Cisco dives in to digital signage

Cisco has agreed to acquire digital signage company Tivella for an undisclosed sum. 

Tivella develops adapters and management software that turns flat-screen displays into digital signs, allowing companies to stream information and video to the displays over a network.

Digital displays can be used to give directions at events, provide in-store displays and marketing messages at retail locations, inform employees of company news or display streaming video of events.

Tivella's technology forms the basis of Cisco's Digital Media Player product, which Cisco resells through a partner agreement. The networking provider believes that the digital signage market is displaying strong growth.

"After YouTube and the iPod took the consumer market by storm, digital media is finally starting to catch on with enterprises," Thomas Wiatt, general manager for Cisco's digital media management business unit, told vnunet.com.

"More and more enterprises and large businesses are beginning to use digital media as a strategic tool to get their message out."

Cisco describes digital signage as an 'emerging market', indicating that it has a potential to reach a billion dollars in revenues.

The moniker is more conservative than Cisco's 'advanced technology' label which indicates that the company has a high level of confidence that a product will turn into a multi billion dollar market.

• A video demonstration of Cisco's digital signage product with chief executive John Chambers is available on the Silicon Valley Sleuth blog.

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