2019 was like no other year I can recall. While the AV-economy experienced explosive growth, at the same time, a few big brands nearly disappeared, namely InFocus and Polycom. How can the Kleenex of projectors, InFocus, literally divest themselves of projectors? Well, it happened and, that happened to be our biggest story of 2019. In […]
If you are one of my readers (thank you) or if you are one of the many people in the rental industry that I am constantly calling for advice, you know that I have spent most of the last 18 months designing and implementing an “experience center” for a global manufacturer. The experience center type […]
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom. It’s not just a catchy Mazda slogan, but it’s also the tale of the last few projects I’ve worked on. In a world where we hear many that like to complain software and hardware companies are talking to customers directly and that the scourge of “good enough” is ruining our businesses, I […]
Anyone who has ever sat in on a project meeting with end users, purchasers, IT, corporate, architects (and all the other professionals likely to be at the table) knows that perspectives are often significantly distorted. How? They’re distorted by either too much or too little understanding of the technologies involved. In this hypothetical project meeting, […]
I hope everyone is having a great holiday season! It’s the day after Christmas, which means for many of us, yesterday was the culmination of a long build-up of anticipation. Planning family gatherings, curating the holiday meal menus, baking cookies, making fudge and braving the web and the local retailers to find that perfect gift […]
This is part four in a four-part series Christopher Gillespie has been writing about the relationship between end users and integrators, particularly with regards to corporations or educational institutions that have a large number of conference rooms. See part one, his introduction, here, part two on the AV bill of materials here and part three, […]
In the previous installment, we took an overview of estimating and examined some of the basic concepts. Building off of that, it’s time to dig in with a little more detail and provide some context about selecting which methods to apply when you need to develop an estimate. One estimation technique I didn’t go into […]
This is part three of a four-part series from Christopher Gillespie. Read his introduction here and his piece on the AV bill of materials here. Years ago, maintaining and reporting on the inventory was a matter of many spreadsheets, maybe a home-baked database, perhaps it was some hybrid, or maybe it was Crestron Fusion or […]
By Scott Walker Principal, Waveguide LLC There it is. I’m putting it out there. I’ve thought about this a lot and from my vantage point, having spent the past 30 years of my life as an AV design consultant, I believe there’s no other single individual who has had a greater impact on the lives […]
By David Danto Director of UC Strategy and Research, Poly Turning the page into a new decade gives us the opportunity to put our past into perspective and predict where we’re going. In the world of unified communications and collaboration, this exercise reveals a space that is eliminating most of the poor experiences and exploding […]
Remember when Polycom and Cisco were always mentioned in the same sentence? Seems like a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, huh? Do you remember when we were all saying, “Why don’t Polycom and Cisco just make their stuff interoperable?” Well, that was what led to their ultimate demise — in […]
By Andrew Jimenez Vice President of Technology, Anixter The commercial building lighting controls market is experiencing a period of rapid transformation. With commercial lighting technology making the shift from traditional fluorescent to LED lighting fixtures, legacy analog lighting controls are being replaced by more scalable and reliable digital controls that can operate over a wired […]
Time passes. And things change. And while the French saying “Plus ça change, plus ça la meme chose” – the more things change the more they stay the same is mostly true (this understanding applies to not all, but most things), some things, at least with AV technology do indeed change a lot. There are […]
After writing a couple blogs in 2017 about the equally loved and hated potential of “as a Service” (aaS) models to take off in AV, I took a break for a while and watched as the industry discussed the idea. If you missed my original posts on this, you can catch up here: AV as […]
There are any number of things that make big projects different from little projects. The first one that comes to mind, for me, anyway, is that while small projects are typically billed out at time and materials, large projects are more often subject to being quoted out and that requires estimating what the job will […]
Following up from my earlier blog post about buying a new TV, our household is moved to the new house. And we’re mostly unpacked. My friend and former co-worker Mike came over last week to help me hang the new TV on the wall, and I’ve rebuilt the AV system. It’s fully functional, now […]
The good folks at rAVe [PUBS] reached out to me and have kindly asked me to contribute on a more frequent basis around here. As it happens, I had something that I was working on that I would like to start with that’s a little broader than what I have written previously. I mentioned something […]
Every time I start to write a piece for rAVe ED, I try to think about what the broader AV industry wants to know about the education market. I always try to put forward ways that companies can partner with schools to provide value for all parties. As many people know, one area that I […]
Earlier this month I had the amazing opportunity to be the master of ceremonies at AVIXA’s AV Executive Conference (AVEC). I’m still not sure why they entrusted a room full of leaders and executives to me, but I’m so happy they did because I had an amazing experience. Why was it amazing? Well, for one, […]
The recent news of video interoperability between Cisco, Zoom and Microsoft has generated a lot of industry buzz. If you’re interested, listen to rAVe Founder, Gary Kayye’s take on where he thinks all of this is headed and why we need to pay attention to the upcoming ISE show in Amsterdam in February 2020. Podcast: […]
Earlier this month at Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft announced that soon Microsoft Teams, the company’s web based video meeting and productivity applications, would be natively compatible with Zoom and later WebEx. If you missed this part of the story, rAVe founder Gary Kayye wrote about it here and it’s been a very popular article, especially in […]
It’s a reasonable expectation that in order for someone to be able to do well at their job, they need training. Following that, it should also be understood that training isn’t a one-shot deal: You don’t just enroll in whatever relevant course, program or certification, complete it and then spend the rest of your work […]
One of the things a consultant is often asked to do, especially for a repeat client, is to evaluate the work presented by others. Unfortunately, this is usually requested AFTER the proposal or submission has been generated and presented. If you’re asked to undertake such an analysis, what you’re really being asked is to determine […]
By Chris Evans Futuresource Consulting Another year, another iPhone. And with Google’s latest handset, the Pixel 4, unveiled only weeks later, the benchmark for all flagship smartphones has been set for the next year. In recent years, the latest upgrades have placed an emphasis on smartphones’ imaging capabilities. Innovations have brought us multiple camera modules, […]
Like so many industries, the AV industry has a robust and valuable community in the social media sphere. Many of us have dozens, if not hundreds of contacts and “friends” that we know only via social media. While we have opportunities to catch up and meet during industry events, including the always popular tweet-ups, the […]
This month I attended AVEC 2019 in New Orleans — that’s AVIXA’s AV Executive Conference, held annually in locations around the U.S. In the past, AVEC has been focused mostly on high-level business and management topics, but this one included panels with industry experts on digital signage, collaboration and higher education. One of the most […]
We’re moving to a new house at the end of the month. After fifteen years in one place, that’s necessitated some de-cluttering in preparation to pack and move. One thing that’s not coming with us is my 60-inch Hitachi plasma TV. It’s 13 years old, and still works fine. But that’s the thing about elderly […]
We initially wrote this article and pointed out the similarities between this product and Barco’s ClickShare. Silex sent us an email with clarification regarding the two systems’ differences. We’ve included their response in the last section below. SilexPro just announced something they’re calling the SilexPro ClickShow, a wireless BYOD system using, yep, a button. Available […]
Upon researching definitions for the “wow factor,” I came across the following descriptions: A set of properties belonging to an object or service that pleasantly surprises a consumer. From commercials to cool electronics, the wow factor is an important aspect to consider. A striking or impressive feature We create entertaining and interactive experiences that result […]
THIS IS A PROMOTED POST FROM TELEPORTIVITY When people think of remote support, they don’t often think good things. Actually, most people really hate automated support systems. No one likes being pushed through a robot before getting to a real person on the other end of the line. To date, remote tech support, whether AV […]
The arrival of 5G is transforming technology and our AV industry. You can barely scan your News Feed or watch television without some type of news or advertisement about 5G and its impending impact on your life. And while this whole 5G thing sounds like amazing hype, I’ve found that many of our customers and […]
In case you live under a rock and don’t know, Zoom released a ton of new products, capabilities and technologies at Zoomtopia 2019. We have a round-up here. Zoom followed up on that big announcement Tuesday with a webinar that focused on the company’s releases and how they can be useful to everyone in AV. […]
