Steljes jumps into digital signage

Alun Williams: digital signage solutions going into schools at the moment tend to be low end

Education specialist Steljes is leaping into the digital signage space market, adding digital signage in boxes and media portal products from Californian vendor MediaTile.

Alun Williams, category business manager at Steljes, said the distributor had seen a gap in the education technology market for more sophisticated digital signage solutions.

“A large number of digital signage solutions are going into schools at the moment, but they tend to be low end. They are less flexible, less capable and offer less margin,” said Williams. “These are much more capable devices.”

MediaTile’s portfolio may take longer to sell in, but it also presents the chance for resellers to enter areas such as digital content provision, said Williams.

Content such as government messaging could be made available across all of the schools in a region. Increasingly, schools may wish to send out their own cost-effective school-wide, or even department-specific, additional content.

Running a digital sign costs schools about 50 pence per day per display, or per series of linked displays, added Williams.

“Also, we have a relationship with Vodafone, so we can offer our customers 3G connectivity, instead of relying on their IT network,” he said.

Simon Wilson, chief executive of MediaTile, said: “Our 3G-based products are a fit for the education market and complement Steljes’ portfolio.”