The IGEL OS will now support LG monitors and All-in-Ones broadly, but the major element in this new partnership will be a new LG-designed replacement for the IGEL UD 9 All-in-One.
Digital signage is now a mature IT market, but for D&H Canada, it is hotter than ever. They expect recent momentum in the space to be increased by a new relationship with Atlona, which just signed with D&H in the U.S., and will be in Canada before the end of the year.
ViewSonic also announced two new commercial displays, the The ViewSonic CDE8600, a large 86-inch 4K digital signage display, and ViewSonic CDX5562, a 55-inch model with narrow bezels designed to be part of a large video wall.
While monitors still make up 70 per cent of their business, falling prices has also led ViewSonic Canada to scale back its retail business and put more emphasis on the B2B market.
IGEL is also changing the way the system is licensed, moving to recurring revenue model with a choice of one or three year maintenance plans which include the upgrade to the new version.
In addition to a significant extension of their partnership with Calgary’s Userful, ViewSonic also announced an improved version of the “Do-It-Yourself” digital signage software solutions it has been selling with Best Wave, as well as a new 98-inch CDP9800 Ultra HD commercial display.
Dell believes its configure-to-order embedded PCs will do well in a market dominated by smaller manufacturers doing custom orders, and whose machines lack the software, manageability and support options Dell can offer.
Having exited the consumer market in Canada, Toshiba is beefing up their B2B offerings, and has partnered with Brampton managed services provider IT Weapons to provide what will be a growing package of services and support.
Lenovo believes the Chromebook device may have several advantage over Windows-based Tiny devices, particularly in the digital signage and kiosk market.
P.E.I-based ScreenScape offers digital media outlets an offering which is much less expensive than traditional digital signage technology, and while some in the channel may see this as a threat to their business, others will see it as an opportunity.
D&H’s Canadian partners had been asking for this service, available in the U.S since 2012, to come north. It assembles marketing collateral and customizable templates from both D&H and participating vendors in one library, and is free to use.
ViewSonic and Calgary-based Userful announced last month that they would bundle Userful’s software and ViewSonic’s hardware into a VDI bundle, and now the first solution from this partnership has been announced.