Digital Signage Organisation Forms, Focusing On European Industry
January 21, 2019 by Dave Haynes
The Digital Signage Organisation (or DSO) has been formed and announced as a new entity intended to support the European Digital Signage industry.
The organization’s President is Simon Jackson – who is Vice President, Strategic & Vertical Sales EMEA for NEC Display Solutions, and was previously President of the Digital Signage Federation Europe (DSF-E).
Joining him on the board are two previous board members of DSF-E: Leif Liljebrunn, President and CEO of ZetaDisplay AB, and Dirk Huelsermann, the Managing Partner of STRATACACHE Capital. Two new Vice-Presidents have joined, as well: Harry Horn, GM EMEA & VP Marketing Global of Scala and Owen Ellis, the Chairman of the not-for-profit AV User Group). The DSO says it plans to make additional board member announcements at ISE, in a couple of weeks.
“With our new organisation we have the ability to better serve the needs of the European Digital Signage community,” says Jackson. “We have a strong board with representation across vendors, integration and end users as we intend to cover all areas of the industry.
The DSO will have its first open meeting on Feb. 7th – 4 pm in room F002 – at the RAI (ISE venue).
Adds Jackson: “I’m excited to announce the start of a new journey for DSO and share our plans and visions at our ISE meeting. It will take some time to develop and realise all the ideas we have and our members have a great chance to be part of that journey in helping shape our future for years to come.”
Disclosure – I am a board member of the Digital Signage Federation – which previously had ties with the folks who have set up the now unaffiliated DSO. I’ve not been involved in any of the European stuff, so can’t really say what led to a separate, unattached entity, and I betcha I’m not supposed to anyway.
Previously, the DSF-E was positioned as being supported and endorsed by the DSF, but the European affiliate operates independently. Prior to being called the DSF-E, it was known as OVAB Europe, which in turn grew out of the old US-based Out of home Video Advertising Bureau. In the US, OVAB became the DPAA, which is not involved (I don’t think) in the latest iterations.
The DSF has ties to Digital Signage Expo, its official trade show, while it appears, at least with the timing and site of the first meeting, that the DSO has developed ties with AVIXA, which co-owns the ISE trade show.
I am confused that what will be the work objectives of this DSO and how will it help the suppliers, vendors, and end users