Many ISVs doubted Samsung’s ability to build a modern CMS. With VXT, Samsung aims to prove them wrong—and bring the best along for a new era of platform-driven growth. We spoke with Alex Lee, the architect of this strategy.
At ISE 2024, Samsung introduced VXT with the mission of redefining digital signage. A year later, its adoption by major retailers and businesses demonstrates the industry’s confidence in Samsung’s cloud-native approach.
A London department store is currently migrating its entire digital signage network to VXT, and in Italy, Samsung is close to managing another major project with tens of thousands of touchpoints. According to Alex Lee, EVP of Visual Display Business at Samsung, the key to this success is the combination of VXT’s modern tech stack and Samsung’s strong brand.

Even network owners that do not use Samsung displays yet are putting their trust in the platform. VXT’s UK retail customer, for example, does not have a single Samsung device in its stores. This shows how attractive VXT’s multi-platform support is to end-customers. Unlike its predecessor, Magicinfo, which was designed primarily for Samsung platforms, VXT offers broader compatibility and supports a range of non-Samsung devices.
VXT 3.0 Launch at ISE
Alex Lee will be at Samsung’s ISE booth at the first ISE day when Samsung will officially launch VXT 3.0.
But Samsung does not want to rely solely on its well-known brand name. “You have to earn trust, you cannot buy it,” Alex Lee emphasizes in an exclusive interview with invidis. That’s why Samsung is focusing on expanding its partner network. The goal is to create an ISV ecosystem with some of the most relevant CMS companies – much more than just offering VXT CMS.
VXT to be a driving force for ISV growth
The digital signage industry remains highly fragmented and dominated by local software companies and integrators. “We are way behind the curve in terms of growth axes,” says Lee. Unlike other tech sectors with global players like Google or Tesla, the ProAV market is characterized by different dominant players in each region.
Alex Lee believes a strong ISV ecosystem could be a winning strategy. By fall 2025, Samsung will launch an integrated VXT app store, enabling independent digital signage software providers to distribute their applications globally within a unified platform. To simplify integration for ISVs, there will be a developers framework available on Github. Unlike the previous PIRS partner program, which required fully integrated solutions, the new app store platform will demand much less development effort from CMS providers.

“We want to take ISVs to the major league,” Alex Lee describes his vision. There are many talented developers in the digital signage industry, he says, who develop outstanding solutions that could almost sell by itself in a global app store. “I don’t see a reason why independent software providers in digital signage can’t scale as quickly as other digital solutions.”
“Nothing matters without AI”
Exponential growth, Alex Lee realizes, is not possible without two letters that have become the most important in the alphabet: “Nothing matters without AI,” he says. Samsung is therefore heavily investing in artificial intelligence for the further development of VXT, particularly in two key areas: content creation and device management. The integration of on-device AI directly into Samsung’s SoCs enables state-of-the-art AI functions. These include intuitive content creation, making it easier for users to generate creative content without complex processes, as well as remote device management features like early warning including pre-emptive maintenance and Smart Diagnostics with Automated Recovery.

Another major lever for Samsung is cyber security. “In the digital signage sector, we are the only major player to offer the full stack – from hardware all the way up to VXT,” explains Alex Lee. This allows Samsung to provide a degree of security that starts at the chip level and extends across the entire value chain. With VXT, many of these security features are also available when using third-party hardware.
2025 is set to be the big expansion year for VXT. Alex Lee wants to earn the trust of customers and software partners one project at a time. Once that trust is established, VXT could become a real growth engine for the digital signage industry.