I recently sat down with Just Add Power’s Taft Stricklin, CEO, Sales Team Manager and Badass Guitarist. Part 2 (Part 1 here)
Maureen Jenson: Have there been any notable installations in the last few years featuring J+P?
Taft Stricklin: We’re proud to have been featured in a wide range of commercial and residential projects over the last few years. The variety really demonstrates the flexibility of our Ultra HD-over-IP platform, which is just as suitable in corporate huddle rooms and high-end homes as it is in stadiums and airports. High-profile highlights on the commercial side include the Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ball Park, the headquarters for The Boston Globe, the Calile Hotel in Brisbane, Australia, and Ekol Logistics’ new state-of-the-art operations center in Istanbul. On the residential side they include The Quay Apartments — one of the most prestigious addresses in Sydney, Australia — a showstopper featured in the Utah Valley Parade of Homes, and a nine-panel video wall in a Mexico City home.
MJ: Now that everyone is adopting AV-over-IP, how does Just Add Power continue to differentiate its offering?
TF: Yeah, there are a lot of other companies in the space now, but we’ve been leading the way in AV-over-IP for 11 years. So we’re ahead of the game and doing things others aren’t, like adding compatibility with Dante and AES67 audio networks. We can also beat other manufacturers on price. For example, our Warp Engine isn’t the only product on the market that allows installers to rotate HDMI video, but you won’t find a more cost-effective one. And our evolutionary approach to product design really resonates with installers and sets us apart, so much so that our 2G platform was recently inducted into the CEDIA Hall of Fame at the show this year! Instead of constantly creating new products that will be obsolete in a year, they appreciate that we give new features through firmware updates and that all models in the J+P lineup integrate seamlessly with any generation of our products.
MJ: It’s hard to believe, but we’re heading towards 2020. What’s coming next year for Just Add Power?
TF: We’ll be moving to a new facility in Florida. We’ve currently nicknamed it the “TARDIS” and it is much larger than our current offices. I can’t give away too much now, but we are going to be doing some pretty exciting things with all that extra room. The Warp Engine will be available for installers, and we can’t wait to see all the cool things they are able to do with that. And of course we’ll be in Amsterdam for ISE 2020 in February, which is always a big show for us and gives us a chance to check in with our international partners. Other than that we’ll just keep doing what we do, which is to simplify multi-room video installations.