While ProAV Day of LAVNCH WEEK 3.0 went exceedingly well (if you missed it, catch up here), we have to say we were equally excited about Wednesday’s End User Day. End users are a passionate and devoted audience in AV, UCC and Digital Signage, involved in verticals from higher ed to corporate to events and […]
Being a technology manager in AV has been a wild ride. For years, many of us have felt like we were crashing the party. At first, we were not welcome at InfoComm, then that slowly changed. Then, when manufacturers started communicating directly with us, visiting us on-site, offering training, etc., integrators were not happy. Then […]
During the week of Feb. 8, the industry’s flagship virtual event returns: LAVNCH WEEK 3.0. And, Lightware sent this teaser video as a pre-launch (pre-LAVNCH?) piece. I must say: It’s clear Lightware is about to launch itself into a totally new space in UCC — and AV for that matter. From this teaser, it appears […]
As much as I hated writing that headline, it’s true. And, despite years of warnings that the future of the cineplex was nothing but apocalyptic, Hollywood wasn’t prepared. Let’s back-up. Back in the late ’90s, companies started building DVD servers for home theaters. The idea was that a homeowner could buy a cache of DVDs […]
AVIXA and the Digital Signage Federation (DSF) hosted its first event collaboration, D=SIGN: the Digital Signage Conference, on Dec. 8-9, 2020. The virtual event brought together AV professionals from around the world to explore the digital signage ecosystem with 30 speakers across 18 sessions. And, it was served-up on THE rAVe Agency’s LAVNCH Platform! Total registrations for D=SIGN came to […]
It’s officially December, but the year isn’t over yet. Neither are the virtual events. Taking place Dec. 8-9, D=SIGN: The Digital Conference, powered by LAVNCH, is one to look forward to. And it starts just a week from today. D=SIGN was born from two key industry associations — AVIXA and the Digital Signage Federation — […]
Updated Nov. 16, 2020: I reached out to both Kevin Morrison, CEO and Frank Pellkofer, president, Utelogy Corporation for their thoughts and, interestingly enough, they praised Barco and the Overture system with this quote: “Barco is a fantastic company that make world class products. These are extraordinary times and companies across all industries including AV […]
Effective Nov. 1, 2020, Sharp Corporation (hereinafter “Sharp”) and NEC Corporation (hereinafter “NEC”) completed the previously announced transaction to form a joint venture by Sharp acquiring 66% of shares for NEC Display Solutions Ltd. (hereinafter “NDS”), a subsidiary of NEC. The new website is here. In connection with the completion of the transaction, NDS has […]
The market for professional loudspeakers posted global revenues of nearly $3 billion in 2019, an increase of almost 7%, according to the latest professional loudspeaker industry report from Futuresource Consulting. One of the report’s key themes this year was the impact of COVID-19 and its significant effects on forecasts moving forward. The segment most affected […]
AVIXA has partnered with the Digital Signage Federation (DSF) to bring digital signage education content to the association’s trade shows and events. AVIXA will announce details later this month on events where DSF will bring its content. The Digital Signage Federation is a not-for-profit organization that supports digital signage professionals through education, certification, networking and […]
AVI-SPL announced the appointment of Michael Kellaway as its new managing director for the United Kingdom. Kellaway, an experienced, growth-oriented leader in the AV and unified communications and collaboration (UCC) industry, will be tasked with bolstering AVI-SPL’s leading UCC services in the U.K. market, identifying and answering future customer needs, and expanding the company’s world-class […]
Dear Zoom, We began using Zoom three years ago as a corporate replacement for Skype. The technical staff and our faculty and staff absolutely loved it. Slowly, we acquired more and more licenses. Then in March of 2020, COVID hit, and Zoom went from an essential tool to a business-critical application. And that is when […]
There’s no doubt that Microsoft Teams has been playing catch-up with Zoom for months; some would argue years. But, this week, Microsoft upped its game by adding a host of features that even Zoom power-users will love. Here’s a summary look at each one: Together Mode: Together mode re-imagines meeting experiences to help participants feel […]
As technology people, we in the AV world are not immune to being drawn to new, fancy, shiny objects. We know we need to ask the right questions, make sure it fits our needs (or our customers’ needs), but wow, that new tech can be exciting. On occasion, we are also drawn in the opposite […]
LG Business Solutions USA is officially launching its microLED signage solution, LG MAGNIT. The solution uses LG’s new “Black Coating” display technology and block-assembly design. It may look familiar (LG showed a sneak peek of it at InfoComm 2019) — microLED features self-emissive micrometer-scale pixels applied directly to the substrate board to deliver images with […]
I’d never heard the term “double join” until a few months ago on a call with one of our board members, John Case, who is a great resource to talk with if you’re researching the world of video conferencing. John spent a long time at Microsoft building the Office 365 product family and now puts […]
The ClearOne and Shure legal battle continues with a new decision filed Friday. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issued a decision regarding Shure’s U.S. Patent No. 9,565,493 (the “’ 493 Patent”). However, this most recent legal battle confirms that both ClearOne and Shure claimed […]
According to Kenny Chesney, “We all have a song that somehow stamped our lives, takes us to another place and time,” I know that I certainly do. But can technology do that too? Here are the facts: We know that numerous studies have shown the effect of technology on teenagers, along with the results of […]
By Chloe Weaver Allsee Technologies To say that the coronavirus pandemic has caused problems for the digital signage industry would be an understatement. As a digital signage manufacturer, these past few months have been some of the hardest in the company’s history. But this extreme situation has also taught us a lot about how we […]
Back in the late fall of 2019, I first heard of Teleportivity. It was in a demo video that Gary Kayye posted right here on rAVe [PUBS]. My initial thought was that the idea was great, but I wondered about the product’s efficacy at smaller institutions like mine, or even mid-size colleges and universities. My […]
I received an email last week telling me about Poly’s (formerly Plantronics and Polycom) latest virtual event, introducing its study on the market. The report, dubbed “Hybrid Working: Creating the ‘Next Normal’ in Work Practices, Spaces and Culture,” was made to “highlight the shift in focus from place of work to purpose of work as […]
Digital Signage Expo, originally scheduled for March 31-April 3, 2020 and then moved to September 15-18, 2020 in Las Vegas, has been moved to November 11-13, 2020 due to ongoing concerns related to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. Access to the exhibit hall will be on Thursday and Friday, November 12 and 13, with pre-show conferences […]
We weren’t sure whether to continue with the Readers’ Choice Awards this year. To be honest, with COVID-19 affecting so many different aspects of our work and our lives, it didn’t seem like the right time. That’s when it hit us. We began giving out these awards as a way to let our audience tell […]
By Morgan Alley Almo Pro A/V With most of our industry cooped up at home in quarantine, it feels like we hear about video games every single day. If you’re working from home with kids, you’ve probably heard them talk about a sweet new Minecraft build, the new League of Legends meta (still hoping for […]
P.T. Barnum is credited for saying,”There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” You may have heard other variations of this old saying, such as “There’s no such thing as bad press.” Does this apply to recent headlines about Zoom? If you have lost track, I will do my best to summarize and put it all […]
Hello, everyone. I’m back with another video — giving you a preview of what you can expect from LAVNCH WEEK. Yes, I’ve gotten slightly better at explaining what it is since my last video (emphasis on slightly). LAVNCH is a special platform we at rAVe have built to host a variety of things: new product […]
The AV industry doesn’t quit, even when the world slows down. So when 2020’s biggest AV trade shows started to release their postponement and cancellation announcements one by one, starting as early as February, it was time to expedite the release of a new platform, called LAVNCH — something rAVe has been working for more […]
Today Verizon announced that it will acquire BlueJeans, a cloud-based enterprise videoconferencing and event platform, pending regulatory approval. The transaction will combine BlueJeans’ meeting platform with Verizon’s UCaaS business immediately, according to the news release, and will be deeply integrated with Verizon’s 5G product roadmap. Here’s what rAVe founder Gary Kayye had to say: “The […]
My oldest daughter is extremely smart. She is artistic, creative and is an amazing writer. She does very well in school; however, her one challenge has always been math. She usually starts slow and then builds steam toward the end of the year. As parents, we always reinforce that the thing that matters most is […]
In the current climate of where we are as an industry — it’s easy to say that things look bleak. Budgets are being slashed to smithereens; programs are being canceled or “postponed until further notice.” Teams are being cut down to a fraction of their original size, and to top it all off, we’re all […]
Marlin Equity Partners has officially completed the acquisition of AVI-SPL and subsequent merger with Whitlock. The two digital workplace services providers will combine under AVI-SPL to offer organizations around the globe end-to-end technology management and support solutions. H.I.G. Capital has partnered with Marlin in the transaction and will hold a minority stake in the combined […]
With everything that is going on around us, we are seeing plenty on the news and about folks having to work remotely. Over the coming weeks and months, we will see quite a bit about how we’re not keeping up and that business continuity is failing. Based on what I am observing first-hand from my […]
