Digital technology is turning the traditional practices in signage upside down. Hosting on media such as advertising billboards and poster sites, kiosks and point-of-sale (PoS) terminals is giving way to a first wave of digital signage.

Displaying advertisements on large monitors instead of on printed posters was aimed at reducing the cost of changing messages and at bringing an element of movement and sound to out-of-home advertising. But the essential architecture of the digital signage system mimicked that of the old technology: just like the printed page, the electronic display was viewed as a dumb terminal and was intended to be viewed, not used, by the consumer.

Now, the pieces of the technology puzzle have come together to enable a more dynamic and interactive replacement for ink-on-paper signs: driving a new wave of digital signage. Consumers benefit from more relevant and engaging promotional content. Marketers can engage with relevant consumer groups more effectively, more of the time; and measure that effectiveness in ways that were not possible with traditional signage and are not even currently possible with online marketing tools.

Equipment manufacturers face a fast-growing market with a massive variety of digital signage equipment that is not dominated by large suppliers. The challenge for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) is to develop and modify products quickly in response to a wide variety of customer demands and user environments.

This eBook, which is aimed primarily at OEMs, describes the impact that the new technology is having on the ways that digital signage is used. It also offers a guide to a technology architecture for digital signage, based on Intel® embedded technology implemented by Emerson Network Power. This architecture enables OEMs to rapidly and cost-effectively develop high-performance digital signage products, and to re-use and modify both hardware and software components in multiple variants of platform products.