AmpliVox Sound Systems has introduced acrylic safety shields for lecterns, podiums, tables and other work surfaces. The new shields are designed to help protect single individuals or many individuals standing or sitting from airborne virus transmission potentially spread by talking, coughing or sneezing. They are perfect for all conference and meeting rooms, hospitality settings, schools, […]

Digital Signage Expo (DSE) has announced a free webinar series covering specific business verticals and their efforts to manage digital signage networks during the time of COVID-19. The first installment — for higher education — is entitled “Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Ed Digital Signage Networks” and will be presented Tuesday, June 2, at 2 […]

By Adam Cox Futuresource Consulting Populations are adjusting to COVID-19, with social distancing orders having compelled people to find alternatives to face-to-face meetings. As a result, cloud video conferencing solutions have never been more popular. With hundreds of millions of people now working from home, vendors such as Cisco, Lifesize and Microsoft have responded to […]

By Julian Philips SVP Global Workplace Solutions at AVI-SPL The seminal but often hastily misunderstood work by Dr. Richard Dawkins, “The Selfish Gene” argues that it is humble genes and not organisms, let alone species that dictate evolutionary progress, and that we as human beings are merely vassals as genes seek their own immortality. Scientists […]

By James Kirby Futuresource Consulting Through its research in recent years, Futuresource has identified the install audio markets as a key opportunity for brands across the professional audio industry, ranging from large system touring vendors, through to business music brands and conferencing microphone suppliers. However, as with many professional audio segments and other areas of […]

Rentman is a cloud-based, all-in-one software solution for AV rental and event production companies. With Rentman, you can better manage your warehouse, communicate with your crew, and generate quotes and invoices. The impact of COVID-19 has had serious effects on companies all over the world. To help professionals in the AV rental and event production […]

In a great example of pivoting, Almo Professional A/V is helping ensure integrators are able to keep business professionals, educators and learners alike more connected with its newest “Work-From-Home” hardware bundle. The new bundle features a Yamaha portable USB and Bluetooth speakerphone and a Huddly Go conferencing camera. The new Work-From-Home kit (GO-BLK/YVC-200-WHT/BLK-KIT) is lightweight […]

beyerdynamic is sharing how its UNITE system allows hospital nursing staff to wirelessly transmit emergency signals from their patient’s monitoring devices directly to them. At a hospital in NYC that currently has multiple floors treating COVID-19 patients, nurses needed to be able to hear the monitor alarms that their patients were connected to while they […]

By Colin Messenger Futuresource Consulting A month ago, 13 countries had complete school closures, affecting 19% of enrolled learners and placing an emphasis on the concern for adequate supply. As the peak of the crisis in China was just after Chinese New Year, vendors had plenty of inventory to cover the annual common shortage around […]

2020 will long be remembered as the year that the world changed. We are living through times that are unprecedented and hopefully, will not be experienced again for a very long time. As all of us adjust to this new reality that likely includes becoming a remote worker (and in many cases a home teacher), […]

AtlasIED introduced its new Temporary Audio Systems (TAS) line of portable indoor/outdoor packaged audio systems. To facilitate quick and easy setup, the TAS systems come packaged with all the necessary components, including all-weather speakers, handheld and desktop microphones, speaker/mic stands, power conditioners, amplifiers, cabling and more. Four different packages are available, designed to serve facilities […]

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 […]

CEDIA today introduced CEDIASTRONG, a new program comprised of new services and tools to empower, educate, and inspire CEDIA members to weather these turbulent times. CEDIASTRONG will provide members free financial planning tools and services, technical training and webinars, career planning resources, online business roundtable discussions and marketing content that members can use to promote […]

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 […]

Sometimes things don’t go the way you plan. I had all these marketing plans prepared to work with my dealers during this quarter. Then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. As they say on the internet, “Well, that escalated quickly!” Most of my dealer base shut down. Some are still operating, mostly the ones who have contracts […]

The current environment we are all living in is scary on many fronts. First and foremost is the health of our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Second, many of us worry about the security of our jobs as the virus causes epic problems with the economy. With everyone staying at home, much economic activity has […]

Bloom Energy and Almo Corporation today announced they are joining forces to refurbish unused, out-of-warranty ventilators and ship them to state agencies and hospitals throughout the country, particularly as an increasing number of patients experience critical respiratory issues as a result of COVID-19. As part of this process, Bloom is refurbishing the ventilators, while Almo […]

Peerless-AV is offering a bundled solution available immediately to deploy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As hundreds of testing and treatment stations are opening across the country to meet healthcare needs, the locations call for rapid triage and information sharing, often in inhospitable environments. The bundled solution includes a 49”, 55” or 65” UltraView […]

If you’re like me, you’ve seen a slew of articles about “opportunities” for the AV industry during the current pandemic.  Most of these are marketing pieces, meant to promote a manufacturer’s products or to promote services by addressing the fear, uncertainty and doubt that is part of the current Zeitgeist. Work form home solutions and […]

By this time next week, a new ad campaign and PSA initiative, “We Are the Countervirus,” could be running on nearly every major digital out-of-home (DOOH) network — encompassing hundreds of thousands of screens across the world. The Digital Place Based Advertising Association (DPAA), in collaboration with independent ad agency Madwell, launched the brightly branded […]

By Kevin Ivey Sports & Entertainment Projects, Baker Audio Visual We are all facing adverse impacts to our seasons and schedules as a result of the restrictions imposed to impede the spread of the Covid-19 virus. How do we best leverage our collective downtime to plan for a resurgent market and the return of fans […]

We announced earlier this month that Digital Signage Expo, originally scheduled for March 31-April 3, 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, would be postponed to the fall due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and limitations on domestic and international travel. Show organizers announced today that the show has officially been rescheduled for September 15-18, […]

We’ve received many COVID-19 press releases — most of them self-serving. This one is NOT. Kudos to VuWall for offering this up. You don’t even have to have a VuWall system to use it (and it even works on a PC). VuWall is looking to partner with those who are on the front lines working […]

By Katye McGregor Bennett KMB Communications Focus on what CAN be done at a time like this, when the world slows and all are in a similar position. Things that you never have time for, that get de-prioritized because other, more pressing issues take the lead. Here are five things you can do to stay […]

A couple of months ago, I wrote an article that talked about protecting your staff from the current epidemic. A lot has changed. Obviously, the virus becoming a worldwide pandemic has thrown the industry into a tailspin. As an industry, we have spent a lot of time in the tailspin condition, as we are an […]

I am sitting here in my kitchen table writing this. Like many of you who traveled last week, I am in a self-quarantine to protect the world from my potentially having the new coronavirus, sadly known as COVID-19 (sad as COVID used to only refer to that Tempe-based AV manufacturer known for the once-famous EXPiX […]

AVIXA CEO Dave Labuskes sent the following letter out to the AV industry today. My thoughts are below his letter. A Letter to the AV Industry I , as many of you, continue to watch the news on a moment-by-moment basis. As we are making decisions that affect our travel, business and family, I want […]

Updated: Nov. 11, 2020 Most (and pretty much all, as we update this story in November 2020) industry events past Q1 2020 shifted or changed in light of COVID-19. rAVe pulled together a list of AV or related events and trade shows on our radar and included their event statuses and/or what happened with the […]

While the coronavirus certainly decimated attendance at Integrated Systems Europe 2020 — coming in right at around 52,000 attendees — exhibitors were thrilled with those who showed. NOT ONE exhibitor complained to me. Quantity was down, but the quality was up. Way up. This actually could have been the best thing ever to happen to […]

Below is a statement directly from ISE: In the light of the recent international publicity surrounding the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), Integrated Systems Europe today issues the following statement regarding the upcoming exhibition on 11-14 February at the RAI Amsterdam. For the past 16 years the show’s co-owners AVIXA and CEDIA have been committed to delivering […]

There is an old saw about the Chinese character for crisis being a combination of the characters for danger and opportunity. Friends who speak Mandarin tell me that this is not true, but it is so convenient that I wanted to use it here. Please consider it quoted. Linguistic folklore or not, I believe that […]

Update: On January 30th, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and issued new recommendations. However, the recommendations say that, “The Committee does not recommend any travel or trade restriction based on the current information available.” Here is the risk assessment from January 31st from the European Centre […]