Symetrix Scene e-Zine

02/2022 ISSUE 01

Inspired AV Processing & Control Solutions

CASE STUDY: PUMPING UP THE SOUND ANNOUNCING SYMETRIX PROFESSIONAL SERVICES HOUSTON, I THINK WE HAVE A PROBLEM: CHIPAGEDDON

“You’re in the arena, and I’m with you.”

Are you a fan of Symetrix products and have a project that you think will make for an interesting project profile? Do you have an idea for an article or industry related news story? We look forward to working with you on an article or news story in our magazine.

Reach us at marketing@symetrix.co.

Share and subscribe for future issues.

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Letter

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Welcome to the Scene

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Case Study

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Symetrix Professional Services

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Q&A with Dan Lynch

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HR News

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Industry News

Director of Sales & Marketing Ty Hawley Creative Director Bob Ale-Ebrahim Editor Rachelle Graham Graphic Designer Unmi Yank

Contributing Authors Bob Ale-Ebrahim Dan Lynch Rachelle Graham Mark Graham Steph Beckett Contributing Photographers Unmi Yank CommLink Integration Corporation YETI Inc. The Werd Company Emily Mangkornkeo

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So, to you who are “striving to do the deeds and spends themselves in a worthy cause” — this message is for the one in the arena.

As we start into this new year of 2022, wondering if it will be different from 2021 (or 2020) in any significant way, I am reminded that how we respond to the big challenges of life is what defines us.

And while the past couple of years have held some unexpected and unprecedented challenges, past difficult experiences give me the confidence that we will weather the storm and, in the process, grow in ways that are only possible when you face supreme challenges.

I remember a time, many years ago (more years than I’d like to admit), I was a young AV integrator fighting for jobs in a small, rural area of Arizona. Some months I didn’t know if I would be able to feed my family and pay my employees.

What I learned during that time about perseverance and how to keep going when times were lean, surely set me up for successes later in my life. It wasn’t easy, but it taught me things I couldn’t have learned any other way.

Fast forward to 2022, and we are entering our third year of the COVID pandemic and resulting global supply chain disruption. Considerable damage to our businesses and industry continues: Manufacturers fight to get the increasingly scarce components needed to keep products shipping. Integrators struggle to complete jobs and collect payment. Customers are often frustrated and angry.

This is hard.

I take heart, though, because we’re all in this together and striving valiantly to take care of our people, our customers, and our businesses. With a clear conscience, I think we can hold our heads up and carry a sense of healthy pride that we are fighting the good fight and not giving up.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt 26th President of the United States That quote from Teddy Roosevelt has always resonated with and inspired me.

I want to be in the arena. It’s my nature. I need meaningful challenges to strive for and overcome. Achievement isn’t collecting trophies, but doing the right thing, and still succeeding. Cheating in some way, or using others selfishly, or motivated by greed, these all would nullify any sense of accomplishment. Achievement is doing good for my family, teammates, and community. Easier, safer paths could always have been chosen, but I’m not wired that way.

You have surely faced sustained and unprecedented challenges to your business for nearly 2 years. You are in the arena, and I am with you. I am with you because we are kindred spirits and because I cannot help but do anything I can to support those who strive to do the deeds…and spends themselves in a worthy cause.

Mark Graham Owner & CEO of Symetrix

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We are very excited to have this new forum to share important news about our products, services and brand.

We plan to feature interesting articles about industry news, interviews from industry experts, project profiles, stories about integrators and partners, Symetrix career opportunities, Symetrix Employee news, events and promotions, celebrations, and our community outreach.

Our magazine will showcase our mission, vision, and company values. We plan to make the Symetrix Scene magazine a forum that will be a news source for our products and industry related information.

Symetrix was born out of a recording studio in 1976, created to make tools that deliver brilliant audio quality.

As the AV industry has grown and changed, so have we.

Longtime fans of Symetrix, Mark and Rachelle Graham joined the Symetrix team in 2019 as owners, kicking off the next chapter in Symetrix’s 40+ year history. Symetrix continues to enable inspirational AV experiences while serving our unique mission to be a force for good in the world.

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OUR MISSION

OUR VISION

OUR VALUES

The Symetrix mission is to design, manufacture and support innovative AV solutions focused on Craftmanship, Performance and the highest level of Customer Satisfaction in alignment with our Values.

Deliver amazing products.

Develop people.

Be a force for good in the world.

Our company operates on the Christian values of integrity, excellence and social responsibility. This is reflected in how we conduct our business and how we care for our partners and our people.

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CASE STUDY

by Bob Ale-Ebrahim

Versatility is Key to Pumping Up the Sound for multi-use Skate Boutique & Night Club.

Every year Systems Contractor News announces their installs of the Year Award in November. These awards are given out to firms that go above and beyond to create ultimate user experiences. This year it was challenging for integrators to work around the COVID-19 restrictions while crafting personalized experiences for their clients.

CommLink Integration Corporation won the award for their installation at Concepts, a luxury clothing retail store (created by Amazon). The new retail store located in Boston, Massachusetts combines authentic skateboarding roots with the brand’s ability to convey a narrative and translate their identity through an immersive audiovisual retail experience designed and executed by the crew at CommLink Integration. Brands and products employed to help deliver the conceptual narrative at Concepts include Sonos, Sharp NEC displays, BrightSign, AVPro Edge video matrix, Symetrix audio DSP and UniFi network hardware.

Concepts also uses an original custom control system, called Latitude conceived and designed by CommLink’s engineers Hunter Grayson and Tim Adams. It’s based on CSS, HTML5 and JavaScript. It runs on an in-house spec’d 1U micro server, which serves a custom GUI via a local-only web page, which is interfaced with iPads in the store. They selected a Symetrix Radius NX 12x8 DSP and xOut 12 for the system integration.

Evan Landry, the Chief Technology Officer for CommLink Integration Corporation said many of the reasons why they chose Symetrix as the DSP was because of the sound quality, performance, and the ease of installation. Landry said, “Two of our favorite things about Symetrix are 1: the Dante Brooklyn chip is baked-in and you get the full 64x64 channels. And 2: the hardware reliability is top notch.”

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“By the time of the installation, we had become heavily entrenched in Symetrix DSPs, with all our engineers being Composer™ certified. One of the biggest points for us, aside from rock-solid reliability, was being able to remotely control any parameter simply by assigning a remote-control number.”

Evan Landry CommLink Integration Corporation CTO - Chief technology officer What made The Concepts store installation unique and different is that it is a multi-use space. It’s a clothing and skate boutique, as well as a café, an elite sports bar, and a night club. There is a DJ booth, which has its own set of XLR inputs thanks to an Atterotech unDx4i. So, in essence, the audio system performs two job functions. It is required to provide even coverage for background music (BGM) during the day and provide bumpin’ power for the night-club scene. This presented its own set of challenges during the design as the needs for these modes are very different.

The smaller scenes are vignettes of the audio system: the skate room has its own 86” display, as well as a Sonos ARC sound bar. This does double duty serving as the audio source for featured videos, as well as playing BGM during normal business hours.

The café has the same set-up and can be its own zone for watching the game or join with the rest of the system for regular BGM. This zone joining and dividing is accomplished by two matrices, which are switched simultaneously by the preset controller in our Latitude control system: audio by Symetrix and a video (HDBaseT) from AVProEdge.

To learn more about CommLink Integration Corporation, please visit www.commlinkintegration.com To learn more about Symetrix, please visit www.symetrix.co

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CUSTOM SITE FILE PROGRAMMING

SYMETRIX PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Symetrix is proud to announce the launch of our Professional Services for US markets.

Symetrix Professional Services are fee-based services that leverage the experience and knowledge of Symetrix Applications Engineers to provide engineering support for our customers’ projects. Symetrix Professional Services include Site File Programming, Custom Intelligent Module creation, and Remote or On-site Commissioning.

Symetrix is proud to offer custom programming to provide solutions for your specific business needs. We understand that a “one-size-fits-all” solution doesn’t work, so Symetrix Professional Services will build a custom system design tailored for your unique business requirements. Our programmers have years of experience in developing solutions to solve complex business challenges.

Symetrix Professional Services (SPS) can generate a quote, based on your I/O list and system description. We can create a fully complete Composer™ site file that’s ready to be uploaded to your system. Symetrix Professional Services quotes are project specific, guaranteed to produce specific system results for a fixed price, and may be added as a line item in a system specification or project bid request.

NEED A CUSTOM INTELLIGENT MODULE? Intelligent Modules expand the capabilities of a DSP to provide customizable control of third-party products and powerful manipulation of control data within a system.

Intelligent Modules are easy to use, and work like any other module when programming a system in Composer.

Symetrix Professional Services can create custom Intelligent Modules using Lua scripting for your unique ecosystem. If you need an Intelligent Module created and don’t have the time or resources to create it yourself, let our experienced team of Application Engineers craft a custom Intelligent Module designed to your detailed requirements.

Symetrix Professional Services can create custom Intelligent Modules for nearly any application.

Learn more about Intelligent Modules Contact Symetrix Professional Services: Dan Lynch 425-329-8283 Symetrix Pro-Services Request Form: CLICK HERE and we’ll contact you about your unique project.

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WHAT ARE REMOTE COMMISSIONING SERVICES?

WHAT ARE ON-SITE COMMISSIONING SERVICES?

Symetrix Professional Services can schedule a Symetrix Application Engineer to be available during all phases of your on-site setup and commissioning. If you can provide a computer or laptop that has a network connection to the AV system and an internet connection, a Symetrix Applications Engineer can be your full-time remote assistant during critical system commissioning and setup. This allows your staff to focus on system testing, verification, and documentation while we handle controlling and configuring the system.

For critical sites, Symetrix Professional Service can schedule an Applications Engineer to provide on-site commissioning services. We have highly qualified Applications Engineers who can assist with setup and commissioning for your system. For severely timeconstrained systems or high-profile clients, a Symetrix Applications Engineer on-site provides you with the peace-of-mind and confidence that you won’t need to think about the Symetrix hardware and can concentrate on commissioning the system.

The commissioning process includes documenting, scheduling, testing, adjusting, and verifying system functionality as well as creating and providing end user training to provide a facility that operates as a fully functional system per the Owner’s project requirements.

The goal of the commissioning process is to enhance the quality of the delivered project by focusing the design and integration team on the Owner’s goals for functionality of the system. Involving Symetrix Professional Services in the commissioning process at the earliest possible stage will allow a Symetrix Applications Engineer to provide the greatest benefit in ensuring that all project requirements are met, and all design intents have been addressed.

We assign you a single contact who will interface with you and will coordinate the entire process. This point of contact provides access for your installation team to our entire Professional Services team of Application Engineers and will be a dedicated resource for your project and installation.

Demand for commissioning services is increasing as the design and integration community require that projects are delivered completely functional, on time, at low cost, and installed to run in a highly efficient manner. The commissioning process helps to achieve all of these goals through review of the design and installation requirements.

A third-party provider, independent of the design and construction teams, can oversee the quality delivery of the project and provide a valuable outside viewpoint to help ensure the project meets its goals.

Scott Woolley

Quinn Klarer

During our On-Site Commissioning process, a Symetrix Applications Engineer takes responsibility for the administrative and technical aspects of your project. This includes ensuring all software and firmware is up to date, all aspects of required network communications have been tested, all audio processing and control equipment has been tested, and field service personnel have received whatever assistance is needed for controlling the system during commissioning. As the system functionality advocate, our Application Engineers work hand in hand with the system integrator right up until the acceptance of the system.

Our Symetrix Professional Services team is available to provide support for any additions, changes, or improvements needed for Symetrix systems, and the in-house Customer Experience Team are available to assist clients with any requests for spare parts, maintenance, on-site interventions, technological updates, or any other requirements. Our dedicated staff at Symetrix are committed to customer service and quality in our systems.

Dan Lynch

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with Dan Lynch

Principal Applications Engineer Team Lead

As originally published in RavePubs in October of 2020, by Steph Beckett

Let’s start with an easy one. Tell me about Symetrix and its history and background.

Symetrix started out making high quality analog processors for recording and broadcast in the ’70s, and as digital signal processor technology became viable, Symetrix digital signal processors consistently provided the highest audio quality available. When commercial digital signal processors were beginning to really explode into the market, Symetrix released the Edge which was the very first DSP with Dante network audio transport. That’s been Symetrix from the very beginning — powerful, flexible, right on the cutting edge of technology, but always maintaining our roots of delivering the highest quality audio. That audio quality beats gimmicks and gee-whiz features every time.

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The AV industry is not easy to stay on top of since technology is always changing — that holds true for audio technology as well. How has Symetrix kept up and stayed ahead of this rapidly changing market?

It’s funny when I hear people talk about “keeping up” with technology as though it’s a job shoveling rocks. If you wander around Symetrix, you’re going to find talented musicians, computer geeks, photographers, gamers, longdistance runners, backpackers and a legitimate surfer.

We’re a wildly diverse group, but every person you’ll meet shares one common trait: passion. Everyone at Symetrix is passionate about the things they love and passionate people can’t stop themselves from pushing the envelope and trying to learn something new every day. Producing

audio, video and control products is our job, but it’s also something we geek out about. So, you heard about a new streaming video codec that’s supposed to set the world on fire soon? Yeah, our gamers have been talking about it for weeks. Somebody has an AI-based audio processing algorithm that can do X, Y and Z in real-time? Of course they do, take a seat and we’ll tell you all about it — because the musicians and computer geeks at Symetrix have been comparing notes on its development since the very first academic paper came out. If keeping up with technology is something you or your company has to work at, you’re just not having enough fun at work.

and enough xIO expanders for the line level I/O devices, we need to decide whether we want to use T-Series touch screens, W-Series remotes, SymVue panels on a tablet, or all of those combined, and then we just fire up Composer™ and step through each individual, simple bit of the programming. In very little time, you’re ready for 120 mics, 17 voice-lift zones, eight independent far-end sources, and easy control over the whole system.

How has the transition to digital changed audio conferencing?

For an AV systems designer, what are some of the challenges of designing and scaling audio for conferencing?

Large-scale teleconferencing has some interesting complexities in a couple of different directions. You start with the usual suspects, acoustic echo cancellation and microphone automixing, but then you complicate that with the need for voice-lift in larger rooms, usually split into multiple zones, and layered on top of that is potentially the need to handle multiple simultaneous farend connections. When you start scaling that up, it can be daunting if you forget that complicated audio systems are almost always many simple audio systems connected together. Each individual far-end connection for example, whether you have one or a dozen, is really just the mic mix plus a mix-minus of all the non-mic sources. That’s easy. Individual speaker zones are the same thing flipped around; they’re a full mix of the non-mic sources and a mix-minus of the mics. Also easy. Acoustic echo cancellation is the simplest thing in the world if you don’t psych yourself out; there’s sound coming out of the speakers that I want the AEC to remove from my mics.

That’s easy as long as you remember that your AEC reference signal needs to be as close as you can get to exactly the same signal being sent to the speakers.

None of these things are difficult and using an openarchitecture DSP system like the Radius NX gives you the tools to build these simple components that work together as the larger system. Creating “complicated” audio, video and control systems is in some ways similar to the task of learning a new language. Learning a language may seem like a huge task, but little kids do it every day by taking it one step at a time. Regardless of the size of any teleconferencing system, the basics are the same; we’re going to need one Radius NX for every 12 mics

The increasing flexibility of open-architecture DSPs has allowed a profound change in the way we think about spaces. Twenty years ago, we were building expensive teleconferencing suites that were single-purpose rooms.

Nobody would dream of using the teleconference suite to give a presentation to a team because the system wouldn’t work for that. Today, every square foot of real estate needs to be productive in multiple ways all day long and that’s simple when touching one button on a T-5 touchscreen can tell the Radius NX to turn off the mics and switch the display to the HDMI input in the table. An hour later, somebody else walks into the room, touches a different button on the T-5 and the Radius NX sets the room volume back to default, configures the mics for teleconferencing, switches the display to the video conference input, turns on the camera and closes the blinds. In just a few seconds, a collaborative workspace has turned itself into a teleconferencing suite with no need for the user to do anything other than let the system know which mode it should be in.

Continued on next page.

The types of spaces being used for conferencing, both video and audio, have changed in recent years — traditional meeting rooms are not the rooms people are using to work and communicate together remotely. Huddle rooms and flex spaces are just two of the types of new spaces we’ve seen proliferate. What do designers have to take into consideration, particularly for audio, when designing for these diverse spaces?

Smaller teleconference spaces solve some of their own problems by their nature; a huddle room is usually too small to be horribly reverberant, it’s almost impossible to get too far away from the mic, voice-lift is pointless, etc.

Instead, you have to worry about the fact that the customer wants six of them, just on this floor, plus another nine scattered around on the next three floors of the building — and you know exactly what’s going to happen when you submit a bid for 15 complete systems … “thanks for your time, we’ll call you, buh-bye.” Large systems waste a lot of DSP power, but small systems are even worse. Your phone probably has enough processing power for the average huddle room, but even most of the dedicated huddle room devices on the market are more powerful than they need to be. In many cases, it makes much more sense to let a Radius NX handle the processing for multiple rooms and use I/O devices to transport digital audio over the network between the individual rooms and the DSP. Especially when every room on the network is only two milliseconds away, round trip. That lets you use a single Radius NX to handle the all of the processing for up to 16 rooms, including acoustic echo cancellation and brings your cost down to less than $290 per room MSRP for world-class audio processing from Symetrix.

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In 2020, Symetrix released the xIO Bluetooth, a Dante-enabled Bluetooth endpoint available in a single gang form factor. This product is pretty neat because it offers extended range and audio Bluetooth connectivity via the network. Can you tell us more about it?

The xIO Bluetooth is really exciting because we were able to squeeze Bluetooth and Dante into a singlegang device that’s powered by PoE. When you’re trying to fit a Bluetooth device into a podium, or when you need a sleek, discreet installation, a single-gang device is the only practical solution. The fact that you only need to pull a single Cat5 cable to it is just the icing on the cake.

What other big plans does Symetrix have for the future? Any sneak peeks or hints you can give us on what’s coming next?

Well, I’m not supposed to talk about the flying car project specifically, but I can tell you that testing leather seat configurations is only fun for the first 15 minutes or so.

Figuring out what Symetrix is going to do in the future is really easy because all you have to do is look at what we’ve always done. We’re going to continue making systems easier and faster to deploy, we’re going to keep finding those odd ways to use existing technology to do really cool things, and we’re going to remain on the leading edge of figuring out the best way to make new technology work for us and our partners.

Tell me about a few of the coolest spaces Symetrix has designed audio systems for — I heard you guys have done some pretty cool work for the Yeti store in Chicago.

Yeti has been creating some neat spaces in their new stores. At its most basic, it’s an outfitter store, but it’s simultaneously a coffee shop with a live performance stage.

That’s a difficult combination with some heavily conflicting requirements. If you look at the Chicago store, it’s built around the Prism 8×8 which is an absolute workhorse DSP. Lots of power, lots of network audio connectivity, lots of control options and all programmable and controllable very simply. The Werd Company did a great job on that design and installation. When you’re trying to do performance audio in a retail environment, absolute control over the audio is critical and they were able to leverage the power of the Prism DSP along with its easy configurability to produce something really amazing.

In a year that has taken a lot of twists and turns — our industry has had to pivot in more ways than I can count.

How has Symetrix had to pivot to meet the needs that COVID-19 has created? How have you helped your dealers or end user customers adapt?

The last two years have really shown everyone that we need to make sure we can share our message even when we’re not able to physically visit someone.

The number of remote presentations made by our sales team is in the hundreds at this point and we’ve greatly increased both the quantity of electronic resources we offer our partners and also the depth of information in those resources. If we’re not able to come visit a dealer, we need to absolutely make sure that dealer can find the answer to their question quickly and easily.

On the training side, our online Composer Basic Training has been redesigned to make it easier and quicker to navigate and also make it easier for students to refer back to individual sections of the training as needed. With the help of our partners at Audio Americas, we’ve also translated our entire Composer Basic Training program into Spanish, as well as Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian.

We recently completed a new studio that allows us to more easily generate training content and we’re presenting webinars monthly that focus on a single, specific aspect of Composer programming.

I know it’s nearly impossible to say — but what do you think the audio conferencing market will look like in the next five, 10 or even 20 years? Any particular trends you think we should keep an eye on?

Five, 10, or 20 years? That’s the cue to start dropping all of the hyphenated buzz words, isn’t it?

Bring in the cloud-based, AI-enabled, multi-platform, cross-functional doohickey that’s going to revolutionize it all, whatever “it” is. That’s all exciting, but it’s similar to saying, “I’m going to use a voice-activated AI system when I fill out a form at the DMV.” That fact that I’m using something high-tech doesn’t make going to the DMV any more fun — and it gets tiring when all anyone talks about is the tools. So, while we might be building and using cloud-based, AI-enabled, multi-platform, cross-functional doohickeys in 10 years, what we’re doing with them will be the important part. From where I sit, it’s pretty easy to see what Symetrix will be doing in 10 or 20 years. Symetrix will be using the best possible technology to solve problems for our customers, we’ll be giving our customers the same products and the same advice we would give to our friends and family, and we’ll be treating our customers and sales channel partners the same way we treat each other. Doing anything else sounds way too much like work, so we’re going to keep finding cool ways to solve problems and have fun doing it.

To watch other Q&A videos, CLICK HERE. SYMETRIX SCENE > FEBRUARY 2022

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Randy Yates – Test Engineer Randy was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, graduating from Penn State with a degree in Aerospace engineering. His first professional position was working for the Air Force as a flight test engineer specializing in avionics at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He worked on multiple programs for the Air Force including F-16 and F-22 development. In 2012, Randy moved to Seattle to work on the KC-46 air refueling tanker and fell in love with the area. After a stint in Utah testing software for F-16s at Hill Air Force Base, he is delighted to be back in the area. “I’m happy to be back in Seattle where we have such a great music community!”

In his free time, Randy enjoys hiking, fishing, gaming and music. He started playing guitar as a teenager and has played in multiple bands over the years. He recently got involved with music production using some of the popular DAWs and learning how to use controllers and software to make music. Randy is going to fit in just fine around here!

Emily Mangkornkeo – Production Associate Emily is a native to the PNW, born and raised in Kirkland, WA. She has held positions in production and manufacturing environments for the past 10 years. Emily started as a machine operator in a food manufacturing facility and then spent seven years assembling medical equipment, including ultrasounds and ventilators. Symetrix is her first tech company. She also works part time as her mother’s caregiver.

With a combined ethnicity of Cambodian, Lao and Thai, the only language of the three that Emily understands is Lao. “I honestly regret not learning when I had the chance.” In her free time, Emily loves to go camping and fishing throughout the year with her husband, stepdaughter and 3-year-old husky named Ruby. Their favorite spot for vacations is Ocean Shores where they fish for surf perch (sea bass) and dig for razor clam. During the summer, they like to camp in Eastern Washington and fish on the Columbia River.

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There are three things we love to do at Symetrix. Okay, probably more than three. But here are the three I’m thinking of. We love to eat together, work together and welcome new people. There’s something exciting about adding a new member to the team and getting to know what makes them tick. Their dreams, personality, enthusiasms and how that connects with the rest of us.

Inspiring stuff.

At the end of 2021, we were delighted to welcome 4 new people to the SymFamily. In no particular order, here are our newest team members.

Bob Ale Ebrahim – Marketing Manager Bob has been building brands for over two decades. An experienced Marketing Manager, Creative Director, Art Director and Graphic Designer, Bob most recently led creative teams at 2a Marketing in Kansas City, MO and Associated Integrated Marketing in Wichita, KS.

Chris Sullivan – Materials Coordinator A native of both Washington State and California, Chris has worked in manufacturing environments, both Electronics and Aerospace, for over 18 years. Some of the roles he has held include materials handling, shipping/ receiving, inventory control, reverse logistics, configuration management, production planning, and purchasing. “One thing I have learned is that the parts may be different, but the principles are the same.”

Chris has a 16-year-old daughter and currently lives with a cat named Bree. He enjoys writing, gaming (both tabletop RPG and video games), reading, and cooking. As we at Symetrix know from the company Christmas party, Chris is a whiz at trivia. He specializes in movie trivia/quotes and certain pop culture references. He has been banned by friends and family from playing the Star Wars edition of Trivial Pursuit. If he could have any super power, Chris would love to be able to fly.

With multiple local, regional and national awards under his belt Bob is a jack of all trades. He has led marketing initiatives, developed strategy and has over 25 years of experience. He’s won a National Silver Telly, been featured in Step by Step magazine, Color Harmony: Logos by Rockport, and the Logo Lounge books & website. A font he designed was used as the logo for the FOX TV show “The Following”, starring Kevin Bacon. A marketing expert, designer, copywriter, art director, illustrator and television producer, Bob’s strategic vision has been key to helping many brands grow. “Strive to find the right ideas, go beyond what’s expected and have a good time doing it.”

Bob is committed to elevating the company’s brand and telling its story. “Stories are memorable and have more impact. The fun is in the challenge of finding a concept that will spur curiosity and action.” Bob is adept at working collaboratively with colleagues to problem-solve and achieve innovative marketing solutions that deliver results and exceed expectations. A native mid-Westerner, Bob recently moved to the Seattle area with his family.

Welcome, Bob!

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Join the SymFamily We have two positions currently open at Symetrix. If you or someone you know would like to join our fun, dynamic and exciting team, please send your resume to HumanResources@symetrix.co

Senior Full Stack Software Engineer

Inside Sales Associate

We are looking for a skilled Senior Full Stack Software Engineer who will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining front end system architecture and graphical user interfaces for web product platforms. This position will own full web stack applications that run on desktop computers, web servers, and embedded Linux audio and control products, working cross-functionally to release software across all phases of the development life cycle.

We are looking for a personable, growth-oriented Inside Sales Associate with outstanding people, organizational and technical skills to join our award-winning sales team.

Top candidates will be detail-oriented individuals with fantastic communication abilities and excellent time management skills.

Qualifications include: •

BS degree in Computer Science, Engineering, MIS, or similar relevant field

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6+ years’ experience in web technologies, HTML, CSS, JavaScript

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Proven experience designing, implementing, and shipping web technologies and cloud applications

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A deep understanding of JavaScript andexperience building web application front ends with modern frameworks such as React, Angular, or Vue. Angular experience is a plus.

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Experience implementing analytics and managing data flow for more responsive applications

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Experience selecting and integrating JS libraries for reliability and development speed

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Audio/video experience a plus

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The Inside Sales Associate will receive and process incoming orders and communicate with customers regarding receipt, prices, shipping dates, and delays. They will also operate and maintain CRM (customer relationship management) systems, influencing and supporting sales activities by building relationships with customers and the Symetrix global sales team.

Qualifications include: •

Proficient in Microsoft Office, especially Word & Excel

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Energetic and enthusiastic team player, with a winning attitude

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Superb written and verbal communication skills

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Process and detail-oriented and adept at documenting and following processes

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Associates degree (Business administration degree or other preferred)

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CRM experience a plus

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SYMETRIX SCENE > FEBRUARY 2022

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“Chipageddon” is a term used to explain the lack of supply for computer chips. It specifically refers to a worldwide shortage of silicon and the process capacity necessary for the manufacture of semiconductors.

Houston, I Think We Have a Problem: Chipageddon

by Bob Ale-Ebrahim

WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT IT? Symetrix is working as fast as we can to turn disaster into opportunity by developing solutions to help resolve the issue and continue to make deliveries in 2022.

On April 11, 1970, NASA’s Apollo 13 spacecraft lifted off and a short 56 hours into the flight, they experienced an “unexpected event”. There was an explosion in the oxygen tank of the service module which caused damage to the spacecraft. The Astronauts and Engineers at NASA were able to reengineer systems inside the spacecraft.

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Just like the Apollo 13 mission, we are finding ourselves in a situation where we must retool our products with limited access to materials. Symetrix is innovating and working through a process of adaptation to find solutions to deliver products to market.

At Symetrix our engineers are finding innovative ways to redesign our products to meet market demand. Our supply chain team’s mission has been to adapt to procure new or alternative components for our products. The situation has created opportunities for our product team to innovate and incorporate new technologies. It’s creating a climate incubator for new ideas and spurring the creation of exciting new products.

WHAT LIES AHEAD IN THE FUTURE? So, the biggest question is when will this end and what lies ahead in the future? The supply chain problem is expected to last at least until the beginning of next year. However, we are finding solutions and as the year progresses product inventory will improve, and new products will come online. Eric Dies, VP of Manufacturing said, “Symetrix is continuously striving to identify creative solutions to the current supply chain challenges. In my 30 years in the business, I have never seen anything that comes anywhere close to this.”

The supply chain shortage has affected Symetrix’s ability to get components to make products. Despite this challenge, and even though our products have thousands of components, we found alternative solutions to continue to fulfill our orders. Mark Graham, Owner and CEO of Symetrix said, “It’s a difficult time for our industry and Symetrix is working hard to help our partners succeed. I am sympathetic to the challenges our integrators are facing and Symetrix is doing everything we can to support them and help them succeed.”

The good news about the future is the global economy grew by a robust 5.1 percent in 2021 and is expected to expand by 3.9% in 2022. Most analysts are saying there will be slow improvement this year and it has only served to illustrate how interconnected the global supply chain is today.

Interestingly, Symetrix was still able to ship about 90% of its orders compared to the year-over-year average from 2019. This fact can be attributed to the valiant efforts of our product, engineering, and supply chain teams. Symetrix has a bright future, and the supply chain issue has prompted innovation and widespread retooling of the next generation of products. “I’m looking forward to this moment one year from now.” said, Tammy Rossbach, Material Supervisor at Symetrix. “We can’t wait to show what our Rock Star product development team has in store for you in 2022 and beyond!”

John F. Kennedy said, “Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future.”

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Engineered in Seattle www.symetrix.co

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