Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
For the past 3 months we have been looking in some detail at the various Digital Signage vendors – the folks doing the hardware, software and content management systems in the digital out of home space and we have put together our top 10, as below, based on various criteria detailed later in this post…
=1 Cisco
=1 EnQii
3. Broadsign
4. C-nario
5. YCD
6. ScreenRed
7. Scala
8. Remotemedia
9. TELentice
10.Stratacache
To be fair we have concentrated on Europe, Middle East and Africa and so those vendors that are predominantly US focused may not have fared so well. For example, Wirespring although we have recently engaged with them and have had recent sight of some of their installations in Europe, are not in our top 10 at this moment though of course they have big installations elsewhere in the world. Novra also falls foul of this (sort-of) with just one big installation in Europe courtesy of Avanti Screenmedia. Stratacache may also have been higher if they had kept their European Sales guy and not lost a couple of big contracts in Istanbul as a result also.
Over the course of the coming week we will be expanding on the post itself and will be giving some more detail on those that made the top 10 and our reasons why they did.
What we would say, which none of the vendors is really going to like is that most of the good products are actually all the same or at least very similar.
With the exception of C-nario we do not see anything unique from any vendor in the top 10 (or out of it for that matter). All the products do the same job in pretty much the same way (despite what the sales guys may say).
So, what we are looking for in vendors may NOT be what others are looking for but we feel that the following are some of the most important points when choosing a vendor and their product: –
- worldwide coverage – employees, offices, support
- a TOTAL SOLUTION not just a piece of hardware or software
- big internal development teams
- devices not PCs
- (If PC) Linux not Windows
- ASP / SaaS offering
- Solid Product Roadmap going forward (innovation)
- Financial Stability
- Proven Track Record – minimum of several 1,000+ site deployments
As you read through the Top 10 you will see quite clearly that there are a lot of established names that have not made our list. Let’s briefly look at these: –
3M
Everyone knows 3M as an incredibly innovative company but they don’t seem to have got their act together on digital signage at all. Their rear projection system gets lots of good press but their software is pretty much unheard of. This is a company that with its contacts, its current customer base and its reputation should be everywhere and doing so much better. The fact that it isn’t on our radar screen anywhere (except for one nice deal with Telstra in Australia) should give hope to the ‘little guys’ everywhere that just cos’ a large corporate enters the market doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to ‘eat your lunch’. These guys really should be doing so much better and out of all the corporate offerings they are really the most disappointing.
Harris InfoCaster
Harris InfoCaster must attend every show there is (we have seen them in Athens, Singapore, Birmingham, Istanbul, Mumbai etc etc) and have a huge (almost hidden) installed customer base with the IT guys in many large corporates but we still haven’t seen them in any retail or advertising networks anywhere in EMEA. Their product is similar to that of Stratacache and Cisco’s CDN offering and is well thought of by IT network folks. For these guys to get traction in (true) Digital Signage they need to up their game and start talking to the right people (fortunately / unfortunately the IT folks are NOT making the purchasing decisions with Digital Signage at the moment)
Coolsign
Purchased first by Clarity and then Clarity was subsequently purchased by Planar – “Coolsign” is we feel a typical software offering from a screen manufacturer – it feels like you ought to have a software offering in your portfolio so you do, but you are then not too sure what to do with it. In 2007 they lost their European Sales guy who has still not been replaced. A common problem with a lot of the US vendors is that they have very few people on the ground in Europe and very often do not even have a physical office. Whilst Coolsign can claim the very impressive Jyske Bank installation in Denmark (it apears that Coolsign was itself chosen by IBM, the bank’s incumbent IT provider) and a couple of nice Pixel Inspirations’ installs in the UK we feel that they will struggle to win any more big business in Europe unless they beef up their presence – staff, offices, support etc.
Sony
Surely should be in the top 10? Welll what do we put in the top 10 – their Professional Business Division? Their Screen Business or some other? If you only knew which person to speak to in order to buy something from Sony they would rank so much higher up the list. There are far too many business units – often competing for the same business and it can be and is confusing. Like with Planar, software from screen manufacturers vary rarely takes centre stage. The Sony product line is adequate and no more. We think it is unlikely that the likes of Sony will innovate quickly in the digital signage software world.
Dynamax
Despite all their protestations these guys are still a small UK company with only a few developers (we believe a CTO + 1 contractor but they won’t confirm or deny that). They have managed a few times to punch above their weight – helped undoubtedly by the fact that the UK SubpostmasterTV / Community Channel is such a large installed base for them. Significant sized network deployments since that very early (in our nascent industry at least) install have not happened. Whilst they shout loudly and claim a number of prestigious brands as customers we do not think that their software solution is particularly engaging or unique enough (it runs on a Windows PC like many other systems) to pick up much new business going forward.
Ones to Watch
One thing to say about the Digital Signage market place is that there definitely isn’t a lack of choice – if anything there is far too much choice. There are an awful lot of average products competing for your attention.
Out of the 100’s of other products there are a couple that we think you ought to watch and again, whilst we list them here now, we will be covering them in a little bit more detail during the next week or so.
In alphabetical order: –
- 121View
- MediaTile
- MultiQ
- Ryarc Media Systems
- Wirespring
See part 2 of this post
December 21st, 2007 at 13:26 @601
You don’t mention AMX Inspired Signage which surprises me. We are rolling out sales worldwide since June’s acquisition, have a product range that covers everything but ad sales management, now including content creation, user-end tools for content management, automated data integration, system management, touchscreen control, VGA distribution and control of downstream devices such as screens and projectors. We have a large development team, and although I obviously can’t reveal our commercially sensitive future plans, a two year roadmap.
February 9th, 2008 at 14:43 @655
You obviously forgot to mention Admiradn.com. Our digital signage software is currently working in numerous circuits such as Media Markt, FNAC, Canalkiosk, Mas y Mas, etc. In addition, our solution is 100% web enabled http://www.admiralo.com, with automatic smart content templates, plug & play and has won various technological awards.
In less than 30 minutes, a circuit can be up and running with a full control panel and CMS. It supports HD, flash, widgets, avi, mov, etc.
In addition, we have won bids over Scala and Cisco to mention a few.
Our cost are very competitive.
Last but not least, we have partners in various countries, and our start up has been profitable since day 1.
Lets use a customer for a test…. and see their opinion.
Anyone care to join a real benchmark and all of the results can be posted.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:19 @554
I have being considering PADS Professional from Net Display Systems http://www.nds-nl.com and I am quite surprised that you have not included them in your top 10. Kindly advise me on the reasons so that I can make a decision with all the facts.
April 7th, 2008 at 04:48 @242
In the interest of full disclosure, I’m the VP of Marketing for Real Digital Media, a digital signage provider (hardware and software) based in the US.
For anyone reading this post, I would not base any due diligence on a vendor driven best of list. (1) Each vendor list would be different; (2) This industry remains very young, although lessons have been learned and applied to create real value; (3) A digital signage network requires many disciplines to succeed from technology suppliers to financiers and content creation firms to ad sales organizations, each of which is working feverishly to create business development opportunities. It is truly a fluid marketplace with opportunities growing out of many areas. A large number of digital signage vendors will receive an opportunity to prove their worth in the marketplace.
As the post eludes to, the technology barriers of entry are not extremely high for this industry. Therefore, you will continue to see opportunistic companies enter the market. Likewise, one could argue some of the companies listed, while having a track record, have a ‘square peg solution’ for a ’round hole’ as they entered the digital signage market after selling into another, semi-related market. Are they not equally opportunistic?
As Real Digital Media competes primarily in North America, most of these top 10 wouldn’t make our competitive list. Furthermore, some of the ones listed don’t have the same reputation they apparently have internationally.
So, while the factors listed in this blog should carry weight, a critical element overlooked is whether the provider you selected is a good partner. Does the management understand the business of digital signage for your industry? Can your provider help build a team that will drive success from implementation to content strategy and ad sales?
Building a network is a big idea, and it requires numerous disciplines beyond the bits and bytes.
August 13th, 2008 at 14:52 @661
If you prefer devices over PCs, and Linux over Windows, then you cannot omit IAdea, the company behind multiple 1,000+-node networks in the digital signage market (http://www.IAdea.com). We prefer putting our resources behind R&D and real projects rather than marketing, that is why our name is not as often heard as the rest.
If I were asked to rank digital signage companies, I’d look at reference installations and project scale.
September 26th, 2008 at 18:32 @814
Not a precise or factual portrayal of Dynamax.
We’re a lean but highly focused company headquartered out of the UK with a regional office in the States. Our development team consists of a large number of engineers who’re very industrious right now delivering intuitive software for our ever expanding client base. We have the flexibility to undertake bespoke work and integrate with other applications or systems effortlessly.
Titan and Clear Channel Outdoor chose Dynamax for a reason.
September 27th, 2008 at 01:22 @098
Jason, we would ALL be interested to know how ‘large’ your LARGE team of engineers is. When we wrote and researched this story almost a year ago, the software was written by a contractor (who loudly made mention on his own site that he wrote much of your software) and overseen by Howard Smith. That made 1 + 1 sort-of so yes would be interested to know how many now. The point we make about lots of software solution providers is how small nearly all of them are – not just you! You should be looking to have a team of 6 – 12 techies like the EnQii’s of the world do in order to build efficient, robust and innovative software solutions. Anything less than that is effectively the same as two guys in their back bedroom punching code.
April 19th, 2011 at 15:39 @693
“With the exception of C-nario we do not see anything unique from any vendor in the top 10 (or out of it for that matter). All the products do the same job in pretty much the same way (despite what the sales guys may say).”
Please, I am new in digital signage.. what is the most relevant difference of c-nario with other vendors???
Is there any comparative of funcionalities of C-nario?
Thanks and regards,
Gorka