Strategy in TECH...
Audio Advice, a prominent smart home retailer and custom integrator based in Raleigh, North Carolina, announced today that it has acquired Sound Components, another well-known AV integrator based in Miami, Florida. This move joins two well-respected and popular integration industry players into one large multi-market integration business.
This week, ADI Global Distribution, currently part of Resideo Technologies but soon to be split off as an independent company, has sent an email message to Control4 dealers reassuring them that nothing is going to change when the company goes independent from Resideo. The email to dealers, which has been viewed by Strata-gee, reassured dealers that ADI’s commitment to Contro4 is stronger than ever.
But, is it?
In an industry often defined by rapid-fire technological shifts, I have spent the last thirty years mastering a different kind of evolution: the strategic bridge between high-end custom integration and national scale. From the high-fidelity showroom floors of Detroit’s legendary Pecar Electronics to the corporate boardroom of a billion-dollar distributor, my constantly evolving career serves as a masterclass in how to pivot to navigate the complexity of the AV custom integration market.
The purpose of this story is to share some of the milestones and career pivots that combined to help shape my “Be a Trusted Partner” philosophy—and how this principle helped to turn a security giant into an AV powerhouse.
Kaleidescape, a leading provider of high-resolution movie players and high fidelity movie content for the custom integration channel, announced today the launch of the all-new Strato K flagship movie player. The Strato K supports 8K movies as well as a new, higher fidelity format they call 4K Cinematic™.
Multiple sources are reporting that last week, Resideo Technologies’ company ADI unexpectedly executed layoffs of what they believe to be large numbers of employees, potentially in the hundreds. Many, if not most, of these layoffs are said to be centered on ADI’s Control4 unit legacy employees.
In a surprising new survey of 141 of the Fortune Global 500 Chief Executive Officers, the leaders of some of the largest companies in the world, we learn that they are losing confidence in the U.S. economy. The survey, conducted by The Conference Board, a nonpartisan think tank, and The Business Council, an association of CEOs, showed a significant decline in CEO confidence in the second quarter of 2026 as compared to the first quarter.
How CEOs feel about the economy is important. When CEOs lose confidence, they tend to pull back on hiring and investment, further weighing down the economy, according to AXIOS reporter Emily Peck.
Sony Group recently announced it is forming a co-development partnership with chip manufacturing giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to create what it calls the next generation of AI image sensors. In announcing the partnership, the company revealed that, with these next-level AI sensors, it is targeting the advanced robotics and automotive segments.
Word came out this week that Samsung Electronics and its union members have reached a deal that staves off a threatened strike that could have had a global impact. Samsung is the world’s largest manufacturer of memory chips, and as the chip manufacturing employees’ contract was up for renewal, negotiations were challenging. However, with 90 minutes left before the strike deadline, the parties reached an agreement that includes a bonus that will average $340,000 per employee in the chip manufacturing division.
On Wednesday, Victrola & KLH announced it has appointed Heather Squire as its new Chief Commercial Officer. While many in our industry come from a tech enthusiast background, Squire appears to come from an unusually diverse and somewhat more heavyweight background, including executive roles at major players like GoPro and Logitech.
The University of Michigan (U of M) has posted its final May report on consumer sentiment, known as the Index of Consumer Sentiment, which follows an earlier preliminary May assessment and finalizes the results. And as I noted in the April report last month, the results remain noteworthy, with a new low reading that exceeds the historically low consumer sentiment reading recorded in June 2022.
The cause of these historically significant readings on declining consumer sentiment, or should I say, increasing consumer pessimism, is the usual suspects – increasing inflation…and the continuing war with Iran.
