The week that was:
- Led by VP Sam Malik, Patriot Visual Group enters the Pro AV space.
- Hal Truex picked to lead PCD.
- AtlasIED, AVIXA, Bose Professional, and more announced strategic partnerships.
- Important updates from AES and WAVIT.
Pro AV Newsmakers, Monday, July 27
While Neat and Legrand | AV were among a bunch of Pro AV manufacturers to announce strategic partnerships last week, the big news of the week was the introduction of Patriot Visual Group. Headquartered in Irvine, CA, Patriot Visual Group (PVG) is an American-owned company that offers a comprehensive range of visual solutions and will be led by VP Sam Malik, a Pro AV industry veteran with over 30 years of experience driving growth and innovation.
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As a small high-touch distributor with 50,000 square feet of warehouse space in Atlanta, GA, Patriot Visual Group stocks a wide assortment of products and provides quick turn-around shipping. The company sources its products from multiple high-end manufacturers and provides a full warranty on each unit, with spares included. Additionally, PVG offers full service and support on every product the company sells.
“PVG offers a wide range of high-quality visual solutions to address most any installation requirements an AV integrator may be tasked with," Malick said. "These various displays come from 1st tier partners and there is no second sourcing. To better ensure timely delivery of our products so as not to hold up the installation process, we stock many of our products here in the USA. We sell only through a limited dealer channel—never direct to the end user. Equally important, we offer cash discounts for even greater margins.”
Now, get caught up with the week that was in the latest Pro AV Newsmakers.
People News
John Rudolph Retires, Hal Truax Takes the Helm as President of PCD
As John Rudolph prepares to step down after three decades of leadership at PCD, he named industry veteran Hal Truax as the company's new president. The transition marks the culmination of a thoughtful succession plan designed to ensure continuity for employees, customers and partners while positioning PCD for continued growth.
Founded in 1980 by Henry Beaumont, Rudolph joined the company in 1999, and helped transform PCD into a full-service audiovisual systems integrator, expanding into education, government, hospitality, performing arts, corporate and commercial markets while strengthening the company's reputation for engineering excellence and trusted customer relationships. Now, Truax assumes the role after joining PCD as VP in early 2025, quickly becoming a driving force behind the company's continued expansion. With more than 30 years of experience in professional audiovisual integration, executive leadership, business development and strategic growth, Truax brings a unique combination of technical expertise and customer-first leadership that aligns naturally with PCD's culture. His promotion follows months of collaboration alongside Rudolph, ensuring a seamless transition for both employees and clients.
Product Updates
Bogen Communications Introduces Nyquist Version 11.0 Software Release
Bogen Communications releases its Nyquist Version 11.0 software release. The latest update introduces expanded SIP interoperability, enhanced system monitoring, additional device support, and expanded automation capabilities to enable more comprehensive communication channels and capabilities for integration. Nyquist Version 11.0 provides support for the latest Nyquist peripherals, including NQ-DSC01 VoIP Double-Sided LED Message Display and Flasher, NQ-VCTRL Digital Remote Volume Control Call Switch, NQ-IPHRN01 Indoor/Outdoor IP Horn with Talkback, and NQ-ZPMS-G2 Zone Paging Microphone Station. The latest software release also enables video calling between NQ-ZPMS-G2 devices, expanding communication capabilities for facilities requiring more interactive paging and intercom workflows.
Nyquist Version 11.0 expands SIP interoperability with support for RingCentral, Twilio and Zoom SIP calls, enabling integration with widely used unified communications platforms. The enhanced software improves call security by enabling Secure SIP with TLS 1.2 and SRTP for PBXi SIP trunks. Additionally, the update adds support for multiple incoming SIP trunks from the same PBXi, providing greater flexibility for more complex communication environments.
To improve system supervision, Nyquist Version 11.0 adds Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) of SSD drives for the NQ-SYSCTRL. As a result, system health issues can now be reported directly to syslog and displayed within Check Server Status, improving visibility into System Controller hardware performance and helping administrators proactively identify potential issues.
Partnerships
AtlasIED Partners with A&L Group
AtlasIED announced its partnership with Selangor, Malaysia-based AV distributor Acoustic & Lighting System (A&L Group). This partnership is set to greatly expand AtlasIED’s presence in Malaysia and Vietnam.
A&L Group joins the partnership with over 35 years of industry experience. Originally founded in Malaysia, the team has expanded its footprint across Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. A&L Group prides itself on the strong, collaborative relationships it holds with clients, suppliers, and industry stakeholders. The team is entirely committed to fostering long-term partnerships based on reliability, quality, and open communication.
AVIXA Partners with Futuresource Consulting
AVIXA is partnering with Futuresource Consulting, a global market research and consultancy firm, to offer deep dive studies that analyze Pro AV demand in education and corporate markets. The studies will include end users and technology buyers as well as integrators. Through this partnership, AVIXA and Futuresource Consulting will provide objective and clear market insights for key pro AV verticals. This research complements AVIXA's five-year supply-side industry forecast for products and services.
AVIXA will work with its membership, combined with Futuresource’s buyer decision maker sources to build a complete picture of education and corporate pro AV demand and expectations. AVIXA and Futuresource will begin by co-developing a report focused on the North American education market. The report, which will be released in the fourth quarter of 2026, will be based on a combination of Futuresource Consulting’s decision maker data from its annual survey along with AVIXA’s membership survey.
Bose Professional Expands Distribution with Peats
Bose Professional welcomed Peats Wholesale, a consumer technology and AV distribution company in Ireland, to its growing network. Based in Dublin, Peats connects global brands with Irish retail networks and professional AV/IT integrators. For the first time in Ireland, integrators and end user's will be able to visit the Peats Wholesale Experience Centre and listen to the full line-up of Bose Professional solutions.
Peats joins Bose Professional as part of the company’s growing hybrid sales model, integrating dedicated, in-house sales leadership, and engineering with a network of distributors worldwide. This strategic evolution is designed to deliver deeper regional engagement, streamlined access to technical resources, and a highly responsive partner experience from initial system design through final deployment.
Alongside its extensive product portfolio, Peats provides end-to-end technical expertise, including system design, product training, and after-sales support across the retail, corporate, education, and hospitality sectors. Bose Professional product support and training will be available on site in partnership with the Bose Professional UK & IRL Team, with products available over the counter or for next day delivery.
INOGENI and Yealink Partner to Deliver Flexible 4K BYOM Switching
INOGENI and Yealink have partnered to bring two-to-three host BYOM switching to flagship Yealink hardware, integrating the TOGGLE Series directly with the SmartVision 40 intelligent video bars, AVHub multi-camera audio-visual processor, and MCore touch console computing kits.
The solution combines Yealink SmartVision 40 intelligent videobars with AI-powered dual-eye camera tracking and integrated audio for enhanced meeting experiences; Yealink AVHub intelligent audio-video processor, providing centralized management of cameras, microphones, and speakers for large and divisible spaces; and Yealink MCore mini-PC computing kit, running native Microsoft Teams Rooms or Zoom Rooms and powering room displays and touch controllers
Together with INOGENI’s TOGGLE ROOMS, the ecosystem delivers seamless automatic or manual host switching, instantly connecting guest laptops to the room's professionally installed AV equipment while preserving the native room experience.
LEA Professional Partners with NSL Group
LEA Professional has partnered with NSL Group, a New Zealand-based AV distributor. This partnership will connect New Zealand AV customers with LEA Professional’s extensive technology catalog.
NSL prides itself on exclusively offering the highest quality audio and commercial AV technology to its customers. This partnership will bring LEA Professional’s Network Connect series of professional amplifiers, as well as the companion Dante Connect series, which features Dante and AES67 connectivity, to customers throughout New Zealand. These series enable integrators to utilize cloud-based remote control, monitoring, notifications, and more from any internet-enabled device, allowing them to stay connected from anywhere in the world.
Legrand | AV, Utelogy Expand Cloud Management Reach
Legrand | AV's Luxul Pro AV networking switches are now supported within the Utelogy cloud-based AV management platform. The integration, developed through the Utelligence Alliance Partner Program, extends Legrand | AV’s commitment to open AV infrastructure, ensuring that the company’s networking solutions work within the management environments that integrators and operators already rely on.
Networking has always been foundational to Pro AV, but commercial-grade networking, purpose-built for the performance, reliability, and manageability demands of AV environments, is increasingly central to how they are designed, operated, and serviced. Legrand | AV’s Luxul line is engineered specifically for that role, delivering the switching infrastructure that AV systems depend on. Connecting Luxul to the platforms where AV management happens is a natural extension of that mission. Through the Luxul driver in Utelogy, integrators and operators can now monitor and manage Luxul AV networking switches directly within the platform, alongside the AV devices they already oversee.
SFM Named Canadian Distributor for Neat Video Collaboration Solutions
SFM was appointed the Canadian distributor for Neat. The agreement enables SFM to bring Neat’s complete portfolio of video collaboration solutions to market across Canada, providing resellers and system integrators with direct access to the Neat portfolio which addresses the full spectrum of deployment environments—from personal workspaces and intimate huddle rooms to mid-size meeting rooms and large-scale conference facilities—ensuring channel partners can match the right solution to every client requirement.
The appointment reflects the complementary strengths of both organizations. SFM brings specialized knowledge of the Canadian AV and unified communications landscape, a proven well-established national distribution network, and long-standing relationships across the AV and IT channel.
Zixi, Comcast Technology Solutions Partner to Provide Unified Video Supply Chain Distribution
Zixiand Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) announced a strategic new integration to deliver C-band replacement solutions for linear broadcasters and content distributors. The collaboration brings together the end-to-end video management capabilities provided by Comcast Media360 with the Zixi Software Platform to give operators a direct migration path from C-band satellite to IP-based content distribution.
With the C-band satellite transition underway, programmers and distributors are exploring solutions to migrate linear workflows to IP while maintaining the kind of reliability, rights compliance, and affiliate distribution control that C-band has historically provided. At the core of the joint Zixi and CTS solution is a technical integration between the Zixi Software Platform and Comcast Media360, which provides customers with a 24/7 managed service backed by the proven reliability and scale of Comcast Technology Solutions.
Announcements
Introducing WAVIT's Wave of Influence Program
Women in AV/IT (WAVIT) unveiled its reimagined Wave of Influence Mentorship Program with a bold new vision for mentorship that empowers women across AV/IT to build meaningful connections and grow through every stage of their career. Unlike traditional mentorship programs that pair one mentor with one mentee for a predetermined period, the Wave of Influence embraces a fresh, member-driven approach.
Participants have the freedom to connect with multiple mentors, mentees, and peers based on their goals, interests, expertise, and career stage creating flexible relationships that can last for a single conversation or continue for years. Careers are rarely linear, often requiring guidance from multiple perspectives throughout different stages of professional development. Recognizing this shift, WAVIT reimagined its mentorship program to create a more flexible, personalized, and collaborative community experience that better reflects today's workforce.
Powered by the UpNotch mentorship platform, the new Wave of Influence provides AI-powered recommendations that help members discover mentors, peers, and professional connections aligned with their goals.
