On the matter of Cisco and digital signage, Dave Haynes concludes that, "while I still don’t expect to bump into Cisco very often in pursuing deals, clearly they are indeed chasing this business, too." But if anything, this press release by the networking giant reminds me that I'd really, really like to have a global staff with hundreds of salespeople and thousands of channel partners:
Just one year after introducing the Cisco Digital Media System (DMS) as a new emerging technology, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) has signed its 200th customer for the integrated digital signage and desktop video system and introduced version 4.1, which provides new features that give even greater flexibility for end users and content managers.Granted a fair number of those 200 are probably what I'd call "pariah" customers (I know for a fact that just a few months ago they were chasing deals with as few as one screens), but given the pricing structure on their products 200 customers still represents a fair amount of revenue (if you're anyone but Cisco, that is).
...Cisco is seeing growing momentum in digital media across the globe in all vertical industries, including financial services, retail, healthcare, sports and entertainment, government and education.
While their product is still fairly basic, especially when compared to some of the more mature packages on the market, there's no denying that Cisco's sales arm is a force to be reckoned with. Their very network-heavy approach to digital signage also means that any deal probably involves a host of other kit. While that may dampen their effectiveness in environments that aren't already laden with Cisco routers and switches, those customers who do use the stuff may be happy with a limited-functionality product coming from an already-trusted vendor.
Tags: Cisco, digital signage
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