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Savant Power Play, Connecting Integrators to Power

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Savant intelligent companion modules

Strata-gee Interviews Savant Power President Anna Demeo

Last week, Savant Systems, Inc. announced that it had acquired Racepoint Energy, LLC, a provider of innovative power solutions. What many people did not know was that Racepoint Energy was another venture launched by Savant CEO Bob Madonna, and was originally intended to be a freestanding solution – primarily targeted for commercial, industrial, and utility markets.

But then the world changed and it made sense for Savant to bring it under their residential automation brand.

See my interview with Savant Power President Anna Demeo…

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AudioControl Rolls Out Drivers for Full Integration into Creston Home Systems

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AudioControl announces new Crestron Home drivers

AudioControl announced this week that it has released certified drivers for Crestron Home for its line of specialty electronics. This news means that the company’s products, already popular in home automation systems, will now integrate into the rapidly expanding Crestron Home ecosystem.

See more on these new drivers from AudioControl

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Crestron Home is Center of Attention in a Pair of New Partnerships

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A Crestron Home controlled Somfy pergola
A Somfy motorized pergola controlled by Crestron Home

Somfy and Josh.ai Say Dealers Demanded They Partner with Crestron Home

Ever since Crestron launched Crestron Home it became obvious that there had been a sea change in the company’s go-forward strategy. The new Home operating system was easier to program and deploy, more visually attractive for end-users, and more clearly differentiated from their more robust high-end programming solutions. But also, the company’s style of operation changed as well, from doing it all in-house to opening itself up to partnerships.

Now we learn of two more in a long line of technology partnerships as the company continues to evolve and propel Crestron Home down the path to becoming the dominant smart home OS in the industry. The new partnerships are with Josh.ai and Somfy, both well-regarded technology players in the custom integration channel.

See more on the new Crestron, Josh.ai, and Somfy partnerships

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SnapAV and Control4 are Rebranded as Snap One

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SnapAV and Control4 logo

SnapAV Execs Hindman & Vaughn Explain the Rationale Behind the Change to Strata-gee

Recently, in a special Zoom presentation for Strata-gee by SnapAV executives Jeff Hindman (Chief Revenue Officer) and Kordon Vaughn (VP Marketing), I was about to learn about the company’s new brand strategy going forward. Ever since SnapAV acquired their largest division, Control4, there has been much speculation about how to address the market with two strong, well-known brands. I joked, “So what’s it going to be…ControlAV or Snap4?

It turns out I wasn’t that far off, as the executives shared with me that they would be rebranding the organization as Snap One.

Learn more about how SnapAV became Snap One…

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TOLA Expo: Industry Groups Partner for Super-Regional In-Person Dealer Expo

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TOLA Expo logo

A group of industry manufacturer sales representatives in the Southwest has partnered with Samsung to produce one of the first in-person industry dealer events in more than a year called the TOLA Expo. The event, which takes place on June 29-30, 2021 covers a huge region – organizers refer to it as a “super-regional show” – drawing from the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas…hence, TOLA.

Learn more about next week’s TOLA Expo

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ISE 2021 ‘Heralds’ Getting the Industry ‘Back to Business,’ But Did They?

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In a press release distributed Wednesday morning, Integrated Systems Events (part of Integrated Systems Europe) announced the conclusion of their annual ISE event, this year in Barcelona, Spain for the first time on June 1-2. It was a hybrid-style event, offering an online or virtual conference as well as an in-person event with exhibitors in the Fira de Barcelona exhibition center. The organizers heralded the event as helping “the industry getting back to business.”

But how successful was the ISE this year? See more…

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Bryston Partners with Azione Unlimited

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Bryston's logo

Bryston Ltd., a well-regarded manufacturer of high-end audio and home theater gear, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Azione Unlimited, a nationwide buying group of integrators. The move looks to expand their potential network of dealers here in the U.S.

See more on this Bryston and Azione partnership

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Next Week is Going to be Big; How Big? Crestron Masters Big!

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Crestron Innovations Fuel Us keynote graphic

Next week is the latest incarnation of the Crestron Masters Week, in this case Crestron Masters Week 2021. These events are incredibly popular with the company’s integration dealers and offer a wide variety of intensive training sessions that deal with real issues in the real world. Set to run April 27 – April 30, the buzz of anticipation is building…

But this year, something is different…and that something is pretty big!

See what is different this year from Crestron…

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Bowers & Wilkins Launches 16-Ch. Distribution Amplifier

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Front shot of new new B&W CDA-16 from Bowers & Wilkins

Yep, you read that right. Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) today announced that they have launched an impressive looking 16-channel distribution amplifier aimed at the custom integration channel. Long deemed by many to be the king of Hi-Fi stereo sound, the company is making a power move into a decidedly integrator mainstay category. So say “Welcome” to the new CDA-16…

Learn about the Bowers & Wilkins CDA-16

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SnapAV Expands Offerings by Adding Ring Products

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SnapAV logo

SnapAV announced this week that they are expanding their distribution line card by adding Ring products to their online portal, as well as in their Local Pro Stores in the U.S. The company will distribute not only the regular Ring line, but also their X Line, which is reserved for professional installers only.

Learn more about Ring at SnapAV…

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