Digital Signage Network for UK University

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Digital signage has been in use at the University of Bedfordshire for some time, with standalone units installed in various departments. The University decided though that they wanted to bring all the existing digital signage together in order to accommodate the further expansion of the university, with £35 million being invested in a new campus centre where digital signage will play a key part in the communication strategy.
 
The digital signage provider needed to network with the existing infrastructure and previous installations. All five of the University’s campuses also had to have consistent corporate branding. Further, content had to be appropriately targeted to specific screens to reach a local audience. Screens installed in 17 different departments have to be updated by different users.
 
Onelan’s Net-Top-Boxes (NTBs) were used to create customised layout designs to ensure flexibility of content, in terms of scheduling and screen layout. Using Onelan’s technology, screens can be divided up into different zones to enable different media formats to be incorporated. The system also had to be scalable for development in the new campus.
 
One main publisher NTB supplies content for 17 subscriber Century 610 NTBs. An Omni-Server was installed to provide the screens with live TV feeds for news and educational TV channels without the need for additional RF cabling.
 
The signage is used for news feeds, local weather news, University news and events as well as information specific to departments and events.