- Daktronics
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Daktronics 
Type Public (NASDAQ: DAKT) Industry Audio & Visual Solutions Founded 1968[1] Headquarters Brookings, South Dakota, United States Key people Aelred J. Kurtenbach, Co-Founder and Chairman
Jim Morgan, CEO
Bill Retterath, CFO, TreasurerProducts Sports Venue Displays
Display Marquees
Sports Scoreboards
Variable Message Signs
Display Control Systems
Stadium Sound SystemsRevenue 
US$581.93 million (2008)[2]Net income US$155.36 million (2008)[2]Employees more than 2500 Website www.daktronics.com Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT) is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video board, scoreboards, digital billboards and related products. The company is best known for its electronic LED displays. Founded in 1968 by two South Dakota State University professors, Daktronics grew from a provider of electronic voting systems for state legislatures to one of the world's largest suppliers of electronic signs.
History
Major milestones in the company's history included its contract to supply signage for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, its IPO in 1994, and the creation of the world's largest video display for sports in 2004 at Jacobs Field (now known as Progressive Field) in Cleveland, Ohio. The latter was topped with the installation of two High-Definition screens and the world's largest fascia boards at LandShark Stadium (now Sun Life Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida in 2006. Daktronics installed the world's largest high-definition screen at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, also in 2006. Daktronics set a new milestone in 2008 by installing the world's largest High Definition lighting display at the time for the Kansas City Royals' Kauffman Stadium in the spring of 2008.
Major Product Groups
Design and manufacturing of displays is broken down into four major product groups: Video Products, Sport Products, Commercial Products, and Transportation Products.
Video Products
Video displays typically use red, blue, and green light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which combine to form one pixel of a video image. These displays vary in size and resolution. Some include 3-dimensional curves such as the Coca-Cola display in Times Square. These displays are commonly found in stadiums, arenas, and video advertising displays. The programs used to control these signs are called the Venus 1500 or Venus 7000 controllers.
Sport Products
Sport Products include scoreboards and sports timing systems. Scoreboards and timing systems are used by all levels of competition from public parks to the Major Leagues. The company also produces in-water, aquatic timing systems for timing competitive swimming events. Daktronics has been supplying scoreboards and video displays for the Olympics for several years. However, the Olympic Games often have contracts with larger corporations, such as Swiss Timing,[3] so the Daktronics name is not often used.
Daktronics has been an influence in NBA rule changes in the 2000s. The company manufactured the first backboard light strips to comply with instant replay rulings, and in 2004, developed a see-through shot clock to improve spectator visibility.[4]
Commercial Products
Commercial Products are displays for businesses, municipalities, and non-profit organizations. Daktronics commercial products division supplies signs for quick-serve restaurants, petroleum marketers, retail outlets, and many other businesses and organizations. The signs supplied to businesses typically have lower refresh rates than full video displays. These displays are typically seen in front of stores, gas stations, casinos, restaurants, and hotels.
Another major revenue-generating component of the commercial products division is the digital billboard division. Daktronics leads the industry in digital billboard installations with more than 500 as of September 17, 2007. In 2007, Daktronics released a new digital billboard product, the Valo OT digital billboard. Daktronics claims the billboard is very popular among outdoor advertisers because of the billboard's "optimized" pixel layout, reduced weight compared to previous models, and lower power consumption compared to previous models.[5]
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Sign at Taylor Kia, advertising Taylor Cadillac - Sylvania Twp, Ohio
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Valo Digital Billboard - Eatonton, Georgia
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Coffee Cup Fuel Stop - Vivian, South Dakota
Transportation Products
Transportation products include Variable Message Signs (called Vanguard), which display information about upcoming traffic, weather conditions, and travel time along highways, interstates, and other roadways. Vanguard products use NTCIP, which allows them to communicate with any NTCIP-compliant software, including Daktronics' own Vanguard software.
Transportation also designs displays for aviation, mass transit, and parking applications.[6]
Sportsound
Sportsound is a newly acquired division of Daktronics. According to the company, it is aimed towards providing high quality sound systems at major sports venues throughout the world. Sportsound consists of an audio technician team with more than 100 years of combined experience, and experience with more than 60 Division I installations. The division recently released its newest project the Sportsound 2000, which is described as an all-encompassing sound source for any major sporting event. Like its predecessor the Sportsound 1000, it is a self-contained cabinet with a number of hi-fidelity bass and mid range drivers as well as high frequency horns. Sportsound's products are predominantly single-point source, however, the division is also capable of engineering custom tailored sound systems for venues such as major arenas, high schools, shopping centers, waterparks, etc.
Keyframe
Keyframe is a creative services division of Daktronics that designs innovative, entertaining digital content in HD video, 3D animation and motion graphics, specializing in media networks and large scale LED displays, to evoke an emotional connection with viewers. Keyframe's website explains more and shows examples of their work: www.keyframe.com [1]
Employment
Daktronics currently employs more than 2,500 people between its Brookings, SD headquarters, Sioux Falls, SD and Redwood Falls, MN manufacturing facilities, and more than 50 regional offices around the world.
Major projects
The new high definition scoreboard at Kauffman Stadium.
Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City Royals - Kansas City, MO - 2008
Daktronics installed the world's largest HD display (at the time) in Kauffman Stadium for the 2008 baseball season. The display measures 105 feet (32 m) tall and 85 feet (26 m) wide for a total of 8,925 sq ft (829.2 m2).[7]
Bell Center - Montreal, QC - 2008
The Bell Center has a Daktronics display above center ice. It is the largest screen in the NHL.
Citi Field - Flushing, NY - 2008
In August 2008, New York Mets and Daktronics installed 12,000 sq ft (1,100 m2) of video displays [8]
Chase Field - Phoenix, AZ - 2008
New in the 2008 season at Chase Field is a brand new High Definition scoreboard in center field. The new scoreboard is 46 ft (14 m). high and 136 ft (41 m). wide and it cost $14 million.
Broad and High - Columbus, OH - 2007
In August 2007, Daktronics announced that four floors of the company's video boards and one monochrome digital display will wrap the corner of the historic crossroads of Broad and High in downtown Columbus, Ohio.
Jordan-Hare Stadium - Auburn University - Auburn, AL - 2007
Jordan-Hare Stadium, home of the Auburn University Tigers, installed a 30 ft (9.1 m) by 74 ft (23 m) 2,220-square-foot (206 m2) high-definition display in the South end-zone for the 2007 football season. It is the first HD display in the Southeastern Conference, second in a college football stadium following Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium at the University of Texas.
Grand Lisboa - Macau, China - 2007
In early 2007, Daktronics applied its LED technology to the exterior of the Grand Lisboa in Macau, China.
Sun Life Stadium - Miami Gardens, FL - 2006
Two high-definition video displays were installed in 2006. The east endzone display was the largest HD LED display in the world at the time of installation. It measures approximately 50 feet (15 m) high by 140 feet (43 m) wide (736x2112 pixels) and contains about 4.6 million LEDs. The west end-zone HD display measures approximately 50 feet (15 m) high by 100 feet (30 m) wide (736x1504 pixels). Both displays are capable of displaying 4.4 trillion colors.
A third display was installed in July 2006. The 4-foot (1.2 m) by 2,105-foot (642 m) display is primarily used to display advertisements and statistical information.
Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium - University of Texas - Austin, TX - 2006
The 55-foot (17 m) high by 134-foot (41 m) wide (7,370 sq ft) Godzillatron was the largest video display in the Western hemisphere and was the largest high-definition video display in the world at the time of its creation.
Rogers Centre - Toronto, ON - 2005
Daktronics replaced the aging Sony Jumbotron at the Rogers Centre, known for being tenants of the Toronto Blue Jays and the second location of the Buffalo Bills with a new screen, which came as a result of the mass renovation of the stadium following its purchase by Rogers Communications.
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium - University of Mississippi - Oxford, MS - 2008
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, home of the Ole Miss Rebels, saw the construction of a 48 ft (15 m) by 84 ft (26 m) (4,032 square feet) high-definition display in the North end-zone prior to the 2008 football season. It was, at the time, the largest high-definition screen in the Southeastern Conference before the construction of the new scoreboard at Mississippi State University. It cost $6 million and was paid for by TeleSouth Communications.[9]
Memorial Stadium - Indiana University - Bloomington, IN - 2010
Memorial Stadium, home of the Indiana Hoosiers, saw the construction of a 36 ft (11 m) by 91 ft (28 m) (3,276 square feet) high-definition display in the South End-Zone prior to the 2010 football season. It is the tenth largest scoreboard in the NCAA and cost $2,062,900 to build.
See also
- Aquatic timing system
- Scoreboards
- Colorado Time Systems (Competitor)
References
- ^ Company Information Site
- ^ a b Profile: Daktronics Inc.. Yahoo! Finance
- ^ Daktronics to Provide Electronic Scoreboards, Display Systems and Operating Services to Swiss Timing Ltd. for Athens 2004 | Business Wire | Find Articles at BNET
- ^ NBA.com High-Tech Shot Clocks - Improve Court Vision
- ^ "Daktronics installs 500th LED digital billboard", LEDs Magazine, 03 Dec 2007
- ^ For example, signs in Boston, Massachusetts on the trains, subways, stations, and buses
- ^ Daktronics installs world's largest HD display for Kansas City Royals
- ^ The Official Site of The New York Mets: Official Info: Press Release
- ^ Daily Mississippian: Green Initiative tries to improve Jumbotron
External links
Categories:- Companies listed on NASDAQ
- Companies established in 1968
- Companies based in South Dakota
- Brookings, South Dakota
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