CEDIA heads to the Lord's Cricket Ground in London for the Tech Summit tour-- a free to attend event promoting real-world education, practical business development and networking for all involved.

Taking place on 4 April, the London Tech Summit features four 45-minute presentations, with trade supplier members focusing on key categories such as audio, video, lighting and security. CIE will provide a comprehensive guide to specifying and installing a high quality intercom solution as part of a smart building solution or MDU project, before Focal takes an in-depth look into the ever-expanding home cinema market, with a focus on maximising performance, subwoofer placement, the importance of phase coherency and an introduction to Dirac Live.

MWC 2019 sees the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) present a rebranding of the USB 3.0 standard-- the upcoming USB 3.2 will absorb prior USB 3.0 and 3.1 specifications, leading to a perhaps confusing take on USB classification.

Essentially both USB 3.0 and 3.1 will now be considered as generations of the USB 3.2 specification. Thus USB 3.0, which offers speeds up to 5 Gbps, is now USB 3.2 Gen 1. Meanwhile USB 3.1 Gen 2, with support for transfer rates of up to 10 Gbps, becomes USB 3.2 Gen 2. As for what we know as USB 3.2, with throughput reaching 20 Gbps, the standard is designated as USB 3.2 Gen 2x2.

Integrated Systems Europe 2019 confirmed the event as the international destination for AV professionals, as the 16th edition of the show is the largest yet, covering 56100 net square metres housing 1301 exhibitors and 81268 registered visitors.

Of the exhibitors, 225 (or 17%) are first timers, while of 32% of the visitors were first time attendees. The organisers add Wednesday saw the largest ever one-day attendance figure for any show at the Amsterdam RAI, and the number of Friday attendees passed 20000 for the first time.

Control4 announces the acquisition of Switzerland-based NEEO, creators of the acclaimed smart home remote, in order to further boost the development of remotes, touchpanels, keypads and other smart home devices.

Launched via the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform in 2015, the NEEO remote offers simple setup, out-of-the-box interoperability with 1000s of devices and a striking design complete with both a large touchscreen and physical buttons. Based in Bern, the NEEO product team has been led by founder Raphael Oberholzer, and will be working with the Control4 engineering group on the development of next-gen Control4 remote controls and touchpanels. Oberholzer takes a leadership role in the development of interaction devices, reporting to SVP products & services Charlie Kindel.

Panduit, a global electrical and network infrastructure solution vendor, announces the acquisition of Atlona in a deal the two companies describe as beneficial for both sides. Financial details are not available.

“Atlona has been at the forefront in developing cutting-edge AV technology that embraces the full potential of the convergence of AV and network infrastructure,” Panduit says. “Their industry-leading solutions complement Panduit’s extensive physical infrastructure portfolio, which will allow us to offer customers a quality end-to-end solution as they move to increasingly complex network infrastructure systems.”

The CEDIA board of directors approves the 2019 executive committee and votes for Rob Sutherland as EMEA appointed director for the 2019-2020 term. David Humphries, principal of Atlantic Integrated, serves as chairperson.

"With CEDIA's 30th year underway, the board will continue to focus on driving forward the organisation's strategy that will boost industry connections with the design and build trade, enhance educational experiences, elevate professionalism, and build workforce development processes that will grow our pipeline of qualified talent," Humphries says. "The global reach of CEDIA is the key to parlaying existing successes into ongoing progress."