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Digital signage spreading its wings at InfoComm15
This year's InfoComm show Orlando, Florida, will draw nearly 1,000 exhibitors and more than 38,000 attendees from 110-plus countries, and they'll all find the full spectrum of digital signage waiting for them.
June 17, 2015 by Christopher Hall — w, t
Digital signage is its own thing — but at the same time, at its most basic, it's an AV and IT play.
And that's becoming more and more clear at the biggest trade show for the AV industry, the annual InfoComm show, where digital signage seems to play a bigger role each year.
This year's InfoComm, held in Orlando, Florida, will draw nearly 1,000 exhibitors and more than 38,000 attendees from 110-plus countries, according to InfoComm International, the trade association representing the professional audiovisual and information communications industries worldwide and sponsors and organizers of the show.
And those visitors and exhibitors will find plenty of digital signage to appreciate at the show, from the Digital Signage Presentation Stage (from which InfoComm is live-streaming digital signage presentations) to the Digital Signage Pavilion to the Digital Signage Solutions Summit, not to mention manufacturers' training sessions from digital signage providers.
Digital Signage Today asked a variety of digital signage figures to talk about InfoComm and its growing importance for the digital signage space. The responses made it clear that the InfoComm show already has become a vital avenue for the digital signage industry to promote itself.
“InfoComm is unique in that it brings together the entire AV market," said Jeff Hastings, CEO of digital signage media player provider BrightSign. "Digital signage extends into many other adjacent segments of the AV market, and InfoComm gives attendees the opportunity to see how digital signage is the glue that binds together many of these market segments. And from an exhibitor’s perspective, the show affords us the opportunity to connect with existing and future partners — which makes InfoComm very important for business development."
.#InfoComm15 is underway in Orlando! http://t.co/DLe7JP3vv4 pic.twitter.com/DgVnpTRNDA
— Daktronics (@Daktronics) June 17, 2015Mike Cronan, Panasonic’s manager of digital signage solutions strategy and development, said the show is vital for giving solution providers access to the kinds of attendee drawn to InfoComm.
"From purely the signage perspective, it's so important to get the level of visitor or attendee at this particular show, to be able to show them that we do have a play in this space and that we are involved in this and that digital signage is going to become more and more a part of your world," he said. "It's letting people know the benefits of signage and letting these people know … how they can benefit from it. It provides a tremendous cross section and exposure."
In an interview from the show floor today, the opening day of the show's exhibition hall, Stephen Shao, the north American marketing manager for Philips Signage Solutions' North American business operations company, Envision Peripherals Inc., said the show allows Philips to broaden its reach and market, just by being there.
"I can tell you, as far as digital signage, it is becoming more and more important just purely for the pro AV market," he said. "That keeps on expanding, and we as manufacturers are trying our best to grab a slice of that with features geared toward pro AV… Really, our displays are being designed more and more for that pro AV market, just because we're seeing it expand and grow quite a bit."
Welcome to #2801 - the full view of our #InfoComm15 booth! pic.twitter.com/ifWLmpqQHh
— Crestron Electronics (@CrestronHQ) June 17, 2015Whether it's through an increased focus on Internet of Things and embedded applications, or for outdoor LCDs, new LED displays or conference room products, the show covers a veritable plethora of opportunities for digital signage and AV provider, said Tom Evans, the director of marketing for professional displays at digital signage display provider Samsung's enterprise business division. Evans compared the InfoComm show's importance for commercial-grade displays to the importance of the annual Consumer Electronics Show for consumer-grade displays.
"This has become a vitally important show," he said. "There's no question that as display technology has become more and more affordable, its use as a canvas for communication, whether it's traditional digital signage or otherwise, it's just growing exponentially… And in every facet pro AV integrators are involving themselves in those kinds of applications."
The communications canvas that digital signage displasy provide in so many flavors, from outdoor displays to LED displays, "has really opened up more and more opportunities for the pro AV segment and for the system integrator segment to really latch onto signage as a means for great future growth," he said.
"All of that's a long way of saying it’s a great show," Evans said. "We see it as a key enabler and as a key communication vehicle."
Come by the Christie booth at #InfoComm15 and enjoy our hospitality! Drinks are on us from 3pm - 5pm today pic.twitter.com/1pzazbpVby
— Christie (@ChristieDigital) June 17, 2015Finally, the show offers yet another venue for manufacturers to showcase new display products, and to meet and work with solutions partners, as well as providing access to the AV resellers and integrators who are installing digital signage, said Keith Yanke, the senior director of product marketing at digital signage display and projector provider NEC Display Solutions of America.
"We view it as a very important show for us, of course from the AV side but now as well for the digital signage space," Yanke said. "As we move forward, even the typical AV integrator reseller knows that if they’ve been selling screens or projectors into, let's say higher education or even the corporate space, those customers now are also going to be asking about digital signage; they're going to want to expand and get outside of the classroom or the conference room and put the technology in their lobbies or put the technology campus wide in universities … and that is making the integrators and the resellers change the way they do business. They have to broaden what their specialties are, and digital signage is one great way of doing that."
Cover photo courtesy of Matthew Stethen.
About Christopher Hall
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BrightSign
BrightSign is the global market leader in digital signage media players, offering the most reliable, secure and sophisticated solid-state media players on the market today.
Philips Professional Display Solutions (PPDS)
At PPDS, we help bring the digital to life. We’re part of the largest display manufacturer in the world, TPV Technology. And we proudly hold the exclusive global rights to bring Philips branded digital signage, LED displays, professional TVs and monitors to life. What’s more, we have the innovation to bring that together with complementary.
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