Digital Signage is gaining widespread acceptance. When Eric Cronwall, one of TA’s Senior Audiovisual Consultants, first presented a technical session on digital signage at InfoComm in 2003, digital signage was in its infancy in the U.S. Back then, this new use for AV display technologies tied with networks for the creation, distribution and management of sign content was just starting to gain momentum.
In Europe and Asia, digital signage has been accepted in all markets for a number of years. We are happy to say that digital signage is now finding widespread acceptance in the U.S.
We are finding the biggest boom is in hospitality, corporate, and education facilities where electronic displays are being used in various functions as wayfinding, room scheduling, Human Resource notification and employee training.
In a recent TA project for a high-tech firm, the system used a central head-end and Universal Twisted Pair (UTP) distribution to create a flexible signage system that is used for internal marketing and Human Resources.
In three recent TA education projects, digital signage will be used for indicating class changes, event notification and wayfinding for events that bring the public on campus.
In the wake of events at Virginia Tech, there is also a renewed interest in connecting displays on campus for an integrated messaging system that can give visual and audio directions during an emergency situation. These systems are being designed to operate on the campus network and can provide discreet instructions to particular facilities.
Digital Signage has potential for use in numerous facility types: it directs people to places, it calls to action, it informs and alerts. A digital signage system is now an efficient replacement to static signage.