Residential Tech Talks

On this week’s podcast, CEDIA’s Senior Vice President of Member Success and Sales, Giles Sutton, and Powerhouse Alliance Executive Director Dennis Holzer join us from Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, PA, respectively, to discuss industry training and smart home technology trends. What these two gentlemen have in common is a passion for not only the overall success of the AV integration business, but specifically the technical training that is needed in this industry. Last year at this time, they announced a CEDIA training partnership and Powerhouse’s commitment that every PowerHouse location will have at least one CEDIA-certified instructor, offering dealers the peace-of-mind that their new hires are learning the right protocols and standards of work to be successful on the job. Today, we’ll talk about how that partnership has evolved as well as other opportunities for technical training, certification, product trends, and more.

Today’s episode of Residential Tech Talks is brought to you by Shelly WiFi Relays by Allterco | Smart home devices designed and developed to provide solutions tailored to your needs. 

Go to https://shelly.cloud and make IoT simple!

On this week’s podcast, Tayloe Stansbury joins us from Mountainview, CA, where he serves as chairman and CEO of Kaleidescape, the manufacturer of premium movie servers and movie players. A longtime Kaleidescape customer before joining the company, Tayloe was appointed CEO in late 2020, after serving in executive roles at Watermark Insights, Intuit, and Ariba. Last week, Kaleidescape announced a new strategic partnership with Keith Yates Design, the theater design and acoustical engineering firm for many Hollywood filmmakers. Kaleidescape is working with KYD to build a new Movie Lab at its corporate headquarters that, when complete, will be used by the Kaleidescape content team to ensure that all movies released from its movie store continue to deliver a reference-quality experience. In this conversation, we’ll learn more about this new facility, how the company’s product line is shaping up, and also preview Jeremy’s article about his personal experience living with a Kaleidescape system.

Read Jeremy's review of Kaleidescape here: https://restechtoday.com/bringing-kaleidescape-home-for-a-demo/

Today’s episode of Residential Tech Talks is brought to you by Shelly WiFi Relays by Allterco | Smart home devices designed and developed to provide solutions tailored to your needs. 

Go to https://shelly.cloud and make IoT simple!

On this week’s podcast, Mark DiPietro joins us from the Charlotte area, in Mooresville, NC, where he is CEO and managing partner of the home tech integration firm SoundVision. Mark has been involved in the consumer electronics business since the late eighties. Starting in car stereo, he was a product specialist for Kenwood, a manufacturer’s rep for multiple lines in multiple states, before starting his own business. With SoundVision, he is responsible for day-to-day operations, as well as financially overseeing the company. In a recent article at restechtoday.com, we wrote about SoundVision’s new 3,000-square-foot technology showroom, and its backbone enterprise-grade network that ensures reliability for the Wi-Fi connected control system, remotes, TVs, lighting, surveillance cameras, doorbells, and window shades. It also has what looks to be a really top-notch podcast studio.

Today’s episode of Residential Tech Talks is brought to you by Shelly WiFi Relays by Allterco | Smart home devices designed and developed to provide solutions tailored to your needs. 

Go to https://shelly.cloud and make IoT simple!

On this week’s podcast, Jim Pearse joins us from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, while he was on the road meeting with custom integrators in his brand-new job as president of ProSource, the largest audio, video, and integration buying group in the United States. His newly created role is an expansion of ProSource’s senior management team to support the continued growth of the buying group. He has more than 30 years of extensive retail experience, including Wireless Advocates, where he served as the President and CMO through 2021; Sears Holdings Corporation, where he served as COO and VP of Consumer Electronics; and Ultimate Electronics, spanning a variety of executive responsibilities from 1998, including the title of president from 2007 to 2011.

Today’s episode of Residential Tech Talks is brought to you by Shelly WiFi Relays by Allterco | Smart home devices designed and developed to provide solutions tailored to your needs. 

Go to https://shelly.cloud and make IoT simple!

On this week’s podcast, Jennifer Mallett joins us from Northborough, Massachusetts, where she is CEO of Level Up Your Home, a full-service commercial technology, design, and automation firm founded in 2016 by a group of veteran technologists with more than 40 years of experience. For the 15 years prior to launching her own company, Jennifer was the senior business manager for the Custom Installation and Extended Warranty Business Unit in the Americas at Bose Corporation. During that time, she gained valuable experience overseeing Bose retail stores throughout the U.S. and Canada, along with a large team of integrators. Here on the RTT podcast, we’re extending Women’s History Month by an extra week, specifically featuring interviews of influential female business owners in the professional home technology industry. It seems like Jen is everywhere at once these days, whether showing up as a speaker at the kitchen and bath business show, a guest panelist for the Parks’ CONNECTIONS conference, or on Linked In congratulating her Florida team on their new showroom.

Today’s episode of Residential Tech Talks is brought to you by Shelly WiFi Relays by Allterco | Smart home devices designed and developed to provide solutions tailored to your needs. 

Go to https://shelly.cloud and make IoT simple!

On this week’s podcast, Jamie Briesemeister, joins us from St. Louis, where she is CEO and co-founder of Integration Controls, a company that provides well-hidden technology and connected living through smart home automation. It’s Women’s History Month, so we’ve chosen to finish out March with interviews of powerful female business owners. And while Jamie is, in fact, a prior guest of the podcast, since her previous appearance 15 months ago, two really cool things have happened for her. She was appointed as the first female Vice Chairperson of CEDIA, the global industry association for the custom home technology industry. Jamie was also named as a 2022 St. Louis Titan 100, a program that recognizes her city’s Top 100 CEOs & C-level executives. According to Titan, these are the area’s most accomplished business leaders in their industry, demonstrating exceptional leadership, vision, and passion. Jamie is a good friend to RTT, an excellent role model, and from what we can tell, a pretty great boss.

Today’s episode of Residential Tech Talks is brought to you by Shelly WiFi Relays by Allterco | Smart home devices designed and developed to provide solutions tailored to your needs. 

Go to https://shelly.cloud and make IoT simple!

On this week’s podcast, Melanie Niemerg joins us from Clearwater, FL, where, along with her husband Paul, she is owner of Integral Systems, a company that specializes in residential and commercial security and smart home automation. Integral Systems offers a platform that allows homeowners and businesses to enjoy the benefits of smart technology without "seeing" it. With that goal in mind, their firm is actively involved in their local NARI branch, which is the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. In fact, it was a Linked In post about providing continuing education to this group where we first encountered Melanie. She also presented at the kitchen and bath trade show KBIS last month in Orlando, and then most recently she served as a guest speaker for a class of interior design and automation/integration students at a local technical school. A former teacher with parents who were both business professors, she has clearly found a way to add even more value to her already important role in her company. As she explains, 2022 is the Year of Yes. Each new opportunity that she embraces seems to lead to another. On the podcast, we learn more about Melanie’s path to co-owning a CI business and a lot more about what kind of technology is finding its way into Integral Systems projects in Clearwater and Tampa, FL.

Today’s episode of Residential Tech Talks is brought to you by Shelly WiFi Relays by Allterco | Smart home devices designed and developed to provide solutions tailored to your needs. 

Go to https://shelly.cloud and make IoT simple!

On this week’s podcast, Ken Johnson joins us from Chicago, where he is owner and president of Premiere Systems, a home integration firm of 65 employees serving both the Chicago, IL and Naples & Miami, Florida markets. Premiere Systems and Bozeman-Montana-based SAV Digital Environments earlier this month completed their acquisition of Xssentials in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and the launch of a new firm called Premiere SAV to better serve the ever-expanding needs of those in that area of the country. Mergers and acquisitions in the CEDIA channel are relatively rare, so we invited Johnson on the podcast to explain how this particular partnership came together and to learn about his 27 years running his own company and how his partnership with SAV Digital Environments’ Cory Riestad developed through an exclusive alliance of veteran home integrators, called The Guild.

Today’s episode of Residential Tech Talks is brought to you by Shelly WiFi Relays by Allterco | Smart home devices designed and developed to provide solutions tailored to your needs. 

Go to shelly.cloud and make IoT simple!

Patrick Laidlaw joins us from Detroit, MI, where he is on the road evangelizing about the opportunities available in the lighting fixture business as he serves as director of business development for integration at AiSPiRE, the integrator-only brand of WAC. Lighting. WAC produces technology-driven lighting products featuring state of the art LED light engines through their own vertically integrated manufacturing facility. Being a true manufacturer, the Port Washington, NY-based company has the ability to do custom, design-build, and private label goods. Patrick and I met briefly about a week ago in Dallas, during the inaugural Lightapalooza conference organized by the HTSA buying group. Patrick, on behalf of AiSPiRE, led one of several manufacturer-led training sessions, laying out the opportunities and challenges afforded custom integrators interested in adding lighting design and fixture sales to their offerings.

Today’s episode of Residential Tech Talks is brought to you by Wet Sounds | Loud and Clear is NOT good enough

Go to wetsounds.com for more!

On this week’s podcast, Taft Stricklin joins us from Portland, OR, where he is sales team manager for Just Add Power, the Seminole, FL-based AV-over-IP distribution technology manufacturer. But because one job is not enough, Taft is also CEO of Cincinnati-based RS Pro Sales, an independent sales rep firm for several notable brands, including Sonance, Lutron, and Sony. But that’s not all… He’s also one of the most entertaining people to follow on Facebook, arguably the number-one party host at the CEDIA Expo trade show every year, and maybe the biggest current-day Van Halen fan on the planet. Think I’m exaggerating? Consider this… Taft’s legal name is Taft Van Stricklin.

Visit Just Add Power at justaddpower.com and RS Pro Sales at RSproSales.com

Today’s episode of Residential Tech Talks is brought to you by Wet Sounds | Loud and Clear is NOT good enough

Go to wetsounds.com for more!