There are people who ‘worship’ technology and...there’s technology for worship! The former would have had a field day at the Integrate 2013 audiovisual technology show where they would have able to inspect a vast array of the latest in displays, projectors cameras including ‘technology for worship’.

Technology for Worship was a dedicated section of Integrate 2013, which claims to be Australia’s largest integrated AV IT & electronic systems industry event. It held at the end of August at Sydney’s Darling Harbour Convention Centre. The Technologies for Worship pavilion, sponsored by Technologies for Worship magazine offered hands on workshops for technicians, volunteers and house of worship staff.

Integrate 2013 was organised jointly by US based Infocomm International and CEDIA Asia Pacific, the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association and incorporated what was previously the CEDIA Asia Pacific Expo. It was organised by Diversified Exhibitions.

The organisers claimed, “record visitor numbers”. However they weren’t prepared to put a number to the record numbers and when Whatech visited the event on the final day it was far from busy.

Clare Ward, executive director of CEDIA Asia Pacific, said: “The joint platform of Integrate with CEDIA has been extremely beneficial for our CEDIA members as they are now able to see products they have never seen before without having to attend multiple shows.” She added that the event also demonstrated how the commercial and residential sectors of the AV IT landscape were converging.

The keynote address was delivered by InfoComm’s new executive director and CEO, David Labuskes, on ‘Creating the Exceptional Experience’. Labuskes explained that, regardless of the situation, in order to meet the growing demands of consumers, AV and IT professionals must go beyond the basic requirements and keep in mind that the industry is not about making technology work better; rather, it's about transforming the way people connect.

In addition to the education program, Integrate 2013 for the first time presented a series of real-life e-health application simulations, showcasing live and recorded demonstrations of the latest video conferencing solutions. Visitors were able to see how unified collaboration solutions could be used for distance health and health simulation training.

Eugene Razbash, CEO of CombiTel, noted “This years show was characterised by an even stronger interest in IPTV for corporate and hospitality applications, IP based content delivery is set to become an essential for the enterprise.

Canon officially launched its new range of compact full HD surveillance cameras including the world’s smallest full HD powered pan tilt zoom dome camera. According to the show’s organisers, it the first time the cameras had been shown publicly anywhere in the world. Also making their debut at the event were Sony’s 4K home theatre projector and Sony’s 84 inch 4K displays.

Epson showcased its interactive whiteboard claimed to “deliver a wide range of collaboration, content creation, capture and outcome sharing possibilities, replacing all copy boards, flip charts, whiteboards and other analogue tools with one easy to install and use device, without the need for a computer.” It also allows users to collaborate (project and annotate) over the same presentation content through network-connected projectors from multiple locations.

In 2014 Integrate will move to the Sydney Showground at Sydney Olympic Park where it wil be held from 26-28 August.

Find out the latest IPTV technology and services at www.combitel.com.au

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