Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
In 2010 we released the Top Ten Digital Signage Vendors list to coincide with the start of the digital signage and digital out of home industry’s largest annual trade show: Digital Signage Expo, #dse2010, in Las Vegas, Nevada and we will probably do the same for #dse2011
You will remember that global technology provider EnQii earned top place for the third year running, whilst two newcomers Omnivex and CoolSign joined the coveted list for the first time.
As regular readers will know, the annual list is intended as an objective, arm’s-length analysis of the strengths and overall offer of companies providing software, hardware and related services to clients running digital screen networks. As we always say, we focus on folks who are global / sell globally which means that good guys like Real Digital Media (RDM) and Nanonation in the US and a few folks in Scandinavia like ZetaDisplay or Frontcast don’t ever get considered.
This year we have been taking a look at Symon Dacon, dZine, Net Display Systems, DISE and a few others but of course for them to be included (we are not saying they will be necessarily) means that others must leave the top 10 and how well do these folks actually play outside of the Corporate or FIDS marketspace?
Harris Broadcast and ONELAN both surely deserve consideration – the latter having been in our top 15, also-ran list for a couple of years in a row now.
- Harris’s strength in broadcast obviously serves them well in stadiums but just how well are they and will they do in Retail?
- ONELAN have grown internationally a great deal and something like 40% of their business is now overseas BUT do they seriously do enough outside of education to warrant inclusion or are they a one sector player?
Those in the #DSTop10 in 2010 who should be looking over their shoulder include Dynamax – we wait for news on their move to a SaaS offering and what of all the installs they have with JCDecaux (nee Titan) and ClearChannel, are they safe? STRATACACHE (yes STRATACACHE) going great guns in the US but where is the European business? And Omnivex (you were a new entrant straight in last year at #5 but again where’s all your European business: you have suddenly gone very quiet).
Nota bene: Several variables affect the selection of top vendors, including: global presence; management team; financial stability; track record; product roadmap and development team size; breadth of solution; customer service; and the sophistication of the technology options.
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