WE HOPE EDIG WILL BE THE FIRST FOR HOSPITAL AND HEALTH CARE FACILITIES.

January 29, 2008 – FACED with stiff competition from Californian rival IMS, handheld IFE provider digEcor has come out fighting. The Utah-based company says it aims to become a full-service company, broadening its content offering, helping its airline customers to earn ancillary revenues, and entering markets beyond air transport in pursuit of some very ambitious sales and profits targets.

“This past year saw our revenues grow 47.5 per cent compared with 2006,” says chief executive Brent Wood. “In the coming year we expect sales to double and profits to grow by 300 per cent. digEcor is financially strong and profitable, and we have hired the right people to help propel us even further.”

One such is chief operating officer Brad Heckel, who joined the company in October. “IFE is a differentiator only if it offers much more than just music, TV and movies,” he says. “We will be offering new programmes and becoming a more complete service provider. In addition to more flexible content and hardware services, we will also package revenue from advertisers and other sources to provide reduced costs or income opportunities for our customers.”

Target markets outside air transport include healthcare and the maritime industry. “Hospitals, healthcare facilities and medical transportation providers are piloting our digEplayer for patients, visitors and staff members,” says Heckel. Potential applications are entertainment, gambling, shopping, and delivery of ship and shore information.

This ambition offensive from digEcor reflects a past year of mixed fortunes. Positives include the newly released revenue figure, the successful launch of the digEplayer XT, acquisition of new customers such as Air Pacific, Garuda Indonesia and Vision Airlines, and the addition of National Geographic, Discovery and CBS Paramount to the list of content providers.

But IMS proved to be a formidable competitor - adding a fourth US major to a tally that already includes American, Northwest and US Airways - while the retention of existing custom was less than a foregone conclusion. Premium-only carrier MAXjet collapsed before it could pay digEcor what it owed, and US domestic carrier Midwest Airlines is discontinuing its IFE offering because of reported difficulties in covering costs from the rental revenues available on its comparatively short-haul route structure.

In a market that is not for the faint of heart, digEcor and IMS have converged on the same recipe for survival – a truly full-service, end-to-end offering, and diversification into as many other industry sectors as possible. The next 12 months will show which of them is making the better job of executing the strategy.