Hello all, I am still kinda new here at RC but I was curious to get all of your opinions.
Where do you all see our industry going? Is there any certain aspect that a growing company should be focusing on? Are we all gonna have to be computer experts to continue in the whole house A/V business? And what is the hottest new stuff coming down the pike in the near future? Thanks for all the help in the past and still to come!

We will divided inot 2 distinct segments.

1- price leaders. everyone wants to be the cheapest. BB, CC tweeter. These guys will crimp margins and create an opportunity for consumers

2 - service leaders - the custom install market will flourish but EXCELLENT service will be a must.

Anyone falling in between will be squashed!

The short answer to your question is yes, you will need to become "expert" in networking and computers. More and more gear will communicate over networks and force you to understand routers, NAT, Port forewarding, port triggering, VPN tunnels and how to get into the equipment and get the equipment to get out through the firewall. You will need to know how to set up and administer networks and not just setup routers. You will need to make multiple computers talk to each other wirelessly and wired. You will need to deal with driver mismatches and editing. You may need to even get into the system32 file in Windows and I suspect you will need to be proficient in Mac as well.

You will have to deal with servers and become conversant in talking your clients through a variety of software programs. There are so many protocols and software that you will need to know that to list them will be discouraging. Convergance has arrived although not fully. You can setup displays that accept wireless audio/video over 802.11 and a host of soon to be released products that use 802.15. VOiP is a niche market but it will become much more common. CD Servers are already on the market that require some of these skills and DVD servers will be more common as they come down in price--but they exist too. Internet radio ( Integra ) is not uncommon product and more and more receivers come with network connections that for now have limited usefulness but this will not last for long. It also means you will need to become versed in HTML as you will be communicating over the network not via serial connections, IR or relay but via HTML. And you may need to install some sort of device srever that will translate HTML to IR, relay or I/O.

Start studying computers and networking.

Alan

With that being said, is there any classes being offered(in person or online) that could help a computer idiot like myself become more educated in the stuff you metioned. To be honest alot of what you were talking about was greek to me.

I found the white paper on networking on the Linksys web site helpful. CEDIA offers courses but I have found them less then helpful but they may prove helpful to you--assuming you are a CEDIA member. Some manufacturers have begun to put out white papers. I will guess that AMX has done this and I know Crestron has. CD server companies have this information as I am sure does Klaidescape, the DVD server folks. Buy a router and play in your own home. The more you do the more resources you will come across. I am sure you can google networks and find a ton of data and Amazon must have networking for dummies. Do not be intimidated. Most of us, with the exception of a few folks who came from the IT industry, had to learn this so you are behind the curve but not by much.

Hopefully a few of the IT folks will chime in. Also post more detailed questions rather than saying all was Greek.

Alan

This message was edited by Audible Solutionns on 11/28/04 23:16 ET.

I think part of the answer as to where the future is going involves which areas have reached saturation with things like multi room, or home theatre. Some areas have lots of potential, and some have peaked out. But I see a huge general opportunity in video surveillance opening up. Whether or not that business goes to the security contractors or to you is really your choice. Lots of innovations happening in that field, and lots of opportunities to tie it into the AV aspect of a project. Large companies such as ADT etc. don't offer video surveillance monitoring yet. When that eventually happens, it will become more difficult to be the provider of video surveillance systems as part of your package. Now is the time to offer alternative monitoring or self monitoring solutions to the customer that will keep you in the loop. I give it about a year before the ADT's launch full on video monitoring for an affordable fee, perhaps longer. But it will eventually happen. Audible Solutions touched on Data based systems. I think Data integration play a huge part in all of this. Integration and remote control of just about everything will begin to happen exponentially, it has already begun

IT networking is the highway that all audio and video will travel. There will be a few people willing to take the more picturesque route of dedicated systems. The rest of the world will operate completely in the digital domain, demanding easy access everywhere and anywhere. It is necessary for our business to decide what part of the industry it will take to the dance.

Alan I think you are soooooo right about what you said about educating yourself on how a network works and how to install and set up a pc network.

I have a freind who is a director at microsoft and he swears that they want to take over the home market anything from controling your refrigorator to the washer and dryer.

Have you seen the new MEDIA Center pc yet? well you should get yourself accouinted with it.

its a cd server, picture server, soon to be a DVD server, a soon to be HDTV DVR free guide uploads, an internet Pc, youll be able to transter movies to other pc's from the main pc....

MICROSOFT is not going to let this market pass them by they Have 60billion (thats BILLON IN CASH) in cash waiting to be spent...he told me you aint seen nothing yet...

and I told him Ive got enough headaches with my own pc...could you imagine dealing with 20 to 50 entertainment pc all accessing the internet catching viruses and spyware...

What a nightmare...BUT ITS COMING...

IP addressable components are coming....everything from the toaster to the toothbrush will have an IP address so you can contol it with your pc...

INFACT, he told me they're running out of Ip addresses,. they'll have to add more digits to the ip worldwide...(thats what he said, he did, he did)

anyhow you will HAVE TO HAVE KNOWLEDGE ON HOW NETWORKS Work...

and what ALan said is absolutly true...so start learning or higher someone that knows
this stuff....

thats what I did....

hey IM Married with children...I dont have time for that stuff...lol

primo