Change is in the Air

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Mobile delivers a level of flexibility, reliability and cost management that makes it a compelling option for the digital signage market.
 
By Nigel Chadwick, Founding Director, Stream Communications
 
More than two-thirds of the world’s population own a mobile phone. In fact, in the Western world, the number of active mobile phones often exceeds the population of a country! Yet much of the impact of the mobile industry is still to come and is likely to be away from ‘person to person’ communications. Machine-to-machine mobile communications are increasingly being used as an effective solution for the remote delivery of content and data. ABI Research predicts that this market will experience a rapid growth in the near future; from 71 million connections today to 225 million by 2014.
 
The benefits of mobile

The benefits of mobile are simple to understand. Mobile networks are available everywhere and are easy to access. Mobile therefore provides an alternative opportunity where it is difficult or inaccessible to deliver traditional wired communications, such as remote sites or areas where wires would cause a hazard. These advantages can provide the digital signage market with opportunities to deliver new and compelling communications where previously it was not possible to do so.
 
The changing face of mobile
 
Traditionally, concerns about using mobile networks to manage and control data have been based on reliability. Whilst consumer mobile networks have been subject to issues regarding reliability, especially in light of the phenomenal growth of smart phone usage, this is a world apart from the service that is available from enterprise grade business-to-business operators.
 
For example, Stream has an agreement with mobile network operator Three, the only dedicated third generation (3G network) in the UK. By the end of this year, Three will cover more than 98% of the population and, because the network is specifically focused on fast mobile data communications, it is extremely reliable. Stream has also developed its own network infrastructure to enhance the reliability, speed and capacity of its service to achieve communications speeds and reliability comparable to fixed line broadband internet. For the digital signage market, this enables effective communications between a central content controller and sites based anywhere in the UK.
 
The changing face of DS
 
The digital signage market is changing: opportunities to deploy digital signage are often outside of the traditional fixed site or may even be on a temporary basis. Digital signage owners are looking to deploy solutions that have increased flexibility, i.e. that can be used in multiple sites and for various tasks. In these circumstances mobile offers a new level of flexibility to save time and money.
 
If we consider a retail chain that wants to deploy digital signage but only in a number of its sites. Mobile communications enable the retailer to move digital signage around the portfolio of stores quickly and easily without incurring the costs of fixed line communications in every store. The internet connection to manage and control the delivery of relevant content can literally travel wherever the screen goes.
 
Another example is where digital signage is deployed at outdoor events or concerts. Mobile enables screens to be updated regularly over the internet without the need (and cost) of installing fixed lines or employing people to update signage content manually. Additionally, the content on the screens can be changed easily over the internet, enabling screens to be used flexibly. At a concert the same signs could be used to direct people in, advertise merchandise, communicate times and playlist etc. all from onsite or remotely, based on relevant timings.

Making mobile a reality
 
To bring this vision to reality, Stream recently began partnering with content management company signagelive to provide remote management of content to screens over mobile. signagelive’s software enables different content to be managed and controlled over the mobile network, including RSS feeds, social media, playlists, television and audio. Because signagelive allows users to upload changes from an internet connection, enterprise quality mobile communications delivers an ideal communications channel for circumstances where fixed line would either be expensive to install or impractical.
 
Both Stream and signagelive provide management tools to control data usage and cost as well as how and when content is uploaded to remote sites.Through Stream’s OaSys SIM card and network services online management system, users can manage the usage of mobile data from an individual mobile SIM card to a multi-site installation of digital signage.
 
The reliability of enterprise quality mobile communications over the 3G network offers the chance to deliver a higher level of flexibility in the management of content delivery to digital signage in remote or inflexible sites. The simple fact that high quality mobile communications is available across the country transforms digital signage and provides a highly flexible and reliable solution to manage current and future marketing, wherever it is needed or required.