Why #ISE2018 was the best yet!
We have to say, 2018 was arguably the best Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) for you, our customers!
An army of Midwich people and hundreds of our customers, descended on Amsterdam to join the 80,000 visitors (10% more than 2017) and 1,300 exhibitors. Combined, the exhibitors filled 53,000 sq m of exhibition floor space and amazingly, floor space already confirmed for ISE 2019 currently stands at 103% of the total booked for ISE 2018…WOW!
Mouth-watering tech…
Many exhibitors once again used the show as a launchpad for hundreds of new products, technologies and solutions. Technology and business trends included: a growth in IP and the crossover between broadcast and AV; commercially viable virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies and solutions; the increase of devices for the smart home; the divergence of digital signage with both smart systems and ‘plug and play’ gaining traction; the increase in small pitch LED displays; 4K everywhere; IoT everywhere; the growth of projection mapping; networked audio and the continued progression of the collaboration market.
On the subject of collaboration, you would've seen the rise of increasingly sophisticated – yet simple to set up and use - wired and wireless sharing solutions. Many feature ample USB connectivity to support a range of plug and play devices such as cameras, microphones and audio.
I think you’d agree, LED was one of the stand out performers at ISE this year - One of the most exciting advancements in display technologies over the past couple of years has been the transformation that LED has undergone. Developments in LED displays make them extremely suitable for indoor environments and with the reduction in pixel pitch, it means that LED displays can be viewed from a much closer distance – sometimes as little as a metre.
One of the industry’s real success stories over the past decade or so has been how LCD screen manufacturers have upped their game – to the point where, today, outstanding image quality is pretty much a given, and certainly less significant as a source of competitive advantage. At ISE, it was great to see so many screens with even more inbuilt functionality, such as Bluetooth beacons for interaction with consumers’ mobile devices.
The advent of large format displays with superlative image quality could have killed the projector market – but, it didn’t take long at ISE to see the projection market is well and truly alive! The fact is that the projector market continues to grow, with Technavio forecasting a CAGR of 9.61% between now and 2021 [2], demonstrating this growth.
Few in the AV industry are unfamiliar with the term “IT-ification”. At the heart of ISE you would’ve seen the growing prevalence of IP as the underlying technology for connecting everything to everything – including audiovisual systems. AVoIP – or networked AV – is driving convergence between the world of corporate networks and telecoms, and what were once islands of AV technology. The really good news, though, is that the advent of IP will create a significantly greater market opportunity for AV, which was certainly evident at ISE.
At IBC last year, there was much discussion of the convergence of broadcast with AV. The same can be said about ISE, I heard plenty of discussion about the convergence between AV and broadcast. Why? It has been said that, in an online world, everyone will be a broadcaster. That’s not just vloggers and YouTube channels – it is extending into the corporate world. As with most such developments, it’s started with major organisations – but the expectation is, it will gradually filter down to medium and small enterprises who will have the desire, the tools and the budget to create and distribute their own highly professional video content –professional video, a highly lucrative market now and in the future!
Jenny's AV Magazine Panel Debate – Collaboration
You may have seen on our social media pages that our Group Head of Technology Jenny Hicks, represented Midwich on AV Magazine’s panel debate: ‘Making Collaboration Work!’. Jenny was joined by Arran McDonald, Senior Enterprise Architect from AstraZeneca, Stephen Milner, Chief Technology Officer at ISDM Solutions and Graham Mackay, Managing Partner at Generation Digital (Google specialist).
UC and Collaboration solutions were everywhere this year, with providers adding more and more functionality and software agnostic hardware offerings, with many manufacturers out to get a piece of the huddle space pie.
On the panel debate, there was healthy discussion around which solutions will triumph and what is coming next. There were a few points the panel agreed on unanimously:
1) That collaborative working is not just about tech but about culture and the technology complimenting the cultural goals of a business by increasing productivity and saving time.
2) For maximum ROI, wide spread adoption must be achieved, the solutions that appeal to all generations in the work force will be the most successful, and the key to that success is simplicity, particularly the ‘one click’ to achieve a function trend.
3) Finally, what’s next? Definitely voice interaction. It has taken over our home lives and is now an expectation of today’s user, but it also answers the simplicity request, there is no need for an intuitive user interface if you can control your room and technology by speaking to it.
Your chance to get hands-on…
Join the Midwich team for our very own Retail Technology event on Thursday 10th May at London’s OX02 Tower from 2pm onwards.
This will be your chance to get 'hands-on' with the latest technologies in projection, iLFD, LDF and LED, from some of our leading brands such as LG, Samsung, iiyama and Panasonic. That’s not it, we also have a keynote industry speaker lined up, discussing the top retail trends for 2018-19.
Fancy a cocktail or two? You'll be served delicious canapes throughout the day, choosing from a menu of cocktails, mixed by our onsite mixologist.
Registration is completely FREE for our resellers and their customers.
Did you visit our stand in Hall 5 R130?
This year’s Midwich Group stand (pics below) was bigger and better than ever, with more seating, more refreshments and more Midwich experts on hand to talk tech to our customers. The combination of fresh flowing coffee, Jelly Baby sweets and fresh salmon wraps certainly went down a storm, and had you coming back day after day.
We also received great feedback about our fancy ISE show guide and The Midwich Group booklet - we do hope these helped you navigate the miles and miles of eye watering technology, during the 4 days!
Could we have done more for you? If so, we’d love to hear your feedback – drop our lovely events team an email.
Award Winning Midwich
During the show, Midwich was nominated for tvONE and Milestone’s Distributor of the Year awards respectively. We couldn’t believe our luck when we scooped not one but both awards. Check out both pictures below, with Lee Baker our Commercial Director receiving the Milestone award (top) and Midwich Technical Director, Jon Dew-Stanley collecting the tvONE award (bottom).
Work hard play hard
With any event like ISE, it provides a great opportunity to catch up with our friends from across the industry, whether that’s our vendor partners, reseller customers, and end users.
Here’s a few snaps from the week, you may see some familiar faces.
A picture perfect ISE
During our time at this year’s show, we took a collection of photos, good and bad. Please check out our Twitter feed from during the event for a collection of images and videos from the show - enjoy!
[2] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-projector-market-2017-2021-300439123.html
