CE Pro March 2023 - 10

INTERVIEW
Industry Pulse
Giles Sutton, Sr. Vice President,
Product & Business Development, CEDIA
The annual CES was recently held in Las Vegas. What
were your general impressions?
My main impression was that it felt like a pre-pandemic
tradeshow again. It was incredibly busy. Looking at all the
technology there, it's quite amazing to see the amount of
connected technology, and what is really available now to
consumers, to professional installers as well. Some of the
demand of that is going to be placed on the home network,
and really the opportunity that brings to integrators.
Probably another impression is the products that are really
kind of professionally integrator ready, there seems to be
less of that at CES now in some ways. There's an emphasis
on buzzy tech, home robots and things like that that draw
attention to some of these booths. It's technology that's not
really ready to go just yet.
The show is just incredibly broad. There are certainly some
products that are going to be interesting for integrators -
wearables, gesture technology and some wellness technology
- but it shows that the role of the integrator is going
to be more important now than ever before to help homeowners,
guide homeowners through their decision-making
process when it comes to the right technology to put in
their home. And also just making sure the home network can
support all of these products.
Where does the car fit into the connected home, and
what were your CES thoughts on the automotive side?
That hall was buzzing, there were a lot of concept cars there
drawing attention to some of these booths. It's interesting,
a lot of integrators came from the automotive audio space,
and these are becoming truly immersive AV experiences
within the cars themselves. With the screen technology, the
voice technology ecosystems built in, as well as those being
electric-powered cars - essentially being an extension of
the home. So through the dashboards you can access your
home cameras, control your home heating because they
are enabled with those same technologies as your home
systems have.
But I think the real area where an integrator can add
value is in the power management that's needed behind
these electric vehicles. Clearly the connectivity of vehicles is
important, but I think integrators - and this goes beyond
10 | CE Pro March 2023
just the automotive space - increasingly need to focus on
power management as being a necessity within the home.
It's crazy the amount of electric vehicles that are being
released over the next 12 to 18 months and with that there's
significant demand on the home, and certainly for surge
protection and proper power management.
" [At CES] it's hard to get
beyond products. There's
not really a lot of talk
about solutions and about how to
build systems to match a client's
particular needs. "
There was audio at CES, but unlike the old Venetian
High-Performance Audio rooms it was a little bit hard to
find... why do you think that is?
It is sadly on the decline. I was amazed to see some vinyl
record players in the convention center, which shows the
resurgence of that category among the younger generation.
But it illustrates the product nature of CES and the fact
that's hard to get beyond the product. There's not really a
lot of talk about solutions and about how to build systems
to match a client's particular needs.
It's sad to see the demise perhaps of audio [at CES],
because it's certainly not a trend we're seeing from CEDIA's
standpoint - post-pandemic there's a trend to entertaining
at home, entertainment spaces, outdoor audio. All those
things our research show are on the increase. So perhaps
there is a disconnect from all the products at CES and the
work of an integrator.
Is CES still worth it for integrators to attend?
There is still value in CES for dealers to see products they
will need to integrate with in the future. There were some
products there that have massive potential for our channel.
I did not see a lot of integrators at the show. There were
distributors and manufacturer rep firms there that I believe
will filter the products for the custom channel.
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CE Pro March 2023

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