Huawei fallout hits the AV sector

The recent decision by the US government to add Huawei to the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List effectively bans American companies from dealing with the Chinese telco giant. The immediate aftermath saw Google pull support from Huawei for its Android operating system, along with access to the Google Play store and app environment.

While this is obviously bad news for Huawei mobile owners, and has implications in the ongoing  battle between Western governments and Huawei negotiating for access to build telco infrastructure, the stoush has also created collateral damage that affects us in the AV business.

In a recent letter to their dealers, Australia and New Zealand distributor NAS Solutions made the following discontinuation announcement directly attributable to the security concerns surrounding Huawei:

“NAS Solutions have decided to discontinue our distribution of the MAXHUB brand. This includes all touch screen panels, peripherals and accessories.

We believe HUAWEI chips are used in MAXHUB products, which are no longer receiving support from Google for access to its Google Play app store, meaning customers may not have access to popular Google apps such as Gmail, the Chrome browser, and even YouTube.

The NAS Solutions goal in the near future is to invest and develop an alternative brand solution that is better suited to a premium touch screen brand that will fit directly into the classroom, boardroom and conference space for NAS Solutions.

As a reminder, NAS is the exclusive distributor for Activ2Touch screens which offers a suite of solutions from their 75″ Commercial Display Monitor to Interactive Display Panels in a range of sizes from 55″, 65”, 75” 86” and 98”. “