Sharp Appoints Doug Albregts
By David Keene
David Keene– Major news from Sharp today, as the company just announced that Doug Albregts has joined the company’s Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) as president (that is, president of the company’s B2B business unit).Albregts is a major figure in the industry. Albregts did a stint at NEC, and more recently Samsung, and is a veteran of this market who knows what works and what is too far down the slippery slope of commoditization.Sharp has been shaking up the AV channel a bit of late, with some really aggressive new product pricing. They’ve introduced 60, 70, and 80 inch ...
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Winding Up CETW, Winding Down the Hype
By David Keene
CETW (Customer Engagement Technology World) in New York last week was a good place to catch up with some folks, as we start winding up 2011. Smaller trade shows and/or conferences are often good places to more calmly take in trends in the industry– or at least to step back and look at some quieter trends without the hype of a 20,000 or 50,000 attendee trade event. I’m not sure significant trends showed themselves on the trade show floor– but at a quieter, more compact show, it’s possible to find the people you’ve come to meet– and sit down for some nice conversation (at some nice Tribeca ...
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Saddle Ranch, Seatac, Merge and Expand
By David Keene
Saddle Ranch Productions, who have established their position in the industry over the last several years as a good boutique content creation company, briefed me yesterday at CETW in New York on their acquisition of Seatac Digital Resources. In a move designed to reposition the company from being a pure content provider to having a broader range of digital signage content services, the new company is renamed Saddle Ranch Digital (SRD). Interestingly, this news comes on the heels of the announcement Oct. 26 that that Paul Flanigan had joined Saddle Ranch as the VP of Content Strategy. Things ...
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NanoLumens Rolls Out Broad Line of LED Displays
By David Keene
LED walls have been around for years, so it can be hard to get excited about new product launches. Historically LED has been some combination of too expensive, physically heavy, and energy-sucking to make many inroads from its perch in the world of sports stadiums and a some rock concerts to the broader world of digital signage. This is changing– case in point, this week’s debut of a broad line of new LED products from NanoLumens at the Customer Engagement Technology World show in New York.NanoLumens has been showing a few products at trade events for the past couple years, but this week’s ...
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ComQi Ramps up Sales Staff, and Offerings
By David Keene
Dovetailing with their presence at the CETW in New York, ComQi has added three key people to the U.S. sales team. They are Wendy Bosley, National Account Manager; Art Williams, Account Executive; and Todd Wulfert, Strategic Account Director. Wendy came most recently from Christie Digital, and will focus on the digital signage for retail market. Todd Wulfert is a veteran technology sales and marketing professional from Silicon Valley and has done turns at Panasonic, Philips and Scala. Art Williams has extensive experience working with end-users on designing optimal media solutions, with ...
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Looking to 2012, from Tom Stimson
By David Keene
Those of you not familiar with Tom Stimson, should be. Tom is the top industry consultant in the U.S. advising live event staging companies on management and profitability issues. He’s a rare commodity in an industry where most MBA’s got their credentials through management by anxiety. His is a bona fide MBA– which would be unimpressive were it not tied to both 25+ years in this industry and a recent stint as President of InfoComm.Enough flattery– what’s less known is that Stimson is a no-nonsense analyst who knows as much about the systems integration side of the fence and newer markets as ...
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