Volume 12, Issue 13 — July 11, 2019

RaveEd — Volume 12, Issue 13 — July 11, 2019

July 11, 2019 | Volume: 12 | Issue: 13

As you’re all busily updating and upgrading your AV systems over the break — while students are sun-bathing in the northern hemisphere and skiing in the southern hemisphere, we’ve been working on our InfoComm 2019 award-winning products. We hope to announce those awards next week! But, in the meantime, there are a few KEY new educational-aimed products I want to draw your attention to that I think you should look at immediately.

First, this company called HoverCam used InfoComm 2019 to launch two new lectures — one aimed at primary and high schools and one aimed at colleges. The Pilot X is the K-12 one — go watch this two-minute video and I will be you will want one! Mobile, battery-operated, wireless HDMI, built-in document camera and touch-screen control — all in one.

The second is the Pilot 5 — I have an earlier version of this in my classroom at UNC and LOVE it. This one is exactly the same but they added the battery. If you watch this, I promise you that you’ll want to add this to every campus classroom.

And, NO, they didn’t pay me to say that. They are NOT a sponsor of rAVe ED and this is not content marketing. This is pure excitement.

Next, I want to show you the T1V ThinkHub Connect aimed at classrooms — I did this video demo the week before InfoComm with T1V and this is aimed at college classrooms that need a more active learning or collaborative learning environment — this demo was done in real-time and in a classroom.

Extron has amped-up its touchLink Control Panels. These might be the best in the industry right now — they’re available in 5”, 7” and 10” and drop right in to any TouchLink classroom or one that doesn’t even have a control system as they have a built-in controller.

Finally, don’t forget that we shot over 1,600 videos at this year’s InfoComm show and all of them are here. And, if you want to see something really cool we did at InfoComm, grab a VR headset and take a tour of the Epson booth in a fully-immersed environment here (and it works in a browser too). Enjoy!

-Gary Kayye

COLUMNS

+ Why in the Heck Would Biamp Buy Community and Apart Audio? Hint: QSC [Gary Kayye]

Biamp CEO Rashid Skaf came from AMX — remember them? At one time, AMX was not only the second-largest control system company on earth but, they were also a full-service turnkey provider of AV room systems, switching and accessories — this was all under Rashid’s watch; then he left. AMX has floundered since. QSC has filled the AMX void with its Q-SYS control platform and a full line of room switching and signal management products. Although not number two, like AMX once was — fourth behind Crestron, Extron and Kramer — Rashid aims to rip away the QSC momentum.

+ Software Is Eating AV [Andrew Davis]

In 10 years or less, what was once the AV industry is going to be a be a footnote in the history of business technology, somewhere among the overhead projector and the fax machine. This hardware-centric industry we call home, this perpetual contest of who sells both the biggest and smallest piece of electronics will make way for software-defined AV (SDAV). It is inevitable. If you are already rolling your eyes, please do yourself a favor and pay close attention to what happens next.

+ AV Industry EOL: Planned Obsolescence (Part Two) [Anthony Coppedge]

Even the IT industry, with many patterns and best practices, does not set a minimum standard for end-of-life (EOL) for IT gear. However, the IT industry does have a history of creating practical frameworks for creating sustainable Service Level Agreements (SLAs) such as ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000. It follows, then, that the AV industry could do the same, a point I've made before.

+ Conference Space Stakeholders — Trying to Please Everyone [Christopher Gillespie]

For the most part, when we design a space, we do so in order to create something for the users to use. What we don't pay near enough attention to is all the other folks who will have to touch, interface or collect data about this space. And depending on the size/age of your organization, these other folks may not be a part of the equation. But eventually all of us will hit a wall where suddenly the business realizes just how much money is invested in these spaces and will want a far more comprehensive accounting than we are able to provide. So it is critical that we try to understand who these other stakeholders are and incorporate their needs to ensure long-term success.