OPINION


March 2019 ertonline.co.uk Stuart Tickle l Managing Director, AWE Europe A report from ISE 2019


ISE is the best attended AV and systems integration trade show in the world. Over 81,000 people visited in 2019, with 1,300 exhibitors representing residential, retail, commercial and hospitality areas of audio visual and associated tech.


WE attended the show with five staff as part of a 10-strong team, representing URC, the US-based control brand. URC showcased solutions from simple wizard- based controllers for single rooms, expandable to multiroom applications, up to a dedicated, advanced whole home control solution called Total Con trol. As the exclusive UK distributor and URC’s partner for EMEA, we were kept very busy throughout!


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The strange thing about ISE is that so many of the big CE brands are there, including Sony, Samsung, LG, Philips, Panasonic, Epson and others, but they pretty much exclusively focus their booth space on commercial products. This is because the show sprang out of a commercial show and the divisions and budgets are treated separately. What I push organisers and manufacturers for, and hope to see in the future, is a recognition that ISE could be the European CES for CE products. This would leave IFA out on a bit of a limb, but, being September, that is too late in the year for many product launches anyway. In a fantastic new addition for AWE this year, having been appointed as UK distributors for Sony projectors, we hosted many integrators and retailers on the Sony booth. Attendees were treated to a future technology demonstration under NDA in a private suite – we can’t say what it was, but to say it was impressive is an understatement! The main Sony booth featured a phenomenally huge display. At 9.7m wide and 5.4m high, this modular C-LED display is one of the first direct view LED screens and can be configured in any ratio from around 146-inches upwards.


Samsung showed its own 219-inch screen called


The Wall. This utilises its version of direct view LED tech, called MicroLED. At 2,000 nits quoted peak brightness, the wall could be used in rooms with a lot of ambient light, not just home cinemas. Also being modular, a 292-inch would be 8k. These modular screens enable us to start thinking of an entire wall of the room as a blank canvas, not just a huge telly! Imagine walking in to a room with what appears to be a plate glass window looking out onto an amazing view full


One of the biggest issues that ISE faces is its own success. Having grown year on year, it outgrew its current venue, The RAI in Amsterdam, some time ago and it is now a sprawling show across all 14 halls, which leaves it hard to navigate.


of moving images of birds, waterfalls or whatever takes your fancy. Evening can be simulated, as could furniture, window shading and other scenes. At the press of a button, a simulated TV could appear on a chimney breast, or press again and you can be in a theatre or cinema with curtains and stage lighting. This is a glimpse into the future of immersive rooms.


LG demonstrated an amazing display, and, for the first time, I have seen incorporated a residential technology showcase – its amazing OLED-R Rollable OLED TV. At 65-inches and touted to be priced in excess of £50k at launch, this is very much a niche product for now, but again shows us what the future holds. When will we get larger roll-up TVs? Time will tell, but we have come a long way from original LCD not so long ago. Epson showed off its projection prowess


on a massive stand. Think football pitch. With professional projectors the size of a chest-of- drawers you can see how the technology filters down into more attainable residential products that we sell on a daily basis. It is clearest on this type of booth and shows the benefits of having an event that combines residential and commercial aspects.


One of the biggest issues that ISE faces is its own success. Having grown year on year, it outgrew its current venue, The RAI in Amsterdam, some time ago and it is now a sprawling show across all 14 halls, which leaves it hard to navigate. Thankfully, many of the relevant booths are broadly grouped in a residential area, but space constraints have led to some being at the opposite end of the show. All this will change in 2021, when ISE moves to a much larger venue in Barcelona.


So, should you attend ISE 2020, the event’s final year at the RAI in Amsterdam? From a purely electrical retailing perspective, ISE is not yet a must-attend event. However, I am certain that those retailers who do make the trip find it incredibly useful. In addition, if you are already involved with – or considering a step-up level of home technology integration in your business – then, absolutely, you need to be there!


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