Harish Anantha Kalyan, General Manager, Visual Products , Epson India Pvt. Ltd.
We are already moving towards a connected future. Fuelled by market demand, and an increase in IP-based communication, the Education and Home Theatre segments are growing faster than ever. This is further driven by mass availability and appeal of 4K projectors and laser light sources, as well as the Internet (and cloud) becoming an important medium of content transfer.
That’s what A. K. Harish, General Manager at Epson India Pvt Ltd, envisioned the Pro-AV industry will look like over the next five years, speaking to Channel Times.com for Epson India, as a Platinum Partner at this year’s InfoComm India, the nation’s foremost Professional AudioVisual (Pro-AV) and Experiential Communications Technology exhibition and conference.
“The demand for high brightness projectors and higher resolution like WXGA/ WUXGA has noticeably increased over the recent few years, with user preference for projectors that are integrated with control systems. Interactive feature usage adoption is also on the rise, more than ever,” reported Harish.
The Last Mile Display Component in Solution Design
A company specializing in industrial projectors and projection technology, Epson India has a strong market presence, enjoying great success notably in the Education, Enterprise and Government sectors, in a nation making big strides toward her smart-nation ambitions.
“As a projector manufacturer, we still remain the last mile display component in solution design, but the recent convergence has majorly impacted the industry in many fronts.” Harish quipped, referring to the industry-wide convergence of AV and IT in the last half-a-decade or so.
“In the past, businesses tend to be more conservative, but with fast growth and expansions, companies are going all out, or face the inevitable consequences of dropping behind in the battle for the survival of the fittest. The convergence in the marketplace has resulted in a change in the Buyer’s profile – the solution has to meet the expectations of both the IT and AV teams. The bar has gone up.”
Keeping Up with the Evolution of Times
As a result, Harish observed that content sources have greatly widened and are no longer localized, with networks now able to bring real time content from afar, in fact, from anywhere in the world. These shifts also meant maintenance and centralized monitoring of projectors have eased administrator pressures.
At the same time, the adoption of AV (along with IT convergence) has led to the emergence of huge new markets – education, home theatre and high brightness displays in public spaces, just to name a few.
“As a company, we have to keep evolving, and keep up with the times. In anticipation and response, we have designed and marketed products tailor-made for these new segments. Major transformations and little tweaks here and there. An evolution in our product design to support network admissibility and scalability. Through all our efforts, we have achieved significant penetration by continuously creating customer awareness and sharing inputs with the partner eco-system. And we now have a dedicated pan-Indian team of sales specialists for business and home theatre solutions apart from pre-sales efforts.”
InfoComm India – the Foundation for Future Businesses
As one of the Platinum Partners for InfoComm India 2017 this year, Epson India in particular has benefited hugely from participating in the premier annual trade show over its last few outings.
“InfoComm has served as a meeting point for us with the AVSI community, key customers, as well as our OEMs. Besides, this is a great platform for us to launch new products and showcase solutions. In fact, this show is the foundation for future businesses, everything happens here,” he mentioned.
Going forward, Harish feels that from an industry standpoint, InfoComm India can assume the role and responsibility of taking the lead in broad-basing the availability of certified specialists and establishing AV + IT integrated frameworks and standards for solutions.
“The thoughts and experience shared by global experts in this forum is really enriching and inspires new initiatives, which helps players gauge the pulse of the industry.”
Ahead: the Road of Challenges
The road ahead does not look to be a bed of roses, Harish concluded, but rather laden with both foreseeable and unforeseen challenges.
“The business landscape is changing. Newer corporates with the millennials are likely to expect AV as a service on demand and prefer outsourcing to ownership. So, in a way, barring last mile AV connectivity devices, with IT convergence we are perhaps moving to a centralized infrastructure scenario. Adding to that, with AI and automation on the cards, current growth and demand segments may be altered, forcing OEMs to redefine opportunities.
In the midst of all these uncertainties, to enhance efficiency and productivity, efforts in reducing carbon footprints and achieving economy in energy consumption may transform to mandatory from the current voluntary nature. What we can be sure, is that IOT integration will emerge and alter product designs.”
About InfoComm India 2017
InfoComm India 2017 runs from 26-28 September 2017 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai.
The industry event of the year provides a glance into the future of interconnectivity and networked communications. It offers a sneak peak into what the Pro-AV industry has to offer, as well as how enterprises need to react in this new world order.
Over 210 exhibitors from 20 countries, including 52 first-time exhibitors, amongst industry movers and shakers like Delta, Epson India, Harman, Kramer Electronics, Panasonic India, Online Instruments and Green Sources will showcase a gamut of cutting-edge technologies that are instrumental in making India’s smart-city dreams come true.
In addition, visitors would get a glimpse of building and room automation controllers, interactive projectors, virtual and augmented reality technologies and more under one roof. It would allow visitors to explore over 94 products debuting in the Indian market.
The event also offers the scope of learning from the experts at InfoComm India 2017 Summit, in over 44 sessions across Industry & Technology Forums, InfoComm Seminars, InfoComm FlashTracks, and Platinum Partners’ Presentations. Industry would also get a chance to participate at InfoComm India’s very first IT Day, as well as the Digital Signage Asia Forum hosted by Taiwan-based Digital Signage Multimedia Alliance. InfoComm India 2017 Summit that provides an opportunity to network with industry stakeholders as well as a chance to learn from sector luminaries.
For more information, please visit www.infocomm-india.com