MarketMakers, Inc., a consumer electronics rep firm based in the Southeastern United States, has been acquired by C&E Marketing, a Patrick Industries company. The MarketMakers team of Liz and Jim Kershaw, Ben and Honey Van De Kreke, and Rick Lozano have spent their entire careers in service to the A/V industry. “With this effort, we have […]

Uniguest announced today that it has acquired Norwegian company Otrum AS, a digital engagement provider to the hospitality industry. Founded in 1985, Otrum AS delivers interactive TV and digital signage solutions that allow for audience engagement through any digital surface and boasts over 2.5 million users per month. Uniguest Chief Executive Officer Jeff Hiscox said, […]

Logitech International (SIX: LOGN) (Nasdaq: LOGI) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full Fiscal Year 2022, ended March 31, 2022. The highlights include: Sales were Logitech’s highest ever at $5.48 billion, up 4% in U.S. dollars and 4% in constant currency compared to the prior year. This growth is on top of last year’s […]

PPDS, Philips Professional TV and Digital Signage, just announced the appointment of Beth Donow, as its new manager, supply chain for professional displays and hospitality. Beth brings almost 20 years of knowledge and channel experience to the PPDS management team in North America, having held various senior leadership and director roles at other leading organizations, […]

Sound United LLC, parent company to Denon, Polk Audio, Marantz, Definitive Technology, Classé and Boston Acoustics, made it official that it’s purchased Bowers & Wilkins, the high-end luxury home audio speaker company. “Acquiring Bowers & Wilkins combines its industry-leading acoustic design, engineering and manufacturing expertise in the premium category with Sound United’s scale, technical acumen […]

The DAK Group has announced the sale of Video Corporation of America (“VCA”), located in Somerset, NJ to York Telecom Corporation (“Yorktel”) an Eatontown, NJ-based provider of workplace communication and collaboration solutions. The DAK Group served as the exclusive investment banker to VCA. “VCA’s products, services and talent are a natural fit for Yorktel. We […]

Listen Technologies Corporation has acquired ExXothermic, Inc., a company that makes low-latency Wi-Fi audio technology. ExXothermic has several patents for its Wi-Fi streaming technology and has delivered thousands of Wi-Fi audio channels for use in assistive listening, fitness centers, waiting areas, hospitality and other applications. Listen Technologies and ExXothermic, Inc. have worked together in partnership […]

Chesapeake Systems has acquired StorExcel, a systems integrator serving the Rocky Mountain region and U.S. federal government, effective immediately. The acquisition joins the mutual strengths of the trusted media technology providers, extending their ability to offer turnkey asset management solutions and support. The combination of companies expands Chesapeake System’s services in the media and entertainment […]

In a brilliant move, GPA announced today that AVI Systems is now a GPA Regional Business Unit for the United States. Becoming part of the GPA global community, requires a “special” organization given the unique foundational pillar to the GPA global brand and value proposition. It takes organizations with the same foundations of people-first culture, […]

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 […]

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 […]

The video communications provider, Pexip, today announced a record 50% year-on-year growth in contracted annual recurring revenue (ARR) after the first quarter of 2020, further enhancing the recently reported growth of 32% in 2019. Q1 2020 finished with a significant increase in delta annual recurring revenue (DARR) of 9.5MUSD, giving a total contracted annual recurring […]

Matrix Integration, an IT solutions provider for more businesses and schools in Indiana, Kentucky and beyond, has announced the acquisition of Cornwell Communications, Inc. of Bloomington, Indiana. This will be the fourth location for Matrix Integration, which also has offices in Jasper, Indiana; Fishers, Indiana; and Louisville, Kentucky. Matrix Integration plans to expand the offerings […]

Ross Video has acquired Coiron, the company that developed the suite of applications for use with the XPression family of real-time motion graphics systems. XPression Telestrate, XPression Trackless Studio and XPression Touch Factory have helped customers to create video productions using XPression at both the national and local levels. The trio of applications is used […]

This story has been updated to add a letter sent to NEC Display partners and customers. Below is the official press release from NEC Display today. Before you read it, here are my thoughts: Unlike nearly every merger in our industry’s history, this is a new display company that will be made up of two […]

Marlin Equity Partners is merging videoconferencing provider Lifesize and Serenova, a contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) provider. Marlin Equity Partners, a global investment firm with over $6.7 billion of capital under management, is the financial sponsor of the merger and will continue to invest and support the growth of the combined business to address the $60 billion […]

I remember reading a book back in the late ’90s called “Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare” by Paul Colvinaux. It was one of the first ecology books I read, and although the science was still evolving itself, there are a couple points in the book that have stuck with me over time and that […]

By Paul Konikowski The last week of February 2020 could go down as the worst week in Wall Street history. The U.S. and global markets plummeted as coronavirus fears escalated. Some think it may have had something to do with Bernie Sander’s wins in the early Democratic primaries, and some think it is tied to […]

AV integrators Yorktel announced today that it will be acquiring the business assets of Video Corporation of America (VCA), a New Jersey-based provider of audio video integration, digital signage and unified communications solutions and services. “With very little overlap in our respective customer portfolios, the team at VCA brings extensive experience in audio and video […]

On the third day of ISE last week, with little fanfare, Barco announced its 2019 earnings report while also commenting on how they think 2020 will play out. As we have very few publicly traded companies of this magnitude in the commercial AV space, I always appreciate Barco’s earnings report as it’s become a bellwether […]

Resideo Technologies (the $4.8 billion owners of ADI and Honeywell Home) announced Tuesday it has acquired privately-held Herman ProAV, based in Miramar, Florida. Herman ProAV is a distributor of ProAV gear but also offers procurement services and labor resources to AV systems integrators in the commercial AV industry. Herman ProAV serves customers across the United States and will be part […]

Oregon-based Biamp will announce at ISE 2020 here in Amsterdam, that it has purchased Huddle Room Technology (HRT). In case you haven’t heard of HRT, it makes a wireless sharing and collaboration product (think Barco ClickShare) but its version includes wireless USB, as well (think Barco ClickShare Conference). However, the HRT HuddleHub has one wireless sharing […]

In a deal that is incredibly strategic for Midwich, the UK-based company announced this week that it’s purchased ProAV distributor Starin, headquartered in Chesterton, Indiana. Starin had revenue of about $200 million in 2019. Although the official announcement didn’t say how much Midwich paid for Starin, rAVe has learned the deal is worth under $50 million. […]

AVI-SPL and Whitlock have jointly announced an intention to merge (technically, it’s a “definitive agreement to merge”) — both will be held by portfolio company, Marlin Equity Partners (a global investment firm with over $6.7 billion of capital under management). As you likely know, this means the second-largest AV integration firm is merging with the third-largest — jointly creating […]

NSCA’s Electronic Systems Outlook report has been updated for winter 2019 and includes information based upon actual data from January through November 2019, as well as forecasted information for 2020. NSCA partners with FMI to provide this report, which offers the newest, most relevant indicators of business opportunities for integrators. By tracking new construction starts […]

NSCA has just released a new white paper: “Mergers & Acquisitions — Don’t Grow Your Business into the Ground.” Over the past few years, the systems integration industry has seen an active climate of mergers and acquisitions. Approximately 30 NSCA integrator members have been acquired in the last year alone. Although a successful acquisition or […]

Focusrite plc., the holding company for Focusrite, ADAM Audio, Novation and the Ampify Music brands, announced the acquisition of Martin Audio Ltd. Thursday. This acquisition follows on the heels of Berlin-based studio loudspeaker manufacturer ADAM Audio, but has been a consideration for Focusrite Founder and Chairman Phil Dudderidge for years, who said: “I have known […]

Origin Acoustics announced the expansion of the company’s executive management team with the hiring of John Marchionda as its chief marketing officer (CMO) and the promotion of Marc Fisher as president of sales. In his new position, Marchionda will drive global brand marketing efforts for Origin Acoustics. Marc Fisher’s new role will now embrace all […]

Anixter International told rAVe Friday that a private investment firm called Clayton, Dubilier & Rice will purchase the company. The Anixter acquisition, valued at $3.8 billion, will turn Anixter back into a private company again. Anixter has been a publicly-traded company since 1967 on the NYSE American Exchange. When Anixter released The Blue Book in […]

Haivision just announced the acquisition of a company you’ve probably never heard of but have certainly seen its work: LightFlow Media Technologies. This Haivision Lightflow Media acquisition adds artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies to Haivision’s portfolio for content-aware video encoding, content indexing and object detection, as well as optimization of video contribution, distribution […]

Tripleplay has been acquired by Uniguest, the parent company of ONELAN. As part of Uniguest, this new division will be a key component of a global organization that enables Tripleplay and ONELAN to leverage the group’s financial and support infrastructure to drive significant global expansion and service plans. The acquisition presents the strategic opportunity for […]

Barco just announced a strategic collaboration with Unilumin, a listed Chinese company that’s an LED manufacturer. Barco says it’s engaged in a wide-ranging partnership with Unilumin to secure a supply of LED display components, which allows broader penetration in its core markets with differentiated Barco LED visualization hardware and software solutions. But, isn’t it logical they will […]