Roku bolsters UK sales channel with first BrightSign VARs

Published 13th October 2008

Roku has appointed four major valued-added resellers to spearhead sales of its digital signage solutions in the UK

Cambridge, UK, 13 October 2008 - Roku, the leading manufacturer of non-PC digital sign controllers, has today announced the appointment of four value-added resellers (VARs) to lead the expansion of its BrightSign products in the UK. Flasma, Clarion Displays, Audionation and Lynden will resell the products to key vertical markets, building on Roku’s recent establishment of a UK office in Cambridge and its nationwide launch of the BrightSign range of interactive solid-state media players.

“BrightSign is the ideal solution for in-store point-of-purchase displays, museum exhibits, digital signs and interactive kiosks”, explained Pierre Gillet, Roku’s vice president of European sales. “These sectors require specialist expertise and the agreements with four major resellers in the UK will allow us to target digital signage sales in a wide-range of different market sectors. With a network of highly competent, enthusiastic and professional resellers in place, we are poised to broaden our BrightSign digital signage opportunities and increase sales within key areas such as museums, retail, restaurants, hotels, transportation and banking throughout the UK.”

All four VARs bring specialist know-how to their chosen sectors concluded Gillet, saying “While leveraging their particular areas of expertise, they are all nevertheless targeting the digital signage market as a whole.”

Flasma
Established in 2002, Flasma supplies patented, high-definition capable displays for showing moving images in the floor. Roku commercial media players are the perfect complement to these displays for advertising, public information, way-finding and many more applications, according to manager Chris Porter. “BrightSign gives our customers unprecedented ease-of-use in a compact form factor. As well as their value-for-money, we have been impressed by their reliability and image quality. Furthermore, we have experienced a successful working partnership with Roku as their team has always been extremely helpful and quick to respond."

Clarion Displays
Clarion Displays has recently introduced a range of High Bright displays, specifically developed to meet the demands of high street window installations. "We selected BrightSign from Roku to support our digital signage solutions, as we were looking for a high-resolution media player at a competitive price”, commented Simon Rodwell, Clarion Displays’ sales director. “BrightSign delivers these requirements with a compact, quality product, which has proved to be extremely reliable in the field."

Audionation
Audionation-UK is an established AV supplier to the retail businesses, museums and the leisure industry, having supplied and installed many digital signage and interactive solutions based on its highly acclaimed directional audio solution, HSS. Andy Phillips, technical sales and director, believes that reseller partnership with Roku will enable them to offer further reliable, easy-to-manage signage and interactive solutions, in both network and standalone applications.

He said: "We are always on the lookout for innovative products to join our growing list of digital signage and interactive display solutions. The Roku BrightSign product range enables us to offer our customers reliable networked content solutions and interactive displays - without the need of cumbersome PCs or unreliable software platforms. Their easy-to-program interactivity is a most welcome addition to our portfolio, and gives our solutions even wider appeal."

Lynden
Lynden is an audio visual installation, design and manufacturing company based in Southampton, UK. Director John Futter believes that gaining authorised reseller status with Roku is a significant step forward for the business, saying: “We have been established for 30 years, and in that time have moved through laser-disc control systems to our own bespoke video/audio player and control systems. Now, BrightSign has given us the ability to provide our clients with a custom solution using the latest technology with superb High Definition video content."

About Roku
Roku develops products and software for digital media delivery including digital signage. Roku BrightSign sets new standards for video quality, reliability, price, ease of use and interactivity for solid-state digital media players. In addition to the BrightSign HD2000, Roku offers the BrightSign HD600 model supporting standard definition video and interactivity options. Online information and purchasing of BrightSign units is available on the Roku web site at www.roku.com/brightsign. For sales inquiries, contact brightsignsales@roku.com or call +1-888-600-7658.

About Flasma
Established in 2002, Flasma supplies unique, patented, high-definition capable displays for showing moving images in the floor. Flasma displays are level with the floor and made to be walked over, indoors or outdoors. They are used for advertising, public information, way-finding and much more. Flasma also specialise in outdoor, durable, weather proof and sunlight readable LCD displays for digital signage. For further information, please visit www.flasma.com.

About Clarion Displays
Clarion Displays offers affordable digital screen display systems individually tailored to meet the demands of each client’s environment. Working closely with a leading US manufacturer of high bright LCD modules, Clarion Displays provide these High Bright Screens to British and European clients, in a variety of open frame or cased units. The company offers a range of different cases for open frame screens, all being undertaken at their own workshop and all to a very high standard. For further information, please visit www.clariondisplays.co.uk.

About Audionation
Audionation UK distributes and supports HSS directional audio technologies. This technology is able to emit sound in a tight 'torch like' beam, eliminating unwanted sound in other areas, which makes it perfect for digital signage, museum/heritage exhibits, exhibitions, commercial AV installations and bespoke audio systems. For further information, please visit www.audionation-uk.com.

About Lynden
Lynden Micros Ltd is an audio visual installation, design and manufacturing company, based in Southampton in the UK. The company has been established for 30 years and in that time has moved through Laser-Disc control systems to its own bespoke Video/Audio player and control systems. For further information, please visit www.lynden.co.uk.

For European sales inquiries, please email Pierre Gillet: pgillet@roku.com.
For general sales inquiries, please email: brightsignsales@roku.com or call +1-888-600-7658.

Press Contact: Peter van der Sluijs
Neesham Public Relations
Tel: +44 (0) 1296 628180
Email: peterv@neesham.co.uk

Photo caption: Pierre Gillet, vice president of European sales at Roku.

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