DIGITAL SIGNAGE ZONE: Press Information

Digital Signage coming of age

IBC2009 Digital Signage Business Briefings line-up to share best practice on key market opportunities

(London - 24 June 2009) According to some estimates, the digital signage market is set to grow beyond $2.5 billion (£1.47 billion) in 2009, creating a new advertising and sales channel for content producers, technology suppliers and brand owners alike.

The growing commoditisation of display, networking and content delivery technologies are beginning to make digital signage a low cost way to communicate with a faster return on investment than traditional static or printed displays.

With technology developments fostering innovation around new delivery channels such as kiosks, mobile phones and PDAs, the sector is poised to go mainstream. The technologies, solutions and content that are driving this development will be explored and showcased in the DIGITAL SIGNAGE Zone at IBC2009.

This year marks the successful return of the DIGITAL SIGNAGE Zone, following its launch at last year's IBC2008. It will gather promotional site owners, such as retailers, leisure and hospitality companies, travel and stadia operators and even corporate, educational and health organisations, together with technology vendors, content providers and brand owners to view and discuss the latest developments in this new medium as part of broadcast industry's leading international conference and exhibition.

Once again, the DIGITAL SIGNAGE Zone will be accompanied by the free-to-attend IBC2009 DIGITAL SIGNAGE Zone Business Briefings. The briefings are designed to explore some of the issues and opportunities arising from the growth in digital signage in greater detail and are intended to reinforce and complement the established peer reviewed, paid-delegate IBC Conference.

Speakers already confirmed for this year's DIGITAL SIGNAGE Zone Business Briefings, which will be chaired by Miya Knights, editor of Retail Technology magazine, include representatives from media researcher, Screen Digest and vendors Cable & Wireless (C&W) and Lighthouse Technologies.

Screen Digest will present its independent overview of the market and its development against the current, tough economic backdrop, while C&W will present its view of the developing digital signage managed services market and why network delivery technology is strategically key. In the same session, digital screen, display panel, digital signage and LED screen global supplier, Lighthouse Technologies will share deployment best practices through the experiences of successful, real-life implementations.

The IBC2009 DIGITAL SIGNAGE Zone is again being jointly developed and marketed by IBC, IT Europa and BPL. This year's zone is intended to replicate last year's inaugural success and that of the IBC Mobile and IPTV Zones which were introduced in 2005 and 2007 respectively. The IBC2008 exhibition takes place from 11 - 15 September 2009 at the RAI, Amsterdam.

About IBC
Established in 1967, IBC has evolved from its roots in terrestrial broadcasting to become the leading event for professionals involved in the creation, management and delivery of entertainment and news content worldwide. The exhibition attracts over 1,400 exhibitors including all the major equipment suppliers. IBC attracts over 49,000 attendees from more than 130 countries that visit each year to see the state-of-the-art in content creation, management and delivery. The world-renowned IBC Conference tackles all the hot creative, management and technical. For full details, demographics and news visit www.ibc.org

About IT Europa and BPL
IT Europa is the leading provider of strategic business intelligence, news and analysis on the European IT marketplace and the primary channels that serve it. It publishes European channel publications such as 8020 Europa and the IT Europa Newsletter. IT Europa also markets a range of database reports and organises European conferences and events for the IT and Telecoms sectors.

BPL publishes a range of both end-user and channel publications for the IT, Telecoms and Broadcast sectors. It also organises a number of conferences, seminars, industry awards and other events. Its main titles include, Comms Dealer, Retail Technology, IBE (International Broadcast Engineer) IPTV in Focus, C2M (Content to Mobile) which is a joint venture with IT Europa and Digital Signage in Focus. IBE and Digital Signage in Focus are media partners for the Digital Signage Zone. For further information on IT Europa and BPL visit: www.iteuropa.com or www.bpl-business.com

For further information contact:

Alan Norman
Tel: +44 (0) 1895 454 604
Email: alan.norman@iteuropa.com
W: www.iteuropa.com