advertise me has been in the digital signage industry since its infancy in Australia and we’ve experienced the convergence of the Information Technology and Audio Visual industry. Both are now becoming so dependent on each other that professionals in the IT industry are learning skills from the audio visual industry and vice versa.

What are the main reasons behind this and which industry does digital signage fit in?

In this particular post I will attempt to explore these areas and hopefully others can follow and join me with sharing their thoughts and ideas on this particular topic.

Let’s firstly look at the roles and responsibilities of both industries:

The IT industry

Information Technology Network equipment

Generally speaking, when someone uses the term IT (Information Technology), the first thing that comes to their mind is computers – basically this is what the majority of digital signage players are (embedded computers, laptops, desktops, Macs etc). One thing that needs to be clarified is that IT encompasses much more than computers, it covers broader areas such as software development, desktop management, server management (Windows, Linux, Mac, etc), network infrastructure, security and helpdesk support. All of these areas form the basic foundation of the IT backbone and digital signage is one of those technologies which have a great dependency on the IT framework. The design, stability of the overall IT infrastructure needs to work in order for the digital signage network to also be reliable and efficient.

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Category: Digital Signage Blog Info, Featured Post

If you haven’t heard, in Australia the Federal Government is planning to spend 43 billion dollars to upgrade the Australian network infrastructure. What’s been interesting is the fact that the government did not award this project to any of the major Telcos – it will all be in house. Well this may potentially mean the infrastructure will not be monopolised by any of the Telcos. This is definitely a good thing for consumers.
Now if you’re a digital signage company you may be wondering how this may impact you. The first thing that popped into my mind was “more bandwidth…. means more bandwidth intensive applications can be used on the digital signage system”.

Here’s a list of things that popped into my mind when this was announced:

• stream or cache high definition videos to the screens – this includes live TV,  Foxtel, and even live events (Youtube has already introduced the Live Events program)
• develop real time applications on the digital signage systems
• shorter waiting times for content synchronisations
• integrate the digital signage system with wireless hotspots
• integrate with the upcoming digital radio services
• develop interactive applications that require low latency and high bandwidth
• real time monitoring of digital signage networks and quicker troubleshooting/response times

Seeing several opportunities, advertise me will hopefully launch several innovative solutions in the next couple of years so watch this space.

What innovative digital signage applications do you see taking advantage of high speed networks?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Category: Digital Signage Blog Info, Digital Signage Blog News

Have you registered for the upcoming Content Best Practices for Digital Signage Networks Webinar? We have included this event on our digital signage portal events. If you have any upcoming events (exhibitions, seminar, webinars, etc) feel free to add them to the events (note registration is required).

Here’s the Meeting Description and details that was sent to us. We will try our best to join this webinar but because of the time difference, it will be 4AM in Australia and I’m normally in bed. Hopefully the hosts will be able to record this webinar and share it with the rest of the digital signage community:

Date:  Thu, Jan 29, 2009
Time:  12:00 PM EST
Duration:  1 hour
Host:  Digital Signage Association

Join us for a very special webinar where members of the Digital Signage Association Content Best Practices Committee will present a methodology that delivers the highest possible viewer impact, influence and response for digital signage networks. The presenters will discuss the critical DO’s and DON’Ts for creating content and programming schedules.

1. How to create powerful content that drives results
2. How to structure playlists to achieve maximum effect; loop times, day parts and update frequency
3. Adding elements that create additional viewer interest such as weather, news and subscription services
4. Understanding environmental issues such as display placement, location, and traffic

Do you have an upcoming digital signage event? Let us know or add it to the digital signage portal events calendar.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Category: Digital Signage Blog Events, Digital Signage Blog News