This year’s Home Technology Event promises to offer exhibitors and visitors a fresh and dynamic experience in more ways than one. Alongside many of the most important brands and distributors, representing the foremost players in the industry, this year’s show will also welcome a host of first-time exhibitors. These newcomers represent a heady and enticing mix of businesses that will inject a freshness and vitality into the showfloor experience for all. On the one hand, they offer something new under familiar product category headings; on the other, they will present breakthrough technologies in diverse market sectors, such as home healthcare, lighting and home energy monitoring and control – all great opportunities for the CI industry. “Many of our clients are CEDIA members,” explains Lance Omsky, sales director at another newcomer to the show, Global Cellular. “We have always attended the show as trade visitors and now we feel it is time to grow our installer base and offer our fantastic products to more members. The approval of professionals in the industry is always an accurate review of how good your product is!” Amongst a broad range of new products at the show, Global Cellular will be launching a new Barkan value for money fixed mount in its range plus its Stylus Audio Visual network media cube (pictured) alongside its latest HDMI cables.
A new market opportunity is the key driver behind the first time participation of Alltrade at the show. “Ahead of the digital switchover coming to the south-east in 2012, the Home Technology Event provides an excellent platform for us to reach a new custom installation audience,” says Lee Harding, business development manager at aerial and satellite products distributor Alltrade. “We will be showcasing our Sky Associated Retailer Scheme (formerly Sky Buddy) at the show alongside our range of set top boxes and associated components. We’re really looking forward to the event.”
Meanwhile, distributor Aventure Ireland is launching several new products to provide different options for installers. Adhoco is a home automation product providing important cost savings for the end user, Egauge is an energy consumption monitoring solution for the home and office, and Ozvision is a product that offers a new way of working when it comes to DVR CCTV technology. Lorcan Brophy, sales director at Aventure Ireland, says: ”It is time that we offered something practical to our end users, something with a tangible return on investment and not just something that’s seen as a toy for the man of the house. The CEDIA Home Technology Event is the ideal venue for this launch.” @page_break@ ControlFX has decided to use the Home Technology Event to showcase the new version of their software that is now supporting the use of Javascript for enhanced logic and two-way control. There will also be the new Lutron silent Venetian blinds with sliding operation over the images on an iPad. For all those dealers that are now migrating over to iPads as a dedicated controller, they now have a beautifully crafted iPad frame with power that securely mounts the iPad (version 1 and 2) for the ultimate on-wall controller. Andy Lloyd, managing director, says: “ControlFX will be showing some exciting new hardware that is so hot off the press, that we are unable to provide any further information at present, but a visit to our stand F9, is highly recommended.”
Brother UK also makes its show debut this year. “The smart home industry is an untapped market opportunity for Brother UK,” explains Mike Kelly, head of identification at Brother UK. “The Home Technology Event is the best route into this sector, and is, undoubtedly, where we want to be with the Brother UK brand. We will be using the show to introduce some of our new label printer products, and to let people know who we are, what we’re about, and why we’re right for the residential CI market.” CAME UK is bringing a brand new home automation product to the show – CAME Hei. This system allows installers to integrate electrical devices within a home to each other via a digital network of sensors, modules and user interfaces. Simon Box from CAME UK says: “As increasing affordability makes these emerging technologies more desirable to a larger demographic, we strongly believe that CAME Hei is uniquely placed to satisfy growing demand for this type of technology. Visitors to our stand will see working examples of the Hei system which will demonstrate some of the functionality.” @page_break@ NextGen is exhibiting at the Home Technology Event for the first time and is thrilled to be launching two new Xray Remote Extenders that both take ordinary remote controls and give them powerful RF capability. “We are looking forward to participating at the event as we have great products to shout about,” says Bob Dolatowski of NextGen. “The audience that attends the show is perfect for us, so we are going to make the most of it.” With nearly 40 years of experience in the planning and supply of co-axial cable based RF networks, Teldis exhibits at the Home Technology Event for the very first time this year to showcase a new and exciting crossover product. The MAC family of Digital Television Modulators, from Ikusi, allows a multitude of AV sources to be recreated within a terrestrial TV multiplex. For the first time, at a reasonable cost, it is possible to build your own ‘Freeview’ multiplex. “We hope to become a known supplier of digital RF products into the smart homes installation industry where the legacy of coaxial based networks needs to be used,” adds Arthur Row of Teldis. Another first time exhibitor, Think Simple is officially launching its new, classy and elegant Italian designed and manufactured glass lighting control system. A totally innovative range, it not only features a revolutionary design concept that focuses on simplicity of use and attractive glass styling, but it also offers complete freedom in terms of glass colour co-ordination. Ivan Lewis from Think Simple says: “As a company, we see the Home Technology Event as the perfect place to launch our new and exciting range. We are looking to find the right partners to bring Think Simple to the domestic market, and where better to do this than at the show.” @page_break@
A new approach is promised by Pharos Architectural Controls, which will be bringing its controls expertise gained in entertainment lighting control to the installation market. Pharos introduces its new Touch Panel Controller during the Home Technology Event. Product Manager Liz Cecil explains: “Our Touch Panel Controller is an elegant, stand-alone lighting control solution with a built-in, customisable touch screen interface. It is beautifully designed to grace the wall of any room and shares the same advanced control engine as our Lighting Playback Controllers, which are deployed in landmark installations around the globe.”
For many years Totem has been seen as one of the world’s best speaker manufacturers. As the home theatre and architectural markets have grown, Totem has spent years developing a range of products to suit these custom applications without compromising the outstanding performance Totem is now known for. At this year’s Home Technology Event, Totem will be presenting its latest on-wall, in-wall, subwoofer and design speakers. “We’re delighted to welcome so many new companies to the Home Technology Event 2011,” says Cheryl Carroll, Event Manager at Upper Street Events – which has itself come on board as organiser for the first time for this year’s show. “Bringing a new dynamic to the show was one of our key objectives, and these debut exhibitors will certainly help do that. Also, new will be an innovative room sets feature giving a fresh perspective on the CI industry. A modern media room, home office, music studio and a games room will bring technology to life as will our 3D feature zone at the heart of the show where the latest home cinema and flat screen technology will be in action.” With so many unfamiliar names on the show floor and new initiatives introduced by Upper Street Events alongside more established brands and offerings, the CEDIA Home Technology Event looks certain to deliver a combination of attractions with broad appeal to visitors. At the time of writing, we understand that visitor registrations are well ahead on the comparable time last year, with more than 60% of those coming to the show attending for the first time. www.hometechnologyevent.com
