RTI started its 30th anniversary celebration at ISE 2023, where it also showed its latest technological advances, such as Integration Designer 11, its new driver library that offers more options than ever for home and business owners to connect to devices and systems, and its new KX4 in-wall touchpanel with a built-in processor. There is more celebrating to be had, however. Bill Hensley, head of global marketing at RTI, explains the company’s plans to service the residential and commercial communities in its anniversary year and beyond.
How is RTI celebrating its 30th anniversary?
BILL HENSLEY: We’re celebrating by bringing to market the solutions that will pave the way forward for integrators’ businesses to be more profitable and efficient, and that will strengthen customer relationships. This includes control solutions that ensure increasingly functional, intuitive spaces — no matter the environment, user, or equipment. That said, we’ve occasionally paused to share some anniversary cake with our partners.
What are the short- and long-term goals for your company?
HENSLEY: RTI is always focused on helping integrators grow their businesses. In the short term, we have some software updates that will add value to every product we make. Ongoing, it’s all about developing exceptional control and AV distribution solutions in both the residential and commercial spaces.
RTI is well-positioned in both the residential and commercial worlds. When it comes to product innovation, which area tends to lead more?
HENSLEY: What we’ve found by looking at the market is that residential dealers are increasingly securing commercial projects where control and automation is desired. Our product innovations, such as creating an ecosystem and portfolio of products that include video-over-IP with native video control inside the control system, reflect this shift. There are a number of ways to meet budgets while exceeding expectations. We work in both commercial and residential; sometimes the spark comes from commercial, sometimes from residential, but we’re seeing more and more overlap.
What are some of the commonalities between both markets, and are your solutions interchangeable between them?
HENSLEY: Take a peek into any conference room or media room and what you’ll see is a plethora of components that all need some sort of operational control, whether it’s lowering a projector screen, adjusting the lighting and shades, or selecting the appropriate source. Our solutions are built around enabling customers to achieve a seamless control experience — no matter the component, no matter the application.
RTI’s mission is to make it easier for dealers to program, connect to, and control any component. That’s why our large and continuously growing library of drivers available for RTI projects is a major focus for the company. New and/or updated drivers release every Friday, which we call “Driver Friday,” and that’s just the ones done by our internal team. The network of independent driver developers is always writing drivers for residential and commercial integrations.
Your Integration Designer software is all about customization. How important is customization for integrators?
HENSLEY: Integration Designer is the RTI control application programming platform. It provides a single platform to achieve the full customization for which RTI is renowned. The latest version, Integration Designer 11, minimizes programming tasks for the fastest customized installation ever. Integrators can modify the auto-generated pages, create their own custom interface, or even use a third-party template. It delivers the flexibility and efficiency integrators need on projects, while the new Coral user interface provides an intuitive experience in any application. The stunning UI template and auto-generated pages are important for residential integrators, but Integration Designer 11 still enables the full customization that commercial customers demand.
How can integrators better position themselves to profit from products and services you have to offer?
HENSLEY: RTI is deeply invested in educating integrators. After a break due to the pandemic, we’re restarting our Integration Designer 11 programmer’s certification trainings at RTI headquarters. And understanding that everyone has busy schedules, we have a full curriculum of online courses at our training portal. That way, an integrator can learn on their own schedule.
I’ve already mentioned the ability to customize systems to customers’ needs using our software, but it’s also worth it for integrators to see how efficient it can make the control systems their businesses specify and install. And of course, our product team has worked tirelessly to ensure that our solutions are in stock and ready to ship, allowing installers to better meet project demands and deadlines.
Related: Working with…RTI Music
For more information, visit www.rticontrol.com.
