I recently sat down with Just Add Power’s Taft Stricklin, CEO, Sales Team Manager and Badass Guitarist. Part 1
Maureen Jenson: The last time we spoke, Just Add Power (J+P) was coming off a banner show at CEDIA 2017, and here we are again. So what’s been happening hardware-wise for the last two years and how was this year’s CEDIA EXPO?
Taft Stricklin: Over the last two years our engineering team has been hard at work developing award-winning hardware solutions that have brought awesome new capabilities to the Ultra HD-over-IP platform.
Highlights include our Daisy Chain Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) receiver, introduced at CEDIA 2018, which features an on-board pass-through network port for the connection of any PoE device. The unit also easily expands the number of PoE devices added to the system by connecting a PoE switch to the port, providing installers with greater network flexibility that isn’t restricted by the number of cable runs permitted.
This year at InfoComm we launched a game-changer that I’m particularly excited about — the 767DSS Dante® Enhanced Sound System transmitter.
The industry’s first such solution to support the latest Dante chipset, the 767DSS brings cross-compatibility with hundreds of Dante- and AES67-enabled solutions to J+P systems — from digital signal processors to mixing consoles — with separate audio and video switching.
And at CEDIA 2019, we unveiled our new Warp Engine, which allows installers to get creative with video walls by venturing beyond the traditional grid pattern and deploying eye-catching designs with mixed and matched display models mounted at any angle.
While other solutions are limited to custom graphics or static signage, the flexible Warp Engine enables installers to rotate any HDMI source — cable boxes, media players, gaming systems, cameras, and more — in a J+P matrix in 0.1-degree increments in real time for incredibly low latency.
The rotated image can then be sent to an unlimited number of receivers in the network for the creation of massive artistic video walls using a single Warp Engine.
MJ: There have also been a lot of additions to your software offering, which was fairly robust to begin with. What’s the latest on the software side?
TS: Last year we made a big splash with the introduction of our Just OS family of firmware and app-based solutions, which comprises the Plug-Play-Present (PPP) logic control, Switch Please web application, and our latest switching innovation: Every Switch Supported (ESS). With ESS firmware, integrators can build any size of matrix on the existing network without upgrading the switches to accommodate the additional use of network resources. This allows them to better manage the build time and costs of projects with 4K HDMI distribution requirements.
This year at CEDIA, we introduced the latest addition to Just OS: The Instant Install application, which allows installers to easily incorporate any gigabit switch that supports jumbo frames — managed or not — into their J+P matrix. They simply connect their devices anywhere on the switch and click a single button. Their devices are found and configured, and a driver is built — all in less than two minutes. Installers who have seen it in action have been floored with its speed and reliability.
Stay tuned next week when we talk to Taft about recent J+P installations, differentiating their business and heading towards 2020!