Just Work, Please! AV/IT Interoperability on Day 2 and Beyond

There’s nothing better than the feeling of a successful deployment of a new conference room or classroom. New auto-framing audio and video conferencing hardware and software connect in-person and remote participants, and a control system automatically initiates a meeting and starts the presentation on display. Participants collaborate, sharing content and video that is seamlessly switched to different displays. It’s AV/IT nirvana.

Until it’s not. We asked AV/IT industry thought leaders about how their company’s products and solutions help ensure interoperability and connectivity not only on the day of deployment, but also on Day 2 and beyond. Below are some excerpts.

For the full interviews, check out the sidebar on the right.

Omer Brookstein, CEO and co-founder at Xyte, said, “The real goal isn’t simply to connect devices. It’s to make AV easier to manage, easier to support, and easier to improve over time. Open cloud connectivity helps organizations monitor mixed fleets more consistently, move data between systems, automate routine tasks, and adopt new tools without rebuilding everything around a single vendor’s stack.”

“We focus heavily on open standards and network-based solutions, said Emma Eagle, manager of Marketing at Hall Research. “When AV technology works the same way other IT systems do, it becomes easier to deploy, manage, and scale across an entire organization—from small meeting rooms to large conference spaces.

“Established customer deployments may require upgrades to maintain long-term interoperability, as the protocols themselves are often evolving,“ Amy Zhou, director of Sales at Magewell, added. “For example, the popular NDI connectivity technology has changed over the years; it’s now on version 6.3 overall, and media formats within it have gone from NDI High Bandwidth to NDI HX, NDI HX2, and NDI HX3. This makes the upgradability of our products crucial for continued interoperability and compatibility.”

Joel Mulpeter, senior director of Product Marketing at Crestron, said, “Our products always need to work with the network—not against it. When we get deployed in a facility, the network exists, and we’re part of that ecosystem, so we ensure that we’re good citizens on that network.”

“By combining manufacturer-agnostic interoperability, robust management, and scalable design, Audinate’s solutions help ensure connectivity that works without friction, every day, at any scale,” said Jim Kidwell, principal product marketing manager at Audinate.“

“At ViewSonic, we approach product development with the full ecosystem in mind,” said Shane Roma, technical product manager of dvLED and Commercial Displays at ViewSonic. “A unified API structure reduces programming complexity, accelerates deployment, and minimizes support calls across diverse installations.”

Effi Goldstein, President of the HDBaseT Alliance, added, “Our commitment to an open, vendor-agnostic standard empowers businesses with exceptional flexibility. Organizations can mix and match products across multiple brands without risking compatibility issues, supporting business continuity, easier maintenance, and long-term investment protection.

“Sennheiser’s commitment to interoperability—across Dante, open APIs, alliance partnerships, and secure cloud management—helps organizations build AV ecosystems that are connected, scalable, and ready for whatever comes next,” said Jakub Kolacz, manager of Product Management Software at Sennheiser.”

Adam Sowers, senior manager of Business Development at Sony Electronics, added, “As a founding member of Open AV Cloud, we help to drive best practices around open ecosystems and interoperability for IP-based integrations, control, and monitoring that work across environments.”

“By prioritizing interoperability at every level, Shure empowers IT teams to deliver collaboration environments that are consistent, intuitive, and scalable wherever work happens,” added Justin Ramirez, senior director of Software Sales at Shure.