Bill Collins

Last week I organized a panel discussion on digital signage or “digital Out of Home” (DOOH) at the Cincinnati based Digital Hub Non-Conference.  This conference was a regional showcase of all things digital with some national keynote speakers.  At last year’s event, I was shocked that a digital conference could have no digital signage discussions so I got involved and got on the programming schedule for digital signage.  The problem is that I was too chicken to do the whole topic on my own. Its the whole fear of public speaking. So I thought… hmmmm  who else can I draft into this?  A panel discussion would be much easier for me to stomach.

I know many people in our industry from our many years of experience, and first turned to some of the partners we have in the business such as Samsung.  Samsung suggested we use Dayton based Stratacache since this event was a regional showcase, and I have been aware of Stratacache for years, even though we had not yet worked with their tools.  Turns out the director of marketing there, Louie Hollmeyer was a classmate of mine in elementary and high school.  I hadn’t seen him since.  (He looks the same as when he was eighteen years old!)  Done!  Then I turned to respected national speaker and research analyst for the kiosk and digital signage industry, Mr. Bill Collins.  He turned me on to Mike Collette of Healthy Advice Networks.  Their firm operates about 7000 screens in their network of patient education content that is placed in waiting rooms around the continent.  He would bring a great perspective on how to manage or operate a large network.   Done!   My connections connected me to new and relevant prospects for the panel.   This was working out quite well.

Now, the reason they call this a Non-Conference is that while the keynotes are held in the main ballroom of the local Hyatt Regency hotel, the breakout sessions are held in local pubs and artsy venues.  The attendees walk the 3-4 blocks to the venue that is hosting the session you are interested in attending.  Our session was held in the Lodge Bar on 7th street in Cincinnati.  The decor is very log cabin ‘ish with deer heads mounted to the wall along side of fishing paraphernalia and similar sporting trinkets.  Certainly interesting when your session attendees are drinking a Gin and Tonic during your talk!  The problem with the Non Conference idea is that the day of the event, there was a large rain storm that started right at the time our session started.   So our attendance was low at first, and the room filled up more as the wet and dripping new media types “poured in”.

Samsung had provided two LCD panels for our use at the event (Thanks Guys!) and our firm, Electronic Art provided the stands and media players.  Stratacache brought a sample reel of Digital signage content and so did Healthy Advice Networks.  Bill Collins brought a great PowerPoint deck with some good visual examples of signage installations and his take on definitions and metrics.   Some folks noted that the content from Stratacache had localized data in it that was set to Nebraska (and we are in Cincinnati),  but they need to understand the lack of internet connectivity and amount of setup needed for this short 45 minute session.   I think everyone understood the scenario being shown.  (The Twitterati can be so picky!)  There were discussions about the reasons to use commercial grade hardware and the reasons why, the slow adoption of signage by retailers in the past and how this has been changing.  We also discussed how traditional agencies have been slow to understand the medium and how interactive agencies (like Electronic Art) have been providing a lot of the content and consulting.  And we talked about the benefits such as localization, day parts, and how the content can be specific to the viewer.

In all, the event was a success.  We could have gone on for another hour but sadly these were short sessions.  We knew that going in which is why we titled the session “Digital Signage 101: – Networks, Components, Media and its impact on traditional media.”.    I heard a lot of people ask for more of this content next year.  We hope to be able to provide a longer session and incorporate more signage into the event overall for way finding and sponsor promotion.

The keynote speeches of the event are available online as PodCasts at http://cms.screamingbob.com/content/null-dhi09/podcasts. To see some of the Twitter posts on the overall conference, look up the tag #dhi09 on Twitter.  And here are some photos from our session at the Lodge Bar.

This is an educational topic that I have to teach quite often to prospects and newbies to the digital signage market. People see cheap LCD screens at Best Buy and think that they should integrate that quality into their retail location. A commercial grade screen costs more and people often think too shortsightedly at the initial cost, not thinking about the total cost of ownership. Like replacing that screen in a matter of months because you ran it 24 hours a day, burning in the image and frying your motherboards. And your limited consumer warranty will not cover you.

A commercial screen will often come with a 3 year warranty, is made for 20+ hours of commercial use with fans, lower overall power consumption, and in some cases, technology to prevent burn in (image retention). Many other reasons exist too, and so it was good to see our partner Samsung sponsor a white paper on the topic. It does a decent job of explaining why the initial up front cost will save you much heartache and money in the near future.

Download the PDF here

It’s that time again, we are exhibiting at the KioskCom Self Service Expo in Las Vegas on May 6th & 7th, 2009. I think this is our 7th time exhibiting at the show which is in Vegas in the springtime and NYC in the fall. The show is packed with all of the vendors in the Kiosk and Digital Signage industry showing off their latest hardware, software, accessories and giving seminars and speeches. It’s a good show to attend to become familiar with the industry and what is available for your projects. Many of our vendors are there such as Zebra Printers, Site Kiosk, Scala, LG, Samsung and more.

We use the show to exhibit recent software apps and designs to show prospects the quality of work we can do and showcase new services or products. In this year’s booth we have a new digital signage way finding service targeted towards property managers, architects and developers called  Lobstr. This turnkey interactive office directory solution is a great way to attract new tenants, retain existing tenants, set your buildings apart from the competition and provide great service to your guests and visitors. A low cost enables the software and touch screen LCD panels to be installed quickly and easily. The booth demo will have a 37″ touch LCD mounted on a floor mount that enables you to rotate from landscape to portrait mode easily.

We are also showing the new Zebra Kiosk Print Station. The new product can be wall mounted or table top mounted to provide printing capabilities to your kiosk terminal in a very small footprint. Made by Zebra, who manufactures printers that are used in retail, POS, and many kiosks. As Zebra VAR partners we first saw the kiosk print station at the National Retail Federation show back in January (NRF in NYC).  I think this will be a big hit with applications such as gift registries, loyalty card programs, product locators and HR applications. Come see our booth #829 to see a demo. And, those of you who subscribe to our E-Newsletter get a special promo price this month to kick it off!

Also in our booth at the KioskCom tradeshow is the IBM AnyPlace kiosk showcasing some of our past kiosk applications from clients such as Verizon, Citrucel, Charbroil Grills, Os-Cal, BlackBerry and more. The IBM AnyPlace kiosk is a retail hardened all-in-one touch screen kiosk that has most of the features required for kiosk applications such as IR glass touch screen, Mag card reader, barcode scanner,  Wifi, built in precense sensor, stereo speakers, Express card slot for cellular broadband connectivity, and Windows XP embedded. The entire PC and screen are built in to one hardware component the size of a large laptop. This enables it to be wall , pole , desktop mounted or integrated into an enclosure. It truely can be mounted just about Any Place!  In the past we’ve combined it with various printers, mounted it on retail end-caps and even combined it with medical devices such as blood pressure cuffs, pedometers and weight scales to facilitate client needs. What can we do for you? Come see it at the KioskCom Self Service Expo.

If you are considering going to the show, post a comment below or let one of our staff know and we’ll be happy to send you free tickets good for free admission to the expo. The show management, JD Events, does a great job every year and we’ve seen the list of registered attendees. It should be another great show!

I’m on a Samsung partner webcast at this very moment listening to new product information, end of life information on old SKU’s that will no longer be offered, and info on video wall connections. Samsung does a great job with partner channel education and today’s call about large screen displays for digital signage is very informative.  They have commercial screens with built in tuners and speakers to look like consumer grade (but with all of the commercial grade benefits) but the biggest sellers are the CX series and UX series.

I really like their video wall options, with small bezels (as small as 2.4mm). Very cool options for stacking screens together in free standing video walls much like a tower display.
They also have prebuilt IR touch screens out of the box instead of having to apply touch to existing SKUs like we often do from many LCD vendors. Nice to have only one vendor responsible for the components.

They also have high bright screens for outdoor signage. The model 460DRn-A is a  46″ high bright panel is 1500 NITS is weatherproof with built in HVAC, PC and shockproof. Vandal resistance has camera built in to snap a picture if someone trys to damage it.

They also mentioned that they are working on a multi-touch series that will hopefully be avaiable soon.  A preproduction version was shown recently at a show.

I will be gathering specs on many of the new products like the outdoor LCD. If you have interest, give me a call and we’ll get the right product for your needs spec’d out.

Samsung product info is available on their public web site.

Samsung Partner

CINCINNATI – Electronic Art has partnered with Scala, a pioneer in digital signage, to provide clients access to InfoChannel, the most widely-deployed digital signage software platform in the world. Electronic Art has been given a certified partner status to enable digital signage network management using the Scala InfoChannel tools. This high-end enterprise-level content management system for digital signage will allow Electronic Art to integrate large scale deployments with advanced content features built into the Scala toolsets.

Electronic Art already provides content, hardware and management of out-of-home networks using more simplistic tools, but this new partnership will allow their reach to include global deployments and rich data driven content. As a Scala InfoChannel Value Added Reseller, Electronic Art can provide Scala licensing, software, installation and support in addition to digital signage content. Scala-approved player hardware is also available in addition to the multiple LCD vendors that Electronic Art resells, such as LG, Samsung & Phillips.

“We are proud to be recognized as a certified partner of such a renowned company. Scala is cutting-edge and we are committing Electronic Art to be on the same level,” said Tim Burke, President of Electronic Art.

In November, Electronic Art employees traveled to Scala’s corporate office in Exton, Pa., to receive training on Scala’s InfoChannel and InfoChannel Designer software. This training ensures that Electronic Art can support all of their clients’ InfoChannel needs.

For more information about Electronic Art, contact Tim Burke at (513) 321-1771 or tburke@electronicart.com, or visit www.ElectronicArt.com.

About Scala’s InfoChannel

InfoChannel is Scala’s digital signage management suite that provides enterprise level features and scalability for large and medium size installations. InfoChannel provides the ability to collaboratively create, publish, schedule and centrally control media-rich content that can be delivered and dynamically localized at the point of playback to one or thousands of networked displays . As the leader in Dynamic Digital Signage solutions since 1987, the technology has field-proven scalability and 24/7 reliability.

About Electronic Art

Electronic Art (www.ElectronicArt.com) is a Cincinnati-based interactive agency specializing in kiosks and digital signage as well as many related online services. Originally founded in 1998 and incorporated in 2002, Electronic Art began primarily as a Web studio offering high end custom programming, ecommerce, and design. Electronic Art provides custom solutions for many industries in kiosks, digital signage and Web site development. Sales of kiosk and digital signage hardware allow for a complete solution from one vendor, and an onsite IT staff handles build, integration and support needs.