This week it was announced that Kramer Electronics had purchased control company iRule.
Kramer has worked with iRule for almost two years, using the control company as the basis for its K-Touch control system. This move makes sense as Kramer makes a serious commitment to the control segment of the AV industry.
Control has become a significant aspect of the AV industry over the last couple of years. Crestron has been the big dog on the block when it came to controlling audio visual systems. Depending on the market, and the year, AMX was either second to them or slightly ahead. Then Control4 emerged.
I remember a few years ago they had a 20×20 booth at InfoComm and were making a big splash at the Aria. Extron has gone from strictly configuration to using a Python based control language for some of its systems.
Also See: Why Amazon Echo Is Tim Albright’s Favorite Product of 2016
Utelogy is control and network layer monitoring. Aurora Multimedia developed its control system from the ground up. So many others have as well. And now iRule has become part of a global video distribution company.
There are a number of ways to grow and develop a company. You can certainly do it in a home baked, ground up sort of way. You can also buy the smarts you need to expand your company.
What is really telling is that Kramer has not only gotten into control full force, but has done so quite uniquely.
Its distributed control modules take the network type of control and marries it with the traditional single processor model. This allows for a mesh-like network of control processors talking to all your various components.
Hear from iRule’s Itai Bengal who worked with Kramer on the development of Kramer Control:
Where Is Control Headed?
The training for the programming software has just begun and I have yet to see a deployment in the wild. However, the idea is very promising.
A few years ago, video distribution was the segment of AV that was all the rage. Everyone was getting into sending HD video over twisted pair or on the network.
Then it was audio, single and multi-stream, that the industry was abuzz about.
Now it’s control’s turn and I, for one, could not be happier. It’s very exciting to see where all these companies will take control over the next few years.
