LED Banner Displays
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A call-center company contracted us to do a banner design for them last year and while it was great fun for me and my programmers, its not a product market I would ever get involved in.

A Few Market Comments
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First, everyone has a slightly different idea of what they want. This is fine if you create a standard product and go into the custom programming business for those customers.

Second, many companies after going through the fun of a contract, attempt to sell them as a product and always ask too much. They seldom find their potential customers. Obsolete inventory is who they end up building them for. (A company I worked for in 1981 began in this business and got out). The Internet however does now increase the odds of finding your customers but that also means they'll likely find other products to choose between - not the type of market I recommend.

Some comments about our experience
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We did a banner design with the super bright red LEDs **BUT** we had digital intensity control added. I had seen these LEDs used in test fixtures before and found them irritating to look at indoors - the intensity control is a must.

This also allows you even more animated affects. You can fade in and out and emphasize when necessary. Animated fireworks explosions are a real eye-catchers.

As I've mentioned before, its great fun programming these devices. We wrote additional routines for character scrolling up and down and in combinations. The only limit is your imagination and your display update interface.

One caveat... you must eventually take the product out of the hands of your programmers and remove it from the lab if you want any work done. :)

-Jay C. Box