A 17% increase in attendance figures has seen Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) achieve the strongest performance of its nine-year history, with 40,869 visitors in total.

Gross area of floor space occupied at the RAI was up by 18%, while preregistrations increased by 21% compared to last year.

Speaking just before ISE opened, Integrated Systems Europe managing director Mike Blackman remarked that "our industry is defying Europe's financial climate". He estimated that ISE 2012 would see more than 1,000 technology launches and said he was proud that ISE was now the calendar date to which the industry's R&D cycle was synchronised.

Additional signs of the growth of ISE include the expansion of the education programme, now badged as the Education Zone. Blackman also revealed that pre-registrations to CEDIA's programme were significantly increased.

"We decided to extend ISE to be more of an event, not just an exhibition," reflected Blackman. "We feel our landscape changing as AV vendors move more and more into IT."

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