Strategy in TECH...
In a story that has largely flown under the radar in our industry but is being widely discussed at street level, Ingram Micro has announced plans it calls its “global organizational effectiveness program” that, among other things, calls for substantial layoffs in its North American operations. These layoffs will hit a division that is one of our industry’s largest distributors of custom integration products, known to most of us as AVAD.
The DaVinci Group (TDG) announced that it has added new partners to its sales representative and distribution network, expanding its sales force backbone to help better serve dealers and integrators as the company continues to grow. The Ontario, CA-based company launched at the end of last year and says it has experienced rapid growth through the end of 2013. This growth continues to accelerate as the company brings more regions on board,
We first reported on the formation of a new distributor group called Catalyst AV almost exactly one-year ago in December 2012, just prior to their formal launch at the International Consumer Electronics show this past January. While the concept of a national association of regional distributors was not a new phenomenon – various groups started forming back in the mid- to late-1990s – this particular announcement had some added drama with several of the initial members unilaterally defecting from competitor DDG.
Energy Squad, LLC, a distributor exclusively focused on offering energy-efficient or “green” technology products nationally, announced today that earlier this month it had completed its first round of dealer training on their “LED Diet” program – a solution first announced at this past CEDIA Expo. For this first 2½-day intensive training, the company brought in dealers from all across the United States who were interested in learning how Energy Squad’s LED Diet program could help make their customer’s energy usage lean – while making their integrators’ profits fat.
Easy Access Distributing announced last week that their dealer event held last month, called the Emerging Technologies & Home Awareness Expo was a huge success. Held at the Courtyard by Marriott in Billerica, Massachusetts, the company said the event drew an attendance of 170 area integrators over two days.
John Badovinac, one of the partners of New Jersey-based specialty electronics distributor CAVD (Custom Audio Video Distributors) passed away suddenly Tuesday night, the victim of an apparent heart attack. Badovinac, well known throughout the New York metropolitan market in the electronics industry, has been selling CE products for nearly 40-years both at the retail and wholesale level.
In yet further indication of industry consolidation, Tampa, FL-based Dow Electronics announced this week that it would acquire Shifting Sands Stereo Distributing, Inc. of Dania, FL. Shifting Sands (SSSD) is a well-known custom electronics-oriented distributor that was also one of the founding members of the Digital Delivery Group – a national distributor group.
Strata-gee.com has learned that the Digital Delivery Group once again finds itself without an executive director – only six months after naming Daniel Kippycash as Executive Director at the end of December 2012. The group remains embroiled in turmoil as it was in the midst of a major change of direction and a membership recruitment drive to replace several members who had departed the group for newcomer Catalyst AV. After having been briefed on the group’s progress in late March, we recently contacted the organization for a new update and learned of the executive director’s departure.
3M Touch Systems, Inc. announced today a new 46-inch 3M Multi-Touch Display C4667PW – a high-performance multi-touch display with the ability to track up to 60 simultaneous touch points. Designed with multi-user environments in mind, 3M says the C4667PW is optimal for collaborative environments where two or more people need to work both independently and as a group.
AudioXperts, a new luxury audio brand with a wide range of distinctly unique consumer solutions, announced today a major expansion in its global reach through a series of partnerships with international distributors in key markets around the world. These distributors will open new markets for the brand in a strategy that will offer their unique products to a whole new global audience – and at the same time, help scale the company’s business for greater efficiency.
