View from Infocomm: Darren Lewitt, Midwich

Samsung, one of the event’s platinum sponsors, was extremely keen to show off its vast range of solutions. New concepts included Panoramic LED and there was a great deal of emphasis on sustainable LED solutions. Panasonic meanwhile showed off its new £500,000 152-inch plasma display.

Once again, projection is likely to be a strong innovation area over the next few years. Ultra short throw, LED/laser, 3D, interactive and large venue solutions would seem, on paper anyway, to be the real growth areas in this sector.

Despite a big launch last year by DLP, it looks like 3D will take a lot longer to take off in the commercial market simply due to limited content availability. Hitachi was quick to show that 3D can be done with LCD but it’s all too ambiguous for me at the moment and a standard needs to be established.

The four main players in the ultra short throw arena seem to be moving into position. Hitachi led from the front and now has a great line up of solutions. Epson responded at BETT by bringing out its own range with a focus on interactive projection that offers a significant cost saving over conventional interactive whiteboards. At Infocomm, NEC and Sanyo joined the fight. It will be interesting to see how this market develops.

Casio’s revolutionary mercury and lamp-free LED/laser projector has shaken up the market and sales are currently well ahead of expectations. Industry analyst Futuresource Consulting predicts a potential 15-20% share for this category in the next few years but the question remains as to whether Casio can stay ahead of the competition in the long term.

Video conferencing was one of the most interactive areas of the show this year. The brand that stood out for me was Radvision because the company is promoting volume technology growth in this segment and has an exciting roadmap. A partnership with Samsung means that Radvision, the company that invented many of today’s video conferencing protocols, will launch a range of ‘open solutions’. This means that users can combine affordable desktop and mobile solutions from Radvision with their existing Polycom or Tandberg systems.

Video walls were a big focus of the show. Christie was busy showing off its impressive Microtiles. NEC unveiled a new LED videowall and a wall of thin bezel LCD displays controlled by a new flexible software solution. LG demonstrated an impressive 120-inch solution made up of four very thin bezel 60-inch panels, while Sharp exhibited its new 2.4mm thin 60-inch LCD solution that is available as a single unit or as a huge video wall.

Other new innovations on show included the latest Quattron LED ultra thin 42 to 60-inch TV technology from Sharp and LG’s concierge shopping solution that allows users to conveniently book things and charge them to their room.

There is a big rise in demand for a new display category of commercial TV solutions. LG launched its Commercial Pro range in February and Toshiba announced its new Stasia range. Sony showcased its Bravia B2B series (surprisingly without an enabled tuner) and Sanyo has a new commercial TV range too. Panasonic also launched its new 32 and 42-inch commercial TV solutions at the show.

Chief launched www.rackbuilder.com following the purchase of Raxxess. It will offer some innovative and affordable rack solutions and a certified Chief partner programme will benefit integrators.

Finally, AMX announced that its products can now be controlled via the iPad and Smart used the show to demonstrate its ‘Next Window’ acquisition by showing off its latest solutions. Overall, it was a very impressive event and we will certainly return to Infocomm next year.