSign Server cluster, BroadSign Administrator and BroadSign Player, 

and an optional BroadSign Edge Server for bandwidth management. 

Your BroadSign account can be set up within a few hours, no matter how large and complex 

your network is. Clients pay a low monthly fee per BroadSign Player license that includes safe 

and secure server domains, essential support services, and unlimited use of the BroadSign 

Administrator, as well as software upgrades. 


© photos: BroadSign International

© photos: C-nario Ltd 

KEY FIGURES 

CONTACT 


C-nario is a leading provider of end-to-end digital signage operating platforms for digital 

media, corporate, public transporation and entertainment applications. C-nario products 

and technologies are acknowledged as best of breed among digital signage professionals, 

by delivering top quality playback and by creating bigger-than-life impact on any number 

size or arrangement of screens. Further advantages of the C-nario solution are the userfriendly 

and robust content management & distribution tools, designed to manage large 

networks of thousands of displays at minimal costs. The C-nario open platform architecture 

allows easy interface and integration of the digital signage medium in the existing 

organization workflows. 


C-nario Messenger V3.0: 

• C-nario MultiLayer Player: Play-out of high quality DV streams (up to HD 1080p) 

allowing real time composition of several content items from different sources into multizone 

& multi layer presentations on 1 or more displays. C-nario players produce up to 6 

different HD screens from a single standard PC. 

• C-nario Transporter: Cost-effective distribution of content files over Internet 

communication platform, with unrivalled speed and reliability. 

• Content creation and management tools: Drag & drop layout design tools, embedded 

professional character generator, SQL-based content and assets management, flexible 

and robust content scheduling, keywords based assigning and transfer, Overall network 

monitoring and reporting 

• Support plug-ins 

• Content item plug-ins: Automatic retrieval of customized content items from external 

sources 

> Workflow plug-ins: Customizing the operating workflow according to customer 

preferences and objectives 

> Device plug-ins: C-nario enables the operator to remotely control any connected device. 

• Media-sales driven trafficking system: Automatically creates play lists from customer 

input, including CRM tools, order management & billing. 

PARTNERS 

Philips Vidiwall, Electrosonic 


stand H119 

Legal form: Private Company, backed by VC investments: 

Carmel Ventures (Israel); Opus Capital(US) 


Headquarters: C-nario Ltd., Tel Aviv, Israel 

Number of staff: 47 employees 

Offices in Europe: C-nario Europe – Paris, France; Cnario 

UK sales office – Herts; more than 20 authorized 

distributors in Europe 

Additional C-nario Offices: US (2 offices: west & east 

coast), C-nario Asia Pacific – Singapore 

Rami BAHAR 

VP Marketing & Sales 

rami@c-nario.com 

A pioneer and expert of digital signage networks from its very 

early days, Rami is leading C-nario's global marketing & sales 

activities with deep understanding of customers' needs and the 

required building blocks of successful digital signage 

deployments. 

REFERENCES 

C-nario Ltd 

DIGITAL SIGNAGE OPERATION PLATFORM 

CREATION & SUPPLY 

15 Hagra St 

66024 Tel-Aviv 

Israel 

Tel.: +972-3-537 3555 

Fax: +972-3-537 3373 

www.c-nario.com 

C-nario systems are driving thousands of 

screens in more than 30 countries, selected by 

top tier customers, such as JC Decaux, Clear 

Channel, CNN, Time Warner Center, Nextel, 

BBC, Philips, McDonald’s Singapore, 

Manpower France, Club Med and O2 

Arena(UK). 

JFK Airport, terminal 9 – Art Tunnel by JC 

Decaux. Forty 70" true HD screens driven by Cnario 

were synchronized to create a high 

impact “video tunnel” experience, promoting 

adverts by Microsoft. 

Bank Hapoalim – One of the largest Digital signage 

installations known in retail banks worldwide, 

with over 1000 channels and multiple 

operation centers. 

O2 Arena, London UK – Europe largest entertainment 

center previously known as the 

"Millenium Dome" hosts the world's largest LED 

installation (over 1,800 SQM), and hundreds 

of displays in any shape and resolution, all driven 

by C-nario Messenger. 

Israel Train Stations – A nation-wide deployment 

of Digital Signage using C-nario RD-ware 

wireless set top boxes. 

Manpower France Offices – Over 150 

Manpower offices present an interactive digital 

media platform in their shops windows, allowing 

for the presentation of promotional content 

combined with recruitment-related messages. 


Cayin Technology 

Co., Ltd. 

MANUFACTURER 

Players & Servers 

8F, No. 577, Linsen N. Rd. 

Taipei City 104, Taiwan, R.O.C. 

Tel.: +886 2 2595 1005 

Fax: +886 2 2595 1050 

www.cayintech.com 

REFERENCES 

FamilyMart, Taiwan: FamilyMart, a leading 

convenience store originally from Japan, rolled out 

a nation-wide in-store TV network counting 1500 

sites and 3000 players. 

AIG member, Nan Shan Life Insurance Co., Ltd., 

Taiwan: To enhance corporate internal 

communication, Nan Shan installed Cayin SMP- 

WEB3 and CMS-Performance in 50 selected 

service centres nationwide. The headquarters can 

remotely control and transmit the united corporate 

image and policy to service centres immediately. 

Each service centre can also display individual 

messages on parts of the screen. 

The National Museum in Cracow, Poland: 

Veracomp and ABEMA Systemy Prezentacyjne 

installed a Cayin digital signage system in the 

museum for the exhibition, “The Monumental 

Theatre of Stanisław Wyspiański” in memory of a 

famous Polish artist. They use Cayin SMP players, 

LCD displays, projectors and optical mirrors to 

enhance a rich permanent presentation of the 

artist’s visual works. 

M/S Tallink Star, Finland: This ferry of the Tallink 

fleet has been equipped by Electrosonic Lightinen, 

Cayin’s partner in Finland, with 30 units of the 

Cayin SMP-PRO series digital signage media 

player, SMP-PRO2, to promote food court services 

and advertise to passengers. 

Barcelona University, Spain: imaginArt installed 

Cayin’s solution at the entrances and corridors of 

the school as a communication platform between 

the school and students, faculty, and visitors. 

Tallink Hotel, Estonia: Telegrupp set up a 

conference centre information display system with 

Cayin’s SMP-WEBPLUS and a web server in Tallink 

Hotel. All screens are in portrait mode. Six of them 

are 19" and display content about events 

happening in the nearby conference room and 

agenda of the events. Others are 32" and display 

general information about current day events. 

PickADeli food chain, Finland: Profectus installed 

Cayin’s solution as an e-menu board in branches of 

PickADeli, an international food chain in 

Scandinavia. 

CONTACT 


KEY FIGURES 

Legal form: Ltd. 


Headquarters: Taipei City, Taiwan 

Active in more than 50 countries worldwide 

Cayin Technology Co., Ltd. offers appliance-based Digital Signage solutions for various 

commercial applications such as education, transportation, retail, hospitality, corporate use, and 

financial and public institutions. Cayin is proud to support its worldwide partners in creating 

many successful applications and will share their practical experience and provide professional 

recommendations based on customer requirements. In order to best facilitate the deployment of 

Cayin products, they also provide tailored services to satisfy the broadening market demand for 

almost limitless applications. 


Digital Signage Media Player: SMP series 

• SMP-PRO series: zone-type player, for applications that require showing video, graphics, 

tickers, or time/date. 

• SMP-WEB series: web-based player, for applications that require presenting advanced 

multimedia content or interactive applications in various formats: HTML, JPEG, JavaScript, 

Flash ® , etc. 

Content Management Server: CMS series 

CMS is a powerful and reliable server to perform media player management, access control, 

content update, central scheduling, and real time broadcast over IP networks. 

Management Software: Super Reporter, Super Monitor 

Application Software: meetingPost, lobbyPost, wayfinderPost 

PARTNERS 


Ravel CHI 

Vice President 

sales@cayintech.com 

stand F102 

stand B03 

Responsible for the International Sales Division and the launch of Cayin’s 

products to the worldwide market; co-founder of Cayin, specialised in 

supply chain, international sales and logistics, and the development of 

various sales channels. 

Kennell Digital Distribution (Italy) • imaginArt (Spain) • AVM (UK) • Veracomp (Poland) • 

Protechnica (Bulgaria) • rMedia (Australia) • Synergy (Canada) 

Cayin can help VARs to easily create successful applications and add true value to their 

installations. For their partners, Cayin not only sell products, but also help in various aspects 

including support through sales and marketing materials, training in both technology and 

business, and in-depth advice on questions concerning a specific project. Right now the 

company is looking for business partners who are interested in introducing its products into the 

different European markets. 


© photos: Cayin Technology Co., Ltd.

KEY FIGURES 

Belonging to group: CSAV Inc. 


CONTACTS 


Founded in 1978, Chief Manufacturing is today the market leader in AV support systems 

for the Professional market. Committed to responding to industry needs in the Pro AV, 

Residential and Office markets, Chief offers a complete line of mounts, lifts and accessories 

for flat panels and projectors. With multiple product awards and patented designs, Chief 

provides unique mount features, and is recognized for delivering not only quality products, 

but competent and efficient customer service. 


"Ideas Supporting Ideas" is the motivational theme behind Chief Manufacturing's continued 

effort to be the leader in new product innovation and customer service within the 

Professional market. Installers and users should be aware that Chief’s wide range of 

products add value to virtually every digital signage installation – by reducing build-up time 

and opening completely new possibilities as to the installation of displays, TVs and 

projectors. 

Product lines 

Chief designs a complete selection of mounting solutions that are precision-engineered for 

stability, security, functionality, and real-world reliability, making them ideal for digital 

signage applications. 

Ceiling mounts and accessories: Chief’s PCM and PSC Ceilingmounting solutions come 

with many accessories and provide 

a solution for each specific digital 

installation need. 

Flat Panel Wallmount: Chief offers 

a complete selection of small, 

medium and large flat panel 

mounts, combining design, 

functionality and ease of installation: 

• Fusion Series: Fixed, Tilt and 

Swingarm Wallmounts 

• Cinematic Series: Automated 

mounting solutions. Automated 

swing-arm mounts, lifts and table 

stands – combine a top quality 

mounting solution with motorized 

remote operation 

• RPA Series: Projector mounting 

solutions and accessories 


stand K14 

Headquarters : Minnesota, USA 

Number of offices Worldwide: CSAV 

offices in Minnesota (USA), Eindhoven 

(the Netherlands), Shenzen (China). 

Melinda VON HORVATH 

Sales & Marketing Director EMEA 

melinda.von.horvath@csavinc.com 

Paul FEENSTRA 

Vice President CSAV Europe B.V. 

paul.feenstra@csavinc.com 

Chief 

Manufacturing 

GLOBAL MANUFACTURER 

AUDIO / VIDEO SUPPORT SOLUTIONS 

REFERENCES 

Dell 

Hilton Hotels 

Mariott Hotels 

Sofitel 

Tesco Supermarkets... 

Fellenoord 130 

5611 ZB 

Eindhoven 

The Netherlands 

Tel.: +31 40 26 68620 

Fax: +31 40 26 68615 

www.chiefmfg.com 


© photos: Chief Manufacturing

Dynamax 

Technologies Ltd 

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS FOR 

DIGITAL SIGNAGE 

Lower Philips Road 

Blackburn 

Lancashire, UK 

BB1 5UD 

Tel.: +44 (0)1254 503 666 

Fax: +44 (0)1254 503 690 

www.dynamaxworld.com 

REFERENCES 

Titan Outdoors 

“[Transvision LED screens]…enable Titan to 

widen its appeal to advertisers and to enable 

those advertisers to either use moving images or 

update copy throughout the day. As well as this, 

advertisers can target travellers at specific times 

of the day.” 

David Pugh, Managing Director 

The Community Network’s 

“With over 1900 screens in Post Offices 

throughout the UK, Ireland and Australia, we 

need a system that is reliable and requires 

minimal maintenance whilst remaining cost 

effective. I would recommend POV ng to 

anybody setting up a digital signage network.” 

Dave Ravenscroft, The Community Network’s 

Managing Dikrector 

BT Media & Broadcast Division 

“We were attracted to POV ng for three main 

reasons. Firstly, it’s user-friendly, with all the 

features and benefits usable from a Microsoft 

Windows-based application – a key factor to 

consider when warming potential users up to 

the technology. Secondly, Dynamax were 

willing to work with us to develop the software 

further. This honest, open approach means we 

now have an improved package to offer 

customers. Thirdly and finally, as POV ng comes 

as a package – with software ready-integrated 

into dedicated ‘player’ hardware – it meant we 

could offer customers a ‘plug and play’ 

solution. This made it preferable to softwarebased 

solutions, for which we would have to 

source and integrate hardware.” 

John Griffiths, head of corporate media 

solutions, BT Media & Broadcast 

CONTACTS 

Ian MCKENZIE 

Chief Executive Officer 

imckenzie@dynamaxworld.com 


KEY FIGURES 

Legal form: Privately Owned Company 


Headquarters: UK 

Number of staff: 25 

Number of offices Worldwide: 2 (Blackburn, 

UK,and New York, US) 

Turnover: £2.5M 

Ian is Dynamax's Chief Executive Officer, and joined the company after spending several years as 

Managing Director of a business consultancy to SMEs in the technology arena. 

Chris FRAMPTON 

International Business Development & Marketing Director 

cframpton@dynamaxworld.com 

Chris’ credentials as a new media innovator were originally established by his company 

MediaWave, which pioneered live video broadcasting over the internet. 

Dynamax is a digital signage company who has been involved in the display industry for over 

30 years. The company: 

• Provides digital signage software solutions that schedule & broadcast dynamic content and 

assets to a chosen audience, allowing multiple combinations of what to deliver, to where and 

to whom 

• Supplies scheduling & broadcasting software components which augment a client’s existing 

portfolio of services (e.g. content creation, network monitoring) to expand their market 

• Offers scheduling & broadcasting solutions which enhance the user’s current offer and pull 

through incremental product sales 

• Recommends a defined range of Out Of Home specific display products and support services 

(i.e. large format; high brightness; easy access for maintenance) not usually offered from 

general distribution sources 

• Combines their experience in both scheduling & broadcasting and display technology to offer 

their clients a differentiated one-stop solution 


Dynamax’s flagship software product is POV ng and it is the ideal way to reach information-hungry 

audiences. It takes the street signs, posters and point-of-sale material used for many years to target 

people on the move to the next level, allowing the creation of screen networks that can show 

messages relevant to the viewer’s demographics or buying behaviour. 

A reliable, robust and scalable solution which is compatible with any type of digital display from 

small shelf-edge LCD through to Plasma and large format LED screens it is powerful, scalable and 

easy to use. 

PARTNERS 


BT • CBS Outdoor • Clear Channel • J C Decaux • Titan 


© photos: Dynamax Technologies Ltd.

© photos: Focus On Emotions 

KEY FIGURES 

Capital: 1 M € Legal form: Limited Company 


Headquarters: Barcelona 

Number of staff / offices Europe: 45/4 


Turnover: 3.7 M € 

CONTACTS 


Focus On Emotions is specialised in offering proximity marketing services at point of sale. 

Creating, designing and maintaining new channels of communication and innovative ways 

of interacting with customers. 


Focus On Emotions design and implement bespoke communication channels and the 

accompanying technologies, also taking care of the planning and preparation of the most 

suitable content. Alongside that, Focus On Emotions look after content distribution and the 

maintenance of the network. They have been particularly successful in developing specific 

solutions that allow for the narrowcasting of content through the use of TV channels, kiosks 

and mobile phones at the point of sale, creating interaction with 

customers. Their main strength is the capacity to offer companies full 

service in-sourcing, tailored to the real needs of their clients and their 

clents’ customers. 

PARTNERS 

Cisco • Dell • Fujitsu • Indra • Thales Group 


Ignacio LAMARCA 

CEO 

ilamarca@focusonemotions.com 

Garikoitz LERMA 

Managing Director Spain and 

Portugal 

garilerma@focusonemotions.com 

Gilles GOGNET 

Managing Director France 

gilles.gognet@focusonemotions.com 

Miquel GARCIAS 

Managing Director UK 

miquel.garcias@focusonemotions.com 

Address in Madrid: Calle Marqués de 

Mondéjar, 11 bis 

28028- Madrid – España 

Tel. +34 91 361 24 73 

madrid@focusonemotions.com 

Address in Paris: Villa Prince Murat 

121 Avenue Charles de Gaulle 

95160 - Montmorency -France 

Tel. +33 6 71 90 78 97 

paris@focusonemotions.com 

Address in London: 63 Galleons 

View Steward Street 

E14 3EX London - UK 

Tel. +44 20 81 44 64 65 

london@focusonemotions.com 

REFERENCES 

Focus On 

Emotions 

PROXIMITY MARKETING SERVICES – TV CHANNEL 

DESIGN, MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION 

Barcelona 

Rambla Catalunya 118, 3º2ª 

08008- Barcelona - España 

Tel.: +34 93 368 99 85 

Fax: +34 93 415 39 79 

barcelona@focusonemotions.com 

www.focusonemotions.com 

Orange 

TV channel that enables each franchise to set 

their own pricing and promotions at point of 

sale. 

Nissan Motors 

TV channel integrated into queueing area 

alongside maintenance and management of 

system at dealer facilities. 

Thyssen 

TV channel integrated with elevator engine 

system operators in partnership with Thyssen. 

Carrefour 

In-Store Media In-Store TV channel placed at 

the points of sale across the different sections of 

the store. 

Corte Ingles 

In-Store Media Large advertising screens 

placed at the entrances of the retail stores, with 

complete remote management and monitoring 

of advertising campaigns. 

Barcelona Trade Fair 

Largest deployment of a TV channel in a city 

trade fair, with tailored information services 

and advertising relevant to each section of the 

various display areas. 

Barcelona City Council 

TV channel situated throughout the city council's 

local facilities and hospitals with kiosks for 

citizen interaction and performing transactions. 

Endesa 

Corporate TV channel at headquarters, in local 

and regional offices and throughout 

manufacturing facilities. 

Unilever 

Corporate TV channel at headquarters and 

outlying offices. 


Hughes Network 

Systems Europe 

MANAGED NETWORK SOLUTIONS, DIGITAL SIGNAGE, 

CORPORATE IPTV, SECURE CONTENT MANAGEMENT 

Sunrise Parkway 

Linford Wood 

MK14 6LS 

Milton Keynes 

United Kingdom 

Tel.: +44 (0) 1908 425300 

Fax: +44 (0) 1908 425301 

www.hnseu.com 

REFERENCES 

Asda 

Tesco 

CONTACTS 


Mariano TORRE-GOMEZ 

VP Sales & Marketing, Europe 

m.torre-gomez@eu.hns.com 

Max GUTBERLET 

Product Manager 

m.gutberlet@eu.hns.com 


KEY FIGURES 

Belonging to group: Hughes Communications 

Inc. 

stand D01 

Headquarters : Germantown, MD, U.S.A. 

Number of staff / offices Europe: 3 Offices, 

120 staff 

Number of staff Worldwide: 1500 staff 

Turnover : US $858,000,000 

With facilities in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy, Hughes Network Systems Europe is a 

wholly owned subsidiary of NASDAQ listed Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes) 

headquartered in Maryland, USA with $858 million revenues in 2006. 


To meet the changing needs of today’s enterprises, Hughes has developed an extensive portfolio 

of managed solutions, broadband products, and services under the HughesNet brand. 

HughesNet Digital Media Solutions enable businesses to tap into new revenue streams, improve 

compliance and save costs with solutions such as Managed Digital Signage, Colleagues TV, 

Content Distribution and IPTV solutions and services. 

PARTNERS 

Helius 


© photos: Hughes Network Systems Europe

KEY FIGURES 


Headquarters: Scotts Valley, CA (Silicon Valley) 

Number of staff / offices Europe: 6 Affiliate 

Offices in Europe 


CONTACT 

Jean C.J. VAN DAMME 

Vice President European Sales 

jean.van.damme@mediatile.com 

Jean C.J. van Damme is responsible for MediaTile’s European sales strategy, distribution 

network and partner sales programs. 


MediaTile is an established digital signage provider and leader in cellular-based digital 

signage deployments. In 2004, MediaTile launched the world’s first cellular-based and 

web-controlled digital signage system called “Digital-Sign-in-a-Box”. Today, MediaTile 

delivers this solution through its world wide offices and distribution partners into markets such 

as Banking, Retail, Hospitality, Corporate Communications, Fuel Stations and Convenience 

Stores. 


MediaTile’s unique offering is compelling to business and network operators as it simplifies 

the installation and operation of complex signage networks. MediaTile does this with its 

patent-pending cellular digital signage technology, Digital-Sign-In-A-Box system, web-based 

Broadcast Portal and Enhanced Services and Support. 

• MediaTile’s patent-pending 3G Cellular-Digital-Signage technology is truly unique – it 

eliminates many of the traditional technology barriers that companies face when 

deploying digital signage broadcast networks and enables clients to deploy signs in far 

more places than even they thought possible. Some MediaTile customers report achieving 

ROI in half the time and at half the cost of traditional networks. 

Hardware 

• MediaTile’s Digital-Sign-in-a-Box is an award-winning industry first – a fully integrated 

commercial display that incorporates a high-definition monitor, embedded PC and builtin 

networking. Just plug it into a standard power source and it’s ready to broadcast. Use 

3G cellular broadband support, or optionally connect via Wi-Fi or Ethernet cable. 

Software 

• The MediaTile Broadcast Portal and Enhanced Services – deliver a powerful, yet easy 

way to control and manage a digital signage network using a web-based application 

that is accessible through a standard internet browser. 

PARTNERS 

MediaTile’s partners in Europe provide a total solution service including installation, support 

and training on the products. 

Bandwidth Technologies (UK) • Cellular Digital Signage France (France) • Dobit Solutions 

(Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg) • Zetadisplay (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, 

Finland, Iceland) 

Contacts 

Dobit Solutions (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg) 

Mediatile contact: Nele Bruers – nbruers@dobit.com 

Bandwidth Technologies (UK) 

Mediatile contact: David Harper – dharper@lteq.com 

Zetadisplay (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland) 

Mediatile contact: Tor Sjödin – tor.sjodin@zetadisplay.com 

Cellular Digital Signage France (France) 

Mediatile contact: Jean-Pierre Bachette-Peyrade – jpbp@9online.fr 

Become a Partner 

MediaTile is looking to expand the European distribution network and develop business with 

the channel partners. Our philosophy is to have an exclusive distributor per country. If you 

are interested, feel free to contact us. 


MediaTile 

Company 

CELLULAR DIGITAL SIGNAGE PROVIDER – 

HARDWARE & SOFTWARE 

5900 Butler Lane 

Scotts Valley, CA 95066 

Tel.: 831-439-8786 

Fax: 831-439-9778 

www.mediatile.com 

info@mediatile.com 


© photos: MediaTile Company

Minicom 

Advanced Systems 

DIGITAL SIGNAGE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS 

Überlandstrasse 107 

8600 Dübendorf 

Switzerland 

Tel.: 41 44 823 8000 

Fax: 41 44 823 8005 

info.europe@minicom.com 

www.minicom.com 

REFERENCES 

Banks & Financial Institutions: 

Digital signage allows banks and financial 

institutions to target their captive audience with 

a mass reach and direct marketing capabilities. 

Minicom’s CAT5-based distribution systems, 

extenders and splitters are designed for a 

trouble-free and cost-effective installation. The 

hardware systems provide the flexibility one 

needs for real-time, high-resolution, high 

performance dynamic digital displays. Security 

is a major concern and Minicom addresses that 

by keeping the player safe and in a secure 

location. 

Retail Outlets: 

Courtesy of digital signage, shopping has 

become a multimedia experience. In-store 

digital signage allows the retailers a more 

effective medium for getting through to their 

customers. Digital Signage enhances the 

shopper’s overall experience via informing and 

entertaining them with news, updates and 

promotions. Minicom ensures that multimedia 

content is distributed in real-time from player to 

any number of plasma/LCD screens without 

compromising quality or limiting range and 

scalability. 

Transportation (Airports, Train Stations, 

Subway, etc): 

Transportation venues look to digital signage as 

the perfect solution for distributing a range of 

different messages and information to an even 

wider group of people. Low density CAT5 

cabling makes it possible to extend displays up 

to 600m/2000ft away from the player. 

Delivery of rich, dynamic content over CAT5 is 

the most stable and reliable way to ensure real 

time display to multiple screens. 

CONTACTS 


KEY FIGURES 

Legal form: Privately held corporation 


Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland 

Number of staff Worldwide: 200 

Minicom Advanced Systems is a leader in the development of advanced multimedia distribution 

systems for digital signage networks. Over 150,000 screens worldwide display multimedia content 

via Minicom technology. Founded in 1988, Minicom has a global presence in over 100 countries, 

with regional headquarters in North America and Europe. In 2006 Minicom was named a Deloitte 

Technology Fast 500 company, a testament to the success of its technological innovations in 

generating company growth. 


The growing use of digital advertising to replace traditional signs and electronic billboards has 

pushed up demand for advanced audio/video distribution technologies. Minicom ensures that the 

content is distributed in real-time from the player to any number of plasma / LCD screens without 

compromising quality or limiting range and scalability. Minicom’s CAT5-based distribution systems, 

extenders and splitters are designed for trouble-free and cost-effective installation, maintenance and 

management. Minicom’s DS Vision 3000 makes it possible to extend displays up to 600m/2000ft 

away from the player. Combined with full serial command, the DS Vision 3000 has the ability to 

shut down screens from distance, thus saving power and increasing screen life. Delivery of rich, 

dynamic content over CAT5 is an extremely stable and reliable way to ensure real time display to 

multiple screens. Whether for retail, leisure, corporate, government, banking and finance, education 

or entertainment, Minicom’s solutions for superior digital signage distribution make it easy to get the 

communication message across from the player to multiple screens. 

Real-time multimedia delivery from player to screens 

Minicom’s point to multi-point hardware systems distribute out-of-band high resolution video multimedia 

in real-time from any type of player or computer to multiple LCD / plasma screens. 

Extend the flexibility of your digital signage system 

Minicom’s audio and video extension and serial control systems expand the range of high quality 

audio sound and high resolution video images, transmitting flexible multimedia in real-time from the 

player to LCD / plasma screens. 

PARTNERS 

Minicom has 

partners in all 

major markets and 

is looking to 

expand particularly 

in Europe. 


Ronni GUGGENHEIM 

President Minicom Europe 

ronni.guggenheim@minicom.com 

Ronni Guggenheim has been working at Minicom for over 10 years. 

Originally in charge of building up the international distribution base 

and office structures. He has since taken responsibility for EMEA 

activities as well as overseeing Minicom’s local presence in major 

European markets. 

Amir GINOSSAR 

Product Manager 

amir.ginossar@minicom.com 

stand E25 

Amir is the product manager for the growing digital signage division 

within Minicom. He is responsible for leading the development and 

launch of new products. 


© photos: Minicom Advanced Systems

KEY FIGURES 

Capital: 440 605.76 Euros Legal form: Public company 


International commercial presence: Morocco, Canada, 

Mexico, The Antilles 

International coverage: Algeria, Australia, Austria, 

Belgium, Canada, French West India, Czech Republic, 

Denmark, England, Germany, The Netherlands, Mexico, 

Morocco, Russia, Spain and The US. 

CONTACTS 


Mirane has become the benchmark reference in digital signage in a few short years thanks 

to a strategy based around innovation. Thanks to an active network of strategic partners, 

Mirane is able to tap into every type of expertise in order to tackle all and every kind of 

digital signage project, from the simplest to the most complex. Mirane has an ambitious 

vision for all its clients based around the simplest possible access to the world of digital 

signage and out of home TV networks. 


Mirane, takes its customers through each and every step in the implementation of their 

projects. The Media & Marketing department defines the plan. Its expert team collects 

together all the necessary skills to work out your signage needs (market specificities, size of 

coverage, siting of screens). Graphic studio: using the most advanced techniques alongside 

a unique know-how to create multimedia animation. Project department: the implementation 

and the monitoring of a digital signage project is entirely steered by our 'Project' team which 

is in turn, linked to a network of partners in order to offer a guarantee of total reliability and 

performance. Mirane and their partners offer a range of services including installation, 

servicing and help hotline. Mirane is the publisher of the HighView state of the art software 

solution. 

HighView: The first evolutionary software 

in ASP mode which meets all the needs of 

out of home digital media, from the 

simplest to the most complex. 

HighCare: The service offers project 

management, installation, deployment, 

training, etc. 

HighVantage: Consulting, complimantary 

marketing and audience measurement. 


Cyril MICHEL 

President and founder 

cmichel@mirane.com 

Laurent BOLZON 

Sales manager 

lbolzon@mirane.com 

Philippe BAILLY 

Marketing and Communication Manager 

pbailly@mirane.com 

16 rue du 8 mai 1945 

33150 Cenon 

Tel.: +33 (0)5 57 77 12 15 

Fax: +33 (0)5 57 77 34 90 

Paris 

REFERENCES 

mirane 

COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY - 

SOFTWARE PUBLISHER 

3 rue de l’arrivée 

Tour CIT 

75015 Paris 

Tel.: +33 (0)1 43 35 51 31 

Fax: +33 (0)1 40 47 85 14 

www.mirane.com 

Mirane currently has several thousand screens 

installed in twenty five countries around the 

world and is one of the leaders in the out of 

home TV market; the company provides 

infrastructure advice, system solutions and a full 

range of after-sales services. Mirane works with 

the largest players in their respective markets 

across a range of industries, including: Géant 

Casino, BBVA Bank, Orange, LCL (Crédit 

Lyonnais), Quiksilver, Gaz de France, Parfums 

Christian Dior, Guerlain, Banque Casino, 

Cdiscount, La Mie Caline, Groupe Lucien 

Barrière, Crédit Mutuel, and many more. All of 

these companies rely on us for the design and 

implementation of their projects 


© photos: mirane

Net Display 

Systems 

DIGITAL SIGNAGE SOFTWARE 

Luchthavenweg 59-I 

5657 EA Eindhoven 


Tel.: +31 40 2661177 

Fax: +31 40 2661178 

www.nds-nl.com 

REFERENCES 

Every day millions of people worldwide watch 

the displays running the PADS software of Net 

Display Systems. Installations vary from simple 

standalone solutions to national or global, 

complex and often mission critical digital 

signage solutions. Below you find just a small 

selection of our existing customers. 

Transportation: More than 60 airports including 

Munich, Boston, Toronto, Newark (New York), 

Changi (Singapore) and Kuala Lumpur, KLM 

and Lufthansa, Alexandria Port Authority 

(Egypt), Stena line, Q-Park 

Corporate: Microsoft, Shell, BASF, Nestlé, 

Procter & Gamble, l’Oreal, Bosch, Ericsson, 

BAT, IBM, Porsche, SR Technics, Philips, BP, 

Deloitte, HP, Kodak, Bayer, Michelin 

Manufacturing: Coca Cola, Volkswagen, Rolex, 

Honda, Bombardier, US Army, Boeing, Astra 

Zeneca, Eurocopter 

Government: National parliament and several 

ministries (NL), Köln Tourismus, ministry of 

education (F), Supreme Court (Sing), Brisbane 

City Council 

Education: Universities of Leiden, Amsterdam, 

Eindhoven, SAP Training centre (D), Pfizer 

Learning Centre (USA), European Business 

School Munich 

Hospitality: Hilton, Marriott, Deutsche Bahn 

Gastronomie, Futuroscope, Heineken Music 

Hall, News Café (RSA), Singapore Turf Club 

Cashbox Party World (China/Taiwan) 

Financial services: Accenture, AXA, ING, 

Deutsche Bank, Abu Dhabi Securities Market, 

First National Bank, African Bank 

Health care: Addenbrooke’s hospital UK, Red 

cross hospital (NL), St Peter’s University hospital 

(USA) 

Retail: Toyota, IKEA, Nashua Mobile, 

Vodacom, Selfridges, Makro/Metro, Hertz, 

Shimano, Carrefour, ERA, Sixt 

CONTACTS 


KEY FIGURES 

Legal form: Private company 


Headquarters: Eindhoven, The Netherlands 

Active in more than 60 countries worldwide 

Since its establishment in 1994 Net Display Systems has evolved into a recognised worldwide 

player for digital signage software. With its worldwide network of specialised partners the 

company is active in more than 60 countries and has thousands of installations in multiple market 

sectors from transportation, corporate and government to hospitality and retail. One in four of the 

100 worlds most recognized brands have already chosen PADS as their digital signage 

platform. 


The award winning product of Net Display Systems for digital signage is PADS. This is not just 

another digital signage software bundle, but is based on years of practical experience including 

many mission critical installations worldwide in the highly complex and demanding airport sector. 

The market speaks highly about PADS. Again and again people having seen many products 

categorically say that it’s the easiest-to-use, most flexible and powerful solution for digital signage. 

Of course the PADS software can do everything other digital signage products can do – and 

much more – but what makes the PADS software really unique are the unequalled database 

connectivity features. With just a couple of mouse clicks the system can be linked to any industrystandard 

database for displaying real-time information. For more information, please have a look 

at our website www.nds-nl.com and feel free to download an evaluation version of the product. 

PARTNERS 


Louis VAN GELDROP 

CEO 

Louis.van.Geldrop@nds-nl.com 

Mark LEO 

Business development 

Mark.Leo@nds-nl.com 

Arthur DAMEN 

Marketing & Product Management 

Arthur.Damen@nds-nl.com 

stand H133 

Net Display Systems has a worldwide network of specialised partners that provide installation, 

training and support of its products. In a number of countries we are looking for additional 

partners. 


© photos: Net Display Systems

© photos: Omnivex 

KEY FIGURES 

Legal Form: Private limited company 

Year of Creation: 1991 

Headquarters: Toronto, Canada 

Number of Staff Worldwide: 34 

Number of Offices Worldwide: 2 

CONTACT 


Since 1991 Omnivex has been helping innovative organizations worldwide to better 

inform, persuade, motivate and engage their audiences, through effective digital 

communications. Omnivex software is based on the simple, proven principle that effective 

digital signage isn’t just about good content or creative, it’s also about timing, environment 

and relevance – in a word, context. Omnivex has the experience, technology and easy-touse 

tools to put context in to content with its powerful live-data model. Omnivex software is 

sold and supported by business partners throughout Europe. 


Omnivex is a Microsoft Gold Partner, providing proven software solutions to manage digital 

signage systems. At Screen Expo 2008, Omnivex will introduce Moxie, a new generation 

of software tools based on the underlying graphics technology for Vista, the Microsoft 

Windows Presentation Foundation. Combining Omnivex’ vast experience in digital 

signage, real-time data and full 3D graphics, Moxie will be the most advanced digital 

signage platform available on the market. Omnivex will continue to offer their existing 

generation of products for 2D applications and legacy hardware. 

PARTNERS 

• Asysco 

• Athens Technology Center SA 

• Hattelco AS Norway 

• Meritec Presentation Products 

• Omega Handels Ges.m.b.H. 

• Reflex Limited 

• VSV België nv 


stand C43 

Jeff COLLARD 

President 

jcollard@omnivex.com 

Jeff is the driving force behind the company’s sales and marketing 

activities and relationships with its business partners. He previously 

held senior positions at ESAB and Union Carbide in marketing, sales, 

R&D, production and operations over a period of 20 years. Jeff holds 

a degree in Engineering from the University of Windsor. 

Omnivex 


3300 HWY 7, Suite 501 

Concord, Ontario L4K 4M3 

Canada 

Tel.: + 1 905 761 6640 

Fax: + 1 905 761 6340 

info@omnivex.com 

www.omnivex.com 

REFERENCES 

Allied Irish Bank (AIB), based in Dublin Ireland, 

offers a full range of personal banking services 

including loans, credit cards and mortgages and 

has one of the largest branch networks in 

Ireland. AIB uses Omnivex software to 

communicate to internal employees at AIB offices 

and external customers at their branches 

throughout Ireland. 

Norwich City (UK), Hampden Park (Glasgow), 

Sogndal & Start (Norway) and Lokomotiv 

Moscow Railway Football Clubs all use 

Omnivex software to operate their LED 

scoreboards and LCD/plasma displays located 

throughout their facilities. 

Swiss Stock Exchange welcomes visitors and 

displays current activity on large LED boards 

using Omnivex software. Real-time information 

from the exchange is presented along side 

targeted messages within the exchange. 

Vienna International Airport (VIA), uses 

Omnivex software to manage plasma and LCD 

panels throughout the airport terminal. Omnivex 

provides VIA with the ability to monitor and 

automatically respond to conditions within their 

facility. 



Multimedia 


Scala Computer 

Television 

Amerikalaan 70B 

6199 AE Maastricht 

Airport 


Tel.: +31 43 3588300 

Fax: +31 43 3588301 

REFERENCES 


Multimédia France SAS 

Tour Areva 

1 Place de la Coupole 

92084 Paris La Défense 

Cedex – France 

Tel.: +33 1 47 96 46 

79 

Scala Inc. 

350 Eagleview Boulevard Suite 150 

Exton, PA 19341, United States of America 

Tel.: +1 610 363 3350 

• Retail Networks – Project examples: IKEA, 

Norway / UK; McDonalds Netherlands / 

Philippines / Romania; Tesco, UK; GYM- 

Screen-Media, UK; Audi Worldwide; Citroen, 

France; Carrefour, Romania / France / Turkey 

• Entertainment Networks – Project examples: 

BurgerKing-Channel, Germany; Skistar, 

Norway; WarnerBros-Amusementpark, Spain; 

P&O-Cruiselines; CineMex, Mexico; Harrah’s 

Casinos, US 

• Transportation Networks – Project examples: 

Istanbul Airport, Turkey; Aral, Germany; 

Carnival Cruise-Lines, US; Hertz, France; 

PetroCat, Spain; Shell, Europe 

• Hospitality and Convention Centres – Project 

examples: Goodys-Restaurants, Greece; 

Hilton, France; Movenpick, UAE; NH-Hotels, 

Benelux; Red Lobster Restaurants, US 

• Educational Networks – Project examples: 

Madrid University, Spain; National Gallery, 

UK; National Library, Singapore; University 

Chur, Switzerland; University Maastricht, 

Netherlands 

• Corporate Communications – Project 

examples: BKW-energy, Austria; BT-Global, 

UK; AXA, France; KPN-Narrowcasting, 

Netherlands; SAP, Switzerland; TATA-group, 

India 

• Government Communications–Project 

examples: Trieste-Città-Digitale, Italy; Dubai 

Police, UAE; Kuwait Finance House; Ministere 

du tourisme, France; Police Service Northern- 

Ireland; SA Post Office, South Africa 

• Cable TV Channels – Project examples: 

New-Zealand Cinema; NEC Karuizawa 72 

Golf Tournament, Rugby World-Cup 

• Financial Networks – Project examples: 

HSBC, UAE; Rabobank, Netherlands / 

America; Oslo Stock-Exchange; Kuwait 

National Bank; NCB Bank, Saudi Arabia; 

Société-Générale, Romania 

• Digital Billboards – ODECO, Spain. 

• Healthcare institutions – The Life-Channel, 

UK; SESCAM, Spain; Futuramedia, France; 

Hospital de Clinicas-Caracas, Mexico; 

PharmaChannel, Morocco; Pharmacy-Channel, 

Poland 

CONTACTS 


KEY FIGURES 

Legal form: Private Company 


Headquarters: Scala Inc. Exton, 

Pennsylvania, US 

Number of staff / offices Europe: 

European offices are established in The 

Netherlands, the UK, Norway and France. 


Scala, exclusively focused on end-to-end software solutions for both passive and interactive 

digital signage networks, was founded in 1987 and now has sales operations on all continents, 

with an installed base larger than that of all its competitors combined. With roots in the Cable 

TV industry, Scala understands and has mastered TV-quality broadcast multi-media authoring and 

playback quality and their InfoChannel product line is now in its fourth generation. 


• InfoChannel Designer – InfoChannel Designer gives users creative control of content with 

flexibility and real-time edits not offered by video production. 

• InfoChannel Content Manager – a server-based application that schedules and manages the 

transmissions of multimedia content to hundreds or thousands of displays from any internetconnected 

computer. 

• InfoChannel 5 Player – provides stable reliable multimedia playback for virtually any 

environment – continuously runs and updates content on displays according to the plan set in 

place from the InfoChannel Content Manager. 

PARTNERS 


Oscar ELIZAGA 

Vice President EMEA 

oscar.elizaga@scala.com 

Monique SEVERINS 

Sales & Marketing Coordinator 

marketing@scala.nl 

Scala has over 350 Partners worldwide. 

stand D31 

stand Q172 


© photos: Scala Broadcast Multimedia

© photos: ScreenRed 

KEY FIGURES 

Belonging to Group: John Ryan International 

Retail Marketing S.L. 

Year of Creation: 1980 

Key sites: Minneapolis, Madrid, London and Tokyo 

No. of Staff: 100+ 

CONTACTS 


The ScreenRed* platform was first developed 17 years ago, based on a client’s 

requirements. It is a command and control application that enables the management, 

distribution, segmentation and scheduling of content across large networks without having 

to dedicate huge resources. Interactivity and learning from the shop floor are the key 

components that help move the solution away from “just” digital signage and into a 

constant learning cycle about customers: true “Digital Marketing”. The platform is the 

standard of choice by banks around the world and according to its creators is the most 

“scaleable, road-tested and flexible” in the industry. Coupled with the company’s 

understanding of customer shopping behaviour, the ScreenRed platform helps today’s 

retailers use the most modern tools to capitalise on their greatest asset: millions of customer 

visits. 

*A Registered trademark of John Ryan 


Craig MILLER 

Vice President 

cmiller@johnryan.es 

Gary MADGWICK 

Chief Technical Officer 

gmadgwick@screenred.com 


The ScreenRed product-set faces up to the challenge to deliver an industrial strength Digital 

Signage solution that can support large networks for exacting clients in a simple 

manageable fashion without compromising on functionality or features. This is why today it 

is being adopted around the globe – delivering Digital Signage to thousands of sites. 

ScreenRed Digital Signage Platform 

Features include: • Fully interactive (touch screen, barcode reader, magnetic card swipe, 

buttons, audience analysis, break out to live video conferencing etc.) with real-time results 

reporting • Hardware independent, i.e. nothing proprietary! • A simple attribute 

management system for completely targeted messaging • Plays multiple channels per 

player, including audio • Content delivered in any format • Push and pull possibilities for 

content • A centrally controlled web based network for management of all content updates 

and changes, scheduling and distribution • User friendly graphic user interface • Print-ondemand 

feature • Capable of branded syndicated news • Corporate sign-off control – 

ensuring further management control 

ScreenRed 

John Ryan 


Contact Madrid, Spain: 

Alcalá 44 

28014 Madrid 

Tel.: +34 91 5237400 

Fax: +34 91 5237401 

REFERENCES 

Contact London, UK: 

1a Hammersmith 

Broadway 

London W6 9DL 

Tel.: +44 208 600 8228 

Fax: +44 208 600 8301 

Contact Minneapolis, US: 700 South 3 rd Street 

Suite 300 West • Minneapolis MN 55415 

Tel.: +1 612 924 7700 

Fax: +1 612 924 7800 

www.screenred.com 

PNC, USA 

PNC is one of the largest financial services 

companies in the US but in spite of this growth 

the bank had suffered a fall in brand awareness 

in core markets and were struggling to create 

awareness among prospects. Despite their ability 

to convert customers to a high state of 

preference, the bank was still unable to build on 

this. As a result, the ScreenRed solution was 

selected to: • Distribute messages quickly to 

market, and specifically to relevant segmented 

sites; • Have a positive effect on branch staff; • 

Improve the selling environment as well as; • 

Build on awareness, brand perception, and 

consideration. The ScreenRed solution leverages 

the inherent benefits of multimedia; allowing 

sufficient shelf space for PNC’s entire service 

offering as well as enabling attributes-based 

targeting for segment marketing. According to 

Mark Hendrix, Vice President of Marketing, “The 

ScreenRed system enhances our brand messages, 

making them more engaging, giving us superior 

targeting capability and local customisation.” 

Toyota Financial Services (TFS) 

The recent opening of a prestigious shopping 

centre attached to the newly opened Toyota 

global headquarters presented TFS with a high 

profile venue to raise the profile of its offering. 

The challenges faced were addressed through 

the creation of a communications “umbrella” – a 

“how to” approach toward products and 

services. The ScreenRed platform focused on 

tools to help customer experience and education: 

a "Life Wall" made up of 12 70" screens, 

displays running content including up-to-theminute 

marketing information, mini-product spots 

and a schedule of upcoming seminars; "Listening 

Posts" to give customers an opportunity to 

express their views on money matters; a "Demo 

Bar" provides access to touch screens with 

educational content for "shoulder-to-shoulder" 

learning; guests can also attend seminars on a 

wide range of topics, purchase refreshments 

using their mobile phones, and attend private 

consultations. According to Toyota Financial 

Services Corporation Senior Vice President, Mr. 

You Aoki. “These screen-based elements give us 

complete flexibility and help us convey news and 

information in an up-to-the-minute fashion”. 


© photos: Sharp Electronics Europe GmbH 

Sharp Electronics 

Europe GmbH 

MANUFACTURER 

ELECTRONICS AND LCD DISPLAY 

Sonninstrasse 3 

20097 Hamburg 

Germany 

Tel.: +49 40 23 760 

Fax: +49 40 23 7625 10 

www.sharp.eu 

REFERENCES 

Japan Railways - Japan: 

Sharp have worked in partnership with JR 

(Japan Railways) to install 45 and 65-inch 

monitors into major rail stations including 

Tokyo. The monitors have replaced LED displays 

and show much more detailed schedule 

information than was previously possible. The 

Sharp displays were chosen due to a 

combination of their robust construction and 

clarity of image from wide viewing angles and 

bright conditions. 

Chelsea Designer Village – London UK: 

Sharp worked in partnership with Trident on this 

highly prestigious digital signage installation, 

comprising of twelve 65-inch monitors. The 

monitors display a combination of advertising 

and design led content to add to the ambience 

of this exclusive shopping venue. 

Tim Hortons – Canada: 

This quality network of coffee bar and 

restaurants turned to Sharp when they were 

looking to upgrade their instore digital signage. 

Sharp monitors delivered the image quality and 

reliability that the chain demanded. The new 

digital signage system now means that menus 

and special offers can be updated in real time, 

saving the cost of expensive reprints and it can 

react to local customer flows, helping to boost 

demand during quieter periods of the day. 

CONTACTS 


KEY FIGURES 

Belonging to group: Sharp Corporation 

Capital: 204,675 million yen 

Legal form: Public Company. 


Headquarters: Osaka Japan 

Number of staff / offices Europe: 2674 /19 


Turnover: 3,127,771 million yen (consolidated), Note: 

Any fractional sum of less than a million yen shall be 

discarded (as of September 30, 2007). 

Since its foundation in 1912, the Sharp Corporation has opened up new areas of industry with 

original products, from the “Ever-Sharp” mechanical pencils from which the company name was 

derived, to the commercialisation of the first Japanese-made radios and televisions, the world’s 

first LCD electronic calculators, and other top of the range LCD technology products. 


Sharp has consolidated its business focus on 5 core areas centred around the principle of “one 

of a kind” unique technologies including: 

• LCD fabrication, production and sales • Solar Systems (Sharp are the global brand leader in 

this field) • Mobile phones and communication devices • Document Solution Systems 

• Components. 

SHARP have a long history of pioneering display technologies such as LCD/DLP Projection and 

LCD direct view monitors. Its new generation LCD manufacturing plant is the largest and most 

advanced of its kind and is now delivering the largest, highest quality LCD monitors and panels 

currently commercially available. SHARP is now embarking in a process of marketing these large 

screens to system integrators. Sharp will use ISE 2008 to debut the world’s largest LCD high 

definition panel with a breath taking 108 inch screen. Sharp professional monitors, panels and 

semi finished products give customers extreme flexibility and are designed specifically for 

commercial applications and are specified to run without the need for fan assisted cooling. As 

a fully Pan European organisation Sharp is able to supply and support product sales to all EU 

countries. We can also assist in supporting service agents and system integrators for major 

installations. 

PARTNERS 


Helmut BURMEIER 

Sales Manager 

burmeier@seeg.sharp-eu.com 

Helmut Burmeier has been employed with Sharp for over 22 years, 

specialising in sales and marketing of visual presentation equipment 

for the business use. He is currently in charge of expanding 

commercial monitor sales in Germany & Austria. 

Diederik HOUTMAN 

Manager Product Marketing 

Houtman@seb.sharp-eu.com 

Diederik Houtman has been employed with SHARP for specialising in 

marketing and product management of visual product groups in Benelux. 

Sven JOHANNSEN 

LCD Product Marketing Sharp Microelectronics Europe 

sven.johannsen@seeg,sharp-eu.com 

As member of the LCD marketing team of Sharp Microelectronics 

Europe, Sven Johannsen is in charge of promoting Sharp e-signage 

display solutions throughout Europe. 

AV Lang • Dynamax • G&B • Innotive • Net Display Systems • Trident, etc. 

stand D41 

stand P34 

www.cleverdis.com

KEY FIGURES 

Headquarters: Paris 

Number of offices Europe: Paris, London, 

Warsaw 

Number of offices Worldwide: San 

Francisco, New York, Sao Paulo, Shangai 

CONTACTS 


Thomson is a world leader in end-to-end video solutions, operating in 30 countries and that 

is active on growing markets in Asia and Latin America. Serving the global Media & 

Entertainment industries, Thomson, across its 3 divisions (Systems, Services, Technology), 

develops video technologies, provides video solutions and manages global video networks 

and distribution. Through its Services division, Thomson is a world leader in the Out-of-Home 

Media Activity with over 20.000 equipped venues throughout the world. At any point in 

time thousands of playlists are distributed to the million of screens Thomson manages on 

behalf of its customers. 


By combining the core competencies of PRN (worldwide leader in in-store media networks), 

Technicolor (worldwide leader in institutional media networks) and Screenvision (worldwide 

leader in cinema advertising), Thomson offers end-to-end solutions to any corporation willing 

to create Out-of-Home media 

networks in their own venues. 

Thomson’s comprehensive OOH 

Media Networks solution includes: 

• Technology 

• Integration 

• Network Management 

• Media Management 

• Creative Solution 

• Content Production 

• Advertising & Media Planning 

• Consultancy & Research 


Julien MARCEL 

Vice-President Out-of-Home Media Networks 

julien.marcel@thomson.net 

Before being appointed in 2005 Chief of Staff of Thomson’s CEO 

and Chairman Frank Dangeard, Julien Marcel has held several 

marketing and E-business executive positions within the Thomson 

Group since 1998. 

From November 2005, he has been driving Thomson’s Out-of- 

Home media activities (PRN, retail media networks and 

Screenvision, cinema advertising networks) in Europe, Asia and 

Latin America. 

Bertrand LE FICHER 

Manager PRN Europe & Chief Creative Officer for PRN Europe, 

Asia and Latin America 

bertrand.le-ficher@thomson.net 

Between 1990 and 1995, Bertrand Le Ficher has held several 

senior executive programming management positions within 

major channels – TF1, NBC Europe and France 2. He then 

created and headed different new media companies: AOL 

France, Boxman Europe – the first European “entertainment etailer”, 

and then he presided over the new media international 

entity of the LVMH Group. He also conceived and created one of 

the first Out-of-Home TV channels in Europe, the airport channel 

AEO, for the JC Decaux group. 

He is now managing PRN Europe and is Chief Creative Officer 

for PRN Europe, Asia and Latin America, overseeing all 

international content, programming and creative aspects for PRN 

in all markets outside the US. 

Thomson 

Out-of-Home 

Media Networks 

CONSULTANT – CONTENT CREATOR 

INTEGRATOR – MEDIA SALES HOUSE 

REFERENCES 

Wal-Mart 

Carrefour 

Best Buy 

Circuit City 

Sam’s Club 

Costco 

SuperValu 

Kroger 

FedEx 

Royal Bank of Canada 

VolksWagen 

46 Quai Le Gallo 

92 648 Boulogne Cedex – France 

Tel.: +33 1 41 86 65 47 

Fax: +33 1 41 86 09 22 

info-ooh@thomson.net 

www.thomson.net 

www.prn.com 


© photos: Thomson Out-of-Home Media Networks

© photos: Toshiba Europe GmbH 

Toshiba Europe 

GmbH 

PROJECTION & DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY 

Hammfelddamm 8 

41460 Neuss 

Tel.: +49(0)2131-158 01 

Fax: +49(0)2131-158 835 

www.toshibaeurope.com/projectors 

CONTACTS 


Jörg Welsch 

Head of Sales EMEA 

joerg.welsch@toshiba-teg.com 

Henrik Ask 

Business Development Manager 

henrik.ask@toshiba-teg.com 


KEY FIGURES 

Belonging to group: Toshiba Europe GmbH is a fully 

owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, Tokyo 

Headquarters: Toshiba Corporation, Tokyo 

Number of staff / offices Europe: 191.000 employees 

(Toshiba Corporation)/ Toshiba Europe GmbH employs 

758 people 

Turnover: Toshiba Europe GmbH achieved a revenue of 

Euro 2.7 billion in 2006/07 (as of March 2007) 

Toshiba’s Projection & Display Technology (PDT) division markets a comprehensive portfolio of 

data and video projectors. Its offerings are aimed at a broad spectrum of target groups – from 

business professionals to home users. PDT is responsible for distribution in over 50 countries in 

Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Toshiba employs 191,000 people worldwide, around 

4,200 of which are in Europe. 


stand Q75 

Toshiba’s Projection & Display Technology (PDT) division supplies data and video projectors for 

a wide range of applications and target groups. Categories of professional models, for example, 

include a mobile class for compact projectors of less than three kilos in weight, plus projectors 

designed primarily for conferencing purposes which are also suitable for installation. Specific 

fields, for example education, offer projectors with fold-out cameras which also serve as 

overhead projectors. In addition, Toshiba’s portfolio comprises projectors with WLAN functions 

enabling wireless transmission of data from computer to projector – ideal for day-to-day business 

purposes. Among Toshiba’s most recent demonstrations of its innovative strength were its first LED 

projector and its range of extreme short throw projection (ESP) models. These feature ultrawideangle 

lenses to minimize throw distances, and are aimed at both home cinema fans and business 

users. 

www.cleverdis.com

© photos: TruMedia Technologies Ltd 

KEY FIGURES 

CONTACTS 


TruMedia Technologies provides real-time audience measurement and proactive advertising 

solutions for digital, product and window displays. The proprietary video analytics 

technology detects and tracks viewers’ faces in order to measure true visual exposure of 

media and merchandize. Using TruMedia´s audience measurement products, advertisers 

can now know how many people actually watched their display, how long they looked for 

and what they were looking at. 


The iCapture audience measurement system for Digital Displays, enables advertisers to truly 

measure the effectiveness of their display based on real-time audience counts, make 

educated decisions regarding advertising content based on audience attention levels and 

demographics and optimize the placement of their displays for maximum exposure. With 

the PROM (proactive merchandising) feature, iCapture is also able to interface with leading 

content delivery management systems, making it possible to adapt your content in real time 

based on your audience. 

iTally is an Opportunity to See (OTS) counter that automatically detects and counts people 

from overhead cameras as they enter or exit an area of interest. With the data provided by 

iTally you can compare the number of people who passed by any given display with the 

number of people who actually watched the display to calculate true audience impact 

ratios. 

PARTNERS 

AdSpace Networks • ICM • Nielsen • POL TV • Reactrix • Scala 


stand P63 

Belonging to group: TruMedia Technologies Inc. 

Legal form: INC. 


Headquarters: TAMPA, Florida 

Number of staff / offices Europe: 40+ employees. 

Offices in Israel, Netherlands, Spain + USA 


Myra COHEN DOUKHAN 

Marketing Manager 

myra@tru-media.com 

Myra is responsible for TruMedia’s worldwide marketing 

communication and branding. She brings over 10 years of 

experience in various marketing roles in the hi-tech industry 

including companies such as HP and BluePheonix. 

Catherine MOORE 

International Sales Director 

catherine@tru-media.com 

Catherine Moore is responsible for leading TruMedia’s sales 

efforts in Europe and the Middle East and has extensive 

experience in sales and customer support in the hi-tech industry, 

including Microsoft. 


Technologies Ltd 

AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT 

REFERENCES 

24 Shabazi Street 

Yehud, 56231 

Israel 

Tel.: +972 36358844 

Fax: +972 36358840 

www.tru-media.com 

Adspace Networks 

Digital Signage has remained a largely 

unmeasured medium. Advertisers are asking for 

proof of effectiveness and Adspace Networks, 

a network of full-motion digital displays located 

throughout select malls across the United States, 

wanted to provide that proof by accurately 

measuring audiences viewing their digital 

signs. TruMedia’s iCapture audience 

measurement solution was installed on 6 

screens in 3 different malls across the USA. The 

iCapture Ultra Cam, a unique high-resolution, 

wide dynamic range camera was placed 

above each screen and oriented towards the 

audience. The iCapture system provided data 

on how many people watched the screens, how 

long they looked and provided insight on 

viewer demographics. 

ON. Bar and Club TV 

ON. (www.thisison.nl) runs a digital media 

network in more than 500 of the top clubs and 

bars in the Netherlands. Working closely with 

brands, ON intermingles inspirational content 

targeting 18 – 35 year olds with brand 

messaging of different kinds. ON. set-out to 

obtain metrics for their bars, advertisers and 

media buyers in order to be able to provide 

them with standardized audience and 

effectiveness results. Using TruMedia’s iCapture 

technology installed below each screen in the 

Storm Night Club in Netherlands. Data 

provided by iCapture made it possible to 

determine how many people watched the 

screens, which content was more eye-catching, 

how long audience watched for and to gain a 

better understanding of viewer demographics. 


© photo: Winmate Communication 

Winmate 

Communication 

EMBEDDED DIGITAL SIGNAGE SOLUTIONS 

FOR ALL KINDS OF APPLICATIONS 

9F, No.111-6, Shing -De Rd., San-Chung City, 

Taipei 241, Taiwan, R.O.C 

Tel.: +886 8511 0288 

Fax: +886 8511 0211 

www.winmate.com 

REFERENCES 

Public Transport “Infotainment” 

For in-bus entertainment, information and 

providing additional value for passengers, 

more and more transportation companies are 

using digital signage in their bus fleets. Given 

the limited space, power consumption plus the 

vibrations and lateral movements, there are 

only few solutions available for a situation 

which presents a major problem for 

conventional “PC-Based” digital signage 

solutions. Winmate has a family of Network 

Players especially designed for these 

requirements. The small, rugged Digital 

Signage Network Player offers the very highest 

reliability, is able to play MPEG 1, MPEG2 and 

MPEG4 multimedia files from Standard 

Definition (SD) up to High Definition (HD) 

quality, as well as being able to display pictures 

and scrolling messages. Key points for this 

solution are the size factor, very high reliability, 

an extremely long product lifetime and the 

support of an API Software Development Kit 

(SDK) that allows customers to implement the 

Player Management system within only 3 

months. After a couple of successful projects 

seeing this solution installed in buses in South 

America, Winmate will be actively promoting 

this solution in 2008 and beyond. 

CONTACT 



Ken LU 

CEO 

sales1@winmate.com.tw 

KEY FIGURES 

Capital: 8 M € 


Headquarters: Taipei, Taiwan 

Number of staff / offices Worldwide: 200 

Turnover: 30 M € 

Ken Lu joined the Winmate team in 1997. His experience is focused 

on system integration involving AP, A/D Board and CPU Board design, 

BIOS, Embedded Firmware and U/I design. He believes that embedded 

digital signage is absolutely going to replace traditional advertising 

in the near future. 

Winmate offers a full range of LCD-based Solutions for all major industry requirements. From LCD 

monitors for integration up to complete embedded PC integrated solutions straight out of the box. 

Specialised in niche market products, Winmate has also become one of the market leaders for 

embedded media processor solutions. 


Winmate provides innovative, integrated, affordable and easy-to-use solutions for digital signage 

applications. For hardware, they use an “Embedded Multimedia Processor” platform with only 

5W power consumption. The solution is available as a box or Integrated with various sizes of 

LCD’s. When it comes to the Management Software, Winmate has a very friendly and easy-touse 

interface, that has been a key in building Winmate’s reputation in the digital signage industry. 

In addition to the basic media transfer feature, the software also provides auto media update, 

auto client time sync, client billing log, graphics transition effects and security key checking to 

make Winmate’s Digital Signage Network Player a flexible product to be used in any 

environment. According to a Winmate spokesperson: “Our capability is in solution-oriented 

thinking, flexible design-in skills and customized production expertise. The solutions we provide 

have great features: a full line of LCD Display seamlessly integrated with the Embedded Media 

Processor platform. They have a friendly and easy-to-use user interface. The innovative solution 

has a most competitive cost structure that can reduce our clients’ total cost of ownership and 

guarantee an easy start-up into Digital Signage for our Customers.” The Digital Signage Product 

Range is growing and has a full line of Media Players for easy Playback from Storage cards. 

The Network Player range includes SD and HD players as well as Players with up to 4 Video 

Input possibilities. At the same time Winmate has added many new Features and additional 

Software Packages bundled with the Players. Their digital signage products are widely used for 

transportation, banks, retail stores, window shopping, kiosks, education centres, service stations 

and hospitals. 

www.cleverdis.com

KEY FIGURES 

Belonging to group: Wututu 

Legal form: Private Limited Company 


Headquarters: Barcelona (Spain) 

Number of staff: 11 


CONTACTS 


Wututu specializes in providing the marketing industry with high-end technology-based 

products. Headquartered in Spain, the company develops exclusive systems to improve the 

effectiveness and the control of out-of-home advertising. Currently Wututu supplies in two key 

areas: grabbing the target audience’s attention through Scr3enD and measuring the impact 

of out-of-home advertising through the Person Counter. 


Wututu focuses on developing advanced technological products for nowadays demanding 

marketing industry. Person Counter by Wututu is an audience measurement device for outof-home 

advertising that registers the audience’s facial geometry and generates statistical 

data for its analysis and software processing. The device picks up how many people are 

watching and for how long in 70º wide and 10m deep, and the data can be accessed 

by the client in real-time/deferred. On the other hand, Scr3enD is an incredibly effective 

media to grab the audience’s attention. Technically, it’s an LCD screen with special features 

that makes possible the visualization of three-dimensional images without using 3D glasses 

or optical gadgets. It has also a Software Suite that allows the conversion of static and 

dynamic bi-dimensional images into 3D format. 

PARTNERS 

Wututu is ascribed to La Salle’s Innovation Park and to Navarra’s CEIN (European 

Businesses & Innovation Centre). 


stand B47 

Xavier Capellades 

CEO 

xcapellades@wututu.com 

MBA and BA in Telecommunications Engineering, he was 

responsible for the Entrepreneurship Program in La Salle’s 

Innovation Park, helping a great number of technology-based 

companies start their business. 

Jordi Faci 

Founder & CTO 

jordi@wututu.com 

Computer engineer and technology entrepreneur, his passion for 

auto-stereoscopy has made him one of the few specialists 

worldwide. 

Wututu 

TECHNOLOGY FOCUSED ON THE 

MARKETING INDUSTRY 

c/ Paris 162-164, 2-3 

08036 Barcelona 

Spain 

Tel.: +34 931 623 448 

Fax: +34 933 969 110 

www.wututu.com 


© photos: Wututu

SMARTreport 

Trade Shows & Conferences 

Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 

January 29-31, 2008 

RAI - Amsterdam - The Netherlands 

Integrated Systems Europe is the No. 1 show for 

Professional AV and Electronic System 

Integrators.This trade offers the latest in electronic 

systems technologies and solutions, up to date 

market information and a comprehensive 

education program with exhibitor led sessions. 

www.iseurope.org 

Screen Expo Europe Februray 5-6, 2008 

Earls Court 2- London - UK 

Europe’s biggest event for Digital Signage, 

Media Networks, Interactive Technology & 

Content. 

www.screenevents.co.uk 

Euroshop February 23-27, 2008 

Messe Düsseldorf - Düsseldorf - Germany 

Numerous congresses and forums with 

international speakers round out the world’s No. 

1 capital goods fair for the retail industry and its 

partners. No one could wish for a better climate 

in the run-up to EuroShop 2008. For the first time, 

the fair will be spread over a net exhibition area 

of more than 100,000 square metres. Hailing 

from more than 50 countries, 1,600 exhibitors 

will be showcased in 15 halls. 

www.euroshop.de 

Digital Media in Retail Evening 

March 11, 2008 

London - UK 

POPAIdigital Meeting. 

www.popaidigital.com 

Sign & Digital UK April 22-24, 2008 

Birmingham - UK 

www.signuk.com 

Marketing Services May 6-8, 2008 

Messe Frankfurt - Frankfort - Germany 

As Europes Cross Media Trade Show, Marketing 

Services brings specialists from all areas of the 

communication industry together. With the 

typical appeal characteristic of a leading trade 

show – this is where decision-makers meet. 

Concentrated synergy benefits exhibitors and 

visitors alike. 

www.marketing-services.de 

Digital Signage Expo May 6-8, 2008 

Essen - Germany 

Digital Signage Expo 2008 is the new highly 

focused international trade showcase exclusively 

concerned with all digital signage related topics 

such as in-store tv, digital media, ad screens, 

content and solutions. 

www.digitalsignageexpo.eu 

In-Store Show May 20-22, 2008 

Earls Court 2 - London - UK 

The event helping brands and retailers achieve 

stand out and drive sales. 

www.instoreshow.co.uk 

Infocomm June 18-20, 2008 

Las Vegas - Nevada - USA 

InfoComm is the largest tradeshow of the 

professional audiovisual industry. AV is 


expanding from traditional markets such as 

business, education and government into 

healthcare, retail, sports, entertainment, 

museums, worship and an increasingly 

sophisticated residential market. 

www.infocommshow.org 


July 10, 2008 

London - UK 



Plasa Show September 7-10, 2008 

Earls Court - London - UK 

International event within the entertainment, 

event, corporate, architectural and installation 

industries from all over the world. 

www.plasashow.com 

International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) 

September, 12-16, 2008 

RAI - Amsterdam - The Netherlands 

IBC is committed to providing the world's best 

event for everyone involved in the creation, 

management and delivery of content for the 

entertainment industry. Run by the industry for the 

industry, IBC is owned by six Partners who 

represent both visitors and exhibitors. Uniquely, 

the key executives and committees who control 

the convention are drawn from these 

organisations, bringing with them experience 

and expertise in all aspects of our industry. 

www.ibc.org 


September 16, 2008 

London - UK 



Viscom France September 23-25, 2008 

Paris Expo Porte de Versailles - Paris - France 

Viscom France has positioned itself as the place 

where all the players and users in this universe 

can meet. Screens, posters, stands, trademarks, 

signage for businesses and in public places, 

POS advertising, marking of promotional items or 

vehicles, building coverings, decors, advertising 

about events…!. 

www.viscom-paris.com 

SMAU October 15-18, 2008 

New exhibition center Rho-Pero - Milan - Italy 

Smau is the International Exhibition of Information 

& Communications Technology. Smau 2008 is 

designed to offer exhibitors and visitors an ideal 

meeting place for matching ICT demand with 

supply addressed not only to specialists but also 

to corporate decision makers (especially SMEs), 

central and local government officials and selfemployed 

professionals. 

www.smau.it 

Viscom España October 18-20, 2008 

Feria de Madrid IFEMA - Madrid - Spain 

Viscom-Sign is the only trade fair totally geared 

towards the visual communication and 

advertising market. It covers both the creative 

and technological aspects of the visual 

communication production process. Ideas and 

design come together with the industry to meet 

the needs of environmental graphics and retail 

advertising. 

www.sign-viscom.com 

SATIS October 20-23, 2008 

Paris Expo Porte de Versailles - Paris - France 

Salon des technologies et des solutions 

audiovisuelles. SATIS remains the only event able 

to gather the best experts from the audiovisual 

world, from production to screening. Exhibition, 

conference, TV studio, HDauditorium, workshop: 

everything is done so that visitors may find out 

about the latest technological breakthroughs as 

well as new works from content creators. 

www.satis-expo.com 

Digital Signage Submit 

October 23-26, 2008 

Munich - Germany 

www.systems-signage.de 

Viscom Europe Germany 

October 30 - November 1, 2008 

Exhibition Center - Frankfort - Germany 

International trade fair for visual communication. 

Viscom germany is the exhibitors' portal to 

purchasers from all fields of the industry. It will be 

the only trade fair equally addressing both 

specialists and interdisciplinarily operating 

generalists. As worldwide leading event, viscom 

germany is a MUST for internationally operating 

companies as well as for the small trade. Its 

comprehensive conference and workshop 

program is the transfer platform for the latest 

industrial know-how. 

www.viscom-messe.com 

Integrated Systems Russia 

October 30 - November 1, 2008 

Moscow - Russia 

Integrated Systems Russia will include a comprehensive 

programme of workshops, seminars, 

round table discussions and company presentations. 

www.midexpo.ru/isr 

SIMO November 11-16, 2008 

Feria de Madrid - Madrid - Spain 

The International Data Processing, Multimedia 

and Communications Show. 

www.ifema.es/ferias/simo/default.html 

Digital Media in Retail Conference 

November 12, 2008 

London - UK 

POPAIdigital Conference. 


Viscom Italia November 13-15, 2008 

New exhibition center Rho-Pero - Milan - Italy 

Exhibition for everyone involved in the visual 

communication industry. 

www.visualcommunication.it 


December 3, 2008 

London - UK 



www.cleverdis.com

Out-of-Home Digital Media are - Cleverdis

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