digital signage best practices guide

DIGITAL SIGNAGE BEST PRACTICES GUIDE • RETAIL APPLICATIONS

• CONTENT MANAGEMENT

• NEW DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY

• INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS

• CREATING NATIONAL

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ESTABLISHING BEST PRACTICES FOR SUCCESSFUL DEPLOYMENTS

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Comprehensive digital signage solutions

From consultation to design, installation to service and after-sales

support, our digital signage solutions provide excellent visual quality,

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the world’s leading Fortune 1000 companies.

Visit us at christiedigital.com/dsguide to learn more.

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By David KeeneThere are a lot of companies new to the digital signagespace. But there are very few companies that have the trackrecord of a Christie Digital, and yet are also bringing some-thing new to the digital signage market. What does one ofthe great names in projection, and display, have to do withdigital signage “managed services”? To find out, I spokewith David Guthrie, the Director of Sales and BusinessDevelopment for Christie Digital’s Managed Services (CMS)division. Christie is doing some very interesting things, andwill be a formidable player going forward, on both the dis-play and the service sides.

David Keene: For decades, Christie Digital has been wellknown in the larger AV world as a leading manufacturerof video projectors – for everything from 3D and virtualreality to the big projectors that are being installed incommercial movie theaters all over the world now. Forour readers in the digital signage world, could you brieflyoutline that track record in the AV world… and how is itrelated to digital signage?David Guthrie: As an 80+ year old company, ChristieDigital really was, and is, one of the pioneers of visual com-munication. We now have employees in 16 countriesaround the world. We’ve been recognized as innovators inthe world of film projection and the development of digitalvideo projection for education, broadcast, corporate envi-ronments, advanced visualization and simulation environ-ments, and in more recent years, pioneers in the digital cin-ema revolution. However, it’s important to point out thatChristie’s success in the world of digital projection is notjust about the hardware and technology itself. Christie haslong focused on the high reliability and service aspects ofsupporting our projectors– and now Christie has made acommitment to leverage our years of experience in thosemore mature visual display markets by extending these cin-ema capabilities into digital signage with both product andservice offerings.

OK, before you explain Christie’s Managed Services,let’s talk about Christie’s display offerings for digital sig-

nage. Christie launchedtheir new product“MicroTile” a little over ayear ago, which was a homerun for the digital signagemarket (it was all overInfoComm last year, as wellas DSE, and other shows).Christie MicroTiles arebased on DLP projectiontechnology – so it is not a“flat panel”. In a worldwhere flat panels arealmost taken for granted (and often don’t generate a lotof interest) in retail environments for example, theMicroTile stands out. This DLP unit is very bright (greatfor retail in-store window displays) and is a modular sys-tem where designers, retailers, etc., can design andpresent content in a more “architectural” way.Indeed, David. Christie MicroTiles have been a huge suc-cess for us since the launch back in December 2009. And,you’re right to point out that the key differentiation ofMicroTiles is that they were designed to be modular innature (only 10 inches deep with a 1.3mm seam betweentiles), which enables flexible and creative design concepts,unique shapes and applications. Additionally, they aredesigned for high brightness, unmatched color contrastand pantone color matching with a 65 degree viewingangle, which produces brilliant images in high ambientlight conditions. These attributes allow users the freedomto design, especially in unique settings like retail spaces,stadiums, museums and other entertainment venues. Atthe top of the list– it offers a low TCO (total cost of owner-ship) for robust, green-footprint, long-life installations dueto their LED light source and easy-to-maintain engineeringdesign. Especially important is that each tile is 100% frontaccessible, allowing you to repair or replace any servicea-ble component in less than 15 minutes, without having toturn off or bring down any of the other tiles. Additionallythe MicroTile provides low power consumption, 7 years tohalf-life, and is lamp-less.

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D I G I TA L S I G N A G E : I N N O VAT O R S�

David Guthrie, Director ofSales and BusinessDevelopment, ManagedServices, Christie Digital

FROM PIONEER TODIGITAL SIGNAGELEADING EDGEChristie Digital Adds Managed Services to Display Offerings

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The “Managed Services” now avail-able from Christie– how did thatevolve, and what does it involve?Probably the best way to explain theevolution of our Managed Services fordigital signage is to draw the parallelwith the cinema market. Cinema wasearly to adopt digital projection anddisplay systems to enable the devel-opment of additional ad revenuestreams within their existing loca-tions. Cinema operations transi-tioned from analog technology (slideprojection used for advertising, tradi-tional movie posters and static menuboards) to digital media and we estab-lished ourselves as the right technolo-gy partner to support that transition.A similar transition is occurring ascinema moves from 35mm to digitalprojection, for the feature movie pres-entation.

In that digital cinema market,where Christie has huge market share,we evolved not just the best displaydevices (projectors) but we devel-oped a support infrastructure cen-tered around a 24/7, technology-driv-en Network Operation Center (NOC)which supports a round-the-clock callcenter staff (Tier I, II & III levels ofsupport) and remote monitoring ofthe digital cinema networks. As well,we have a nationally deployed staff ofservice engineers who, combinedwith a network of 50+ secure FieldStocking Locations (our CriticalInventory Logistics network), enableus to ensure the “right technician,right part, right place, right time”guarantee. The combination of theseresources with our service regimenallows us to keep these networks run-ning smoothly 365 days a year (everbeen to a commercial cinema that hadclosed for the day?).

To put this in proper perspective,cinemas are not a bunch of stand-alone movie houses each runningtheir own content and hardware…they are the ultimate network thatintegrates a wide range of hardwareand software where upgrades andnew technologies are constantlybeing introduced into the equation.These complex networked systems

provide for securecontent distribu-tion, integration ofalternative contentsuch as on-screenadvertising andproof of contentplayback. Our trackrecord in that mar-ket is well known…but what does thishave to do with digi-tal signage? Easy –we have taken allthat expertise fromthe digital cinemaworld and emulatedit with our expert“Managed Services”team, from plan-ning, engineeringand deployment topost -deploymentservices, and we’veapplied it to the dig-ital signage market.The Christie Man-aged Services teamis led and support-ed by a seasonedteam of technolo-gists, logistics andbusiness profession-als, and we’re out there today, work-ing with Integrators to help them winbusiness. And, we are also workingwith many other partners in the digi-tal signage space ranging from soft-ware, to hardware, to creative (con-tent developers), to design and deliv-er solutions they are not otherwiseable to provide on their own– or thatthey may not want to make the sub-stantial investment to do so– out-sourcing makes all the sense in theworld for many of these organizationsbecause it allows them to focus ontheir core competencies and leavemanaged services to an establishedand professionally managed team likeChristie’s Digital Signage serviceofferings.

So, is this Managed Service for digi-tal signage applicable to any installa-tion, using any display equipment,

software, etc.?Yes, absolutely. While Christie doeshave our own best-in-class displaytechnologies such as MicroTiles anddigital projection, our ManagedServices strategy has been builtbased on a hardware and technologyagnostic approach. It is available foralmost any digital signage rollout thatincludes displays, media players,software, infrastructure cabling andmounting solutions, as well as a mul-titude of technology complimentaryitems that allow these networks tooperate efficiently and reliably.

What do the Digital Signage Servicesfrom Christie entail, exactly?While Christie has been successfulintroducing great displays into thedigital signage market, we hear endusers, and integrators say “… it’s onechallenge to create the content, spec

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Christie MicroTiles launched in December 2009. MicroTileswere designed to be modular in nature (only 10 inchesdeep with a 1.3mm seam between tiles), which enablesflexible and creative design concepts, unique shapes andapplications.


and install the gear, but how do youkeep it all running? How do youensure that servicing of the system isflawless and fast, while creating anend of life strategy?” Well, deployingthe screens is easy, but the continu-ity going forward is often lacking.That’s where Christie’s ManagedServices come in. We define the cus-tomer’s end-state objectives withregards to their digital signagedeployment. We then organize theseobjectives by their elemental compo-nents and develop strategic plans forthe following: sourcing, staging, inte-gration, logistics, deployment(including installation) and, last butnot least, how to best support the

deployed digital signage network.Our specialty is with post-deploy-ment services such as 24/7 support(call center, remote monitoring, etc.)and ultimately with on-site servicesthat include expert technicians andparts support.

Sounds very ambitious. The kind ofgreat service a lot companies wouldclaim in a brochure, but don’t havethe staff to back it up.That’s the key. We’re not creating thisstructure as we go; we have beendeveloping this approach for the lastdecade so the technology, infrastruc-ture and people resources are in placeand running today. We have approxi-mately one hundred Christie staff in 51major markets across the U.S who aresupporting thousands of sites andtens of thousands of digital projectionand digital signage devices. They arehighly technical, experienced engi-neers with decades of Christie experi-ence, and a state-of-the-art NetworkOperations Center behind them. We’reexcited to bring this kind of top-notchsupport to the digital signage market.

So is Christie getting into“Integration”?

Christie has a very long and impres-sive track record of working withintegrators. We’re proud of theserelationships that we’ve cultivatedand developed over time. They areour partners, and always will be. Incertain applications where theseintegrators are not alreadyentrenched with a full complementof digital signage services, we willact as a supplier enabling integra-tors to have greater “reach” into theDS market while still “owning” thecontract and customer relationship .More often, Christie’s ManagedServices for digital signage will be atool for the portfolio of integratorpartners we already have. With the

growth of the digital signage market– growth that is happening fasterthan that of any part of the AV mar-ket– it’s all positive. The market isgetting bigger for everyone so if youknow what solutions your customersreally want, but you haven’t beenable to find these services, Christiecan help with a comprehensive digi-tal signage solution offering, or on an“a la carte” basis.

What does Christie believe to be themost important considerations forthose who are embarking on a digi-tal signage deployment strategy?Any organization that is consideringa DS deployment strategy should,first, be wary of the “road noise” thatis present in this emerging industry.In other words, take the time to dothe proper research on the organiza-tions you are considering partneringor outsourcing with, their resourcesand commitment to execute andstand behind their solutions longterm. Do not accept simple quotesheets without substantiatedStatements of Work (SOWs). Do thedue diligence, even if it takes timeand resources to answer the mostchallenging of questions, because in

the end, if you don’t, they will comeback to bite you in terms of being outof scope work, delayed delivery ofprojects, failure to deliver on postdeployment services and support,and ultimately it will result in dissat-isfied customers, not to mention fail-ure to achieve the ROI.

David Guthrie ([email protected]) is theDirector of Sales and BusinessDevelopment for ChristieDigital’s Managed Services (CMS)division. CMS provides out-sourced managed services andsolutions, which include a 24X7Network Operations Center

(Service Desk and RemoteMonitoring), deployment servic-es (sourcing, integration, stag-ing and installation), and postdeployment services (on siteservices, parts support, logis-tics and life cycle management).Primary industries of focus forCMS’ services are entertain-ment, cinema, broadcast, edu-cation, digital signage, simula-tion / immersive, medical, andcorporate venues. Prior to join-ing CMS in 2009 David spentalmost 22 years in the out-sourced supply chain and man-aged services industry workingfor large brand companies likeDHL (formerly Airborne LogisticsServices) and FedEx Supply ChainServices. Over the course of hiscareer David has worked withsome of the most recognizedbrands in the world (Dell, HP,Apple, Intuitive Surgical, Cisco,Unisys, BancTec, Wincor Nixdorf,NCR, and Abbott Labs), develop-ing and implementing out-sourced logistics and managedservices strategies, with afocus on “high availability”mission critical environments.

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‘‘Christie Network Operation Center (NOC) supports a round-

the-clock call center staff (Tier I, II & III levels of support)

and remote monitoring of the digital cinema networks.
