The merger between AVI and SPL turned heads a couple of years ago. But AV integrators have been combining their efforts in other ways, and two of the more interesting business models both upped their presence at InfoComm 2010.
The USAV Group formed in 2001 and acts as a buying group for its 36 dealer/integrator members, who are offered rebates on product and services from 16 affiliated companies including Chief, Sanyo, Draper, and Liberty AV, whose booth USAV shared at the show. Seated at a table and looking out at the busy show floor from the booth’s roof, USAV’s CEO K.C. Schwarz listed the company’s goals, chief among which are networking (they hold three group meetings a year) and the discounts, which come in the form of rebates of between 2 to 5 percent, a percentage of which comprise USAV’s revenues. Disseminating best practices among integrators is another intention. But in a sector that’s seen a steady increase in the number of players in recent years, the group also offers some sense of turf protection, what Schwarz called “reasonable exclusivity.â€? Schwarz hired a marketing person, the first time in 9 years, intending to raise the group’s profile. “We’ve been pretty quiet up till now,â€? he said. “But the business is growing and this offers some integrators a bit of differentiation.â€? more…

Digital audio networks are a hot product category this year. As the number of new network protocols has proliferated, so have products and services around them. Aviom, maker of the A-Net, Pro 16, and Pro 64 network solution, debuted the company’s new Design Services initiative. Headed by worldwide consultant liaison and design services manager, Jeff Lange, the three-member department is taking an ad hoc service the company had offered and formalizing it. Members of the design consulting team will review perspective and current customers’ design proposals, offer suggestions for ways to improve efficiency or performance and help develop design approaches. The announcement comes simultaneously with the introduction of new contractor hardware – the Wall Frame 6 line of modular digital wall boxes with 6-slot cards that accept up to 4 channels of I/O in various configurations. “All this is growing out of the network trend,â€? says Lange, who says they units can put a digital I/O directly in the wall, eliminating cabling and using power-over-Cat-5. more…

Day 2 at InfoComm. I arrived shortly before the exhibit halls opened and waited outside. At 9:00 AM sharp, the crowd pushed in and we were off! Back to my old stomping grounds (the world of professional audio): Sony showed a digital wireless microphone system, the DWR-R01D receiver and the DWM-01 microphone. The systems were designed to transmit 24-bit/48kHz digital audio and take advantage of the gains in audio quality over analog transmission. And given the recent FCC legislation, another handy byproduct is the ability to run more frequencies in the same spectrum as opposed to analog. Another cool aspect is the ability to remotely and wirelessly adjust the mic gain and even change the frequency. Very handy and less disruptive if you need to change the frequency mid event. more…

AVI-SPL, a leading provider of video and audio communications solutions, today announced it will be launching a new suite of services focused on digital media packaged as a subscription in a cloud based service. Digital Media as a Service (DMaaS) will enable customers to leverage capabilities and features by plugging into a centralized shared infrastructure. The first DMaaS services to be offered will focus on digital signage, which has seen rapid growth in recent quarters. Read on at The Briefing Room

More InfoComm 2010 news from The Briefing Room

SSL DV, Inc., a Solid State Logic Company, will debut the Gravity Web Mobile application at InfoComm 2010 (Booth N2919) from June 9 to 11, 2010, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. A Web-based interface to the entire Gravity archive and production management solution, Gravity Web Mobile lets users take their offices and productions wherever there is a mobile network, providing an entirely new level of convenience and efficiency. Read on at The Briefing Room

More InfoComm 2010 news from The Briefing Room

Together with leading interactive technology companies, Christie is proud to showcase three interactive gaming and touch screen demonstrations at its InfoComm 2010 booth. Featuring Christie’s most advanced projection and modular display technologies and interactivity from leading vendors, these interactive demonstrations are designed to deliver powerful audience engagement for broadcast, gaming, entertainment and signage applications. Read on at The Briefing Room

More InfoComm 2010 news from The Briefing Room

Again, believe it or not there is more to Yamaha at Infocomm than Mac. Two things off the show floor:

Speaker Demos at the LV Hilton Shimmer Cabaret daily on the hour between 10am and 3pm. Hear NEXO’s PSRS, GEO S8, RS18 and more in their natural habitat. On the half hour between 10:30 and 3:30 the LV Hilton Theater will fill with the sound of NEXO line arrays and RS18.

Not surprisingly, a Mac perched on a Yamaha sound reinforcement console steals a lot of booth focus.

However, the much-anticipated, well-received announcement of Mac-compatible versions of editors for the M7CL and L9 consoles was not the only Infocomm news from Yamaha Commercial Audio. A modest but important late-breaking announcement promises a regional expansion of the company’s highly succesful Yamaha Commercial Audio Training Seminars (YCATS) with the Audiovesity series of events, kicking off August 11-12 at Soundcheck, Nashville. The Audioversity series is free to audio pros and includes digital mixer training seminars, panel discussions, NEXO and Yamaha speaker demos, hands-on line array rigging demos, acoustic predication software presentations, and workshops on audio networking and portable sound among other things.

Yamaha will also offer attendees a chance to win one of two LS9-16 consoles. See www.audioversityexpo.com for more.

On the flight from BNA to DFW on Tuesday my seatmate asked if I was going to InfoComm. I was and assumed he was too since he knew of the show. Actually, no, the fellow, who specializes in HOW AV installs told me, he wasn’t going this year because for the last two shows he said that the number and nature of new products was pretty slim. He wished me a good show. After day one, I wish he would have gone to the show. more…

Yamaha Commercial Audio Systemswill launch the big brother to the NEXO RS15, the new NEXO RS18 sub at InfoComm 2010, booth #C6748. The NEXO RS18 is the second product in the company’s patented Ray Sub Series, which was first revealed 15 months ago and has, in a short time, set new standards in versatility for subwoofers. Read on at The Briefing Room

More InfoComm 2010 news from The Briefing Room