A digital signage primer: they're everywhere, but are networked electronic displays delivering your message?(DIGITAL SIGNAGE)

You've seen the writing on the wall: evolving delivery technology, affordable LED, plasma and LCD flat-screen displays, and increasingly sophisticated content that is drawing eyeballs and accelerating commerce. But as extreme examples of digital signage applications vie for our collective attention--notably in New York's Times Square and along the Las Vegas strip--the search for practical advice about what this market could mean to the average media executive, producer or director continues. We know from a recent online poll of our readers that some 40 percent of you are actively evaluating digital signage as either a primary revenue stream or as one part of your media operation. The rest of you--two thirds of those surveyed--simply want to know more. This two-part special feature aims to give you a fuller picture of the market, tools, major technology players and evolving methodology for making and managing signage that both captures attention and turns a profit.

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SIGNS OF PROFITABLE TIMES AHEAD

Digital signage may be the next hot industry, but what's really going on behind the hype?

Industry pundits write endlessly about it. Market analysts paint a rosy picture about it. Trade conferences focus entire sections on it. Manufacturers hope it will restore the glory days of the AV industry to what they were in the 1990s.

It is, of course, digital signage, and it has captured the attention of our industry like nothing else since streaming media four years ago. (Remember streaming media?) Unfortunately, the infrastructure for streaming media just wasn't there for most potential customers, no matter how powerful, flexible or elegant the systems being offered.

But digital signage is different. Unlike four years ago, all of the pieces are in place to make digital signage work. The exploding flat-panel plasma and LCD markets have largely driven this market, not to mention rear-projection microdisplay technology.

It's aided and abetted by high-density, affordable MPEG servers. It's being facilitated by IP-connectivity and simple GUIs for remote access, content delivery, and …