The spring NAB Show is approaching. Between now and then Radio World will conduct several short Q&As with manufacturers about their plans and offerings, to help you get the most out of the big annual trade show. Frank Grundstein is director of sales for Logitek Electronic Systems.
Radio World: How has business been for the company since last year’s NAB Show?
Frank Grundstein: Logitek’s business has been a little slower than we would like. The industry response to our newest console, the Helix, has been good and has sold out its initial production run, and based on the appointments we have scheduled at NAB we expect business to pick up after the show. TV automation renovations have been a big part of our sales for the past few years and they continue to be enthusiastically boosted by the Helix Studio, the Virtual fully functional version of the Helix Surface console.
RW: What are you hearing from your customers about their business outlook this year? In what areas should we expect growth or the most interesting projects?
Grundstein: Continued growth in automation in local TV. For radio, with the dissolution of the main studio rule, the implementation of virtual technologies to allow more centralized program origination. At the station level, unfortunately, the race to the bottom continues with owners looking for lower pricing with more features.
RW: Last year’s show featured the debut of the Helix, displaying advances in console interface technology. Will we see anything like that this year?
Grundstein: Logitek will continue to develop consoles based on the touchscreen implementation in the Helix. We have a couple of projects in development that we can’t talk about yet.
RW: What new goodies will your company be showing? Why should attendees visit your booth?
Grundstein: Logitek is at booth C1633. Aside from showing the Helix Surface and Helix Studio again this year we will be showing further refinements to make it easier to use JetLink, the high-quality, low-delay IP codec we introduced at the Radio Show.
RW: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2018 NAB Show?
Grundstein: IP technology implementation and migration is still at the forefront.
RW: You’re a show veteran, how has the show changed since your first visit?
Grundstein: When I first went to the show, it was all about hardware. Now, more and more it is about software. IP technology for both radio and TV has completely taken over as the primary transport technology. Technologies that are so ubiquitous today were not even around when I got my FCC first class license.
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