Strategy in TECH...
James Loudspeaker, the specialty speaker manufacturer with a wide range of models mostly serving the high-end market, has intrigued us for some time now. The subject of our intrigue is largely centered around their prodigious custom manufacturing capability, which they use to create a plethora of one-off products designed to order. We told you about a VERY unique pair of speakers they made for one Colorado integrator, who uses James’ customization capabilities as his “competitive advantage.”
Almost exactly one year ago, we told you that former CEO of Montana specialty retailer Vann’s, George Leslie Manlove, was charged with more than 200 counts of criminal conduct by Federal prosecutors after an investigation by the FBI and the Department of Labor. Manlove, who is married to the daughter of the founder of Vann’s, was accused of a number of crimes including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, bank fraud, and making false statements.
Now we learn that after a two-week trial and two days of deliberation, jurors found Manlove guilty on 172 of those charges…and aquitted on the rest.
Toshiba Corp. announced yesterday that it will take a $6.3 billion writedown to account for the meltdown of its nuclear division. This amount of writedown is much higher than the markets had anticipated, forcing Toshiba into crisis mode having to secure lending commitments from their banks, reorganize their nuclear division, and sell assets to offset their losses.
Integrated Systems Europe announced today that their ISE 2017 show drew 73,413 attendees making it the largest ever trade show servicing the international residential and commercial integration industries. The show, which is a 50/50 partnership between CEDIA and InfoComm, saw attendance swell 11.7% over the level in 2016.
One of the themes that appears to be emerging from the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) show taking place in Amsterdam right now is several new competing solutions designed to distribute 4K Ultra HD over IP. We told you yesterday about Savant’s prototype solution and now we have Crestron with their DigitalMedia NVX Series, which it says transmits 4K60 4:4:4 HDR video over standard 1GB Ethernet “with no latency – an industry first.”
An interesting aspect of the Integrated Systems Europe Show (ISE) show is that it addresses both the residential and the commercial integration segments, making it a powerful draw for both types of integrators – although in Europe, it can often be one integration company that services both markets. Addressing the commercial side, LG Electronics took new digital signage solutions to Amsterdam – and with both LCD and OLED solutions, they caught our attention.
Savant has launched a new 4K Ultra HD video over IP switching solution at ISE 2017 taking place now in Amsterdam, NL. This is its first major product launch since Robert Madonna returned as CEO replacing outgoing CEO William Lynch in September 2016. The company says this system will give their dealers an “advantage in delivering premium distributed A/V content to their residential and commercial clients.”
Sharp Corp., a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. which is better known as Foxconn, has said in Japan that it plans to make a major investment in the United States. This announcement precedes by just two days a summit meeting between Japanese and U.S. leaders and is seen as a political move to buy favor with both the Japanese and U.S. governments.
Reuters is reporting that Emerald Expositions LLC, the major trade show exposition company that bought the CEDIA show last week, is considering putting itself up for sale. This report became public on Wednesday, January 25th…the day before CEDIA announced it has sold its trademark show to Emerald. All of which leads to the distinct possibility of the show changing hands again, in just a matter of weeks.
Just Add Power announced yesterday that they are launching new 2GΩ Transmitters and Receivers at the upcoming 2017 ISE Show in Amsterdam next week. Celebrating 25 years of design and manufacturing, the company says these new models are consistent with their theory of evolutionary design.
