Strategy in TECH...
Sonos reported on Wednesday that they had a strong second quarter fiscal 2022 result with good revenue growth. In the case of revenues, the company notes that they continue to track toward its annual revenue guidance of $1.95 billion – to – $2.0 billion. However, the company admitted that its profit margin took a hit as supply chain issues continue to bedevil it (and the rest of the industry) as well. They cut their forecast for profits in 2022.
Savant offered industry media a presentation revealing their vision of the deep integration of energy sources (and uses) into a fully-fledged, well-thought-out, total smart home system. To drive the industry towards this future, Savant’s vision is expansive, intelligent, and in my mind, pretty exciting. It starts with a foundation of power and how to make it smarter.
Below, you’ll find some of the key highlights of Savant’s plans for smart energy.
AudioControl, a specialty electronics manufacturer of innovative residential, commercial, and mobile audio products, revealed today that it has upgraded the semiconductor technology resident in its recently introduced 70-volt, dual-mode CM line of amplifiers. This upgrade, to Gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors, offers many performance improvements over traditional silicon-based ICs and is said to take the performance of this category to a whole new level.
In the summer of 2019, just months before the onset of COVID-19, Crestron Electronics, Inc. (Crestron) invited me to tour several of their facilities, including the lab at the heart of almost everything they do…the Research Center. It was beyond impressive, and I’ve been in some really impressive labs in my career. At the time, I said it was “like Disneyland for geeks.” That includes geeks like me!
Now, in honor of the company’s founder, Crestron has renamed the facility the George Feldstein Technology Center. This is a fitting tribute to the man who spent his days there constantly tinkering with new products, product concepts, and technology.
Multiple sources report – and I have confirmed – that stalwart screen maker Stewart Filmscreen has been acquired by Shackleton Equity Partners, a private equity company. The deal is said to have gone down just days ago and Stewart now has a new chairman, Mark Schelbert, who is also a managing director at Shackleton.
I’m not sure that anyone in Tech has done more than Strata-gee to report on the issue of the failing supply chain and its at times ruinous impact on our industry. My very first report on the supply chain – AKM Fire: 2020 was Almost Over, Then Disaster Struck Again – is the second most-read story I’ve ever written in my life. I had always assumed that the issue was so big that everyone was affected equally.
But then I discovered, almost by accident, that one company has a clever strategy to beat the shortages. That company is Savant, and their strategy is equal parts brilliant…and a bit insane.
Epiphan Video announced today that it is launching a new cloud-based solution known as Epiphan Connect, bringing broadcast-quality live streaming capabilities to remote workers and hybrid workforce deployments via the increasingly ubiquitous Microsoft Teams. This development brings a performance upgrade to the normally experienced quality of video conferencing – a much relied upon tool of the pandemic era…and a much-maligned experience of often disappointing quality.
But there is more than just a quality upgrade in the streaming performance, there are tools to help create even more compelling content as well.
Onkyo Home Entertainment Co. Ltd. (Onkyo) has announced that its two consolidated subsidiaries – Onkyo Sound Co. Ltd. (ONS) and Onkyo Marketing Co. Ltd (OMC) – have filed for bankruptcy. The company said that it had petitioned the court to begin bankruptcy proceedings for these divisions and has received judicial approval to begin the bankruptcy process from the Osaka District Court in Osaka, Japan.
High-end specialty audio products maker Bryston announced today that its BR-20 Preamplifier/Bit-Perfect High-Resolution Streamer is now Roon Ready certified. This is a move that blends some of the finest audio and streaming technology with an enhanced music catalog interface that is sure to please Bryston users.
Ever since supply chain shortages hit many industries, particularly in relation to the availability of integrated circuits or chips, there has been a massive scramble to increase capacity and to build new chip fabricating facilities (fabs) or factories. There has been a series of announcements from huge companies like Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Samsung, and others launching massive multi-billion projects to add more chip production facilities.
There’s just one problem…the equipment they need to build these facilities are themselves delayed.
