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As Economy Rebounds, Emerald Expo Books Strong Fiscal 1st Quarter Results

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2021 CEDIA Expo owned by Emerald Expositions
The 2021 CEDIA Expo, owned by Emerald Expositions [Click to enlarge]

Value of EEX Stock Increases Nearly 19% on the Announcement

Emerald Holding Inc., the parent company of Emerald Expositions, a division that owns the CEDIA Expo trade show and CEPro media, announced its results for the first quarter of its fiscal 2022 year today – and these results clearly showed a strong rebound from the last two COVID-19 impacted years. With both revenues and earnings showing substantial increases, Emerald’s President and CEO Hervé Sedkey stated that “…we are in the midst of a robust recovery.”

See more on the Emerald first quarter 2022 results

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Crestron Research Center is Renamed in Honor of Founder George Feldstein

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Crestron dedication of the George Feldstein Technology Center

In the summer of 2019, just months before the onset of COVID-19, Crestron Electronics, Inc. (Crestron) invited me to tour several of their facilities, including the lab at the heart of almost everything they do…the Research Center. It was beyond impressive, and I’ve been in some really impressive labs in my career. At the time, I said it was “like Disneyland for geeks.” That includes geeks like me!

Now, in honor of the company’s founder, Crestron has renamed the facility the George Feldstein Technology Center. This is a fitting tribute to the man who spent his days there constantly tinkering with new products, product concepts, and technology.

See more on this Crestron announcement

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Tampa Integrators Angered as Supplier Becomes Competitor

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DOW Technologies logo

Owners of Distributor DOW Technologies Launch Integrator SMARTSolutions

For years, many Tampa, FL-area integrators relied upon distributor Dow Technologies as a valued supply partner for the technology solutions they needed to complete their system designs and installations. But not long ago, the owners of Dow Technologies acquired an integration business and merged it with their existing satellite installation business to create a new Tampa integrator they call SMARTSolutions – and now many of those same integrators say a partner…has become a competitor. And they are quite angry about it…

See more on Tampa integrators and Dow Technologies

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Smart Savant 3-Point Strategy to Beat Supply Chain Shortages and Fill Orders

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Savant President JC Murphy

I’m not sure that anyone in Tech has done more than Strata-gee to report on the issue of the failing supply chain and its at times ruinous impact on our industry. My very first report on the supply chain – AKM Fire: 2020 was Almost Over, Then Disaster Struck Again – is the second most-read story I’ve ever written in my life. I had always assumed that the issue was so big that everyone was affected equally.

But then I discovered, almost by accident, that one company has a clever strategy to beat the shortages. That company is Savant, and their strategy is equal parts brilliant…and a bit insane.

See how Savant has mostly beaten the supply chain shortage that bedevils other brands…

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Osaka District Court Approves Onkyo Bankruptcy Petition for Two Subsidiaries

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Onkyo Home Entertainment Co. Ltd. (Onkyo) has announced that its two consolidated subsidiaries – Onkyo Sound Co. Ltd. (ONS) and Onkyo Marketing Co. Ltd (OMC) – have filed for bankruptcy. The company said that it had petitioned the court to begin bankruptcy proceedings for these divisions and has received judicial approval to begin the bankruptcy process from the Osaka District Court in Osaka, Japan.

See more on the bankruptcy of these Onkyo subsidiaries

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Snap One Says Selling to All 4 Buying Groups Shows Commitment to Integrators

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Snap One website page

Snap One announced today that they are now selling to all four major custom integration buying groups (they called them “all four major CEDIA U.S. buying groups”) and that fact shows their commitment to their “integrator partners.” The company says it is now allied with Azione Unlimited, HTSA, HTSN, and ProSource “…as a key part of its long term strategy to help dealers succeed.”

Learn more about this strategy by Snap One

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What’s Delaying New Chip Fabs to Reinforce the Supply Chain? Yep…The Supply Chain

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chip shortages bedevil the supply chain
[Photo: AFP/Jiji]

Ever since supply chain shortages hit many industries, particularly in relation to the availability of integrated circuits or chips, there has been a massive scramble to increase capacity and to build new chip fabricating facilities (fabs) or factories. There has been a series of announcements from huge companies like Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Samsung, and others launching massive multi-billion projects to add more chip production facilities.

There’s just one problem…the equipment they need to build these facilities are themselves delayed.

See more on the supply chain shortages delaying new factories to help the supply chain

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As Companies Have Employees Return to Office, Is This the End of Remote Work?

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Google hybrid workspace for return to office
An experimental hybrid workspace and meeting in progress at Google

What Will the Impact of This Trend Be on Custom Integration?

With COVID now seemingly in decline, on Monday Google employees (Googlers?) began the process of returning to work at the company’s various headquarter and other office locations around the country. The company is requiring they work at least three days a week in the office, continuing to work remotely for the other two.

Google is hardly alone in pulling employees back to the office, Apple employees return next week and most major companies have announced dates for office life to begin again. Will this kill remote work and have an impact on the custom integration business?

Read more on this new return to work period

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AAMP Global Acquires AudioControl

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AAMP Global, a leading global manufacturer of a wide array of technology products for the personal and commercial vehicle markets, announced today the strategic acquisition of AudioControl – the well-known specialty manufacturer of electronics products for the automotive, residential, and commercial audio channels. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but AAMP says that AudioControl’s Seattle, WA-based operations and team will continue to operate as an independent facility under the AAMP Global umbrella.

I spoke with top executives of both companies to learn more about what drew the parties together and just what is meant by a “strategic” acquisition.

See more on the AAMP acquisition of AudioControl

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New CEDIA CEO Part 2: Keeping Focused and Making an Impact

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CEDIA CEO Daryl Friedman sharing a laugh

When Daryl Friedman was hired to become Global President and CEO of CEDIA, he was already aware of the fact that the organization was facing some heavy challenges and really needed someone ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work. It was a challenge he says he was both ready for and was uniquely qualified to address, based on his previous association experience. Then he went to work digging up more evidence of the challenges ahead.

In order to get a sense of Friedman’s thinking and process, I spoke with him via Zoom for nearly an hour. It was a wide-ranging discussion on many key issues for an association that I’ve had some issues with over the years. This article is Part 2 of that interview.

See Part 2 of my interview with the new CEDIA CEO

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