CE Pro

New market analysis from CEDIA, conducted in partnership with The Farnsworth Group and presented at CEDIA Expo 2026, sizes the U.S. residential technology integration industry at $33.8 billion, a figure built from the bottom up on real, reported revenue rather than a top-down guess. Home networking, distributed audio, and lighting/shading emerge as the largest product categories, while a small population of large firms continues to capture an outsized share of industry dollars.

The day before CEDIA Expo’s show floor opened in Denver, CE Pro editors and other trade press skipped the convention center and climbed into an Uber instead, riding out to a real, lived-in home that integration firm Daisy and manufacturer ADI were using as a live demonstration of what thoughtful residential integration looks like in practice.

Key Takeaways: Connected bath solutions are steadily gaining popularity and interest in the custom integration (CI) channel. Newer connected bath solutions now integrate with popular control platforms like Control4, with more integrations planned. Consumer interest in wellness solutions still stands strong, provided they are connected and can be made to fit in with the flow of their lifestyle.

For systems integrators, Cat6 has been a dependable workhorse for residential AV networks for many years, and it remains a sensible choice for shorter, lighter duty runs where 1Gbps or 2.5Gbps is genuinely enough. The challenge is that many projects are no longer that simple. Smart homes now carry more access points, cameras, control processors, touch panels, AV over IP endpoints and PoE-powered devices. Home offices increasingly need business-grade reliability.

Speaking ahead of a manufacturer executive roundtable on the future of the custom home and residential integration industries, Paul Miller — CEO of Forge, the parent company of CEDIA Expo and CE Pro — used his first public remarks at CEDIA Expo to directly address swirling industry speculation about the show’s future and to affirm his company’s commitment to the custom integration channel.

Another CEDIA Expo is in the books, and by the numbers, Denver delivered. The show, produced by the show’s newly formed parent company Forge, pulled in 9,653 verified attendees and more than 320 exhibiting brands over three days at the Colorado Convention Center, a solid showing that organizers are pointing to as continued evidence of the residential integration industry’s flagship event building on its momentum.

Once again, Nashville proved to be a hospitable host for over 110 exhibitors and 3,000 attendees at Nationwide Marketing Group’s summer PrimeTime show, held at Music City Center from August 23-26, 2026. Southern charm and lively energy combined to emphasize the event’s core theme: the power of connection.

Key Takeaways: The LG MAGNIT Gen 2 MicroLED LMPD display is the latest display in the LG MAGNIT LED LMPx Series. The LMPD display pairs LG Micro LED technology with NovaStar’s COEX 5G Solution, improving screen configuration, advanced color processing and system management The display will be available for public viewing during an exclusive event September 15 at Starpower’s flagship showroom in Dallas, Texas. LG Electronics has introduced the LG MAGNIT Gen 2 microLED display.

CEDIA Expo has a way of surfacing the industry’s mood in real time, and this year’s show, from spec home tours to briefings with exhibitors to conversations had on and off stage, told a remarkably consistent story. Conversations this year were noticeably longer and more detailed than in past shows, with integrators arriving already versed in the products and asking sharper, more specific questions.

IC Realtime has unveiled what it’s calling Bunker, a platform built on NVIDIA’s Jetson edge-computing technology, which injects edge-AI into a home’s security system. According to IC Realtime, the platform processes visual information, identifies activity that departs from established patterns and learns the recurring rhythms of a home or property over time.