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Elan, HomeLogic, Sunfire, Aton Consolidate Efforts to ‘Grow Organically’
50-city 'Takin' it to the Streets' Road Show invites dealers to increase their buying power by embracing all four entertainment/automation brands
The 50-city Road Show kicked off at EHX Spring 2009 in Orlando, Fla.
Like many vendors looking for more high-touch experiences with their dealers, the Elan family of home-technology brands is hitting the road.
The "Takin' it to the Streets" road show features automation and entertainment systems from Elan, HomeLogic, Sunfire and Aton.
"A lot of dealers aren't attending as many shows or they're not taking as many people," says Eric Harper, director of marketing and product development for Sunfire, a manufacturer of loudspeakers and most recently media servers. "So we are coming to them."
The road show kicked off at the Electronic House Expo Spring 2009 in Orlando, Fla.
"This is it," Harper said during EHX. "This is our show of the year."
The tour marks the next step in Elan's "Power of Three" initiative (the fourth participant, Aton, came along later), an effort to encourage dealers to embrace all of the brands.
"A lot of [integration] companies are trying to consolidate lines instead of pushing business to a bunch of different vendors," Harper says.
He notes that dealers improve their buying power by purchasing from all four Elan vendors.
In its quest to gain more market share, "We've got to grow organically," Harper says.
That means getting more Sunfire dealers to buy Aton (Cat 5 audio distribution), more Elan dealers to buy Sunfire, etc.
Since the Power of 3 debuted last year, Elan is seeing more of its dealers embracing HomeLogic, which Elan purchased in 2007.
While Elan provides traditional A/V, automation and communications systems, HomeLogic offers more modern-day IP-enabled control solutions (see the killer new iPhone interface).
The two brands are "not fully integrated" technologically, Harper says, "but that's the plan."
Sunfire's claim to fame is audio -- namely speakers, subwoofers and processors. Recently, however, the company launched a line of music and video servers.
Aton is the first developer of multiroom audio systems based on Digi-5 technology, which delivers end-to-end digital music throughout the house over Cat 5 cable.
The Takin' it to the Streets series is like a giant line show for Elan, HomeLogic, Sunfire and Aton. Some 40 new products from these companies will be on display at the 50-odd Road Show events (see them in the new 2009 Elan catalog).
Educational sessions are being offered but they are not "deep technical training courses," the company says. Those are reserved for more in-depth training through Elan University.
The events are free (registration required) and opened to dealers and prospects alike. All attendees are eligible to win a slew of prizes, now totaling about $30,000 in value. The most recent addition to the roster: two tickets to an August 3 Doobie Brothers concert in Chicago.
"We want to explain how we can be their business partners," Harper says.
The "Takin' it to the Streets" road show features automation and entertainment systems from Elan, HomeLogic, Sunfire and Aton.
"A lot of dealers aren't attending as many shows or they're not taking as many people," says Eric Harper, director of marketing and product development for Sunfire, a manufacturer of loudspeakers and most recently media servers. "So we are coming to them."
The road show kicked off at the Electronic House Expo Spring 2009 in Orlando, Fla.
"This is it," Harper said during EHX. "This is our show of the year."
The tour marks the next step in Elan's "Power of Three" initiative (the fourth participant, Aton, came along later), an effort to encourage dealers to embrace all of the brands.
"A lot of [integration] companies are trying to consolidate lines instead of pushing business to a bunch of different vendors," Harper says.
He notes that dealers improve their buying power by purchasing from all four Elan vendors.
In its quest to gain more market share, "We've got to grow organically," Harper says.
That means getting more Sunfire dealers to buy Aton (Cat 5 audio distribution), more Elan dealers to buy Sunfire, etc.
Since the Power of 3 debuted last year, Elan is seeing more of its dealers embracing HomeLogic, which Elan purchased in 2007.
While Elan provides traditional A/V, automation and communications systems, HomeLogic offers more modern-day IP-enabled control solutions (see the killer new iPhone interface).
The two brands are "not fully integrated" technologically, Harper says, "but that's the plan."
Sunfire's claim to fame is audio -- namely speakers, subwoofers and processors. Recently, however, the company launched a line of music and video servers.
Aton is the first developer of multiroom audio systems based on Digi-5 technology, which delivers end-to-end digital music throughout the house over Cat 5 cable.
The Takin' it to the Streets series is like a giant line show for Elan, HomeLogic, Sunfire and Aton. Some 40 new products from these companies will be on display at the 50-odd Road Show events (see them in the new 2009 Elan catalog).
Educational sessions are being offered but they are not "deep technical training courses," the company says. Those are reserved for more in-depth training through Elan University.
The events are free (registration required) and opened to dealers and prospects alike. All attendees are eligible to win a slew of prizes, now totaling about $30,000 in value. The most recent addition to the roster: two tickets to an August 3 Doobie Brothers concert in Chicago.
"We want to explain how we can be their business partners," Harper says.
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Article Topics
News · Product News · Events · Training · Control Systems · Media Servers · Media Server ·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.
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