QUICK BIO

COMPANY: Alpha Video
HEADQUARTERS: Edina, MN
GOOD SIGNS: With success in the digital signage install market, Alpha Video has been able to expand its offerings to include a software solution, so now the company can fulfill all aspects of a successful digital signage network from beginning to end.

Alpha Video founders Stan Stanek, president/CEO (left), and Kevin Groves, COO.

The potential for digital signage is not news to Alpha Video, a national AV integrator headquartered in Edina, MN. “We’ve been providing digital signage systems to our clients for 15 years and started presenting CastNet, our own digital signage software solution, to the industry 12 years ago,” said Stan Stanek, president and CEO of Alpha Video. “We have a unique business model that makes us successful. We are both a full-service AV integrator and a digital signage company that designs and markets our own digital signage software package.”

Alpha Video started in 1970 as the first professional video dealer in Minnesota. In 2003, Stanek and Kevin Groves become partners in the company with Stanek as president/ CEO and Groves as COO. Under their leadership, Alpha Video has grown every year since they took control, including an 18 percent growth rate in 2009. In early 2000, Alpha Video joined the PSNI network of AV integrators and has played a leading role in that association.

“Our profitable growth has been built on our expertise with integrating video systems,” Stanek said. “We’ve expanded into markets where we could add value to our customers based on our engineering expertise and technology knowledge. Our goal is to be a national leader in each of our targeted markets. Our digital signage division has exceeded that goal. We’re now an international leader.”

The CastNET digital signage software is marketed by the Digital Display Group (DDG) division of Alpha Video. DDG is managed by Lance Hutchinson, VP of DDG Business Development. “Lance is probably the best account manager I have known and has been a real visionary for the CastNET product,” Stanek said. “He recognized the future potential for casino digital signage early and has grown that market segment. He also recognized the importance of having a creative services team that provides high-quality graphic content to our customers.”

Alpha Video has been increasing its sales to corporations and educational institutions based on its video expertise.

Besides digital signage, Alpha Video is a national leader in several other markets. One of them is high-definition video control facilities for sports stadiums and arenas. It recently completed the installation of the video control room for HuskerVision at the University of Nebraska and for Alpha Video’s hometown baseball team, the Minnesota Twins.

Academic and corporate are the two other target markets for Alpha Video. Groves, who also manages the systems sales side of Alpha Video, said about these markets, “We are particularly interested in expanding the solutions we offer to schools and corporations to include the implementation of enterprisewide emergency-notification systems that tie to wayfinding digital signage systems.”

“We’re not a company that sits around waiting for things to come to us,” Stanek concluded. “We have an entrepreneurial spirit here, and we listen to what our employees say. If someone has a good idea and it makes business sense, we try it and see if we can grow it. Sometimes these ideas are not successful, but we keep trying and there is usually some other benefit we derive from the effort.”