EHX Fall 2007 Delivers Education And Inspiration To Custom Electronics Industry

The Electronic House Expo Fall 2007 concluded Friday, November 9, drawing thousands of industry professionals to the largest display of custom electronics products in show history. EHX Fall 2007, produced by EH Events and sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA)® TechHome Division, ran November 6-9 at the Long Beach Convention Center.

EHX introduced the latest technologies, products and market trends in the custom electronics industry. The EHX Fall 2007 featured 250 companies introducing new products in the custom electronics market, including the latest in home networking, home theater and video, multi-room audio, IP networking, lighting control, home automation and wireless networking.

Robert Stephens, Founder of the tech support service Geek Squad, kicked off the show earlier this week with an opening keynote address focused on unique, inexpensive and diversified marketing practices. Stephens created his company in1994 as a “starving” college student and credits a low budget to his marketing success and acquisition by Best Buy in 2002. Stephens urged attendees to differentiate their companies beyond simple technical service, to have fun and not take themselves too seriously.

The major focus of this year’s EHX was training for CE installers. Certification training programs at the EHX Fall 2007 included the Electronic Systems Professional Alliance’s Certified Electronic Systems Technician (ESPA Certified-EST)® and the CEA-CompTIA Digital Home Technology Integrator (DHTI+) certification. Both programs target professional installers working with technology in the low-voltage sector including technology integrators, custom installers, security system technicians, cable, satellite and telecommunications installers, electricians and network administrators.

The EHX Wake-Up Call “Going Green” Breakfast featured moderator Jason Knott, editor, CE Pro leading a panel including Collin Breakstone, Ultimate Control; Rick Kukulies, NuVo Technologies; and Phil Scheetz, Lutron Electronics through discussion on green initiatives. The panel touched on sales and marketing techniques for green lighting control, whole-house controls and HVAC management. They also discussed recycling options and how to develop internal recycling programs.

EHX Fall also featured the 6th Annual Multi-Room Awards, this year focusing on three product groups – multi-room audio, multi-room video and multi-room lighting control. Twenty-eight award were presented in a wide variety of categories with Russound’s E-Series product landing top honors as the best overall multi-room product.

EHX offered daily networking opportunities, and after hour events. The EHX Mixer set the scene for networking among more than 1,000 industry professionals, and EHX Unplugged featured a high performance music experience by legendary rock artist Dave Mason, founder of the group Traffic, successful solo artist and session-man.

EHX will bring its must-see lineup of home custom electronics to Orlando for EHX Spring 2008, which runs from March 11-15. For more information, please visit www.ehxweb.org.