AVT Question: Please share insights on the ongoing transition to networked AV and the role the cloud and AI play.
Thought Leader: Mark Plummer, Vice President and General Manager, Connected Platforms and Ecosystems at Legrand | AV
While many manufacturers are offering networked AV portfolios, significant structural roadblocks remain to truly integrated AV and IT systems. The hurdles are not limitations of the technology itself, but the challenges of integrating networked AV into established ecosystems.
Security is often cited as the tallest hurdle. AV can no longer operate on an isolated network, yet fully integrating AV endpoints into IT infrastructure introduces additional security considerations and places greater demands on AV/IT teams to vet, deploy, and maintain those devices. The right products make meeting those standards achievable.
As AI matures, it will evolve into a proactive agent, monitoring ecosystems via the cloud or at the edge, flagging anomalies, anticipating service needs, and enabling intelligent device scheduling.
Mark Plummer, Vice President and General Manager, Connected Platforms and Ecosystems at Legrand | AV
Existing infrastructure presents a related challenge. Most legacy IT networks were not designed for multicast or high-bandwidth AVoIP streams, and modernizing them requires capital investment and close collaboration between AV integrators and IT engineers. AV product lifecycles also rarely align across a given installation. Bridging old and new through software-defined control platforms and open standards is essential to moving forward without unrealistic capital expenditure.
Cloud and AI each have a meaningful role in addressing these hurdles. The cloud serves as the operational backbone, enabling efficient monitoring, proactive management, and remote service delivery while reducing dependence on expensive on-premises hardware. The key is a secure cloud architecture with robust provisioning, patching, and access management built in. At Legrand | AV, our Unified Cloud Platform is built around exactly this foundation.
As AI matures, it will evolve into a proactive agent, monitoring ecosystems via the cloud or at the edge, flagging anomalies, anticipating service needs, and enabling intelligent device scheduling. Organizations that invest now in thoughtful infrastructure design and strategic lifecycle management will be best positioned to deliver the responsive, automated AV experiences that define what is next.
