720612Developing a low-cost 4G enabled digital signage media player with network agnostic meshing technologyClosedGRD Development of PrototypeInnovate UKThe ever-decreasing price of large-screen TVs is accelerating the digital signage market at a profound rate. In 2010, 181 million people were viewing digital signage every month in the US alone, and in 2011 the global digital signage market was worth £3.5 billion. This market is expected to grow to a value of around £9.5 billion by 2020. Nowadays, most digital signage systems are integrated through a network as it allows the content to be updated in real time and increases the relevance to the viewing audience. The installation of Wi-Fi/Ethernet infrastructure for digital signage networks is costly, laborious, disruptive and impossible in remote areas. They also require a high-level of tech-support and maintenance, and must be heavily protected as they can be a backdoor to a deployer’s intranet system, allowing hackers to access proprietary information. A 4G enabled digital signage network is a simple solution to these problems. They aren’t tethered by cables so can be placed anywhere, are much more secure than Wi-Fi/Ethernet solutions, are easier to install as the infrastructure is already provided by cell towers, and they can be managed off-site via a cloud-enabled application. The few 4G digital signage solutions available on the market however are highly expensive, bespoke, complex systems that are not a viable option for many companies and organisations. The Bitvu 4G digital signage endpoint is a stand-alone solution that will be 90% cheaper than its competitors’ solutions and will use innovative network agnostic mesh technology to be developed by Bitvu, enabling different end-points to communicate and distribute media among themselves regardless of the network infrastructure availability. The Bitvu system will introduce to the market a highly secure, geographically flexible and affordable digital signage solution.