News

NRF: NEC talking up Vukunet at the BIG Show

NEC's software system allows retailers to more easily launch and monitor ad campaigns across multiple digital-signage platforms.

January 10, 2011

Launching ad campaigns across digital-signage platforms is no longer a complicated, expensive undertaking, according to Graeme Spicer, general manager of digital media for NEC Display Solutions of America. Spicer, who was hired last year to lead the ad initiative, was at the National Retail Federation's BIG Show this week in New York City to spread the word about VUKUNET.

"It's a very cool suite," Spicer said about the software system desiged to speed up the maturing of the digital out-of-home marketplace. "It does a number of things, but it's a full-featured, content- management system. So if you're a small or midsize network and have a need for a content management system to drive content from your servers down to your displays then we have a fully featured piece of software that does that, and it's free, I might add. That's a benefit, but it's a key way in which we support hardware sales."

VUKUNET, a Web-based platform, is the digital-signage industry's first universal ad scheduling, playback and reporting engine, according to NEC. Before VUKUNET, Spicer said, the industry lacked interoperability or standardization across the hundreds of solutions providers and operating networks. Planners buying "time" on the often-fragmented networks had to navigate through a maze notable for its lack of common distribution platforms, media and measurement standards.

"The issue up until now that was preventing us from having (digital) advertising put on the top of every media buyer's list was it was too complicated to buy," said Spicer, who said VUKUNET will be to digital signage what Double Click is to the Internet.

"Double Click has the ability to serve ads to any website because they are built on one of just a few content management systems as compared to digital signage where there's hundreds," Spicer said. "We want to be the engine that drives digital out-of-home somewhat the way Double Click is the engine that largely drives Internet advertising."