The way we work: Signs of change

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By Thomas Geyer | Monday, November 06, 2006 | No comments posted

Walking into David Hayes’ business called Thinformation in the East Village of Davenport is like taking a trip back in time and then being thrust back to the future.

On a wall of his office sit old motion picture and still camera equipment, a Bell and Howell 8mm projector and a slide projector, among other relics of photography’s past.

Most of the items belonged to Hayes’ father who was avid about photography and home movies.

That passion for photography and video was passed along from father to son.

Now he is out to transform the world of digital signage. He took his degree in electrical engineering and experience as a systems engineer with major corporations and wedded it to his passion for photography and his vision of the advertising future.

What his company has created is an entirely new form of digital signage and advertising that allows businesses themselves to control content on video kiosks and high-definition video screens through the Internet and change their messages at will.

“I’ve been on the leading edge of just about every technical advancement in the areas in which I was associated,” Hayes said.

He spent 15 years in Phoenix, contributing to the systems engineering and networking infrastructures of communications, defense, financial and medical organizations, including at AT&T, his first job out of college, and Charles Schwab, SAIC, Motorola, GTE and CHW.

“I’m used to a great deal of change,” Hayes said, adding that many systems he worked on were so new that he and his teams were troubleshooting from scratch to get them ready for production and into real life.

The 43-year-old Bettendorf native said that in 2003, he decided to move back to the Quad-Cities to be closer to his aging parents and establish a business in his hometown.

“I thought I had the experience to manage a business that’s technical in nature,” he said. “I have a complex background of science and mathematics and so forth, and I thought running a business would be easier than doing the things I’d already done.”

Networking computers and visual content and using it for visual communications has become second nature to him.

“I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures and videotaping,” Hayes said. A video of his European vacation, including Germany, is playing on the screen at the Bierstube in the Village of East Davenport.

Hayes was introduced to digital signage some time ago, but he has taken the concept to new heights by developing new technology for it.

The heart of it is the Thinformation-designed Network Operated Digital Signage, or NODS, that allows users to connect from anywhere in the world on the Internet at any time and manage content on different windows of the digital display, he said.

Businesses can even sell advertising spots on their signs to outsiders, he said.

“Our digital signs are perfect for banks, health-care providers, real estate agents, car dealerships, restaurants, bars and nightclubs, shopping centers and trade shows,” Hayes said. Even schools can find uses for the system for educational purposes.

“We call it living signage” because it brings static signs to life, he said.

Ian Strathdee, 24, of Davenport, has been working at Thinformation as a creative designer and programmer for about 18 months.

“It’s my first job out of college, and it’s not like any other job I’ve worked,” said the graduate of the University of Illinois with a degree in business management and management information systems. “It’s all hands-on stuff, and I like being in more of a creative field than a technical field.”

What he likes about working for Hayes is that “David allows our creativity to run,” he said. “If he has ideas, he throws them at me. Otherwise I come up with ideas of my own, just prototype stuff.”

From there, they see if the ideas will work.

“He’s the best boss I ever had,” Strathdee said. “It’s a no-nonsense business. But it’s a lot of fun.”

Hayes said the NODS system and Thinformation’s products will be on display at an open house from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday at Thinformation, 1111 Jersey Ridge Road, Suite 6, in the Village of East Davenport.

Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com.