Sonance, a 36-year-old audio company known for its architectural speakers, announced today it has entered into an agreement to acquire James Loudspeaker. James Loudspeaker, a provider of both residential and commercial audio solutions (an marine), was established in 1999 by “a group of dedicated audio engineers, craftsmen and entrepreneurs.” “We could not be more excited […]

Spinitar today announced the merger of Drake Systems Group and Spinitar. DSG’s President David Drake will now serve as the regional vice president of Spinitar’s Healthcare division. Drake Systems Group formed in 2003 and focused on supporting the AV needs of hospitals, universities, medical office buildings, healthcare architects, healthcare contractors and medical device manufacturers. DSG […]

Eiki International just told rAVe they’ve hired John Schippers to the position of chief operating officer. As an Eiki employee for over 11 years, Schippers is well-versed in the company’s operations, making him well-suited to assume his new responsibilities. As the company’s chief operating officer, Schippers has oversight of Eiki’s operations in the U.S., Canada, […]

Update: Please see below a response from Eiki to this story. Things took a turn for the worse on Friday as Eiki laid off another round of greatness, including their 15-year general manager, Steve Rubery, and, according to one source, 50% of their tech and sales support teams. In addition, their dealer network was notified […]

NSCA’s Electronic Systems Outlook report has been updated for Summer 2019 and includes construction outlook information based on actual data from Q1 and Q2 of 2019, as well as a forecasted outlook for the remainder of 2019 and beyond. This report was initially created as a response to integrators asking about market conditions and trends […]

AVI-SPL today announced the acquisition of Digital Video Networks (DVN) in the southwestern United States. A continuation of the company’s strategic growth plan, the merger will further strengthen AVI-SPL’s market leadership with additional talent and resources in a growing region while expanding the company’s leading global support and services delivery capabilities to current and prospective […]

By James Kirby Industry Analyst, Futuresource Consulting Yet further consolidation has hit the professional audio markets, with Biamp’s acquisition of the Community and Apart loudspeaker brands. This follows a consolidation trend which Futuresource has being reporting on for some time, with pro audio moving further away from the independent, family-run industry it once was. This announcement […]

There aren’t too many publicly traded companies in the pro AV market so when one announces earnings, it should be paid attention to as a bellwether of the market. Today Barco announced financial results for the six month period ended June 30, 2019. Orders and sales increased in each division resulting in a consolidated growth […]

The Optronics Division of Maxell, Ltd. today announced that beginning as of Oct. 1, 2019, Maxell, Ltd., through its U.S. subsidiary, Maxell Corporation of America, will assume responsibility for all operations related to both Hitachi-brand and Maxell-brand projector products and accessories in the North American market. This announcement marks the culmination of a six-year progression […]

7thSense Design has reached an agreement in principle with Barco regarding the intended sale of the Medialon brand and ShowControl activities. The team behind 7thSense Design has led the acquisition to form a new company, Medialon Ltd., which will acquire the Medialon brand and ShowControl activities from Barco. The new company will join the 7thSense […]

Enghouse Systems Limited announced today it has acquired Vidyo for around $40 million. Vidyo’s annual revenue is approximately $60 million. Headquartered in Hackensack, New Jersey, Vidyo is a provider of video software solutions that support visual communications across diverse end-points, networks of varying bandwidth and geographically dispersed locations. The company’s infrastructure software platform leverages patented […]

Broadsign today announced that it has acquired Campsite, the Canadian digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad exchange that automates the buying and selling of DOOH inventory (known as programmatic advertising). This news follows the recent announcement that Broadsign acquired Ayuda Media Systems. Both transactions have closed. For DOOH media owners, the combination of Broadsign and Campsite will […]

SnapAV and Control4 Corporation today announced that they have entered into a “merger” agreement whereby SnapAV will acquire Control4 in an all-cash transaction for $23.91 per share in cash, representing an aggregate value of approximately $680 million. The Control4 stock last traded $17.12 per share so the shareholders are likely to take this buyout. Although […]

Diversified just announced the acquisition of Rutledge AV. As a top integrator in Australia, Rutledge AV’s client-base will enable Diversified to provide local support to clients and deliver the standards they’re known for in the Americas, EMEA and APAC. Diversified actually was our Readers’ Choice Award Winner for 2018. “I’m very excited for this endeavour, […]

For many years, the joke in the rental and staging industry has been that we exist as the unpaid (and uncredited) research and development arm of the manufacturers that we buy from. Often, we are the first buyers of new technologies for a number of reasons. First, because of the technological pressure to stay ahead […]

Broadsign announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Ayuda Media Systems. Both companies are headquartered in Montreal. For out-of-home (OOH) media owners who have an increasingly complex mix of digital and classic inventory/locations, the combination of Broadsign and Ayuda will enable them to streamline business operations across all of their inventory, digital and […]

The industry’s first portable “projector” manufacturer, InFocus, is getting out of the display and projector businesses overall. The company apparently held an all-company meeting at 12:30 p.m. today to inform their teams that they were ceasing display operations. Telling their teams they were “looking at new strategies,” they started to layoff the majority of the […]

On the day that InFocus shocked the AV industry and announced they’d bought its largest competitor, I was actually there. It was Monday, March 6, 2000 — I remember the details of the day very well but my old Franklin Planner helped me keep track of the date for the purpose of this article. Let me […]

Bluewater Technologies Group formed a strategic alliance with Felix Media Solutions, an Austin, Texas-based AV integration company. Under the terms of the agreement, Bluewater will offer meeting and event support, access to retail offerings, and creative and software services to Felix Media Solutions’ customers. Furthermore, Bluewater will assist on larger AV integration projects for Felix […]

B-Tech AV Mounts has acquired Mode-AL Display Engineering. Founded in 2000, they are a manufacturer of multiple monitor mounting solutions for digital signage, broadcast, the collaborative environment, the retail sector and high-end AV. Typically catering for high-end bespoke products and solutions, these solutions have been installed in a variety of applications from monitor stacks and […]

NV5 Global announced today that it has acquired The Sextant Group. The Sextant Group has 11 locations and project offices throughout the US and is well-known for creating integrated technology solutions for a wide range of public and private sector clients. The Sextant Group’s 80 technology professionals have provided expertise on over 2,000 projects in 46 states. The acquisition was an all-cash transaction […]

Plantronics today announced that the company will transform into a new company called Poly. In explaining the new name, their press release explained that Poly, which means “many,” leverages the legendary audio and video expertise of Plantronics and Polycom and its breadth of smart endpoints that connect across and between unified communications platforms to reduce […]

GN Audio announced a conditional agreement to acquire Altia Systems Inc. (“Altia Systems”). Altia Systems, based in Cupertino, California (USA), is the developer of the Panacast multi-camera array technology. All necessary conditions have now been met and GN Audio has completed the acquisition of Altia Systems. This allows GN Audio to expand into plug & […]

JSAV has completed the acquisition of Buffalo, NY-based BAV. The combination of these two long-standing integrated audio-visual companies enables both to reach further outside their established markets. With a shared commitment to their clients and the highest level of quality reflected in both company’s outstanding customer satisfaction ratings, together JSAV and BAV have a combined […]

Level 3 Audio Visual, LLC, a full-service AV integration and education organization located in Mesa, Arizona announces today the acquisition of Audio Visual Resources, Inc. (AVR) located in Mineola, NY. The acquisition combines one of the nation’s top integration firms with the industry leader in system testing and verification and the only firm ever to […]

Interactive Flat Panel Displays (i.e., collaboration boards) continued to be a considerable success in 2018 in the education and corporate markets. By Q4, 83 percent of all interactive display sales were IFPDs, increasing from 73 percent last year, according to the latest research from Futuresource Consulting. 55 of the 67 countries that Futuresource track had […]

Today, GN Audio has signed an agreement to acquire Altia Systems Inc. (“Altia Systems”). Altia Systems, based in Cupertino, California (USA), is the maker of the PanaCast camera systems used in UCC applications. This market is expected to grow significantly from a currently low penetration rate fueled by easy to use (plug and play), integrated […]

Today, Bose announced the acquisition of ZiipRoom, a developer of productivity and connectivity software for meeting rooms, conferences and devices. ZiipRoom will integrate into Bose Professional, the dedicated group within the company that focuses on the needs of professional audio designers, consultants and system integrators. The announcement was made by Akira Mochimaru, general manager for […]

Biamp, a supplier of professional audio and video solutions based in Beaverton, Ore., today announced the acquisition of Cambridge Sound Management (CSM) from Gladstone Investment Corp. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, CSM is a leader in the fast-growing sound masking market. CSM provides direct and in-plenum sound masking solutions and is a frequently installed sound masking […]

2018 has been an interesting and eventful year in the AV and collaboration industries.  We’ve seen a number of mergers and acquisitions, rebranding of products, new players big and small entering the market and an avalanche of new products. So what does 2019 have in store for us? I don’t have a crystal ball, but […]

The Riverside Company has signed a definitive agreement to sell DPA Microphones (DPA) to RCF Group (RCF). During Riverside’s investment, DPA’s sales and EBITDA nearly doubled while its product portfolio and distribution network grew significantly, according to DPA. “Together with the DPA team, we were able to achieve all of our goals for this investment,” […]

rAVe has obtained a copy of an internal memo from Barco CEO Jan De Witte that both explains both how Barco is planning to “refocus on the customer” while potentially eliminating as many as 239 jobs. Although this may seem like a large number, Barco has about 3,600 employees worldwide, so this is only about […]