Business opportunities May 2019 Microsoft Hub2S prototypes unveiled
Introduced around the world already, UK customers finally got a chance to get hands-on with the second generation of Microsoft’s Surface Hub. The Hub2S has been subject to some degree of speculation and no little confusion. But on the 17th April, Mic- rosoft joined Steelcase in New York to share their vision for em- powering teams by unveiling new details about the Surface Hub 2S product line, introducing the new 85-inch screen size and bringing unprecedented, battery-enabled mobility to the 50-inch version of the collaboration device.
Surface Hub 2S is designed to fit any space – from a traditional conference room to a compact huddle space. “The vibrant 4K+ 50-inch multi-touch display offers an inviting canvas to co-create with the best pen and touch experience and the highest resolution compared to any device in its class. Plus, Surface Hub 2S offers 50 percent faster graphics performance than the original Surface Hub.”
On the 17th April, Microsoft joined Steelcase in New York to share their vision for empowering teams by unveiling new details about the Surface Hub 2S product line.
June 2019 Smart home sales to reach 520 million units by 2022
Parks Associates has published a new whitepaper: “Open for Busi- ness: Future Flexibility for Smart Home Services”. The whitepaper forecasts sales of connected consumer devices will exceed 520 million units by 2022, including networked cameras, security sys- tems and connected health devices. The whitepaper, sponsored by Calix, presents the opportunities emerging from this wealth of residential devices and details strategies for service providers to operate in the smart home market in ways that leverage their strengths while avoiding the pitfalls of past efforts. "A future-flexible platform is a critical component for success in the IoT because smart strategies represent a long-term invest- ment," said Brad Russell, Research Director, Connected Home, Parks Associates. "While service providers are in an excellent po- sition to deploy, maintain, and service the smart home, they gen- erally do not want to develop and maintain their own proprietary solution to do so. But the market has matured where vendors are offering new turnkey solutions, and the right long-term partner- ship enables providers to serve the varied present and future use cases."
•Resources: Available now, expanded library of resources and as- sets, on demand in the partner portal, as well as regular online education and training events •Support: Available now, extended partner coverage support, with additional channel account managers and a dedicated support line •MDF Program and Portal: Zoom is committed to assisting its partners in increasing their sales and revenues of our joint solu- tions. Launching summer 2019, the Reseller Partners Marketing Development Funds (MDF) Program is designed to help our key channel partners drive demand generation and go-to-market ac- tivities based upon agreed business plans. Zoom is also launching a dedicated MDF module within the partner portal where partners can request funding and submit claims
“Zoom has also published
plans to enhance its partner programs to grow and support its channel.”
August 2019 New Midwich showroom and demo facility
Midwich Group has announced the opening of a new 50,000 sqft+ southern showroom called Innovation House, located in Bracknell, Berkshire. The state-of-the-art showroom will be one of the largest multi-vendor experience centres in the UK and will showcase the Group’s wide-ranging technologies from across Midwich, PSCo, Sound Technology, Holdan and Invision.
The showroom will be equipped with cutting edge training rooms which will have the capacity to train an unprecedented number of manufacturers. It will include a 14-metre-high research and de- velopment space, dedicated training rooms, a cinema room, flex- ible event space, as well as an impressive office space which can accommodate up to 80 technical specialists from LED and Rental specialists, PSCo, and Midwich’s Technical Division. This location will see the consolidation of Midwich Technical, who were previously based in Crowthorne, and PSCo, who will be relocating from Reading into an exciting working environment. The vast working space will give Midwich and PSCo the necessary room to grow in the long term and we look forward to using Innovation House to showcase the Group’s wide-ranging technologies.”
October 2019 Over concentration in the AV market?
Twenty-seven percent of AV providers reported that the company they currently work for had acquired, merged with, or been ac- quired by another company in the previous five years, according to the Macro-Economic Trends Analysis (META) focused on market concentration trends, produced AVIXA.
When a market becomes overly consolidated, one or several com- panies hold power and can stamp out competition while overcharg- ing and harming consumers. For now, the U.S. pro-AV integration is far from that level of consolidation, as AVIXA's research found that the market has low concentration. Hundreds of businesses of all different sizes are successfully operating in the market. Much of the industry remains somewhat mom-and-pop in nature, and AVIXA's data strongly indicates there will still be space for those who want to remain independent.
November 2019 Education strategies and investments
What are the essential differences between education and cor- porate touchscreens? Is there not some value in using standard industry technologies that children and students will encounter later in life? Is a modulator approach justified when education users don’t need the full functionality of devices designed for the corporate market? We asked Alistair Hayward, Promethean Head of UKI and ANZ for his definition of the distinction: he said: “Touchscreens for the education and corporate markets are used in different ways. and those best suited to classroom environments are specifically designed for education. Education technologies naturally need to be more robust, so are developed to withstand the rigours of class- rooms and to be used constantly throughout the school day. Ease of use is also a high priority for the education market.”
December 2019
As the year ended, innovation was still in full swing, with an- nouncements of both voice controlled digital signage and a VR solution for the meeting room!
Barco brings VR to construction planning meeting rooms
Stuart Holmes, Director of PSCo, said: “The opening of Innovation House, one of the largest multi-vendor experience centres in the UK, is a truly exciting time for PSCo and Midwich.
Service providers are in an excellent position to deploy, maintain, and service the smart home. [Photo courtesy of Crestron Europe]
July 2019 Zoom debuts new partnerships and channel programs
Zoom Video Communications has announced new enhancements and partnerships for its video-first unified communications plat- form. Among the announcements are new device support and en- terprise management for Zoom Rooms, as well as programs to empower Zoom’s channel partners.
Zoom has released several enhancements and partnerships for its software-based conference room solution, Zoom Rooms, fea- turing video and audio conferencing, wireless content sharing, and integrated calendaring running on off-the-shelf hardware, as
September 2019 The Wall Pro microLED display is here!
PSCo has announced that Samsung’s The Wall Pro represents the future of LED technology. Featuring next generation mi- croLED technology, The Wall Pro builds on the success of the market leading Samsung IF Series, combining innovative LED HDR technology with cutting-edge micro size colour-enhancing LED chips for an incredibly true-to-life visual experience. Andrew Douglas, Product Manager of Samsung, commented: “The Wall Pro represents a defining moment, as we enter a new era of microLED display technologies that are set to completely re-shape the display market as we know it.” Liam Winter, Head of LED at PSCo commented: “PSCo represents Samsung UK as its exclusive LED specialist distribution, and we’re proud to add The Wall Pro as the latest in cutting-edge LED display technology we’ve made available to our customers, as part of our market leading LED line-up.
Samsung’s The Wall was much anticipated. Absen and PSCo celebrate five-year partnership
New Zoom hardware partner Yealink’s CP960 series which includes small room and large room kits.
well as extension services digital signage and scheduling display. Zoom has also published plans to enhance its partner programs to grow and support its channel. Among the new programs for qualifying partners: •Education: Available now, updated learning tracks and the intro- duction of partner qualifications courses
The opening of Innovation House marked the fifth anniversary of PSCo’s exclu- sive distribution partnership with Absen. The partnership, which was made official in 2014, has given UK customers access to the latest LED displays with a dedicated local service centre and in-house technical support for both rental and fixed installations. Over the five years, PSCo, part of the Midwich Group, became the top Value-Added Distributor (VAD) in Absen’s European partner network. PSCo’s Director, Stuart Holmes, added: “With Absen, we always feel confident that we are offering our resellers a quality LED solution. They’ve built their rep- utation by offering an attractive price performance balance that makes quality LED more competitive and accessible than ever before.”
Absen showcased at Innovation House.
Against a background of continuing discussion, Barco has leap- frogged other contenders with the introduction of Canvas - a solu- tion for companies that want to take VR and 3D images into meet- ings. Canvas offers a group of decision-makers and experts’ access to VR resources, while still being able to interact with each other. Barco’s Canvas consists of 3 projection surfaces, set up at an an- gle of 135°, and opens a new era for virtual reality in enterprises. It enables an increasing number of users to experience group VR that fosters collaboration between teams and allows customers to preview and assess buildings or designs before they are built. The ability to do this in the convenience of a meeting room, while at the same time using the screen as a traditional display, is truly unique.
BrightSign unveils voice-activated signage
BrightSign has unveiled BrightVoice - the company’s voice-acti- vated digital signage solution that enables a unique, hands-free interactive experience. BrightVoice allows audiences to interact verbally with digital signage using wake words followed by natu- ral voice commands that trigger playback of on-screen content, music, lighting and other devices. And while this type of interac- tion mimics the workflow popularised by commercially available
2019 Review
Existing signage networks using BrightSign XD1034 or XT1144 media play- ers can implement voice activation capabilities by purchasing the BrightVoice Command Model Service and a USB-connected microphone for each endpoint.
voice-enabled smart speakers and other devices, the BrightVoice solution is hosted locally on the BrightSign player and does not require an internet connection. Reflect is the first content management system (CMS) partner to integrate BrightSign’s new voice-activated capabilities into its ReflectView software platform. The company recently built a BrightVoice-enabled solution for a major wireless communications service provider, deploying voice-activated digital signage in a number of key retail locations in the United States, with plans to roll-out to more than 1,000 stores in the months ahead. Existing signage networks using BrightSign XD1034 or XT1144 media players can implement voice activation capabilities by pur- chasing the BrightVoice Command Model Service and a USB-con- nected microphone for each endpoint.
AV News December 2019 P15
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