Coming off a very successful Digital Signage Expo a couple months back, where Alan and Jonathan Brawn were highly instrumental in organizing a very interesting DSF (Digital Signage Federation) booth as well as doing extensive digital signage trainings sessions at the DSE, things have been heating up for Brawn Consulting. Today, two announcements were made public: Brawn Consulting’s new agreement with Almo; and Brawn’s new relationship with Hiperwall. These new consulting gigs for Brawn, are but a part of that company’s wide role in the industry, but they are indicative of some larger and interesting trends.
As Distribution takes a bigger role in the industry– both the digital signage market, and in the broader AV market– the role of the Distributor is changing. But it’s complicated: the role of the Distributor is changing, to address the changing structure of most Manufacturers in the AV industry. For good or bad, the days of the large or small manufacturer having the big bandwidth– financial, human resource, network of reps and dealers– is for the most part past. That is why the big AV Distributors are now taking a more active role in not just distributing more, and more kinds of, products, but also in training, support, education.
BTW, I learned of Brawn’s new relationship with Almo, at Almo’s E4 event in Dallas a few weeks back. The news was just officially released today. And, you can see video footage we shot at the Almo E4 event, of Sam Taylor talking about the Almo/Brawn agreement, in the video player window on the home page of:
The other trend in Digital Signage: the return of the “Video Wall”. Faster, cheaper, more robust video processing; thinner mullions; and other factors now point to a resurgence of the multi-screen Video Wall. See the second press release, from today, below the Almo release, about Brawn Consulting’s new role with Hiperwall.
These are the two separate Press Releases, put out today:
Almo Professional A/V Enters Exclusive
Agreement With Brawn Consulting
Agreement Provides Access to Training, Consulting and Technical Support; Focus on AMX, LG Video Teleconferencing and Christie Product Lines
Philadelphia, PA — May 12, 2011 — In another distributor first, Almo Professional A/V, the nation’s fastest growing audiovisual distributor, today announced an exclusive agreement with Brawn Consulting. Under the terms of the agreement, Almo Pro A/V’s partners now have access to additional training, consulting and technical support by Brawn Consulting, specifically for Almo’s AMX, LG Video Teleconferencing and Christie product lines.
“Almo Pro A/V now carries product lines that are designed for complex and customizable AV installations,” explained Sam Taylor, executive vice president and COO of Almo Professional A/V. “These lines are not widely distributed so they help our partners earn higher margins. However, because of their intricacy these products also require additional support.” He continued, “The Brawn Consulting team understands the technical aspects of the AMX, LG Video Teleconferencing and Christie MicroTiles products. As a result of our agreement with Brawn, Almo partners now have a knowledgeable resource directly available to give them the edge they need to properly manage installs that incorporate these products.”
According to Alan Brawn, principal of Brawn Consulting, “We have evolved from a manufacturer-direct model to a distribution model. The key in this evolution is maintaining the service that the former model provided.” He added, “Almo ensures that the service to dealers is not only maintained but increased by bringing Brawn Consulting on board to support individual lines. The entire industry benefits because this is the first example showing that a distributor can truly differentiate by providing tangible value to resellers beyond the products.”
Almo Pro A/V offers AMX’s Integrated Controllers, Modero Touch Panel / DVX bundles, switchers, amplifiers and a modular port system, along with the AMX Inspired Xpresshardware and software control systems, which give partners more choices of how to customize and complete their digital signage and other general professional AV projects. Brawn Consulting will be involved with Almo’s AMX Digital Signage Solution Provider Program, which provides training and certification on AMX’s Inspired Xpress, special pricing on demo units, free shipping, preferred pricing and more.
The LG Video Conferencing System (VCS) provides an intuitive interface as well as easy-to-install hardware. Its broad compatibility with external media devices and software applications also enables users to connect different types of displays such as televisions, desktop monitors, and projectors. IP technologies work together to optimize the video teleconferencing environment to transmit video and audio that is not only clear and sharp but also secure.
Earlier this year, Almo entered into an agreement to distribute Christie MicroTiles, which are designed for demanding indoor, high-ambient-light environments. Christie MicroTiles use the strengths of DLP® projection light-emitting diode (LED) technology to offer substantially brighter images and a much wider color palette than conventional flat panel LCD and plasma displays. Almo Pro A/V partners will require authorization in order to purchase and sell Christie MicroTiles. Brawn Consulting will also provide support with this process. To begin authorization, partners should click here.
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About Almo Professional A/V
Almo Professional A/V is the nation’s fastest growing distributor serving the needs of professional audiovisual integrators, dealers and consultants. With a highly skilled sales team, reseller education programs, 10 distribution centers across the U.S. and product lines for the Pro A/V channel, Almo Professional A/V provides customers with the full distribution experience on a local and a personal level.
The Almo Professional A/V sales team is InfoComm-trained and the majority is CTS-certified. Almo Professional A/V has aligned with InfoComm International to offer courses worth CTS renewal units that enable partners to stay ahead. At the same time, the division works with industry vendors to bring live and online product training opportunities directly to channel partners.
Almo Professional A/V distributes all the leading displays and peripherals, with new manufacturers and products being added each day. Markets served include bar and restaurant, corporate, digital signage, education, government, healthcare, home theater, hospitality, house of worship, and rental & staging.
Almo Professional A/V is a division of Almo Corp., the nation’s leading independent distributor of consumer electronics and major appliances. For more information about Almo Professional A/V, please call 410-560-2890 or go to www.almoproav.com. Almo Professional A/V can also be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/almoproav.
HIPERWALL SELECTS BRAWN CONSULTING TO
STRENGTHEN RESELLER PROGRAM
A Stronger Reseller Program will Make Dealers More Effective in Delivering Turn-Key Video Wall Solutions.
IRVINE, CA – May, 2011 – Hiperwall, Inc., the leader in innovative, affordable video wall technology, is announcing its selection of Brawn Consulting to strengthen the company’s reseller program to help resellers provide their customers with a better experience in researching, purchasing, installing and using a Hiperwall video wall.
Brawn Consulting is a leader in providing companies with complete reseller programs that include educational curriculums and customized content for the AV, IT, and digital signage industries and in offering resellers with application tutorials, solutions, technical training, and prime benefits to clearly differentiate Hiperwall’s high-performance low-cost video wall system and their competitors. Brawn Consulting has more than ‘half-a-century’ of Pro AV experience with companies such as Samsung Electronics and other commercial AV manufacturers and system integrators. Alan Brawn, founder of Brawn Consulting, is the recipient of many industry awards and is a Director of ISF Commercial, a senior faculty member of InfoComm, and Vice Chairman of the Digital Signage Federation.
“We recognize that our dealers want and need a complete reseller program from us,” said Hiperwall CEO Jeff Greenberg. “We want our dealers to be well equipped to fully realize the breadth of what they can accomplish with video walls when they have all the resources to meet their needs. Brawn will help us re-design our reseller program to educate, guide and support our dealers’ educate, guide and support their customers through the entire video wall purchasing process.”
A high-performance, affordable and scalable video wall system, the ground-breaking Hiperwall software eliminates the need for complex, expensive hardware, making large scale visualization solutions available to a much broader range of companies and government agencies.
“Our goal is to provide Hiperwall an industry leading reseller program with best practices in the area of sales, management, technical training and services in seeking a proven path to success,” said Jonathan Brawn, a principal at Brawn Consulting. “We are pleased to be named Hiperwall’s partner and look forward to growing and enabling their reseller base to more effectively market, sell and support Hiperwall’s technology.”
The Hiperwall software solution is hardware agnostic and requires only ordinary PCs, ordinary monitors and an ordinary Ethernet network. The system displays still images up to 1GB resolution or larger in displaying HD movies, live HD video streams and PC applications, turning a bank of monitors into an ultra-high resolution video wall. Multiple feeds can be displayed on the wall simultaneously and users can reposition and resize each feed as easily as moving and resizing windows on a PC desktop. Each feed can be scaled up for viewing on several monitors or the entire wall instantly depending upon the user’s discretion.
With its completely scalable architecture, the Hiperwall system is uniquely suited to meet the visual communication requirements of many diverse applications including digital signage, education and command and control rooms at government, military, utility and telecommunications installations, trading floors, medical/scientific imaging, aerial imaging, broadcast, fleet management and more.
“We’ve been a service-focused company from the start,” said Greenberg. “By adding Brawn to our team, we’re hoping to grow relationships with our dealers so that they can consider us a part of their Pro AV team instead of just a product vendor. We believe Brawn will validate our commitment to supporting and partnering with our resellers.”
About Brawn Consulting
Visit www.brawnconsulting.com
About Hiperwall Inc.
Although video walls have been around for decades, they are usually considered too expensive and complex for all but the largest of organizations. Hiperwall has eliminated these barriers by developing a revolutionary software-based video wall system that is hardware agnostic, allowing our customers to deploy systems with nothing more than commonly available PCs, monitors and network equipment. Hiperwall is easier to install, simpler to use, more flexible, more scalable, has a smaller footprint, lower power consumption and is more affordable than legacy hardware-based systems. Visit www.hiperwall.com
