6/21/2012
Blog Post: Top Trends from InfoComm 2012
InfoComm 2012 is in the books and I think it’s safe to say most attendees had a busy, foot-aching couple of days visiting all of the booths and exhibits. As we sifted through demo after demo we began to see trends among the new products and solutions. We will zero in on a few individual products that stood out in another blog but first, here are the top trends we saw among exhibitors at Infocomm 2012:
Video Walls
Remember when manufacturers were trying to outdo each other with the biggest monitor? First a 100” monitor, then 102”, then 150” and so on. This year gigantic single monitors took a major back seat to video walls. Almost every configuration within reason was on display, 2x2, 4x2, 4x4, 3x3 and even a mosaic cube configuration from Planar. We also saw video walls with touch and annotation capabilities, some working better than others. And along with the video walls came video wall mounting options, portable video wall mounting and rotating video wall mounts. A shift to digital signage within the industry may have started years ago evidently that shift just hit another gear.
Annotation and Touch Monitors
You would have been hard pressed to find a flat screen monitor manufacturer not showing some kind of touch and/or annotation capabilities at InfoComm 2012. SMART, NEC, Mitsubishi, Samsung and many (if not all) others were showing interactive monitors of one type or another. Heck, even Chief Manufacturing was exhibiting both front projection and flat panel interactive accessories. Some manufacturers were showing and advertising partnerships with annotation software companies while others were either private labeling or showing their own like SMART. All in all, the industry is clearly acknowledging the power and importance of collaboration. From conference room to digital signage way-finding applications, look for more interaction from the industry.
Edge Blending Projectors
Although edge blended projector displays were certainly not new to InfoComm this year there was a noted increase in the number of displays and the quality. Normally reserved for projector companies like Digital Projection and Christie, this year we saw gorgeous displays from Epson, NEC and Optoma among others. Much like video walls, it was interesting to see the various configurations including 1x2, 1x4, 2x2 and more. Clearly edge blending projector technology is becoming easier (thank goodness), brighter and more affordable.
Other, less noticeable trends observed at the show included tablet-app integration with displays, lots of lecture-capture technology for K12 and higher ed environments, of course many back end digital signage software companies, 4k flat panels and tablet furniture integration/mounting systems. Noticeably under shown? How about 3D? We saw two (not two hundred) 3D displays in our two full days at the show and neither looked any better or worse than what we were seeing 18 months ago. In conclusion, while analog-to-digital, tablet integration and green technology remained undercurrents it was large(r), digital signage solutions that dominated this year’s show.
Click here to browse through the first 40-50 photos we took at InfoComm 2012.