Strategy in TECH...
GoldenEar Technology, a high-end speaker manufacturer founded by renown speaker designer Sandy Gross, always seem to find ways to surprise us. The scrappy start-up did it again at the 2015 CEDIA Expo with their invisible, or “stealth,” Atmos theater demonstration…but not necessarily for the reason they thought!
Anuva Automation, the Melbourne, FL-based parent company of wireless home automation solutions provider Turn It On (TiO), announced today that it has named Sanjay Patel as the company’s new president. Patel replaces previous president Mike Anderson who stays on with the company in a consulting role.
Autonomic, a leading brand of digital multi-room music systems, announced at the 2015 CEDIA Expo that it has partnered with Lutron to deliver a seamless user experience via its HomeWorks QS total home automation solution. With the push of a button, integrators’ clients can simply include their favorite music as part of a pre-programmed HomeWorks QS “scene.”
At this month’s CEDIA Expo, Sony Corp. professed to the attending media corps their continued commitment to the custom integration (CI) channel…trotting out none other than Sony U.S. COO and President Mike Fasulo (in photo at right) to make the case. But what really proved their case were the impressive product introductions – products clearly designed with custom integrators in mind.
This week, the Custom Electronics Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) announced the attendance for this year’s just-completed Expo, which they say came in at 18,700 attendees with 510 exhibiting companies. This level of attendance means only 200 people more visited the 2015 Expo – or a paltry 1% over the Expo attendance last year of 18,500 – and is disappointingly flat in a year that many hoped would show growth.
As is their normal practice at the annual Expo, CEDIA released key results from their annual Size and Scope of the Residential Electronic Systems Market survey which is conducted in conjunction with Parks Associates. However, what is not normal is that this year we heard these results from Dave Pedigo, CEDIA’s all-around tech guy – rather than from Erica Shonkwiler, CEDIA’s Market Research Manager who has apparently left the organization. But that switcheroo was not the only surprise, as some of the results were almost shocking.
Richard Millson, owner of Millson Technology and founder of the new Millson Custom Solutions, didn’t see as much of the 2015 CEDIA Expo as he had hoped. The reason? He was behind closed doors with rotating groups of integrators in a continual series of mostly standing-room-only presentations of his latest creation…CinemaFrame™. And judging from the level of interest the company received from integrators – the company has hit the ground running in this, the official launch of an all-new product concept.
“I can tell you the last year has been a really exciting adventure,” Origin CEO Jeremy Burkhardt said, kicking off an Origin Acoustics press conference at last week’s 2015 CEDIA Expo in Dallas. Having officially launched the company at Expo last year, company executives sought to celebrate this milestone. And, much as they did last year – the company announced several new products for the coming year.
We found some interesting stuff here at the start (and from the days leading up to the start) of CEDIA’s 2015 Expo. There was a lot to sift through, but what follows are some of the more interesting products and technologies we found at the start of the show – presented in no particular order.
The DaVinci Group launched a new series of products at CEDIA called the Signature Series -part of their Encompass Home Theater line of products. Signature Series is a high-performance step-up system targeted for dedicated home theater installations.
