NEC Display Solutions client installation Aviation and Transportation
Hamburg Airport
Digital advertising: long-life reliability
Providing long-life reliability, NEC displays at Hamburg Airport remain fully functional even after an extended 50,000 hours of service. A digitalization upgrade could not have gone more smoothly when transitioning to NEC’s latest generation technology.
Around 60 airlines, approximately 130 national and international destinations and over 17 million passengers last year alone – impressive numbers for the oldest airport in Germany. But the fact that Hamburg Airport has been around for more than 100 years is not visibly apparent. This is due, among other things, to the comprehensive digitalisation strategy that the airport management has been successfully implementing in the Hanseatic city for years. Among the measures implemented are modern, digital advertising campaigns on video walls from NEC Display Solutions.
Digitalisation has been a focus topic at Hamburg Airport for years and its importance is growing steadily. The airport places particular emphasis on the development of digital services, with real added value for passengers. A key theme is the placement of digital advertising spaces within, among other places, the baggage claim area. To help reduce the perceived time that passengers spend waiting for their suitcases, three 5.3 square metre video walls are located in the baggage claim area, installed in 2014. This also benefits SIXT, the exclusive advertising partner, who reaches approximately nine million people per year with its company advertising.
The high flyer: NEC bezel-less displays
With its decision to install video walls five years ago, Hamburg Airport became a digital trendsetter: the installation was one of the first digital advertising walls in a German airport. At that time, management opted for 46-inch screens from NEC Display Solutions; since then, in collaboration with companies such as Ben Hur GmbH, they have installed a total of 115 bezel-less displays at Hamburg Airport. After 50,000 operating hours – instead of the projected 30,000 – the displays installed in the baggage claim area in 2014 are still fully functional. Nevertheless, it was time to update them with the latest technology.
“We were very satisfied with the existing solution. Therefore, we did not want to change anything about the external appearance of the installation. Our only wish was to bring the technology into the new age,”says Olaf Jürgens, head of Media & Events at Flughafen Hamburg GmbH. The decision to install 27 MultiSync® UN462A fifth-generation bezel-less displays from NEC Display Solutions was not a difficult one. After all, the products from the display experts had proven their worth in the past five years, with their durability, reliability and high-quality.
Change on the fly
“These three factors were crucial, but they were not the only reasons we decided to use NEC products again,” says Walter Jünkering, managing director of Ben Hur GmbH, which has been working together with the display experts for many years. “NEC Display Solutions is committed to the highest level of compatibility when developing its products.” As a result, they were able to replace the old 46-inch screens with the new models in a short time. “Exchanging the display could be done so efficiently because the existing mounting brackets could be reused – the successor models fit perfectly in the existing substructure. As a result, there was no timeconsuming planning involved,” says Jünkering.
The software-free calibration and powerful configuration functions that are integrated as standard in the UN462A ensured added efficiency during the installation. Thanks to the self-calibration options, each video wall display adjusts itself automatically, controlled by the integrated SpectraViewengine. As a result, the new solution was put into operation virtually at the push of a button.
The content from SIXT could be used again with no adjustment effort required and immediately played back in sync. For the content management system, the solution walkby-sys from Ben Hur GmbH was used. In addition, it is guaranteed that all colours precisely match the CI requirements of the company. Another bonus; compared with its predecessor from the first generation, the display bezel is even thinner, which enables an unobstructed view of the commercials.
On cloud nine
“Airport operations are highly regulated – there are special rules, particular safety measures and above all strict procedures. All of this does not make renovations like those in the baggage claim area easier,” reports Jürgens. “We are all the more pleased to be able to work with partners and manufacturers who are already familiar with the processes at the airport and comply with important standards. We didn’t hear anything about the construction activities – the installation could not have gone any smoother.”
In total, there are still about 60 more 46-inch screens in use at Hamburg Airport; following the positive feedback, these will all eventually be replaced by the fifth-generation screens.
The useful life of the older displays does not end here. Still fully functional even after their long service at Hamburg Airport, the old models have been sold to a rental company and now continue to serve as video walls at events.