Joining us on this week’s podcast are Alex Capecelatro, the CEO of Denver-based Josh.ai, the voice-controlled home automation system, and Amanda Wildman, the co-owner of TruMedia, a respected custom integration firm in Ada, MI. As chairperson and vice chairperson of CEDIA, respectively, Capecelatro and Wildman are two of the best people to fill us in on all things CEDIA. The professional smart home industry’s global trade association recently completed a record year for new member acquisitions, ...
Apr 25, 2024•45 min
On this week’s podcast, Jason Griffing joins us from Highlands Ranch, CO, where he is director of product for OneVision Resources, the remote support and RMR provider to custom integrators. Jason is responsible for overseeing the development and strategic direction of the company’s service platform, serving as OneVision’s voice of the customer, advancing their product roadmap and R&D initiatives. Prior to joining OneVision in 2017, Jason spent a decade as a residential integrator doing every...
Apr 11, 2024•53 min
On this week’s podcast, Chris Lehnen joins us from Portland, OR, where he is a business development manager for Luminii, a manufacturer of architectural lighting solutions. Luminii was one of the lighting fixture exhibitors at the third-annual Lightapalooza conference held last month in Glendale, AZ, where the company showcased its specification-grade, low voltage fixtures, including a new LED linear product range and micro-optics solutions ideal for the custom integration channel. Our guest tod...
Mar 28, 2024•29 min
On this week’s podcast, Eddie Shapiro joins us from the Washington DC area, where is a chief AV designer and owner of the custom integration firm, SmartTouchUSA. Eddie, who recently completed his three-year term as a CEDIA Board member, just this past week joined a contingent of CEDIA representatives in the nation’s capital to advocate for current and future generations of the smart home industry during the Inaugural CEDIA Day on the Hill. Meetings with political leaders on March 6 addressed two...
Mar 14, 2024•46 min
On this week’s podcast, Charlie Porritt joins us from Portsmith, New Hampshire, where he is CEO of Russound, an internationally respected leader in manufacturer of audio products and technology. While it seems as if those of us who know Charlie today only associate him with his 24 years at Russound, they’re failing to recognize early stops in his career at such other legendary brands, Harman and SpeakerCraft. Today we’ll look back a bit on our guest’s career arc, finding out what wisdom he picke...
Mar 07, 2024•40 min
On this week’s podcast, Richard Litofsky joins us from Rockville, MD, where he is co-founder and CEO of madVR Labs, the developer of the Envy Extreme and Envy Pro video processors for the high-end home cinema market. Ric is a serial entrepreneur with an expertise and focus on several technology categories, including, of course, real-time video processing, which we will dive into on the podcast. Many CEDIA EXPO 2023 attendees felt that the home theater demo featuring madVR tech video processing w...
Feb 23, 2024•58 min
On this week’s podcast, our contributing editor Michael Heiss joins us from his home in Los Angeles to talk about his experience at last month’s Consumer Electronics Show, including the biggest trends, biggest surprises, and most over-hyped and most-under-the-radar introductions. Like I said last year at this time, we especially appreciate Michael’s reports from Las Vegas. He was there so you and I didn’t have to be. Although he didn’t leave Sin City unscathed (stupid Covid…) there’s still no on...
Feb 15, 2024•49 min
On this week’s podcast, Tim Bigoness joins us from Atlanta, GA, where he is chief marketing officer and VP of sales for D-Tools, the provider of business software for low-voltage system integration firms. Founded in 1998 by chairman, Adam Stone, D-Tools pioneered the category of data-driven proposal, system design, and field service management in the system integration industry with its on-premises System Integrator software. In 2019, D-Tools introduced its cloud-based platform, D-Tools Cloud, w...
Jan 30, 2024•40 min
On this week’s podcast, Tom Doherty joins us from Palm Desert, CA, where he is a director for the HTSA buying group. If CEDIA had the equivalent of the Disney Legends program for its founding pioneers, then Tom would be in its inaugural group. He was literally there at the beginning of the industry’s premier trade association’s CEDIA Expo and he has led an impressive career as integrator and manufacturer, culminating in his current role where his vision has brought the lighting category to the f...
Jan 04, 2024•1 hr 2 min
On this week’s podcast, Mark Grobman, CTO of machine learning for Hailo, and Derek Webb, surveillance product manager for Snap One, join us to discuss a recent announcement from Snap One about how the company’s Luma Insights security system has leveraged the Hailo-8 AI chip to allow for advanced security capabilities. The Insights service integrates with existing Snap One products and requires minimal setup for integrators, allowing for near-instant access to AI-powered visibility from Luma came...
Dec 28, 2023•35 min
On this week’s podcast, Terrence Dover joins us from New Haven, CT, where he is senior global product line manager for Nice North America. Following an award-winning four-year stretch with Harman’s Mark Levinson audio brand, Terrence joined Nice North America in August 2021 where was tasked with updating and modernizing the company’s brand portfolio, which includes 22 products launched over 18 months. Today we will learn more about Terrence’s career path in the audio technology and music recordi...
Dec 21, 2023•42 min
On this week’s podcast, Michael Don Ham joins us from the New York area where he is co-founder and president of RePure, a company that is on a mission to transform indoor spaces into smarter and healthier environments. In a post-COVID world, awareness of Indoor Air Quality has surged, yet we're still awaiting regulations and codes to ensure our homes and buildings are as safe and healthy as possible. It’s crucial for architects, interior designers, home builders, and custom integrators to recogn...
Dec 14, 2023•41 min
On this week’s podcast, Hank Alexander joins us to discuss his role as director of Nationwide Marketing Group’s Oasys Residential Technology Group and its impressive progress this year in its “Drive to 1,000” members. Nationwide, headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC, is North America’s largest buying and marketing organization for independent major appliance, consumer electronics, and home furnishings dealers. Oasys, a custom electronics and installation network inside of Nationwide Marketing Grou...
Dec 07, 2023•34 min
On this week’s podcast, Jeff Shaw joins us from Petaluma, CA, where he is vice president of product management for Nice North America. This is Jeff’s second time on the podcast, so today we skip most of the usual biographical part of our interview and dive right into news from Nice, including an exciting promotion for Jeff’s colleague Paul Williams, as well as insights into smart home product category trends, best practices for custom integrators, and even a look ahead to Nice’s product roadmap....
Nov 30, 2023•29 min
On this week’s podcast, Airzone North America’s National Operations Manager, Victoria Garcia Massimo, and Regional Sales Manager for the US Central & West, Bob Howey, join us from Miami and Dallas to discuss their company’s smart control solution for HVAC systems. Airzone’s Aidoo Pro acts as a bridge between proprietary HVAC inverter and mini-split manufacturers’ protocols and IoT device or smart home control system APIs. Our guests today describe how the market for inverter and mini-split s...
Nov 16, 2023•22 min
On this week’s podcast, Gavin Lantzy joins us from Denver, CO, where he is president and founder of SaaviHome, a custom integration firm founded in 2004. SaaviHome recently launched a franchise business model to provide entrepreneurs with a turnkey program to enter the smart home technology and light commercial markets. Our guest today has spent years developing a business model that offers franchisees the tools and support necessary to build a successful operation. The program offers comprehens...
Nov 09, 2023•45 min
On this week’s podcast, Jeff Klida joins us from Bay City, MI, where he serves as vice president of sales at EPV Screens, the division of Elite Screens dedicated to the custom install market. From front projection and acoustically transparent to ambient light rejecting and polarized 3D materials, EPV provides electric and fixed-frame projection screens that fit just about any viewing experience. Today, we dig into projection screen trends and developments, learn more about EPV’s evolution as a C...
Nov 02, 2023•48 min
On this week’s episode, "I am Sayen" Founder Jason Sayen joins us from his home in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, to explore how his certification as a Lean Six Sigma helps him guide CI businesses in eliminating waste and transforming problems into opportunities. With 27 years of experience in the custom integration industry, Jason's journey has encompassed diverse roles in manufacturing, distribution, and independent representation. Today's conversation provides just a taste of the practical insights and ...
Oct 26, 2023•36 min
On this week’s podcast, Paul Williams joins us once again from Salt Lake City, UT, where he is chief product officer for Nice. Nice last year began the absorption of its acquired custom integration brands, ELAN, SpeakerCraft, and Panamax, and at CEDIA Expo last month, their consolidation into the Nice brand was fully evident on the show floor, where the company showcased its commitment to offering a holistic home management solution for its partners and customers. Prior to the show Jeremy chatte...
Oct 10, 2023•23 min
On this week’s podcast, Jamie Briesemeister joins us from St. Louis, where she is CEO and co-founder of Integration Controls and Patrick Hartman joins us from Reno, Nevada, where he is general manager Technology Design Associates. Patrick and Jamie were the two people recruited Jeremy to help launch the CEDIA Business Xchange conference back in 2014, and that experience created a bond and friendship that has lasted almost 10 years. During CEDIA Expo 2023 in early September, Jamie subbed in for i...
Oct 03, 2023•36 min
On this week’s podcast, Jason Knott joins us again from his home office in Sturbridge, MA, where he now serves as data solutions architect & evangelist, Data by D-Tools. It was only 10 episodes ago that Jason came on to discuss his newly created role at D-Tools, where he works with a special team to define and deliver industry analytics and insights. Well, some of those results are now included in a very thorough 2023 Midyear Market Health Report. We wanted to discuss those findings in detai...
Sep 25, 2023•36 min
On this week’s podcast, Walt Zerbe joins us from Lancaster, PA, where he is senior director of technology and standards for CEDIA. Walt and Jeremy, like many of you in the audience were in Denver, CO, at this time last week attending a very energetic and inspiring CEDIA Expo event. Our guest today was not only checking out as many new products and technologies as he could on the show floor but was also participating in multiple CEDIA (the association) hosted education training and panel discussi...
Sep 15, 2023•53 min
On this week’s podcast, Jeff Shaw joins us from Petaluma, CA, where he is vice president of product management for Nice North America. Jeremy and met a year ago at this time, when Nice welcomed members of the trade media to their U.S. headquarters in Carlsbad, CA, to meet the team and learn about their product direction. At that time, Nice announced its plan to sunset the ELAN, SpeakerCraft, and Panamax product names. This year their focus is less about rebranding, and more about new products. S...
Aug 31, 2023•30 min
On this week’s podcast, Michael Short joins us from London, where he is senior director of residential and hospitality marketing at Crestron. It’s been almost a year since Jeremy had dinner in Dallas during CEDIA Expo with Michael, along with several members of the Crestron executive team. At that time, they talked about all of the hullabaloo surrounding supply chain challenges and pricing inflation, but then we mostly just unwound and decompressed from a long day on the show floor. This year, t...
Aug 24, 2023•38 min
On this week’s podcast, we welcome two esteemed guests, AVPro Global Founder and CEO Jeff Murray and AudioControl VP of Sales and Marketing, Chris Kane, to discuss exciting business acquisition news for the residential and commercial AV integration industry. AVPro Global, the parent company of AVPro Edge, Murideo, and Bullet Train audio/video distribution products, recently acquired the Home Audio division of AudioControl from AAMP Holdings. Through the deal, AVPro Global will assume ownership o...
Aug 04, 2023•33 min
On this week’s podcast, John Sciacca joins us from Myrtle Beach, SC, where he co-owner of Custom Theater and Audio. When it comes to people that Jeremy has met through his job over the years, John is at the top of the list as one his favorites. So, following a short summer hiatus from podcast recording, Jeremy thought he should start with a fun one, inviting back one of his most entertaining guests. In a wide-ranging chat, they cover some residential tech topics, but also their favorite current ...
Jul 28, 2023•44 min
On this week’s podcast, Craig Spinner joins us from Osterville, MA, where is general manager for Savant Power within Savant Systems Inc. Savant is a leader in both smart home and smart power solutions, as well as a provider of energy efficient smart LED fixtures and bulbs through its GE Lighting brand. Savant Power systems provide homeowners with visibility into their energy production and consumption, help them weather power outages, and offset peak utility rates when ON the grid or optimize en...
Jun 20, 2023•35 min
On this week’s podcast, James Garrett joins us from Battle Ground, WA, where he is CEO of Garrett Integrated Systems. Our guest today recently acquired the 10-person Boise, Idaho-based custom integration firm, The Loop Technologies, from former RTT podcast guest Eric Crawford. The buyout was an exit strategy for Crawford, so he can focus on his component company IFP Connect, which is a single-gang transceiver solution for connecting fiber optic cable in the home. The acquisition marks the first ...
Jun 02, 2023•34 min
On this week’s podcast, John Heyman joins us from Atlanta, GA, where he is CEO of Snap One, a leading manufacturer and distributor of audio video, networking, surveillance, power, and wiring products. When our guest today last appeared on the podcast, back in December of 2020, his company was still called SnapAV, none of us had received our first Covid-19 vaccine, and the University of Georgia was still seeking their first football national championship since 1980. A lot has happened since then,...
May 26, 2023•34 min
On this week’s podcast, Franklin Karp joins us from Long Beach, NY, where, for the past year, he has been the principal of Franklin Karp & Co., a comprehensive consulting firm for the residential tech integration business. A 30-year veteran of AV retail and custom integration in New York City and New York suburbs, our guest today offers services in all phases of operations management, with a particular focus in the custom integration and retail sectors. Jeremy’s industry friendship with Fran...
May 16, 2023•48 min
