The pre-show Opening Panel Discussion is set to take place on the day before Integrated Systems Europe opens its doors on 8 February at the RAI, Amsterdam.
The event will be led by David Rowan, Editor-in-Chief of WIRED UK magazine, who will moderate a panel made up of leading business and technology experts. The Opening Panel Discussion will explore how the convergence of AV and IT, driven by the rapid evolution and implementation of IP technology, has created increasing technical challenges and business opportunities for the installation and integration market sector. Under the theme and title of ‘How Sensors are Bringing AV and IT Together’, the expert panel will seek to answer key questions on one of the businesses hottest topics.
Rowan commented, “IP has proven to be the ‘Great Unifier’, bringing together many diverse industries onto the network. Given the ramp-up of cloud, video, unified communications and collaboration, digital signage, smart building and mobile, this panel brings together experts to discuss how AV and IT share today’s voice/video/data network.” WIRED UK is the award-winning technology, innovation and trends magazine covering innovation and the people and businesses that are building the future. Rowan has addressed TED Global and Google Zeitgeist events, and frequently contributes on Newsnight and the Today programme in the UK. He is in touch with many of the world’s leading trend-setters and travels the world searching out the latest apps and gadgets, the cutting-edge R&D departments, universities and start-ups that are, or soon will be changing business, culture and every aspect of our lives from AI to wearable technology to smart homes.
Participants in the Opening Panel Discussion include: Toni Barnett, CDEC, Managing Director. Barnett leads a £13m business with a team of 40 operations, sales and admin staff and around 50 engineers working across the UK for professional integrator CDEC. She first started selling into the education sector (CDEC’s core business today) over 20 years ago and has a first-hand understanding of how technology in education has evolved. The company has won Reseller /Integrator of the Year at the AV Awards twice in succession, amongst a number of other accolades. Under her direction, CDEC is now involved in high level projects and covers a broad range of verticals nationwide.
Jonathan Wagstaff, Context, Country Manager. Wagstaff has managed global data-collection projects for major IT vendors and is currently responsible for the UK and IE IT distribution, reseller, and retail panel for Context. The company collects both sales and pricing data at every point in the supply chain to provide fact-based detail of total end user consumption; complete margin visibility; and real channel sales figures for both B2B and retail clients. He has close relationships with many UK GTDC members and is active in panel recruitment. Wagstaff has also held roles as a consultant with Accenture UK and Essex County Council.
Kevin Morrison, Harman, Executive Vice President. Morrison has been involved in the AV and IT (Hardware & Software) and Broadcast industries internationally for over 25 years. Previously Morrison was the CEO and a founder of Endeleo Group, which was acquired by AMX in October 2006. Initially responsible for the creation and development of the AMX Network Media Group, Morrison was appointed to the role of Managing Director of AMX Europe in 2008. AMX was acquired by the Harman Group in April 2014 and in October 2015 he was appointed the Senior Vice President of the Enterprise Strategic Business Unit. He is now responsible for global sales of Harman brands under the Harman Professional Division.
Mark Grady, Google, Android & Chrome for Work, Channel Sales Lead, EMEA. Working with business customers Grady looks after the sales and business development of Google’s suite of Chrome and Android products in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This includes Chromebox for Meetings which is Google’s video conferencing product, and management of Chrome devices in digital signage solutions. Prior to joining Google in 2013, he worked for over 15 years in marketing, business development and management roles with Virgin, Orange and Microsoft.
Bernd Eberhardt, NEC, President and CEO, NEC Display Solutions. NEC Display Solutions Europe has its European headquarters in Munich, Germany and is responsible for all business activities in EMEA. It benefits from the technological know-how and technologies of the NEC Corporation and, with its own R&D, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers offering a wide product range of leading display solutions. The display product portfolio ranges from entry-level to professional and specialist desktop LCDs, via large-size public displays for digital and retail signage.