Ecko Unltd. Named As CES Innovations 2012 Design And Engineering Award Honoree

MIZCO International’s EckoUNLTD. product marketing division today announced that it has been named an International CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree for its new Spray™ Bluetooth speaker. Products entered in this prestigious program are judged by a preeminent panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and members of the media to honor outstanding design and engineering in cutting edge consumer electronics products across 32 product categories.

The Spray is the newest addition to the Ecko UNLTD.SOUND line of powerful, stylish mobile audio products from MIZCO International. It is the ultimate Bluetooth speaker for use with iPods, iPhones, iPads, laptops and PCs, and all Android, BlackBerry and Windows smartphones. With two full-range high-output 40mm drivers delivering 3W each and two 45mm passive radiators, it can fill a room with high-fidelity audio or bring music to the outdoors thanks to the high-capacity Li-Ion battery that provides up to 10 hours of play time.

Utilizing Bluetooth 2.1 technology the Spray pairs with any Bluetooth device up to a maximum range of 30 feet, includes a built-in microphone that enables hands-free calling with any Bluetooth cell phone and has a 3.5mm line input for direct connection to any music player or smartphone. The Spray’s dome twists to control volume and skip to the next or previous song, and the Spray’s nozzle is a button that controls the play/pause and call functions.

The Spray has a high gloss black finish and includes a high-density metal grille. The high capacity Li-Ion rechargeable battery is user-replaceable, so owners can carry spare batteries to provide virtually unlimited playtime.

Graffiti has played an important role in Marc’s creative vision ever since he first glimpsed the vibrantly painted subway trains rumbling through New York City. In designing a Bluetooth speaker that looks and feels like a Spray paint can, he is sharing a part of his history and paying homage to those artists who came before him.

“Marc Ecko and Mizco have brought a new level of fashion, function and features to the consumer electronics industry with the Spray, giving consumers the chance to hear the colors sound can make, and we are proud to have that recognized by the CEA,” said Steve Kops, Executive Vice President of Sales for the EckoUNLTD. line at MIZCO. “The EckoUNLTD. line of mobile device accessories will continue to grow and introduce today’s consumers to Marc’s unique fashion style.”

The prestigious Innovations Design and Engineering Awards are sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, the producer of the International CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow, and have been recognizing achievements in product design and engineering since 1976. The Best of Innovations honor is awarded to the products with the highest judges’ scores and will be featured in the Innovations Design and Engineering Showcase at the 2012 International CES.

EckoUNLTD.’s Spray will be displayed at the 2012 International CES, which runs January 10-13, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Honorees will also be displayed at CES Unveiled: the Official Press Event of the International CES from 4-7 p.m. on Sunday, January 8 in the Venetian Ballroom of the Venetian.

The Innovations entries are judged based on the following criteria:

• Engineering qualities, based on technical specs and materials used
• Aesthetic and design qualities
• The product’s intended use/function and user value
• Unique/novel features that consumers would find attractive
• How the design and innovation of the product compares to other products in the marketplace

Products chosen as an Innovations honoree reflect innovative design and engineering of the entries. Examples may include the first time various technologies are combined in a single product or dramatic enhancements to previous product designs.

Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering honoree products are featured on www.CESweb.org/Innovations, which lists product categories, as well as each product name, manufacturer information, designer, description, photo and URL.

ELAN Home Systems' HR2 Awarded 2011 Resi Award for Best Remote Control

ELAN Home Systems last week was awarded the 2011 Resi Award by Residential Systems magazine in the category of Remote Control for the ELAN HR2 Remote. The award was presented to ELAN at the 2011 Resi Awards CEDIA Expo Reception in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"With ELAN g! we set out to create the best whole house system, making sure that the whole family could enjoy it," said Paul Starkey, president of ELAN Home Systems. "The HR2 is the most logical extension of that system because everyone has and uses a remote control. We aimed to break the mold of whole house control - and together, the ELAN g! Series and the HR2 remote do just that.”

Each year, Residential Systems magazine presents the prestigious Resi Awards to honor the best products exhibited at CEDIA EXPO, based on their industrial design.

“This year’s Resi Awards finalists demonstrate, once again, that innovation and elegant design need not be sacrificed during challenging economic times,” stated Residential Systems editorial director Jeremy Glowacki.

The sleek ELAN HR2, the company’s first ever remote, features the ELAN "g!" engine and hybrid use of backlit buttons with a 2.4" OLED touch display. This provides all the function of hard buttons and a touch screen packaged in a stylish remote that weighs a mere 8 ounces. Nearly a year of development went into the remote's shape and button layout, and that plays out in a very pleasing and easy-to-use button configuration, with a crisp clear touch display of the g! icon controls. This delivers quick-touch access to media, climate, lighting and security subsystems. Its ergonomic design is easy on the hands and eyes, and is ready on pickup thanks to a noiseless accelerometer and instant-on electronics. Integrated Wi-Fi and IR ensure rich metadata content as well as speedy local control of sources and TVs.

Beyond function, a major part of the remote's appeal is the gentle and artistic sculpting of the bottom and back so that depth quickly goes from one inch in the palm to a half inch midway up for an easy and balanced grip. Its Lithium Polymer battery provides superior battery life with the display on or on standby. A stylish charging base is included and keeps the HR2 in a handy upright position - ready to grab-and-go with a minimal footprint.

The industry's most intuitive new control solution - "g!" - is what powers the HR2, and it is a welcome advance over the complexity of its predecessors. "g!" features uniform, icon-based control from favorite devices including TVs, touch screens, touchpads - even PCs and iPhones. The standardized GUI interface works across more than 11 platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN's HR2 and all other g! touch controllers as well as users' televisions and mobile devices. Individual "apps" for each subsystem allow the user to control security, climate, lighting, media, irrigation, pool/spa, messaging, video and photos with the flick of a finger. Access through the system's IP backbone is fast and secure through any ELAN home interface or globally with mobile Internet enabled devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Netbooks and PC Tablets.

ELAN HR2 Handheld Remote Control:

• 
  
• All the speed, response & graphics of a touch screen
• All the ease-of-use, simplicity-of-programming & affordability of a remote control
• 43 backlit Hard buttons 3 additional programmable buttons
• 2.4" OLED display
• Noiseless accelerometer for activating LCD and backlight
• 802.11g communication provides robust metadata feedback
• IR blaster for line-of-sight control
• Quick & easy programming using the ELAN Configurator
• Compatible with all g! System Controllers
• Ships standard with battery and charging base
• Controls all AV sources with metadata feedback for supported devices
• Controls security, lighting, and climate with metadata feedback
• Supports all drivers that run on other g! interfaces

NILES® IntelliControl® ICS Audio System Now Offers Whole Home Control Via ELAN® g!

The Niles® IntelliControl® ICS platform, the custom installation industry’s leading multi-room audio system with more than 15,000 installations, will now be able to connect to the ELAN® g! control system, opening the door for Niles ICS dealers and customers to enjoy the benefits of whole home automation controlled by an iPad and iPhone. The announcement of this technology co-integration was made today by Mark Terry, President of The AVC Group, who said that this was the first step forward in the Group’s long-term product development strategy.

“This initial integration of the Niles ICS system with the ELAN g! control platform makes it possible for our loyal base of Niles ICS customers to immediately access the benefits of whole home automation featured in the ELAN g! control system,” Terry said today. “While this is significant in its own right, it is a more significant statement about The AVC Group’s commitment to pursue a long-term complementary product development strategy while maintaining the strength and integrity of each individual brand.”

According to Terry, and for the first time since its introduction in 2005, the Niles ICS system will now allow consumers to control its six streaming sources by an iPad and iPhone. Second, Niles ICS dealers who qualify to sell ELAN g! systems will now be able to offer both installed and new ICS customers an affordable bridge to the home control of television, lighting, climate, and other functions via the ELAN g! system. Third, qualified ELAN dealers will now have the opportunity to offer their customers another option for streaming content, including native Pandora® Internet Radio.

According to Niles President Mike Detmer, “Niles has always stood for the best, easiest to install architectural audio wherever consumers live, work, and play. For some time, our dealers have requested IOS control for the ICS system. Today, in conjunction with our sister brand ELAN, we are able to cost-effectively provide this capability to our dealers, enabling them to upgrade the more than 15,000 ICS systems they have installed since 2005 while offering them entry into a new revenue opportunity — home control.”

According to ELAN President Paul Starkey, “This integration of the Niles ICS platform with the ELAN g! platform makes a great combination package for a lot of our dealers and the speedy installation of both systems will be immediately attractive to dealers.”

The Niles IntelliControl ICS System is a unique whole-house audio distribution system that incorporates iPods, Sirius|XM Satellite Radio, Pandora Internet Radio, Rhapsody, AM/FM radio, HD Radio, and TV, CD and DVD sources. Users can access their personal music libraries and terrestrial, satellite and Internet radio sources through intuitive, easy-to-use in-wall touchscreens and touchpads, handheld remotes and portable touch screens that provide full source, song, station and playlist information. The heart of the IntelliControl ICS System is the GXR2 Modular MultiZone Receiver, the first ever receiver to use interchangeable input modules to accommodate any input sources and support up to 30 distinct zones of audio.

Available starting under $2,000 for a single-room, four sub-system control solution, the ELAN g! Series Control System can be expanded quickly and cost-effectively to enable whole-home control. ELAN g! provides users with the most uniform and intuitive icon-based control from their favorite devices, including TVs, touch screens, touchpads, PCs, iPhones, and iPads. The standardized interface works across platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN touch screens, valets and handheld remotes as well as users' televisions and mobile devices. And the system's IP backbone makes it just as easy to control the system from across the room—or across the globe.

Cellular Innovations Three-In-One Travel Chargers Named Best New Product By Convenience Store News

The Cellular Innovations division of Mizco International today was awarded a Best New Product Award by Convenience Store News for its Three-In-One Travel Chargers. The award will be presented to Mizco on October 3, 2011 at the NACS Show in Chicago, Illinois.

“The Three-In-One Travel Chargers are the perfect solution for space constrained convenience stores,” Sam Mizrahi, Executive Vice President, Mizco International, said today. “With this line of chargers, we are able to provide the convenience of a car charger, home charger and USB charger for computer charging in one single product.”

The line of Three-In-One Travel Chargers feature two models. The ACP-APP includes connectors for iPhones, iPods, and iPads, as well as a three-foot long stereo audio cable for connecting a phone to a car or stereo auxiliary input port. The ACP-CELL model includes connectors for the six most common cellular phone models, including Blackberry and HTC Smartphones, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia and LG cellular phones. “The ACP-CELL is like having 18 SKU’s in one package,” states Mizrahi.

Both models feature environmentally friendly packaging that features “Try Me” access to all connectors, free connector tips for life, and a lifetime warranty.

Pandora Internet Radio Integration Makes Niles IntelliControl ICS System The Ultimate Whole-House Music Distribution Platform

Niles®, The First Name In Custom Installation®, today released a firmware update to its IntelliControl® ICS IM-NET that enables users to access content from Pandora® Internet Radio in addition to Rhapsody® and SIRIUS|XM®. IntelliControl ICS IM-NET is the latest in the growing family of source integration modules for the GXR2 MultiZone Receiver.

"The inherent flexibility and adaptability of the GXR2 MultiZone Receiver is once again demonstrated with this easy-to-install firmware update for Niles' IntelliControl ICS system," today said Mike "Sparky" Detmer, President of Niles. "The GXR2 was designed and engineered to be 'future-ready' and adaptable to meet the constantly changing demands of custom installers and their clients. IM-NET offers custom installation professionals a high-performance solution for providing their clients easy access to all of their favorite Internet-based music content, which now includes Pandora Radio, Rhapsody and SIRIUS|XM."

The IM-NET allows dealers to put an IntelliControl ICS user's digital music library or favorite Internet music services at their fingertips—without having to sit and browse on a computer. IM-NET's web server-based administration utility provides simplified management of digital music sources, including networked PCs, Macs and NAS drives. Metadata for all digital music is provided for display on connected control devices and user interfaces, including the Contact, a full-color wall-mount touchscreen.

The IM-NET provides simple integration with the GXR2 Modular Multizone Receiver—the first receiver to use interchangeable source card modules. The receiver accommodates any combination of up to six modules, virtually expanding the system to an unlimited number of sources, and allows dealers to expand systems to up to 30 zones, each with fully independent choice of source and control. Its easy plug and play integration provides integrators with the perfect retrofit solution for digital music management.

America's Greenest New Home Is Controlled and Monitored With The ELAN g! Home Control System

The “Power Haus”, a new Sarasota, Florida house, has received the lowest HERS score ever in the U.S., a negative 22, which means the house produces more energy than it uses. It also scored 118 LEED points (an internationally recognized green building certification system), making it the highest-scoring new construction home in the U.S. The home’s state-of-the-art systems are simple to manage through the IP-based ELAN g! Home Control System, which allows for consolidated control of lighting, heating, cooling, security, surveillance, whole-house audio/video and even the pool and spa right from the owner’s iPad, iPhones and ELAN in-wall touch screens.

Josh Wynne, President of Josh Wynne Construction, utilized every tool at his disposal to set these incredible green-building benchmarks. Every wall in the home is filled with super-efficient foam insulation, and the ceiling’s exterior is coated with spray foam insulation to allow for an elegant and unique “tongue and groove” ceiling inside. A Uni-Solar Flex-Lite solar array covers more than half of the roof, producing 14.2 kW of electricity and helping the house achieve its negative 22 HERS rating.

The house was carefully designed and situated to take advantage of shade provided by the property’s large trees, and it features an open floor plan with ceiling fans throughout, including an eight-foot fan in the great room. An independent dehumidification system helps to control the Florida humidity and full walls of operable impact-resistant Jeld Wen insulating windows serve to maximize natural ventilation. The home is fully outfitted with Energy Star appliances and super-efficient core systems – such as an Infinity HVAC system and Eternal tankless water heater – and it features 100 percent LED lighting, even outdoors.

“Not all of my clients are super tech-savvy, and neither am I, so I like things that are simple and reliable,” said Wynne. He knew all the technology in the home needed to be tied together in a simple, convenient way for the homeowner to control and manage, so he contracted Mark van den Broek, president of Sarasota-based SmartHouse Integration, to install the ELAN g! Home Control System.

“The ELAN system is the best control solution for me and my clients based on its relatively low cost, superior reliability, scalability, extensive third-party component integration, and most of all its ease of use,” said van den Broek. “My clients love that the control interface is the same on an iPad, iPhone, in-wall touch screen or on the TV. And I have never come across a third-party component that couldn’t integrate with the ELAN system.”

The homeowners control the system through two ELAN TS7 7-inch in-wall touch screens, three ELAN TS2 in-wall touch pads, an iPad and their two iPhones. With six flat screen HDTVs indoors plus one on the deck, the Power Haus is no slouch in the media department. To complement the video system, 14 speakers are distributed through eight audio zones, including two outdoor rock speakers. The media systems can play content from three DirecTV feeds, two Blu-ray players, XM satellite radio, Pandora Internet radio, am/fm radio and an ELAN VIA!migo iPod dock.


The ELAN g! Home Control System is integrated with the home’s five DVR surveillance cameras, DSC security system, LiteTouch lighting system and Bryant HVAC. SmartHouse Integration even custom-programmed a button in the ELAN g! software to instantly access the GUI for the solar array so the owners can monitor its performance in real time. ELAN g! allows the homeowner to program events for every subsystem, simplifying virtually every aspect of running a household. Users can set the lights to turn on and off at specific times, and the heating and cooling systems can be adjusted for maximum efficiency based on when people are home. And for travelers, there is nothing more convenient than setting up an “Away” mode that automatically changes all of the systems’ settings with the touch of a button.

Available starting at $1860 for a single-room, four sub-system control solution, the ELAN g! Series Control System can be expanded quickly and cost-effectively to enable whole-home control of every room appliance. ELAN g! provides users with the most uniform and intuitive icon-based control from their favorite devices, including TVs, touch screens, touchpads, PCs, iPhones, and iPads. The standardized interface works across platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN touch screens, valets and handheld remotes as well as users' televisions and mobile devices. And the system's IP backbone makes it just as easy to control the system from across the room - or across the globe.

ELAN Home Systems Wins CE Pro's First-Ever Quest For Quality Gold Award For Training Programs

Proving that innovation and dedication to educating dealers and installers is the backbone of its customer support service, ELAN Home Systems today received CE Pro’s first-ever Quest For Quality Gold Award for Training Programs. Voted on by the readers of CE Pro, this award recognizes ELAN’s suite of training services as among the best in the industry.

To instruct dealers and installers most effectively, ELAN Home Systems has developed programs that meet each customer’s unique training requirements. In addition to regional in-person training classes, ELAN has been offering the best in remote training since 2003, when it debuted ELAN U, the first-ever online installation-training program. To date, installers have taken more than 300,000 classes at ELAN U.

Most recently introduced within ELAN U is the ELAN g! School training program for its new g! Series Home Control System. The ELAN g! School introduced a breakthrough, industry-first online software simulator where users can practice setting up the g! software before ever touching a physical unit. Available wherever you are, whenever you need it, ELAN U is the easiest, fastest training method available today.

“Providing our dealers and installers with the industry’s best training services benefits everyone,” remarked ELAN President Paul Starkey. “Online access to a full range of training classes lets dealers and installers learn cost-effectively on their own schedule and cuts travel costs, and it allows us to get live feedback on what dealers want to see included in the training, making the program better every day.”

The company constantly updates ELAN U and adds classes that are then immediately available to all subscribing members. What’s more, the installers and dealers that attend face-to-face training automatically get a full year of free access to ELAN U, a $125 value. ELAN U currently offers nearly 300 ELAN and Sunfire courses, and by the end of 2011 the ELAN g! School will expand to feature up to 150 unique courses. ELAN U has been the recipient of the CEA Mark of Excellence Award for Best Training and Support Programs and the Inside Track Certificate of Excellence for Best Dealer Training.

ELAN’s flagship product is the g! Series Home Control System, which provides users with the most uniform and intuitive icon-based control from their favorite devices, including TVs, touch screens, touch pads, PCs, iPhones, and iPads. The standardized interface works across platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN touch screens, valets and handheld remotes as well as users' televisions and mobile devices. And the system's IP backbone makes it just as easy to control the system from across the room as across the globe.

Individual apps for each subsystem allow the user to control security, climate, lighting, media, irrigation, pool/spa, messaging, video and photos with the flick of a finger. Access is fast and secure through any ELAN home interface or globally with mobile Internet enabled devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Netbooks, and PC Tablets. Since the intuitive interface empowers users with personalized scheduling and detailed history views, high consumption subsystems like lighting and climate can be closely monitored and managed for a greener lifestyle - and substantial energy savings.

ELAN g! Home Control System Awarded 2011 Platinum Level Mark Of Excellence By CEA TechHome Division

Capping a three-month period that has seen record orders for its ELAN g! Series System, ELAN Home Systems today announced that its revolutionary IP-based home control system has received the Platinum Level 2011 Mark Of Excellence Award by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) in the category of “Best Control System”. The announcement and presentation of the award was made at the Spring 2011 EHX Show in Orlando, Florida at the Orange County Convention Center.


“The ELAN g! Home Control System changes everything, and for the better,” said Paul Starkey, President of ELAN Home Systems. “It is easy to sell, demonstrate, and install, and it’s equally easy for customers to enjoy, maintain and upgrade in the future. In our opinion, ELAN g! is the most intuitive, modular, and cost-effective way for customers to realize the full benefits of whole home automation.”

The Mark of Excellence Awards program, presented by CEA's TechHome Division, recognizes the best in home electronics products, services, and installed technology. Each year manufacturers, distributors, and systems integrators enter to compete in award categories for this coveted honor judged by independent experts within the industry.

The ELAN g! Series Home Control System provides users with the most uniform and intuitive icon-based control from their favorite devices, including TVs, touchscreens, touchpads, PCs , iPhones, and iPads. The standardized interface works across platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN touchscreens, valets and handheld remotes as well as users' televisions and mobile devices. And the system's IP backbone makes it just as easy to control the system from across the room - or across the globe.

Individual "apps" for each subsystem allow the user to control security, climate, lighting, media, irrigation, pool/spa, messaging, video and photos with the flick of a finger. Access is fast and secure through any ELAN home interface or globally with mobile Internet enabled devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Netbooks, and PC Tablets. Since the intuitive interface empowers users with personalized scheduling and detailed history views, high consumption subsystems like lighting and climate can be closely monitored and managed for a greener lifestyle - and substantial energy savings.

New Orleans ELAN Installer Takes Brand New Elan g! Dealer Demo System On The Road To Show Consumers The Power Of Home Automation

Jamie Gannon, owner of New Orleans-based Dynamic Audio Video, is the very first dealer to take delivery of the new ELAN g! Dealer Demo System and he’s not wasting any time getting it in front of consumers. In fact, from March 17-20, 2011, he’s showing it at his home automation booth at the 2011 New Orleans Home and Garden Show, the largest consumer home show in the southeast United States.

“The new ELAN g! Dealer Demo System is a great idea, and it’s going to make it easy for me to show the system to potential buyers,” said Gannon. “Since I started Dynamic Audio Video ten years ago, I’ve been waiting for someone to make a system like ELAN g! It’s affordable enough for anyone to install and expand, and the consistent touch-based user interface makes it easy enough for anyone to use. ELAN made the g! demo system especially affordable for dealers, and I expect it to help me sell the ELAN g! system over and over again. Once a customer actually uses it themselves, they won’t want to live without it.”

The ELAN g! Dealer Demo System, which is being officially introduced to dealers and installers at the March 17-20, 2011 EHX expo in Orlando, Florida, includes a system controller, 7” touch screen, 4” touchpad in a tabletop mount, the brand-new HR2 remote, an amplifier, 2 tabletop Sunfire® speakers, a Panasonic IP camera, all the ELAN g! Pro Apps, and 5 viewer licenses to connect iPhones, iPads and computers. The system includes all the parts necessary to connect the gear and make it work. All the dealer needs to add is a television to demonstrate the On-Screen Display (OSD).

Gannon recently finished his first ELAN g! installation in a new home in Old Metairie, just west of New Orleans. “The family had actually contracted someone else to install a Control4 system, but when I showed them the g! app on the iPad, they ditched the old installer and hired me to install the full g! system. If I can do that with just the app, imagine what I’m going to be able to do with the full demo system!”

The ELAN g! Series Home Control System provides users with the most uniform and intuitive icon-based control from their favorite devices, including TVs, touch screens, touch pads, PCs, iPhones, and iPads. The standardized interface works across platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app that users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN touch screens, valets and handheld remotes as well as users' televisions and mobile devices. And the system's IP backbone makes it just as easy to control the system from across the room as across the globe.

Buffalo Wild Wings Franchisee Uses ELAN g! To Master 62 TVs With The Touch Of A Button

Brett Babick, David and Mike Gianascoli, and Chris Paphites, the partners of Desert Wings, LLC, can turn on, set up and change the channel on all 62 TVs at once at each of their three Southern California Buffalo Wild Wings locations, and all from an iPod touch with the ELAN g! Control System.  With this innovative system, it doesn’t take a whole team of employees to manage and constantly change the channel on 62 TVs, which was precisely the problem they had in a restaurant they previously owned.

“In the old restaurant, we used a system that we thought gave us top-of-the-line video distribution and control,” recalled Babick.  “All the TVs were physically controlled from a central point, where we had to walk over and manually switch to control a specific TV set, then change the channel for just that set.  In an establishment like Buffalo Wild Wings, we can have up to 70 TVs showing almost a dozen different sporting events, so any time a customer asks us to change the channel it was incredibly inconvenient and time consuming to manually identify and adjust each TV.”

So when they decided to open three new Buffalo Wild Wings locations in Southern California, they turned to Craig Curran at Smart Systems Technologies (SST) to design a fluid, simple-to-operate audio/video system, based on the ELAN g! Control System.  With an innovative interface that is uniform across all platforms, including iPhones, iPads, PCs and even retail POS (point-of-sale) terminals, ELAN g! provides users with incredibly simple control over the entire audio/video system, and can even expand to control lighting and monitor surveillance cameras.

“I came into Brett’s previous restaurant and showed him how we could improve the system and make it much simpler to use and manage,” Curran said. “We agreed that embracing new, better technology in the three new locations would be the best thing for him and his customers, and would remove some of the hassle and headaches.”

“As soon as Craig changed the channel from a handheld device he had, I was sold,” said Babick.  “Now, we have select employees who can access the A/V control system through 10 or more POS terminals and the manager can even control the TVs with an iPod touch we bought for each restaurant! Thanks to the POS integration, we can control the system from more than a dozen spots.  We used to literally use hand signals to relay customer requests, and a manager or I would have to leave the floor.  Now with our new system, the instant a customer asks us to change a TV, it’s done.   Some customers have actually said ‘Wow, how did you do that?’ when they saw us use the iPod.  Now there’s no leaving the restaurant floor, no time wasted.”

Thanks in part to the ELAN g! system, Babick believes that they’ve “got the best Buffalo Wild Wings in the country.”  In fact, one of their locations is ranked one of the company’s top 10 franchises.  In addition to seamless, instant control, they set up the ELAN g! Control System to automatically turn on and set the channel on every TV at 10:30 a.m. before they open, and automatically turn off at midnight when they close. 

One of his favorite features is the ability to display personal marketing messages right on the TVs. “Now we can run a ‘ticker’ on the bottom of any TV we want, just like ESPN does. We use it to promote specials and let customers know what games are coming up, and it really adds a sense of professionalism whenever you see that on the screen,” Babick remarked.

Desert Wings’ Buffalo Wild Wings locations have up to 62 TVs, including up to a dozen 11-foot and one 13-foot HD projection screens and up to 49 HD LCD TVs, most of which are 55” LG sets.  He can show 16 different video feeds at once, combining 10 DirecTVÒ receivers and a DVD player as well as internal marketing programming. The ELAN g! Control System also controls the restaurants’ audio systems, which have up to 30 speakers in six discrete zones, allowing customers to listen to music in one section and the big game’s play-by-play in another.

Curran sees the ELAN g! Control System as one of the best new tools for business owners as well as installers.  “The price point and ability to duplicate installations are making media integration and distribution more available for the mass market,” he remarked.  “And it’s the same with automation.  Not having to custom program subsystems and graphical user interfaces makes it much more attractive and infinitely simpler to use.  You can control everything – security, surveillance, lighting, heating and air conditioning, audio/video systems – right from your PC, iPhone or iPod.  Automation has never been easier, or as affordable.”

The ELAN g! Series Home Control System provides users with the most uniform and intuitive icon-based control from their favorite devices, including TVs, touch screens, touch pads, PCs, iPhones, and iPads. The standardized interface works across platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN touch screens, valets and handheld remotes as well as users' televisions and mobile devices. And the system's IP backbone makes it just as easy to control the system from across the room as across the globe.