Strategy in TECH...
The NY/NJ Tech Summit rolled in to the Big Apple last week, almost exactly one year after its first iteration, which took place last year in the MetLife Stadium…a really unique venue. This year, I looked forward to it with great anticipation, interested to see if the Summit would begin to gain traction and what changes would take place as a result of the show being acquired by CEDIA.
For some time now, I’ve been picking up a lot of buzz about the new San Clemente, CA headquarters building of Dana Innovations, said to be a major upgrade from their previous digs and outfitted with an optimized, multi-room training center. Dana Innovations, parent company of power CI brands such as Sonance, iPort, and Trufig, is one of the top custom integration solutions providers of in-wall/in-ceiling speakers, multichannel amplifiers, keypads, touch panels, and more. They also are renown for their dealer training program, which the company runs year round.
So when I got an invitation to visit their facility close-up, I jumped at it. I’m not sure I knew what I was getting myself into…
James Loudspeaker, the Napa, CA-based manufacturer of innovative, high-performance speaker solutions, announced this week that it is adding John Bishop in a new role with the company – Director of Architectural Audio Services. Bishop, a fairly well-known sales representative in New England, is being brought on in a contract basis and will continue with his rep firm in addition to this new role.
A couple of months ago, I visited the first New York Metro area Technology & Business Summit at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and reported to Strata-gee readers about my experience. These events, smaller local shows, are fun to attend and offer some definite advantages to attendees as compared to the large national shows, such as more face time with brand executives, more hands-on displays with local representatives who truly know your business, and perhaps most importantly, much easier and more convenient to attend. Literally, these shows are a short drive from your home base, making it easier to fit show attendance into your schedule no matter how busy you may be.
Now celebrating its 10th Anniversary, the organizer plans on offering more events this year and is launching a new show concept called the CASTLE (Converging Audio/Video Security Technology Lighting & Entertainment) Summit.
Elan revealed Wednesday that it has opened a training facility in Dallas, TX as of January of this year. The company says the facility is operating at 95% capacity and has already trained more than 200 dealers from around the United States.
3rd Party Testing & Techs Can Earn Their Own Pakedge GearControl4 announced today a smart new training program that it hopes will create an army of Pakedge Certified Network Administrators (PCNA) throughout the custom integration industry. The company noted, correctly we think, that “Practical, hands-on training for networking has been lacking throughout the…custom install industry,” Control4 has designed an exceedingly clever learning program with a strong participation motivator – techs can earn Pakedge gear for their own systems.
Back in the Fall of 2013, we told you about the birth of a new brand called Bluesound – a new networkable, high-quality wired and wireless multiroom music system. Almost simultaneously, and in response to the obvious success of Sonos we suspect, new systems from Bose, D&M Holdings (HEOS), and Lenbrook were all introduced. But Lenbook officials maintained that their system had an advantage over most of the other systems – they had created their own operating system called BluOS.
Control4 Corporation announced Wednesday that they are rolling out an interesting new augmentation to their overall training efforts – short e-learning modules called Smart Skills. Smart Skills are short videos made available to certified Control4 dealers that offer focused training on one specific topic.
