CEDIA announces a European roadshow for The CEDIA Designer (TCD)-- one taking the software to three locations across Mediterranean Europe to show installers the capabilities of the tool in their own language.

“The CEDIA Designer is a fantastic tool for our members and the wider industry to improve the professionalism and quality of home cinema design, as well as saving them valuable time on projects," CEDIA EMEA says. "We’re excited to give integrators further afield the opportunity to gain an overview of the software, the different packages available, and the CEDIA member benefits.”

The global smart speaker market totals 26.1 million units in Q2 2019, Canalys reports-- a 55.4% Y-o-Y increase, with Amazon taking the lead while Baidu beats Google to 2nd place despite serving solely the Chinese market.

Amazon Echo smart speakers total 6.6m units in Q2 2019, a 61.1% Y-o-Y increase, while Baidu shipments are up by an impressive 3700% Y-o-Y to 4.5m units following a Q2 2019 reentry in the market with the Xiadu range of devices. It should come to little surprise that China is the biggest global market for smart speakers, with quarterly shipments of 12.6m units, over twice a US market of 6.1m units.

CEDIA reveals the finalists for the product categories in the CEDIA Awards, an honour for the top hardware and software products in the custom install industry across the EMEA region.

A qualified panel of technology installers involved with both sale and installation of such systems vet the entrants for the Best New Hardware and Best New Software categories. The initial round of judging determines the finalists for the two categories.

SnapAV and Control4 finalise their merger, the result of approval by 99% of Control4 shareholders. Unified into a single organisation, Control4 becomes a professional smart home brand in the SnapAV portfolio.

The merger follows the May 2019 announcement of the $680 million all-cash deal.

"The smart home industry is poised for massive growth, and much of that growth will be driven and satisfied by professionals. Our team shares a passion to deliver fantastic experiences to homeowners and businesses,” SnapAV says. "Through this combination of industry leaders, we have organised ourselves around delivering a unified and integrated company that gives dealers one place to go for the best and broadest selection of products, greatest technical support, most rewarding sales programs, robust training resources, and more.”

CEDIA announces Jeremy Burkhardt will be inducted to the CEDIA Fellows programme at CEDIA Expo 2019. The CEDIA Fellows programme honours long-time CEDIA members and volunteers who have contributed "significantly" to the association.

Burkhardt is, of course, well known as the chairman of Origin Acoustics, as well as the former CEO, architect and co-founder of SpeakerCraft. He has a history in the industry spanning over two decades, starting off as a custom installer before becoming an independent AV retailer. The experience lead him to realise deficiencies in products and installation practices, bringing about the creation of SpeakerCraft. The company grew into  the largest architectural speaker maker and brand in the industry before it was sold to Nortek for a record $58 million in 2004, and Burkhardt remained CEO until his retirement 2012.

Crestron Europe and exclusive EMEA sales agency TIG relocate offices in the UK-- specifically, the Crestron support team and training rooms are moving to Weybridge, while the TIG sales office is found in Cobham, Surrey.

The Crestron office space at 400 Dashwood Lang Road, Weybridge offers increased training facilities for both commercial and residential AV professionals to prepare for control system design and programming challenges. The modular office spaces feature movable dividing walls to facilitate modern working culture, and are equipped with the latest Crestron solutions for room scheduling and unified collaboration.

The Weybridge office also houses the support team comprising service technicians and specialists. The support team is backed up by experts based in the Crestron head offices in Belgium and the US. The rooms feature AirMedia for wireless data transmission, Fliptops, scheduling panels and signs, and a Crestron AirBoard to further simplify training and meeting environments. Managing the office is the Crestron XiO Cloud.