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AVAD Piles on Value-Added Service for Integrators
Integration initiatives, "stud walls," home-theater demos, 90-day return policy, and a growing number of branches highlight distributor's efforts.
Custom electronics distributor AVAD is trying to take the pain out of integration. And the effort is evident at most of the company's 38 branches, including the new Van Nuys, Calif. location that also serves as the company's headquarters.
There, a big "stud wall" features networked products from AVAD's "Integration Partners."
One section of the wall is anchored by NetStreams, which controls not just the "home's" IP-based music distribution, but also the media server (Escient), lighting control (Lutron) and thermostat (Aprilaire).
NetStreams worked with the partners to ensure seamless integration.
For example, says AVAD president Bob Gartland, "The Escient interface just shows up on the [NetStreams] touchscreen without any programming. You don't have to go online, get the drivers and download the skins."
Remote Technologies, Inc., which distributes its products exclusively through AVAD, went to even greater lengths to play nice with AVAD partners.
The maker of universal remote controls created a Flash-based interface for its products—a first for the company—to enhance interactivity with NetStreams.
RTI has an automation section of its own at the AVAD branch, running a more modestly priced set-up. "It's exactly the same conceptually. It's just a different price," says Gartland. "But once again you have all the controls—lighting, audio, video, HVAC—and it does it all out of the box."
Gartland says that he envisions "six or eight or 10 systems that would literally be on one piece of paper that tells you everything you need. If I could get it to where this is just one SKU, I would do that," he says motioning to the RTI rack.
In promoting cookie-cutter solutions and business models, AVAD is embracing a theme that is gaining acceptance in the custom installation business.
Sony began selling completely prewired NHS racks a few years ago, for example, and even high-end control vendor AMX started selling pre-configured AMXHome systems for installers.
"We provide dealers somewhat 'canned' systems with rich feature sets so they can scale their business," says Gartland. "Otherwise, you end up selling only to the top one percent of dealers because every job is a science project."
There, a big "stud wall" features networked products from AVAD's "Integration Partners."
One section of the wall is anchored by NetStreams, which controls not just the "home's" IP-based music distribution, but also the media server (Escient), lighting control (Lutron) and thermostat (Aprilaire).
NetStreams worked with the partners to ensure seamless integration.
For example, says AVAD president Bob Gartland, "The Escient interface just shows up on the [NetStreams] touchscreen without any programming. You don't have to go online, get the drivers and download the skins."
Remote Technologies, Inc., which distributes its products exclusively through AVAD, went to even greater lengths to play nice with AVAD partners.
Visit AVAD in Demo Alley at EHX Fall 2008, Nov. 5-7, Long Beach, Calif.
The maker of universal remote controls created a Flash-based interface for its products—a first for the company—to enhance interactivity with NetStreams.
RTI has an automation section of its own at the AVAD branch, running a more modestly priced set-up. "It's exactly the same conceptually. It's just a different price," says Gartland. "But once again you have all the controls—lighting, audio, video, HVAC—and it does it all out of the box."
Gartland says that he envisions "six or eight or 10 systems that would literally be on one piece of paper that tells you everything you need. If I could get it to where this is just one SKU, I would do that," he says motioning to the RTI rack.
In promoting cookie-cutter solutions and business models, AVAD is embracing a theme that is gaining acceptance in the custom installation business.
Sony began selling completely prewired NHS racks a few years ago, for example, and even high-end control vendor AMX started selling pre-configured AMXHome systems for installers.
"We provide dealers somewhat 'canned' systems with rich feature sets so they can scale their business," says Gartland. "Otherwise, you end up selling only to the top one percent of dealers because every job is a science project."
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About the Author
Julie Jacobson, Editor-at-large, CE Pro
Julie Jacobson is co-founder of EH Publishing and currently spends most of her time writing for CE Pro, mostly in the areas of home automation, networked A/V and the business of home systems integration. She majored in Economics at the University of Michigan, earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and has never taken a journalism class in her life. Julie is a washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player with the scars to prove it. Follow her on Twitter @juliejacobson.
3 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Jim,
Did someone pee in your cheerio’s?
Jim, all I can say is when an install goes bad, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth for years. This is hard to overcome. Netstreams’ DigiLinx product has had trouble in the past, it was buggy and honestly didn’t work very well. That was then, this is now. I would recommend that you take another look at it as the technology has matured GREATLY in the past two years, and it is a remarkable system that is VERY easy to integrate.
Page 1 of 1 comment pages
I really love AVAD, I like the continued investment for dealers. However,Netstreams is horrible, they are nearly broke for the third time and I installed two systems in the past year and both homeowners had me remove them. The concept of netstreams is valid, but the product is a integrators nightmare. I personally know two people at my local AVAD branch who took it out of their homes. Why would they push this on thier customers? Come on guys get deeper into the technology and get rid of Netstreams so it doesn’t harm your customers. AVAD needs a real control system!