Audiovisual (AV) resellers have a lot to get excited about this year, according to channel players.
When asked what was going to be hot this year in the world of AV, the major distributors didn’t pause for breath before answering.
Tracy Barrow, AV business development manager at Computer 2000, said: “This year the consumer side will really take off for VARs. Before Christmas most of our resellers were asking for consumer products, such as Media Centres, and LCD and plasma screens. With this in mind we are taking on some new vendors, including Relisys and Vogels. We will be selling Relisys’ large-format LCD and plasma screens and Vogels’ brackets for LCDs.”
Midwich has also predicted an increase in demand from the consumer market.
“A very big development for resellers this year will be high-definition (HD) projectors,” said Stuart Mizon, divisional manager for AV at Midwich. “To get the proper benefit of HDTV, users will need HD-ready projectors.”
Rob Gowman, senior sales consultant at AV reseller JKC, agreed: “This year display screens and high-definition (HD) are going to be big news. With Sky broadcasting the World Cup matches in HD most people will want to get their hands on a HD-ready TV. We have already been getting people asking us about it.”
Ian Vickerage, managing director of Imago, said: “An area that stands out for us as being big this year is IPTV. Initially the market for IPTV will be businesses, but another big area that is beginning to take off is hotels and eventually home users will get on board.”
Vickerage said that resellers with IP and /or video expertise would be best placed to do well in this new market.
Colin Messenger, senior consultant at analyst Decision Tree Consulting, said: “Interactive whiteboards are definitely still going to be very strong this year. Although last year was a great year for sales of interactive whiteboards, we’re predicting even larger sales volumes this year. The main reason is because for schools, interactive whiteboards are now standard pieces of equipment. Teachers are used to working with them and many even request them when starting a new job.”
Messenger also predicted that the corporate market for interactive whiteboards would start to take off this year.
reader comments