SCN: What technology and/or verticals were most successful in 2014?
Ben Bausher: I think Dante has reached a very mature stage; everything seems to have it on board, and it’s been out long enough that the kinks are worked out.
What customer or end-user demand surprised you the most and why?
We are seeing much more demand for high production value video presentations at the university level. Whereas before a facility might have a simple switcher for video sources, now they want to have a full production system with backgrounds, layers, and transitions. They are using this both for in-house distribution as well as webcasting. A lot of schools are making this a part of their brand as they expand more and more into online classes.
I was surprised to see Crestron start shipping streaming video cards for their DM systems. They have always seemed to be a bit of a closed-system type of outfit, and it’s great to see them opening that up to a wider industry standard. It makes video distribution a lot easier and more cost-effective.
Ben Bausher is a Senior Consultant for the AV Systems Group at Jaffe Holden.