CEDIA releases its 2011 Benchmarking Survey results, saying companies hope for the best this year as opportunities should grow throughout 2011.

The survey evaluates the state of CEDIA members' 2010, as well as their expectations for the year.

Respondents report 2010 gross revenue grows by 13% Y-o-Y, with average profit margin growth of 4.1% (from 2009's 3.5%).

An installer in 2010 took on an average of 41 projects, with an average project size of $32000.

Remodelling and retrofitting work remains to be a leading source of revenue (making up 63% of gross revenue), while systems integration and control projects are 2010's most profitable product category.

Home theatres and media rooms remain 2010's largest category, but are also dropping significantly, making up only 17% of 2010's gross revenue (from 2009's 24%).

As a snapshot of companies' performance data, CEDIA says its survey "gives ESCs the ability to compare themselves to industry averages and high performance metrics, allowing them to identify their company’s strengths and improve upon weaknesses to accomplish greater profitability.”

Go CEDIA 2011 Benchmarking Survey Report

Danish power company SEAS-NVE selects GreenWave Reality's home energy management solution, and will it to a select number of households before rolling it out to all its customers in 2012.

SEAS-NVE will eventually also extend this solution to include renewable enrgy sources (such as wind).

GreenWave's solution consistents of PowerNodes, intelligent power strips allowing users to control connected devices, together with an in-home energy display through which one can check appliance's consumption while connecting to advanced Gateway.

Customers can also manage their power consumption through internet-connected devices (computers and smartphones).

The solution is expandable, allowing for the monitoring of electric vehicle charging, heat pumps, water and gas meters.

Go GreenWave Reality Providing SmartHome Solution to SEAS-NVE

The ZigBee Alliance releases the latest draft of its Smart Energy 2.0 standard for public review and comment.

Smart Energy 2.0 is an IP-based energy management solution running on both wired and wireless communications protocols, including those from HomeGrid Forum, the HomePlug Powerline alliance, the Wifi Alliance and ZigBee itself.

This draft 0.7 document collects the Smart Energy Working Group's progress on the topics identified during the last ballot-- and will now enter the next 30-day ballot period.

The Alliance is also looking for public input (as well as comments from its key external stakeholders) to ensure "the highest levels of participation and industry cooperation."

You can find all Smart Energy 2.0 related documents-- together with the online comment submission form-- at ZigBee's website. Comments will close on August 15 2011.

Go ZigBee Smart Energy Overview

Wireless video will be the next big thing, if IHS iSuppli's latest forecast is correct-- WW wireless-video-enabled device shipments will reach 241.1m units by 2015.

Global shipments for such devices total just 6.6m for 2010.

Why such rapid growth? Customers, of course, demanding access to the kind of HD programming they have at home anywhere, on any device. Such demand is the fuel driving further advancement in wireless video technology.

According to iSuppli, video downloads on mobile devices alone will grow by 192% over the next 4 years-- reaching 1.5Bn downloads by 2014 (from 2010's 540m). Meanwhile IPTV shipments will reach 160m units in 2014 from 2010's 26m, growth of nearly 500%.

Newer mobile phones already carry HDMI-compatible interfaces (via Silicon Image's MHL technology), and Apple's iPad2 has HDMI support and HD video output.

Parallel to these advances is the manufacturers' adopting advanced internet-ready features in blu-ray players and digital TVs.

HDMI founder Silicon Image's recent acquisition of WirelessHD standard founder SiBeam points to a future of HD connections based on the company's millimeter wave solutions-- while the Wifi and WiGig Alliances work on gigabit-per-second wifi standards.

Thus, more HD content will be reaching the small screens, driving wireless video technology adoption ever further.

Go IHS iSuppli: 241m Wireless-Video-Enabled Devices to Ship by 2015

In America, the CEA, the association behind CES, launched their inaugural Demo Suites (partner of CEA Line Shows) included as part of the first-ever CE Week held in New York City.

Their panel discussion on custom integration included Entropic Communications, Access Networks; Audio Video Systems and Channel Master.

What did this American panel have to say about the custom install business? The conversation was too US-oriented to include all the comments... but below are the highlights of those topics now at the top of the US-mindset:

• The panelists agreed iPad has been a game-changer in the custom install market because of its control-panel capabilities. While custom installers expect Apple's tour de force will help them sell more integration projects (it's network-dependent), they worry that the traditional touch-panel market went out the same door that iPad entered.

• Panelists also agreed "green" tech is not yet a consumer demand--and more importantly, they can see no way to monetize the technology.

• Security is a demand and panelists saw the cloud as a two-faced friend. They believe consumer will be able to control security more directly from their TVs, but are worried that the big telecom operators will wrestle control from the CI industry.

• The use of coax cables (MoCA) came up in several ways, with security (compared to wireless) as one important benefit.

• Client satisfaction, being on call 24/7, the best service... is considered the most important part of custom integration.

• A new part of customer satisfaction in USA is providing technology to keep mature individuals happy and in their homes as long as possible. The aging-in-place market (versus health care providers and old age homes) is a natural for CI, said the panel. New products mentioned included: blood pressure cuffs, connected monitors, etc...

• As a whole the panel sees cloud as a change that will provide more tools to use in building the infrastructure to keep homeowners connected to information and bigger bandwidth internet.

Are the likes of Netflix and Hulu to blame for customers' cutting their cable services? If one takes the results in a US-based survey, it could either be so... or not, depending on how one reads the numbers.

A study by The Diffusion Group (TDG) claims the number of Netflix subscribers planning to either downgrade or outright cancel their cable TV services is up-- from 16% in 2010 to 32% in 2011.

However, the majority of those thinking of downgrading or cutting their services (around 50%) cite "the need to save money" as their primary reason-- recent economic woes proving to be a strong incentive.

So, are online services truly to blame for the gradual fall in cable TV? Trefis disagrees with that statement, saying it "still can not be a substitute for TV"-- a statement one can apply to other similar services over here in Europe.

However, one has to keep in mind Netflix's numbers show strong growth for 2010, particularly as the company plans to offer its services across the pond as well as on a variety of devices-- from smartphones to STBs and game consoles. Ultimately, though, Trefis concludes Netflix's (and cable TV's) future growth lies in whether it can actually substitute current TV services.

Go TDG: Proclivity to Downgrade PayTV Services Increasing among Netflix Streamers

Go Report on Cord Cutting Unfairly Points Finger at Netflix (Trefis)