GENERAL FAQ

DMS has very little competition in establishing itself as the software leader in the emerging industry of dynamic signage. Our application enables large-scale deployments of hundreds or thousands of plasma displays panels (PDP) across cities, countries, or even continents. We're like the "desktop publishing" software of plasma screens. We've been doing it for over 10 years in the hanging monitor and cable TV industries. We even have a large base of users of our application, and all the elements necessary to make large-scale deployments possible including relationships with satellite service providers and plasma screen manufacturers.

Hanging TVs
In some sense, those hanging TVs with built-in VCRs and auto-rewind are our biggest competition. But ultimately, the mechanical troubles, and the headache of sneaker-net makes DMS win out in the end.

Cheap MPEG Players
Cheap MPEG player boxes are displacing VCR in the targeted messaging industry because tapes don't have to be distributed. Instead, video production has to be performed for every little update, along with MPEG encoding, and the broadcast or distribution of bloated MPEG files (even when compressed). Sure, DMS can use MPEG just like these boxes, but for the continual updates, only tiny little files ever need to be distributed, saving tons in bandwidth and cost. Not to mention that updating content only requires using software that's a lot like page layout or slide show software. It's decidedly not as difficult or costly as video production. MPEG player boxes are no competition for DMS.

Other Software
There are dozens of little applications that address this market or that in plasma. Some do call center displays. Others do calls in queue applications, or reader boards or scoreboards. No one has such a long-standing application with such a large base of established users and low learning curve. Plus, because our multimedia engine is text script based, we're more open then anyone else. Custom applications can interact with DMS, as well as custom hardware and a large array of multimedia file formats. Traditional multimedia authoring applications are not competition because they are not suited for rapid day-in, day-out updating by non-programmer staff the way DMS is. Due to this, DMS actually has fans that love using it as a secret weapon to lower their production costs and raise their revenues. Other software is no competition for DMS.

Home Grown Applications
One of our favorite things is being the band-aid, the white knight, or the paramedics of large-scale plasma deployments. Almost everyone underestimates the difficulty in the software portion of large-scale plasma display deployments, and tries to make some half-baked homegrown application. We've hashed out the issues over 10+ years, and have the entire application worked out in a way that fits into almost everyone's plasma business plans. DMS handles the creation, scheduling, broadcasting, and reporting (feedback, accountability & billing). No cobbled together ensemble of components will do as good a job as simply using DMS right from the start. You don't expect every newspaper to write their own desktop publishing software, do you? Homegrown applications are no competition for DMS.

Anyone who has seen DMS in person sees right away that it's something special. It's hard to explain what it is about DMS that gets people excited. Perhaps it is the fact that after all these years of postage-stamp sized multimedia, DMS has preserved the unique user interface that is so conducive towards full-screen multimedia design. While most tools were oriented towards windows, DMS was targeting full screens. So today, when everyone else is just realizing the importance of full-screen delivery (besides the game industry), DMS has moved onto the next generation of issues -- managing multimedia signage networks that can scale to unlimited numbers of player locations. All the while, we never forgot that our products must appeal to graphic designers and artists; not programmers.

Few other products have extended the abilities of graphic designers and artists so far with so little effort. Not even the Internet. We know that's a bold claim. Try DMS. You'll see.

DMS specializes in high-end software for controlling large networks of remote display and interactive devices. But we often get "the PowerPoint question" for two reasons. First, DMS has always produced entry-level versions of its products. Second, people outside the dynamic signage industry sometimes understand DMS software by comparing it to PowerPoint. DMS's entry-level product, iplay studio, is like PowerPoint. iplay studio is great for making slideshow-like presentations with TV-like playback, full of wipes, fades & transitions. It lets you assemble presentations very quickly from pre-existing backgrounds and clips. DMS's iplay studio is a good choice for slideshows requiring the attention-grabbing power of movement, and a good introduction to the DMS user interface. So whether you're giving a sales pitch or delivering ads to thousands of customers, your content gets noticed, not ignored. If you are a professional multimedia producer, we recommend InfoChannel Designer, which is often compared to Macromedia Director. When you choose any DMS product, you are choosing a multimedia development platform that can grow to support thousands of remote displays or interactive devices. Comparing PowerPoint to DMS's high-end products is like comparing a chalk board to the Internet.