Blog posts

CI Systems brings faster, local, and more sustainable shading solutions to the table

A dive into tech investment that expands on a recent report from the ILHA Tech Integration Committee

The new DM NVX® 384 encoder/decoder is a feature-packed solution that represents the next generation of AV-over-IP technology

Introducing the Next-Generation Horizon Keypads Demo Case, a designer enclosure purpose-built to properly exhibit the beauty and functionality of Crestron keypads

Our latest update makes the platform “smarter” than ever

Now that Crestron Flex devices support Windows Autopilot, configuring and deploying that hardware has never been easier

Certification comes to several products that are key to the hybrid workplace

The New York Giants turned to Crestron for a state-of-the-art room for their football operations — and beyond

Crestron’s latest offerings cover all the bases: scalable, simple to use, secure, and easy to integrate with third-party products

Crestron is rolling out a line of audio-over-IP solutions designed to fit any installation

The latest update to the Crestron Automate VX speaker tracking solution adds visual AI for a best-in-class meeting experience

Educating the next generation of technology pros

How technology can merge with a beautiful aesthetic to help those with 
specific needs remain safe and comfortable in their own homes

Updates include new dashboards, quality-of-life enhancements, and much more

The right desk scheduling solution can both reduce employee frustration and provide management with valuable data

A smart home that’s been integrated with an Adapt Energy® system and the Crestron Home® platform can provide a staggering number of benefits. Here are five to give you an idea of the power of a true “smart” energy management system.

Wireless presentation systems provide a safe and simple solution for sharing content in conference rooms and huddle spaces, making it easy to cast and mirror any personal device for presentations and collaboration.

As it becomes the industry standard, Crestron has leveraged HTML5 to drive a solution for developing custom, intuitive interfaces quickly and easily: The Crestron Construct™ UI editing tool. Its drag-and-drop WYSIWYG layout functionality makes it easy to deploy — and it can send consistent interface designs to Crestron touch screens across an organization, no matter their size or orientation. It’s control simplified — both for you and your clients.

Crafted from the partnership between Crestron and Origin Acoustics, the new Ultimate IC3 speaker offers an incredible audio experience, delivered from an opening just three inches in diameter.

As updates to the Crestron Home® platform go, this one’s especially rich. Features and functions include support for the PC4-R processor, the ability to “hot-swap” Crestron Home OS extensions, support for new network switches and keypads, functionality for easier firmware updates, and improvements to the user experience — a big part of which includes new languages for international applications.

As hybrid work becomes the “default setting” for most businesses, the stress on the IT department is growing. Management can help those IT pros (and help retain them) by implementing the right technology management platforms, broadening horizons beyond the office, and empowering employee collaboration and feedback. Here’s how.

Businesses are starting to realize the potential of cloud-based control and management systems. These systems can be complex, though, and it takes a pro to help navigate all the options. This excerpt from Crestron’s Smarter Spaces magazine provides quite a bit of insight with the help of Crestron’s Director of Technology Partner Programs, Bob Bavolacco.

The post-pandemic workplace has settled into “hybrid permanence,” a state where some portion of any staff will always be collaborating remotely. There’s a silver lining here: Recent research has revealed that the hybrid “modality” outperforms other types of meetings (such as all in-person or all-virtual) in several key metrics. That research can be found in the book “Suddenly Hybrid: Managing the Modern Meeting,” coauthored by Karin M. Reed (CEO of Speaker Dynamics) and Joseph R. Allen, Ph.D. (now a professor at the University of Utah).

We’ve known for years that the rhythms of natural daylight can benefit human beings. But can artificial light that mimics the sun prove equally beneficial? Here are some recent findings.

Crestron’s been involved in integrating the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital® medical service for nearly a decade. As pandemic lockdowns began to ease, the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital was updated, seeing improvements to many aspects of this airborne teaching hospital. A project like this presents a bevy of challenges unique to its functions in the air and on the ground — lighter, smaller solutions are critical, as are state-of-the-art AV and control products.

As Crestron marks its 50th year in business, here’s a look back at the people behind the company’s continued success — and the philosophy of the leadership team that drives it.

More than 11,000 miles after it began — with stops in 11 cities — the Crestron NEXT Road Trips have come to a close. The Crestron team learned a lot, and all agree it was great to finally meet face-to-face with dealers, consultants, and even end users after two years of pandemic restrictions. Here’s a recap.

Near zero latency video signals are key to the esports experience. No lag time — for players or the audience — means lighting fast reaction times from the gamers and immediate responses from the spectators viewing in real-time on public displays. In addition to great audio and video, integrating various devices is a priority, such as mouse and keyboard peripherals, headsets, cameras on the gamers themselves, and other considerations. There's more, too — and here are all the details.

Crestron integrator Joe Acree from the firm Simplicity was recently quoted in a Forbes article by Jamie Gold entitled “Experts Say Wellness Design Can Help Support Teen Mental Health.” Acree had quite a bit more to say on the subject, and here you’ll find a broader picture of the entertainment, e-learning, parental control, and special-needs solutions Simplicity is providing for clients with teen children.

How do we achieve true meeting equity for everyone in the modern hybrid office or classroom? How do we maximize natural engagement for workers, learners, and presenters? And how do we begin to solve the growing problem of “videoconferencing fatigue?” Crestron’s just rolled out an AI-driven ecosystem that addresses all of these issues, the Crestron Sightline Experience.

The digital workplace — with its combination of remote and in-person collaborators who need to communicate effectively — is here to stay. Whether your organization prefers Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or another product, finding a solution that’s designed to work effortlessly with your preferred platform will maximize room uptime. Additionally, there are a broad range of advantages when a system features cloud-based deployment, management, and monitoring.

Interested in the world of large-scale, enterprise integration projects? We’ve spoken to three integrators who’ve handled jobs of this size and asked them to share the issues they’ve faced — and any advice they had to offer. In part two of this two-part series, we talk about working with IT departments, service contracts, the impact of the pandemic, and several other topics.

There’s a world of digital creators making beautiful, dynamic, elegant works of art that can be displayed on any TV screen in your home. Crestron has partnered with Blackdove, a firm that specializes in providing these works (via subscription or purchase), and this union is producing an aesthetic experience that’s breathtaking and unique. (Some of the artworks are backed by “non-fungible tokens” [NFTs], a digital “certificate of authenticity” that comes along with a smart contract.)

In part two of our dive into the right video conferencing solutions, we take a listen (pun intended) to what makes for good audio — from speakers to software, from headsets to amplifier headroom.

In December of 2021, we published a case study featuring the Crestron solutions that were integrated into the Corning Optical Communications building, a new 180,000-square-foot facility in North Carolina. We decided to take a deeper dive into the project, so here’s a conversation with Corning’s Senior Solution Architect, Robert Basile.

As a home automation professional, you know (almost) everything there is to know about luminaire, Kelvin, light output, dimming, lighting control, up lighters, chandeliers, and everything in between. So, it’s easy to forget that the best form of light is daylight. Well unless you recently had the experience I had while on vacation!

Crestron Home is all about being able to control as many devices in your home, from as many “surfaces” from your home. One of these new, “surfaces” that can also control your home is now the M1 Mac, where Crestron Home can run natively on those devices now.

There is nothing more homeowners desire than to have a safe, comfortable, and secure home. Thanks to the evolution of technology, this desire is not far from most homeowners’ reach.

The technology experts on campuses and in school districts might be destined for a marathon-length run at a sprinter’s pace. The best indicator of your workload over the next four months will likely depend on how your institution has chosen to deal with the obstacles that might arise this semester and beyond.

Learn how Crestron and Cisco products come together as a solution to resolve the most common AV challenges. Crestron enables simple set-up and configuration for room control via a Cisco Touch 10 – offering you an efficient solution that requires no custom programming and no major upheaval.

When I started my role as the Residential Solutions Engineer at Crestron, I was shocked to learn just how easy Crestron Home® makes setting up and deploying DM NVX™. DM NVX is a video-over-IP distribution platform that simplify designs, provides flexibility, speeds up deployment, limits points of failure, streamlines service, and provides an easy path for upgrades.

There’s a new, virtually untapped market shaping the residential technology industry. This market includes more than 106 million people responsible for at least $7.1 trillion in annual economic (U.S) activity—a figure expected to reach well over $13.5 trillion by 2032. This is what AARP has branded the “Longevity Economy,” representing all economic activity serving the needs of Americans age 50 and over.

The work from home trend continues to gain momentum. Homeowners are requesting more dedicated working and learning spaces. Architects are designing and developers are building homes with more office spaces. The UC-MM30-R Tabletop Conference Device for Crestron Home® OS is the perfect all-in-one solution for these applications.

Crestron has been the leader in control systems for decades; our control appliances run smart homes, rooms, buildings, and campuses. We were the first company in our industry to recognize and embrace that AV and IT were converging, and as such, implemented enterprise-grade security and standards-based communication on our devices. The next step was clear to us: we needed a software-only solution.

The “smart” revolution began several years ago with smartphones (a.k.a phones) and has extended in recent years to thermostats, doorbells, alarm systems, and kitchen appliances. Smart devices are so ubiquitous that the term “smart” is overused to the point that it is almost meaningless. Companies are eager to jump on the bandwagon and claim their products are “smart,” and consumers proudly claim they have a smart home because they have lighting control. Misconceptions about smart homes are prevalent and create confusion in the marketplace. This can have deleterious effects on businesses and under serve consumers. Here are seven of the most popular misconceptions about smart homes.

In a time where adoption rates of new technology skyrocket and where physical distancing is essential, it’s important to think about the best way to manage all these newly installed devices, and the old ones.

Today we can do just about anything from our phone or tablet. From the palm of our hands, we can buy just about anything from dinner to a new car.  Control just about anything at home from from changing the temperature to connecting with a streaming service. The simple, intuitive functionality we expect from our mobile devices helps us simply everyday tasks, makes connecting easier and our days more efficient. At Crestron, we thought it was time to bring that same level of intuitive and simple room control into the workplace.

Our new reality is that no one really knows what is going to happen in the next few months or years. But how we work, teach, learn, and socialize is different now.
We will be fine. We learn and adapt. We have learned that we need to be prepared, not just by stocking up on toilet paper, but also taking this opportunity to upgrade our remote conferencing capabilities at home.

COVID19 has come, and life as we knew it will be no longer. Necessary shifts in behaviors, social norms, and habits, etc. are coming. Already, “touchless” interactions have been put into place, from buying groceries or a new car, to closing on a mortgage, to ordering take-out. This same reality will likely materialize in the workplace as regions of the country start to “open up” and employees return to the office. More specifically, workplace technology in meeting rooms (where collaboration and interaction are key) will need to evolve to meet the new reality. That’s where Crestron AirMedia® 2.0 comes in.
 

Keeping Crestron Touchscreens clean and safe.

When first setting up your Microsoft Teams Room system, you will want to make sure that there are some settings on the local units are the way you want them to function. While some of these are straight forward, it is worth explaining the meeting mode setting to make sure that you are not caught with performance working differently than you expected.

With Enterprise Connect 2019 now come and gone, it’s important to see how the cohesive Microsoft and Crestron roadmap continues to strengthen. At the Microsoft Keynote there were many things introduced and shown that are exciting for both Microsoft Teams™ and the Microsoft Teams Room Systems (MTR).