Digital signage solutions

Tushar Kothari

Beehive Systems, winner of Nasscom's 'IT Innovation in India' award, has launched a new 3D graphics product for the television broadcasting sector. The company's co-founder Tushar Kothari claims that the product is useful not only for news channels but for the advertising and retail industry as well. Kothari, who set up the company in 1989, spoke to Business Standard on the television media scenario and potential of the new product.

What was the need to develop a 3D graphics product?

The 3D real-time graphics solution product is currently the flavour with television channels. There's a market for this product and it is currently being supplied by two Israeli companies "" Vizrt and Orad. Till now we had only two-dimensional broadcast graphics.

Our product, called WASP, offers a 3-D element and can be used for entertainment channels as well. A music channel, for instance, could create a virtual set with its help. It allows the broadcasters to experiment with the look and feel of set designs without having to invest in actual sets.

Which market are you eyeing?

TV-18-CNBC has already bought the product for its new channel. Several city-specific news channels are about to come up. We are targeting those as well as the regional news channels. Our product is 30 per cent cheaper than the foreign brands.

Globally, the broadcast graphics market is $ 200 million. We have plans to tap the US market too. It has a plethora of news channels but they have been slow in adopting new technology. The Indian broadcasting industry, on the other hand, is with it.

For the US companies, the cost of re-training their people is very high. To tap the US market, we plan to take the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) route. We are negotiating with large companies to push our product in that market.

You're also entering the retail solutions business.

Well, its basically the digital signage industry. Globally it is a $ 8 billion industry. In India too, the digital signage market is maturing.

For one, the traditional billboards are being replaced by TV "" plasma screens or video projectors. It is no longer viable to keep repainting the billboards for your message.

We are offering the same technology that TV channels use for video inputs and graphics in a networked environment. For instance, a retail chain owner, be it a petrol pump or a departmental store, may want to run advertisements and promotions at the site.

But he cannot leave this to the local retail manager. We offer technology where this content can be centrally controlled.

For instance, content shown on, say digital TV at 5,000 petrol pumps across the country can now be centrally controlled and still be localised for different cities. Multiplex and shopping mall chains as well as any other retail chains can make use of this technology.