Sony, Kramer and Exterity discuss display solution benefits Features 08/01/2020 Hurrairah bin Sohail speaks to Sony, Kramer and Exterity and explores the trio’s collaboration on a Sony Bravia integration project and how a packaged product can change the game in the hyper-competitive flat panel market.As consumer behaviour changes, with clients increasingly looking for a single touch point when managing build projects, the AV industry has had to respond. We have seen players go down the acquisition route in an attempt to become a ‘one-stop-shop’. On the flipside, there is the avenue of reaching across the divide to establish strategic partnerships rather than trying to go it alone. The latter is the choice made by Sony, Kramer and Exterity. Sony has previously announced integration of Kramer Control Brainware with the Sony BZ35F series of Bravia 4K HDR professional displays. The control processor software allows the display to provide AV installations with control, automation and analytics features. In addition, Sony has also worked closely with Exterity to achieve integration between Exterity’s ArtioGuest interactive guest experience portal for the Sony Bravia professional displays. Bradley Hanrahan, global partnerships manager for Bravia Professional Display at Sony, said that the driving force behind the partnership was a simple and obvious realisation: “The simple matter of fact is, no one can do everything well. We're looking at the same thing and maybe even the same client. It just doesn't make sense if all of us are looking at same business to not be talking to each other and making sure that the experience at the end of the day is a really good one.” The opportunity to really improve the outcome for the client was what really brought Sony, Kramer and Exterity together. According to Jamie Hind, regional director for Asia Pacific at Exterity, it also allows the parties involved to gain a competitive edge: “I think that the ability to take three solutions that were standalone but potentially going to the same customer and provide it as one platform reduces the total cost of ownership and actually delivers something that's completely unique which nobody else is doing. Backed by three philosophies and three different companies, it's about the quality and it's about backing that up with the very best service and support that we can so that we differentiate ourselves technologically but also through service.” Michael Eastgate, general manager for Kramer Electronics Australia, adds: “We're looking at it from the customer perspective rather than saying ‘how can we sell more boxes?’. Integrating with Sony displays doesn't sell any additional hardware for Kramer, but we know that’s what the customer wants. With integration like this, it's a very clear solution for someone who's looking for it. Trying to push more boxes has never been Kramer’s philosophy. We're looking for smarter, better solutions, rather than just building bigger boxes and shifting more of them.” Partnering up can sometimes be an arduous process. Three different companies with their own style of work coming together to collaborate can lead to friction. But Eastgate said there were not many such issues: “There weren’t too many barriers to it [partnership] actually. It began with a conversation, with Sony saying ‘it would be great if we could have drivers pre-written for our Sony displays’ which we had already done so that wasn’t much of a challenge. The conversation that we wanted to have later on was ‘what if we made a display processor?’ and I think we had it up and running about a month after that." Hind from Exterity adds: “From our side, the conversation started almost two years ago. Looking at the business, looking at the vertical markets where we all operate from an IPTV perspective, we’re already in broadcast together. The accommodation market is somewhere where Sony and Exerity both had an appetite to go to and we decided to start working together. The delivery of the solution was pretty quick and the adoption at sites was pretty quick as well. If the processor is in the TV, the Sony TV is the glue for everything. It should help in a lot of cases, in hospitality and corporate, revolutionising the way people look at in-room technology and also the cost of adding in-room technology. In the type of vertical where they are quite cost conscious and making a return on investment isn’t easy this could make the difference. It’s a question of ‘how do we make it a valuable solution? How do we do something different?’. I think between the three of us, that’s what’s been achieved.” With the three manufacturers coming together to provide ‘an integrated solution’, what does this mean for integrators? Hind from Exterity says the development is a positive one: “I think that we’ve done the work for the integrator. Between the three of us, we’ve integrated a product, we’ve made it seamless and we’ve made it simple. From the integrator’s perspective, they’re not having to learn three different things. They’re not having to learn three separate pieces. It’s literally ‘if I put that on the wall, I’m good to go’. From a cost-conscious point of view, it’s less to install, it’s less to go wrong, it’s less to support and it takes less time in the room. So, we can bring the cost of the solution down and also the cost of installation down and all of a sudden, it’s a really intriguing offering at a reasonable price point.” Hanrahan from Sony believes that the combined system can also save the integrator hassle when it comes to providing support. He says: “Things do go wrong, it just happens. In these situations where things go wrong, we know that we can troubleshoot between us quickly. In the past, the traditional model would be to send three different messages to three different people. It just doesn’t work like that anymore. So, the integrator’s experience as a customer is now streamlined.” The results of the partnership between Sony, Kramer and Exterity can also help integrators address security concerns. Eastgate from Kramer says: “Previously, it was three products that had to have their own network and integrators had to consider that from a security point of view. Now it is one. From a cost point of view, the integration means that there are other pieces of hardware and cable that don’t need to be bought. It is better from a deployment viewpoint, because with Kramer Control you have the capacity to control and update 200 Sony displays. If there are any issues on the side of Exterity or Sony, we can pivot very quickly to make those changes.” Hind from Exterity says: “We would love to sell boxes, however that is not always the right solution in many cases. Where the market is starting to go is what we have done. There is a bigger focus on the reason for the sale and the reason that clients will buy into it. I hope that the integration we have delivered and the relationships we have created will make it easier for our partners to sell the solution. It is already one package; we have added value and reduced the cost then hopefully that should make the integrator’s route to selling this solution a lot simpler and more streamlined. All parties expect the partnership to continue into the future. Eastgate from Kramer says: “This partnership is very much evolving in terms of opportunity by opportunity. The combination of IPTV, digital signage and Kramer Control is limited only to your creativity and the application. So, as we get new applications there will be natural developments which will come with that. It will be an organic evolution.” Hind from Exterity concludes: “We’ve identified the needs and the wants of customers, but we only know what we know from the two vertical markets that we’ve looked at. As we go to other customers and they say, ‘well actually, I’d like to use it like this’, that’s what’s going to drive this relationship. From an end user or SI perspective, the fact that they’ve got the vendors sitting together who are willing, able and wanting to bring about this evolution to keep the product moving forwards, I think that’s a big thing. We are seeing an evolution in terms of the product but also the vertical markets where this application is being used.”