Ooha Services India has installed its first Ooha Station in Chennai, offering free high-speed Internet to users for 15 minutes while carrying advertising on a public-facing LCD screen.

The station (pictured) is a 6.5-foot-high structure with an LCD monitor for free broadband Internet browsing and another 42-inch LCD mounted on top of it, according to Ooha’s founder and CEO Thomas John. The first station has been deployed at Abirami Mall in Chennai.

Ads on the exterior of the unit can be still or full-motion, with or without video. The kiosk can also print out coupons for promotions.

And advertising is displayed not only to the public through the exterior-facing LCD, but also to the Internet user.

“The catch is free Internet,” said John. “Once we have a user with us, then the person has to authenticate his or her identity. The monitor, during the registration phase, displays ads. [But] once the user is logged in, we ensure that the browsing experience isn’t diluted.”
Gathering information on usage patterns will help precise targeting of these ads, said John.

He added: “We are eyeing all sorts of public-access areas such as shopping malls, entertainment, educational institutes, theatres, hospitals and so on for placement of Ooha Stations.

“We initially plan to have 100 such stations in Chennai in the next six months. Post that we will focus on other southern Indian cities such as Bangalore and Kochi.”

The company, which pays rent to host locations, also has plans for other cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Pune, and is eyeing breakeven in one to two years.
Ooha has been funded by US-based ProgramX, a company also founded by John and specializing in supply-chain management and enterprise resource planning, and by Chennai-based private capital.

Dynamax Technologies is to provide its POV software to Clear Channel Outdoor to create an over-arching service that will allow centralised campaign booking and management for the outdoor giant’s inventory in nine European territories. The deal is expected to later be extended to Clear Channel’s operations outside of Europe, SCREENS.tv has learned.

The first stage of the deal, which follows more than a year of testing the POV software and competing systems by Clear Channel, will see POV installed at a network centre where it will be used to coordinate digital, non-digital and mixed campaigns across Europe. Individual territories’ local management systems will not be replaced by POV but will interface with it.

The deal is expected to have particular impact on Clear Channel’s sites in airports, public transportation, and malls (like the one pictured).

Clear Channel’s decision is not only a significant boost for Dynamax, which already counts Titan Outdoor UK among its clients and has just taken its first formal steps into the U.S. market – it also marks a notable foray by a screen-media firm into the world of non-digital outdoor, underlining the increasing importance of digital to the outdoor sector as a whole.

In what may give it a similar foothold in the North American outdoor market, digital-signage software provider Scala earlier this week said it was acquiring Canada’s Market Information Services, which offers management and analytical tools for non-digital outdoor.

Canada’s Omnivex says its latest screen-media software can link any on-screen graphical element to a dynamic data feed, allowing content to be automatically changed by the media player without human intervention.

“We started in the financial trading industry where real-time information and ROI are critical to business, so Omnivex recognizes the value of live data for updating content,” said president Jeff Collard.

The new package, Moxie, offers digital-signage design and management tools through a browser interface. It joins existing Omnivex software products such as Display, Control and DataPipe for digital signage, as well as DataDisplay and TickerDisplay for LEDs.

Omnivex also says that by exploiting the latest PC graphics technology, similar to that found in Microsoft’s Vista and in games, it can deliver graphics superior to much digital signage.

“With greater exposure to high-end graphics from computer games and with the pending [U.S.] cutover to HDTV by 2009, people’s expectations of video content are growing rapidly,” said Collard.

“3D vector graphics allow content to look like a movie without all the heavy lifting of rendering video files,” added spokesperson Christine Rojewski.

17-year-old Omnivex has specialised in a number of verticals for its screen-media systems, with clients including more than 20 American and Canadian universities; energy companies; financial institutions including Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Scotland; U.S. and Canadian government and military sites; healthcare organisations including Pfizer and the Howard Hughes Health Institute; and hospitality venues such as the Beverly Hilton and Metro Toronto Convention Centre (pictured).

It also has customers in the media, leisure, retail, transportation and manufacturing sectors.

A UK digital-out-of-home startup is set to install up to 500 cylindrical advertising pods at newspaper shops across England.

ICA Network Solutions told SCREENS.tv that in addition to local advertising and community messages, its iCan units will display live headline feeds from the Daily Mail newspaper.

The three-foot-high iCan pods (pictured) are based on advanced LED technology. When tri-colour LEDs are rotated at a certain speed, the device generates “virtual pixels”. This creates a full-colour cylindrical screen 300mm in diameter and 500mm high, capable of displaying video content. Each unit also functions as a POS device, with an attached rack to hold copies of the Daily Mail.

The screens are updated via wireless broadband and powered by PC technology with centralised control over ICA’s c360tv network. Web-based software developed in-house by ICA allows different content to be displayed on each unit, with support for a range of file formats (including MPEG, SWF, JPEG, GIF and TIFF).

“We don’t think there’s anything like this on the market at the moment in the UK,” said John Rowley, head of sales and development for ICA Network Solutions. “The site surveys from our pilot tests show amazing positive customer feedback. Although we plan to start with local advertisers, we think that the product will appeal to national brands in the future.”

Currently, there are ten units installed at locations around Horsham and Brighton in southeast England. However, according to Rowley, agreements are in place to set up the iCans in 500 further venues – all of them newspaper sellers – including locations in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol.
Live news

Rowley claims that the Daily Mail was looking for a method to communicate with its readers via a digital platform in-store across the UK. “The iCan was seen as the right solution,” said Rowley. “Live headlines can be broadcast to each store, where the consumer will be engaged with the display and the rich content, encouraging them to buy the paper.”

Associated Media, publisher of the Daily Mail and other papers, has already shown a willingness to try out-of-home digital promotions, using 32-inch LCD screens from Comtech M2M to display headlines for the Evening Standard, a daily London newspaper.

All 500 iCan devices are expected to be installed over the next four months. And Rowley believes that they also have potential in other high-footfall areas, such as shopping malls, airports, bars and clubs .

Although there is no clear picture yet of whether advertisers will get on board, the strong brand of the Daily Mail – Britain’s top-selling daily paper in the mid-market category – could be key to the success of the network.

TransWorld Media in the U.S. yesterday said it had started rolling out a screen network to independent convenience stores (C-stores) across the country, aiming for 1200 outlets by the end of 2008.

100 installations are already completed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with further rollouts due in urban regions including Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles.

When completed the network is expected to achieve 430m views annually. It is the first of a number of networks planned by the company.

“The content is a combination of news, weather, Amber Alerts, educational, entertainment, etcetera, along with paid advertising both local and national,” TransWorld CEO Shams Merchant told SCREENS.tv.

C-stores offer “high-volume, high-walk-in, and densely-populated locations”, said Merchant, adding that for advertisers they are a route to saturating narrowly-defined geographical markets.

Advertisers will be offered one-minute, 15-second and 30-second slots. Sales will be handled by agencies and aggregators, including SeeSaw Networks, said TransWorld. The stores will receive a rental fee for hosting the screens.

The network is based on Real Digital Media’s Neocast software-as-a-service system.

Digital-signage software pioneer Scala this week said it is to acquire Market Information Services, a provider of management software for outdoor advertisers both digital and non-digital.

The acquisition will allow Scala to bolster its existing InfoChannel product with a suite of tools enabling customers to manage large out-of-home networks.

Market Information Services’ main product is Charting Pro (pictured), which includes modules for functions such as inventory management, inventory mapping, advertisement billing, and site maintenance.

A digital-media module allows users to manage multiple media types in one advertising contract, create playlists, sell ads by day-part, and receive proof-of-play reports, among other features. It can create custom Web portals for accessing the information held in Charting Pro.

Also likely to be of interest to those deploying large digital-signage networks is the maintenance module, used for creating single and grouped work orders; communicating with handheld units, and tracking the revenue-generation, maintenance and profitability history of individual sites.

Existing Market Information Services clients include CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Outdoor, and Magic Media.

Market Information Services has offices in Canada and the U.S., and Scala will create a new subsidiary Scala Canada to take over its operations.

Terms were not disclosed.

ACCORDING TO A RECENT REPORT from the Carmel Group, digital signage is expected to exceed $2.5 billion in revenue by the end of 2010. And D3 LED is getting in on the action. The company just completed its latest project, the redesign of the ABC Ribbon Super Sign in Times Square, to enhance the network’s out-of-home marketing opportunities.

With a projected reach of 1.3 million people daily, it advertises ABC’s clients as well as promo spots for the network. ABC shows include “Dancing With the Stars,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Ugly Betty” and “GMA.” Various ESPN sports shows and Disney feature films and theatricals are also promoted.

The new LED display can show full-motion HD video, ranging from previews of ABC programming to commercials from advertisers. The 3,200-square-foot sign operates 24/7. In addition to its in-house efforts, the network is also approached by companies that want to advertise in Times Square. Others rent its studio and use the signage to showcase an event.

The 3-year-old D3 also produced digital displays in Atlantic City for Harrah and Caesars, and displays in Washington, D.C.’s Gallery Place. D3 has created additional signage for Fox News, Chase and the U.S. Armed Forces.

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ — Digital Signage Expo – I.C.G., a leader in wireless digital signage solutions, today announces the industry’s first end-to-end wireless digital signage solution. Sidelining the high cost of hard wires and cumbersome implementation of traditional digital signage, I.C.G. combines their innovative wireless MobileMedia System(TM) and ViFi Adapter(TM) (video over WiFi) to bring a new standard to the industry.

According to industry research, by the year 2009 there will be over one million digital signs in North America. Traditionally, these digital signs require labor- and time-intensive hard-wire connections that are difficult — if not impossible — to implement. These wired connections are needed for the various parts of the signage solution, such as network connectivity, media player and memory storage device, to function correctly. With the North American market on goal to install about 135 million locations over the next 10 years, I.C.G.’s wireless solution redefines the industry standard by eliminating the costs associated with hard-lines.

“For many years, advertising firms have suffered from the inability to wirelessly transmit high quality audio and video to their venues. Furthermore, these same firms have overpaid for hardware, satellite systems and installation services,” said Kevin Howard, CEO of I.C.G. “We have developed a next-generation solution that is the most cost-effective on the market. With our MobileMedia System(TM) combined with the ViFi Adapter(TM), we are proving how wireless technology can revolutionize sales and marketing efforts for businesses of all sizes.”

I.C.G.’s self-contained, turnkey MobileMedia System(TM) eliminates the need for two, three or more unique and disparate components by bundling a 3G/4G wireless network module, a WiFi router, an integrated media player and hard drive. The MobileMedia System(TM) also enables cached content to be streamed over wireless links. The second element in the solution is the ViFi Adapter(TM), which receives the audio and video content over WiFi from the MobileMedia System(TM) and connects via a variety of video outputs to virtually any type of display. Supporting all media and content formats, as well as any Windows or Linux-based content management software, I.C.G.’s solution allows digital information to be multicast to numerous displays simultaneously.

According to Dean Talley, CEO of PlasMedia Productions, “I.C.G.’s innovative solution is the industry’s first true end-to-end solution for wireless digital signage. With annual digital signage advertising spending estimated by analysts to be $14.6BN by 2011, I.C.G.’s plug-and-play, end-to-end solution uniquely positions them to be at the forefront of expansion in this market.”

For product demonstrations and more information, please visit the I.C.G. booth, #877 at Digital Signage Expo 2008 in Las Vegas

SyncMaster 820DXn is Now Shipping and Available

LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Samsung Electronics America, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Corporation, a world-leading manufacturer of professional LCD and PDP display products, today announced the availability of its largest and most powerful large format display, the SyncMaster 820DXn, designed for corporate and commercial digital signage applications. A selection of Samsung’s large format display portfolio will be on display during the 2008 Digital Signage Expo at the Samsung booth, #213, in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center from February 27-28.

The SyncMaster 820DXn display delivers exceptional reliability for high-usage digital signage applications, including airports, retail locations and other indoor venues. Featuring a new Digital Information Display (DID) panel designed to lower the temperature of the display, the SyncMaster 820DXn display can support even the most rigorous of commercial applications. By utilizing built-in fans to keep temperatures low, the DID panel ultimately extends the life of the 820DXn display, making it a no-compromise solution in any market where digital signage is needed.

With a built in computer, the 820DXn creates an all in one solution allowing users to drive content to the display without a separate machine. The built in computer features an AMD Athlon64 X2 3400+, 1.8 GHz dual core processor, 4 GB of flash storage memory, 512 MB DDR2 RAM, ATI Chip set with a Win XPe operating system.
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25 Feb. 2008 FREMONT, Calif. — Dynasign announced a partnership with BlueFire Digital, provider of mobile marketing technologies. The Dynasign screens integrated with BlueFire Digital’s SMS platform and Bluetooth technologies will enable personalized interaction with the audience for enhanced information dissemination, targeted marketing and response tracking.

“The integrated technologies will change the dynamics of digital signage networks by engaging the audiences with on-the-spot interactivities via the popular mobile text messaging and Bluetooth,” said Alex Wang, president of Dynasign.

Dyansign also announced that it has added Alex Richardson, managing director of Selling Machine Partners, as a member of the Dynasign Advisory Board.

“With over two decades of experience, Alex brings a wealth of innovative ideas to our organization,” Wang said. “His guidance and advice will be valuable as we build on our position as a leader in enterprise-level, digital signage content management software and solutions.”

Dynasign is showcasing the text messaging marketing application at the Digital Signage Expo 2008 in Vegas.

Dynasign will also be announcing the release of its Dynasign Desktop, a screensaver-based digital signage application, which will be available Mach 10, 2008. Dynasign Desktop transforms idling desktop computers into dynamic digital signage displays and enables businesses to deploy or expand the digital signage information displays to corporation offices, class rooms, libraries, hospitals and retail stores for unified communications or promotions.

Built on the foundation of Dynasign’s digital signage platform, Dynasign Desktop provides centralized content management for computer screensavers. Dynasign Desktop caries over many popular Dynasign Player features and supports most content formats, such as WMV, Flash and JPG, and Dynasign Templates including news, weather and RSS/XML feeds, text overlays, ticker display and more.