Scala: ‘We’re not cheap, and we won’t change’

October 25, 2013 by
Scala's partner event took place in a refurbished Amsterdam church

Scala’s partner event took place in a refurbished Amsterdam church

Digital communications software developer Scala gathered its international partners in Amsterdam for its annual two-day meeting this September. The conference welcomed around 250 people between partners, employees and clients. In the mezzanine area a mini-exhibition was held, where companies such as AOpen, Avnet, Christie, IAdea, iBase, Matrox, Samsung and other Scala-certified partners were able to showcase their wares.

The event was held at a refurbished church in the old town and all present had a firm wake-up call when three gospel singers arrived on stage and made everybody stand up, clap and yell ‘Scalalujah’. After a few songs, we were all relieved to see Scala’s chief executive, Tom Nix, take to the stage.

In previous years, Scala would open the conference by looking at the state of the company; this year, the focus leaned more towards trends, investments and its plans for the future. “We want to meet the needs of different vertical markets,” says Nix, highlighting the importance of understanding the customer journey and, therefore, incorporating predictive analytics to provide a better ROI for customers.

The company has added 1,400 new customers world-wide in the past year and seen a nine per cent increase in adoption and growth. “We are capable of delivering software solutions at a level nobody can,” claims Nix. He recognises, however, that companies with a vertical focus and lower-priced products are a threat: “We are not competing against software providers. Our competitors are companies that offer complete solutions. The other competitor threat is price. We are committed to be competitive, but we won’t be low cost. We offer high value.”

Since Nix took the Scala reins two years ago, there have been a few changes, including a management shake up. “I initially wanted to come to Scala to work with its inspiring chief executive George Bucas. When he stepped down, I was not expecting to take his place, but I’m very happy with the way things panned out.

“It took me a good nine months to get used to my new position but now I’m enjoying it. I have a great team,” Nix continues. “We had a great opportunity to introduce new ideas, which came with new challenges, and we realised that we had a shortfall of skills. Luckily we have been able to bring in the skills we were lacking in order to help the company grow.”

Nix predicts that ‘small’ is the next big thing. This is not just because of ROI, which are truly changing the way brands communicate with customers and they way we shop; he also sees the introduction of electronic shelf labels (ESL) as a disruptive technology, especially if it is combined with Scala’s predictive analytics. “Retail is the key area of growth for us,” Nix confirms. “Integrating mobile devices – whether big or small, in the shape of ESL – and making sense of the data that is available from [these] interactions is the way forward.”

Stefan Menger, Scala’s vice-president for advanced analytics, explains how the company’s ‘big data’ collection can optimise retailers business decisions: “By looking to historic market data and combining [them] with live third-party data streams, businesses can create marketing messages that positively impact buying behaviour. We also use predictive methods to determine the probability of what is likely to happen next according to the businesses’ goals and objectives.”

Guillaume Proux, Scala’s senior vice-president for Asia, believes that “there has never been a digital signage market. Digital signage is part of the marketing toolbox. We need a leap of faith, to stop being just an information channel and become omni-channel, so that the right content is delivered in the right location at the right time. Digital signage 2.0 has to be connected, social, intelligent and integrated with CMS systems.”

Scala is realistic about its strengths and the areas it needs to improve upon. One of them, Nix admits, is its communication with partners and the market, which is why its annual conference is so important for the company. As a result, its aim to further the customer experience will be crucial for the coming year, as will its new pricing system, which as yet remains unannounced. Customers, meanwhile, can look forward to its new software suite Scala Enterprise, which along with Web 2.0 APIs, HTML5 support and Android player options, uses big data and predictive analytics for personalised customer engagement.

First published 25 October 2013 – Output

Filed Under: Digital signage Tagged With: , , , ,

Driving force: top-end media player options

March 18, 2013 by

Is the future of media players in HTML5 or NUC, or will technology remove the need for media players altogether?

Is the future of media players in HTML5 or NUC, or will technology remove the need for media players altogether?

Media players are media-processing modules that play digital content onto digital signage screens. But with hundreds of options available in the market, finding which one is the most appropriate can be a bit daunting. We spoke with experts in the industry to see what they think and asked them what they consider to be the top-end options.

Kevin Goldsmith, director of Digital Media Operations at USA-based Ping HD defines it: “A top-end media player will have more memory, a faster CPU and sometimes a dedicated, discreet graphics card. As performance increases so do the capabilities in terms of multiple video zones and the smoothness of animated and scrolling ticker playback.”

“For Intevi, there is no such thing as a top-end player, it depends more on the application and project requirements and finding hardware that fits,” says Adam Wilson, director at Intevi. “From knowing the project requirements we will then source, or build, a player that has the right operating system, size, heat output, power consumption and number of outputs. We also ensure the hardware is fully tested and support by the software package it will be operating. We use a range of different players for different projects. Spinetix manufactures some great products and we have recently been building our own Scala media players based on the Intel NUC (Next Unit of Computing) bare bone, very powerful and cost effective.”

Spinetix’s HMP200 is a non-PC based media player with no moving parts and no need for maintenance. It can display a full HD video combined with multiple live news feeds and animations. The HMP200 comes bundled with the embedded Fusion software, a multi-lingual browser-based content manager that provides instant results, out of the box.

The Intel NUC is a 4 x 4″ (10 x 10cm) box with a third generation Intel Core i3 processor. At ISE 2013, Ingram Micro was also very enthusiastic about this mighty player. The NUC DC3217BY can be daisy-chained with Thunderbolt technology connecting several displays and the DC3217IYE can drive two digital displays at once with dual HDMI.

Inurface Media director Josh Bunce says: “One of the top-end options we sell is the Advantech ARK-DS762. Powered by the latest Intel i7 processor it can handle HD content on three independent displays thanks to its three HDMI outputs. This is more cost effective than using three separate media players and easier to configure. This is typically used with digital menuboards, and when you are looking at stretching content over several screens.”

An alternative for installations that require sophisticated video capabilities is BrightSign’s recently launched XD media players. Its advanced video decoding engine delivers up to two 1080p60 signals simultaneously, supports 3D content and is capable of displaying live HDTV content using an ATSCor Clear QAM tuner or HDMI input. All of the new XD models support HTML5 for easier content creation. BrightSign’s usual touch-screen interactivity has been enhanced on the XD players with the addition of swipe and gesture control.

AV distributor Steljes uses MediaTile’s Media Player, a cloud-based display-independent solution that integrates everything you need to run a digital signage network, allowing interactivity, HD and SD content and standard audio.

Steljes’s head of product management, Sam Baker, gives as an example a digital signage installation that Steljes carried out at Oldham Council. The council wanted to have an innovative modern approach to communicating with its residents, so the company advised on MediaTile’s cloud-based digital signage solution which uses a combination of mobile phone 3G connectivity and a web-based software offering.

“A key benefit of the MediaTile solution is its flexibility – the type of messages delivered by Oldham Council vary widely from day-to-day information about core services to more specific and localised communications, such as charity fundraising events,” explains Baker.

Goldsmith comments, “We consider a media player based on the expected content the customers think they will want to playback. When we get involved with multiple screen arrays or interactive content we spec higher performance media players that can cope with this type of content. Key is making sure we provide a media player that meets today’s objective, but also has the flexibility of what might be required in the future.”

So what next? Baker likes the options that MOOH (mobile out-of-home) offers; Goldsmith is excited about a new wave of HTML5 based media players that are standalone boxes or integrated within some of the newer LED monitors; Williams is looking out for signage on a chip. But then, some say no media player is the future.

First published 18 March 2013 – Output

Filed Under: Digital signage, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Facilitate and innovate: driving acquisitions and partnerships in digital signage

February 22, 2013 by

Mergers and acquisitions can be powerful for growth in a young market, but must address market demand first and foremost (© Fotolia / alphaspirit)

Mergers and acquisitions can be powerful for growth in a young market, but must address market demand first and foremost (© Fotolia / alphaspirit)

Companies have two ways to grow: organically, where they expand into new markets, launch new products and take on more people; or inorganically, through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The latter can bring expertise and market share without having to re-invent the wheel.

Whether the software or hardware involved is intended for transit, retail, internal communications or out-of-home, the key to M&A in this young industry is to create easier ways to implement a digital signage solution. With so many options on the market, interoperability and ease of use are driving both innovation and acquisition in order to appeal to new markets and applications.

This is a driver behind many recent investments and moves. In mid-December last year, USA-based SCG Financial Acquisition Corporation (SCG), which is in the process of merging with RMG Networks, unveiled a letter of intent to acquire digital signage and communications company Symon Communications.

HH Global is a world-wide marketing company working in a variety of markets to deliver cross-channel communications strategies. Digital media development director Chris Heap considers this acquisition: “SCG/RMG/Symon could make real sense. Companies that embed others to improve their overall offering may make good business sense if it makes it easier for the client to buy – on the basis that the relationship makes sense in the first place.”

But Heap sees some other alliances are more confusing – including that announced by Samsung, signagelive and Scala at ISE. “For instance, when you are working on a project, who recommends which platform makes sense for an end user – Samsung? And do allies compete with each other within Samsung’s ecosystem?”

Every merger, acquisition or alliance needs three questions answered, according to Heap. Is the combination helpful? Will it add value? Will it drive down the cost for end users?

”The issue is that most companies don’t really have a clear vision regarding where they’re going and what the customer wants,” he argues. “Partnerships and acquisitions are somewhat confused and predicated on existing tech, not on the new services they can create once brought together. My personal view is that the market needs to become much more service-orientated than product driven and I didn’t see a great deal of services being offered at ISE – just more product, albeit, arguably, slightly advanced over last year’s offering.”

An example of this focus on services was in last year’s acquisition of LCD display manufacturer Hantarex by Global Display Solutions (GDS) from Sambers. GDS stated that this deal would give its customers the benefits of international competitiveness, but with the responsiveness and flexibility of a local contact point.

In spring 2012 we also saw these principles exemplified in the joining of Israeli companies YCD Multimedia and C-nario. YCD’s Retail Advertising and Merchandising Platform (RAMP) was paired with C-nario Messenger digital signage software to provide a multi-display playback engine with a user-friendly graphical interface – a web-based solution that has been developed for marketing professionals. Digital signage specialist and ThinkAndMake founder Giuseppe Andrianò comments: “Incorporating the market knowledge of C-nario with the power of YCD (especially using the RAMP solution) offers a very new and innovative approach and solution to the market.”

YCD built on this approach at ISE 2013, announcing with BrightSign an integrated digital merchandising solution, combining the latter’s media players with RAMP. The move furthers the merged YCD vision: to provide easy and cost-effective digital signage solutions based on application-specific demand.

Microsoft’s interaction in this sector has seen it adopt both approaches. During his Reddit AmA (Ask Me Anything) session, Bill Gates used an 80″ (203cm) Perceptive Pixel (PP) touchscreen to show off the native touch capabilities of Windows 8. Microsoft bought large-scale, multi-touch hardware and software developer PP last summer, hoping to unlock new collaboration and productivity opportunities. However, it is Samsung that currently manufactures the behemoth’s multi-touch table Surface, now known as PixelSense.

It’s not just manufacturers that acquire: diverse media and store experience company Mood Media has been at it, too. Recently it brought acquisitions BIS Group, Technomedia Solutions, GoConvergence, multi-sensory outfit DMX and the eponymous Muzak under a singular brand, Mood. This demonstrates that economy of scale is up to each company to identify and assess, and mergers and acquisitions are a process, not just an event. However, they must always bear the end user in mind if they are to create a successful rationalisation of the portfolio – and we are likely to see more of the same in this sector.

First published 22 February 2013 – Output

Filed Under: Digital signage Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hardware habits: digital signage changes shape at ISE 2013

February 8, 2013 by

 

 

Curved screens were amongst the hardware innovations at IS

Curved screens were amongst the hardware innovations at IS

Digital signage at ISE 2013 in Amsterdam occupied three halls and had 273 companies exhibiting. But DOOH also extended beyond it. Big players such as Samsung, NEC, LG and Christie took large stands showing their display propositions to a record 44,151 attendees – an eight per cent rise on last year’s numbers.

The focus on the end user experience was apparent throughout the show, with companies presenting new smartphone interactivity applications, multi-touch surfaces, transparency and unusually shaped screens.

Also following end user habits, there was a big Twitter presence. Prysm, Scala and NEC all used twitter feeds to populate their screens with content. Prysm’s 3D graphic twitter shuffle tower in the press office was particularly clever; the company partnered with software developer X2O Media for this application. Meanwhile, Scala presented an interactive screen communication solution that consumers can manage using mobile and tablet devices, also integrated with Twitter. There were more than 7,000 tweets generated at the show on the official hashtag, #ISE2013.

Screen shapes no longer need to be rectangular. On display we saw the beehive shape of Eyevis’s rear-projection modules, Distec’s triangular TFT models and elongated rectangular displays, like LG’s. More flexible arrangements, such as Mitsubishi’s OLED and Prysm’s Laser Phosphor Display (LPD), allow for curved screens.

The emphasis on shapes didn’t end there. Size factor is increasing, not just in terms of the individual display but also in combined displays and videowalls for larger format installations used to stun the passerby and capture their attention. A solid example was the array of screens on Samsung’s stand, arranged at an angle and creating a virtual wall without actually being mounted. NEC also featured the Pixel Machine – a videowall of 23 X55UN displays, powered by Hiperwall.

The main thing to consider for these large and creative displays is that the requirement for a decent image at this sort of scale takes us beyond full HD. There was a lot of talk about 4K resolution (or Ultra) for large video walls. 4K is commonplace in cinemas, but it’s still to come to signage – although some manufacturers, including Planar, launched screens to anticipate this need.

On their search for life-like experiences screen manufacturers have been investigating colour-accurate displays. An example of this is the SpectraView range from NEC, some of which is Fogra-certified. Simon Jackson, vice-president at NEC Display Solutions in Northern Europe, explains: “Being able to show exactly the same colour on screen as the one displayed at a store is very popular amongst retailers. The customer can see a sweater, for instance, and at the same time a screen will show a model wearing it.”

Even though 3D is still not widely spread in DOOH, many companies were showing 3D technology with and without glasses. These included Eyevis’s 3D active stereo rear-projection display OmniShapes, Alioscopy’s 42″ (106cm) thin bezel screen and Phillips, which had increased viewing autostereoscopic viewing angles since ISE 2012.

There were also some interesting box displays using translucent screens and interactive technology: SiComputer showcased its Explora Vitra and Crystal Display Systems set up a massive 70″ full HD, TFT LCD panel with touchscreen interaction via IR.

Gesture-based interaction and multi-touch were also popular in both vertical and horizontal configuration; leading the way on ease-of-use are kiosks solutions such as Pyramid Computer’s Polytouch models, capable of detecting 20 simultaneous touches at an ultra-fast 10 millisecond response time, now with modular auxiliary functions, such as swipe card and receipt printing. ISE had its own interactive pathfinder touchscreens, but they were slow and not very intuitive. Omnivision provided the software and Prestop the hardware, but they’ll have to try harder for next year to win over visitors.

New partnerships included the news that content outfit ComQi has given hardware company Kramer exclusive rights to manufacture, sell and market its media distribution products; ComQi will also be able to market and distribute the Kramer range. Scala’s collaboration with StreamAlot will see music incorporated into its solutions, while it is also integrating its enterprise software with the plug-and-play Samsung Smart Signage Platform. Signagelive is also working with Samsung in a new bid to offer off-the-shelf applications. AOpen announced its OpenService, a consultancy model previously launched in North America, hoping to deliver custom digital communications to provide better interconnectivity and an improved end user experience.

There was nothing totally new at ISE: we saw, in the main, advances of what’s been tried and tested. Moving forward, the industry needs more thought leadership and cross-platform standardisation to allow more effective project deployment.

First published 8 February 2013 – Output

Filed Under: Digital signage Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,