Scala's JV with Digifour marks its Indian entry

The digital signage market in India is making its presence felt. For the uninitiated, digital signages are electronic displays or screens used in public spaces such as stores and restaurants, with or without audio, for information dissemination and advertising.

The Indian digital signage industry, 'guesstimated' to be worth Rs 50-150 crore, consists of players such as OOH Media, DSN, LiveMedia, Tag Media Network, Future TV, Laqshya Digital and Vu Technologies. The industry now has a new entrant in Scala, a leading global provider of end to end solutions for the signage market.

Scala has announced its launch in India with the signing of a joint venture with its long time certified partner, Digifour Technologies.

Scala has a majority stake in the new venture. The new entity, Scala-Digifour, will have a sales and development office in Bengaluru. The presence of Scala-Digifour in the Indian digital signage market will support and address the market demands of the industry.

In an official communiqué, Gerard Bucas, chief executive officer, Scala, says, “India is an emerging marketplace for digital signage and Scala wants to maintain a leadership position in delivering digital signage solutions to the Indian market. Digifour has been one of our priority partners and has been successful in establishing a strong footprint in India. This joint venture helps Scala to extend its reach into the market from day one.”

The joint venture was announced by Oscar Elizaga, vice-president, operations, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Scala; Jeff Porter, executive vice-president, experts group, Scala; and Mohamed Rafeeq, director, strategic planning, Digifour Technologies at a press conference at the Digital Signage Asia 2008 in Mumbai.

Discussing the digital signage market in India and comparing it to the international market, Elizaga tells afaqs!, “The digital signage market in India has grown very rapidly but very haphazardly.”

The new company will offer a complete end to end digital signage solution to clients including software, hardware, connectivity, content management, integration and media management.

Scala will enhance its software development resources by integrating a team of highly qualified software engineers with its development teams in the United States, Canada and Norway. The new development centre in India will augment Scala’s engineering teams and contribute to current and future connected signage solutions from Scala.

For the record, Scala is a leading global provider of digital signage and advertising management solutions. The company’s solutions are used in retail, education, entertainment, government and other industries for applications such as retail advertising networks, corporate communications (employee TV), traditional and digital billboards, digital menu boards, digital posters, cable TV, hotel lobby signage, gas pump toppers, outdoor advertising and interactive kiosks.

Scala today drives more than 2,00,000 screens worldwide. The company’s digital signage customers include IKEA, Burger King, T-Mobile, McDonalds, Warner Brothers and Shell. Scala is headquartered near Philadelphia, USA, and has subsidiaries in Canada, Netherlands, France, Norway and Japan. It also has more than 450 partners in about 60 countries.

Digifour Technologies is an Indian IT development and consultancy company offering expertise in four business verticals — digital dynamic signage, web application development, animation and digital multimedia and business process outsourcing. The company also has offices in the UAE, the UK and the USA.