Study Reveals 99.9 Percent Average Uptime Even in Extreme Conditions

Watchfire Digital Outdoor (watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com), the digital billboard division of Watchfire by Time-O-Matic, today announced it has installed its first 14' x 48' digital billboard, located in Danville, Ill. Watchfire Digital Outdoor designed and manufactured the 19mm color LED billboard out of 611 modules containing more than 459,000 red, green and blue LEDs. The billboard is the standard bulletin size for outdoor advertising (14' x 48').

In building this large format display, Watchfire Digital Outdoor is capitalizing on more than 75 years of manufacturing experience in the outdoor industry. Watchfire has produced thousands of time-tested, rugged, digital outdoor signs. The venerable sign manufacturer is now leveraging that know-how to produce digital billboards.

Watchfire also announced the results of a service audit that shows Watchfire LED boards have an average uptime greater than 99.9 percent. This reliability record is critical for LED signs in the outdoor advertising market where downtime represents lost revenue and potential make-goods.

"Watchfire's exceptional uptime is due to the fact that we are the only digital outdoor manufacturer to make totally encapsulated LED modules," said Darrin Friskney, director of Watchfire Digital Outdoor. After the LEDs and electronics have been attached to the circuit board, it is encapsulated in a thin layer of clear silicone gel. The silicone solidifies to protect components from the elements and provide superior reliability and performance. Watchfire LED boards have been tested extensively. Because of the exclusive encapsulation and engineering processes, the LED boards can operate in extreme conditions: 180 days completely submerged in water, 60 days in a salt-spray chamber, and temperatures ranging from -40° F to 120° F.

Other quality features include solid welds in the cabinet construction, not "pop" rivets, and the use of stronger, heavy-walled aluminum extrusions with monocoque construction instead of cheaper sheet metal or fabricated metal cabinets. Watchfire also designs for high-inrush current and high-voltage protection.

"Because of the advanced construction of Watchfire LED signs, we're able to offer a five-year warranty, the finest in the industry," said Friskney. "We have a long history of engineering and manufacturing LED signs of extremely high-quality and our warranty reflects that."

Digital Billboard Installation Documentary
Watchfire Digital Outdoor produced a documentary of the billboard installation as a guide for outdoor advertisers who want to learn more about digital billboards. A free DVD of the documentary is available at http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com/installation or by calling 866-949-9282.

About Watchfire Digital Outdoor

Watchfire Digital Outdoor engineers and manufactures the best looking and most durable digital billboards available anywhere. It is the digital billboard division of Watchfire by Time-O-Matic, which has been manufacturing outdoor electric signs for more than 75 years, has been manufacturing LED signs for 10 years, and has more than 12,000 outdoor LED signs in daily operation throughout North America. Watchfire Digital Outdoor is located in Danville, Ill. with marketing and sales operations in Indianapolis. For more information, go to http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com.

For information contact:

Mara Conklin, 847.816.9411
mconklin@teamclarus.com

Linda Muskin, 847.432.7300
lmuskin@teamclarus.com