Digital Signage Association vs. Digital Signage Federation: Round 1
By Linda Seid Frembes
rAVe Columnist  Okay, so sorting out what has happened in the brouhaha between the two year old Digital Signage Association (DSA) and the month-old Digital Signage Federation (DSF) hasn’t been easy, but it has been entertaining. Actually, it’s been like the reading equivalent to watching the slow-motion reel from a prize fight. In real time, there were some fast punches, some awkward responses, and then someone was on the floor.
Let’s recap, shall we? Exponation, the producer and owner of Digital Signage Expo, announced the formation of the not-for-profit DSF on February 17, one week before Expo. Stressing the fact that DSF is a non-profit is a finger in the eye to the DSA, who has long been tied to their parent company NetWorld Alliance for funding. The terms of the DSA/NetWorld Alliance relationship was often a sore point for the industry and there were accusations of NetWorld influence over the DSA.
At the time of the DSF announcement, a Web site was already in place, as was the interim board. While the announcement itself may have been a small surprise, it seems like Exponation had put key elements in place before opening their collective mouths to tell the industry.
Meanwhile, the DSA was caught a bit flat-footed. David Drain, executive director of the DSA, and Bob Michaels, president of Magenta Research and an active DSA board member, both tell me that a full board meeting was already planned to happen at Expo. On the voting docket was changing DSA’s status to a non-profit. “NetWorld has been our incubator for the past two years, and now it’s time to gain our independence,” says Drain. And Michaels swears that in the year-plus he’s been involved with the DSA, he never saw any undue influence from NetWorld.
 Fair enough. So on February 24 (right in the middle of Expo), DSA announces they are incorporating as a non-profit and are securing proposals with trade show companies to establish a digital signage show and conference of their own! According to their announcement, “DSA is set to announce its plan by May 3 for a conference & trade show to be held in 2011.”
(DSA was a very visible sponsor at Expo, too. Awkward!)
So net-net, here’s what we have. In one corner, there’s the DSA – older, many more members, switching to non-profit status, and seeking to start their own show. In the other corner, there’s the DSF – very new, a handful of members, a non-profit from the get-go, and sharing the parent company who owns and operates Digital Signage Expo.
A few issues are up in the air. First is that when I contacted the DSF during the week of March 15, the response I got from Angelo Varrone, CEO of Exponation, was this: “My company’s role, as producer of DSE, is to support the start-up of the independent, not-for-profit organization. We helped get it started and backed the initial launch at DSE 2010, but we don’t speak for the organization. There is an interim board and they are in the process of holding elections for officers. Because of this there is no one who could or would speak to you officially or on the record at this point prior to the upcoming election (which won’t occur before your deadline).”
Okay, so big splash of an announcement and then there’s no one to speak for the DSF? Why not hire a talking head PR flack in the interim? (There are plenty of them who are out of work right now and would welcome the assignment.)
Second issue is that DSA really was a big supporter of Digital Signage Expo (and we can only assume that relationship is over.) Drain says that “we’ve had a good relationship with industry trade shows. In announcing our plans, we want to create a world-class show for the industry.” Ouch! So all eyes on DSA for 2011 to see what world-class really means, I guess. And eyes on Expo 2011 to see who steps up to replace DSA as a sponsor.
So, I also had to ask Drain about comments made by Adrian J. Cotterill, editor-in-chief of the Daily DOOH, that called the DSA “arrogant” and “dawdling.” He says he was taken aback by those comments. He points to the openness of the DSA and their willingness to communicate via groups like LinkedIn and Facebook, and really found no evidence of arrogance.
Drain also says that in the past 60 days, their memberships have grown from 425-ish members to over 450 now. So, is more being made of this rift than need be? His response: “I think so.”
 So, who will win this fight? Only time will tell. DSF has attracted some big names like NEC Display Solutions, Harris Corporation, and Wendy’s International to their board. A rush of members from DSA to DSF will tip the boat in their favor, for sure. In the meantime, Michaels urges that industry members need to make their own educated decision as to which one to choose. I couldn’t agree more.
Linda Seid Frembes is a rAVe columnist who covers AV technology, installs, market trends and industry news. Linda has worked with high profile AV manufacturers, trade organization, systems integrators, rep firms and dealer/distributors in the industry including John Lyons Systems, Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW), Northern Sound & Light (NSL), and InfoComm International, among others. Reach her at linda@ravepubs.com
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Digital Signage Federation Announces New Board  Digital Signage Federation (DSF), the digital signage industry’s new trade association, recently announced the appointment of an interim Board of Directors.
The Interim Board, comprised of professionals in end-user, consulting, network and vendor segments of the digital signage industry have embraced the challenge of founding and overseeing the initial development of this new organization. The interim Board will also oversee the formal Board election process and expects to have their member-elected Board in place within approximately 90 days.
Interim Board members standing up for an independent industry voice include:
- Phil Cohen, President & CEO, Care Media Holdings
- Rich Cooley, CEO & Founder, Visser Digital Media
- Alan Brawn, Principal, Brawn Consulting, LLC
- Laura Davis-Taylor, Vice President Global Retail Strategy, Creative Realities, Inc.
- Jack Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Out-of-Home Media Director, StarCom World Wide
- Jennifer Bolt, Executive Director, Media Services & Innovation, Tracy Locke Advertising
- Bob Stowe, Director, Marketing Services, Wendy’s International
- Carre Dawson, Director of Business Development, DS, Harris Corporation Broadcast Communications
- Bil Trainor, President, Capital Networks Limited
- Brian Dusho, President, BroadSign International
- Ken Goldberg, CEO, Real Digital Media
- Pierre Richer, President & COO, NEC Display Solutions Americas
For more information about the DSF, go to: http://www.digitalsignagefederation.org/
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X2O Media Launches AD Production Service for DS Market  X2O Media recently announced a new Ad Production Service that provides access to high-end ad content at what they are calling “affordable prices,” allowing any network operator, big or small, to better monetize their network, while providing advertisers with an innovative content creation method.
According to X2O Media, their Ad Production Service is designed to simplify the ad creation process, while providing clients with broadcast-quality content. Users can access the Ad Production Service on X2O's Web site via the new content portal available at http://www.x2omedia.com/content_home.asp
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Ronin Revenue Down for 2009 – Way Down!  Ronin reported revenue of $1.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, a 19 percent decrease from $1.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. As of December 31, 2009, the Company had received purchase orders totaling approximately $1.1 million for which it had not recognized revenue, including a $0.5 million order from Chrysler. Ronin says the decline in revenue year-over-year was primarily the result of lower revenue generated from Chrysler and BBDO Detroit, an advertising agent for Chrysler.
In positive news, RoninCast software sales were up 47 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 from the year ago period. But, Ronin reported a fourth quarter net loss of $2.2 million, or $0.13 per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of $6.9 million, or $0.47 per basic and diluted share, in the year-ago period. However, the year-over-year improvement in net loss for the fourth quarter of 2009 primarily resulted from reductions in workforce taken in the fourth quarter of 2008 and other cost saving initiatives instituted during the first half of 2009.
In 2009 year-end results, revenue in 2009 totaled $5.0 million – down from $7.4 million for 2008. According to Ronin, the 32 percent decline in Ronin’s revenue was due to customers choosing to directly source displays and media players and lower revenue generated from Chrysler and BBDO Detroit as previously mentioned. The decline was partially offset by a 24 percent increase in sales of the Company’s RoninCast software. The Company’s net loss in 2009 totaled $10.2 million, or $0.67 per basic and diluted share, compared to $20.7 million, or $1.41 per basic and diluted share, in the prior year.
Non-GAAP operating loss for 2009 totaled $8.3 million, or $0.54 cents per basic and diluted share, versus a non-GAAP operating loss of $14.6 million, or $1.00 per basic and diluted share, for the prior year.
You can read their entire year-0end results here: http://www.wirelessronin.com/6.0_news_137.html
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VISIX Adds 12-inch Interactive Room Sign to Product Line  Last month at the DSE 2010 Show, Visix unveiled the newest member of its interactive room sign line – the MeetingMinder 1200i. This addition to the Visix room sign family provides a 12-inch surface-mount option with touch screen capabilities, event-scheduling support for Dean Evans & Associates EMS Software, Microsoft Exchange and support for multiple operating systems.
The MeetingMinder 1200i is a surface-mount display with a low-profile depth of 1.02-inches and weighs less than four pounds. Creative mounting offers additional advantages pertaining to local electrical and fire codes. Surface mounting eliminates the need to penetrate the wall, install a UL-certified back-box housing, and recess the room sign. Plenum air space requirements are no longer a factor in surface-mount applications, thus reducing the cost of the deployment.
rAVe NOW Video actually shot a video of this 12-inch monitor at the DSE 2010 show – check it out here: https://www.ravepubs.com/index.php?option=com_ravevideo&view=ravevideo&ravevideo_id=474
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PlayNetwork Shows New Media Player  Dubbed the C500, PlayNetwork’s new media player is a 160GB hard drive-based media player that’s 1080p capable, includes USB, network or DVD content management as well as the capability to play everything. Basically, it’s like every other media player on the market – in fact, it’s so boring that the company didn’t even supply a photo of the C500 when they submitted the press release about it to the press?!?.
Anyway, if you’re a PlayNetwork user/fan and want to learn more about it, call them since their online press release (seen here: http://www.playnetwork.com/About/PlayNetwork-Press-Release.aspx?Title=PlayNetwork-Unveils-C500-Media-Player) is literally is full of a bunch of useless information.
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VISIX Now Accepting Entries for Impression 2010 Awards  Visix is now accepting entries for the 2010 Expression Awards. The company launched this annual contest in 2008 to recognize the best visual content from end-users of its AxisTV digital signage software application. Awards will be given in the following categories:
- Best Original Still Bulletin
- Best Remix Still Bulletin
- Best Original Motion Content
- Best Remix Motion Content
- Best Composite Layout
- Best Visual Communications Campaign
“The Expression Awards have become an annual highlight for us and for our clients,” comments Deborah DeWitt, Marketing Communications Manager for Visix. “We’ve had an overwhelming response from customers with both the number and quality of entries growing each year. We hope to recognize and reward our customers’ work and inspire other clients to higher achievement in visual communications design.”
Visix is accepting entries through July 30, 2010. Three finalists will be selected in each category and winners will be announced on September 14. Entry forms, judging criteria, and more detailed information about the awards are available at http://www.visix.com/expressionawards.html Back to Top 
American Eagle Takes Manhattan  For the opening of their new flagship store in New York City’s Times Square, American Eagle Outfitters contracted Barco and the Barnycz Group to create a remarkable, multi-tiered LED display. Concepts for the exterior display took the form of a stunning 12-faceted assemblage of LED panels, almost 15,000 square feet in size, including a soaring 25-story LED tower.
The Goal
New York's Times Square is already peppered with hundreds of static and dynamic signs advertising everything from movies to soup. How do you add one more and still stand out?
How'd They Do It?
To create the display, Barco wrapped the building’s exterior façade with 1441 Barco TF-20 LED panels, for a total pixel count nearing 3.3 million. In the building’s outdoor foyer, the ceiling comprises 1665 Barco OLite 612 modules, specially designed for optimum viewing at very close distances. Immediately inside the store is a bank of 21 Barco NSL-46 LCD monitors. To process a complex array of multi-format video, dual Barco DX-700 LED digitizers are used as the system’s front end, for optimum visual quality.
 The AEO building’s unusual architecture created interesting challenges for Barco’s on-site installation team headed by Guy Russell, Director of Operations, Video and Lighting Systems for Barco, North America. "On one corner, the building sits at a 78 degree angle, so we had to use our special small-sized OLite modules to accomplish the task," noted Russell. "One of the unique aspects of Barco LEDs is their creative modularity, which enables us to use small panels to create unusual shapes and angles," he added.
Well, it worked. Everyone who's been to Times Square over the past few months remarks about how big this digital sign really is. And, the content is changed on the fly, all the time – so you never get bored looking at it.
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So, that's rAVe DS [Digital Signage] for this month! Remember, we are here to HELP the AV market penetrate the DS market. Only 12 percent of the DS market is integrated by AV companies. The other 88 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).
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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.
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Best New DS Product 2010: Touted as the biggest all-in-one computer ever, Micro Industries debuted the Messenger 82L at DSE 2010. The Messenger 82L is literally an 82” 1080p LCD with a built-in Windows Embedded PC (2 Duo Mbile Processor) that basically turns this 82” HD-LCD into a giant touch-screen, digital sign. It’s size was impressive for sure, but what impressed us the most is the integration of a completely turnkey, touch-screen-based digital sign all-in-one design. 
Best New DS Technology 2010: CyberTouch’s multi-touch technology is the best touch-sensitive hardware add-on we’ve seen thus far. Here’s a rAVe NOW Video (shot from one of our iPhones) we took at DSE 2010: 
Most Innovative New DS Hardware Product: Christie’s MicroTiles takes this. When we first saw the MicroTiles last year at InfoComm, we weren’t even thinking about the DS market. But, at DSE 2010 they showed a few cool applications for DS using stacked MicroTiles in different configurations. 
Most Innovative New DS Software Product: Congratulations to HyperSign who has literally made it possible for ANYONE to design DS content. By allowing PowerPoint templates, RSS Feeds, video and graphics to be uploaded directly to the HyperSign application via the Web (SaaS), HyperSign has the best new SIMPLY signage software app. – we see this as the perfect K2 and small business solution where you don’t have a dedicated graphics team to your DS applications. 
Best NEW Indoor DS Display: (tie)
Best NEW Outdoor DS Display: MRI’s outdoor solutions are totally turnkey (include the display and the weather-proof enclosure) – but their Triple-VU display is awesome! 
Most Creative Display Technology: Wow, LG’s new Shine Out technology actually works well in high ambient light applications like storefronts. 
Best Non-PC Hardware Solution: Definitely AMX’s IS-SPX000 Player – This 6” DS player is a flash-based DS stand-alone media server that plays JPG, PNG, GIF, MPEG-4, H.264, WMV and even SD video and PowerPoint files at 720p resolution. 
Best Entry-Level DS Package: A small company called Flypaper is leading the way with simple, flash-based DS software (think PowerPoint for DS installs). 
Best "Oh by the way, we do DS too" Product: This has to go to Sharp’s PN-E Series of LCD monitors – although a leader in the ProAV channel, not even in the top five in the DS world (but most couldn’t be mounted vertically until this year).
Best Personal Messaging Product: The TruMedia’s Audience Measurement Solution is the best personal messaging product out there right now as it has the capability to recognize not only gender, but also dwell time, actual impressions (using eyeball recognition) and engagement level.
Best Interactive DS Product: Four Winds Interactive (FWi) – A fairly simple, turn-key DS solution that’s has a complete package. They’ll even partner with you to project manage your first larger installs until you feel comfortable you can do it all yourself. 
Best DS Kiosk: CCS, Inc’s Envirosealed enclosures – Not fancy, but cost-effective, vandal-proof enclosure is perfect for K2 and higher ed applications where you need outdoor signage but you don’t want to pay a fortune for the display (it allows you to use existing, off-the-shelf DS flat screens). 
Best Booth at DES 2010: Intel’s Futuristic Look at the DS Future – no better way to explain it either than you watching this demo rAVe NOW Video shot at DSE 2010: 
Best DS Software Add-on App: For the second year in a row, we’ve got to give this to CognoVision whose Anonymous Impression Metric System (AIM) is, by far and away, the best DS intelligent measurement application we’ve ever seen. 
Best DS SaaS (Software as a Solution) Network: After looking at them all for a for over a year now, we’ve gotta give it to BroadSign. BroadSign is doing all the right things to keep their SaaS simple, powerful and cost-effective!
