Digital Signs of the Times

Outdoor integrated technology, once the exclusive domain of sports venues, is trickling down to other outdoor spaces creating opportunities for integrators.

More Americans are living in cities now than a decade ago, with urban areas growing at a rate of 12 percent.

This means more people are bound to be outside, taking in the scenery, as they walk to work or have lunch on the patio. This fact introduces a whole new arena for AV to shine: the great outdoors.

“What’s changed is that the technology to put AV into the outdoors in the middle of cities has become vastly better while it’s also become so much less expensive,” says Will Parry, vice president of AVI-SPL’s Special Projects Group. “It’s also easier to operate.”

More powerful processing for functionality such as automatic gain control, can change audio program volume levels as the ambient sound level around zones changes throughout the day and night. Light poles maintained by municipal governments are becoming trusses from which speakers can cover open areas (just as they also have become perches for ubiquitous surveillance cameras). And processing that used to take up an entire room now can be done from a single rack-space unit.

It’s happening in cities more and more because it’s affordable and because it can be done so simply and reliably now. In sports venues, parks, and street corners that are looking more and more like NYC’s Times Square, AV and digital signage may soon be everywhere you look.

But how does this new and improved digital signage handle harsh weather conditions? How are integrators making indoor technologies work outdoors? And with the market changing so quickly right under our noses, how can we ever keep up?

This Solution Series white paper will introduce you to the possibilities of outdoor AV and digital signage solutions. See how manufacturers and integrators are taking advantage of this challenging but booming market.

It’s all about open spaces. Inside, space is limited. Outside, the sky truly is the limit.

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