CEDIA Expo 2019 - Digital Ramble Blog - #CEDIAExpo

The custom electronics industry is rolling into town, the smart home circus is about to put up its Big Top! Two years in San Diego ushered in Do It For Me business model discussions, the establishment of voice control of professionally installed technology and of course the new owners of the CEDIA Expo. Denver, Colorado is this years host city and over the next 5 days we will see the home tech future mapped out by the biggest brands and brightest minds in the industry.

2019 is as good as done, CEDIA Expo brings you face to face with 2020 and 2021 products, so what’s going to be hot stuff this year?

The Practical Smart Home

Water, smoke, odours and intruders are all unwanted in the home and the sensory superpowers of a home get more intelligent every year. Artificial intelligence and machine learning is now driving the new range of sensors soon to become a standard fit in millions of homes. Look out in the aisles for automated water valves, cameras equipped with facial recognition and sensors monitoring air quality good and bad.

One to Watch - Hero Labs

The 5G Home

Faster connectivity to our homes from the internet service providers means our internal home networks need to be built to handle these speeds and able to deliver them reliably around the home. The home network is becoming too much for the homeowner and the need for a pro to take the hassle away is on the rise. Pay attention to network solutions with long term in mind and get the training you need to be a local home network specialist.

One to Watch - Access Networks

Smart Home as a Standard 

This has been coming since 2015, right? It’s never quite hit the price point for the masses but the new decade ahead is going to see affordability with smart home tech arrive in style. New construction is embracing the connected home and a standard fit from new means you don’t need to be buying all those upgrades you did in your last home. New home builders are ditching the dumb and giving buyers what they want.

One to Watch - Design + Connection Tours

The Digital Ramble will be broadcasting throughout the week of Expo. You can be a part of the show, drop us a message, we’d love to have you join us on air.

Kris and JJ

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Customised are your Norfolk based CEDIA Smart Home experts. 

Smart Home Industry Discussions at @Install_Mag Show with @JulieJacobson

This week saw the arrival of the annual Essential Install Live! South show to Sandown Park in Surrey. The show is the UK's leading exhibition for the smart home installation industry and attracts global exhibitors and visitors.

This year welcomed the return of the Seminar Theatre which hosted presentations and discussions throughout both days. The variety of content delivered reflected the diversity of the smart home industry. Key industry figures covered topics such as HDMI, electrical contractor opportunities, working better with house builders and the impact of SkyQ.

One new addition to the timetable were two panel discussions hosted by revered journalist and CE Pro co-founder Julie Jacobson. Joining Julie were past CEDIA EMEA Chairman Kris Hogg from Konnectiv and Customised director Kris Gamble. The two Kris’ faced questions from the host and the audience during both sessions and in a lot of cases shared very similar views on the current state and future for the industry. Similarities in their business makeup included the use of subcontractors to cope with peaks in workload, a clear separation between home automation and home entertainment.

Kris Hogg discussed his own business success in introducing maintenance services to his client base and explained the assets required to provide a high level of proactive and reactive service. Kris Gamble revealed his role as a main contractor for technology to his clients with management and supervision of subcontractors the demand on his resources.

Both Kris’ highlighted the enormous benefits their business gains from being members of CEDIA and the outstanding benefit appeared to be the ability to deliver CPD presentations to designers of buildings and interiors. Kris Hogg enthusiastically endorsed it as a game changer for Konnectiv when they became members.

Julie raised the subject of Brexit to the panel and the audience and there was great participation from staff members from Wyrestorm, HDL Automation and Archimedia. It became evident that the recent political changes were already making an impact with price increases, staffing issues and project delays.

New technologies were discussed and the Amazon Echo hogged the limelight as expected. Voice control is an exciting interface for the smart home industry and it is starting to appear in installations of all budgets.

Customised were honoured to be part of this panel discussion and would like to send a big thank you to the Event Director David Kitchener, host Julie Jacobson and fellow panellist Kris Hogg. See you all at Essential Install Live! 2017.