Integrated Systems Europe has enjoyed a great run at the RAI Amsterdam venue in the popular Netherlands city. Since the show’s beginnings in 2004 it’s spent a majority of time being held in Amsterdam, but next year will move from northern to southern Europe to Barcelona, Spain.
ISE exhibitors are excited about the move particularly in regard to the anticipated better weather. We can only hope the coronavirus threat that has loomed over this year’s expo will be in check by then – in fact, this year’s Mobile World Congress set to be held later this month at the same Fira Barcelona venue where ISE is heading next year was canceled due to the coronavirus.
“We’re excited about [next year] certainly from the weather, that’s been a huge factor this year – we still don’t have people here because of the flights being canceled,” says Harman Luxury Audio’s Jim Garrett.
“It’s sad because we’ve been here so long and you kind of know the city, you know the venue and you know the restaurants and other places to go. But it’s exciting to see the show continuing to go and one of the reasons we’re moving is we’ve simply outgrown this city.”
Before the ISE keynote on Monday night prior to the show floor hours starting on Tuesday, Integrated Systems Europe managing director Mike Blackman said, “Many of our Chinese colleagues have been prevented from joining us this year, our hearts go out to them.”
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Indeed, while official numbers won’t be released until after the show, it’s likely ISE’s year-over-year continuous attendance-breaking trend will come to an end thanks to the combination of coronavirus – LG made news just before the expo by backing out – and weather-related travel delays that had many exhibitors noting lighter than usual floor traffic at least for the first of the show’s four days.
Still, as ISE has been staged this week, a rainy Amsterdam hasn’t totally dampened the mood inside the RAI.
With 15 halls filled by more than 1,300 exhibitors, including 200+ first-time exhibitors, the manufacturers fueling today’s smart homes and connected commercial buildings were excited to highlight their new, or just new to the European market, solutions.
Look for more individual company coverage in the coming weeks on CE Pro as well as sister publication Commercial Integrator. I still have one more day to walk the RAI show floor, but in the meantime, here’s a sampling of what’s been shown by the 50+ brands I’ve visited over the first three days of ISE 2020.
Home Theater Demos Impressive & Immersive
Control Companies Expand Systems, Aid Dealers
Audio Delivers More Dante, Lots of Loudspeaker Options
System Infrastructure Gets Assists
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