Digital Signage, Kiosks & Out-of-Home (OOH) Media

Digital Signage - Out-of-Home (OOH) Digital Media


Digital signage is becoming more interactive every day, with touch screens being increasingly deployed, the ability to change and customize content to users via SMS text message interactivity, bar code coupons to cellular devices and much more. Red Mobility specializes in cellular digital signage network implementation via cellular routers.

Digital media is created and then uploaded to a media player via an existing on-site DSL connection, via a wireless connection, or via cellular. The digital media is then deployed from the media player via a cellular router to the digital signs themselves. A secure network environment is ensured by a Firewall embedded into the cellular router.

By leveraging a cellular or wireless connection for the network, costly and time consuming cabling and drywall work are avoided. Another benefit of cellular for digital signage is that it avoids the many restrictions and/or requirements many property owners (such as shopping malls, airports, etc.) have regarding the use of existing on-site network infrastructure. In our scenario, you simply hang your signs, 'light' the cellular card(s) and push your media to the screens.

With the advent of 4G technologies currently being deployed in the United States, and already deployed globally, it will be increasingly important to choose cellular routers that can support upgrades to 4G. Red Mobility sells and supports a growing number of wireless cellular routers that both currently support 4G, or are easily upgraded via firmware patches for 4G technology.

We specialize in digital signage deployments from many perspectives, including:

• Wide area network (WAN) connectivity for digital signs via wireless cellular routers


• Enabling SMS/text messaging interactivity with the consumer from the digital sign


• Generating a bar code coupon to a mobile device from digital media


• Implementing digital signage for mass transit applications (taxis, subways, buses)


• Digital signage for sports arenas, golf courses (and golf carts) and theme parks

We can help you select the appropriate devices, and manage your rollouts globally. In addition to cellular digital signage, we support all types of connectivity for digital signage deployment including:

• Dedicated Hosting IP (dedicated Internet)


• MPLS


• DSL


• Satellite Internet

Cell Phone Quick Charging Kiosks with Digital Signage


With a highly unique blend of interactivity, perceived value by the consumer and advertising revenue potential, cell phone quick charging kiosk with digital signage are quickly becoming a staple interactive advertising medium in high traffic areas such as airports, theme parks, hotels, universities convention centers and gas station/mini-marts. Cell phone quick charging kiosks are an affordable and non-intrusive method to interact with your consumers.

Place your advertising, branded content, information or other digital media to the consumer as they recharge their cell phone or other device. Multiple users can charge their devices at once, and typical charge takes approximately 7-10 minutes - giving you a captive audience for your marketing message.

Cell phone quick charging kiosks are designed for today's wireless communications service market. Capitalizing on the consumers need to re-charge their portable devices conveniently, while on the move. Accessibly located in high traffic public settings, they serve a much needed emergency "fill-up stations". This technology allows 96% of current wireless phones, as well a many other portable electronic devices, such as Ipods, laptops, PDA's and camcorders, to be charged in a matter of minutes. The kiosks are all equipped with UV sterilizing and disinfecting functions and multilevel safety features such as limited current, voltage and temperature, and are short circuit resistance.

Compatible with all current phones and PDAs.
The quick charging kiosks are compatible with all current mobile devices including iPhone®, iPod®, Blackberry®, Palm Treo, LG Chocolate, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and many other cell phones and PDAs. The standard phone adapter configuration covers 96% of the current mobile devices in the market, and custom configurations are available as well.

Loading media is a snap. Media is loaded to the kiosks via USB FLASH drive (I.E. USB memory stick). Simply create your media files (flash, wmp, mov, avi, jpg, gif, etc.) on a host PC, save the files in the order you want them to play (see screen shot) on the FLASH drive, and plug the FLASH drive into the kiosk. Your files will continue to loop, displaying on the LCD screen. When you have new files to upload, simply repeat the procedure.



The kiosks can also be configured to be networked via a wireless cellular connection (additional hardware and monthly cellular data plan required). This configuration allows for the utmost in flexibility, as it allows you to wirelessly update the media on a network of kiosks from a central computer or media player. Perfect for large scale deployments, national chain stores, etc.

Enjoy multiple revenue streams.
Generate multiple revenue streams including:
Revenue stream #1: With the optional bill changer installed, a small $1-5 per phone fee can be assessed per consumer at the POP.Or give the service away for free as a courtesy to your customers (and they will still be a captive audience for your digital advertising via the LCD screen while they wait for their device to charge).

Revenue stream #2: The 2' x 3' static poster/billboard on the front of the kiosk can be sold to advertisers on a weekly/monthly/annual basis for additional revenue.

Revenue stream #3: Digital media can be sold in :15 or :30 second segments on the LCD screen to a wide variety of local, regional or national brands. Or you can promote your own in-store specials, upcoming events, etc. As well, PSAs, weather, sports scores, news, and other pertinent information can be streamed in a small section of the screen in real time.

Cell Phone Quick Charging Kiosks with Digital Signage

REDMO POWER CHARGE 12
The Redmo Power Charge 12 is a free standing cell phone quick charging kiosk with an integrated 17" LCD screen, 3' x 2' static advertising billboard, 12 phone charging ports, and UV sterilizing and disinfecting functions.

• Free standing kiosk
• Dimensions: 605mm × 450mm × 1942mm
• Weight: 55Kg
• Color: Metallic silver
• 17" LCD (1024x786 res.)
• 3' x 2' Billboard
• 12 phone charging ports
• Compatible with many devices (iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, PDAs, phones, etc.)
• Typical charge time 7-10 min. per device
• UV sterilizing and disinfecting features
• User friendly
• Bill/Coin acceptor
• Optional secured transaction credit card slider
• Media can be loaded via USB FLASH or cellular/wireless (addtl. hardware & connection reqd.)
• Perfect for high traffic areas such as airports, theme parks, hotels, universities convention centers and gas stations, convenience stores, etc.

Digital Signage Expo Wrap-up
We had a great Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas, and are looking forward to KioskCom next week. Some of the highlights were:

• Rugged media players that can withstand shock, vibration and high and low temperatures.
• Sunlight readable LCDs with room for the media player and temperature-resistant broadband cellular routers.
• Video over Wi-Fi systems enabling content streaming in real time to multiple screens from one media player.

Satellite for Digital Signage Connectivity
A satellite provider asked us at the show to build a small bandwidth usage product for sending player statistics and pings back to the content management server from a media player for proof of playback and network monitoring, and we think we've found a solution the industry will like.

You'll no longer have to pay your cellular carrier $59.99 per month for their unlimited data plan. Pay a fraction of that for up to 2 Megabytes of data. This provider offers unlimited multicast to as many nodes as you want for a flat $5425/month. Kind of hard to beat.

Cellular for Digital Signage Connectivity
For integrators who want an unlimited cellular data plan for content delivery, we have perfected the art of cellular up time via our "secret weapon." If you have tried to deploy cellular for wide area network connectivity and failed, do not despair, we can make it work.

We can also save your team valuable time by

• Activating your cellular card in our staging warehouse (saving you 15 minutes per card).
• Configuring the firmware on the cellular routers for the firewall and keepalive.
• Configuring the routers for port forwarding over WIFI, so you can get content to 4-5 screens for the price of one data card/router combo.
• Handling all shipping and logistics - even internationally.

We also know which cellular broadband routers work in which country, and can drop ship from warehouses in Europe and Asia to support you globally. Check out the current selection of broadband cellular routers that we stock for DSL and/or cellular.

Kiosk/Digital Signage USB Temperature Gauge in Development
In development is a USB gauge application that would allow signage and kiosk integrators to monitor the temperature and humidity inside an enclosure at timed intervals - invaluable information to have, as most media players don't work above or below certain temperatures. We'll let you know when we've finalized that product and the cost for the equipment.

IP Multicast via DSL
On the DSL side of the house, we are working with several large DSL aggregators and two major telecommunications carriers to enable content delivery to their IP Multicast enabled nodes to cut down on bandwidth at the data center, so you can send one file, have the carrier network break it up into multiple files, and have the carrier multicast router "know" which group of locations it is destined for.

On the equipment side, the DSL router needs to be multicast enabled, and we found one we like that will allow cellular backup with a static IP address assigned to the cellular data card. Cellular networks are not multicast enabled, but at least you can reach your media player.

If you have any experience with IP multicast to DSL and your likes/dislikes of carriers and/or DSL aggregators to share, please send me your feedback to aaronw(at)redmobility.com

Colocation Bandwidth Pricing Hits Rock Bottom
For colocation bandwidth, we have seen prices hit rock bottom, and we even hit a client's price target of $7.00/Megabit recently on 10 Gigabit ethernet ports. Incredible!

Upcoming Article on Digital Signage Connectivity
We were asked to write an article comparing and contrasting the costs, as well as the pros and cons of satellite, DSL and cellular connectivity as they relate to digital media deployments, so be looking out for that soon in a major trade magazine.

Cell Phone Charging Station Kiosks
We are doing some business development for a kiosk manufacturer that has a cell phone charging station solution that charges any cell phone or iPod in 7-10 minutes, and has an LCD screen for capturing viewership and ad revenue in public venues.

The cost is probably a lot less than you'd expect, and creates a revenue stream not only from the advertising, but per cell phone charged as well. You can also put a paper poster at the bottom of the kiosk, and make money on that.

The cell phone charging kiosk will drive customers in the convenience store or public venue to charge their phone, and while they're at it, maybe they buy something they weren't planning on. We can enable credit card swiping, and the Payment Card Industry compliant data transfer over DSL, satellite, or cellular, to the payment processor of their choice.

Keep your ideas coming for things that you'd like to see in the marketplace. We love to hear best practices and use them in our day to day operations. Keep the Red Mobility web site book marked for ideas and new content updates, which we post quite frequently.

Sincerely,

Aaron Wykoff, CEO
Red Mobility
aaronw(at)redmobility.com
310-542-1978