NEC & Schiphol Airport

55 Armagard LCD Enclosures Protecting NEC High Bright Screens

NEC Display Solutions partnered with Armagard to provide a digital signage network for the biggest and busiest airport in the Netherlands, Schiphol.

The airport is the only hub in Europe that operates a six-runway system, with flights transporting more than 68 million passengers a year.

The Challenge

Spanning 6996541 sq ft, keeping Schiphol’s 68 million+ passengers informed with real time flight and public transport updates had become problematic. Paul Berg, project leader at Schiphol Airport’s IT department, said: “The current solution was 8 years old and the information was hardly visible anymore.”

NEC Display Solutions were tasked with upgrading passenger information points at Schiphol’s bus stops and selected locations in the airport terminal. Following a tendering process, Schiphol Airport selected NEC, 47” MultiSync® X474 High Bright Screens complete with weatherproof outdoor screen enclosures supplied by Armagard.

The airport is located 20 minutes away from the downtown area by bus, with several city bus connections across Amsterdam, its outskirts and nearby towns. Bus stops for all Amsterdam Airport Schiphol bus routes are located at Schiphol Plaza, with buses operating day and night.

NEC partners with Armagard

A project completed at Heathrow Airport in London, UK on behalf of Vanderlande alerted NEC Display Solutions to Armagard’s enclosures.

NEC spotted Armagard units in use at Heathrow, and Vanderlande referred them to us.

NEC contacted Armagard about the Schiphol Airport project. Following a rigorous six-month testing period of our enclosures in the UK and Germany - which involved subjecting our units to temperatures as low as -40°F and +95°F to ensure screens remained operational - NEC chose Armagard to provide protection for its high bright screens at Schiphol Airport.

Armagard enclosures are thoroughly temperature tested in house, using our state of the art environmental testing chamber.

The chamber can simulate temperatures ranging from -40°F to +140°F. With temperatures in Amsterdam reaching as high as +89.6°F in the summer, and dropping below 32°F in winter, Armagard’s enclosures were perfect for the Schiphol installation.

The LCD screen enclosures installed by NEC were equipped with anti-reflective laminated glass, a patented air curtain, heating and cooling systems and insulation, enabling NEC’s screens to operate at peak performance 24/7.

The Outcome

41 NEC high bright screens housed in Armagard enclosures were initially installed across 10 locations around the Schiphol Airport terminal. NEC have installed a further 14 enclosure systems since the original project.

Passengers now benefit from easy to view, high bright screens that provide real-time information to support their onward journey.

Berg said: “The LCD enclosures are crucial in an outdoor public environment; the displays are protected from vandalism and harsh weather conditions. The high bright screens ensure content is visible, even in direct sunlight.”

“The brightness of the screens has been well received by passengers who appreciate the clarity of the information. Passengers using our bus stop locations are benefiting from real-time updates keeping them fully informed with clearly visible information, ensuring an improved overall experience,” Berg said.