More than 28,000 people attended the 2006 expo of the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA), Indianapolis, at the Denver Convention Center Sept. 13-17, an 8 percent increase over last year’s expo in Indianapolis.

Approximately 600 exhibitors filled the show floor space, about 100 more than last year, CEDIA reported. Home control, audio/video, lighting and other residential technologies were highlighted during the four-day trade show, a day longer than last year’s expo.

Classes and training sessions were held throughout the trade show from Sept. 12-17, and attendance at CEDIA University courses was at its highest level. New CEDIA University core curriculums have been established for the Electronic Systems Technician (EST) and Electronic Systems Designer (ESD) colleges.

Among the highlights were new mid-level home control technologies and bigger video displays. Manufacturers vied with each other to present the largest plasma and LCD flat panels.

Across the street from the convention center in a parking lot was built the CEDIA Home of Electronic Lifestyles sponsored by Hewlett Packard,

Palo Alto, Calif., and Exceptional Innovation, Westerberg, Ohio.

Exceptional Innovation’s home control software called LifeWare integrated the security, whole-house audio, video, photos, lighting, HVAC and even the appliances in the 2,000-square-foot home into Microsoft’s XP Media Center PC operating system, which was displayed on Hewlett Packard computers, televisions and touch pads around the house.

Also in evidence at the expo were demonstrations of new high definition DVD systems, HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Each format is sponsored by a different consortium of consumer electronics manufacturers, computer companies and movie studios, and one player for each format was introduced to the market.

Bicycle riding to the convention center on Sept. 10 to kick off the week was new CEDIA president Ken Smith,

president of Custom Electronics Inc., Falmouth, Maine, who rode with a team from Augusta, Maine, beginning Aug. 19 to raise money for cancer research. (For more information, see the article on Page 15 of this issue of SDM.)

The next two CEDIA Expos are scheduled for Denver on Sept. 5-9, 2007, and in 2008.