A Sound Opportunity: Residential Intercoms & Audio Systems bounce Back Along With Construction
Construction is bouncing back, as are residential intercoms and audio systems.
The general construction market, which impacts the demand for residential intercoms and audio systems, has rebounded after several years in the doldrums. Timing is also good for the retrofit market to benefit the demand for residential intercoms. Systems installed during the building boom of gated communities in the 1990s are reaching the end of their life and likely ready to be retrofitted and upgraded. Both trends are bringing new intercom business to integrators, says David White, director of marketing, gate access systems, LiftMaster, Elmhurst, Ill. “The biggest challenge for dealers is to ramp back up in terms of growth in the business. Our residential business has come raging back.”
Like other sectors, intercoms and audio systems are being impacted by the move from analog to IP, says White. Telephone systems have already transitioned to voice-over-IP (VoIP), and intercoms will also eventually become part of an IP system — another edge device such as a camera or an access control reader.