AVT Question: Please share insights into the trends and solutions shaping the modern workplace and collaboration spaces.
Thought Leader: Samuel Recine, Vice President of Global Strategic Partnerships at Matrox Video
When discussing AV/IT technologies—what they are and how they’re used—it helps to think in cycles. In some cycles, the focus is aspirational: what the technology should accomplish and how it can create value. That value may come through experiential AV and entertainment, improved communications, faster decision-making, or other mission-driven outcomes.
In other cycles, the focus shifts to calibration, or evaluating whether the investment is delivering as intended: Did the technology perform as promised? How easy or difficult was it to install? How much effort did customization require for a specific project or site? How manageable is ongoing maintenance? These calibration cycles create the reality check that informs the next round of planning.
When discussing AV/IT technologies—what they are and how they’re used—it helps to think in cycles.
Samuel Recine, Vice President of Global Strategic Partnerships at Matrox Video
This cycle matters because it shapes future goals and budgets. Consultants, manufacturers, and integrators can now be assessed against actual results—not just expectations. And users play a central role. They deserve systems that meet their needs, but they can also unintentionally create friction: scope creep, misalignment among stakeholders, major late-stage changes to deliverables or budgets, and decisions driven more by taste than process or decision science.
Right now, this cycle is especially important because the AV/IT industry is undergoing a sustained shift toward moving and processing audio, video, I/O, and data over Internet Protocol (IP). This includes reach-based applications, such as conferencing platforms, as well as high-end experiential AV, such as synchronized content systems powering immersive LED wall environments.
One key insight from this cycle is that preserving the flexibility to mix PC/IT equipment, Pro AV signal management and automation, and media production workflows—similar to what HDMI and SDI enable today—requires two things to complete the transition to IP-based workflows: open standards such as IPMX, and new converter technologies that bridge legacy equipment into IPMX-based systems and translate media/protocols from other proprietary AV-over-IP ecosystems.
