Strategy in TECH...
Creston Electronics announced today its plans for the upcoming CEDIA Expo show in Dallas at the end of the month. The company says they will have a big showing for their Crestron Home ecosystem and a “deep roster of new solutions” that integrators are going to want to see.
When two power players decide to create something new together, the result could potentially shake the earth and be felt by all in the industry – especially by their competitors. Such was the first thought that came to mind when I learned that Crestron Electronics and Origin Acoustics – one, a home automation and integrated systems Jedi Master…and the other, a leading brand in premium architectural audio solutions – came together to create a new line of residential audio products under the Crestron brand.
The innovation train keeps rolling down the track at Crestron who has had a string of new introductions in 2020. The company announced today a new line of touch screens in what they say is their “next generation” design known as the 70 Series Touch Screens. But if you only see photos of it, you won’t truly appreciate what it offers – a balance of both elegant design with tough, all-aluminum construction and a solid weighty feel.
I don’t know about you, but at this point in our pandemic-impacted new normal, I’m getting a little Zoomed out. Do you know what I mean? So when I learned that there would be two big virtual events in one week (CEDIA Expo Virtual and Crestron NEXT), it didn’t exactly extract a big WOO-HOO from me.
So how do virtual event promoters rise above the morass of brain-addled ambivalence from the many industry denizens overloaded by Zoom meetings? They deliver truly motivating content that shakes the attendees out of their Zoom-induced comas. I’m pleased to report that Crestron NEXT has delivered on the promise of offering truly interesting and impactful content for integrators, at their first ever online, virtual integrator conference.
No doubt about it, Crestron is on a roll. They have recently had a series of announcements – not of the ho-hum type, but of the more meaningful, perhaps industry-changing type. Now we learn about another new partnership being announced – Crestron is working with Logitech and Zoom to deliver HomeTime, an upgraded home video conferencing solution perfect for this strange new work-from-home (WFH) world in which we all find ourselves.
OK…I don’t want to overstate this, but over the last few years, integration industry giants Crestron and Lutron have been…shall we say…a little competitive with each other. Maybe not directly so, but certainly there have been skirmishes over several lines of products. Over time, the two companies’ line extensions have been progressively encroaching more and more into each other’s territory.
Well, that’s over now, as Creston announced last week that it has forged “an alliance” with Lutron – integrating several of the lighting company’s products into the Crestron Home ecosystem. Dealers who sell both brands are undoubtedly rejoicing – Hallelujah! Peace has come!
Crestron announced today that it is dramatically deepening its partnership with Sonos that was first revealed at last Fall’s CEDIA show. That partnership, which Strata-gee was the first to break the story on ahead of the 2016 CEDIA show, is now growing even stronger as Crestron is making the full line of Sonos products available directly to Crestron Technology Professionals through their normal purchasing system. Crestron dealers can add as much Sonos product to their Crestron orders as they’d like…starting today.
Crestron Embraces Sonos, Amazon, & OthersAt CEDIA 2016, one of the top themes we identified was companies seeking more and better integrations with other companies’ technologies. In most cases, this expressed itself with companies seeking to have their product lines properly interface with the major control companies. But at CEDIA this year, Crestron took that concept to new heights and in a new direction with their enthusiastic embrace of newcomers to the CI channel…Sonos and Amazon Alexa.
