Scala cuts deal to get in a gas pump's spec

September 15, 2008 by Dave Haynes

Scala has wormed itself a little tighter into the relationship with companies that are doing the gas pump TV thing, by cutting a deal with Gilbarco Veeder-Root, one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) gas pump manufacturers.

It’s interesting for a couple of reasons.

 

  1. Gilbarco already had its own “Applause Media System” for slapping ads on big screens embedded in the pumps
  2. Gilbarco did a deal last year, that got a lot of attention, that had Google maps and related stuff embedded on those screens. It had the whiff of Google taking a first stp into this stuff.

 

The new deal is a “strategic partnership to integrate the Scala digital signage solution with Gilbarco’s new FlexPay™ CRIND® payment module. The concept will be unveiled to retailers this week at the Automechanika show in Frankfurt, Germany.

With the new Scala-powered Gilbarco FlexPay, oil companies and retailers will benefit from an integrated offering that enables high quality advertising and multimedia messages at the forecourt. Previously, this integration was unavailable to the market due to security constraints and pump performance issues.

“By working with Scala, Gilbarco Veeder-Root will offer our customers a seamless indoor to forecourt digital signage and advertising experience by coupling the breakthrough technology of our FlexPay payment engine with Scala’s leading digital signage platform. The combination is sure to drive greater in-store traffic and therefore increase profitability,” said Andrew Robinson, Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s director, global payment business unit. 

The play here appears pretty straight-forward. Do a deal that makes Scala part of the “spec” for at least a line of new modules for pumps. It beats the heck, at least normally, out of being a bolt-on application. 

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