DSE exhibits – what's new

February 20, 2009 by Dave Haynes

In the run-up to a show like DSE, I always like to have a look at the exhibitor list to get a roll call of the usual suspects but also to get a sense of new names in the mob.

Running down that list, I see lots of familiar company names and all the big software guys will have a presence, with the slightly curious exception of Cisco. As well, most of the major panel guys have booths, and then there are heaps of smaller companies with all-in-one panel PCs and 3D screens, etc.

There are also, seemingly, a lot of gear guys planning to be there, selling distribution gadgets that will split, amplify and move signals over long hauls. One company called Intellian has a box that will split and send a video signal two kilometres over fiber optic, which sounds kinda cool until you stop and wonder, “Why?” and “How much would the cabnle and labor cost to do that???” But there’s probably someone, somewhere who needs that.

There’s a Taiwanese company called Chilin there, probably just peddling low end all in one screens. But when I bopped around their website I saw they also have a 1080P projector that pushes out 600 ANSI lumen (brightness, for those scratching their heads right now) and does NOT have a bulb. It uses LED technology and keeps it from overheating using some water-cooling setup that probably doesn’t involve a garden hose. There’s a decent chance it is not really a commercial product yet, but this thing is another step in the direction of making projection systems more viable for DS. The lamp life is supposedly 50,000 hours, or about 25 times the life of a typical projector system bulb.

There is a company from San Diego, called Eventful, on hand, probably looking to license its data for networks that want to have local event notices scheduled into their playlists. These guys have 1,200 data sources, like ticket companies and venue operators, that populate a mass database with the details on concerts, conventions, special events and so on. The stuff can be sliced and diced and spit out as XML for some Flash or other app to pick up and display. In the right context, that stuff can be very useful for a network and WAY more appropriate than the stuff many screen networks put up now.

The other thing I noticed in the list is a few more content creation houses on hand, seeing a new line of business, among them Beantown, which you assume is from Boston but is in fact from LA. Go figure.

Sony Pictures also has a booth, looking to make network operators and their creatives aware they have 120,000 stock video clips for sale. Need a New York street scene for an ad spot???  

I also know there are a ton of companies sending people to the show but skipping the booth thing because of high costs and the whole ROI debate. At least a few companies are getting around some of the cost issues by getting their stuff co-located in other companies’ booths.

Last year was crazy-busy, but much has changed in the intervening 12 months. Id imagine the crowds will be smaller and the number of genuine prospects more limited. That said, I also know that for me, 2009 has so far been really good. Business is happening out there.