News

Alltrade Announces 2012 Trade Show Success (19/10/2012)

The Alltrade trade show has been hailed an outstanding success by exhibitions, visitors and the organisers alike. The annual event, this year held at the Copthorne Hotel in Effingham, Sussex on 11th October, saw over 34 exhibitors and more the 260 trade visitors over the one day event. With YouView, PVR, networking and install technologies now forming a key part of the Alltrade distribution portfolio, key brands such as Triax, Echostar, Humax, Sonos and Freesat were on hand to speak to trade visitors. Open to existing and potential Alltrade customers, the company offers a blanket discount of 5% on all orders placed at the show along with other show special offers.

Commented Alltrade MD Steve Simper: “Despite near monsoon weather conditions this year’s show has been the most successful, with record numbers of exhibitors and visitors as well as orders placed. Many visitors took full advantage of the blanket discount but it was also pleasing to see lots of orders for the new products that were at the show. It is great to see so many of our key suppliers using the show to launch new products aimed squarely at Alltrade customers and demonstrates that, for the aerial and satellite industry, there is plenty of new business to be had post switchover. Although we had over 400 pre-registered companies those who didn’t make it have been contacted and the majority have commented work commitments came up last minute and we’ve been asked if we can do it all again as the feeling is these guys have missed out! ”

Triax, a leading manufacturer of terrestrial Aerials and satellite equipment having moved into the arena of HDMI and multimedia distribution systems, was the main sponsor of the event and the company’s Multimedia Sales Manager Gareth Davies was very pleased with the turnout and quality of visitors, commenting: “This is a very good show, one of the best in the industry. Among Triax’s new ranges unveiled at the show the company was keen to show visitors its new HDBaseT Lite system for running HDMI over cat5/6 cabling in residential and commercial environments. Lee Allen, Sales Manager at Global Invacom, also praised the Alltrade show saying it gave more value for money as an exhibitor than some other events in the trade. The company has just launched its TVLink HD kit, designed in the UK, which streams HD video wirelessly from point to point without needing long cable runs. A cabled (via coax) version follows at the end of the year.

Freesat, YouView and PVR equipment were a major feature of the event. European Product marketing Manager for Sling Media Adrian Dowle pointed out how a complementary products like the Slingbox add new features to existing TV equipment and are straightforward to set up for installers. With Sling heavily involved with EchoStar, Dowle noted how successful the EchoStar HDT-610R super-slim PVR had been this year and spoke of a new, even more feature rich version in January.

Sagemcom had its Philips-branded Freeview HD PVR on view, the HDTP8530, which has a 500GB hard drive as well as iPlayer and media playback from USB or home networks. A 1TB model is planned and also a Freesat version for the near future. Other PVR brands were strongly represented, including the notable iPad-friendly View21 recorder from Harvard International and new models from Humax, which has both YouView and second-generation Freesat recorders in its line-up. In addition Alltrade supplier Antiference announced that it is bringing the renowned Strong range of satellite receivers back into the UK. Strong’s set-top boxes can pick up UK free-to-air services plus others from Europe such as Polish channels. LTE/4G interference solutions

Potential interference from LTE / 4G mobile data technology was a key talking point of the event. With LTE services already launched in some areas and countrywide rollout anticipated over the next few years the industry is working out how to best deal with the fallout. The prospect of 4G interference on terrestrial TV is something that Vision Products is addressing and communicating to its customers through event such as the Alltrade show. Piers Johnston, the company’s UK Sales Manager, commented: “We are retuning our range and introducing new products, mostly filtering, to address the challenges LTE will bring. There’s a lot going on and we need to upskill the industry,” he added.

Blake UK showed a prototype in-line passive filter to help remove LTE interference from digital terrestrial TV channels, and is anticipating a big demand for affordable DTV/LTE filters. Televes said it would also have 15 LTE-ready products by the end of February, including passive standalone filters, mast-mountable versions and active filters. It is upgrading various components from Class B to Class A for better protection against interference and all modified versions of previous products will have new 4G-ready logos on the packaging. Alongside those, the company exhibited its high-speed data over coaxial adapters and an HDMI to COFDM encoder/modulator.

The Alltrade event would not be complete without a good showing from tool and test equipment suppliers and this year was no exception. Promax demonstrated the Ranger HD, its latest, sixth-generation universal signal analyser. Promax General Manager Simon Humphries commented: “It’s a phenomenal piece of kit and crucially it is the first such product to include special LTE functions. These will help installers to identify if and where 4G interference is occurring, with clear visual proof on the display.” The SuperRod cable routing system was a popular new arrival at the show. The South Wales-based company has offered specialised tools for electricians for just over a decade and now has dedicated aerial installation kits for safely getting cables over tiled roofs. It has other handy accessories too, such as the Quick Stop leak protector, in case you accidentally drill through a water pipe. The company’s distributor support manager Sam Horseman said the new products had been exceptionally well received at the show.

Diversification products

This year’s show also underlined the trend for diversification across the aerial and satellite industry with many brands exhibition for the first time. ISS International had its new range of security equipment on show, commenting that trade customers were now showing more interest in its CCTV offering than its traditional equipment such as aerial brackets. BPT Security has added to its door entry range with a stylish new Opale panel and showing that these easy-to-install systems are now an attractive option for TV and AV installers to expand into. High Quality accessories brand Sanus visited the show for the second time to demonstrate its comprehensive range of full motion TV wall mounts.

Commented Sanus Country Manager Andy Graham: “The drive for super slim TV mounting solutions means that Sanus’s unique technology attracts a lot of attention, especially with our new full motion mounts that extend to 22”. The new super slim HDMI cables were also a big success for integrators who want a really low profile finish when fitting a low profile mount. The Alltrade trade show has been a real success with lots of new customers. We will be back next year.”

Multi-room audio company Sonos also proved very popular at the show as visitors were keen to learn more about its simple plug and play multi-room audio products as well as the new wireless Sonos subwoofer. Not only does the Sonos subwoofer look extremely appealing, its twin force cancelling drivers could be heard throughout the day - around most of the hotel.

With this year’s show a qualified success the Alltrade management team would like to thank exhibitors and visitors alike and are already busy planning for the Alltrade trade show 2013.

www.alltrade.co.uk