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Key Trends&Tech at ISE 2016

The Integrated Systems Europe 2016 opened yesterday at the Amsterdam RAI exhibition centre. To help contextualize the biggest ISE ever, Futuresource Consulting would like to share its thoughts on some of the pioneering technologies and products on display, looking across front projection, commercial flat panels, wireless presentation/unified communications & collaboration and virtual reality.

Front Projection – Solid State Illumination, 4K and App Control to be Key Themes

Futuresource expects Solid State Illumination (SSI) to dominate front projection at this year’s ISE. The spectrum of laser-phosphor solutions is expected to broaden with the release of ever-lower and brighter models – from a wider range of brands. Laser-phosphor sales to the installation and large venue segment increased 410% in 2015 and now attributes to over 6% of the segment.

Adoption of SSI in more mainstream applications has been hindered by a lack of adequate solutions priced for this cost-conscious market. However, ISE promises to see the release of more laser-phosphor Ultra Short Throw (UST) solutions targeted at Education from key players in this space.

App control is not entirely new to projection but has been retained to niche areas of the market. However, Futuresource expects more vendors to be heavily promoting app control capability (MHL, Miracast etc) at the show – a symptom of the rising trend of BYOD in both corporate and education environments.

Commercial Flat Panel Displays

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology received significant attention at CES this January as TV vendors begin to launch large screen versions in earnest. The current cost premium is still far too prohibitive for most B2B applications but Futuresource expects to see a few models on the show floor at ISE and likely receive significant attention if some ‘off-floor’ demonstrations at CES are anything to go by. High Dynamic Range (HDR) will likely be another talking point of the show with the TV industry highlighting its intentions for adoption at CES 2016. 1000+ nit brightness is thought to be the minimum specification for HDR screens with this development likely to impact cost and product availability for commercial solutions designed for use in semi outdoor and high ambient light environments.

4K will continue to be an important message at the show this year, given the limited demand for very large displays from the TV industry. Opportunities in the B2B space are incredibly interesting for display vendors. 2014 saw the introduction of 84” solutions from the majority of major players with a 98” product expanding ranges during 2015. 2016 is expected to see a similar trend for 70”-75” products with a number of launches expected at the show. Presentation spaces are particularly interesting applications for large 4K displays. The futureproofing benefits of 4K and products ability to support multiple 1080p content feeds on a single screen are driving demand as end users look to replace incumbent projection technology.

Wireless Presentation / Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C)

Collaborative meeting and teaching solutions have become a core focus of ISE over the last couple of years with developments in interactive displays, wireless presentation and video conferencing driven by growing awareness and the declining costs of these technologies. Central to the development of the collaborative work spaces has been the rise of the mobile device, with tablet & smartphone products increasingly relied upon as a content source in the meeting room and to access unified communications tools beyond it. In response to this, vendors from a variety of AV backgrounds are launching wireless presentation systems which allow multiple devices to connect to meeting or classroom displays and share content. In addition to screen sharing, these devices are seeking to integrate content annotation and capture, providing a similar experience to collaboration tools seen in the web conferencing industry. These solutions (often standalone devices) are being complimented by a growing range of software solutions enabling so called collaboration walls often using blended projection, tilled cubes and large format displays to create touch enabled group working environments.

Chris McIntyre-Brown is the Associate Director, Displays & Broadcast Equipment​, Futuresource Consulting. Futuresource Consulting is a specialist research and knowledge-based consulting company, providing organisations with insight into consumer electronics, digital imaging, entertainment media, broadcast, storage media, education technology and IT.