Jordan O'BrienSnapAV designs and manufacturers more than 1,800 electronic home solutions for both residential and commercial channels, but it’s still not enough; with the company now acquiring Autonomic, the company behind the Mirage audio system.
While not especially well known in the UK, SnapAV is responsible for many of the brands installers use on a day-to-day basis. This includes SunbriteTV, Wattbox, OvrC, Dragonfly, Luma Surveillance and Araknis Networks. The company has also become a prolific distributor in the US, responsible for distributing Atlona, Pioneer, SureCall and URC products.
In recent months SnapAV has been on a spending spree. Last month it announced an acquisition of VisualInt, but the Autonomic purchase will be of specific note for installers in the UK. The company is already amongst the most popular with high-revenue integrators, according to CE Pro’s 2016 brand analysis, and its servers power Savant’s multi-room audio system.
Despite its acquisition spree, SnapAV plans to inject its own lifeblood into the brands that are now in its portfolio. This means not solely focusing on the high-end, but also offering affordable solution. Adam Levy, president of SnapAV, says that we can expect from Autonomic a similar situation to the Sunbrite acquisition, which was completed last year. In less than one year, SnapAV brought out better and less expensive outdoor TVs for sale through the company’s e-commerce platform.
One year ago, when SnapAV acquired SunBrite, “they had a very expensive 1080p display,” Levy notes. “Today, we have a 4K product that’s expensive and a 4K product that’s less expensive.”
As with SunBrite, he says, SnapAV can deliver “better pricing, better support, and better products” for Autonomic, with ample funding and speedier development than Autonomic might have achieved on its own.
While SnapAV may circumvent distributors in the US, the company doesn’t plan to shake things up in the UK just yet. CE Pro Europe confirmed with Autonomic that there are currently no plans to change the international distribution for the company.