Plenty of companies talk about being innovative, but how many really walk the innovation walk? I'm in Colorado Springs at the invitation of Wybron, who is rolling out a number of new products over the next several months. That in itself is interesting, but even moreso is the little product demonstration they did with their RDM solution called InfoTrace.
Infotrace is a very cool tool that ties into the data distribution system and allows you change the DMX address remotely and monitor the status of devices like say, oh, I don't know, a color scroller. It can tell you about the voltage, temperature, useage, and a number of other parameters. With their own products and an RFID chip, they can do even more very cool tricks.
But here's the head scratcher. The automated lighting industry is about as competitive as they come. Manufacturers scratch and claw for every sale, beat each other up over market share, and look for every competitive advantage. Why haven't any of them jumped on the RDM bandwagon? It seems that it would be very easy to drop an Infochip in a moving light and write some software to take advantage of the RDM capabilities. Even if the only features were remote DMX addressing and tracking useage, it would be well worth it. How many times have you flown a rig and then discovered that one of fixtures wasn't addressed properly? Okay, maybe I'm the only one who's ever done that. But being able to track the number of hours on a lamp would be great. Nothing bugs me as much as renting a lighting system where two of the lamps in the fixtures have a pale brown output. How cool would it be to be able to check the lamp useage of the entire rig from the front of house before you fly the rig?
Consider the possibilities. Throw in some diagnostics, some remote monitoring, a few other cool tricks and you have an instant competitive advantage. The industry is talking back. Is anyone listening?
