Comprehensive Cable and Connectivity Company will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year. The company launched in 1974 as a source for audiovisual dealers to buy connectivity products, accessories, and supplies needed for local media outlets, schools, and businesses.
“Comprehensive was there at the beginning of both AV and IT,” stated Comprehensive president Scott Schaefer. “It is Comprehensive’s experience, commitment to reliability, value, and service that has kept B2B customers around the world coming back year after year. We are so grateful for the decades of support that our industries, resellers, customers, and employees—past and present—have shown Comprehensive. Without them, we would not be here today, and we never forget that. We thank each and every one.”
- Originally known as Comprehensive Video Supply, the company sold exclusively through resellers from the beginning. The company’s products eventually became a must-have for many audio-visual and computer resellers, and the same was true for its 200-page product catalog which, in the pre-internet days, would be custom imprinted with business name and contact information for distribution to customers.
- Over the years, Comprehensive built a business with a strong reputation for "putting its money where its mouth is" service by standing behind its resellers and products from the very beginning. One of many enduring legacies that Comprehensive has given the industry is the lifetime warranty on cable assemblies, connectors, and adapters. While this has become a marketing commodity in today’s internet age, Comprehensive still takes those words very seriously.
- “Comprehensive customers need reliability and service above all else. Customers come to Comprehensive because they know they can count on us; every product, every order, every time,” said general sales manager Martin Fensterstock.
- Today, Comprehensive has grown into one of the leading connectivity brands in the U.S. and around the world and their reliability and service have become legendary in the industry. Over the decades, Comprehensive has truly become the go-to company for B2B audio-visual and I.T. professionals in every industry.
- In fact, looking at a partial client list of Comprehensive customers reads like a who’s who of technology, business, media, entertainment, and government. Clients include: Sony, Panasonic, Disney, Microsoft, Apple, Crestron, NASA, U.S. Army, Columbia University, NBC, ABC, CNN just to name a few. A list of resellers and distributors reads much the same: Ingram Micro, Anixter, AVI-SPL, The Whitlock Group, HB Communications, B&H Photo, New Egg.com, and more.
- In its first 40 years, Comprehensive became synonymous for reliable and innovative connectivity products that the audio-visual and I.T. professional could count on and that at least, is not something Mr. Schaefer thinks will change much over the next 40 years. “We are so excited about where Comprehensive and the market are going — 4K, HDBaseT, collaboration and the cloud, mobile, the opportunities are endless. Technology continues to evolve and advance and so does Comprehensive. We are doubling down on everything our customers have demanded from us in the past and building on it for tomorrow and beyond. The best is yet to come and like all things Comprehensive, you can count on that.”
