Ok, that’s the marketing imagery–8G as a flaming projectile. But it definitely caught my eye. In fact, Crestron‘s blazing campaign was the first thing to jump out at me as I walked into Infocomm. The campaign is for the 8G upgrade to Crestron’s flagship Digital Media distribution system, which is news enough. But there is another piece of news that is far more potentially incendiary. The topline point is clear and potentially irresistable: Crestron has committed to a network grade server platform (it’s a managed network operating system) integrating Audio, Video, and Enviromental Systems/Building Management. The core is something called the “Power of 3″ and I’ll quote now: “the industry’s first centralized backbone that integrates AV, environmental systems, and global enterprise management.” Four years in the making and engineered, they say, from the ground up on an IT design rather than a traditional AV design. Its an AVOS.
Good idea, Batman. Or crazy.
This is exactly why Cisco wants into AV. I could get into David, Goliath, Don Quixote, etc. here, but I won’t because I haven’t been to the booth yet. It was on my list or course, but it is now, to beat the metaphor, a burning curiosity. I’ll get back to you.
In the meantime, if you’re here, visit InfoComm booth #C5203 or go to www.crestron.com/infocommnews.
