Volume 17, Issue 42 — November 13, 2019

RavePro — Volume 17, Issue 42 — November 14, 2019
Latest headlines: Scott Tiner on data privacy in higher education, Tony Sprando on why the wow factor is overrated, Semtech releases a new chipset, a new CTS training manual is out, plus other news from Kramer, Shure, ClearOne and more

November 14, 2019 | Volume: 17 | Issue: 42

 
Last week I went to AVIXA's AV Executive Conference (AVEC) in New Orleans, where we heard from a number of business experts and technology panels. I talked to AVIXA's senior director of market intelligence, Sean Wargo, and its economic analyst, Peter Hansen, about the outlook for the ProAV industry (they also presented). Interesting factoids from their talk:
  • Peter predicts that there's a 1 in 3 chance of an economic recession in 2020.
  • In terms of revenue and CAGR, the largest verticals are: conferencing and collaboration ($38.6B), followed by digital signage ($24.1B), learning ($33.0B), content distribution and media ($28.9B) and live events ($26.7B).
  • APAC is now the largest market (in terms of ProAV revenue), mostly thanks to China, finally surpassing North America in 2019.
  • One of the largest challenges for companies in the industry is hiring and finding quality employees, but despite that, wages are still fairly flat. Research shows that companies seem more willing to wait longer to find the right person to hire, or to take slightly less qualified employees and do more on-the-job training. This means there's potentially an opportunity for companies to outbid their competition for quality workers without paying a whole lot more.
I'll have more info from AVEC, including interesting takeaways from panels on digital signage, trends in collaboration and education, in an upcoming column. If you're interested in more ProAV economic information, check out the market intelligence reports from AVIXA, particularly Macro-Economic Trends Analysis (META), Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis (IOTA) and Market Opportunity Analysis Reports (MOAR). They really like acronyms over there.

Also, be sure to check out the news below from Semtech, which announced an all-new chipset today.

–Sara Abrons

COLUMNS

 

+ Why the Wow Factor Is Overrated [Tony Sprando]

I believe that for the AV industry, the wow factor is totally overrated. I have found that at the end of every project I have completed, my customers weren’t looking for the wow factor. They just wanted a system that was easy to operate.

+ Data Privacy Issues in Higher Ed [Scott Tiner]

Management guru Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” I have long believed in this philosophy and work with my teams to make sure we are setting goals and measuring our success. While I think Drucker was right, he lived and worked in a much different time. His time was before the days of “big data” and computing solutions that could collect and analyze mountains of data in seconds. Today we use these solutions and then make critical decisions based on our interpretations of the data we get back. Because of this, some argue that information is the most valuable commodity in our economy today. While we still have to measure what we do, we need to be more careful on two fronts: privacy and how we use the data to drive performance.

+ Cisco, Microsoft Teams and Zoom Will Be Totally Interoperable by Mid-2020! [Chris Mcintyre-Brown]

As video conferencing solutions proliferate, remote working continues to rise and the number of inter-company video conferences increases, a lack of system interoperability has become a major pain point for many users. Internally focused video conferences are less problematic, as everyone is familiar with their system of choice. However, once companies begin to interact with each other, there’s a good chance they are using different VC providers. That means multiple independent accounts, no central system and a need to hop from one provider to another throughout the day.

 

PRODUCT NEWS

 

+ Semtech Releases New AVP Chipset — No FPGA Devices Needed [Steph Beckett]

+ ClearOne Intros CONVERGENCE AV Network Manager [Gary Kayye]

+ Shure MXA910 Ceiling Array Microphone Relaunched After ClearOne Injunction [Sara Abrons]

+ LG Business Solutions Intros New LG TR3BF Series of Collaboration Boards [Gary Kayye]

 

+ NETGEAR Now Has 10G and 100G AV-Over-IP Network Switches [Gary Kayye]

+ Airtame Announces Partnership with AirServer [Sara Abrons]

+ New Atlona AT-DISP-CTRL BYOD Controller Ships [Gary Kayye]

+ Marshall Electronics Releases Two New IP Cameras [Sara Abrons]

 

+ Soon Zoom and Microsoft Teams Will Be Natively Interoperable [Gary Kayye]

Zoom and Microsoft have worked together to enhance conference room interoperability and simplify how you connect to third-party meetings. How? The companies are collaborating to provide interoperability between both conference room solutions and streamlined meeting experiences. Available in early 2020, Zoom Rooms will be able to join Microsoft Teams meetings, and Microsoft Teams Rooms will be able to join Zoom meetings, all without the purchase of additional licenses or third-party services.

+ SMART Technologies Updates SMART Board MX and 7000R [Steph Beckett]

+ Lifesize Releases Dash Software-Based Meeting Room Kit, Updates for App [Steph Beckett]

INDUSTRY NEWS

 

+ The AV Bible Just Got Better! Buy It! [Gary Kayye]

+ USAV Adds Seven New Partners to Network [Gary Kayye]

+ Kramer Electronics Appoints New CEO [Sara Abrons]

TECH ROUND-UP

 

+ Finding a Balance: Full-Time Employees and Valuable Contracting and Outsourcing [NSCA]

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