Electronics Era: Explain Kramer as a company in brief, its journey, vision and achievements?
Marc: Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, with locations around the world, Kramer Electronics is a leading audio-visual experience company that designs, manufactures and markets advanced Professional audiovisual (Pro Audio Visual) equipment, solutions, and platforms empowering AV experiences across diverse industries. Our solutions deliver future-proof connectivity, collaboration, and automation across meeting rooms, classrooms, government command and control centers, and more.
From video cameras, microphones, and wireless sharing in enterprise meeting rooms to projectors and laptops in classrooms, Kramer ensures intuitive connectivity and superior user experiences. Our offerings include infrastructure accessories such as HDMI cables, AV-over-IP technology, room control and automation, lighting, displays, and environmental controls, integrating for complete system management and enabling complete control over AV systems and hybrid collaboration environments. With a vision to deliver future-proof AV solutions, Kramer is a trusted global partner for education, enterprise, and government sectors, offering innovative, flexible, and scalable technology for teaching, learning, training, and collaboration.
Electronics Era: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Marc: Kramer, a 43-year-old leader in Pro AV solutions has a lot of competency and expertise in the space and underwent a significant transformation after being acquired by private equity firm Fortissimo Capital in 2021. Under CEO Gilad Yron’s leadership, the organization, went from being a centralized family business to a globally structured organization with operations across distinct regions (Americas, EMEA, and APAC), hiring new talent, and investing heavily in R&D. This transformation brought in fresh talent, a revamped business model, and substantial investments in R&D. This is when I joined in early 2022 to lead the transformation across Asia-Pacific.
Over the past three years, Kramer has developed future-proof products like the 3 Series, setting a new standard in the AV signal management domain. Series 3 represents the essence of high-performance AV experiences, offering premium quality with uncompressed 4K60 4:4:4 video, zero latency, and advanced connectivity features. Innovations like the Panta Rhei platform provide real-time monitoring and management of AV devices, bridging AV and IT convergence.
In 2022, Kramer also rebranded with a new logo, value proposition, and go-to-market strategy, enhancing its presence in Asia-Pacific and India. With innovative products and a customer-centric approach, Kramer is redefining the professional AV industry.
Electronics Era: How do Kramer’s acquisitions of Ashton Bentley and ZeeVee align with its strategy for growth in India, especially given the rising demand for Unified Communications and AV over-IP solutions in the region?
Marc: These two acquisitions are tied to our business strategy adding value to our product portfolio. ZeeVee specializes in AV over IP, moving beyond traditional audio-video solutions by transmitting AV signals over IP networks, similar to how telephony and video conferencing operate today. This requires AV over IP encoders and decoders to seamlessly transport signals across the network. With the acquisition of ZeeVee, Kramer now boasts the industry’s most extensive AV over IP portfolio, strengthening its AV and IT convergence strategy.
Ashton Bentley’s smart systems simplify hybrid room deployments with integrated furniture, optimized for acoustics, lighting, camera angles, and cable management. These solutions elevate hybrid meeting and classroom experiences, ensuring equal engagement for remote and in-room participants.
Together, these strategic moves strengthen Kramer’s position as a leader in next-gen AV solutions, supporting India’s evolving technology landscape.
Electronics Era: What specific benefits can Indian businesses and public sector entities expect from these acquisitions in terms of enhancing hybrid meeting experiences and IT/AV convergence, and what role will Kramer’s local partnerships play in delivering these advantages?
Marc: India’s rapid infrastructure development and high GDP growth, which is the highest in Asia Pacific, make it a fertile ground for AV innovation. When you build infrastructure, a hub is built, creating a need for an AV solution. Take the example of a railway station. When building such infrastructure, it’s not just a train station being constructed; it often becomes a hub. This hub may include commercial retail spaces, hotels, office buildings, and other facilities. All these spaces, along with supporting infrastructure like railroads and educational facilities, create a significant demand for AV solutions. With India actively developing new infrastructure, there is a unique opportunity to integrate advanced AV technologies into these projects. Kramer’s focus on AV and IT convergence empowers enterprises, builders, and PSUs to run audio and video seamlessly on the same IP network used for data, voice, and video conferencing. This converged, scalable network allows easy relocation of sources and displays with just a network point.
By introducing advanced AV-over-IP technology in India, Kramer accelerates technology adoption, enabling a shift from legacy HDMI structures to smarter, IP-based solutions. With India’s strong investments in IT and cloud infrastructure, Kramer’s control platform automates and integrates smart AV systems into smart building ecosystems. These capabilities enhance infrastructure across auditoriums, classrooms, control rooms, and public spaces, supporting India’s journey toward becoming a smarter, more connected nation.
Electronics Era: Give some Information about Kramer’s product Panta Rhei & how it’s a revolutionary product for future AV Platform?
Marc: Kramer’s Panta Rhei is a revolutionary audio-visual ecosystem platform that transforms traditional AV management. Unlike the old, labor-intensive approach of on-site installation and manual maintenance, Panta Rhei enables a seamless, cloud-based AV management experience.
Panta Rhei instantly detects all AV devices connected to the network, using IP and MAC addresses to map them across the building. Previously, AV management relied on manual data entry and Excel sheets, requiring on-site visits. Now, real-time dashboards provide instant visibility of device status, including online/offline states, locations, and firmware versions, streamlining management and eliminating manual effort. With Panta Rhei, you can monitor all devices, identify offline units, check firmware versions, and assess functionality in real time. This enables remote troubleshooting and firmware updates, reducing the need for on-site visits. This platform transforms AV management, making it as seamless as managing IT devices, ultimately saving time, resources, and costs.
Electronics Era: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
Marc: We have a strong presence across government, education, healthcare, local enterprises, and large PSUs in India, a flagship market for us. For over 15 years, we’ve worked directly with end customers, guiding their transformation journeys. By understanding their vision, strategy, and workspace needs, we seamlessly integrate people, space, and technology to deliver future-ready workspaces.
Electronics Era: What’s your best advice to end users investing in their AV?
Marc: My best advice is to focus on understanding the user’s needs across every area of the organization. Make it simple and seamless for users to connect, share their screens, and start meetings. While it may sound simple, the real challenge is ensuring ease of use from the outset. The key is designing AV solutions that align with user needs, ensuring adoption. When technology is adopted, it leads to higher productivity and better collaboration. No one wants to waste time waiting for AV issues. Whether in meeting rooms or classrooms, simplicity is key. Ensure users can easily connect and collaborate with local and remote participants. This is where Kramer excels – automating processes and making technology invisible, so users can focus on their work.
Electronics Era: What are some of the biggest opportunities for your organization in India?
Marc: We have a presence in six metro cities across India, with a dedicated local team. While we’ve made significant strides in these urban centers, India is a vast country, and infrastructure development is expanding beyond the metros. This presents a major opportunity for us to introduce AV technology not just in metro cities, but across the entire country.
Electronics Era: What according to you is the future of AV in India?
Marc: India is so advanced in terms of cloud and software adoption, that it is an ideal platform for AV professionals to actually adopt cloud-based and software-based AV solutions moving forward. To me, if there is one country that can move faster than any other in the world, that’s India.
India’s 30-year investment in software and R&D has created a vast knowledge base. With a strong understanding of software, cloud, and networking technologies, India is well-positioned to adopt AV solutions designed for cloud, software, and IP-based networking.
Electronics Era: How Kramer contribute to the India’s digital transformation?
Marc: Kramer contributes to India’s digital transformation through our R&D center and sales offices, including one in Bangalore. We provide AV solutions not only to large enterprises but also to educational institutions, enhancing learning through corporate technology. Additionally, we support healthcare customers with improved technology-driven healthcare and assist government organizations in enhancing citizen services and safety through better communication and collaboration by leveraging Pro-AV technology.
Marc: Electronics Era: What are the marketing strategies for Indian market?
Marc: Our marketing strategy in India focuses on key trade shows, including InfoComm India, where Kramer has a long-standing presence. We will continue participating to showcase our technology to AV professionals. In addition, we emphasize knowledge transfer and enablement, equipping system integrators and partners with the expertise to design, install, and support Kramer solutions. We also engage directly with customers at targeted events, such as those gathering government and enterprise CIOs, to discuss the future of technology and its benefits for their organizations.
Electronics Era: What is the future trends in AV and AIOp according to do?
Marc: The future trends in AV and AIOp are driven by several key innovations. First, AI-driven AV, where AI-enabled cameras can track speakers, count people, and provide analytics on meeting participation, timing, and usage. Second, AV over IP is gaining momentum as audio and visual signals run on IP networks, supported by our ZeeVee acquisition, strengthening our AV over IP portfolio. Third, the demand for more immersive experiences is pushing the adoption of higher-definition displays, from 4K to 8K, and larger canvases, like bigger LED walls. Fourth, Smart AV integration is becoming a part of smarter building management systems, allowing automation of lighting, temperature, and meeting systems. Finally, cloud AV management enables IoT-based AV devices to be monitored and managed remotely, with Panta Rhei offering a unique value proposition in this space. The five trends are AI-driven AV, AV over IP, immersive AV, smart AV integration, and cloud AV management.
