Zebadiah Henry is not selling.
The CEO of Inex Systems, a tech company based in metro Atlanta, is holding on to his home and event-space technology installation for as long as he’s on Earth.
Also a stakeholder at the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, Henry recently stopped by rolling out to discuss his career field and where he sees technology today.
What does Inex Systems specialize in?
We are a custom AV and theater company. We do full-blown automation from residential to commercial. So, all of your smart home theater systems, commercial-connected buildings, security systems, and anything in that low-voltage realm, we specialize in it. Your conference rooms, podcast rooms, all of that stuff is what we specialize in, and that’s what we do.
What does being a stakeholder at RICE mean to you?
It’s everything to me. I’ve been there since 2015, even before it turned into the Russell Center. I moved H.J. Russell out to the corporate office at the Wells Fargo building over in Atlantic Station. I just waited until it became what it is now.
From 2015 to about 2018, I was in all the different meetings, trying to think about who was going to be CEO, and who they were going to bring in; I was involved in a lot of that, making sure they had Wi-Fi, making sure they had internet, making sure we put a few cameras in there. The building was just a big square box at that point. Then, here comes Jay Bailey in 2018, and that’s when I started seeing his vision. That’s when the Russell Center became what it is today. There’s nothing in the world like it at 55,000 square feet, plus more than that now dedicated to Black entrepreneurs. I’m a stakeholder. I’m their AV and IT partner in there. I help support staff and stakeholders with all the technology. I do all the conference rooms, all the security systems, and everything in there.
I don’t care if I become a billion-dollar company; I will always be a part of the Russell Center. … I plan to stay a part of it, keep going with them, and help them grow at the same time.
Does your technology listen to you when it’s not on?
Everybody knows it’s always listening. You’re talking about something, and then you look at your phone, and then there’s an ad that pops up on Google. It happens. I use Alexa all the time, and I do a lot of voice control things around the house and whatnot, and if you’re not talking about anything illegal, then what are they going to get you for?
Why should people not worry about their devices listening to them?
Are we being watched all the time? Of course not. I mean, there are too many people in the world.
Are your phones tapped? No. Can they tap your phones? Of course.
If you’re not doing anything wrong, you should have nothing to worry about. That’s the way I’ve always been.
Technology is a great thing. People have to embrace it because it’s inevitable. You can’t get away from it; we can’t go back to the Stone Age, right? We’ve got to lean into the technology, and we’ve got to make it better. To make it better, it takes user input. You’ve got to drive those AI cars, you’re going to have a few crashes. When they understand why the car crashed, they’ll make it better. You’ve got to use that conference room system to see why that microphone messed up so you can make it better. That’s what technology is ongoing, through trial and error.
