|
|
Volume 3, Issue 7 — July 31, 2012 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Inside The EcoChamber: Interview with Howard Nunes of PepperDash
By Scott Walker
President and CEO, Waveguide Consulting
Are you getting a little bit worn out by me? Need a break? Me too.
With this month’s article I’m starting a new series called Inside the EcoChamber, wherein I will interview those brave folks out there in AV-Land who are transforming their companies to seize the opportunities offered by the smart sustainable building market. For this inaugural interview in the series I sat down (over WebEx) to speak with Howard Nunes, co-founder and president/CEO of PepperDash, a leading independent software programming company with offices across the U.S.
Scott Walker: Howard, give us a little background on PepperDash.
Howard Nunes: PepperDash is a 12-year-old company founded by David Hughes, Sumanth Rayancha — my two business partners — and me. We spun out of a large-scale Internet development company called Breakaway Solutions, which I also co-founded. In 2000 when the market collapsed, so did Breakaway. The three of us left to form PepperDash. Originally, Pepperdash was doing mostly application development on the Windows and Unix platforms. We began to dabble in Crestron and then eventually AMX programming to bring in some cash while we worked on product development. However, by 2004 AV control system programming had become our primary service line.
The AV industry at the time was talking about convergence with IT. Our success in providing control programming for large projects stems from the fact that we are IT people at our core, so the AV-IT convergence thing has been more of an opportunity than a barrier for us. Today, we are about 30 people strong, which is quite large for a company solely focused on control system programming.
SW: If where we’ve been as an industry over the past 10 years is along a path of AV-IT convergence, where do you see “traditional” AV control system programming going over the next 10 years?
HN: That’s a great question and one that comes up a lot around here and among our control programming peers in the industry. Some think there will always be a role for custom AV control programming for many years to come. I tend to look at it differently. The need for the function will go on, but the service will change dramatically. Mobile devices are beginning to have a big impact on how we deliver solutions for our customers and will disrupt traditional thinking radically.
I also think commoditization and standardization trends will continue to progress and will cut the heart out of the low end and middle tier of the market. If you look at CDW, Dell, Cisco and others, they are all offering packaged solutions to the market. That could be an opportunity for some and a challenge for others.
SW: As I talk to people who are engaging the smart sustainable building market, I am always interested in the perspective of those who come from different backgrounds and service offerings to understand how the opportunity looks to them. As a software company how to do view this opportunity?
HN: In any market where you have rapid change and diversification you will see some kind of consolidation. On the AV side, I imagine we’ll see more and more manufacturers as well as service providers getting bought and rolled into larger traditional IT companies. On the building side, I think we’ll see the same thing. There are hundreds of companies out there creating innovative solutions for the smart building market; I imagine these companies will be prime candidates for acquisition by the larger companies in this market like Siemens, Johnson Controls and Honeywell.
SW: This year the InfoComm show was held in conjunction with Realcomm and IBCon, events dedicated to the real estate industry and the intelligent building market. What did you see over there?
HN: It was notable to me that Crestron had one of the largest booths at Realcomm to showcase their Fusion EM software platform, but there were also many small providers along what was called the “Niagara Way.” Niagara is the Java-based software platform created by Tridium, a subsidiary of Honeywell, to work with their hardware. The Crestron Fusion platform is very similar in its goals to the Tridium Niagara platform. They both allow third-party software companies like PepperDash to create solutions around their platform.
SW: So let’s talk about the impediments to entering the smart building market. A big AV company is tiny compared to the big building automation companies. Is there room for small to mid-sized AV companies in this valley of the giants?
HN: If you think about Siemens, Johnson and Honeywell, they all have huge networks of dealer/installers the same way that a Cisco or Crestron does. However, most of the building automation dealers are not large companies. So I think there is a lot of opportunity for AV integrators to partner with building automation integrators to jointly pursue this work because the building automation folks have little knowledge outside of building management systems. Tying in to high-end AV systems, enterprise digital signage, building lighting controls and room reservation software is where the AV integrators can bring their value.
Actually, to my mind there’s an impediment for the building automation folks to get into our world because AV requires such a high degree of custom integration, but the AV industry is accustomed to that level of complexity and innovation and has a leg up when it comes to complex systems integration.
SW: You mention partnering among traditional building automation integrators and AV integrators. I haven’t seen much of that yet. Perhaps the problem is that there are too few building project specifications that are written holistically and in a coordinated manner such that these partnerships can emerge.
HN: True. Upstream of all of us AV providers are the building architects and engineers. There can be a level of risk aversion at play there where everyone wants to stay within the same contract framework in which they are most comfortable to mitigate their liability on a large project. USGBC was very successful in getting designers to try something new because they went to owners and made the case for sustainable design. Those owners in turn wrote RFPs that required the design team to meet a certain level of LEED certification. The same strategy of marketing to owners needs to be undertaken with respect to smart buildings.
SW: PepperDash has gone a little farther than simply peering into this market to learn more about it. You’ve created a software product called Sentegy to address this market. What is Sentegy, and why did you create it?
HN: One night I working in New York and wondering why the big shiny new LEED-Gold building across the street had all the lights on in the middle of the night. Well, it’s because there’s a human factor in setting and optimizing building systems for energy efficiency, and someone probably hadn’t bothered to configure the lighting automation settings in this building.
So we began to think about how to create a learning management system for buildings. At PepperDash, we think buildings should think for themselves based on learned usage patterns with respect to their specific occupants’ needs and the measured hysteresis curves on the heating and cooling of spaces. You can’t treat every floor the same. A trading floor may be very different from a marketing floor or executive floor. The building needs to construct its own set of rules based on algorithms that factor in these various usage patterns and continually adapt them over time. In our first pilot projects, we found energy savings of between 23 percent and 26 percent using this predictive approach. And that’s just on the energy side. Imagine how a tool like this could help the owner’s facilities people determine what their space needs truly are when planning and designing new facilities. Perhaps they can design and build a more usable and therefore more efficient building based on this empirical data, so Sentegy becomes a very useful facilities planning tool as well. This could apply to all sorts of buildings: schools, banks, office buildings, etc.
SW: So is Sentegy a shrink-wrapped product or a custom service only to be deployed by PepperDash?
HN: Our business plan is to make Sentegy 100 percent a product to be sold as a SaaS (software as a service) much like SalesForce or other web-based software offerings. Sentegy is entirely web-based, uses HTML5 and can be run on an iPad. It will be purchased as a monthly or annual subscription with additional modules that can be added depending on the particular systems being controlled and monitored in the building.
There is a services element to it, so, much like other complex software offerings, it needs to be integrated into the overall environment, and this is where AV providers can add their value. We will be developing networks of resellers and identifying architects and consultants who could be partners in specifying Sentegy. We expect there will be a number of detailed integration services that our partners can provide to tailor the product for each owner’s needs. We have deployed a few trial sites and are about six months to a year from version one in the marketplace. We are actively looking for beta partners who are open-minded and interested in this kind of advanced technology for their buildings.
Scott Walker, CTS-D, LEED® AP, is president and CEO of Waveguide Consulting, a leading AV, IT and acoustical consulting firm. He is also a past president of InfoComm International. Scott is recognized as being one of the primary forces behind the founding of the Sustainable Technology Environments Program (STEP) rating system and currently is a member of the STEP Foundation board, which is responsible for managing the STEP program. Scott can be reached at swalker@waveguide.com
?
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
|
|
Click here for more information
|
|
An Eco-Certification Primer
By Midori Connolly
CEO/Chief AVGirl, Pulse Staging & Events
Have you ever done your best to swim through the alphabet soup of eco-certifications? And with Apple voluntarily pulling the EPEAT label from its products (and then changing its mind two days later), there is increased scrutiny and more need than ever to understand how these labels differ and what each brings to the table. So, even though at this time of year, any kind of swim probably sounds pretty appealing, you’d probably prefer a lot less confusion around that alphabet soup, and a bit more clarification on what all of the certifications are out there, and what they mean to you as an AV professional.
Energy Star: As a certification backed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Star carries some serious street cred! Ranging from audiovisual to hospitality/hotels to water/wastewater utilities, the primary focus of Energy Star-certified electronics is traditionally around the power consumption of consumer audiovideo. So, for the professional market, we have long discounted the value of the Energy Star certification. However, as boundaries between our markets increasingly encroached upon one another — and as our clients have continued to ask for certified products — there was a movement supported by InfoComm to provide influence and advice on how the Energy Star certification could be implemented in a professional market. Thanks to the input and feedback from AV professionals, Energy Star now considers the needs of the ProAV market in standby functionalities.
Key features:
- Focuses on energy consumption
- 20 years in existence
- Backed by U.S. EPA
- Third-party verified
- Excludes projectors, wireless microphones, media servers, videoconferencing systems, control and automation products and battery-operated products
EPEAT: EPEAT is a registry of products that meet a set of environmental criteria. The criteria include: Reduction/elimination of environmentally sensitive materials; material selection; design for end of life; product longevity/life extension; energy conservation; end-of-life management; corporate performance; packaging. There are three levels of achievement, ranging from Bronze (meets all criteria) to Silver (meets all criteria plus 50 percent of optional) to Gold (meets all criteria plus 70 percent of optional). The U.S. EPA requires that 95 percent of its electronics purchased meet EPEAT criteria.
Key features:
- Self-certifying
- Traditionally just PCs and PC displays, but will soon include TVs and imaging equipment
TCO: Self-proclaimed as the broadest certification, TCO has long been centered around the IT industry, but includes projector and displays. It considers its standards to be more about sustainability, so they include more than just environmental criteria. This includes corporate social responsibility, environmental management system, hazardous substances in products and packaging, climate aspects, ergonomics, health, safety and emissions, products and packaging designed for recycling and product take-back.
Key features:
- TCO is a pass/fail system, meaning the product must meet ALL criteria to qualify
- 20 years in existence
- Includes projectors
- Covers social, economic and environmental
- Requires third-party verification
As Clare Hobby, regional manager of TCO observed, the ProAV industry seems to have surpassed the IT industry in having the most energy and enthusiasm for supporting eco-certifications. We should be proud that our demand is having a positive influence on our vendors in manufacturing more responsible products. Be sure to look at these eco-certifications for more resources and insight on how to include specs in your purchasing activity.
Midori Connolly is CEO and Chief AVGirl of Pulse Staging & Events, Inc. in Escondido, California. She wrote the first-ever set of Sustainable Staging guidelines after discovering none existed. She is the vice-chair of the AV committee for the U.S. EPA’s Green Meetings Standards and regularly speaks and writes about corporate social responsibility and green practices in live events and meeting planning. Reach her at midori@pulsestaging.com
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
|
|
Click here for more information
NEW IDC EI Report: Smart Buildings and the Smart Grid — Strategy for an Integrated Future
By Casey Talon and Marcus Torchia
Interconnection between Smart Buildings and the Smart Grid represents significant opportunity for economic gains and grid stability. While Smart Buildings and the Smart Grid are developing in parallel, there is a near-complete void of the shared business practices and technology alignment necessary to make this opportunity a reality in the near term.
This IDC EI study explores how to institute best practices in business processes and technology adoption to converge the development of Smart Buildings and the Smart Grid in a way that generates benefits to parties on both sides of the meter. Smart Building solutions are being adopted at growing rates due to the economic benefits they offer building owners, with little benefit transferring to electric utilities. At the same time, Smart Grid developments are generating value for electric utilities but without transferring significant benefit to commercial, industrial or institutional building owners.
Building management decision makers, technology vendors and electric utilities all have a stake in the development of a paradigm of interoperability between Smart Buildings and the Smart Grid. The problem today is a disconnect between the development of Smart Buildings and the Smart Grid and the heterogeneous market conditions for electric utilities and drivers for technology investment has translated to a void in the kind of best practices that support market transformation.
This IDC Energy Insights study discovered how smart technologies are improving system operations and delivering quantifiable benefits to stakeholders on both sides of the meter. There are illustrations of successful deployment of Smart Grid technologies that deliver reliability, support regulatory compliance and support market demands for electric utilities. There are also growing numbers of examples of Smart Buildings that improve operations, maintenance and support business goals.
Now we see opportunities to learn from pilot programs and early adopters of both Smart Building and Smart Grid technologies to develop a framework of “next practices” that can foster collaboration between stakeholders to promote more coordinated development of Smart Buildings and the Smart Grid.
The development of Smart Buildings and the Smart Grid is happening through parallel but distinct processes. Interconnected and interoperable Smart Buildings and Smart Grids represent significant value in terms of economics, reliability, and efficiency. Improving awareness of the value of smart technologies on both sides of the meter is essential for aligning the benefits of investment to begin a convergence in the adoption of infrastructure necessary to make the connected paradigm a reality.
Are you a subscriber to IDC Energy Insights Smart Grid & Distributed Energy Strategies? If so read our findings on how this convergence can happen:
http://www.idc-ei.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=EI235547#.T-nJJxfy_UY
Reprinted with permission from IDC Community Insights. Find the original here: https://idc-insights-community.com/energy/clean-energy/new-idc-ei-report-smart-buildings-and-the-smart-gr
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
Sony’s Newest Projectors Aim for Education Market
Sony’s newest projector family for classroom use is the VPL-E200 series. The new models have brightness specs from 2,600 lumens up to 3,700 lumens and are available in XGA (1024×768) and WXGA (1280×768).
With the E200 series, Sony has taken a significant step toward further extending lamp life. By applying what Sony is claiming as a new fine-tuned cooling system to reduce clouding of the bulb, lamp life can be extended to up to approximately 7,000 hours, depending on the lamp mode selected. Additionally, the new models adopt Sony’s auto lamp dimming function, where the projector intelligently detects if it is left powered on with a static signal being fed. When a static signal is detected, the lamp can be dimmed as low as 30 percent of original brightness after certain time intervals set by the user.
The new projectors have an Auto Mode (Auto Brightness Adjustment Function), where the brightness of the lamp’s output is automatically adjusted depending on the brightness of the projected image, to avoid unnecessary power consumption. For example, when showing darker images that don’t require high brightness, the lamp output will decrease.
Synchronized lamp and filter maintenance timing also contributes to reduced cost of ownership. The filter will last as long as the lamp, which means lamp replacement and filter cleaning can be performed quickly, easily and at the same time.
The projectors’ 1.6x standard zoom lens and variety of inputs allows the projector to fit a broad range of applications (the VPL-EX225 and VPL-EW225 are 1.3x zoom). Other features include a 16-watt speaker and a variety of interfaces (2xRGB, HDMI, S-Video, RS-232C, RJ-45, plus microphone inputs for when you want to use the projector as a speaker for the instructor).
The VPL-E200 series offers a choice of six picture modes (dynamic, standard, game, blackboard, cinema and presentation) and all include security locks (password and mechanical), a security bar and panel key lock.
The new models in the VPL-E200 series are all planned to be available in late summer 2012, with suggested list pricing TBD. The VPL-E200 series will include:
- VPL-EW275 (WXGA at 3,700 lumens)
- VPL-EW245 (WXGA at 3,100 lumens)
- VPL-EW225 (WXGA at 2,600 lumens)
- VPL-EX275 (XGA at 3,700 lumens)
- VPL-EX245 (XGA at 3,200 lumens)
- VPL-EX225 (XGA /at 2,700 lumens)
These projectors aren’t on Sony’s website yet because they don’t list products until they ship.
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
VIA Launches Android-Based, GreenAV Digital Signage Player
Developed for the Android operating system, the Energy Star-rated VIA ARM is an all-in-one digital signage player that can either stream network content or play content via its solid state memory on-board. The VIA ARM DS system is an energy-efficient system, consuming less than 10 watts, with a vertically-oriented design that measures just 18x12x2.5 centimeters. It has four USB ports, DVI-D and HDMI outputs, a mic input and line audio outputs, features native 1080p playback of content, has 4 GB of flash memory and 1GB of DDR3 SD/RAM. |
Here are all the specs:
http://www.viaembedded.com/en/products/arm/1910/1/VIA_ARM_DS_System.html
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
Acer Foundation Launches the First Annual Green Innovation Contest to Promote Next Generation Green Living
Acer Foundation today kicked off the first annual green innovation contest to promote a better and greener living environment. The competition is open to students at all levels worldwide to create innovative and sustainable solutions. Finalist teams will be selected to compete for Grand Prize of U.S. $60,000 and provided with complimentary trip to Taipei for Computex 2013.
“Acer Foundation is proud of being the organizer of the contest to enhance awareness and understanding of caring for a greener environment, and we are excited to see innovative approaches to sustaining our environment,” said Richard Lai, executive director of Acer Foundation.
The deadline to submit an entry is September 30, 2012. From the pool of competing entries, Acer Foundation will select up to twelve finalists. Submitted entries will be evaluated by a panel of experts based on essential factors of earth friendliness, reality friendliness and innovation friendliness.
The competition is open to all students worldwide. Additional details including eligibility, awards and submission guidelines are available at
http://greencontest.acerfoundation.org.tw
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
AV Will Be Doing Smart Buildings – Are You Ready?
A new report from IMS Research forecasts the increasing integration of building automation and lighting control systems. The IMS Research report titled The EMEA and Americas Markets for Integrating Smart Building Systems — A Quantitative Market Analysis — 2012 Edition found in 2011, an average of 25 percent of the installed building automation systems in the Americas and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) were integrated with lighting control systems. The report forecasts this will increase to an average of 35 percent in both the Americas and EMEA by 2016.
Regarding building automation installations, solutions almost always start with environmental or HVAC-R (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration) control as the first priority. For many buildings HVAC-R is one of the largest consumers of energy and is often seen as one of the simplest systems to control and automate.
William Rhodes, senior market analyst at IMS Research said, “Lighting control and building automation use similar control logic and have similar control system architectures. Both systems can use the same sensors to measure room or building occupancy. The combination of the two systems can often lead to increased energy efficiencies and the benefits of integrating the two systems can be easily explained to customers.”
However, not all installers have the knowledge and expertise to install these more complex integrated solutions. Despite the benefits from integrating building automation and lighting control systems; traditionally, integrating more complex systems has only been the remit of ‘super integrators.’ These integrators have a robust understanding of multiple system types and strong IT networking knowledge. ‘Traditional integrators’ often have a good understanding of one building system but may lack wider IT knowledge.
Rhodes continues, “As more complex systems gain increasing mainstream appreciation in the industry, some observers argue ‘traditional integrators’ are starting to lose business to ‘super integrators’ when a building owner or management company wants to integrate across building systems. It is likely that if interest in integrated and intelligent buildings continuous to grow, ‘traditional integrators’ will have to overcome their knowledge gaps to remain in business.”
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
PowerWatch and Blue Line Innovations Announce Strategic Partnership
Two leaders in Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) and real-time energy monitoring – PowerWatch and Blue Line Innovations – today announced a product and technical integration agreement. This new partnership will combine the benefits of Blue Line’s meter agnostic sensor and PowerWatch’s communication agnostic Home Energy Management System. According to Pike Research, the worldwide HEMS market is expected to reach $2 billion by 2020.
No matter the meter or AMI — PowerWatch and Blue Line have a way to work with any utility or customer utilizing a modular communication interface (MCI) specification developed by the USNAP Alliance and EPRI. This specification enables any product to connect to any type of demand response system, such as AMI, SEP, Open ADR and/or home or building network utilizing ZigBee, WI-FI, Z-Wave, ClimateTalk, LonWorks, HomePlug, etc.
This energy user interface is also available on Web-connected computers and smart phones. The energy gateway also controls appliances in the home, either directly to the appliance or via a “load control module” that sits in front of the appliance cutting power to it when desired by the consumer, either automated or manually, or via occasional “demand response” calls from the utility when the grid is stressed. The PowerWatch/Blue Line package does all of this wirelessly, without ever requiring the utility to “roll the trucks.”
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
Crestron Says Its New Shades Offer Quietest Motor on the Market
Crestron today introduced its complete line of quiet motorized roller shades, Roman shades, skylight shades and drapery track systems, offering designer-inspired fabrics and hardware finishes. Featuring Crestron’s new low-voltage Quiet Motor Technology (QMT), Crestron claims these shades are the quietest on the market. They also work with any Crestron controller. The shade line includes Roman, Skylight, Drapery Track and Roller shades.
You can see all the specs here:
http://www.crestron.com/products/lighting_and_shade_control/shades/
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
ANSI Approves InfoComm AV Systems Energy Management Standard
In a matter of weeks, InfoComm’s latest standard, 4:2012 Audiovisual Systems Energy Management, was approved by the InfoComm Board of Directors, submitted to the American Nationals Standards Institute, and approved by ANSI. The new standard defines and prescribes processes and requirements for the ongoing power management of AV systems.
Here are the details:
http://www.infocomm.org/cps/rde/xchg/infocomm/hs.xsl/21107.htm
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
ISE Adds Smart Building Conference
What more can you say about a show where all the exhibition space sells out and attendance is already up, up and up?
You add more focus on the conference side of the business.
“Since we launched our first Conference on the eve of ISE 2009, the numbers of industry professionals attending our pre-show events has grown year by year,” said Mike Blackman, managing director, Integrated Systems Events. “To further develop this program, we have decided to invest in someone with a proven track-record of successful business-to-businesss conference management.”
Integrated Systems Events has appointed Marieke Bouman to the new position of conference and events manager. Working out of ISE’s Amsterdam operations office, Bouman will oversee development and organization of Integrated Systems Europe’s pre-show events program. (Bouman will also help develop other events in Europe, complementing ISE, but that’s another story.)
Her first pre-show event project will be the ISE Smart Building Conference.
“The message from our post-show questionnaire in 2012 was unequivocal — our attendees want to see more building automation, energy management and related technologies on our show floor, and these are the areas where they see the greatest future growth potential for their businesses,” explains Blackman.
“By launching our Smart Building Conference on the eve of ISE 2013, we aim to ensure that as these technologies become more significant to our industry our attendees have the market intelligence and technical expertise they need to embrace their opportunity.”
“Our aim is to ensure that the Smart Building Conference is not just a talking shop about ‘green AV,'” continues Blackman. “As building automation and energy management become more important in the design and sustainability of both commercial and residential buildings, it is vital that we hear the voices of all those involved in their development–– including architects, design consultants, developers, electrical contractors and more.
“The ISE Smart Building Conference will give all these groups the opportunity to discuss the big issues alongside representatives from our core AV and systems integration communities: manufacturers, distributors, integrators and institutional end-customers.”
To accompany the Conference, the show floor of ISE 2013 will have its own Smart Building at ISE in Hall 7. Set to be twice the size of the 2012 Energy Management Pavilion, the area will share common branding and promotion with the pre-show event — giving conference delegates a clear destination to include in their ISE show itineraries.
“Following the successful formula we’ve established in fields such as digital signage, enterprise communications and live events, the ISE Smart Building Conference will give additional meaning to an area of our show floor that is growing in both size and importance,” Blackman says.
The show info is here:
http://www.iseurope.org/home.php
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
ATM Ships New Shelf-Based Cooling System
Active Thermal Management’s new Cool-slim Component Cooler is designed to boost existing (but insufficient) ventilation for audio and video components, meant to solve overheating problems where components sit on closely-spaced shelves. Its 1 9/16-inch height can be reduced to 1 5/16 inches by removing the Cool-slim’s feet. Temperature controlled, it will cool components whether or not they have vent openings. Dimensions are small at 11″x11″x2″. It’s also only 19 dBA.
For more information, go here:
http://www.activethermal.com/page39.html
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
Krell Debuts 600-Watt Preamp
Krell Industries has introduced the new Phantom III stereo preamplifier. The Phantom III is the first Krell preamplifier to include either an optional digital input module or a headphone input. The digital module features AES/EBU, coaxial and optical digital inputs for use with streaming devices or other digital sources and supports up to 24 bit/192kHz LPCM. All digital signals are fed to an ESS Sabre DAC and then sent to Krell’s Current Mode, discrete, balanced analog circuitry.
Oversized for a preamplifier, the power supply features a 95 VA transformer and 40,000 µF of capacitance, giving it the ability to respond quickly to musical demands. The large power supply improves noise rejection and renders the Phantom III impervious to all but the most severe AC voltage power fluctuations. A new eco-friendly standby mode reduces power consumption to 2 watts.
Phantom III Preamplifier lists for $5,500. With the Digital Module Option, it’s $7,000. All the specs are here:
http://krellonline.com/
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
Panamax Ships MR Series
Panamax today announced that it is now shipping MR4000, the first product in its new “MR series” of entry-level power management products specifically aimed at the home market. The MR4000 features something that Panamax calls Protect or Disconnect and Automatic Voltage Monitoring (AVM) circuitry, as well as Level 2 noise filtration.
The MR4000 features eight surge-protected outlets — seven rear panel plus a front-panel outlet — in addition to coaxial and LAN pass-through protection ports. Panamax says the MR4000’s Level 2 Noise Filtration eliminates common symptoms of contaminated power, including loss of detail, pops, hisses, hums and visual artifacts. For complete power protection, AVM circuitry disconnects the power in unsafe conditions and automatically reconnects it when safe power returns. The unit’s 1-RU design can go on a shelf, in a cabinet or in a rack (rack-mount kit sold separately). It lists for $199.
Here are all the details:
http://www.panamax.com/Products/index.php
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
SnapAV Adds Power Conditioners
Available with 10 or 12 outlets, SnapAV’s new WattBox power conditioners are rack-mountable or wall-mountable, designed to condition power, cable, satellite and network signals. The 12-outlet version features sequenced power-on, has the capability to handle up to 6,480 joules of energy dissipation and is encased in ceramic components. It has six switched outlets and six un-switched outlets, two Ethernet ports and three noise filter banks. The 10-outlet version features sequenced power-on, capability to handle up to 5,400 joules of energy dissipation and is encased in ceramic components. It has six switched outlets and four un-switched outlets, one Ethernet port, a 12-volt trigger port and three noise filter banks.
Both have an optional remote front panel that provides individual displays for voltage and current, a utility outlet, dual USB charging plus a convenient power button that controls switched outlets back at the power conditioner.
To see all the specs, go here:
http://www.snapav.com/p-1200-kit-wb-600-svce-12.aspx
Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top
For all you REGULAR readers of rAVe GreenAV Edition out there, hopefully you enjoyed another opinion-packed issue!
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read how we are — we are 100 percent opinionated. We not only report the news and new product stories of the ProAV industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that’s why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
Don’t like us, then go away — unsubscribe! Just use the link below.
To send me feedback, don’t reply to this newsletter. Instead, write directly to me at gary@ravepubs.com or for editorial ideas, Editor-in-Chief Sara Abrons at sara@ravepubs.com
A little about me: I graduated from Journalism School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where I am adjunct faculty). I’ve been in the AV-industry since 1987 where I started with Extron and eventually moved to AMX. So, I guess I am an industry veteran (although I don’t think I am that old). I have been an opinionated columnist for a number of industry publications and in the late 1990s I started the widely read KNews eNewsletter (the first in the AV market) and also created the model for and was co-founder of AV Avenue, which is now known as InfoComm IQ. rAVe [Publications] has been around since 2003, when we launched our original newsletter, rAVe ProAV Edition.
Everything we publish is Opt-in — we spam NO ONE! rAVe ProAV Edition is our flagship ePublication with what we believe is a reach of virtually everyone in the ProAV market. rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA and launched in February 2004, is, by far, the largest ePub in the HomeAV market. We added rAVe Rental [and Staging] in November 2007, rAVe ED [Education] in May 2008 and then rAVe DS [Digital Signage] in January 2009. We added rAVe GreenAV in August 2010 and rAVe HOW [House of Worship] in July 2012. You can subscribe to any of those publication or see ALL our archives by going to: https://www.ravepubs.com
To read more about my background, our team and what we do, go to http://www.ravepubs.comwww.ravepubs.com
Back to Top
Copyright 2012 – rAVe [Publications] – All rights reserved – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact rAVe [Publications], 210 Old Barn Ln. – Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – (919) 969-7501. Email: sara@ravepubs.com
rAVe GreenAV contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors.