NEC's VUKUNET Will Help the ProAV Market – If We Help Ourselves  Today, NEC launched what apparently was a four-year, top-secret project within the company to develop something that, although aimed at the Digital Signage market, will ultimately help ANY ProAV or DS integration firm that will admit that the future of their company is selling services, NOT gear.
Being a DS hardware manufacturer, it is, quite honestly, hard to believe that NEC actually created VUKUNET. But, they did. And kudos to them for it.
For years, I've done seminar after seminar everywhere from InfoComm, to DSE, to CEDIA, to NSCA and even done more than 200 local dealer and distributor shows preaching the benefits of selling services alongside selling gear. It started with telling Integrators the value of selling Proactive Service Contracts – heck, I even wrote a white paper on it some years back that, although old now, still applies. If you actually implemented the things I recommended, you can still create a very profitable revenue stream for your company. If you want a copy, go to: http://www.kayye.com/whitepapers/psa.pdf
Back to Vukunet, and my point. I've been telling integrators for years that at the very least they need to be selling services AND gear. Many have listened, some haven't. What other services are there besides proactive maintenance? Well, what about systems design services?
Don't think you can do that? Well, there are about 200 design consultants in the industry who employ almost 1500 people that do it every day. You can even sell rental services, which is still amazingly profitable. And, for those of you using tools like Extron's GlobalViewer remote management software, good for you – you understand how you can make money supporting clients’ AV systems. For those of you not using one of the remote management and control systems out there – WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Selling the system was only part of the opportunity – did you leave the rest on the table? Seriously? 🙂
NEC has a game-changer here in VUKUNET. VUKUNET allows you to not only sell Digital Signage systems (using their own proprietary CMS or ANY other CMS system out there – including the leaders like Visix, Scala, Ronin, Rise Vision, Symon, etc.) but what's cool about VUKUNET is that NEC's now giving you a way to get recurring revenue out of the most profitable part of the DS network – the ads. Yep, the ads. With VUKUNET, you can help your client fill their DS network with as much or as little advertising they want and, best of all, you share the ad revenue with them (your client). Your client can use it as a way to justify the capital expense of the DS network itself and you, well, you can use it to buy a new car – over and over. Oh, and you don’t have to actually sell the ads yourself – ad agencies will be doing that for you thanks to the centralized network.
Why over and over? Because, advertising will go on forever, right? And you can structure your DS system deal – if you're smart – with your client so that you share in that recurring revenue stream for as long as you have them as a client – for as long as you add value.
Sound too good to be true? Well, it's true and this is, again, THE OPPORTUNITY that integrators have been waiting for to sell services and make a heckuva lot more money doing so than selling gear.
We already had this opportunity once and blew it — with videoconferencing, remember? That market went the way of the phone companies since WE thought it was too complicated – or whatever we thought…
Anyway, the opportunity is here again… Grab it!
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NEC Announces Centralized Advertising Platform and CMS for Digital Signage  Today, NEC (yes, the display manufacturer) announced a universal advertising platform for digital signage called VUKUNET. VUKUNET provides a centralized, automated platform designed to connect and distribute ads to digital out-of-home (DOOH) networks.
VUKUNET helps digital signage network owners generate income by making it easier to connect all screens that have time/space available on their networks to advertise. Ideal candidates are networks that have locations with heavy foot traffic, substantial dwell time, strategic monitor placement, numerous locations in key demographic areas, and that are able to run a variety of ads from different advertisers (as opposed to one brand). Some examples of these places are retail stores, hotels, airports, bus and train terminals, universities, hospitals, convention centers, stadiums, museums and restaurants. So how does this work? Formerly, advertisers and ad agencies had to contact hundreds of different network owners to determine rates and availability. Now, the ADVUKU ad-serving platform, VUKUNET's companion for ad agencies and advertisers, consolidates everything to search for the best networks in any location. Additionally, proof-of-performance automated technology will allow networks to receive a consolidated payment on a monthly basis for the advertising. The VUKUNET platform is also agnostic. It can run on any manufacturer's display, and works with networks using any CMS (content management system). It consists of the VUKUNET Ad Manager, which enables networks to run ads on their screens, and an optional Vukunet CMS, which is a fully-equipped SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) CMS that's free to VUKUNET Ad Manager participants as well as all NEC Display hardware customers. Why should you, the integrator, care? Simple — this is a chance for you to make recurring revenue, via advertising. In the VUKUNET business model, not only the location owners get a percent of the advertising revenue (which will yes, pay for the hardware eventually), but so do the integrators! And you don't have to sell the advertising – the ad agencies will do that. You just have to sell the DS system. If you have previously sold DS systems, and the owners either aren't doing advertising, or are struggling with it, this can also be added to their system so both they, and you, will gain recurring revenue. Learn more at www.vukunet.com. Back to Top
Wireless Ronin Announces $6.7 Million Registered Direct Offering  Wireless Ronin Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNIN) last week announced that it has entered into agreements to sell approximately $6.7 million of its common stock in a registered direct offering. Pursuant to these agreements, the company will issue 2,297,000 shares of common stock at $2.90 per share. Wireless Ronin expects net proceeds of approximately $6.0 million, which it plans to use primarily for general corporate purposes, including working capital. The closing of the offering is expected to take place on or about November 9, 2009, subject to customary closing conditions. In addition, pursuant to these agreements, Wireless Ronin will not issue common stock, subject to certain exceptions, at a price per share less than $2.90 for a period of 180 days after closing without certain investor consent.
Feltl & Company, Inc. and Barrington Research Associates, Inc. acted as the exclusive placement agents for the transaction.
To read the complete details on this latest stock offering, go to: http://www.wirelessronin.com/6.0_news_130.html
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Scala Embeds Software on NEXCOM Media Players  If you’re a regular rAVe DS reader, you know that we’ve often cited the growth of non-PC-based media players as something that we expect in 2010. Well, Scala and NEXCOM have partnered with NEXCOM to deliver several flexible, high-performance and cost-effective media players certified to run on Scala.
NEXCOM’s NDiS 540 media player, driven by an AMD Athlon processor, features high-level graphics capabilities and supports four DVI outputs. Using Scala, NDiS 540 users may plan media layouts varying from four independent contents to two-by-two formats.
Scala is now also compatible with NEXCOM’s industrial-grade NDiS 162 media player. Also powered by an AMD Athlon 64 processor and boasting a fanless design, it supports multiple zones in dual displays. Paired with Scala, the NDiS 162 is ideal for environments that require a network to operate around the clock with continuous content updates.
For more information on either Scala embedded NEXCOM model, go to: http://www.nexcom.com/ProductType.aspx?id=a2fe9f26-ff83-4943-80ec-6e7cfba978e1
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PlayNetwork Acquires Channel M  Last month, PlayNetwork made an offer to acquire Channel M, one of the industry leaders of producing customized in-store TV networks. The newly combined entity will be branded PlayNetwork and focused on selling the industry’s most comprehensive brand package of music, Messaging, video media, systems integration, and advertising- and entertainment-related services.
The combination of PlayNetwork and Channel M will bring together two leading companies in the music, video media and advertising industries to deliver a comprehensive list of services including music, messaging, video, systems integration, advertising and entertainment designed to deliver the total brand experience in-store and beyond. Resulting from the integration of Channel M’s assets, PlayNetwork will expand the company’s reach to serve more than 185 brands, including 25 global brands, with 65,000 locations in 60 countries.
If you want to integrate PlayNetwork’s content, you should consider becoming a dealer at: http://www.playnetwork.com
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New DS Company Vertigo Has Familiar Faces  TargetPath’s founding partners Brad Gleeson and Scott Hix, in partnership with Taiwan-based Chilin Technology, recently announced a new company, VertiGo Digital Displays, which has acquired the digital division assets of Vertigo Group based in Toronto, Canada.
The focus for VertiGo Digital Displays is on the continued development of advanced, engineered outdoor LCD display solutions first developed by Vertigo Group for the most sophisticated outdoor digital signage applications. VertiGo customers and projects include Titan Outdoor Chicago Rail project, Lamar's Vancouver Rail Project, and Astral Media's "Info-to-go" digital way-finding pillars. Vertigo has more than 10,000 advertising displays installed around the world with more than 1000 of these digital. Vertigo was the first to introduce upgradeable displays that effectively enabled their customers to upgrade products as new display technologies emerge.
Managing the new company operations will be Ralph Idems (COO) and Chris Bolton (CTO), along with digital signage industry veteran Brad Gleeson, who will serve as the new company's President and CEO. This is a company that all DS integrators should take a look at since their expertise is very cool, aesthetically gorgeous, outdoor-style DS kiosks (i.e., bus stops, retail kiosks, etc).
To learn more about the company, go to: http://www.vertigodisplays.com/
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rAVe Announces Digital Signage 101 and 201 Classes to Debut in 2010  Dubbed DS [Digital Signage] 101 and 201, the two courses are designed for two different audiences. The DS 101 course is specifically designed for end users like facility managers, AV directors at corporations or colleges, or even potential retail digital signage clients. But, what’s unique about the one-hour course is that although it’s taught by rAVe founder Gary Kayye, it’s intended to be a course that integrators put on themselves in cooperation with rAVe to draw potential DS clients into their offices. So, delivered as either a seminar, or keynote address or at an integrator’s show, the DS 101 course will kick-start and excite any attendee to take a serious look at Digital Signage. rAVe recommends that the course be followed up with an overview of the host integrator’s capabilities in Digital Signage and maybe a few examples of their own DS installs.
DS [Digital Signage] 201 is designed to educate the integrators themselves. This is the perfect course for any integrator that wants to enter the DS market but doesn’t know where to start or how that segment of the market operates. Led, again, by rAVe founder Gary Kayye, DS 201 is a 1.5-hour course that will teach a ProAV integrator everything they need to know to enter the DS market and start a DS division that’s profitable from Job 1.
For more information about each course, go to: https://www.ravepubs.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=757&Itemid=149
If you’re interested in hosting DS 101 or DS 201 at your open house, regional show or your national sales meeting, please contact Gary Kayye directly at: gary@ravepubs.com
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THE Digital Signage Show Pre-Registration Opens  There’s a lot of talk among the ProAV integrators out there that they’re interested in or planning to enter the digital signage (DS) market. Well, let’s see if you are serious! In fact if you are, don’t just send ONE body to the annual DSE show (details below), send 25 percent of the number of people you’d normally send to InfoComm. So, if you send 10 people to InfoComm, send two or three to DSE. Seriously! Take this market SERIOUSLY!
Digital Signage Expo (DSE), Interactive Technology Expo (ITE), and Out-of-Home Network Show (OOHNS), the world’s largest International Trade Show and Conference and the only place where digital signage and interactive technologies are exclusively showcased all in one place has opened registration for all three co-located shows at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
This year Digital Signage Expo’s Seventh International Conference has been expanded to present the world’s largest educational conference ever, staged to help encourage and support the industry’s growth. The conference consists of 40 industry peer-led seminars (expanded from 30 in 2009), 37 Lunch & Learn Roundtable industry-specific discussions and 20 on-floor workshops, with more than 160 speakers to run Wednesday and Thursday, February 24-25, 2010.
Register at: http://www.digitalsignageexpo.net
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rAVe Announces the ProAV Dealer's Social Media Blueprint  Do you feel like you’re missing out on social media? Or do you think it’s just a passing fad? Everyone’s been talking about it lately, and we’re sure you’re wondering if there’s value in it for you, as a B2B enterprise, an AV dealer. Well, there is!
Social media has real value to you as a way to build your brand and authentically communicate with your customers and industry colleagues. Don’t get us wrong – social media takes commitment. You have to ADD VALUE, or you just become spam!
So, keep reading as we're not trying to sell you anything – in fact, we're going to give it to you for FREE.
rAVe [Publications] has been using social media for three years. We’ve Twittered and YouTubed and blogged. We’ve even taught social media to college students (at UNC-Chapel Hill’s top-rated journalism school), and partnered with top industry organizations (CEDIA, InfoComm) to bring you social media coverage of industry events.
We’ve had a few false starts, and a lot of wild successes. We know what works and what doesn’t, and now want to pass that knowledge on to you.
rAVe [Publications] will release next month a PDF document called The ProAV Dealer’s Social Media Blueprint. We’ll tell you all about the (mostly free!) tools available to you, and how specifically you can use them to build your brand, add value, and be an authentic communicator.
Best of all, we’re giving this document away FREE to all who register for it ahead of time. Once it comes out, we will charge $500. Register NOW for The ProAV Dealer’s Social Media Blueprint from rAVe [Publications].
Click here to register for your free copy of the ProAV Dealer's Social Media Blueprint: https://www.ravepubs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1677&Itemid=225
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ARAMARK Soups Up Burger Joint in Universities  If you went to college, it's likely that you ate Aramark food. Aramark is the largest supplier of food on university and college campuses. And, although Digital Signage can't make it taste any better, it can certainly make it look better on the menu. And, thanks to Wireless Ronin, it's potentially going to be rolled out nationally.
The Goal
To make ordering the food fun (and faster) by allow students to build their own burgers by selecting their choice of Angus, chicken or veggie burgers and customize them with more than 30 topping options. As they make selections, a DS kiosk displays their burgers being built with their topping choices. Once the order is complete, the kiosk prints a receipt while another order receipt prints in the kitchen area – virtually elimating the manual order-taking procedure (and person).
How'd They Do It?
“Wireless Ronin has been working with Aramark on the concept for over a year. We provided the touch screen order kiosk, the digital menu system and participated in the creation of the menu and touch interface design which was based on the visual style created by Aramark,” said James (Jim) Granger, president and CEO of Wireless Ronin Technologies.
Wireless Ronin provides the hardware and RoninCast digital signage software for digital menu boards and touch screen ordering kiosks. And, the kiosks are actually built with sustainable and so-called "green" materials. They also used energy-efficient equipment and lighting, including countertops made from bamboo with laminate made from coffee beans and recycled fibers, biodegradable packaging made from 100 percent recycled materials, and take-out bags made with non-chlorinated pulp. Using touch screen kiosks and Ronin software, the students input information for what they want to order and how they want it prepared (i.e., toppings) and the information actually is compiled by a server and then reproduced as an image of the sandwich on the DS displays. Once it's complete, the students hits ENTER and they get a receipt to pay with while the kitched receives the order. By making the process interactive, it's more interesting to a generation used to playing video games and communicating in real-time via cell-phones or Facebook. All the while, the process is more streamlined, potentially, and could produce a less expensive way to manage order taking across the country for Aramark.
Aramark conducted online focus groups and sponsored chat rooms to capture student feedback about all elements of the brand, from conception to final delivery. The Burger Studio name was selected from more than 1,200 entries submitted in an online contest. Student “taste testers” reviewed all menu items under consideration to ensure that the type of burger, fries and buns would appeal to students.
To read an article about it in Restaurant News, go to: http://www.nrn.com/breakingNews.aspx?id=373350
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News from C-nario, Black Box, Symbicon… C-nario, a digital signage software company, and Hantarex Electronic Systems, a display provider, announced a distribution partnership for Europe where Hantarex will offer a combined solution using both companies' products… Black Box Network Services has hired Steve Acquista as director of digital signage. Acquista previously worked for NEC Display Solutions, Sony, and Pioneer… Symbicon, a Finnish display manufacturer, has announced a non-exclusive distribution agreement with Irvin International Inc. to distribute Symbicon's IconOne products in North America. Back to Top 
So, that's rAVe DS [Digital Signage] for this month! Remember, we are here to HELP the AV market penetrate the DS market. Less than 5 percent of the DS market is integrated by AV companies. The other 95 percent is IT-based. Now, there are AV publications and even an association that would like to draw those IT people in to AV (it would increase readers, right? – and more readers means they can charge more for ads). That is NOT what we are doing. rAVe DS is specifically designed to pull AV into the DS market and teach AV companies how to take business away from the currently dominated by IT market.
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read a 100% opinionated ePublication that's designed to help AV integrators. We not only report the news and new product stories of the digital signage industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that's why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
Don't like us, then go away — unsubscribe! Just use the link below.
To send me feedback, don't reply to this newsletter — instead, write directly to me at gary@ravepubs.com or for editorial ideas: Editor-in-Chief Sara Abrons at sara@ravepubs.com
rAVe [Publications] has been around since 2003, when we launched our original newsletter rAVe ProAV Edition. rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA, launched in February, 2004. rAVe Rental [and Staging] launched in November 2007. rAVe ED [Education] launched in May 2008. rAVe DS [Digital Signage] was launched in January 2009.
To read more about my background, our team, and what we do, go to https://www.ravepubs.com
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Copyright 2009 – rAVe [Publications] – All rights reserved – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact rAVe [Publications], 510 Meadowmont Village Circle, Suite 376 – Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – (919) 969-7501. Email: sara@ravepubs.com
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