By any measure ISE 2012 is the largest yet. The number of exhibitors has increased by 15% since last year, the gross square metreage of floor space occupied at the RAI has increased by 18% and preregistrations were up by 21% compared to 2011.
Speaking just before ISE opened, Integrated Systems Events managing director Mike Blackman said that although the total number of attendees could only be conjecture, combining the 36,702 preregistrations with a typical on-site registration level of around 4,000 attendees suggested the total level would exceed 40,000 for the first time.
“Our industry is defying Europe’s financial climate,” Blackman observed. He estimated that ISE 2012 would see more than 1,000 technology launches and said he was proud that ISE was now the calendar date to which the industry’s R&D cycle was synchronised.
“We decided to extend ISE to be more of an event, not just an exhibition,” said Blackman. “We feel our landscape changing as AV vendors move more and more into IT.” He cited the new Unified Communications area in hall 12, the opening of a second residential solutions area and the biggest digital signage area to date as examples of the way that ISE was continuing to evolve in order to meet the needs of the AV industry.
