CBS Outdoor manages 3,500 billboards with AirVantage

As an external communications subsidiary of CBS Group, a multinational corporation in the communications and media sector, CBS Outdoor is one of the European leaders in outdoor advertising, with a turnover of 170 million Euros and ownership of 60,000 billboards – of which 20% are motorized  – installed in 4,000 towns.

“The idea was to report to the customer on the operation of the panels since it was not possible for the customer to check himself. The easiest solution consists of organizing inspection tours, but the cost and time required for such an approach is significant. Our alternative solution was to develop an automated remote monitoring system for the billboards,” said Marion Manyri, methods and innovation manager for CBS Outdoor.

Challenges

With the outdoor advertising industry going mobile, scrolling billboards present both opportunities and challenges, including the need for advanced maintenance and breakdown service. Customers adopting use of the scrolling billboards require frequent information on changing display content and visual uptime.

Solution

CBS Outdoor enlisted Sierra Wireless and its AirVantage™ Services Platform to fulfill the remote monitoring and management requirements. The AirVantage Services Platform helps users achieve end-to-end control over their entire M2M service delivery value chain, with a turn-key management box that includes embedded intelligence to monitor critical devices and functions and adapted middleware to perform data acquisition, breakdown detection, alert management and automatic fault notification. The solution uses reliable cellular communications for bidirectional data transfer and includes an easy-to-use, customizable web interface that displays billboard mapping, status and history. The AirVantage™ Services Platform is offered through a Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery method to reduce upfront capital expenditures and any on-going maintenance costs.

CBS Outdoor has fitted all of its 3500 scrolling billboards, located in France’s metro areas, with an AirVantage solution.

The remote monitoring and management solution using the AirVantage Services Platform provides the following benefits:

• Improved customer service with real-time panel operating status that can be viewed with a simple click
• Enhanced uptime from quick response enabled by detecting and viewing breakdowns over a simple web interface in real-time
• Improved equipment reliability by identifying problems for individual panels to isolate and remove problem equipment
• Enabled capability for CBS Outdoor to sell SLA to its customers and to prove and report precisely and accurately the broadcast of an advertising campaign
• Optimized maintenance operations by eliminating time and cost of visual inspection tours