The weather in Nashville cooperated on March 9 as 21st Century Distributing, a Southeast distributor of residential and commercial audio, video, security and surveillance products, held the grand opening of its newest branch. The event, which was originally slated for February but postponed due to snow and ice, was the kickoff for 21st Century's second annual Integration Innovation Roadshow.
Dealers and reps gathered to get a tour of the Nashville facility and to partake in a barbeque lunch and product raffle.
Keeping with last year’s Roadshow trends, 21st Century, which is a member of the PowerHouse Alliance, will showcase participating vendor products with its one-of-a-kind, 50-foot product integration demo wall. This years’ focus will be wireless protocols such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, RF, etc.
In addition to the demo wall, dealers will have the opportunity to attend two highly informative trainings. These seminars, taught by in-house technology expert Mike Pote, will focus on Home Networks and Home Automation, two of the most important factors driving the industry today.
During the Networking seminar, Pote will cover the many benefits of building a robust, reliable network from the ground up while utilizing our industry leading products to ensure it is bullet-proof. Topics will include TCP/IP Subnets, DNS, DHCP, QoS, Port Forwarding, Routing, Switching, POE, Wi-Fi bandwidth, Range, Load balancing and Interference Issues.
The Integration seminar will include both integration and automation; covering customized control and/or automated solutions. Pote will also touch on control platforms including Clare Controls and URC (among others) to demonstrate how they combine with other systems for seamless, whole-house automation.
The show will kick off in Raleigh, N.C. on May 3 with a second stop in Charleston, S.C. on May 5. The following weeks’ shows will include stops in Orlando, Fla. on May 10, Tampa, Fla. on May 12, Charlotte, N.C. on May 17, and Atlanta on May 19. Closing out the show will be a final stop back in Nashville, Tenn. on May 25.
The agenda for each location follows the same format with the Networking seminar from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, followed by lunch until 1 p.m., then the Integration seminar from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. There is a cocktail hour from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Dealers will be able to browse the showfloor all afternoon until 6 p.m.
“We are excited to announce sponsorships from many of the same industry leading vendors that made last year’s Road Show a huge success. Their support is invaluable and we look forward to sharing their experience and expertise with 21st Century’s best dealers, says Vanessa Zitzmann, marketing & sales. “We’d like to announce that our two Diamond Sponsors for 2016’s Road Show Tour are Vanco & Clare Controls. Additional sponsors to date are URC, Niles, Panamax, Clearview, Kef, JVC, Luxul, Onkyo, Legrand, Bolide, Sanus, Jamo, Polk, Promounts, Platinum Tools, Sonance, Wyrestorm, Yamaha and Sonos; with many more to come.”
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