Multimedia displays attract the attention of Cisco employees and visitors.

Walk into the lobby of many corporate buildings and you might see a monitor playing promotional messages or videos. Delivering this display is the task of digital signage technology, one of the emerging technologies that Cisco is beginning to deploy in many of its offices worldwide.

In the past, some Cisco groups installed their own digital signage systems, which were not supported by Cisco IT. The groups also found it difficult to handle the ongoing tasks of developing and managing new content for the signs.

“Digital media solutions give us an opportunity to look at new ways of deploying this technology in Cisco offices worldwide,” says Susan Monce, manager of the visual networking technologies team at Cisco. “To make sure the signs can display high-quality, regularly updated corporate content, we adopted a standardized approach to developing, distributing, and managing the content displayed on the digital signs.” Cisco Now, the corporate communications program that uses the Cisco digital signage platform, involves collaborative work by Cisco IT and several other teams.

Cisco Now: Companywide Digital Signage

Initially, digital signs were installed in selected cafes, employee lounges, and other areas of the Cisco campuses in Bangalore, India and San Jose, California. The Cisco Digital Signage solution installed in these sites includes:

• Cisco Digital Media Manager (DMM), which centrally manages the rich media content. One DMM is located in the Cisco data center in Mountain View, California, while a backup unit is in the Bangalore data center. These devices control content distribution to all digital signage endpoints and automatically turn off the signs during nonbusiness hours to reduce power consumption.
• Cisco Digital MediaPlayer (DMP), which controls the display of high-definition video, flash animation, graphics, and Web content on the digital signs. A DMP is installed with each sign to manage that sign’s content.
• Cisco Application and Content Networking System (ACNS) Software running on Cisco Wide Area Application Engines (WAEs) for local storage and content delivery. Cisco also uses this infrastructure to deliver video on demand and other video services within the company.
• Digital signs, which are flat-panel displays typically mounted on a wall.

"We added the digital signage system as an overlay on the Cisco WAE and ACNS infrastructure that we already had in place," says Angela Bhurji, Cisco IT manager for visual networking solutions. "This approach made deployment much easier and allowed us to avoid adding bandwidth to the Cisco network. We also used the existing network infrastructure to optimize delivery of video and other content to the signs."

Improved Process for Creating and Distributing Content

The content that displays on the Cisco Now digital signs is managed centrally by the Cisco employee communications organization and by local editors at the sites where Cisco Now is enabled. A series of predefined formats makes it easy to create Cisco Now content while following company guidelines for the type and format of information presented.

All sites display both global content, which includes general company information, and local content that is specific to a site or department. Visually appealing messages encourage employees to look at the displays frequently.

“Using Cisco’s digital signage technology, Cisco Now is an enterprisewide program for sharing high-level global and regional information with our employees in a visually rich manner,” says Abby Smith, Cisco director of internal communications. “This engaging display is the future of corporate communications.”

Fresh, Appealing Information over the Network

By deploying its own digital signage solution, Cisco has gained a cost-effective and compelling way to deliver the latest corporate news to employees.

For business operations and corporate communications, digital signage gives Cisco several advantages:

• Another dynamic communication medium for reaching employees while reducing the amount of printed materials, such as posters, that are quickly outdated
• Enterprise scalability of the digital signage solution by using the Cisco network, with global support by Cisco IT
• Central and local content management, which encourages continuous development of fresh messages, while defined content standards and processes ensure consistency and appropriateness
• Ability to use multiple media types in content displayed on the sides, which creates a compelling user experience
• Flexibility to add new types of communications such as public displays in building lobbies, safety broadcasts, and real-time statistics in contact centers

Digital signage also offers deployment and management benefits for Cisco IT:

• The networked digital signage solution allows deployment flexibility, scalability, and remote management, which reduces operational costs.
• Features such as HD support and remote upgrades protect Cisco’s system investments.
• Integration with Cisco ACNS software on Cisco WAEs enables robust video networking.

More Signs in More Places

Digital signs will eventually be installed in most major Cisco offices around the world and support additional media types such as streaming video. “As Cisco Now evolves, we will reduce our reliance on email for employee communications and instead use fast-paced, visual networking technologies such as digital signage,” says Monce.

For More Information

Cisco Digital Media Solutions
Cisco ACNS
Cisco WAE Appliances