Weekly

Sharp/NEC: First Sharp-branded ISE

The NEC blue is history: At ISE 2025, Sharp will appear completely in red for the first time. This heralds the final phase on the company’s path to becoming a wholly owned Sharp entity. However, the Japanese company remains true to its long-standing approach of combining professional hardware and solutions with innovation and sustainability. invidis spoke to Christof Böhm, President and Managing Director of Sharp NEC Display Solutions Europe.

At ISE 2025, Sharp will present itself completely in red for the first time; the NEC blue is now history. This heralds the final phase on the company’s path to becoming a wholly owned Sharp entity. However, the Japanese company remains true to its long-standing approach of combining professional hardware and solutions with innovation and sustainability. invidis spoke to Christof Böhm, President and Managing Director of Sharp NEC Display Solutions Europe.

Sharp’s ISE booth this year will be in the same familiar location in Hall 3. The new red Sharp branding stands out, with a striking 5-meter-high flipchip LED wall featuring 8K resolution and a 1.2-millimeter pixel pitch. While the NEC name is disappearing for good, Sharp is proud of its technology legacy.

Green signage

Sustainability and low operating costs are still at the top of the agenda. Sharp’s flipchip LEDs, for example, consume 65 percent less energy than comparable products.

Currently, Sharp is developing a Green Signage Second Life concept with its partner CHG-Meridian. The financing and IT service provider from Lake Constance buys selected Sharp hardware after two to three year old projects and refurbishes and resells it. Together with CHG, Sharp offers an extended warranty for 2nd life use. With slot-in media players based on SDM and Raspberry Pi, Sharp ensures that users always have an up-to-date and secure player.

Digital signage as a critical infrastructure

A highlight at the Sharp booth will be the A0 e-paper. With integrated photovoltaic cells and a rechargeable battery, the e-paper solution is independent of the power grid. Content can be updated autonomously via an integrated mobile radio modem.

In addition to the A0 format, Sharp will also presenting e-paper displays in A1, A2 and A3 formats at ISE – all based on E Ink’s Spectra 6 technology – with 60,000 colors one of the best e-paper technologies currently available.

“In contrast to cheap no-name competitor solutions, our Spectra 6-based e-paper has a very broad color spectrum and higher refresh rates. Nevertheless, the e-paper technology currently available is often still unable to meet the high customer expectations,” explains Christof Böhm, President and Managing Director at Sharp NEC Display Solutions Europe. He doesn’t see e-paper as a replacement for LCD, but as a supplement with extremely low power consumption. “In pilot installations, however, e-paper displays often impress with their low weight, simple installation, and super-low energy consumption.” But it will still take some time before e-paper reaches the mainstream digital signage market.

Customization for success

Christof Böhm is not dissatisfied with the past digital signage year 2024. Although the market was mostly stagnant, Sharp was able to record slight gains. “We see a clear trend towards larger screen formats. The special project business is doing well, but like everywhere else in the industry, there is a lack of predictable run-rate business.”

Sharp/NEC benefits from its German LED Solutions Center, where special requests and customizations can be planned and implemented promptly. For example, Sharp won orders worth millions from London Heathrow Airport and Stockholm Arlanda for LED screens with Class B (EMC).

It should be noted that the entire screen is Class B-certified and not just a single module. Major customers trust Made in Germany, especially for business-critical installations.