The convergence of residential and commercial technology, coined “resimercial,” has provided an opportunity for crossover between manufacturers, integrators and many other business facets. Resimercial has accelerated the adoption of technology integrations in nearly every industry and application, including home/hybrid offices, flex spaces, and commercial spaces, specifically office, retail and mixed-use facilities. As a result, professional AV manufacturers are designing and manufacturing solutions that can be utilized in both commercial and residential applications.
The inaugural Commercial Integrator Expo (CIX) 2023, co-located with CEDIA Expo 2023, created a necessary home for systems integrators, designers, distributors, architects, home builders and contractors tackling the resimercial and commercial markets. The event was bustling with technologies, educational sessions and opportunities centered around the industry’s hottest trends, including unified communications, audiovisual networking and digital signage.
Unified Communications
Photo by Alyssa Borelli.
Unified communications and collaboration technologies have emerged as hybrid and remote work have become normal. As a result, most people understand a great deal about videoconferencing platforms and technology, and business professionals and students are leveraging collaboration technologies — which were once reserved for corporate offices – for their home offices and flexible workspaces. In a September 2022 article, “Is Commercial AV Invading Residential AV’s Turf?”, Commercial Integrator noted the crossover of technologies between residential and commercial collaboration has created a need for residential integrators to understand the tools of enterprise collaboration. Additionally, commercial audiovisual integrators need to get up-to-speed on residential technologies, such as home theaters, distributed audio and home automation.
At CIX 2023, the Interactive Multimedia and Collaborative Communications Alliance (IMCCA) hosted leading industry experts in unified communications in engaging conference track sessions which discussed the latest trends and solutions opportunities for systems integrators’ and technology managers’ businesses. To support the overlapping skillset, IMCCA’s educational programming covered the key aspects for residential integrators to become trusted experts in unified communications and collaboration technologies.
Additionally, IMCCA’s educational sessions, combined with many exhibitors on the CEDIA Expo and CIX 2023 show floor, showcased enterprise video collaboration and unified communications technology solutions that can be utilized in home offices, flex spaces and mixed-use facilities.
Audiovisual Networking
In a September 2023 article, CE Pro’s Zachary Comeau noted, “The home networking and distribution manufacturers that exhibit at CEDIA [Expo] are becoming increasingly advanced as home networks are being asked to support more devices.” There’s a growing commercial market filled with boutique hotels, co-working coffee shops and other niche projects requiring solutions more reliable than standard networking solutions, but maybe not as robust as traditional corporate boardrooms.
A plethora of networking equipment was introduced at CIX 2023, all aimed at providing reliable connections to address the growing challenges of hybrid and remote work, such as video distribution in light commercial and mixed-use spaces, high-performance networking for hybrid and remote offices, and connectivity for boutique, niche environments, like flexible, mixed-use spaces.
Luxul, a brand of Legrand | AV, introduced a refreshed line of managed PoE+ AV gigabit switches, which are designed to provide AV-over-IP in small offices, conference rooms, home theaters or other light commercial applications. Meanwhile, NETGEAR showcased the PR60X, a professional-grade router offering up to 16Gbps bi-direction WAN-LAN throughput performance. The PR60X is designed for power users who depend on reliable, fast communications from their small businesses or home offices.
Digital Signage
Photo by Alyssa Borelli.
At CIX 2023, the Digital Signage Federation’s Digital Signage Day enabled attendees to take advantage of relevant and informative educational opportunities to drive digital signage opportunities for their businesses forward. Uniquely, the programming during Digital Signage Day complemented the new technologies on the show floor to provide attendees with unparalleled value.
Attendees could take their knowledge to the show floor as they discovered emerging trends in digital signage, including new advancements in OLED and microLED. LG introduced OLED M, available in 77-inch, 83-inch and 97-inch diagonal measures, which allows integrators to install the display without the wires behind the screen. Additionally, LG showcased 2K and 4K microLED displays, designed in two panels that snap together for simplified installation.
Planar featured the DirectLight Ultra Series, a lineup of fine-pitch MicroLED video wall displays that deliver high-contrast, high brightness for exceptional video performance. The displays are ready for HDR content, maximizing the image quality of each pixel for brighter whites, darker blacks and more true-to-life colors in various uses, such as corporate boardrooms and theater-like environments.
Final Thoughts
It has long been thought that residential and commercial technologies and their respective markets were separate entities not meant to overlap. In an October 2022 article, “When Worlds Collide: The Commercial and Residential AV Crossover”, Commercial Integrator noted that integrators on both sides of the industry — both residential and commercial — are expanding their offerings and exploring new technologies to meet their clients’ needs due to the lack of available products and the need for reliable, consistent technology amid continuous supply-chain disruptions.
Integrators have become creative with their product and solutions offerings to harness available technologies, while providing robust, high-quality systems for combined resimercial and commercial customers. As a result, the available options between commercial and residential technologies continue to blur the dividing lines between industry markets.
Commercial Integrator Expo was established to provide a resource to support the overlap between education, technology and resources to expand opportunities for channel professionals, IT integrators and tech managers. From AI, audio, control, video, digital signage, security, energy management, lighting and unified communications, exhibitors provided attendees with a well-rounded offering of the latest technologies centered around the industry’s hottest trends.
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