There are 15 halls at ISE 2019 in Amsterdam 5-8 February and show management has worked year after year to try to find a way to help visitors, well, visit. It’s LITERALLY impossible to go to the show and stay all four days and see the entire show floor — impossible In fact, that’s why we here at rAVe [PUBS] bring over 20 people to the show each year to cover it — we go to EVERY booth on the show floor and shoot videos on EVERY new product that is exhibited. You can see our pre-show coverage already at rAVePubs.com/ISE2019 — and, bookmark that as it will all be there!

The show has over 70,000 attendees but, historically, well-over 300,000 of you watch the show via our online coverage — way, way more than actually attend the show. But, for those of you lucky enough to be going to Amsterdam, ISE has divided the 15 halls into six tech zones:

1. Unified Communications (Collaboration) — In my opinion, this is where you should start. Collaboration (or UCC for Unified Collaboration and Conferencing) is the future of the AV market. 100 percent of collaborative rooms are already on the network — whereas most meeting, classrooms and corporate AV rooms are hovering around 50 percent networked — and it’s where you’ll see the most new products. This is in Hall 11.

2. Digital Signage – This is the coolest segment of AV right now — and has, over the past decade, been the fastest growing segment of AV for at least seven of those years. This is where our industry merges with the, much larger, advertising industry. The ad industry is a $400 Billion+ market globally and the future of it is squarely aimed at digital signage. In 2016, 65 percent of all advertising, globally, was on TV. That number is now down to 50 percent with digital signage picking up the lion’s share of that switch. This trend will continue and the new OLED, LED and 4K LCDs will benefit — but, we need more content producers — so keep that in mind. The digital signage tech zone will be in Hall 8.

 

3. Live Events and Audio – The ISE show reverses that naming — not sure why. But, this section of the show floor includes large venue products and includes some video, a lot of audio, lighting, show rigging, creative visuals. It’s the most lively hall at ISE every year. It’s so big that it’s in two halls (and tucked in the back) but they are halls you don’t want to skip. Visually, they will make for great Instagram stories and images. This is in Halls 5 and 7.

4. Education — Our industry was built thanks to the educational markets and it’s still a stalwart of the market. Not only are ed-tech hardware companies at ISE, but so are the software companies. And, hundreds of interactive, creative and new educational products will be launched this year. In fact, it’s likely this will be a bit of a shocker for everyone as the educational market usually innovates quicker than the corporate market. This is in Hall 13.

5. Residential — This market is hurting in the USA — the CEDIA Expo appears to be dying a slow death. But, at ISE, historically, it’s been an exciting venue. Companies like Origin Acoustics and Control4 have innovated beyond most of the others out there and they make for some fun stands (booths). Unlike CEDIA Expo in the USA, this section won’t be filled with DIY (do it yourself) products — certainly there will be a few, but most of what will be at ISE will be integrator-focused t. In fact, I’d encourage residential integrators to pick ISE instead of CEDIA in the future — and you’ll see CEDIA (the association) at ISE in a bigger way than ever before (and, in case you didn’t know, CEDIA — the association — owns 50 percent of ISE and now owns zero percent of the CEDIA show, so where do you think their money’s going to go in the future? Residential will be in Halls 1 and 5.

6. Smart Buildings — This sounds cool, but isn’t what it will be in 2025. This is going to likely be the coolest part of the show by then. But, for now, it’s a hodgepodge of companies who think they are part of the IoT (Internet of Things) but really aren’t yet. However, this isn’t their fault. The IoT and smart buildings markets both are begging for some standardization and it’s still years away. But, you’ll see some really interesting and high-end control systems. This is where a lot of the security companies are (an industry the integrators should be playing in again) and a lot of software-based companies will show in here. It’s worth the walk through but if you’re short on time, this is the gimme. It’s in Hall 9.

Again, whether or not you are heading to Amsterdam or not, rAVe is covering 100 percent of the show — not just companies paying us to shoot videos. Not just companies paying us to record podcasts and not just paid blogs. We will cover ALL the news, we will go to EVERY booth to shoot product videos and we will give away our content (free of embedded ads) at rAVePubs.com/ISE2019.