Hello gentlemen, my name is Vincent Bova and I am the dealer experience manager at RTI. Prior to coming to RTI, I ran my own integration firm for many years. We had a unique business model in that we trained and took on many different control platforms, RTI included, and learned a lot from them.

One thing I have learned over the years is that every control system offers unique features, has its advantages and disadvantages, and caters to a certain business model. I always stop short of answering the age-old question “Who is better, X or Y?” and focusing on providing some accurate and up-to-date information on where things are with our company. I have a deep respect for installers and people that work in this industry regardless if they are a competitor or work with the competitor’s products. In the end, it is our common love for the industry that keeps things going and allows us to enjoy what we do.

To address some of what was discussed above, and I would like to address the questions and some of the responses here, we decided some time ago that our Integration Designer software would not take us to where we needed to be in term of market requests. As great as the software was, and in the CEDIA hall of fame, it simply was not conducive to large installations, particularly those with advanced features. The IOS and Android revolution brought some additional pressure, and we decided to introduce a new software platform, APEX, which would take us on our journey for our next generation products and features. APEX would not deviate from our mantra, full-blown customization, which is not to exclusive to the look of the interface, but also the behind the scenes control and flow of the interface.

Since launched in 2018, APEX has evolved more in the past few months than I recall our original software evolving over a year. In fact, when I get the rare opportunity to see what we have on the horizon, I am almost amazed that it is all possible. In other words, we have plans to really bring this software to another level of control and efficiency. However, we also continue to enhance the overall efficiency and take away some of the more tedious tasks that made ID time consuming to program larger systems. Programming a large system, with multiple zones and controllers is not only easy to program, it’s easy to maintain, performing maintenance, swapping devices no matter what type, and auto-programming, eliminating the “drag-and-drop” functionality of the past.

We take a lot of pride in a renewed effort in tech support, but not just from our tech support department, but our dealer experience team. We help dealers design, program and implement systems, along with some advanced tech support should they need a more personal experience. It’s not easy reaching our dealers and having the intimate relationship that is worthwhile due to our direct to distribution model, and we want to give dealers the convenience of distribution, with the ability to have a closer tie to our company.

In terms of network control, any control system needs a proper network. There are many network devices out there that cause a lot of chatter on the network, creating network storms and other ripples that can lead to problems. So, we always recommend a careful approach to network management and will continue to stress this with our “coming soon” Learning Management System.
Party mode using our AD-64 driver coupled with our audio distribution products (AD-8x, AD-4x and AD-16x) is easily accomplished. Grouping zones, looping zones out to a more powerful means of amplification, and creating remote sources where an Alexa Dot can plug into our RSP-1 source plate in every bedroom in the home. Our drivers are made to deliver the entertaining features that consumers demand and make it very easy for our dealers to program them effectively.

Getting back to our APEX platform, one of the great new features is that our graphics are now completely scalable. That gives you the ability to maintain one button/icon/bitmap/element set for all your devices. It also auto-programs devices by building interfaces for you and allows you to use your own graphics which can be easily made to take advantage of APEX’s auto-programming and graphic capabilities that were not possible in Integration Designer 9.

Google, Alexa, & Apple products are a big focus here at RTI. We have drivers that handle Alexa, and a wonderful third-party developer program that allows installers with a programming expertise to write and monetize their own drivers. We have a very big interest in these services and have plans to allow our dealers to properly interface with these systems. It is a big focus here at RTI, so stay tuned.

There are a lot of great things about RTI, but not just where we are now, but where we are going. Our new APEX platform is rapidly being enhanced, our marketing team and dealer experience has been enhanced, our new Learning Management System and RTIQ intelligent monitoring service is set to launch soon, as well as our leadership in our company who are dedicated to our success.
At the end of the day, as a mission statement, we appeal to the installer who needs to separate themselves from the competition, including other RTI dealers, without having to lower margin to do so. We offer the convenience and comfort of distribution, no quota or sales pressure, and a full range of products, including our new commercial line which allows dealers to go full throttle in commercial, hospitality and residential systems. We like to think our product lineup has a solution for just about every situation. And while we realize that we might not appeal to everyone, we are striving to be better.

I would be happy to explain our products, software and services in-depth and am available any time to discuss. In the meantime, please feel free to read the article I posted recently that details some of the reasons why dealers use RTI as a one-stop solution:

[Link: linkedin.com]

I hope this provides more insight to what we are about, and how we have evolved over the years.

Whatever control solution you decide to use, I wish everyone continued success and growth.