#AVSELFIE!Infocomm 2014 will always be known to me as the year of the #AVSELFIE. (That was probably the most exciting thing unveiled) If any of you reading this don't know what it is all about, it's not the hokey pokey! Crawl out from under the rock you've been hiding and read this: http://avshout.com/what-is-an-avselfie-and-how-do-i-use-it-at-infocomm14/
Anyway, the #avselfie thing was so much fun, AND I did get some real work done at the show. This was my first time as an attendee, and boy were my feet NOT TIRED! I'll tell you, it is much less work attending vs. exhibiting. (and I got to wear my most comfy shoes - checkered vans in case you were wondering) ;-)
As a Sales Executive for Synergy CT (www.synergyct.com) they allowed me to attend the show, and I am so grateful! I ended up not taking any classes, but maybe will try that next year. I spent a little time in the audio demo rooms. (Wow I have a new appreciation for live sound) I planned out each day to hit all my fave manufactures, and explore new technologies as well. I officially got about 30 booth tours. I didn't see anything super duper world changing, but here are the top five technologies I saw that I could actually sell to my clients. (in no particular order)
1.) wePresent http://www.wepresentwifi.com/
The President/CEO Cory Cannon gave the demo in their small 10x15 booth, and it blew me away! In short, this is a competing product to Crestron AirMedia. Their tag line, "wePresent is a 1080p HD wireless interactive presentation system that allows a group of up to 64 users to take turns wirelessly presenting from their Windows/Mac computer, smartphone or tablet to any display." What I loved about it was the super user friendly GUI and the built-in windowing. Also, the price point is SPOT ON! I've already requested a demo unit and hope to play with it up against other similar products.
2.) MiSEAT http://www.miseat.net/
The President/CEO Ron Carlson gave the demo on this collaborative customizable table at NEC's booth. I was impressed that he emailed me the night after I met him with info on MiSeat. Basically, it is a table with keyboard, mouse, and NFC built in. The table top is a sort of plastic/glass which can be printed to look like wood, granite, other surfaces, custom graphics, etc. You can even project on it! The surface is spill proof, scratch, and impact resistant. The top can also be customized to hold whatever table microphones, and the legs have built in access and space for equipment/cabling. Would be a great huddle space table!
3.) StarLeaf http://www.starleaf.com/
I toured the booth and was also invited to the Visitec/StarLeaf party after hours. I can't say enough good things about this solution. My company has been evaluating several cloud based providers in this space, and I think we've found a winner! StarLeaf has Cloud based infrastructure as a service. They also have traditional hardware codecs, but soft codecs, as well. Unlike others they have unlimited point to point calling. It is SO cost effective and extremely user friendly, yet it is built for business. (Firewall traversal, interoperability, full 1080p video with content sharing, uses port 443, so it is secure.) It is an amazing solution, and competes head to head with the big players like Cisco/Polycom. I love the back story of this company. The officers are the original owners of Codian, so they know infrastructure, and they aren't backed by venture capitalist. They truly care about changing the industry and bringing video every where. These guys will change the game as we know it!
4.)Evoko Minto http://www.evoko.se/products/evoko-minto/
I was intrigued by this microphone speaker combo. First of all it is beautiful! It is definitely aesthetically pleasing. The LED indicators make it easy to use. (Purple for charging, blue for blue-tooth connection, red for mute, green for go!) There are verbal indications as well, and with a swipe of the hand you can mute the 4 directive microphones, which supposedly can cover about 20 people over 32 feet. Battery powered for 8 hours, this little gem could fit in great in smaller collaboration rooms where table space is a must! I've requested a demo to test out the audio quality.
5.) Crestron http://www.crestron.com/resources/product_and_programming_resources/catalogs_and_brochures/online_catalog/default.asp?jump=1&model=TST-902
Crestron was all about 4K, and why shouldn't they be? They really have led the way with digital switching, and 4K is the next frontier. I completely trust them as the "pathway" to 4K, BUT you wanna know what my favorite thing was at their booth? THE NEW AND IMPROVED WIRELESS TOUCH PANEL. I can't tell you how happy I am that they improved the batteries. From their site, the new TST-902 touts, "a large-capacity, user-replaceable Li-Ion battery pack to enable several hours of continuous operation and several days of typical use between charges. Intelligent power management and Lithium ion battery technology afford a perfect balance of long battery life, light weight, and compact size." It even has voice recognition to boot! I can't wait to try it out at my next client install.
Check back on my blog, and I might do a follow up after I've testing out some of these sell-able technologies I saw at the show. For me Infocomm 2014 was the best Infocomm I've ever attended! Maybe it was a bit bland on the "wiz bang new big thing" frontier, but it was my first chance to experience it in a different way, and I loved it as an integrator. It was so awesome to meet some really cool #avtweeps, and the #avselfie just took it all to another level of fun! Can't wait for Infocomm 2015!!
