Introduction: Last Look at InfoComm 2003, SMART Technologies Founders Nancy Knowlton and David Martin Editorial: The Final Sayye by Gary Kayye InfoComm '03 – What was Hot; What was Not News: Featured News: DLP: Texas Instruments Reaches Milestone 1. AV Online Courses – Deadlines Approaching
2. Crestron Announces MediaManager Website
3. Display Werks Announces $6,000, 40" AMLCD for Digital Signage Market
4. Projecting Into Thin Air – Coming Soon to a Store Near You
5. NEC Offers New (and, another) $995 Projector
6. ALTINEX Ships 16 x 16 Matrix Cards
7. New 3200-Lumen Projector from Panasonic
8. Bob Walsh Joins Kayye Consulting
Introduction Last Look at InfoComm 2003, SMART Technologies Founders Nancy Knowlton and David Martin Welcome to Issue 13 of Gary Kayye's rAVe! Although August is always a slow news month, we have some neat features for you including a couple of stories about the founders of SMART Technologies – one of the most admired companies in the ProAV market. Even though they have only "officially" been in the ProvAV market for 16 years, David and Nancy are already industry icons with their product line, and are respected by everyone having started the SMARTer Kids Foundation, a private organization that provides opportunities for teachers and students to learn new skills and grow in self-confidence by placing technology, grants and programs at their service. Finally, please take a moment to check out my column this month as it's my final look at InfoComm 2003! –Gary Kayye
Click above for more information Editorial — The Final Sayye by Gary Kayye InfoComm '03 – What was Hot; What was Not InfoComm 2003 didn't let anyone down. More than 20,000 AV pros made their way to Orlando for the June show, a record for recent years. And, although a lot of AV insiders who regularly frequent the ProAV market's largest industry event, there were more end-users than I can ever remember. AV and IT directors from universities and colleges, Fortune 500s and even high tech leaders like Microsoft and HP were in attendance – for their first foray in AV. This could signal an industry turn-around. We can only hope. But, there were some clear technological winners at the show. There's no question in my mind that streaming video has finally hit the big time and, if you're not in IP yet, you're about to be left behind. For years, the videoconferencing (VTC) market has been trying to convince us that video calls are much better than plain old audio calls and that videoconferencing is truly the next best thing to being there. But, VTC technology has been plagued with horror stories of complicated installation nightmares, variable quality and instable line technology. Most of this (if not all) isn't due to the manufacturer's problems or product quality — it's inherent in the technology of squeezing tons of data, video and audio down a wire that's not meant to be used for that kind of transmission and because most local phone companies don't have a clue. Therefore, videoconferencing has just not made the big time, yet. There is no question that there are all sorts of applications for VTC calls, but right now it's viewed as an expensive talking head call by most customers and that's driven customer satisfaction levels for VTC users lower and lower for the past three years. But, help and hope is here. Streaming video, certainly not a substitute for VTC technology in visual quality of a talking head conversation, is coming on strong. InfoComm was all a buzz because there are manufacturers and technologies that are clearly simpler to use and are great substitutes for certain VTC applications. Take training, for example. If you're not already selling the technology and service of handling streaming video/audio/data training, you should be. Companies like Sonic Foundry and their Mediasite Live product give you the ability to drive streaming training via any speed connection (Broadband to 56K) and see, hear and follow along via PowerPoint slides is simple, easy and inexpensive when compared to VTC technology. All you do is simply connect their Live server to your existing LAN or WAN and you're connected. And, it's something you can order today and have up and running in 24-hours – all without ever speaking to a local telephone company! Speaking of networking, InfoComm '03 will be remembered as the year where everyone finally went IP. Not only does every projector manufacturer have some kind of network interface to allow you to either control and monitor a projector over a LAN but also many of them give you the ability to present over wired or wireless LAN connections – all without VGA cable. But, also everyone's jumped on the networking bandwagon – and for good reason. Network infrastructure exists in over 84% of America's corporations and nearly 100% of the K-12 and University campuses across the country. That means, if you can present, control or even manage presentations or any AV device via the network, you have a built-in audience and infrastructure to utilize. And, companies like Da-Lite, whose network controllable screen technology allows a campus AV director to roll-up every screen with the click of one button, are all of a sudden network-enabled. And SMART Technologies, whose networkable SMART Board technology allows for real-time capture of classroom lessons and 'white boarding' requires nothing but a web browser to use, are becoming network-savvy with applications that address all sorts of ProAV segment opportunities for dealers and ProAV integrators to expand beyond the audio and video blah. There is no question that networking is going to drive the next phase of ProAV integration. And, many of the networking courses at the show were sold out and some were standing room only. That's exciting to see as my partner, Jody Thomas, said recently, "The impact of the network on the professional audiovisual market will be very analogous to the impact video had on this market 30-years ago." I agree with him and see this opportunity as just that. I hope you do too… Back to top Gary Kayye's rAVe Sponsorship Interested in sponsoring Gary Kayye's rAVe? (919) 969-7501. Or write to advertising@kayye.com
Click above for more information | Kayye Consulting offers a fee-based resume posting service for readers. A number of employers have responded, asking if we can publish the employment candidates' locations. Since most of the candidates are willing to relocate, it might be a disservice both to the candidate and potential employer to focus on locations in these listings. To view all resume listings, go to http://www.kayye.com/resources/av_jobs.asp
If you are a candidate interested in this resume service, write to: jobs@kayye.com
| Gary A. Dickinson Executive with over 20 years of senior general management, marketing management, and sales management experience. Key industrial experience includes electronics and computer technologies, as well as professional audio/video and display technologies. A highly credible, dependable, professional leader with major contributions at every position. | Jim Avetta Goal: To obtain a position in Technical Sales, Consultant Support, Test Engineering (QRA), Technical Support and/or Technical Training in the AV Systems Integration field. Also may be willing to relocate. |
| Marketing and hardware engineering manager. Led a team of Product Specialists that moved product to a #1 (28%) position from #3 (5%) in one year with annual sales revenue of $90M. | OBJECTIVE: To leverage over 18 years of technical sales experience in the military and commercial display electronics industry into a Sales Management position with a well founded company that will utilize my knowledge, background and skills to further the company's business, growth and profits. |
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216.176.55.14 If you, your network administrator or ISP have any questions or concerns about configuring a SPAM filter to allow specific domains or IP addresses, please feel free to email Denise Harrison directly at dharrison@kayye.com. She will be happy to help diagnose problems that you may be experiencing. Sincerely, Kayye Consulting, Inc. News Got a news tip? Send them to rAVe Editor-in-Chief Denise Harrison — dharrison@kayye.com Featured News: DLP: Texas Instruments Reaches Milestone Texas Instruments recently announced shipment of its 2 millionth DLP system. Gary Kayye's rAVe Editor Denise Harrison had a chat with TI's Ian McMurray about what appears to be dramatic growth in DLP sales. Gary Kayye's rAVe: It appears the number of shipments is accelerating quickly over time. What is the sales history of DLP? Ian McMurray: We first started shipping DLP systems in the second quarter of 1996. We announced 500,000 shipped on September 15, 2000, 750,000 on April 19, 2001 and the millionth on December 13, 2001. If you plot that on a chart you'll see that the rate of shipment is accelerating quite quickly. I think partially because of growth in the market – the market has continued to grow 25 percent in unit terms and DLP has strength in the smaller, lighter projectors, the part of the market that's grown even more quickly. So at the same time, we think we've been increasing in marketshare over time. Right now we'd estimate close to 30 percent marketshare in North America. So we attribute growth in the market, but especially in ultra- and micro-portable projectors, as well as DLP gaining share overall. GKR: Do you have marketshare comparisons to other systems, such as LCD? IM: My sense is that we are growing faster than LCD because our market share is increasing relative to LCD. GKR: There are now more types of DLP solutions available. How does that relate to the growth? IM: The breadth of solutions we're offering is expanding all the time from the relatively inexpensive SVGA like in the InFocus X1, to the Mustang, to the Matterhorn 16:9 devices. There are dual mode SVGA 16:9 ships and then a new upcoming 2 million pixel device for DLP Cinema. One of the big changes in the past year has been the emergence of large screen televisions based on DLP technology. That is contributing a lot to our growth. GKR: Did the DLP shipments outpace the market growth, proportionately? IM: We believe so. With what we're doing with the growth into large screen TVs, it's not just the projector market that counts for us anymore. It's also the large screen TV market with players such as Samsung in North America and LG Electronics in Europe. For example, Samsung now has a 32.7 marketshare in TVs over $3,000. What's exciting for us is that DLP long had a reputation as being a great technology but expensive. Now, when you see what InFocus is doing with the X1 and Samsung with its TVs, we're starting to show that DLP is not necessarily an expensive technology. One of the best advantages we have is that the larger the screen size, the price doesn't go up proportionately. Between a 42" and 61" plasma, the price is at least 50 percent difference. With DLP the difference in price will be only a few percent. GKR: Has the DLP development team at TI expanded greatly in the past year or so? IM: It hasn't expanded in terms of numbers, but it's focusing on two keys issues. First is image quality – we like to think DLP has stood for the best image quality you can get, and that always changes. Second is bringing the cost down. In theory, we have a big advantage in that we just use one panel and the LCD guys have to use three. So in theory, we should have an advantage. GKR: Are there other applications for DLP on the horizon? IM: One weird, unique thing about DLP is that I can't think of another technology that serves the market with both projectors at 2 lbs. and those with 17,500 lumens. Also with the new large screen TVs, home cinema, digital cinema… there isn't another technology out there that covers the broad span that DLP does. You can bet there will be 1 lb or ½ pound projectors, or 25K lumen projectors, and there is only one technology it will be based on — DLP. Ian McMurray is worldwide media relations manager for DLP. 1. AV Online Courses – Deadlines Approaching ICIA launched AV Tech Online, a way to help AV companies teach their AV technicians, in partnership with colleges around the U.S. The eight-course curriculum is offered as a college certificate program and in some cases can contribute toward a college degree. The courses are currently available from five colleges but because the courses are online, students from anywhere in the U.S. can enroll. The deadlines for registration range from August 22 – 25, 2003. Specific information about deadlines and colleges are available at http://www.avtechonline.org ICIA points out the additional benefit of being able to teach incumbent workers as well as non-AV professionals who nonetheless find AV part of their jobs. According to John Sneed of Portland Community College, the local AV companies there have already formed an apprenticeship board with state approval for an apprenticeship program. The courses were four years in the making, says ICIA, and currently include five AV technology courses, including Intro to AV Technology, Audio Technology, Video Technology, Integrated AV Systems I and II; support courses include Electronics for Non-Majors, Computer Applications, and Computer Networks. The project is sponsored in part by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. For more information on the courses and how to register, go to http://www.avtechonline.org and click on "Get Started." 2. Crestron Announces MediaManager Website Crestron, which announced MediaManager this summer, announced a new website for detailed information about the low-cost system. MediaManager offers control, cabling, switching and remote management of systems in one box, using one standard CAT5 cable. The new website offers application notes for education, corporate and government markets and design scenarios with diagrams, as well as a streaming video presentation and associated PowerPoint by Gary Kayye, ICIA's Educator of the Year for 2003. This 45-minute presentation addresses the key functionality, product benefits and simplification concept of MediaManager, including the revolutionary QuickMedia transport system, programming with the SystemBuilder software and unique AV room management software, RoomView. The links and downloads section has an application poster, diagrams of configurations, software updates, tech tips and press releases. For more information, visit the new MediaManager section at http://www.crestron.com/mediamanager 3. Display Werks Announces $6,000, 40" AMLCD for Digital Signage Market Display Werks has a new active matrix 40" LCD specifically targeting the digital signage market. It has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1280 x 768 pix resolution. They announced a MSRP of $6,000 which makes it the most competitive LCD available and is sure to cause most other LCD display manufacturers to re-position their pricing for 40" displays. The company is also selling a version with a built-in PC for networking and running local client applications. And, of course, Display Werks offers different mounting options such as wall mount, full wall enclosure, and portrait mode. For more information, go to http://www.displaywerks.com/ 4. Projecting Into Thin Air – Coming Soon to a Store Near You IO2 Technology announced the completion of a prototype of its Heliodisplay, which can project TV, video or computer images into the air. The prototype projects images up to 27" diagonal and you get a floating image right out of sci-fi movies. Interestingly, you can also manipulate the image on the image itself, using a finger rather than a mouse, to move a cursor and select objects. This technology is cool and looks a lot like the Princess Leia in the original Star Wars film when R2D2 was delivering her message to Obi Wan Kenobi. It has a lot of potential for future applications and I expect to see them license the technology to a larger manufacturer who can take it to mainstream applications. So, if you're a manufacturer you might want to contact IO2 to check it out! For more information, go to http://www.io2technology.com/ 5. NEC Offers New (and, another) $995 Projector NEC's new VT46 is a 1200-lumen, SVGA resolution projector is priced at $995 with a 3,000-hour lamp priced at $299. It weighs 6.6 lbs. NEC joins Epson and InFocus in offering a projector with a street price under $1,000. NEC originally offered a $995 projector to the educational market but now it's available to any NEC customer. The $995 price point was often thought to be the market barrier to entry into the mainstream market of potential buyers. The VT46 is available this month. For more information, go to http://www.necvisualsystems.com 6. ALTINEX Ships 16 x 16 Matrix Cards ALTINEX has available its 16 x 16 matrix cards for the MultiTasker modeular AV system. The new MT105-112 is a high res matrix switcher supporting composite NTSC/PAL/SECAM video, S-Video, HDTV, and computer video. It can also perform Vertical Interval Switching, and features ground loop isolation on all inputs. The MT105-119 is a 16×16 Sync matrix switcher card that is used for routing separate H and V sync signals. Multiple cards are easily grouped together to form S-Video, Y-Pb-Pr, RGsB, RGBS and RGBHV matrix switchers. The MT110-104 is a 16×16 Balanced Stereo Audio Matrix switcher card that provides 16 balanced stereo audio inputs and 16 balanced stereo audio outputs. The MT110-104 features individual gain control for each input, and can be configured for unbalanced inputs and outputs. These cards each take 4 slots in a MultiTasker enclosure. The 16×16 matrix switcher cards are designed to work in the ALTINEX MultiTasker modular AV system, which includes 4-slot, 8-slot, and 19-slot enclosures, and over 60 different cards that perform signal distribution, switching, matrix switching, control, and signal conversion functions. The MultiTasker system can be controlled by any control system, or with "MTSetup" Windows software which is available for download from the Altinex web site. For more information, go to http://www.altinex.com 7. New 3200-Lumen Projector from Panasonic Panasonic has a new PT-L780U projector, with XGA resolution, 3200 lumens and 500:1 contrast ratio. It uses incorporates three TFT Active Matrix Polysilicon LCD panels and a 270Watt UHM lamp. Estimated price is $6,199. And, like all install-based projectors today, it has horizontal and vertical keystone correction, a lens with powered zoom/focus and interchangeable lenses for different projection distances. The HDTV-ready projector accepts 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i video in either standard 4:3 or widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio. The PT-L780U is also sRGB compatible and supports NTSC, PAL and SECAM. It also has a Digital Cinema Reality (a fancy term for scaling) circuit for improving images from film. For more information, go to http://www.panasonic.com/presentations 8. Bob Walsh Joins Kayye Consulting Robert E. (Bob) Walsh, an AV veteran with 36 years of experience in the industry, has joined Kayye Consulting's team of consultants. Walsh will serve the company as Management Consultant and will work both with new business development and with projects for current clients. "We are excited about the addition of Bob Walsh to the Kayye Consulting team," said Kayye Consulting CEO Jody Thomas in making the announcement. "Bob is widely respected as an industry professional, and his experience in the ProAV dealer world speaks for itself. Bob will be able to contribute significantly to Kayye Consulting's growing customer base of dealers and manufacturers that are looking to differentiate themselves in this increasingly competitive industry." Bob joined the AV industry in 1967 as a sales representative for Midwest Visual Equipment Company, where he worked in a variety of sales and marketing positions with progressively increasing management responsibilities. Three years ago, the organization, then known as Midwest Visual Communication, was acquired by MCSi. Bob, most recently Vice President of sales and marketing for MCSi's Midwest Region, directed the consolidation and realignment of their 45 sales representatives spread over nine offices. "Kayye Consulting is the leading AV industry consulting organization so I am delighted to join Gary and Jody," said Walsh on his appointment. "Gary's technical background has been highly valued by AV organizations, both vendors and dealer/integrators. I've known Gary for many years, ever since he first joined Extron. I've contracted with Kayye Consulting for training services for our sales organization and his insight provided energizing enthusiasm for our team. I'm very pleased to be able to add my business experience and extend the scope of services of Kayye Consulting. I've dealt with many business issues over the years and look forward to helping other companies overcome the many challenges of today's business world." Some of the programs with which Walsh has experience and expects to oversee for clients of Kayye Consulting include:
- business plan development
- sales management and accountability programs
- sales compensation plans
- leveraging IS info for sales strategies
- account development strategies
- sales training, forecasting
- advertising and marketing
- customer satisfaction
- employee communications.
Bob can be reached at rwalsh@kayye.com
Click above for more information Attn: Dealers
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Feature Article Gary Kayye rAVe
AV Hall of Fame
Nancy Knowlton and David A. Martin Introduction — Although I have only been in this market for a little more than 16 years, I have had the privilege to work with some of the industry's most famous people. As everyone knows, history provides the path to the future and it has been amazing to be able to sit down with many of these famous figures over the years and learn about what made this market grow and evolve. Part 1 – Nancy Knowlton: Preparation Yields Success Competition was a big part of growing up in the 1950s and '60s in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, a culturally rich area blending influences of France with North America. Nancy Knowlton's first goal was in the form of a basketball hoop. The now president and co-founder of SMART Technologies was only in the third grade when the fifth and sixth grade teams recruited her for the basketball team. While she played just about every sport available too, she excelled at basketball, and played throughout grade school, during her undergraduate degree in marketing and finance, and during her master's degree in business. She even racked up a number of awards, toured China with the Canadian Women's Basketball Team in the 1970s and took a turn at coaching – and still graduated with honors. After graduation from St. Mary's in Nova Scotia, she stayed on as a computer science lecturer. "That was where I had my first experience with audiovisual equipment," says Knowlton. "I asked the Dean who would teach me how to teach. He looked perplexed. Then he told me I'd have to teach myself, and that included the AV equipment." Since she had just graduated, she wound up teaching a number of her friends. "Fortunately, they were good students," says Knowlton, "but they sure didn't give me any breaks." Determined to excel at the task at hand, she set up the videotape recorder, figured out how to set it up and taped herself lecturing. "I was appalled – I couldn't teach! So I taped myself every day for two weeks until I felt more confident, comfortable and relaxed. That was my first experience with putting AV equipment into a classroom." She loved teaching and loved the subject matter, but she had an entrepreneurial spirit that pulled and tugged at her relentlessly. But she wasn't quite ready to strike out on her own. "During my MBA studies, which had an entrepreneurial focus," says Knowlton, "a banker reviewed one of my school projects and he said he wanted to give me two pieces of advice. 'First, you have to get older and second, you have to become a chartered accountant.' He told me that with some time, the certification and some additional age and perspective, that I'd become more believable and a bank would be more likely to trust me in my own venture." Knowlton took his advice and spent eight years with the large accounting firm, Touche Ross, where she achieved her CA (the equivalent of CPA in the U.S.) and obtained quite a business education from clients. "I had a tremendous collection of clients and I met a lot of very senior people during that job," she remembers. "One of the biggest benefits was the many times I was able to spend time after hours with all those senior people. We'd sit around and just talk about the challenges they were facing in their businesses and they were incredibly giving of their expertise. Many of the strengths I have today in business are the result of the generosity of these people." Life took a turn in 1985, when she met David A. Martin who shared her entrepreneurial spirit and soon, shared her life. Soon after they married, Dave left his job of nine years to begin forming their company, and a year and a half later, Nancy joined him. They launched SMART Technologies November 1, 1987. Surprisingly, the product concept then was the SMART Board interactive whiteboards of today. "Dave imagined an interactive whiteboard with a projection system and communications," says Knowlton. "Whenever he described it, people would shake their heads and say that it wasn't possible. But Dave would continue to push on it and lo and behold, the technical problems would get worked through and eventually we had a conferencing system." Knowlton says that Martin's strength is "putting together bits and pieces of product both hardware and software to anticipate what customers would want. My role is figuring out how to make a business out of it and getting the funding to do it." They worked on their product while serving as the Canadian distributor for InFocus. There were six people in the new company, and while employees worked on selling projectors, they used the funds to finish product development and they introduced the interactive whiteboard to the market in 1991. "I'd like to claim that it was a raving success, but it wasn't," says Knowlton. "We had some isolated successes at the time, but we were out there promoting a solution to a problem not everyone felt they had. Travel was still fairly easy and people didn't have the time and cost constraints that exist today. We were pitching a message about data conferencing and there just wasn't yet a burning need for it." One turning point came when they altered the product by popular request. "What we started hearing from customers, educators in particular, was that they would love the product if it was a standalone interactive whiteboard without the conferencing component. Once we unbundled the conferencing software, that's when sales began to grow." Another milestone was when they met Les Vadasz from Intel Corporation. "We had this small 10' x 10' booth at Comdex in their first multimedia exhibit where we were showing our product," says Knowlton. "Les, (who just recently retired after building Intel Capital), said there was compatibility with what we were doing and Intel's goals, and they invested in us. That relationship has been so important to us, particularly the assistance and input and maybe even just the friendship that we've had with Intel. The high level of integrity and sincerity has meant everything to us through the years." While she no longer plays competitive sports ("my job obligations are too serious to risk injuries!" she says), she believes the same determination and discipline it takes to stay on top of the game carries over to her business life. "My MBA wasn't enough," says Knowlton. "I feel I'm always preparing for something more, for keeping up to speed and learning more about what we do." She also says that being in charge of a company with close to 500 people isn't quite what she expected. "I really laugh at myself that I used to think owning my own business would feel like I was in control, that I was at the top of this pyramid," she says. "The reality is the pyramid is actually upside down! You're on the pointy end on the bottom, balancing it all. In many ways, you're working for the other people in the company, taking the headaches and hassles away, making decisions that will seal the fate of the company for better or worse. It's an obligation, not one that I fear but one I certainly respect." Also keeping her humble are her employees, with whom she frequently uses her teaching skills and delights with their growth. And sometimes, they just serve to amuse. "Once, we had a distributor visiting from Australia who was staying in our home," says Knowlton. "We were driving the short distance to the office down the main street and we came up behind one of our employees riding his bike to work in a light rain. Dave pulled up behind him and gave him a friendly toot of the horn, you know, not an angry blare, but a toot. This fellow's right arm swung out and he gave us the finger. When we drove past him, he saw us and about fell off his bike. We laughed SO hard all the way to the office." The laughter continued as the employee arrived at work and tried to hem and haw his way out of the situation. "Our Australian distributor had a great sense of humor and he just gave that employee the business, telling him he'll get fired for his naughty gesture. The whole thing just kept getting funnier because, of course, he was in no danger of losing his job. We thought it was hysterical." Knowlton is one to laugh hard, work hard, and while she might not be competing in sports any longer, just ask her if she's competitive. "I love to win!" she exclaims. "I think that every day there is a scorecard that says 'Here is how you've done.' Ultimately that scorecard is handed to a company by its customers, its employees. My desire every day is to make sure that when customers spend money on our products it's pleasurable and they've gotten their money's worth. I love watching the sales growth and I love watching the development of our staff. And sometimes the most special thing is the small indication that we're making progress." Part 2 – David A. Martin: Technology Background Yields Vision of Interactivity Sports were no less important in another small town just outside Montreal, Quebec where David Martin spent his youth playing all the sports in school ("There were so few kids in my town," says Martin, "that any and all able-bodied child played everything") and reading everything he could get his hands on. The SMART chairman, co-founder and co-chief executive officer loved science, history, understanding the stars. And he definitely liked math, well enough to earn his bachelor's degree in applied mathematics. Then it was off to a job with Bell Canada where he worked on computer simulation systems. His experience caught the attention of an international mining company, which lured him away to work on computer simulation systems for economic and financial planning. It's also where he got his first experience at building a company. "Two months after I started, they moved me from Montreal to Calgary to start up a small office," says Martin. "At 24, I was building a business there, hiring staff, reporting to someone in Toronto who was reporting to someone in London. We went from almost zero to a $3-4 million business." "A number of years later, I was on a helicopter skiing trip with a childhood friend. It was my birthday and we were having a great time," says Martin. "After we got back from the trip, he began to tell me about the trouble his company was having in their Calgary office and hey, why didn't I go take over the operation? Well, I had a better idea and suggested that we team up and do it together. We created a business, developed a proposal for the general manager and by 1986, our company had grown to 160 people providing service and product development expertise to a variety of companies." It was in 1986 that he and Nancy decided they should start their own company. Martin struck out on his own to lay the foundation, at first with an 8 ½" x 11" LCD display developed by ITT. "During a car trip with Nancy, we talked about how we could use this new LCD panel to attach onto an interactive whiteboard," remembers Martin. "It was the result of a problem-solving exercise. We talked about how projecting computer-based information would be helpful to people. We thought there was a need to connect to a remote location so that whatever you wrote on the whiteboard would go to others in real-time. You can't fax a whiteboard, so there needed to be a way to communicate the information on it. I tried to imagine how I would want to work. It's how we answered the question of 'how would you run the ideal meeting?' "But like most birthing processes, it wasn't easy. Coming out of a product development company and telecommunications carrier, I knew what had to be done. But we ran into the October financial crisis of 1987 in the middle of our financing opportunities, and commitments we thought we had went away. Fortunately, we found other means of financing but not without first experiencing a lot of pain." Today, with close to 500 employees and lots of successful installation stories, the company looks ahead, says Martin, to doing more with their new DViT technology, which takes the touchscreen response off the screen itself and places the sensors around the periphery of the display. "Over the next five years, we'll add DViT interactivity to more displays," predicts Martin. "We are really turning our company in some new directions. We now have expertise in cameras, in imaging algorithms, and we have a growing percentage of our staff in development." What is most exciting about the SMART Technologies of today is the past 16 years were spent developing technologies sequentially and today, says Martin, we have multiple major projects going on in parallel to each other and their mission is happening more quickly than ever. "We're now able to work on multiple applications of DViT technology at the same time," he says. "With all the different display technologies today, our mission is to apply interactivity that hasn't previously been available on all types of displays." On a personal level, Martin feels rewarded by the fact that so many entrepreneurs who start successful companies aren't able to continue to lead the companies through different phases of growth. "I've seen competitors come into the business and have four changes of senior management in five years," he says. "I get a lot of satisfaction from coming up with concepts, being stubborn enough to stick with it in the early stages, and then to have the perseverance to carry it through. It's great that we are still active hands in the business." He also is grateful that the company stayed true to its vision, stayed focused and built momentum. "In the 1990's, other companies raised millions of dollars," says Martin. "But the financial community told us they couldn't help us because we had real customers, real revenue and real profits. But when the crash came, we weathered it, because we had real customers, real revenue and real profits." Martin sees part of SMART's role in the industry as a developer of AV/IT integrated products. And as for the industry: "I can just imagine meeting rooms and classrooms of the future where you walk into the room and the room is aware of you, and able to anticipate your needs by where you walk within the room. I can see meeting rooms and classrooms being a more productive experience, a more highly charged environment." For today, Martin says his greatest joy in the office comes from the people who work there. "I'm very privileged to work with such bright people who not only are great at problem solving but also have such interesting lives outside of the office. There are so many interesting stories — one took time off and went on a National Geographic expedition to China to explore the deepest cave. There are many equally compelling stories here." Did Martin ever envision SMART Technologies growing to what it's become? "Nancy and I both imagined SMART being this size," he says. "We just thought it would have happened in five years, not 15."
Click above for more information Well, that's it for the 13th edition of rAVe! Thank you for spending time with me as we muse the industry's happenings. To continue getting my newsletter, or to sign up a friend, click the link below. To send me feedback and news tips, don't reply to this newsletter – instead, write to me at gkayye@kayye.com Click here to forward rAVe to a friend Click here to subscribe A little about me: Gary Kayye, CTS, founder of Kayye Consulting. Gary Kayye, an audiovisual veteran and columnist, began the widely-read KNews, a premier industry newsletter, in the late 1990s, and created the model for and was co-founder of AV Avenue – which later became InfoComm IQ. Kayye Consulting is a company that is committed to furthering the interests and success of dealers, manufacturers, and other companies within the professional audiovisual industry. To read more about my background, our staff, and what we do, go to http://www.kayye.com Back to top
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