Uniguest has acquired Visix, an Atlanta‑based provider of enterprise‑grade digital signage, room management, and visual communications solutions. The acquisition expands Uniguest’s presence in the corporate and higher education markets.

[FORTÉ and GPA Announce Split]

“Workplace and campus communications are becoming increasingly critical as organizations look for better ways to connect with their people,” said Matt Goche, CEO of Uniguest. “Expanding deeper into these verticals has been a strategic priority for us, and bringing Visix into Uniguest accelerates that vision. Their established presence in the market, combined with our global reach and engagement expertise, positions us to deliver even more impactful solutions to the customers we serve.”

For more than four decades, Visix has helped organizations communicate more effectively through secure, scalable, and highly customizable technology. Its digital signage, room scheduling solutions, and wayfinding systems support clients seeking to modernize communication, enhance safety, and create more connected experiences for employees, students, and visitors.

“This is a tremendous moment for Visix and our team," said Sean Matthews, CEO of Visix. "Joining a global organization like Uniguest—one that is growing quickly and is committed to building a strong, collaborative culture—feels like a natural fit for us. We’re excited to join a company that shares our values, and we look forward to what we can accomplish together.”

The acquisition supports Uniguest’s strategy to bring together digital signage and engagement technologies under one global platform. It also creates opportunities to deliver a broader suite of solutions to customers across corporate campuses, universities, healthcare systems, and other complex environments.

Long behind us are the days when Pro AV equipment was its own entity. Its convergence with IT and existence on the network—not to mention increased dependence on audio and video for both internal and external messaging—makes it a key presence in almost every organization’s technology stack.

For AV integrators, this is good for business, but it also requires them to exercise responsibility. Like everything else tech, modern AV systems need to be as secure as possible.

Gabriel Gonzalez, audio visual SME at Mason Technologies, views cybersecurity design as something similar to building a secure brick-and-mortar facility. A design for a bunker, for example, could call for a steel box featuring no doors or windows. While this may render the structure safe, it’s also completely useless because no one can get in.

“The art of design is really in deciding where am I going to put a door? Where am I going to put a window? Who’s allowed to move through these access points? How do I secure these access points from the bad actors?” Gonzalez illustrated.

The same concept applies to Pro AV equipment, which is why it’s necessary to work closely with end users and IT departments to determine how this technology will be used and what the requirements are for access and visibility. With the prevalence of Bluetooth, cloud services, and Wi-Fi, this has gotten more complicated.

“[These services] are very useful, but if you’re going to have them enabled it should be for a clear reason,” Gonzalez said. “Have well-defined access control for all of these openings.”

If a service isn’t required, Gonzalez said it should be disabled. This includes empty switch ports and network protocols that are no longer in use. Plus, each device account should contain only the permissions that its user needs.

“When you’re designing these things, you have to coordinate with the client’s IT team in the beginning and be as detailed as possible,” Gonzalez said. “It can be really surprising how two different organizations might use the same equipment, so if it’s going to work well and feel right for them to use but still be secure, it’s got to be tailored to them like a good suit.”

Remediating Vulnerabilities

The first step in designing a secure AV system is simple, according to Daniel Schirripa, senior remote commissioning engineer, virtual, at Diversified. “Treat every AV device like a server on the network and treat every entry point as a possible attack vector,” he said.

However, that’s just the beginning.

Network segmentation is crucial for system security. AV traffic should be assigned to its own VLAN (virtual local area network) that is separate from the corporate and guest networks. Schirripa explained this prevents unauthorized individuals from spying on company meetings, for example, without ever being detected.

It’s also important to harden devices. “Unused services such as SSH, Telnet, and HTTP should be disabled and unnecessary ports closed,” Schirripa said. “Authentication and encryption matter, too—802.1X should be used for port security wherever possible, and control protocols should run over TLS/SSL or similarly secure protocols.” He also reminded AV pros to secure physical assets by locking down racks and system peripherals.

AV systems have several weak spots that designers and integrators need to address, the first of which is default credentials. “Most devices ship with login information that’s easily found through a quick web search or a glance at the manufacturer’s documentation,” Schirripa explained. This is why a unique login should be assigned to every device at the login stage without exception.

Outdated firmware is another problem. Schirripa observed that in some cases, it can be years before AV equipment is patched; remaining on top of manufacturer-recommended updates can go a long way in protecting systems. He added that control data should be encrypted to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks that could enable a malicious third party to take over a room.

“The fix on the integrator side is making automated firmware management and strict password policies a standard part of every commissioning checklist,” Schirripa said. “Where it makes sense, building in monitoring and early warning systems adds another layer of protection.”

Remote monitoring systems that provide alerts and notifications in real time can also expose the network to risk, noted Mike Stocklin, director of technology at Automation Arts and a member of the National Systems Contractors Association (NSCA) AI & Cybersecurity Committee. “Anything that goes on the network should be considered a cybersecurity threat," he warned, "[but] there are devices that are potentially more harmful, such as devices that talk consistently in and out of the network."

The Legal Stuff

If a client is breached, and there’s a chance AV technology had something to do with it, the integrator could potentially be found liable. Because of this, it’s wise to include a clause in the contract that limits liability.

Blair Dawson, member in the data privacy and cybersecurity practice at McDonald Hopkins, said liability could be defined as a month or two worth of fees, complimentary services for a specified period, or even a maximum monetary payout. “Starting with the contract is the best way to mitigate what that overall exposure could be if there was an incident,” Dawson said, “or if your client thinks that you’re part of an incident.”

The contract should also spell out who is responsible for what post deployment, according to Clay Swanson, risk management advisor at True North Companies, an insurance broker that works with the NSCA. “If it’s silent on who owns security for the devices after installation, then you’re going to have plaintiff’s attorneys who are going to argue that the integrator has that implied duty and is somehow negligent or responsible,” he said. Swanson added that cyber liability and technology errors and omissions insurance can provide integrators with some protection if they are, or could be, found responsible.

For firms that provide ongoing services, such as firmware or software updates and patching, Dawson counsels keeping a detailed record of when these tasks were completed, as this can be valuable if an integrator is faced with a lawsuit. “One example is an MSP that says, ‘I know I did patches on Tuesday because of Microsoft Patch Tuesday,’ but they don’t have the records,” Dawson illustrated. “Litigators and regulators don’t take too kindly [when you] make it up after the fact. Take that extra step to document things so you can prove that you’re doing everything that you can within reason to keep your environment secure.”

When a client opts out of following the AV integrator’s cybersecurity recommendations, Dawson suggests having them sign a waiver stating that they are aware of the risk of doing so and will hold themselves accountable in the event of a breach.

Responding to a Breach

The integrator’s role in incident response centers on containment and forensics, Schirripa explained. When a client is breached, the first task is to isolate the AV network. “Airgap the AV VLAN from the rest of the corporate network right away to stop anything from spreading,” Schirripa said.

Next, the integrator should examine the logs from the control processor and the DSP to learn where and when the system was accessed without authorization. “Then, perform a full credential reset for every password and certificate across all networked AV hardware,” Schirripa advised.

After ensuring things are back under control, it’s important to document where the attacker got into the system and what processes need to change. Armed with this information, AV integrators and their clients can improve their incident response protocols. “Understanding how an attack happened is the first step in making sure it doesn’t happen again, and ensuring every employee knows what to watch for can go a long way toward preventing the same situation from arising elsewhere,” Schirripa said.

Some technology providers are reticent to share information with clients that fall victim to a breach. Dawson said this is not good practice.

“One of the things that’s really important is to be as cooperative as possible with any investigation,” she said. In not being transparent with a client—and their insurance provider or third-party forensic investigator—the integrator may be increasing the client’s losses. “That’s not going to help with the relationship.”

While national and global enterprise clients tend to prioritize cybersecurity, there remains a significant number of organizations that need to practice stronger security hygiene, Stocklin observed.

“We [haven’t had] a lot of issues from the AV side of the world, but I think the potential is there and we need to be fully aware of that,” Stocklin said. “We need to focus on this, because the more and more we utilize things like AI, the more bad actors there are that can use that same technology to get into our systems.”

Cybersecurity for All

Based in Orlando, FL, Cyber Mettle is a nonprofit focused on developing cybersecurity talent and making cybersecurity services accessible to small to mid-sized businesses. Alyson Laderman, executive director and co-author (with Jason Dion) of AI Security Essentials: Strategies for Securing Artificial Intelligence Systems with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, said the organization is responding to a key problem: When companies recruit talent, they mandate at least three years of on-the-job experience, making it extremely difficult for entry-level candidates to break into the industry.

"There is no way to get to mid or high level if we don’t train the entry level,” Laderman explained. “It’s just a matter of developing those pathways, guidelines, supervision, and willingness to actually invest in [new talent], but also in building your own business.”

This is increasingly important as AI is simultaneously the cybersecurity practitioner’s friend and enemy. New talent needs to know how to navigate this continually evolving landscape successfully. “The more we get into tech, the more we need to appreciate the human factor,” Laderman said. “How do we work with AI in a way that we understand what it can do, what it shouldn’t do, and what the problems could be in using it?”

GPA and FORTÉ have agreed to conclude their current partnership, effective Dec. 31, to pursue their respective strategic priorities and growth initiatives.

Since 2020, the relationship between GPA and FORTÉ has contributed to the successful delivery of AV projects and programs designed to enhance communication and collaboration for customers worldwide. As both businesses continue to evolve, GPA and FORTÉ have agreed their future strategies are best advanced independently. The decision reflects the natural progression of two successful organizations pursuing distinct opportunities for growth while remaining committed to the values and relationships developed through their partnership.

"FORTÉ's long-term growth strategy includes expanding our own global presence to support customers wherever they operate," Jeff Stoebner, chairman and CEO of FORTÉ, told SCN. "As we continue to grow our operations in Europe both organically and through acquisitions, we’ll carefully look at other regions of the world for expansion. Our aim is to build a consistent, scalable model that delivers the same high-quality experience our enterprise customers expect.

"Our platform will continue to rely on great partnerships in those regions where there is a mutual focus to provide global customers speed, predictability, and transparency. We're grateful for our partnership with GPA and remain committed to ensuring a seamless transition for customers as both organizations pursue their respective strategic priorities."

The transition will be managed collaboratively and professionally, with both organizations working to ensure a seamless experience for customers and partners. Existing projects, active engagements, and customer commitments will continue to be supported through agreed transition arrangements, with a focus on maintaining the high standards of service, collaboration, and delivery.

GPA will continue to focus on supporting global customers through its extensive network of Regional Business Units and strategic partners, while FORTÉ will continue to pursue its vision and growth objectives.

What you missed:

• Bose Professional acquired Fulcrum Acoustic and Live Media Group acquires Gravity Media's U.S. mobile production assets.
• Nine key appointments were made at Analog Way, Pro Audio Design/Theory Professional, Diversified, VTG, KMH Integration, and QuickLink.
• Electronics veteran Don Ambrose retired, LEA Professional expands, and AtlasIED prepares you for flight.

Last week was a very busy one, as seven key appointments were made across the industry, ranging from CEOs to architects. Of course, the big news of the previous week came from two audio powerhouses merging.

Bose Professional acquired Fulcrum Acoustic, the Massachusetts-based manufacturer of high-performance loudspeakers, amplifiers, and immersive audio systems. Fulcrum will continue operating under its own brand, with its products, customer support, service and partner relationships remaining unchanged. This marks Bose Professional's first acquisition since becoming an independent company following Transom Capital Group's purchase of the business in 2023. You can get more of the details in our full article here.

In other acquisition news last week, Live Media Group acquired Gravity Media's U.S. mobile production assets, adding eight mobile production units—including three premium production trucks with existing major broadcast contracts—to its expanding nationwide fleet. The transaction also includes the addition of engineering and technical staff, further strengthening Live Media Group's production expertise across the country. As part of the agreement, Live Media Group and Gravity Media have also established a strategic partnership that will allow the companies to collaborate on projects requiring both mobile production facilities and services. While Live Media Group assumes ownership and operation of Gravity Media's U.S. based Outside Broadcast (OB) truck fleet, Gravity Media will continue to support projects through its internationally recognized RF technology and other services, creating a comprehensive solution for clients operating throughout the United States.

Now, sit back, and get caught up on the week that was in your Monday edition of Pro AV Newsmakers.

People News

Andy Towers Named New Analog Way Western Regional Sales Manager

Analog Way has added Andy Towers as Western regional sales manager. Towers is a recognized video wall and processing expert with more than 15 years of business development and global sales strategies experience.

Towers joins the company with vast experience in image processing and dvLED technology, further bolstering Analog Way’s expertise in the market. Prior to coming on board, he spent three years as sales-senior applications specialist at Christie Digital Systems. Earlier, Towers served in Western regional sales management at Delta Electronics and Jupiter Systems and as an account manager at AVDG.

Don Ambrose Retires from Arlington

Arlington Industries' Don Ambrose officially retired on Sept. 1, after serving as director of sales and marketing since 2023. Ambrose joined Arlington as its Southern regional manager in March of 2005. He was promoted to national sales manager in 2012 succeeding Ray Kennedy.

Ambrose leaves Arlington after a 47-year career in the electrical industry that also included roles at Westinghouse Electric Supply Co., Ideal Industries, Firex, and Johns Manville. He began his career in the electrical industry in 1979, upon graduating from The University of Texas at Austin. After years in electrical distribution, he secured a position on the supplier side of the business, where he rose through the ranks to National Sales and Marketing roles at four separate companies.

Ambrose has served in a voluntary capacity under three different presidents of the National Electrical Manufacturer’s Representative Association (NEMRA). He was also the recipient of the NEMRA’s Excellence in Regional Sales Management Award at their Chicago conference in 2013.

AtlasIED Welcomes New Eastern Regional Sales Manager, Transportation

AtlasIED, a recognized leader in the commercial audio and security industries, today announces the appointment of Ethan Janzen as Eastern Regional Sales Manager, Transportation. In his role, Janzen will lead AtlasIED’s transportation sales in the Eastern United States, enhancing the company’s presence in the region.

Janzen joins AtlasIED with 16 years of experience driving revenue growth across the commercial audiovisual (AV) industry. Having worked with top companies for nearly two decades, Janzen brings incredibly strong industry connections that will be key to supporting AtlasIED’s transportation footprint. Janzen specializes in channel enablement & scaling, market share & competitive displacement, and possesses strong multi-vertical experience, which will be critical in reinforcing AtlasIED’s presence in airports, rail, bus, and other transit verticals.

Diversified Appoints Pete Emminger as Global Chief Technology Officer

Diversified appointed Pete Emminger as global chief technology officer. Emminger is leading the company’s global go-to-market technology strategy, helping clients anticipate market shifts, strengthen technical capabilities, and navigate an increasingly connected technology landscape. He is working across Diversified’s business to connect emerging technologies with practical client needs, while helping shape the company’s technical direction, strategic partnerships, and future solutions.

Emminger brings more than two decades of experience leading technology strategy, product development, and transformation across media, entertainment, live production, and sports.

Most recently, he served as global chief technology officer at NEP Group, where he led the evolution of the company’s service and product offerings, including the development of new software products. His work included aligning technology investments with business priorities, increasing development velocity and focusing resources on solutions with the greatest potential to support customers and long-term growth.

Robert Weisenfeld joins G&T as Director, Broadcast & Media

Gardiner & Theobald (G&T) has added Robert Weisenfeld as director, broadcast and media, strengthening the firm's technical services capabilities for clients operating live-feed and broadcast environments.

Weisenfeld brings more than two decades of broadcast operations and engineering experience, including senior technical management roles with the Associated Press and NEP Group, where he has led live production infrastructure for major sports, news, and entertainment broadcasts. His addition reflects G&T's continued investment in specialized technical expertise to support clients across studio builds, broadcast facility moves, and live-production environments—from traditional broadcasters to corporate headquarters, auction houses, and production studios that depend on live-feed infrastructure.

KMH Adds In-House Architecture

KMH Integration is expanding its ability to serve media, broadcast, and IT organizations by adding Keith Hanadel, an accomplished architect with decades of industry experience, to its team. The addition of in-house architectural design and team leadership to KMH’s total project management platform reinforces the company’s position as a systems integrator with the planning, technology, design, engineering, and execution expertise needed to bring projects of any scope from “concept to completion.”

At KMH Integration, Hanadel is using his 30-plus years of experience planning and designing facilities for media and broadcast organizations worldwide, including CBS, Disney, Univision, NBCUniversal, MLB Network, YouTube, PGA Tour, and Netflix. Prior to joining KMH, he was Northeast region practice lead for media at Gensler. His career also includes 23 years at HLW International, leading the firm’s national Media and Entertainment practice.

Pro Audio Technology and Theory Audio Design Appoint Rafael A. Nevares as President

Pro Audio Technology and Theory Audio Design have appointed growth-oriented leader Rafael A. Nevares as president. Bringing more than 35 years of executive experience to the dual role, he is focused on spearheading the next chapter of growth for both companies, focusing on market-driven brand strategies, cross-functional team alignment, and customer-centric scaling.

An audio/video industry veteran, Nevares has built a reputation for leading organizations from early-stage concept to successful execution. He has held high-level executive and BoD positions for several prestigious premium audio brands, including AudioQuest, Audio Research Corporation, MartinLogan, and Gold Peak’s Kinergetics Holdings (Celestion and KEF).

QuickLink Expands North American Team

QuickLink welcomed Kane Peterson to its North American team as pre‑sales, customer success, and product development engineer. In this newly expanded role, Peterson supports customers across the region with workflow consultation, pre‑sales guidance, onboarding, and product development insights.

Peterson brings more than 34 years of broadcast industry experience, with a career defined by deep technical expertise and a strong commitment to customer success. Throughout his decades in the field, he has worked closely with broadcasters, production teams and technology partners to design workflows, guide complex projects and deliver solutions that elevate content creation and live production.

Virtual Technologies Group Appoints Kevin Farnham as CEO

Virtual Technologies Group (VTG) has appointed Kevin Farnham as chief executive officer. Farnham oversees VTG’s strategic vision and work with the firm’s executive team to lead its long-term growth strategy.

Farnham has been a board member for VTG since 2024 and has actively advised on key operational and value creation initiatives over the last two years prior to this appointment. As CEO, he leverages his operational expertise to bring together the scale, breadth and technical capabilities of VTG’s business offerings to reach an even greater number of prospective clients and help the firm achieve its next phase of growth. Nick Jean-Baptiste, managing partner at Jacmel and former VTG CEO, has assumed the role of Board Chairman.

Farnham joined VTG with more than 25 years of executive leadership experience, playing pivotal roles in scaling operations and driving sustained revenue growth across enterprise technology, cloud, IT, technical staffing, managed security services, and managed infrastructure solutions businesses. Before joining VTG, he was a senior operating executive with Abry Partners, where he successfully collaborated and partnered with management teams to enhance portfolio performance.

Company News

AtlasIED Is Ready for Takeoff: Solutions Installed in 80% of J.D. Power’s Top 30 Airports

As North America's busiest airports continue to raise the bar for the passenger experience, clear, reliable communication has become an essential part of that equation. In the latest J.D. Power North America Airport Satisfaction Study, 24 of the highest-rated airports rely on AtlasIED's public address and life safety communication technologies, underscoring the company's role in supporting seamless passenger communications across some of the continent's top airports. The study measured passenger satisfaction across mega, large, and medium airports using feedback from more than 30,000 travelers in the United States and Canada.

Of the 30 airports recognized in the report, AtlasIED communication systems are installed in all 10 top mega airports, six of the top 10 large airports, and eight of the top 10 medium airports. AtlasIED's transportation portfolio enables airports to provide consistent communication across terminals while meeting the operational needs of facilities of all sizes. As airports invest in modernization initiatives to enhance operational efficiency and the passenger experience, intelligent communication systems are essential components of next-generation airport infrastructure.

LEA Professional Partners with Audium

LEA Professional has partnered with Audium, an AV distributor based in the capital of Portugal. This partnership will bring LEA Professional’s extensive technology catalog to customers throughout Portugal.

With over 40 years of experience in the professional audio industry, the Audium team is perfectly positioned to expand LEA’s presence in Europe. Through this partnership, Audium will represent LEA Professional’s Network Connect series of professional amplifiers and companion Dante Connect series featuring Dante and AES67 connectivity.

LA Dodgers Team up with LG on Stadium Tech and Fan Experience

LG Electronics USA has been named a partner of the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers under a new multi-million-dollar, three-year marketing and technology partnership that combines display innovations with one of Major League Baseball's most iconic franchises.

The partnership establishes LG as a Dodgers marketing partner throughout the club's 81 regular-season home games as well as home postseason games. Fans will experience LG through in-game branding, digital and social media integrations, and interactive brand activations. LG also plans to partner with the Los Angeles Dodgers on community-impact initiatives benefitting residents throughout Southern California (details to be announced later).

The agreement builds upon LG's collaboration with ANC to enhance the fan experience at Dodger Stadium through advanced dv LED display technology. As part of the stadium's latest digital transformation, LG commercial display solutions power key visual experiences throughout the ballpark, including 771 feet of high-impact LED ribbon boards encircling the historic stadium and delivering dynamic game information, statistics, entertainment content and sponsor messaging.

What to know:

• Acquisition expands Bose Professional’s performance audio portfolio while preserving the Fulcrum brand, team, and Massachusetts manufacturing operations.
• This marks Bose Professional's first acquisition since becoming an independent company following Transom Capital Group's purchase of the business in 2023.
• Fulcrum Acoustic continues under its own brand—with no change to the products and day-to-day operations. Product lines, specification resources, support, and channel relationships remain in place, and design and manufacturing continue in Whitinsville.

Get the Details of the Bose Professional Acquisition

Bose Professional has acquired Fulcrum Acoustic, the Massachusetts-based manufacturer of high-performance loudspeakers, amplifiers, and immersive audio systems. Fulcrum will continue operating under its own brand, with its products, customer support, service and partner relationships remaining unchanged. This marks Bose Professional's first acquisition since becoming an independent company following Transom Capital Group's purchase of the business in 2023.

[5 Strategic Hires You Should Know in This Week's Pro AV Newsmakers]

The acquisition combines Bose Professional’s scale, resources and distribution network with the Fulcrum brand, creating opportunities to extend its reach into new markets worldwide. Fulcrum adds nearly two decades of expertise in performance audio, including immersive audio and active acoustics, while broadening Bose Professional’s portfolio of solutions for performance and commercial environments.

“We’ve admired Fulcrum for years—not just for its exceptional products, but for the way its team supports customers,” said John Maier, chief executive officer of Bose Professional. “The company has built one of the industry’s strongest reputations through world-class engineering and an unwavering commitment to the people it serves. Our goal is to preserve what makes Fulcrum unique while providing the resources and global reach to help accelerate growth and bring its innovations to even more customers around the world.”

Founded in 2008 by Stephen Siegel, Dave Gunness, and Chris Alfiero, Fulcrum Acoustic builds loudspeakers around a distinctive engineering philosophy: treat digital signal processing as a core design ingredient from the start. That approach runs through a catalog of roughly 130 products—coaxial point-source designs, patented Passive Cardioid Technology, and the company’s TQ processing.

Fulcrum Acoustic continues under its own brand—with no change to the products and day-to-day operations. Product lines, specification resources, support, and channel relationships remain in place, and design and manufacturing continue in Whitinsville.

“From our first conversations, it was clear Bose Professional understood what makes Fulcrum distinctive and why our approach resonates with customers,” said Stephen Siegel, co-founder and president of Fulcrum. “Our customers choose Fulcrum for the engineering, the craftsmanship and the way we stand behind our work—and none of that changes. With Bose Professional’s global reach and support, we can bring our work to more customers around the world at a much faster pace than we could on our own.”

As previously announced here on SCN, Bose Professional will begin transitioning to the 802 LABS brand in February 2027. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Bose Professional. Third Side Capital served as financial advisor to Fulcrum, and Mirick served as legal counsel.

The AV Sales Index (AVI-S) for June jumped from 53.1 to 60.4. For June, 37% of respondents outside of North America reported increase in sales, while only 19% did so in May. This accounts for the large increase in the overall AVI-S. Live events and data centers remain strong, keeping the industry in a growth phase even with the uncertain economy.

The strongest negative factor affecting sales has been ongoing tariff pressure on AV hardware and components. The industry is reporting higher costs for displays, cameras, lighting, and computing products, causing some organizations to delay purchases or reconsider project scope.

“Still seeing a big slump in corporate AV and hospitality. Data center business is still booming,” shared an AV integrator in North America.

The June AV Employment Index (AVI-E) dropped two points to 51.4. Some respondents say they are under budget constraints that restrict new hiring or even loss of staff that positions will not be refilled.

The United States added only 57,000 non-farm jobs in June, below expectations and down from a revised 129,000 in May. Job gains continued in professional and business services, social assistance, and health care, while leisure and hospitality lost jobs.

The Pro AV Business Index report is derived from a monthly survey of the AVIXA Insights Community, a research community of industry members that tracks business trends in commercial AV. The report comprises two diffusion indexes: the AV Sales Index (AVI-S) and the AV Employment Index (AVI-E). In each case, an index above 50 indicates an increase in sales or employment activity.

Visit www.avixa.org/AVindex to access the free monthly Pro-AV Business Index reports and learn more about the methodology. For more information about joining the AVIXA Insights Community, visit www.avixa.org/AVIP.

What to know:

• M&W Pro Audio, PCD, Planar, and USSI Global made personnel moves.
• Williams AV, Avocor, and others announced new partnership.
• The first-ever SCN Top Consultants guide dropped.

It was another busy week in Pro AV, but there was some big news right here at SCN. Not to toot our own horn, but this week launches the first-ever SCN Top Consultants 2026 list. This was a massive undertaking between the SCN team and Sean Wargo and Lee Dodson at Apogee Insight to bring you a list of more than three dozen specialists influencing Pro AV project specifications. We encourage you to take a look here.

[Nominations Open for Best in Market Pro AV 2026]

Now, on with the show.

People News

M&W Pro Audio Appoints Jay Schlabs as Chief Revenue Officer

M&W Pro Audio has appointed Jay Schlabs as chief revenue 0fficer. Schlabs brings more than two decades of leadership experience in professional audio, global sales strategy, channel development, and consumer products to the company as it prepares for the launch of its first generation of products.

Schlabs began his career in professional audio at Mackie Designs, where he served as national sales manager. He later joined inMusic Brands as executive director of sales, where he spent thirteen years leading global sales and marketing efforts across multiple professional audio brands. Most recently, Schlabs served as senior director of e-commerce at PetSafe Brands, where he spent nine years leading the company's e-commerce strategy and digital growth initiatives.

PCD Strengthens Engineering and Sales Teams

PCD added a pair of industry professionals to its growing team. Flynn Kelly, CTS, has joined as senior design engineer, while Rick Shaffer joined as design sales consultant serving the Greater Sacramento and Northern California region.

With more than 30 years of experience in audiovisual systems design, engineering and project delivery, Kelly brings extensive expertise designing enterprise-scale media networks and unified communications environments for corporate, education and commercial clients.

Prior to joining PCD, Shaffer served as a workplace life safety specialist at Accenture, where he managed access control initiatives, security operations and complex systems implementations while supporting the organization's North American ISO 27001 information security certification efforts. Earlier in his career, he led facilities and technology teams supporting large houses of worship, overseeing modern AV systems that included live production, streaming and lighting environments.

Planar Welcomed Will Lundy as Regional Account Manager for Southeast United States

Will Lundy has joined Planar as regional account manager for Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Based in Nashville, he is responsible for driving sales and supporting reseller partners and customers throughout the region.

Lundy has built a strong foundation in technical expertise, customer support, and sales through prior roles at Planar as an installation technician and sales development representative. His hands-on industry experience, Pro AV knowledge, and customer-focused approach make him a valuable resource for Planar partners and customers throughout the region.

USSI Global Promotes Abed Zein to Executive Leadership Role

USSI Global promoted Abed Zein to VP of revenue operations. In his new executive role, Zein leads initiatives focused on enhancing billing accuracy, delivering an exceptional customer experience, improving operational efficiency, and developing scalable processes that support USSI Global's continued growth strategy.

A member of the USSI Global team since 1995, Zein most recently served as senior director of operations, digital signage solutions. During his three decades with the company, he has led major customer programs spanning satellite communications, digital signage deployments, and managed services while building a reputation for operational excellence, customer satisfaction, and disciplined financial management.

Zein now oversee a growing team responsible for supporting billing accuracy, contract compliance, process automation and operational consistency across multiple business units. The centralized approach adds another layer of quality assurance to ensure projects are invoiced according to each customer's contractual requirements while improving efficiency for project management teams.

Partnerships

Avocor and NowSignage Announce New Strategic U.K. Partnership

Avocor announced a new strategic partnership with NowSignage, a cloud-based digital signage CMS provider. The initial focus for the partnership will be on the U.K. market, targeting sectors in which both brands operate, including education, enterprise, and retail.

NowSignage software is compatible with the newly launched Avocor B-Series and represents Avocor’s entry into the business and commercial digital signage display market. The collaboration also brings together two brands with strong roots in the U.K., the region that served as the founding market for Avocor a decade ago.

Alongside retail, as well as business signage and wayfinding in the enterprise sector, a key application for the partnership will be the growing need for campus-wide communication, lecture hall signage, and student information displays across U.K. higher education.

Avocor and NowSignage are also jointly committing to a commercial strategy that will combine resources and support sales channels, distributors, and integrators. Furthermore, the NowSignage software application can be loaded directly onto the Avocor B-Series with immediate effect.

Williams AV Expands Distribution in South Africa

Williams AV announced South African audiovisual distributor Audiosure as its newest international partner. By teaming up with Audiosure, Williams AV ensures that local systems integrators throughout South Africa have the expertise and support needed to deploy modern assistive listening technologies successfully.

"South Africa is an exciting market with 12 official languages and growing awareness around hearing accessibility, creating meaningful opportunities to improve inclusion in public spaces," said Per Persson, VP of international sales and product management at Williams AV. "Audiosure has a strong reputation in the AV industry and brings valuable local expertise and technical knowledge to this partnership. We're excited to work together to help venues across South Africa and neighboring countries deliver more accessible and inclusive audio experiences."

Company News

Chyron Introduces Virtual Placement 8.1

Chyron released Virtual Placement 8.1, the latest update in its live sports virtual graphics platform. Built to help broadcasters operate with greater confidence under live conditions, Virtual Placement 8.1 introduces workflow and graphics enhancements that make production more flexible, reliable, and efficient. The release focuses on smarter live workflows, stronger downstream reliability, broader line tracking stabilization, and a more integrated PRIME graphics experience within the platform.

With this release, operators gain greater control over chroma keying during live play, a new program-to-isolated camera comparison workflow for lower-latency calibrated feeds, expanded line tracking stabilization across more sports and venues, and smoother access to advanced PRIME graphics tools directly within Virtual Placement. Together, these updates help customers adapt faster on air, maintain cleaner and more stable virtual graphics, and streamline live production workflows.

LG Offers New B2B Financing Service

LG Electronics USA launched the LG Financing Referral Service, a new program designed to connect businesses with participating financial institutions that offer financing and leasing options for eligible LG commercial display solutions. This new B2B service aims to help organizations deploy display technology while managing their capital budgets through flexible payment structures.

Designed to provide commercial display customers with enhanced investment flexibility and access to new financing sources, the LG Financing Referral Service reduces upfront capital requirements and offers financing structures that align with operational and budgeting needs. The program supports projects across hospitality, retail, corporate workplaces and other commercial environments seeking to modernize customer and employee experiences through digital display technology.

The LG Financing Referral Service supports eligible commercial display deployments through participating financing providers and resellers. Program features include flexible financing models, predictable monthly payments, support for eligible LG solutions, integrated support and services, lease-end flexibility, and a third-party financing model.

Violet Audio Expands dMix 128 with Integrated MCP Server

Violet Audio has added a built-in Model Context Protocol (MCP) server to its dMix 128 Digital Mixer platform, further expanding the system’s ability to integrate with software applications, control systems, automation platforms, and emerging AI-assisted workflows.

Running directly within the mixer, the MCP server complements the dMix 128’s browser-based control architecture, OSC server, QRC/JSON control framework, AES67 networking, SMPTE ST 2110-30 support, and NMOS integration, creating a highly connected platform for modern audio environments.

AV in the cloud is almost as commonplace as PB&J, or more appropriately, if you’re from New England, a Fluffernutter (peanut butter and a cloud-like layer of marshmallow Fluff).

The cloud holds the promise of scalability and flexibility. Remote configuration, deployment, management, monitoring, predictive maintenance, and troubleshooting make it an almost no-brainer. Whether cloud-based or not, networked AV has always required extra layers of security. We reached out to AV/IT industry thought leaders to share insights and trends on AV in the cloud. Below are excerpts from some of the interviews. Check out the full interviews from these and many others in the links in the sidebar.

Mohammad Al-Taraireh, director of Product Management at Shure, said, “The shift to cloud-connected AV reflects a broader reality: IT teams are being asked to deliver consistent experiences at scale while keeping systems secure, supportable, and measurable over time.” He added, “However, cloud connectivity raises important precautions. Organizations should evaluate security and governance first, including role-based administration; authentication alignment with IT identity practices; and clear policies for device onboarding, updates, and access control.

“Ultimately, cloud in AV is less about convenience and more about operational maturity,” said John Kruse, senior field solutions architect at ViewSonic. “Organizations that approach it strategically—balancing scalability with security—will be better positioned to manage growing AV ecosystems with confidence.” Cloud also enables better data-driven decisions. “Usage analytics, system health metrics, and performance trends give organizations insight into how spaces are actually being used—informing future investments and helping justify budgets with real data,” Kruse added.

Daniel Renne, director of Emerging Technologies and Projects at Hall Technologies, agreed. “Once data context exists at scale, organizations can apply AI and advanced analytics to uncover trends that were previously invisible. Cloud intelligence also creates opportunities for predictive maintenance, energy efficiency, and more personalized user experiences across enterprise environments.”

Cloud-based AV is also reshaping how organizations produce, manage, and distribute video content. “Companies now expect executive town halls, virtual events, and internal communications to deliver the same polished experience audiences see in professional broadcasts,” said Jonathan Gryckiewicz, business development director of Cloud Solutions at Ross Video. “Cloud-enabled workflows help organizations achieve this by supporting remote production, centralized control, and scalable collaboration across teams and locations.”

This transition to the cloud comes with important considerations. “As AV systems become true network endpoints, they inherit IT-level requirements for security and compliance,” said Jakub Kolacz, manager of Product Management Software at Sennheiser. “Network stability is critical, and without it, the benefits of cloud management diminish. There is also a need for closer alignment between AV and IT teams, as shared ownership of systems can create complexities if responsibilities and workflows are not clearly defined.”

Adam Sowers, senior manager of Business Development at Sony Electronics, said, “As organizations move away from on-prem hardware, AV-as-a-Service (AVaaS) has become a practical, forward-looking model—one that delivers value today while remaining flexible for what’s next.”

“Ultimately, the holy grail of AV management is within reach: providing organizations unprecedented control over their entire AV infrastructure at every stage,” added Joe Andrulis, executive vice president of Corporate Development at Biamp. “Whether operating in the cloud, on-premise, or through hybrid architectures, today’s comprehensive platforms enable seamless oversight from initial design and deployment through ongoing optimization and support to product end of life.”

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Zec Voislavm, Director of Product Development at WyreStorm Technologies

Let’s be honest: For a long time, the cloud just sounded like more work for AV teams. It meant more security hoops to jump through and more things for the IT department to say "no" to. But the industry is shifting for a very blunt reason: The old way of managing hardware is killing our margins and our schedules.

For integrators, the cloud is a pivot from reactive firefighting to actual profit. We’ve all been there—sending a tech across town at rush hour just to power-cycle a box or toggle a setting. It’s a waste of talent and gas. With a cloud-based dashboard, you’re seeing the "check engine" light before the client even walks into the room. You can push firmware at 2 a.m. from your couch instead of 2 p.m. in a boardroom. It turns a frantic service call into a quiet, remote fix, keeping your best techs focused on new builds rather than truck rolls for minor glitches.

For operators, it’s about the Monday morning panic. When you’re managing 50 rooms across three floors or three time zones, visibility is everything. Cloud tools mean you aren't walking the halls testing mics manually. Instead, you know the status of every codec and display before the first meeting starts.

Of course, this isn't a shortcut. If you don't bake in security and network policy from day one, then you’re just building a bigger headache. But when done right, the cloud doesn't replace the expertise of a solid AV pro; it just stops them from wasting time on the boring stuff so they can focus on what actually matters: making sure the tech just works.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Amber Ward, Senior Marketing Director at Carousel Digital Signage

Cloud-based digital signage has transformed how organizations design and scale their signage networks. By connecting media players to cloud-hosted servers, organizations avoid complex inbound configurations, resulting in a much cleaner security and network landscape than in the on-premise era. The flexibility of cloud architecture allows seamless scaling across buildings, geographies, and device types—all without the need to rebuild the system each time. Content is no longer tied to dedicated displays: The same messaging can now reach web browsers, tablets, and mobile devices, which is crucial when audiences are spread across retail floors, campuses, or remote workforces.

For IT teams evaluating platforms, SOC 2 compliance should be on the short list of non-negotiables. It signals that a vendor has independently audited controls for data security and availability, and its absence is a serious network concern for any system that touches enterprise infrastructure.

One of the biggest pain points among IT professionals is that ownership of a cloud-based digital signage system can get murky. The team responsible for securing the system is not the same as the team managing its content. Before deployment, end users should establish clear roles and workflows for content creation, approval, and placement. This ensures accountability and prevents confusion about responsibilities.

Mixed-device environments are the norm. Media players, smart displays, mobile devices, and embedded hardware coexist on the same network. Finding digital signage software that works across that variety is essential, and one that integrates with your device management systems—not works outside them.

Every year, the Pro AV industry eagerly awaits the SCN Top 50 Systems Integrators. The reason isn’t necessarily because the ranking contains a bullet-proof gauge of the size of the channel. Instead, it serves as a testimonial of sorts to the contribution that integrators are making to the industry, as well as a moment of accolade for the work done by the companies that are willing to submit their information, albeit in a self-reported fashion.

[Download the List]

Of course, there is a data element as well, with a signal around the size of companies and their growth, which is helpful input for understanding the business. However, what the SCN Top 50 doesn't cover is another part of the AV value chain that provides assistance to the customer before the actual work of the integrator begins: the AV design consultant.

There are certainly many integration firms, both large and small, that serve as design-build firms, similar to the construction industry. But there are also many specialists that serve as an upstream influencer of the exact specifications of a given installation project.

Those specialists sit at the intersection of the art vs. science of Pro AV and are often at the cutting edge of technology as they build out use cases for the latest and greatest. This means they have real impact on what ultimately gets sold and installed in end user facilities and spaces—to the tune of billions of dollars in value.

We can see from the SCN Top 50 how large the top firms are in that segment, but just how much impact are AV design consultants having? One intuitively knows that it's significant but not with any real specificity. Enter this new feature, the SCN Top AV Consultants.

Research and Community

To help build out this article, Future, the parent company behind SCN, reached out to Apogee Insight, a research company I established with Lee Dodson, a fellow Pro AV industry veteran. Our role was to design a data collection effort, with input from AV design consultants themselves. This led to the formation of a working committee to guide the creation of the collection vehicle, along with its underlying metrics.

The trickiest part was to formulate a way of gauging both the diversity of services offered by the consultants and their impact to product selection. The results are visible here.

In terms of the specific methodology, Apogee Insight developed a questionnaire with the input from the AV design consultants on the committee. This questionnaire was programmed and hosted by Veridata Insights. Respondents were asked to complete the profile via a link that was shared to Future's B2B database of subscribers and via social media. The intent was to open the funnel of responses to any firm that might qualify, knowing that the actual responses themselves would be reviewed for qualification to the definition of an AV design consultant.

In short, that definition is fairly simple. To be qualified as a consultant for this list, the company must have staff allocated to consulting with clients on their AV-specific needs. This does leave some intentional gray areas, but respondents focused more on IT or acoustic engineering were excluded. More importantly, respondent companies cannot derive direct revenues from the sale of hardware.

From there, as the data will show, consultants can offer a wide variety of project types across a number of different vertical markets. We also included all geographic regions, though we expected responses to come mostly from North America.

Grain of Salt

In the spirit of transparency, several caveats are worthy of note. First and foremost, similar to the SCN Top 50, data was self-reported and may not be tracked in exactly the same way we expected. This means the respondent estimated to the best of their ability, with potential for inflation given a natural desire to position themselves well.

The good news is that the amount of inflation is likely similar from firm to firm, given the way in which game theory typically applies to this type of data. In other words, apply your desired discount rate accordingly, but also recognize that many of the responses are as honest a reflection of the data as is possible.

Perhaps more important than inflation, though, is the real difference between the amount of volume of impact and the quality of it. This study doesn't attempt to put a gauge around the quality of work done by any one of the companies listed. Certainly, growing into a large company means that organization has been successful at serving its particular set of customers well.

For some, this might mean the company emphasizes taking on a large number of projects and providing a lighter touch, thereby generating an apparently large impact. Others may take on fewer projects and report smaller numbers, but offer a deeper dive to deliver a highly engaging or artistic activation. This is why the SCN Top AV Consultants list is sorted alphabetically, not by value metric. In the end, the value metric serves more as an aggregated sense of contribution than as an individual company differentiator.

Fortunately, there is another way to segment the list of consultant respondents than just the value component. As you will see, each AV consultant offers an array of services to a variety of vertical markets across a host of different solution types. This diversity means that a potential customer would likely first look for relevance of competencies. And geographic presence will be important for those seeking consultants with more familiarity about local culture and preferences. Therein lies our real objective: to highlight the important differences these firms offer, as they have real impact on the resulting experiences delivered.

Analyzing Results

With all that context in place, let’s take a look at what the results actually show. In this first attempt, we are happy to report that a full 38 qualified AV design consulting companies provided sufficient data to support our publication of their profiles. More than 100 companies expressed interest; several started the survey but did not fully complete it, while others were disqualified due to being outside of the realm of AV-specific design.

In terms of the profiles of the respondents, while the largest number came from various major cities around the world, there are several examples of multinational firms or those hailing from specific countries, such as Italy, the Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong, and Brazil.

On average, the companies have representation in approximately four cities, with the highest represented in 13. Across those locations, the consultancies employ more than 700 people who spend at least 75% of their time providing AV-related consulting and design services. Only eight respondents said they subcontract some of their labor to other firms.

Similar to the staffing allocation, most of the survey participants said more than half of their revenues come from AV projects, with the average being 66%. This includes some firms who only have a small portion (less than 10%) of revenues derived from such projects, a reflection of the crossover nature of many consultancies who started in adjacent disciplines. An example here is Salas O’Brien, which has many arms of its engineering business as they service industrial facilities.

This diversity of approach comes through in the data relating to services offered. Although acoustic engineering is viewed as a completely separate competency and market, the most cited service offered was consulting around acoustics, followed by IT systems design and IT/structured cabling. This is a strong testament to the strong overlap between AV and IT these days, as AV technology has become a part of the IP network in many companies. Regardless, the first tended to be fairly focused in their offerings, with each offering an average of four.

The number of application areas covered is a much more varied matter and is likely a more potent selection criteria for a prospective customer. Here the companies cover an average of nine out of a total of 16 tested possibilities, as they seek to ensure broad relevancy.

As you might expect, given the types of AV projects that are commonplace these days, meeting rooms and conference spaces are the most widely served, with learning spaces and large auditoriums in the next two spots on the list. Beyond that is where companies get into entertainment spaces such as enclosed venues. The survey also asked for the respondent to also rank each of these application areas in terms of their contribution to revenues, which yielded the same relative order.

Thus far, all of the data offers a great overview of the types of consultancies that are serving the Pro AV space. But in the end, the question on many people’s minds is where we started: How much impact are these companies having on the selection of goods and services? The data shows quite a lot, even with the caveats provided earlier.

The 38 AV design and consultant firms represented here report specifying a total of $2.39 billion worth of AV systems and solutions in calendar year 2025. Not yet at the value of the total installations done by the SCN Top 50, but a compelling number nonetheless.

Which markets are being so influenced? Consistent with the application areas above, the largest percentage is from traditional corporate markets (finance, banking, and real estate) at around 19%, with higher education in second (18.2%), and performing arts/house of worship in third (9.8%).

This feature represents a beginning point in the study of consultants for the Pro AV channel. As noted here, the 38 pioneers in this study represent a significant level of influence on solution design decisions, as their own customers will likely attest. How a consultant is ultimately selected can only really be answered by a careful look at overall project requirements and how they match the experience and competency of the particular consultant firm and their designers. Perhaps as this list grows, more of the work done by this important segment can be highlighted to inspire others to seek its counsel when designing that next exceptional experience.

Download your copy of the August issue to review the SCN Top AV Consultants 2026.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Tom Lureman, Director of Engineering and Product Management at AtlasIED

End users across a wide range of industries are increasingly adopting cloud solutions, motivated by the benefits of improved business continuity and preventive maintenance. This shift enables companies to provide ongoing, immediate support rather than unique, one-time fixes that integration partners can charge a premium for. Instead of waiting for unpredictable issues to arise and dispatching technicians, cloud solutions enable end users to proactively manage systems remotely. This approach helps prevent downtime and ensures that systems are operating efficiently.

Remote software and firmware updates play a vital role in proactive AV management. They ensure that systems remain secure, compatible, and up to date, reducing the need for on-site maintenance and enabling faster deployment of new features and fixes.

From deployment to maintenance, the cloud delivers unparalleled value compared to traditional systems. As end users look to upgrade their AV systems, solutions like Atmosphere Cloud will become the norm. This platform facilitates monitoring, updating, and modifying hardware settings, greatly enhancing operational efficiency. AtlasIED is dedicated to leading this transformation by providing tools that are not only powerful but also user-friendly and supportive of the evolving AV landscape.

If your company launched a product or introduced new upgrades to an existing product in the last 12 months designed to improve the Pro AV landscape, the Best in Market Awards are an excellent way to gain recognition for your efforts.

The BiMs celebrate innovation, performance, and excellence in Pro AV. Presented by Future’s leading AV brands—AV Technology, Sound & Video Contractor, and Systems Contractor News— the BiMs are an opportunity for companies to start autumn in style by earning a Pro AV Best in Market accolade for 2026.

Deadline for entries is September 4, 2026. You can enter your product/solution into multiple categories (brands), but each nomination requires a separate entry fee. Click here to enter or for more information.

Winners will be promoted on your selected brand's website, publication, and newsletter as an official Best in Market award winner. Plus, all winners will receive a fully-licensed winner's badge for domestic and international promotion. All entrants—whether selected as a winner or not—will receive a nominee badge to promote their entry (provided at the point of submission).

Need more info? Click here for details and to start your entry process.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Nancy Knowlton, Chief Executive Officer at Nureva

The debate over whether on-prem systems or the cloud are better has been running for years. The advantages of the cloud—scalability, flexibility, and the ability to deploy and manage systems remotely—are well understood. For many organizations, these advantages enable faster innovation and lower the burden on internal IT teams.

And yet, hesitation around cloud-based solutions remains.

Concerns about security, cost predictability, data sovereignty, and simple loss of control often hold organizations back. These are not irrational fears, especially for those with regulatory requirements or long-lived infrastructure investments. But avoiding the cloud altogether can also come with risks: missed efficiencies, slower response to change, access to fewer leading-edge apps, and growing technical debt.

Rather than treating the decision as all-or-nothing, a more productive mindset is to explore how cloud solutions could work in practice.

One approach is to start with a small pilot project. Pick something low risk and noncritical, and use it to understand how deployment, management, security, and costs actually play out. A pilot project can turn assumptions into evidence.

It’s also worth involving people early. Survey staff who will use or support the system to understand their reactions and concerns. Talk with peers in other organizations about how the cloud is working for them. Ask what went well, what surprised them, and what they would do differently. Benefit from their experiences.

Vendors can play a role, too. Ask suppliers of cloud-based applications for trials and detailed explanations of how their solutions address security, reliability, and long-term cost concerns.

The key is to get started—to do something. Getting started, even in a small way, creates insight that no amount of debate can replace.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Chris Merrill, Director of Product Management and Engineering at Panasonic

When we talk about cloud in Pro AV, we're rarely talking about the same thing. For some, cloud means a software interface accessible from anywhere on the network; for others, it's a remote data center operated by an application vendor, independent processing on a hyperscaler like AWS or Azure, or a hybrid combining several of these. The term has become so elastic that it's almost meaningless without context—and that ambiguity creates real risk for AV managers making infrastructure decisions.

In practice, what we're seeing across the industry is that most professional AV operations keep the heavy lifting on-premises. The reasons for this are practical: data security, content ownership, and the unforgiving latency requirements of live production, where buffering simply isn't an option. Cloud becomes a tactical resource—something you burst into for surge capacity or to access a specific capability that a hyperscaler handles better than local infrastructure. This isn't a failure to adopt; it's a mature recognition that Pro AV workloads have structural constraints that differ from general enterprise IT.

That reality is exactly what shapes our approach at Panasonic. Our KAIROS live production platform is built around the assumption that environments are hybrid by nature and not by compromise—supporting operators who need to integrate content and media sources across multiple formats and infrastructures without being locked into a single deployment model. Our recent partnership with NEP Group, integrating NEP Platform's software orchestration with KAIROS, is a concrete example: enabling live event providers to deploy workflows that move fluidly between traditional and IP-based infrastructure based on what the production actually demands.

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 more than 30 years of experience driving growth and innovation.

[Register for the AV/IT Summit]

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," Malik 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.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Roberto Musso, Technical Director at NDI

As organizations continue adapting to hybrid operations and geographically distributed teams, cloud infrastructure is becoming an increasingly important part of modern AV workflows. However, the discussion is often more nuanced than simply moving everything into the cloud.

In many cases, the real value of cloud adoption is flexibility. Organizations can deploy resources more dynamically, support remote collaboration, simplify content distribution, and scale operations without being constrained by fixed physical infrastructure.

At the same time, not every workflow benefits equally from a cloud-first approach. In professional AV environments, operational requirements such as latency, reliability, synchronization, bandwidth availability, and overall system predictability remain extremely important. For this reason, many organizations are adopting hybrid models where cloud and on-premises infrastructures coexist depending on the specific application.

One of the biggest shifts happening across the industry is the move toward software-defined and IP-based infrastructures. Rather than building isolated hardware silos, organizations increasingly want workflows that can adapt over time, integrate different technologies, and operate across multiple locations without forcing a complete redesign of the infrastructure.

This is where technologies such as NDI are helping accelerate the transition. By using standard IP networking and software-driven workflows, organizations can build infrastructures that are significantly more flexible than traditional hardware-centric approaches, while still enabling operation across local, remote, and cloud-connected environments.

This is also changing the relationship between AV and IT teams. Media workflows are no longer isolated systems; they are becoming part of broader enterprise networks and operational strategies. As a result, interoperability, visibility, security, and network management are becoming central considerations for AV deployments.

Another important trend is the growing demand for open and flexible ecosystems. Organizations are increasingly reluctant to lock themselves into a single vendor, workflow model, or deployment architecture. Interoperability is no longer viewed as an optional feature, but as a fundamental requirement for long-term operational flexibility.

Ultimately, the future of AV will likely be defined less by fully centralized cloud models and more by intelligent hybrid infrastructures that combine local performance with the flexibility of distributed and cloud-connected environments.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Shannon Byrne, Vice President of Marketing at NETGEAR Enterpris

The professional AV industry is experiencing its most significant transformation in decades. The shift from hardware-centric, proprietary systems to cloud-managed, software-defined infrastructure is fundamentally changing how AV systems are designed, deployed, and operated—and the pace of that change is accelerating.

For AV and IT teams, the benefits are real and substantial. Remote management eliminates the need for most routine on-site visits. Centralized visibility across distributed installations turns proactive maintenance into standard practice. Auto-discovery and intelligent configuration compress commissioning timelines from days to hours. And the shift from capital expenditure to an operational expense model gives organizations greater financial flexibility, allowing them to scale capacity as needed rather than front-load infrastructure investments.

Perhaps most importantly, cloud-managed AV is finally closing the gap between AV and IT. IT teams gain the management consistency they expect from modern infrastructure, and AV professionals retain the specialized performance their applications demand.

But the opportunity comes with real risks. Cloud readiness is not automatic. Organizations must honestly assess whether their devices, networks, and internet bandwidth are prepared for cloud-dependent workflows, particularly with high-resolution video. Cloud storage costs can also surprise teams accustomed to the economics of local infrastructure. Security architecture requires deliberate design—not an afterthought.

The organizations navigating this transition most successfully treat it as both a technical and a business decision. They ask hard questions about readiness, total cost, and value rather than simply following industry momentum.

The future of AV is cloud-managed and software-defined: Getting there strategically is what separates the organizations that benefit most from those that struggle.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Aaron Rollins, Vice President of Product Management and Customer Experience at BrightSign

As AI creates possibilities for more customizable digital signage content, from personalized recommendations to real-time data overlays, the pressure grows for AV technology managers to oversee more endpoints and keep content running smoothly. Cloud platforms make these advanced deployments more manageable.

Running multiple screens from one cloud-based solution is the current baseline, but AI pushes it even further. Predictive alerts let AV managers detect playback issues before customers see a blank screen. Similarly, anomaly detection can identify when one digital signage player from a fleet of thousands drifts out of spec. Meanwhile, remote diagnostics can help resolve issues quickly without sending a repair technician onsite. This helps AV managers scale digital signage deployments at a lower operating cost and less manual work.

There are three major factors to consider that can help avoid operational concerns: open APIs, data ownership, and system security.

First, cloud platforms with published, documented APIs are critical. With visibility into how the system talks to itself, AV managers can audit it, integrate it, and transition off of it when needed. While branded as a security feature, closed APIs pose a lock-in risk.

Second, with digital signage players generating telemetry, content performance data, and audience engagement metrics, it’s critical to consider who owns the data and whether it can be exported.

And finally, SSO, certificate management, and role-based access ensure seamless, secure control for a well-managed fleet, minimizing liabilities. And cloud connectivity powered by a secure, reliable operating system ensures consistent performance and maximum uptime.

While AI has the potential to make digital signage deployments more engaging, they also grow increasingly complex. That’s where it’s critical to adopt a cloud platform with the control and visibility these activations will require.

In 2012, I wrote a four-minute children's film, My Garden Pals. The story concerned a female caterpillar (Katie), a child's hammer (Mark), and a child’s saw (Saly) that were left out in the garden to fend for themselves. I was able to get three of my students to record the character voiceovers, and I videotaped their performance in the hopes that a computer science major would be able to lip sync the animated characters and bring the story to life.

Unfortunately, while every student I approached liked the idea, none had the time to commit to animating the 2D (or preferably 3D) comedy. Not being able to find anyone to work on the project, I removed the assets from my hard drive, stored them on one of my backup drives, and stuck it in the closet. There it sat for 14 years.

Back in the Game

Fast forward to December 2025. I just completed an animation project where the boxes and bottles in a medicine cabinet come to life and try to save a tin of Rexall milk of magnesia tablets that had been left on the sink. I had intended to use stop motion animation, but I found it easier to complete the project using AI.

With that project successfully completed, I thought AI would be a great way to bring that old children's film over the finish line. Of course, the first challenge was to find where I put the footage. Eventually, I located the hard drive in a box and copied the video and audio of my former students speaking the lines. Although the audio was recorded in mono (left channel only), and I was able to use Abobe Premiere Pro to make a stereo version.

I had some familiarity with Grok (an AI assistant from xAI), having used it for The Great Rexall Rescue, and decided to use it to bring My Garden Pals to life. I typed in the description of the first character, Katie the Caterpillar. The information in the script said, “Katie was chewing on some grass in the small backyard. She's clearly a female caterpillar because she has a large bow on her one hair. Her eyes are too small for her face, and her mouth is overly large. Tiny, useless arms hang down at her side.”

With this information, I let Grok do its work and generate a still frame. After about 60 seconds, I had more than 50 different examples of what Grok thought my caterpillar should look like. I selected the one that I thought was best.

Watch What You Type

The next step was to type in Katie’s audio and have the animated character speak the words. This I got directly from the script. I would begin with typing, “Create a video having the caterpillar saying…” I made sure I selected the aspect ratio (16:9) and “Fun” or “Normal” for the style of video. After another 60 seconds, I had the caterpillar speaking the exact script.

Each video scenario/shot generated was limited to eight seconds in the free version. Free is no longer an option, as Grok now charges $30 per month, but videos can now be up to 12 seconds in 720p (or 30 seconds in 480p).

The AI-generated video and audio would add a little background music, the dialogue (spoken in a female voice), and end with a music stinger or some expression on the character's face. Several times I had to hit the “Redo” button because it would add bizarre things that I didn't really need.

Once I found what I wanted, I would select “Up Res” to make the footage 1,504x832 at 24p. I’m not sure how it arrived at those specific numbers, but I could use “Scale” under Effect Controls in Premiere to make it larger. At that point, I would download the file. I now had a completed file with video and audio.

Using the previous video just created, I would type in the next line of dialog that Katie the Caterpillar would say. All of Katie's lines in the script were done in one sitting. I found it easier to do all of Katie's shots first, followed by the shots of the other characters.

As I was just typing in the audio and what I wanted the character to do, I also wanted to add reaction shots. When Katie was talking, I may need a reaction shot from Mark the Hammer or Saly the Saw. Again, I would simply type in what I envisioned the other character doing with eye gestures, mouth movements, and expressions and Grok would complete it.

I did all of Mark the Hammer’s shots next. Although he was a slightly mean character, I had envisioned a Wallace and Gromit clay animation look. Putting all this in Grok, it appeared as you see it in the photo, complete with tooth marks on the hammer. The last character, Saly the Saw, was all done at once, too.

This all sounds relatively painless. However, it wasn't quite that easy. Although the version of Grok that I used was free and had no watermark, there were some things I had to work around. For example, I needed several e-mail addresses to login to the software. After several hours of work, I got locked out of the software because I overused my free allotment of time. In my defense, it never told me what my free allotment was.

I had tried other AI software, and you needed carrots or coins that would rapidly disappear as soon as you started working. Then, the software would request you get a license. Also, if I tried to do too much in one sitting, Grok would tell me that the hours of 2-8 p.m. were best suited for my needs, as 8:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. were “peak" hours. I rarely got much work done before 2 p.m. with my teaching schedule, but after 2 p.m. the software was less sluggish. (Again, this has changed with the pay model.)

Audio Obstacles

In animation, you produce the audio first and then worry about the video. This project was done a little differently in that I would type the audio I wanted with the video, remove Grok’s audio, and then insert my own prerecorded audio.

I imported the shots with Grok-generated video and audio intact into Adobe Premiere Pro. Once moved to the timeline, I would take the audio from 2012 and lay it underneath the audio generated by Grok. By soloing my student’s audio, I would match the lip sync with the 2026 visuals.

Usually, it was close because the audio was short. Sometimes, I would either speed up or slow down the visuals to make the lip sync match. The pacing of the AI-generated audio was rarely what I envisioned as a director. But if I put the word “beat” or “pause” in, the AI character would speak the word “beat” or “pause.” Hey, what do you want for free?

One time, when I was adding the dialogue for Saly the Saw, there was a large black cable attached to the back of the saw that moved up and down with her. I didn't want that, so I typed, "Please remove the black cable from the video.” When Grok completed the video, the dialogue was what I had typed in, plus Saly spoke, “Please remove the black cable from the video.”

Even typos would appear as real words. Other times, dialogue would appear as white text on the saw. I clicked the “Redo” button several times before the black cable disappeared and the audio mentioning the black cable was gone, too. Apparently, talking saw characters are difficult for Grok.

Sync or Sunk?

Getting my original audio to exactly match the AI’s audio was my next issue. The only remedy for that was the Razor Blade cutting tool in Premiere. I would get four or five words exactly how I wanted with lip sync, cut the scene, slow it to 83%, and keep it at that speed until the sync would drift. For an eight-second bit of lip sync, there may have been five different cuts and five different speeds.

It took me several weeks to complete the project during the golden hours during which I was allowed to access Grok. Despite the hassles, this whole AI technology is really mind blowing. Considering how Grok could do this for free and I have no artistic skill, this was amazing!

Watching the final project dozens and dozens of times, little issues were corrected, inconsistencies in the characters were fixed, and music and sound effects were added at the appropriate places. Now that I have this film under my belt, I found another short project that I started in 2016 about three young women who are tired of being two dimensional characters and go see a wizard to be converted to 3D characters. Looking forward to seeing how Grok brings that project to life.

Sound Tube and Original Syndicate added new hires. D-Tools, Somfy, and Miri Technologies made product enhancements. Sony, Panasonic Projector & Display, and Martin Professional announced new partnerships. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

[What to Know about the 2026 AV/IT Summit]

Get caught up in the busy Pro AV week that was in your Monday fill of Pro AV Newsmakers.

People

Original Syndicate Expands Leadership and Specialist Team 

Original Syndicate (OGS) has strengthened its leadership and specialist capabilities with the appointment of three new team members. Joining the company are Tyler Baum as business development manager, Michael Hernandez as head of production, and Bryan "Bee" Washington as technical operations center operator. They join Monica Vandehei, senior technical producer, and Cassidy Pearsall, senior technical producer, as part of a broader expansion that reflects OGS's continued investment in technical expertise, production excellence and client support as the business enters its next phase of growth.

Baum is focusing on developing strategic partnerships and helping organizations navigate increasingly complex communications technology projects. Drawing on extensive experience across LED volume environments, virtual production and business development, he will work with organizations to identify technology solutions that align with their operational and creative objectives. Hernandez brings extensive experience in creative production, virtual production, and large-scale immersive projects. Having worked across live touring, XR Studios, and the launch of Sphere, he oversees the production systems that support the successful delivery of OGS projects, ensuring teams, workflows, and project execution remain aligned from concept through completion. With more than a decade of broadcast engineering experience supporting global sporting events, major streaming platforms and international broadcasts, Washington plays a key role in monitoring, maintaining, and optimizing technical systems for clients.

Vandehei brings a background spanning live events, virtual production, and creative technology. Having managed complex production environments across theater, fashion, television, and feature film projects, she works closely with clients to align creative ambitions with practical technical solutions from concept through to implementation. Lastly, Pearsall brings expertise across live events, virtual production, cinema technology and systems integration. She now supports clients with workflow development, technical design, and project delivery across a wide range of production and education-focused environments.

SoundTube Expands Customer Design Resources

SoundTube Entertainment welcomed Nelson Lugo as design engineer, further expanding SoundTube's ability to support integrators, consultants, and end users with expert audio system design, product selection, and project support. In his role, Nelson works directly with customers to develop audio system designs, recommend solutions tailored to project requirements, and provide engineering support throughout the design and specification process. His addition reinforces SoundTube's commitment to helping customers deploy high-performance audio systems with confidence while expanding the resources available through the company's Design Services program.

Nelson brings nearly two decades of experience spanning professional audio, technical support, manufacturing, AV integration, and customer-facing engineering roles. Over the past 18 years, he has developed extensive expertise designing, supporting, and implementing professional audio systems from concept through deployment.

Partnerships

Martin Professional Announces Strategic Partnership with the Iconic Royal Albert Hall

Martin Professional has announced a strategic partnership with London’s Royal Albert Hall, creating a closer collaboration between manufacturer and venue that will help shape future lighting technology development. The partnership creates a direct feedback loop between real-world applications and product design, providing Martin with insight from one of the world’s most demanding venues while supporting the Royal Albert Hall’s continued investment in advanced lighting systems across a diverse global program.

The Royal Albert Hall maintains a substantial Martin Professional inventory, comprising MAC Ultra Performance, ELP PAR, MAC Aura XIP, MAC Encore Performance CLD, and MAC Viper Wash DX fixtures in the main auditorium. MAC Ones, ERA 400 Performance CLD, and ELP CL Profiles can be found in a smaller performance space in the building.

Neutrik Group Americas Expands Distribution Reach for NEUTRIK and REAN Brands

Neutrik Group Americas introduced a new channel partnership with DigiKey, an electronic components distributors. This collaboration will expand DigiKey’s customer access to the complete portfolio of NEUTRIK and REAN connectivity solutions across the Americas as well as the global markets.

Through this new reseller relationship, DigiKey will offer both NEUTRIK and REAN brand products, making these solutions more accessible to engineers, integrators, manufacturers, OEMs, and technical buyers who rely on DigiKey’s extensive distribution platform and streamlined purchasing experience.

Panasonic Projector & Display Americas and Illumibot Launch World's First AI-Powered Mobile Projection Fleet

Panasonic Projector & Display Americas launched IllumiBeastin partnership with Illumibot. As part of the fleet of co-branded, AI-powered, projection-enabled Cybertrucks, Panasonic Projector & Display Americas will sponsor the first six IllumiBeasts that bring professional-grade projection mapping directly to brands, venues, events, and audiences anywhere in the United States.

Projection mapping has grown in popularity as organizations look to enhance audience engagement. Historically, projection mapping has been reserved for large-scale productions with significant budgets, specialized technical crews, and fixed venues.

Illumibot aims to transform this landscape with the world's first AI Personalized Projection platform. Designed so users can leverage a smartphone camera and natural language prompts to detect surfaces, generate visuals, and map projections in seconds, the technology helps reduce the need for complex mapping software.

The IllumiBeast powers projection mapping on wheels. Smaller scale projects that couldn’t otherwise benefit from projection mapping due to space, budget, and staffing restrictions receive a comprehensive system that’s fully self-contained, AI-ready, and designed to be operational within minutes, directly to their door.

Each vehicle arrives fully equipped with MEVIX laser projection technology, including the PT-MZ20K, a 20,000-lumen 3LCD WUXGA laser projector that’s ready to deliver large-format, high-impact projection experiences on demand. As the solution’s projection sponsor, MEVIX equips each IllumiBeast with professional-grade projection technology, enabling a mobile projection mapping solution that any brand, event organizer, or venue can access without a production team or a permanent installation.

Sony Electronics, CatchLight Collaborate to Expand Visual Reporting Capacity in Local Newsrooms

CatchLight, the organization investing in the power of images to inform and connect, announced a new strategic equipment initiative with Sony that will put professional camera and video tools directly in the hands of local visual journalists. High-quality visual journalism depends on reliable equipment that can capture clear images, video, and audio in the unpredictable conditions local journalists face every day. With Sony and other collaborators, CatchLight is expanding access to the tools and support local newsrooms need to strengthen their visual capacity and tell deeper, more nuanced stories.

Through the initiative, Sony will provide 24 professional Alpha camera and video kits to select CatchLight Local member newsrooms, including 16 CatchLight Local Fellows and Report for America Corps Members. Each kit includes professional equipment, including full-frame cameras, telephoto zoom lenses, digital shotgun microphones, and external flash with wireless radio control. In addition to equipment kits, Sony will also provide access to Sony Pro Support memberships, technical support representatives, and online training sessions that can be accessed through CatchLight’s learning library.

Products

AIMS Announces Second IPMX Product Testing and Certification Event

The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), together with the Video Services Forum (VSF) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), will host the second IPMX Product Testing and Certification Event. Scheduled for Aug. 24–28 at the EBU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the week-long gathering is open to AIMS and VSF member companies and will expand the growing IPMX-certified product ecosystem while introducing formal certification of new capabilities developed as part of the IPMX roadmap.

The Geneva certification event follows a "dirty hands" interoperability session scheduled for July 20–24 at the Matrox Video facility in Montreal, Canada. That members-only session will give AIMS participants hands-on testing of new IPMX developments ahead of the formal certification event, continuing the model of pre-certification interoperability work that has proven effective throughout the IPMX program.

The August event will introduce certification for capabilities that have been in active development prior to the launch of the full realized standard in 2026. These include Host Key Exchange Protocol (HKEP) and HDCP handling for protected content, and the Privacy Encryption Protocol (PEP) security layer, which enables interoperable content encryption across multi-vendor deployments. HEVC and AVC compression profiles, which have seen strong industry interest in enabling efficient transport across existing infrastructure, are also progressing toward certification.

Audio-Technica Introduces 20 Series USB Microphone Control Application

Audio-Technica unveiled its new 20 Series Control Application, a Stream Deck plug-in designed to provide streamlined control of compatible Audio-Technica USB microphones directly from Elgato Stream Deck devices. Developed for streamers, content creators, podcasters, gamers and audio production professionals, the application delivers fast access to essential microphone functions through customizable Stream Deck keys, dials and foot pedals.

Compatible with the Audio-Technica AT2020USB-X, Audio-Technica AT2020USB-XP and Audio-Technica AT2040USB microphones, the 20 Series Control Application allows users to mute and unmute microphones instantly, adjust microphone input levels, and, for AT2020USB-XP users, control Automatic Gain Control (AGC) and Noise Reduction (NR) functions directly from the Stream Deck interface.

D-Tools Cloud Release #100 Delivers 66 New Capabilities in Platform History

The new D-Tools Cloud Release #100 delivers 66 improvements, more new capabilities than any release since the platform’s 2018 debut, spanning payments, sales reporting, inventory, and project drawings. Many of the improvements came directly from customer requests, and together they make D-Tools Cloud faster, clearer, and more complete at every stage of the integration business lifecycle.

Some of the new capabilities are Accelerated ACH Deposits, a new next-day funding option in D-Tools Payments; a new QuickBooks Online and Xero filter that shows at a glance which invoices have been pushed to accounting, and which still need to be linked, across Purchase Orders, Change Orders, and Billing, reducing the risk of duplicate or untracked entries; a new Product Tracking Mode lives on the product itself and can be switched individually or in bulk, with a change-guard dialog that protects data integrity by blocking any mode switch while a product has assets or quantities allocated, checked out, or reserved, and explaining why; and the enhanced Interconnect Diagrams module, launched last fall, with more branded, flexible, and production-ready for client-facing documentation.

The Sales Results module receives the largest set of upgrades: a new default “Total” revenue view that combines project, service contract, subscription, and service call revenue without double-counting; new date-range presets; a cleaned-up Lost Opportunities gadget; and a new drill-down Details view exposing the underlying opportunities, service calls, and change orders behind any number. Sales Forecast receives parallel improvements, including clearer labels, an improved 12-month projection window, corrected tooltips, and subscriptions now folded into forecast totals.

Miri Introduces New Platform for NetConnect+ Plans

Miri Technologies is rolling out a new online portal that provides customers and resellers with self-serve management tools and usage analytics for the company's NetConnect+ global mobile data plans. The intuitive Miri Data Platform lets users manage the full lifecycle of NetConnect+ SIM cards and plans themselves, from provisioning new SIMs to usage reporting and billing.

The Miri Data Platform dashboard provides users with full autonomy to control and monitor usage of their purchased NetConnect+ SIM cards. It enables self-activation of new NetConnect+ SIMs while offering at-a-glance views of active SIMs and their associated devices, along with high-level usage information.

Somfy Releases a New Verified Plugin for Q-SYS

Somfy has a new Q-SYS Verified Plugin supporting PoE (Power over Ethernet) shading solutions. As a contributor to the Q-SYS Ecosystem, Somfy collaborated with Q-SYS to create a market-ready control solution that integrates seamless control of Somfy’s intelligent motors into the Q-SYS Full Stack AV Platform.

The Somfy Sonesse PoE Motors Plug-in enables integrators to configure, monitor, and control PoE-powered shading systems directly within Q-SYS Designer Software. By leveraging network-based power and communication, the plugin helps simplify system architecture while supporting reliable and consistent performance.

The solution also allows integrators to align shading control with AV and environmental systems within a unified platform, improving usability, and delivering a more cohesive experience across commercial environments. This plugin complements Somfy’s existing Q-SYS Verified Plugin for Somfy Connect UAI Plus and SDN motors, providing additional flexibility when designing IP-based shading systems alongside AV, lighting, and environmental controls.

Audinate, SMPTE

Audinate Introduces All-New Spanish Language Dante Training Program 

Audinate's new Dante Certification program is now available in Spanish. Designed for today's rapidly evolving AV landscape, this essential update equips professionals with the networking and AVoIP expertise the industry demands, while offering up to 19.75 AVIXA Renewal Units and up to 10.75 CEDIA CEUs.

The updated curriculum reflects the latest developments across the Dante platform. Participants will gain deeper insight into foundational networking concepts such as IP addressing, VLANs, QoS, multicast, and IGMP, as well as Dante-specific topics including network design, Dante Controller, AES67/ST2110 interoperability, Dante Domain Manager, Dante Director, advanced troubleshooting, and more. Courses are offered free of charge for all three levels, and certifications remain valid for three years.

SMPTE Builds IP Skills for the AV and Media Technology Workforce

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) is expanding access to practical, industry-focused education that prepares today's AV and technology workforce for increasingly connected production environments. Building on its open-access Standards Library, SMPTE's education offerings help professionals progress from foundational knowledge to real-world IP media implementation. The journey begins with the free, self-paced Essentials of Media over IP (EMIP) course and continues with the instructor-led Understanding SMPTE ST 2110 virtual course, beginning July 21.

Developed in collaboration with EVS, the free Essentials of Media over IP (EMIP) course introduces the fundamentals of IP networking for media. Participants can then continue with Understanding SMPTE ST 2110, where live instruction, demonstrations, and interactive discussions explore the standards, technologies, and workflows used to deploy interoperable IP-based production environments.

Graduates of Understanding SMPTE ST 2110 are eligible to participate in the SMPTE ST 2110 Practical Lab, an immersive hands-on experience developed in collaboration with Lawo. Completion of Understanding SMPTE ST 2110 is required before participating in the Practical Lab, where participants configure, synchronize, test, and troubleshoot interoperable IP media systems using technologies from leading industry partners including Lawo, Arista Networks, Meinberg, Bridge Technologies, Matrox Video, AJA Video Systems, Macnica, Leader Electronics, NVIDIA, Embrionix, and others.

The course is led by Willem Vermost (EBU), Wim Van Roy (Lawo), Gerard Phillips (Arista Networks), Chris Lapp (Cisco), and Leigh Whitcomb (Meinberg). Guest lecturers include Felix Poulin (Radio-Canada), Andreas Hildebrand (Lawo), Olivier Ettlin (Simplexity), Pedro Ferreira (Bisect), Stefan Ledergerber (Simplexity), and François Legrand (Radio-Canada).

“You don’t last 40 years in this industry by accident."

It's an insightful observation from Jeremy Elsesser, president and CEO of Level 3 Audiovisual and chairman of PSNI Global Alliance, which is celebrating its fourth decade in Pro AV this year. "PSNI has stayed relevant because it’s selective, it’s disciplined, and the members take ownership of the outcome,” he added.

Elsesser's words ring true in a Pro AV industry that continues to change and evolve. What began with four visionaries more than 40 years ago has evolved into the "world’s largest alliance and network of technology integrators” present on six continents and trusted by clients around the globe.

According to Chris Miller, executive director, PSNI was conceived as a regional U.S.-based service support model long before the industry fully understood what global service and collaboration could become. Those four industry thought leaders—including two past ICIA (now AVIXA) presidents—founded Professional Systems Network with a simple yet visionary purpose: to share ideas, exchange business best practices, build trusted relationships, and develop shared resources to better support customers across diverse regions of the country.

Together, Miller added, they explored how to develop and measure strategic KPIs, better understand business metrics, create innovative service models, and evaluate technologies and inventory strategies that would mitigate risk while keeping each company at the forefront of the industry.

"For Level 3 Audiovisual, PSNI is about being able to show up anywhere in the world with confidence," Elsesser said. "We know the people on the ground, we trust how they operate, and we know the experience will match what our client expects. Forty years in, that consistency and trust are what continue to make the Alliance work."

The ROI is different for every member, ranging from the largest Certified Solution Providers (CSPs) in the world to the smallest CSPs in the network, Miller explained. Yet they all share a common bond of integrity, professionalism, and accountability to one another, as well as their customers worldwide. It’s a benefit and value-add differentiator that a company cannot build on its own.

These CSPs collaborate to better serve collective customers through more than 300 licensed and qualified locations, across six continents, represented by more than 19,000 employees worldwide. Those employees benefit from specialized certifications exclusive to Alliance personnel, including quality assurance and standardized system commissioning, system deployment and service certifications, and strategic account management training and certifications.

"Ultimately, the single most important benefit is the power of people and teams working together," Miller said, "an ecosystem of relationships that elevates the brand and capabilities of every company within the Alliance and delivers something no single integrator could replicate alone."

For Jeff Davis, CEO of Avidex and president of PSNI, being part of the PSNI network has brought tremendous value to Avidex, including trusted global partnerships and shared best practices to expand the reach and confidence of delivering consistent experiences for clients around the world. "The strength of the PSNI community has elevated not only our capabilities," he added, "but also the standard of excellence across the industry."

Supersummit ’26, PSNI's annual May event that brings together thought leaders from across the Pro AV and UCC industry to share their insights and collaborate, paid honor to the first 40 years. "Our toast to 40 years was dedicated to those in the room who will become mentors to the next generation of passionate leaders," Miller said.

What does the next 40 years hold for PSNI? Miller feels the future of Pro AV will be shaped and defined by AI-driven workflows, increasingly complex global infrastructure, and clients who expect seamless support regardless of geography.

"The Alliance is already building the frameworks, certifications, and partnerships to meet that world, not react to it," Miller said. "As communication and collaboration continue to evolve in form and complexity, our CSPs will be at the forefront, offering not just technology, but the trusted guidance that turns technology into outcomes."

Davis agreed, adding that the role of PSNI has never been more important. "The continued evolution of workplace technology, AI, security, collaboration, and customer experience will require strong global alignment, innovation, and trusted partnerships which are all areas where PSNI is uniquely positioned to lead," he added. "We are proud to be part of this journey and excited about what the next 40 years will bring."

Talk to enough people in the AV industry, and you will find broad agreement on one thing: the word AI has been stretched so far it has lost most of its meaning. Automation gets called AI. Rule-based alerting gets called AI. A chatbot bolted onto a monitoring dashboard gets called AI. The enthusiasm is understandable since the technology is genuinely moving fast, but the labeling has gotten ahead of reality, and the industry knows it.

But let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. We should question inflated claims, but we should also be willing to recognize where AI can genuinely add value. Especially when it comes to operational intelligence, because the accountability gap between AV, IT, and the network is exactly where AI delivers.

Platforms Everywhere, But the Complete Picture is Missing

InfoComm 2026 made clear that the industry has moved on from boxes. A decade ago, the conversation was about whether AV over IP would work. Today, the question is how platforms work together. Every major vendor now has a management layer: room control platforms, audio networking platforms, collaboration platforms, AV management platforms. The market has answered the device fragmentation problem of the last decade by building around software and platforms rather than hardware and point products. That is the right direction.

A New Problem Has Been Created

Each platform sees its own slice of the environment. The collaboration platform knows whether the call is live. The control system knows whether the display is on. The audio platform knows whether the DSP is responding. The network switch knows whether the port is up. But none of them, individually, can tell you why the room is not working. Craig Durr, Chief Analyst and founder of The Collab Collective, put it plainly after walking the InfoComm floor: the single-pane-of-glass pitch, he observed, usually just aggregates noise into one place. That is the "phantomization" problem in a sentence.

The Accountability Gap

When something fails in a converged AV environment, the investigation must cross platform boundaries that no single tool was designed to span. IT owns the network. AV owns the experience. The collaboration platform vendor owns their stack. When something fails, the executive audience does not care which layer caused the issue. They only know the stream glitched, the room did not work, or the CEO could not be heard.

That gap, the space between platforms where operational problems live, is the specific challenge that AI in AV needs to address to be worth the name. Not AI that adds a feature to an existing platform. AI that sits above the platforms and reasons across all of them. Durr's observation from the show floor cuts to it directly: "Monitoring was never the job. Resolution is."

What the Network Sees

The network is the connective tissue between every platform in the room. It is also the layer that most operational AI in AV does not cover. Magic in the room, boring on the network. That is still the goal. But boring depends on active intelligence, not passive infrastructure.

The root cause of an AV failure is often not in the device layer at all. It is upstream: a VLAN misconfiguration, a port that dropped, a Quality of Service (QoS) policy that changed. Even though every platform reports green, the room does not work. Without network-layer visibility, the investigation stays manual, and the blame game thrives.

That is one of the reasons NETGEAR partners with companies like Utelogy, Providius, XYTE, and NetSpeek. We believe network-layer visibility belongs inside the AI's operational context, not alongside it. These kinds of platforms are going to use an AI-native AV operations product to treat the network as a first-class data source.

The industry solved device fragmentation by moving to platforms. That was the right answer to the right problem. The next problem is both holistic and operational: how do you manage an environment that no single platform can fully see? That is the question AI in AV should be answering. When it does, it earns its name.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Jim Kidwell, Principal Product Marketing Manager at Audinate

From boardrooms to live concert arenas, AV-over-IP has brought incredible flexibility to AV systems in almost every application. Now that cloud-based solutions have come to the AV world, the decision about when and how to use them should be part of the discussion. Multiple companies, including Audinate with Dante Director and Dante Director Professional, now offer management and monitoring applications that provide superior insights into AV networks, in effect elevating AV systems into the professional IT space. These management solutions are worth considering, as they offer new capabilities for remote device management that can positively affect your daily customer service and support.

Where the cloud is still evolving is the full adoption of production-based workflows hosted entirely in the cloud. Mature solutions for professional broadcast, such as Grass Valley’s AMPP, can provide a fully realized cloud-based broadcast production environment with hardware connectivity, including Dante audio.

Moving production environments into the cloud is a bit of an internal accounting shift for many organizations. It may no longer include as much capital expenditure up front, but will have higher operational expenses as you utilize cloud production systems. This is a shift that can have real financial benefits, as you only pay for the systems when you are actively using them. So, with some up-front budgetary planning, organizations can effectively shift their accounting and make systems more cost-effective and flexible when needed.

A few weeks ago, while doing some research, I came across a Harvard Business Review article titled “Welcome to the Experience Economy” by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore.

Turns out I was reading an article authored in 1998.

In technology terms, 1998 feels like another world. Before smartphones. Before cloud collaboration. Before hybrid work. And certainly, before AI became part of the daily operating vocabulary of almost every organization.

Yet what struck me was not how outdated the article felt, but how relevant its underlying logic of value still was.

The article explored two ideas that feel particularly important to this moment.

The first is the progression of economic value—from commodities, to goods, to services, and ultimately to experiences. As markets mature, each layer of value becomes more vulnerable to standardization and commoditization. What was once differentiated becomes easier to compare. So the opportunity for value has to keep moving upward, toward experiences that are more personal, more memorable, more relevant, and harder to reduce to a line item.

The second idea is more commercial, but just as important. Pine and Gilmore argue that companies reveal a great deal about the business they are really in by what they actually charge for. I think the end-user version of that question is equally important: if what we charge for reveals what we value, then what are you actually willing (and able) to pay for?

Those two ideas stayed with me because I believe they ask uncomfortable questions of the enterprise collaboration space in this moment.

The Experience Proposition

For years, the AV and collaboration industry has spoken the language of experience; moving from products to solutions, from systems to services, from rooms to outcomes, and from technology to workplace experience.

Yet, if we are honest, we have moved further in the opposite direction. We talked about outcomes, but optimized for standards. We talked about workplace experience, but bought and sold around equipment, deployment, support, and refresh. We talked about delivering strategic value while creating efficient operational and commercial models.

There were, of course, valid reasons for those strategies at the time. As standardization became the dominant operating principle of enterprise AV, the goal was to create confidence that had been lost in these spaces in the past.

From a user standpoint, could people walk into a room and know what to do? Would the call connect? Would content share? And from a management standpoint, could support teams manage hundreds or thousands of spaces without being overwhelmed by variation?

Personalization, Adaptability, and Differentiation

Today’s AI age, however, makes that contradiction much harder to ignore. While AI can certainly further accelerate commoditization—making the familiar easier, faster, and cheaper to deliver—it also offers the potential for incredible new levels of personalization, adaptability, and differentiation.

Pine and Gilmore’s article reminds us of something uncomfortable. In the experience economy, consistency is not the highest form of value; it is the foundation on which higher value can be created.

Consistency may prevent disappointment, but it is not inspiring. It does not exceed expectations. It does not create the energy, memory, momentum, or meaningful differentiation that anchor exceptional experiences and outcomes.

A reliable room prevents failure.

A remarkable meeting creates value because people came together.

So, if we are talking about “experience” in enterprise collaboration, what experience are we really pursuing? Is it simply reliability and predictability? Or is it, indeed, can it become something far more connected to the purpose of gathering itself?

Let’s stay with that for a moment.

When we borrow the word “experience,” it is easy to imagine theatre, hospitality, immersive design, or event production. Great events are designed around attention, energy, resonance, memory, and motivation to act. They take enormous amounts of preparation and planning, but deliver returns to justify that effort.

Most enterprise meetings will never justify months of planning or event-level production, nor should they. They operate at a different scale. But the objective is not as different as we might think. Our events brethren understand something enterprise collaboration often underplays: just bringing people together is not enough.

So, in meeting or learning environments, the future question should not only be whether the technology simply equips the meeting. It should be whether the environment, and the experience it creates, actually increases the value of gathering.

Here’s an analogy that may help picture one example of that potential future more tangibly.

A great Executive Assistant (EA) is, in many ways, an experience enabler. They anticipate and proactively prepare. They understand context and act in response. They remove friction before it appears. They recall individual preferences and priorities, and add small but resonant touches. They help executives show up better than they would have otherwise.

Great EAs create exceptional experiences because they consistently exceed others' expectations in how well they proactively enable better outcomes.

An AI-Powered Collaboration?

So what if, powered by the increasingly intelligent and human-aware technology capabilities of AI, collaboration environments were architected in the future to behave less like passive containers and more like spaces equipped with trusted and proactive executive assistants?

What if they understood the purpose of the meeting? What if they could sense signals, understand initial objectives, help adjust the room to the activity, leverage and react to real-time context, quickly assemble additional supporting data or reach out to additional parties to contribute. To take collaboration infrastructure from merely operational enablement to something more.

Would that be something worth paying for?

To be clear, I am not suggesting completely abandoning the commoditisation-driven path overnight in a market still struggling to break free of that. But it cannot be the only path.

The actionable path ahead is not only about how your organization completely rewrites the foundations of every RFP (yet). But it is about more actively thinking about how you create some permissions, incentives, structures, and rewards that allow the market to explore something more valuable with you.

The more practical short-term opportunity is to run two collaboration strategies at once. Keep optimizing what is known, though with a new eye to future risk mitigation and objectives. But in parallel, begin to create another protected lane that enables you to actively explore what is becoming possible.

>> That may begin with a pilot, a different partner conversation, or a small proof of concept.

>> It may mean exploring ways to effectively understand and measure meeting impact and outcome.

>> Perhaps creating a shared risk/reward model that allows both customer and provider to baseline, refine, and prove it before the proposition is fully mature.

>> It may also mean broadening the voices in the strategy & planning room beyond traditional collaboration technology stakeholders to include voices who understand the likes of human behaviour, learning, culture, facilitation, organizational change, and how people actually create value together.

The right balances will be specific to your role, your organization’s structures, and ultimately your organization’s ability to embrace AI transformation generally and the “future of collaboration” opportunity specifically. But foundationally, there must be a recognition that organizations cannot procure their way into that future of collaboration if their processes only reward the commoditized providers they already know how to compare.

The question in this moment is not whether your organization can yet deliver the remarkable meeting of the future today. It is whether the decisions being made today increase your ability to pursue it tomorrow. That future will not be defined only by what AI technically makes possible. It will be defined by what organizations decide is worth valuing.

Perhaps that is why a nearly 30-year-old article still matters. It reminds us that technology may keep changing the tools, but value still returns to something deeply human: what people notice, what they remember, what they trust, what helps them, and what they believe was worth more than just what it costs.

For the enterprise collaboration space, generally, AI now forces a choice. Either collaboration becomes even more commoditised as the market gets faster, more automated, and easier to compare. Or the industry, in part at least, led by end-user organizations prepared to value something more, truly redefines its definition of experience around the outcomes people actually gather to create.

That is the move from pursuing reliable rooms to enabling remarkable meetings!

Not simply better spaces, but better reasons to believe that gathering was worth it.

Situational awareness across defense, public safety, and emergency response operations is built on one critical resource: timely access to accurate visual information. Whether it is an unmanned aircraft surveying a contested environment, a helicopter supporting search-and-rescue operations, or a drone monitoring the spread of a wildfire, video has become one of the most valuable sources of operational intelligence.

But raw video alone is not enough. The value of video lies in how quickly it can be delivered, processed, interpreted, and acted upon. Behind every mission-critical video feed is a complex ecosystem of technologies responsible for encoding, transporting, transcoding, and displaying video across networks that may be bandwidth-constrained, unreliable, or contested. This increases the need for edge-based technologies, which operate directly in the field, closest to where events are unfolding, where timely situational awareness is most critical and connectivity to centralized processing or analysis cannot always be guaranteed.

As missions become more complex and the number of video sources continues to grow, the industry is increasingly turning to AI to help transform video from a passive stream of imagery into actionable insight. When applied correctly, AI enhances existing video workflows; enabling more accurate interpretation, reducing cognitive load on operators, and helping teams focus on the information that matters most.

A Growing Role

Video has become central to modern defense and civilian operations, which increasingly rely on edge‑based personnel to process and act on real‑time video insights even when connectivity to central systems is limited.

In military and defense operations, full-motion video from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), manned aircraft, and ground-based systems provides commanders with real-time insight into evolving situations. These feeds allow teams to monitor troop movements, identify potential threats, and coordinate responses across multiple operational units. At the edge, forward‑deployed teams, UAV operators, and tactical analysts rely on immediate, locally processed video to make rapid decisions under dynamic and high‑risk conditions.

Public safety agencies rely on similar capabilities. Police departments integrate video from helicopters, drones, fixed surveillance systems, and body‑worn cameras to support investigations and real‑time incident management in the field. Fire departments increasingly deploy aerial drones during wildfire response to assess fire behavior, track fire lines, and identify potential risks to firefighters on the ground. Search-and-rescue teams also use aerial video to expand coverage across vast terrain, monitoring these feeds for visual clues that might otherwise go unnoticed from the ground.

What these scenarios share is a reliance on real-time video transport and edge-based processing. Video must move quickly and securely from the field to command and tactical operations centers (TOCs), often across multiple networks and systems. The workflows behind these operations must accommodate different video formats, varying bandwidth availability, and multiple viewing destinations simultaneously.

Video encoders compress and prepare feeds for transmission. Transcoders adapt those streams to different network conditions or viewing platforms. Players and visualization systems allow operators to view, analyze, and share information in real time.

These components work together to ensure that decision makers receive the video they need when they need it. However, as the number of video sources grows, so does the complexity of processing and interpreting them—and in environments where connectivity may be intermittent or constrained, edge processing can make the difference between receiving actionable information in seconds versus minutes.

Video Overload

Operators working in mission-critical environments are often tasked with monitoring multiple video feeds simultaneously. In some operations centers, teams may oversee dozens of live streams at once. During field operations, where fewer video feeds are typically available, the reduced number of video feeds create increased pressure on quick, yet accurate, decision making.

This is where AI is starting to play a bigger role. AI can analyze visual data in real time as well as identify objects or activities, so teams can make faster decisions or use the information later to spot patterns and support investigations. AI-powered video analysis introduces several capabilities that significantly improve how mission-critical video is used.

Object Detection and Recognition: One of the most widely used video-based AI capabilities is object detection using computer vision algorithms. AI models can automatically identify and classify objects within a video stream, such as vehicles, individuals, vessels, or aircraft. Instead of reviewing entire recordings, analysts can quickly locate moments where specific events occurred.

AI‑enabled video analysis enhances mission-critical operations across defense, public safety, and search-and-rescue by rapidly identifying key elements within live or recorded imagery. For example, in military reconnaissance, automated detection can flag even hard-to-see vehicle movement within a surveillance zone, eliminating the need to manually scan hours of footage. During wildfire response, the same capabilities help identify hotspots, vehicles, or structures, giving incident commanders faster insight into emerging risks. For search-and-rescue teams, AI can highlight potential human figures in aerial imagery, dramatically reducing search time in sea rescues, difficult terrain, or other low‑visibility environments.

Metadata Enrichment: AI also enhances video workflows through a process called structured observation management (SOM), which generates additional metadata such as image chips of detected objects, timestamps, geographic coordinates, or movement vectors. When combined with traditional video metadata, it creates a richer data environment that allows operators to search, filter, and analyze video more effectively.

Pattern Recognition and Behavioral Analysis (GEOINT AI): Geospatial intelligence artificial intelligence (GEOINT AI) is the National Geospatial Agency's term for utilizing SOM to enable analysis of patterns and behaviors within geospatial data, including video. For example, a vehicle repeatedly circling a location or an object moving against expected traffic patterns may indicate a situation that requires closer investigation. These capabilities are particularly valuable in large-scale monitoring operations where the environment is constantly changing.

Balancing AI with Security

Another important shift in mission-critical video workflows is the movement of AI processing closer to the edge. In many deployments, this intelligence runs directly on field-deployed encoding systems mounted on vehicles, aircraft, or portable command units.

Rugged edge devices, such as the Haivision Kraken X1 Rugged video processing appliance, illustrate how modern video encoders are increasingly designed not only to encode and transport video reliably, but also to support processing capabilities that help reduce bandwidth requirements and accelerate situational insight. This approach reduces network load while enabling faster insights for operators.

By performing object detection before transmission, systems can prioritize sending only the most relevant information. In many cases, full-motion video no longer needs to traverse constrained networks. Instead, detections, including cropped images of detected objects and metadata, are transmitted to inform which streams should be prioritized for further review.

Despite the clear benefits of AI in video workflows, security remains a primary concern in many mission-critical environments. Defense organizations and public safety agencies often operate under strict requirements governing how information is processed, transmitted, and stored.

The good news is that modern AI implementations do not require data to leave secure environments. AI models can be deployed locally within trusted infrastructure, whether in mobile edge devices, tactical systems, or secured data centers, ensuring sensitive video content remains within controlled networks.

Additionally, AI processing can occur without the need to permanently store video. Systems can analyze incoming footage in real time to generate operational metadata, then discard the raw frames once processing is complete. This approach allows organizations to extract AI-driven insights while reducing data duplication and maintaining strict control over sensitive information.

Encryption, authentication, and secure video transport protocols remain essential components of these workflows. AI should enhance operational capabilities without introducing new vulnerabilities.

Operational Intelligence

The role of video in mission-critical operations will only continue to grow. As drones, sensors, and connected systems become more widely deployed, the volume of available visual data will expand dramatically.

AI will play a key role in helping organizations manage this scale. Rather than simply delivering video from point A to point B, modern video workflows are evolving into intelligent systems capable of analyzing, prioritizing, and contextualizing visual information.

The goal is not to replace human expertise, but to ensure that operators receive the right information at the right moment. In high-stakes environments where decisions must be made quickly, that difference can be critical. By combining real-time video transport with AI-driven analysis, mission-critical organizations are moving closer to a future where situational awareness is not limited by the volume of available data but enhanced by it.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Jonathan Gryckiewicz, Business Development Director, Cloud Solutions at Ross Video

Cloud-based AV is reshaping how organizations produce, manage, and distribute video content. One of the biggest trends driving adoption is the convergence of traditional Pro AV with broadcast-quality production. Companies now expect executive town halls, virtual events, and internal communications to deliver the same polished experience audiences see in professional broadcasts. Cloud-enabled workflows help organizations achieve this by supporting remote production, centralized control, and scalable collaboration across teams and locations.

Another major trend is the shift from hardware-focused systems to workflow-focused environments. Modern AV strategies are less about purchasing standalone equipment and more about building flexible ecosystems that integrate production, automation, streaming, and content management. Cloud infrastructure allows organizations to scale resources as needed, reduce reliance on large, on-premises systems, and deploy updates or new capabilities more efficiently.

The benefits are significant. Cloud-based AV environments improve operational flexibility, enable remote collaboration, and help organizations respond faster to changing production demands. IP-based and software-defined workflows also support scalability, allowing companies to expand capabilities without rebuilding entire infrastructures. For many organizations, this can lower long-term operational costs while improving agility and system resilience.

However, there are important cautions. Cloud AV depends heavily on reliable network infrastructure, bandwidth, and cybersecurity. Without proper planning, organizations can face latency, interoperability, or reliability issues that impact live productions and user experience. Vendor lock-in is another growing concern, making open standards and interoperable platforms increasingly important when evaluating long-term AV strategies.

Ultimately, successful cloud AV adoption requires more than simply moving technology online. Organizations that focus on workflow design, scalability, and long-term operational strategy will be best positioned to maximize the benefits of cloud-based production and collaboration.

One week after the news of two brand new CEOs at Adder Technology and Epiphan Video, M&W Pro Audio introduced a new CEO of its own. There were also strategic appointments from Chyron, Korbyt, Visionarty, and Hai Robotics, while NSCA welcome new executive leadership to its board.

[The SCN July Issue Is Here: Dive Into an AI Future]

Missed it? Don't worry. As always, get caught up on the week that was in your Monday dose of Pro AV Newsmakers.

Chyron Strengthens Middle East Presence with Appointment of Ahmed Magd

Chyron recently appointed Ahmed Magd as sales director for the Middle East. Magd comes to Chyron with a strong leadership and live video production background, including previous senior commercial roles at Riedel Communications, Clear-Com, and Al Masa IT Distribution. His experience encompasses distributor and reseller management, key client relationships, and cross-border business development initiatives.

With almost two decades of experience in broadcast and media technology, Magd is responsible for driving Chyron's growth strategy across the Middle East, strengthening relationships with customers and partners, and helping broadcasters leverage Chyron's solutions for graphics, sports production, newsroom operations, and live content creation. Magd has a strong reputation for driving business growth, expanding partner ecosystems, and establishing market leadership in highly competitive environments.

Hai Robotics Expands Americas Leadership

Hai Robotics has appointed two senior executives to its Americas leadership team: Alan Berstein as general manager, Latin America (LATAM) and Paul Pendleton as VP of delivery.

Berstein leads Hai Robotics' growth and expansion strategy throughout Latin America while strengthening support for customers and partners across the region. He is responsible for building and scaling the regional team, expanding market presence, and ensuring customers have access to the resources and expertise needed to maximize the value of their automation investments.

Pendleton leads the end-to-end delivery of Hai Robotics' warehouse automation deployments across the Americas, overseeing delivery strategy, execution, talent development, customer satisfaction, and operational performance. Pendleton joins Hai Robotics with extensive experience leading large-scale automation programs and complex industrial projects for enterprise customers

TJ Waldorf Appointed SVP of Marketing at Korbyt

Korbyt appointed TJ Waldorf as SVP of Marketing. He brings more than two decades of experience leading go-to-market strategy for high-growth SaaS organizations, including leadership roles with several private equity-backed enterprise SaaS companies.

Most recently, Waldorf served as CMO at 1WorldSync, where he helped triple annual recurring revenue (ARR), expand the company’s global marketing organization and played a key role in its acquisition by Syndigo. Throughout his career, he has led marketing transformations, product launches and revenue growth initiatives across enterprise technology companies.

M&W Pro Audio Names Phillip Bunch as Chief Executive Officer

M&W Pro Audio has appointed Phil Bunch as chief executive officer. Bunch brings extensive professional audio manufacturing, operations, executive leadership, and global supply chain experience to the company. Bunch joined M&W Pro Audio immediately prior to the company's worldwide debut at the recent InfoComm trade show in Las Vegas, where M&W introduced its first two products, the D24 and D32 digital mixers. SCN covered the company's arrival here: Pro AV Newsmakers: Introducing M&W Pro Audio.

Prior to stepping into the new role at M&W Pro Audio, Bunch previously served for eight years as VP of global operations at Tectonic Audio Labs. He was previously the longtime president of Phase Group, where he has been responsible for overseeing the company's operations across its QA and engineering services, automation, supply chain management, and procurement divisions. Additionally, Bunch has held senior leadership positions at Eastech and Esoteric Audio, overseeing engineering, product development, manufacturing, quality, procurement, and global supply chain organizations throughout Asia and North America.

NSCA Welcomes New Leadership

NSCA announced the election of new officers to its board of directors for 2026-2027. Shedan Maghzi, strategic advisor at Avidex and current NSCA treasurer, assumed the role of president on July 1, 2026.

Maghzi replaces Dale Bottcher, who is chief revenue officer at AVI-SPL. Bottcher will serve as NSCA’s immediate past president, replacing Dan Schmidtendorff, president and CEO at Communication Company.

Don Mastro, chief revenue officer at FORTÉ and current NSCA secretary, will become NSCA vice president; Chris Wasp Jr., CEO at Ronco, will be named NSCA treasurer. Christina De Bono, president at ClearTech Media, will return to her role as NSCA secretary after most recently serving as NSCA vice president.

As Wasp Jr. leaves the board to join the executive team, and Laurie MacKeigan, president at Backman Vidcom, steps down after fulfilling her three-year term, two new board members joined for the 2026-2027 term: Dawn Cagliano, president at IVCi and 2026 SCN Hall of Famer, and Brandon Conick, COO at CTI. It was originally announced during the 2026 Business and Leadership Conference that Valley Communications Systems CEO Michael Tremble would join the board of directors, but a series of mergers and acquisitions forced NSCA’s Leadership Development Committee to develop a new plan. Tremble will remain co-chair of NSCA’s Business and Leadership Conference Planning Committee.

Visionary Appoints Phillip Cordell as VP of Marketing

Visionary Solutions appointed Phillip Cordell as VP of marketing, a newly created position established to support the company's continued growth and expand its investment in digital content, customer education, and brand development. Cordell brings a combination of audiovisual industry expertise and creative storytelling experience to the role. He spent more than 13 years in AV integration, advancing from field technician to vice president of technical operations at M3 Technology Group, where he led engineering, installation and technical support teams. Following the sale of his stake in the company in 2020, Cordell founded HiPhi Productions, producing films, television, and digital content that has generated more than 50 million social media views.

As VP of marketing, Cordell leads Visionary's marketing strategy, brand development, and digital content initiatives while expanding the company's educational resources for partners, integrators and end users. His production background will support the development of online training programs, technical education, product demonstrations and multimedia content designed to accelerate adoption of Visionary's growing portfolio, including the recently introduced nexAV We-Cosystem.

Company News

Compare, Explore, and Decide with cavlo Compares at Seattle Tech Expo

cavlo is introducing a new feature at this year's cavlo Seattle Tech Expo, giving attendees an entirely new way to experience audiovisual technology. Debuting October 21–22 at the Lynnwood Event Center, cavlo Compares is a hands-on product evaluation experience designed to help integrators, consultants, end users and technology professionals compare similar technologies in a neutral environment and determine which solutions best fit their own applications.

Developed in partnership with Coherent Design, cavlo Compares moves beyond traditional product demonstrations by allowing attendees to interact with multiple solutions within the same product category, all under the same conditions, so they can evaluate products based on their own priorities and project requirements.

Coherent Design will oversee the on-site evaluation process to ensure every participating manufacturer is presented fairly and consistently. Products will be displayed using standardized conditions, allowing attendees to compare features, performance, usability and functionality without influence.

LEA Professional Announces New Partnership with AVL Alliance

LEA Professional announced a new partnership with AVL Alliance, a Rocky Mountain region-based manufacturer’s representative. This partnership will bring LEA Professional’s extensive technology catalog to customers throughout Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and parts of Texas.

AVL Alliance brings over 25 years of experience in live production and integration to the partnership. Through this partnership, AVL Alliance will represent LEA Professional’s Network Connect series of professional amplifiers and companion Dante Connect series featuring Dante and AES67 connectivity.

Learning environments have endured a seismic shift over the past five years, as classroom and instructional models were transformed first through necessity and subsequently through new behaviors and preferences born through change. AV technology has played a substantial role along the way, from bringing physical and remote learners together through UC platforms to enhancing collaboration through streamlined connectivity and control technologies.

AI-based technologies have increasingly played a role in this changing classroom technology landscape, with beamforming microphones and camera tracking technology among the first to make a difference in our evolving education environments. Today, they have become powerful tools to help expand access to spoken word content across languages and models in real time with on-demand subsequent access just as easy (and expected) for the learners to access.

We’ve all become accustomed to live tools on our phones that can caption the words of the person in front of us, including real-time translations, and even re-speaking those words in a language we best understand. These capabilities (and much more) are possible today to help learning become more accessible, efficient, and comprehensible.

Besides all the “magic” AI can bring to maximize learning and understanding, there are also regulations that have been increasing at federal, state, and local levels regarding accessibility. For example, “WCAG 2.1 Level AA” codifies the Department of Justice’s final rule on ADA Title II with respect to online content for public entities, including K-12 districts and public universities. So, in many situations, captioning is required, not just helpful.

Diversity Abounds

The community that makes up an education student body has evolved over the decades. Today, you’ll find students of all ages and from diverse backgrounds as international as any United Nations event. With that comes all manner of hearing abilities and languages—but that doesn’t mean any of those languages are what’s being spoken in the room.

Add to that the art of multitasking by many of today's students, where they slice their time in the classroom (if they’re in a room with others at all) across multiple activities and devices while lectures and classmate conversations unfold. Like me, some prefer to read transcripts rather than watch a video or listen to an audio recording; they may be a faster reader or their setting may just be more conducive to reading a transcript rather than experiencing a lecture in real time.

These are the dynamics that have propelled AI captioning or translation from advantageous to must-have. When evaluating these valuable solutions, buyers should consider aspects such as flexible pricing, ease of setup, accuracy, latency, allowance for custom word libraries, word filtering and substitution, automated indication of speaker change, automated punctuation insertion, a documented API for automation, file-based access to transcripts and sidecar files (used for adding captions to videos), and a live data feed to get captions and translation out to other platforms and systems. That’s quite a list, but they all matter when it comes to performance.

The better AI captioning systems add a grammar filter to know the right spelling (for example, “they’re,” “their,” or “there”), with latencies of three to four seconds for native captions. An additional second or two is acceptable for translations. The field of translation is evolving rapidly and getting better at managing word-order differences between languages.

Voice fingerprinting is also coming along fast. At first, in file-based material, a system could identify someone's voice in isolation so that the AI could ID the voice. It had time to process the file and provide their name along with their captioned words. Now, it’s possible to do this in real time with live captions as people speak, thanks to high-speed GPU processing.

One of the easiest ways to make spoken word content easier for folks in the classroom to absorb and retain is with a caption video display. Tech by companies such as ENCO makes this simple, with a local NUC-type PC running totally on-prem, using no internet, taking a local in-room mic feed, and displaying text captions on a video monitor of any size in real time.

Further, those captions can be sent to mobile sites or apps or other devices and recorded as text transcripts. After all, it's just data. Then, those transcripts can be married with video or audio recordings of the sessions later, making them highly searchable for students who want to go back and review targeted material again. All this can happen while allowing the instructors to upload custom word libraries, so the AI systems have a leg up on knowing about complex or uniquely spelled words and technical jargon.

This same technology is available today to support students who may not speak the native tongue. In some cases, you might need an Internet connection for live translations, but more companies are providing entire on-prem live translation capabilities as well. Users can even display both the in-room language captions and various other live transitions on the same screens or on other screens or devices in the room. (And don’t forget those multi-lingual transcripts.)

Keep in mind that many students also learn remotely. Today's technology can deliver these same live captions to where they learn, while still originating from the room where the little NUC computer resides. However, those captions and translations require relay through a public web server following standard datasec/cybersecurity policies. They can also be passed onto streaming encoders to feed streaming CDNs, a method traditionally closer to the proven CEA-608/708 closed captions that broadcasters use.

The Third Rail

Captions and transcripts are very much the “third rail” of content. When coupled with audio and video (live or recorded), they can be the gateway to identifying essential nuggets of information within hours of long recordings. Searchable transcripts can quickly return results—and with the right content management system, users can instantly link to the point in a recording where something specific was mentioned.

While smaller institutions might need an in-room, off-network portable caption cart for occasional captioning and translation needs, what if there are dozens of rooms that require captions? Not a problem—remember, it's all just data.

A central cluster of campus servers can feed classrooms around a connected campus, employing useful signal routing capabilities such as audio over IP to get in-room audio to the central servers. The same infrastructure can bring the caption text data back to the room to show on a video monitor via a tiny Raspberry Pi or similar small computer, with its web browser looking back to the proper server.

You can also bank transcripts from all the sessions, allowing students to access them later (based on user authentication controls, since not everyone has access to every class). An overall “conductor” application can oversee when sessions are routed to a caption engine where the captions and transcripts can be accessed.

The ability to caption speakers isn’t limited to the lecturer up front, of course, as ceiling-mount or other additional microphones can capture student questions and comments that inevitably take place. Some caption systems can even label the speakers, for example, as "lecturer" and "student."

When learning is paramount, the best educational environments make available the course material and dialogues in as many ways as the learner can absorb. AI tools are there to help make this highly affordable, flexible, and deployable across a variety of situations, buildings, technical environments, and other requirements.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Kelly Harlin, Director of Solutions Marketing and Commercialization at Sharp Imaging & Information Company of America

The cloud is fundamentally changing the AV landscape, shifting it from hardware-heavy setups to more flexible, software-driven platforms. As organizations adopt hybrid ways of working, AV has become essential to making collaboration feel seamless—whether people are in the office or working remotely. Cloud-based AV makes it easier to connect through video conferencing, shared content, and real-time collaboration tools, helping teams stay engaged and productive from anywhere.

One of the biggest advantages of cloud-based AV is how easily it scales. Organizations can roll out and manage AV across multiple locations without the need for large, upfront hardware investments. They can also adjust capacity as their needs change. With centralized, remote management, IT teams can monitor systems, push updates, and troubleshoot issues from anywhere, reducing downtime and lowering operational overhead.

We are also seeing that innovation drives faster adoption. Technologies like AV-over-IP and cloud-managed platforms are bringing AV and IT closer together, allowing systems to run on standard networks and integrate more easily with business applications. AI is adding another layer of intelligence, powering smarter cameras, better audio, and meeting spaces that can configure themselves. At the same time, open APIs are making it easier to build more connected, data-driven ecosystems.

As digital transformation continues to accelerate, cloud-based AV is evolving beyond a supporting tool into something much more strategic, helping organizations innovate, improve engagement, and better support how people work today.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Daniel Renne, Director of Emerging Technologies and Projects at Hall Technologies

Cloud-connected AV is rapidly shifting from a hardware-centric model to a data-centric ecosystem. Historically, the AV industry has lacked meaningful operational intelligence because most devices functioned as isolated endpoints with limited telemetry, analytics, or centralized visibility. As organizations continue adopting hybrid work, distributed campuses, and enterprise-wide collaboration standards, that model is no longer sustainable.

The next evolution of AV in the cloud is not simply remote management; it is intelligent data aggregation. Manufacturers and technology providers should be designing AV and IoT-enabled devices that securely capture operational, environmental, and usage data and route that information into centralized cloud platforms and data warehouses. Once data context exists at scale, organizations can apply AI and advanced analytics to uncover trends that were previously invisible.

The benefits are significant. End users gain deeper insight into room utilization, user behavior, technology adoption, and recurring integration issues. IT teams can proactively identify failures before they impact meetings—while also optimizing lifecycle planning, reducing downtime, and making more informed infrastructure investments. Cloud intelligence also creates opportunities for predictive maintenance, energy efficiency, and more personalized user experiences across enterprise environments.

However, organizations should approach cloud-connected AV strategically. Data governance, cybersecurity, and privacy must remain foundational considerations. Increased connectivity also introduces additional operational costs related to cloud infrastructure, storage, and ongoing device management. The industry must ensure that the value of data intelligence outweighs the complexity and cost associated with collecting and securing it.

Ultimately, AV in the cloud should not just connect devices; it should create actionable intelligence.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Jakub Kolacz, Manager of Product Management Software at Sennheiser

The shift to AV in the cloud reflects both a technological and operational evolution—one where systems are no longer treated as isolated room-based setups but as part of a broader, networked ecosystem. The defining trend is the move to centralized, cloud-based management platforms that provide continuous visibility into device health, configuration, and performance across multiple locations.

A key benefit of cloud platforms is the ability to remotely configure, monitor, and diagnose systems, allowing AV and IT teams to manage deployments proactively. For audio specifically, this means maintaining consistent performance by tracking device health, RF conditions, and firmware alignment from a unified interface. This is especially valuable in hybrid work scenarios, where the expectation is that every meeting delivers a reliable, high-quality experience regardless of location.

At the same time, centralized data unlocks deeper insights into usage patterns, fault trends, and environmental factors, informing better system design and ongoing optimization. Over time, this data foundation supports more advanced capabilities, including AI-driven monitoring and automated corrective actions, shifting teams toward oversight and governance rather than manual intervention.

That said, this transition comes with some important considerations. As AV systems become true network endpoints, they inherit IT-level requirements for security and compliance. Network stability is critical, and without it, the benefits of cloud management diminish. There is also a need for closer alignment between AV and IT teams, as shared ownership of systems can create complexities if responsibilities and workflows are not clearly defined.

Ultimately, cloud-based AV marks a shift from managing individual devices to managing system intelligence—but success depends on balancing innovation with infrastructure.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Lital Grossman, Executive Director for OpenAV Cloud

The cloud has transformed nearly every corner of enterprise technology. CRM, HR, finance, communications—all managed remotely, integrated seamlessly, and accessible from anywhere. It is now AV’s turn. But unlike those industries, AV is arriving at this moment carrying decades of proprietary infrastructure and siloed thinking.

The opportunity is significant. Cloud-connected AV means IT and facilities teams can monitor device health across hundreds of rooms from a single dashboard, respond to issues before they disrupt a meeting, automate workflows based on room status, and integrate AV systems with the scheduling, collaboration, and security platforms already running the enterprise. For end users, this translates to fewer disruptions, more reliable spaces, and technology that behaves like the rest of the IT stack—predictable, manageable, and scalable.

But the shift comes with real cautions. Not all cloud AV is created equal. Many vendors have moved infrastructure to the cloud while keeping their APIs closed, their data inaccessible, and their ecosystems locked. Organizations risk trading one form of dependency for another—swapping on-premise silos for cloud-based ones.

Security is another consideration that cannot be overstated. AV devices are increasingly IP-connected endpoints, and they need to be treated as such—with proper authentication, encrypted communication, role-based access, and documented protocols that IT and security teams can actually evaluate.

The path forward is openness. Cloud AV that exposes consistent, secure, read-write APIs gives organizations real choice—the ability to integrate best-of-breed solutions, build unified management layers, and avoid lock-in entirely.

The cloud moment for AV is here; the question is whether the industry will seize it openly, or simply rebuild the same walls in a new place.

AI capabilities in the AV industry are obviously accelerating rapidly—and with them comes a series of challenges. These include considerations around ethics and transparency about how AI is used, as well as training to ensure that teams across multiple parts of every business are using AI in a responsible way.

While the industry continues to navigate those challenges, it’s important to have some kind of formal accountability framework to keep everyone on the same page. Unfortunately, those frameworks have lagged behind the speed of development of AI tools.

That’s why we were really pleased to see the introduction of a new standard from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO 42001 is the world’s first AI management system standard, and it provides valuable guidance for the fast moving world of AI deployment.

What is ISO 42001?

According to the ISO, the standard is designed to “set out a structured way to manage risks and opportunities associated with AI, balancing innovation with governance.” It specifies the requirements for an organization to establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve an Artificial Intelligence Management System (AIMS) within organizations.

ISO 42001 supports businesses as they consider what they need when rolling out AI. It covers whatever AI tools are being used, as well as how best to manage AI projects, including the assessment and mitigation of risks.

The ISO outlines its target users for 42001 as organizations "providing or utilizing AI-based products or services" and its objective as making sure those organizations have the guidance they need to use AI responsibly and effectively, even while the technology continues to evolve.

Consider all this, we felt it was important for Pleneo to follow the standards set out by ISO 42001, and were pleased to be the first device manufacturer in AV and unified communications to achieve the certification laid out by the standard. But why is it important that not just us but the wider industry adheres to standardization like this? And how does it actually keep companies, particularly tech companies, accountable?

Responsibility and Compliance

One of the biggest considerations for AI adoption is making sure that you’re using tools in line with regulations and in the most responsible way. There are a lot of ethical concerns over the data that’s used to train neural networks and models. If data is from an unverifiable source, there might be issues around ownership or biases being embedded into a final product or service. This unverifiable data is what stops people from trusting many AI products, as does the environmental impact of large AI applications.

The governance around how you use and manage data in your systems also ties into the correct use of AI. The ethical and responsible considerations aside, any organization using AI must be compliant with regulations and legal requirements. As the technology continues to be rolled out, there’s only going to be more regulations on the way.

The ISO 42001 framework, and its adoption of the PDCA—or Plan-Do-Check-Act—methodology ensure that companies are continually reviewing their use of AI data across their business to make sure they’re in line and compliant. For Pleneo in particular, the certification validates the approach we’ve taken to embedding AI technologies within our platforms. We’re not leaning on larger datasets available to public-facing AI tools but are instead processing intelligence locally.

It’s this data processing that the ISO 42001 standard addresses. We know that our use of AI reduces cloud dependency and preserves privacy. And with this standard, we’re able to demonstrate to our users a responsibility with our AI adoption, and that they can trust our AI tools in the same way as any other products in our lineup. Trust is going to be key for the entire industry as AI adoption continues.

Guidance and Opportunity

Businesses across all industries are appointing AI evangelists within their ranks. The AV industry is no different. Regardless of whether they’re new hires or people taking on the mantle within existing roles, many are working with AI for the first time. ISO 42001 provides those people, and organizations more widely, with practical guidance on how to deploy AI in many different ways, and how to mitigate AI-specific risks effectively when they arise.

Handling these sorts of issues more easily opens the door to innovation. Less time spent handling risks means more time taking advantage of the opportunities that AI presents across things like product and service development. That’s what is possible with the right framework in place thanks to the standards outlined by ISO 42001.

For the Pro AV sector, and for modern workspaces in particular, AI is influencing how meetings are prioritized, interpreted, and experienced. Oversight of the technology needs to extend beyond data protection to the integrity and predictability of automated decision making itself.

Formal governance standards like those from ISO will set mature platforms apart from experimental implementations. This is what ensures that intelligent meeting environments are viewed not as emerging technology, but as reliable, accountable enterprise systems.

Beyond singing along to Neil Sedaka in the car, my friend has never been musically inclined. And yet, now he's a published songwriter.

He sent me a link and there it was, a Christmas song. It wasn't him singing, but it was a fully composed song. He wrote the lyrics and a prompt, and an online AI service built his musical vision.

I gotta try this, I thought. Finally, a chance to repair my relationship with AI. Between bad headshots and warped action figures, my AI experiments over the past couple of years, while fun, would probably not land in the win column.

I've always wanted to record music, but I was impeded by my musical limitations. Writing lyrics isn't the problem, and I could carry a tune in a bucket in my younger days. But my drumming is elementary at best, my keyboard work is weak on a good day, and I'm guessing at least two guitar manufacturers would gladly pay me to admit publicly that I don't use their gear. So, to make my rock star dreams a reality, I'd need a band, some sort of recording studio, and a substantial budget to pay for all of that.

Scratch that plan. Enter AI.

First, I needed a song. I've had a song title floating around my subconscious for a while, so I sat down and wrote "Rockin' Chair" in about 20 minutes. If you study the lyrics, you can pick up the subtext of getting older and the loss of youth. But mostly it's an invitation to get busy on the front porch. (Hey, this is rock 'n' roll, not a sewing circle.)

Then, on a lazy Saturday, I went to the Suno website on my personal laptop. It took a few minutes to register, a few minutes more to write a prompt, and maybe two minutes to type in the lyrics. So, let's say I invested about 30 minutes in the process.

Suno spit out several versions of my song in less than a minute. And they were good.

Oh, the cadence was off, and none of them sounded exactly like how I "heard" the song in my head. However, every version had a good beat, background vocals, solid instrument work, and all the spit and polish you'd expect from a hit single.

I literally closed my browser and walked away. Didn't even look at it for more than a week. Honestly, I needed to process what had just happened. In seconds, AI had made my song a reality. I hadn't even plugged in my amp.

At this stage of my life, I have no illusions of becoming a musical sensation. If everything goes right, maybe I'll make tens of cents in royalties from "Rockin' Chair" over the next decade, which will not even cover the cost to use the service for a month. Oh, you can get a taste for free, but if you want to tweak your song and avoid copyright issues, you'll need to spend some money.

But that's not the point, is it? The point is a guy who can only play a few chords on a guitar could publish a toe-tapping tune in less time than it took to write the lyrics.

That said, this is AI, which means it has to learn how to do all this, no doubt using data (read: songs) produced by copyrighted artists. Remember, AI is not about soul, it's about statistical patterns. Essentially, my song is a kernel of creativity wrapped in a cocoon of predictive chunks and synthesized production.

So, is Suno a shortcut? You bet. Does that make it less of a song? I'm not sure. After all, we've been listening to songs built around music samples for decades. One could argue that AI is the next step in that sort of musical evolution. And I have it on good authority that Nashville music pros are using Suno to quickly produce demos (and save a lot of money in the process).

I'm not ready to equate machine learning to inspiration. But I'll say this: I think "Rockin' Chair" is a good song—and without AI, it would have never existed beyond my notepad. Rock on.

Technology leadership does not only mean asking an industry for better products or faster roadmaps. Sometimes it means looking back at the assumptions that have served us well, and asking whether they still serve the future we now need to build.

One of those assumptions in the AV industry is standardization.

For years, standardization has been one of the most important operating principles in enterprise AV and collaboration. It has helped organizations scale, reduce complexity, improve supportability, control cost, and create more consistent user experiences. Indeed, I spent more than a decade leading an organization that built its value proposition on the principle of Scale, Standardization, Simplification, & Speed.

We all know our industry's journey. There was a time when AV-enabled spaces were relatively few. Organizations invested only in the most important rooms. Bespoke design was possible because the volume was manageable.

Then the world changed.

Collaboration became more central to how organizations worked. Video became normal. Hybrid work expanded the pressure on meeting environments. Costs came down. Expectations went up. The challenge was no longer a handful of premium rooms. It was tens, hundreds, or thousands of spaces. In that reality, standardization was not only logical. It was a rational and required response to scale.

We have seen similar patterns in other industries. Local, highly human-scale models gave way to larger systems built around consistency, efficiency, and scale. Then, disruptive digital platforms introduced a third possibility: combining scale with greater personalization and relevance. We all know those stories, from Amazon to Netflix and beyond.

I believe that moment has arrived for our industry!

Change in an Era of AI

There will always be a place for highly customized spaces: executive environments, boardrooms, innovation labs, teaching studios, immersive rooms, command centres, and other spaces where deeper tailoring is justified. But for the broader enterprise estate, the old trade-off between scale and personalized fit is going to change in an AI era. Not because AI is a magic wand, but because it is relevant to addressing the very frictions that standardization was designed to manage.

We know that in the past, more capability meant more complexity. More flexibility meant more support burden. More customization meant more cost and inconsistency. That was not practical, which is why we simplified and standardized. Simplified room types, user interfaces, and feature sets. Exactly what was required to make the overall experience usable and manageable.

But there is a difference between simplifying because users have simple needs, and simplifying because our legacy systems and workflows could not manage complexity.

And that distinction matters.

Meeting and learning spaces were not simplified because users all wanted the same experience, but because more capability created too much friction to justify otherwise. So we designed interfaces to meet the lowest common user denominator. And in turn, we answered the needs of the supporting stakeholders as well, because the cost of variation was too high.

That made sense, but it also created a hidden effect. One of the hidden risks of standardization is that it does not only standardize solutions, it can standardize imagination. Over time, the constraints of a model become so familiar that we stop seeing them as constraints.

But what if some of those assumptions were actually just necessary coping mechanisms? Did we standardize because it represented the best possible experience, or because variation was too difficult to deliver, support, govern, or evolve?

That is not a criticism of the past, but a challenge for the future. It is not that we built the wrong rooms in the past. It is that in a new AI reality, the game itself has changed.

And that is what makes this new era so difficult.

Decisions in a Period of Unparalleled Uncertainty

End-user AV technology managers are being asked to make decisions in a period of unparalleled uncertainty, yet with traditional inertia. The investment decisions being asked of them today are expected to serve organizations for years ahead, yet they are being made in a reality where AI will change workflows, user expectations, interface models, support structures, and the role of the physical workplace itself in ways we cannot yet fully imagine.

That is a hard position to be in. It is easy to say “be more innovative, evolved, prepared” from the outside. It is much harder to put your name to decisions when the crystal ball is murkier than ever, and the consequences of getting it wrong may become visible sooner than ever.

So, the practical question is not whether every future capability is ready to deploy tomorrow. The better question is whether today’s standards, partner relationships, and decision criteria are preparing your organization to take advantage of that future potential or constraining it.

I do not believe the future is a pendulum swing from standardization back to customization. The better proposition is that the very definition of standards needs to evolve to create an entirely new paradigm.

Consider that historically, a room standard meant a fixed room type, equipment package, UI, capability set, and lifecycle expectation. A comprehensively defined answer built heavily upon the realities of traditional physical construction and real estate lifecycles.

In the next model, a standard may need to become more than just a defined answer. It may need to become more of a foundation.

The physical infrastructure, network requirements, security model, platform architecture, interoperability principles, and support processes may still need to be standardized. But above that foundation, the experience layer must become increasingly adaptive and digitally agile. One that can behave and equip users differently for a project review than for executive alignment. Differently for training than for ideation.

The room may be physically the same. The experience may not be.

That is the new possibility. The emergence of standardized infrastructure with adaptive experience.

That is how we can truly serve diverse users, activities, and outcomes, while leveraging that diversity as the very reason we convene people in the first place. All the reasons that were not possible in the past are eroding before our eyes.

Embrace that concept, and it frankly changes the role and importance of the end-user AV technology manager. The job is no longer simply to define the right room standards and defend them over a five-year lifecycle. Rather, the job is to build the conditions through which collaboration environments can evolve as capability, user expectation, organizational need, and AI-enabled possibility change around them. It is to recognize that we cannot deliver tomorrow’s adaptive collaboration expectations through models built around yesterday’s static propositions.

So the next leadership question is not simply “what can we standardize?”

It is “what should our standards enable?”

That is a very different question.

Manage and Mitigate Opportunities and Risks

Of course, I am not suggesting we all just embrace AI enthusiasm and unbridled optimism. But as in any time of change and lack of clarity, it means developing a strategy to manage and mitigate both the opportunities and risks ahead.

That strategy will, of course, not look the same for every organization. A global bank, university, healthcare provider, government agency, technology company, law firm, and manufacturer will each have different collaboration realities. But here are a few universal questions you might ask of your current standards to catalyze the mindset shifts we all need to embrace.

>> Which current standards still deliver value because they improve reliability, consistency, security, supportability, or user confidence?

>> Which exists because variation was historically too difficult to manage?

>> What infrastructure truly needs to remain fixed and physical, and what could become more flexible and digital?

>> Where might today’s standards, even unintentionally, limit tomorrow’s capability?

A “medium meeting room” is not a meeting purpose. A classroom is not automatically a learning experience. As we move from an era of equipping rooms to enabling outcomes, true leadership will be about understanding what people are actually trying to achieve in these spaces: deciding, creating, teaching, selling, learning, aligning, innovating, or responding to change. Understanding those patterns will become the critical capability in enabling spaces to adapt to real-time context and application.

Of course, that should change conversations with the supply chain: vendors, integrators, consultants, and service providers. They should not only be challenged on what they can deliver today, but on their vision of the future, and how they can help you prepare for it. In an AI era, the value of a partner may increasingly depend less on whether they can deliver an agreed standard today and more on how they can help that standard evolve tomorrow.

The risk of not making these sorts of foundational adjustments is not just technical debt, financial write-off, or user dissatisfaction. If collaboration is becoming the critical infrastructure of innovation, then the cost of rigidity becomes a constraint on organizational speed. A room standard anchored in yesterday's thinking that cannot evolve may slow more than a technology refresh. It may slow how quickly an organization can embrace the new ways of working of an AI age. And that should be a critical concern for every organization.

Across the industry, we need to embrace the fact that the game has changed. The constraint set is changing. The expectations of users, teams, and organizations are changing faster than traditional meeting room lifecycles were ever designed to absorb. So if that old model treated standards as fixed answers, the next model should treat them as adaptive foundations. The goal is not to choose between consistency and personalization. It is to create the conditions where consistency, governance, supportability, and scale can coexist with far greater human relevance, flexibility, and transformative future capability.

The industry can build products. Vendors can develop platforms. Integrators can deliver systems. Consultants can advise. But end users live in the real organizational context. They know the workflows, constraints, cultures, frustrations, security realities, support burdens, and business priorities that determine whether technology creates value and impact, or merely fills rooms.

So, whether you are an end-user Collaboration Enablement leader, or wherever else you might sit in the industry, I leave you to consider this.

Will the next “standard” you develop be anchored on a room type at all? Or might it be based upon the foundational principle of adaptability itself?

And if that is indeed the case, what might need to change in you, your team, and your organization to make that a reality?

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Steven Hoenig, Senior Director, Portfolio Expansion Program Management at Legrand | AV

The shift to cloud-managed AV isn’t just a technology upgrade; it’s a fundamental rethinking of how AV/IT teams operate. For institutions and organizations managing dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of spaces, the traditional break-fix model has a ceiling. Cloud platforms remove that ceiling.

The clearest benefit is visibility. Cloud-managed infrastructure lets you see early warning signs—unusual power draw, devices going offline, and patterns that precede failure—before anyone picks up the phone. That shift from reactive to proactive fundamentally changes what a small AV/IT team can manage effectively.

Scalability follows naturally. A team of three shouldn’t be limited to what three people can physically touch. Remote power management, automated monitoring, and developer-accessible APIs scale reach far beyond headcount. Automation handles the routine; staff focus on work that requires human judgment.

Energy management is underappreciated. Scheduled power-down routines for high-draw equipment during off-hours yield meaningful consumption reductions—relevant for any organization with sustainability commitments or operating cost pressures.

The cautions are worth noting. Network reliability becomes foundational; monitoring is only as good as your connectivity. Data security and access control require deliberate architecture, especially in sensitive environments. And cloud management without an operational framework generates a lot of data with no clear use for it.

The organizations getting the most out of AV in the cloud aren’t just using new tools; they’re redefining what their teams are capable of.

June came to a scorching hot close with Pro AV personnel announcements and partnership news, and that momentum has carried over to July. We had a Broadcast AV acquisition, while Adder, Ampetronic | Listen Technologies, Epiphan Video, and FOR-A made strategic appointments and hires, while Visionary, Chryon, and Owl Labs offer new trainings and services.

[The SCN July Issue Is Here: Dive Into an AI Future]

In acquisition news, Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien Systeme GmbH. This transaction is expanding its service portfolio to include in-depth expertise in the areas of studio and production technology, media IT, control center and control room systems, and customized hardware and software development.

As an independent company and an established brand with offices in Mainz and Vienna, BFE will become part of the Broadcast Solutions Group. The existing shareholders, Martin Dempf and Sven Hesselbach, will continue to jointly manage the company as managing directors. Peter Dinkel and Doris Hartl will continue to lead BFE in Vienna as managing directors. Customers and partners will not experience any changes to their points of contact, ongoing projects or services.

Now, make that cup of coffee, sit back, and get caught up on the week that was in your Monday dose of Pro AV Newsmakers.

Neil Hillier Appointed CEO to Lead Next Chapter at Adder

Adder Technology has appointed Neil Hillier as chief executive officer as part of a planned leadership transition and strengthened executive structure designed to support Adder’s continued growth, innovation, and global expansion. Additionally, Adder appointed: Paul Allen to chief financial officer; Jamie Adkin to VP of global sales; and Duncan Miller to VP global marketing and customer experience to bring together marketing, customer experience, and professional services and support.

Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transitions to the role of founder and executive chair following 42 years leading the business, with Nigel Dickens moving to Emeritus CTO. Hillier’s appointment aligns with the long-term stewardship principles established through the company’s recently announced Employee Ownership Trust.

Since joining the company in 2016, Hillier has played a key role in helping drive more than 70% revenue growth, building on the company’s global market position and helping shape its long-term strategy. With over two decades in the KVM industry, Hillier brings broad leadership experience spanning engineering, technology, operations and commercial management.

Ampetronic | Listen Technologies Strengthens Executive Leadership Team

Listen Technologies and Ampetronic have promoted Kevin Jewkes to SVP of global revenue and named Alan Kennedy VP of operations. Jewkes is responsible for Ampetronic | Listen Technologies’ overall sales strategy, sales operations, team leadership, and global go-to-market execution across North America and international markets. He strengthens and grows channel and partnership programs and works with the chief marketing officer and also collaborates with product management to ensure customer and market insights inform product strategy.

Kennedy is responsible for the strategy, performance, and scalability of the organization’s operational engine. He ensures that supply chain, manufacturing, logistics, quality, facilities, and IT operate as a unified system to reliably deliver products, support growth, and meet customer commitments. His background and experience are well-suited to translating company and product strategy into operational architecture that will enable the organization to scale efficiently.

Daktronics Sarah Rose Inducted to IDEA Hall of Fame

Sarah Rose, VP of global services at Daktronics will be honored by the Information Display & Entertainment Association (IDEA) at the 2026 IDEA Conference in Cincinnati, OH. Rose, along with John Adams of The Score, are two long-time fixtures in the sports industry who will be inducted into the IDEA Hall of Fame at a formal ceremony on July 15 during the conference.

Rose leads Daktronics’ global technical and professional services teams. She ensures they are fully equipped to deliver an outstanding customer experience by fostering a learning approach, both internally and externally. Previously, she managed the service teams for large sports venues, rental and staging, and international markets.

She has been a regular IDEA Conference attendee and influencer for more than 25 years. She represented a Daktronics team that received a total of 14 Allied Achievement GMAs and the President’s award in 1999. Her passion and activism for IDEA are always on display, serving on various committees, including Women and Inclusion & Outreach, which introduces high school and college students to careers in the industry.

Epiphan Video Appoints George Birchall as Chief Executive Officer

Epiphan Video has appointed George Birchall as chief executive officer. Birchall, formerly chief commercial officer, succeeds founder Mike Sandler, who will transition into the role of president.

Birchall has played a central role in expanding Epiphan's global commercial operations, deepening partner engagement, and driving the adoption of Epiphan solutions across multiple markets. As CEO, he leads the company's day-to-day operations, strategic growth initiatives, and ongoing investments in innovation.

FOR-A America Expands U.S. Sales Team

FOR-A America has added two regional sales leaders. Both Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz come with a wealth of experience in SaaS platforms, AI-driven live production technology, and IP-based workflows. Cruz and Wray help advance customers’ vision and success with revived energy and excitement.

Wray’s sales and project management experience extends beyond media and entertainment to telecommunications, working with companies such as NEP, Ross Video, and Barco. Cruz led business development for the Corporate, Education, and Government segments of Sony Professional and Phantom/Vision Research, and most recently drove the global promotion and sales acceleration of SMPTE ST 2110 and IPMX solutions for Macnica Americas.

Company News

BirdDog's Entire Product Line Is Now NDI 6.3 Compatible

NDI announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its entire product lineup of cameras, encoders, and decoders. BirdDog hardware now natively supports NDI 6.3’s enhanced discoverability features. Those features include active Discovery Server registration through the new Sender Advertiser APIs, hostname-based device grouping, and real-time property broadcasting. This makes scalable IP video deployments far simpler, especially in segmented enterprise networks where that kind of simplicity has historically been difficult to achieve.

Before NDI 6.3, scaling across subnets was manual and complex. Discovery Server setup, IP tracking, and mDNS limitations made it difficult for sources and receivers to connect across VLANs. NDI 6.3 fixes that at the protocol level. Compatible BirdDog devices now auto-register with a central Discovery Server, route video via unicast, and send real-time status updates, significantly reducing deployment overhead.

Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy:

The all-new Chyron Academy has officially launched, a ground-up redesign of the company’s product-training platform. Built on a fully custom, Chyron-branded learning experience, the new Academy replaces Chyron’s previous training system based on a third-party platform and launches with learning content covering the latest version of PRIME, Chyron’s flagship real-time broadcast graphics platform.

Chyron Academy is designed to serve two audiences at once: Customers and freelancers training on PRIME for the first time, and longtime Chyron users looking to become experts in the platform’s latest capabilities. Over the life of the previous legacy training program, more than 3,700 broadcast professionals registered to train on Chyron products, earning nearly 1,900 belt certifications across PRIME, PAINT, and Click Effects, including more than 60 Certified PRIME Black Belts worldwide. Chyron has transitioned that community to the new platform, migrating more than 950 current learners, along with the full certification history for every learner.

The redesigned Academy centers on a PRIME Belt certification path, taking learners through four levels—Yellow (Designer Basics), Green (Intermediate), Blue (Advanced), and Black (Expert)—with earned badges and completion dates appearing on each learner’s dashboard as a visual record of skill mastery. Every course module pairs a demo with a hands-on, full-screen simulation, so learners practice real PRIME workflows, such as building a lower-third graphic step by step, rather than passively watching video. An animated progress dial fills as learners complete demos, simulations, and quizzes, with a belt certification awarded automatically at 100% completion. Learners can enroll and move through the belt levels at their own pace. The program is suitable for individual learners, or supervisors or instructors can monitor the progress of their teams. The platform launches with five published PRIME courses spanning roughly 150 hands-on lessons, demos, simulations, and quizzes combined.

Owl Labs Launches Owl 360 Services

Owl Labs recently introduced Owl 360 Services, its first subscription service built to meet the needs of IT administrators. As organizations look to support hybrid work with deeper video enablement across more spaces, Owl 360 Services delivers three subscription tiers, offering dedicated support, centralized device management, proactive insights, and warranty coverage scaled to the size and complexity of the deployment.

The newly launched, highest-value Enterprise tier delivers a premium channel partner-only offering with advanced analytics, dedicated account management, and four-year warranty coverage, while the Enhanced tier will follow soon in Q3 with advanced analytics, dashboards, and API integrations. Every Owl Labs device is enrolled in the Core tier at no additional costs, giving all customers built-in analytics from the start. All three tiers provide unique insights, including talk-time insights, meeting duration tracking, visibility into the most frequently used devices and rooms, bulk deployment capabilities, reliable update management, and improved device tracking.

PlexusAV Appoints SINIUS PRO GmbH as New Distribution Partner

PlexusAV appointed SINIUS PRO GmbH as its distribution partner for Germany. The partnership will support PlexusAV’s continued growth in the German market, providing system integrators and AV professionals with access to its high-performance, open-architecture AV over IP solutions based on the IPMX standard.

The announcement follows a meeting at the EAV Group Solution Center in Heilbronn, Germany, bringing together the PlexusAV and SINIUS PRO teams. Through this partnership, SINIUS PRO will provide local market expertise, technical support and access to PlexusAV’s AV over IP solutions for system integrators and AV professionals across Germany.

Screen Innovations and Shade Innovations Unleash AI-Powered Support Agent

Screen Innovations (SI) and Shade Innovations have unveiled ATEN, an AI-powered support assistant built exclusively for its global network of dealers and installers. Named after the ancient Egyptian sun god whose light reached everyone, everywhere, ATEN was designed to provide instant access to SI expertise—anytime, from anywhere. Whether at a desk, on a jobsite, or atop a ladder on a late Sunday evening, dealers and installers can access accurate guidance and answers in seconds through text or voice.

Purpose-built for the custom integration industry, ATEN has been trained on SI's extensive library of product documentation, recorded support calls, installation guides, specifications, technical resources, and support knowledge. ATEN delivers immediate assistance across the company's entire portfolio, including motorized screens, window coverings, Black Diamond, SI Motor Technology, Zigbee and PoE protocols, the SI Ecosystem, drapery solutions, and more.

Visionary Level 1 Technical Training Approved for AVIXA CTS Renewal Units

Visionary Solutions' Level 1 Technical Training has been approved by AVIXA as a CTS Renewal Unit (RU) Provider course. The in-person training program is approved for 3.5 renewal units for CTS, CTS-D, CTS-I and Audiovisual Network Professional (ANP) certifications through May 31, 2028.

Visionary's Level 1 course provides an introduction to Visionary's AV over IP product portfolio and the foundational knowledge required to deploy audiovisual systems. Designed for system integrators, IT professionals, and technical support personnel new to Visionary products, the course covers network configuration, VLite installation and operation, encoder and decoder configuration, deployment best practices, third-party control integration, and system troubleshooting.

Participants gain an understanding of core AV over IP concepts, Visionary's product portfolio and system architecture, network considerations for reliable audiovisual distribution and best practices for system design and deployment. Course participants will learn how to deploy Visionary's solutions in bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environments and configure VLANs to separate video and audio traffic across different networks. The hands-on curriculum also covers endpoint configuration and management, troubleshooting techniques and operational workflows commonly encountered in professional AV environments.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: John Kruse, Senior Field Solutions Architect at ViewSonic

Cloud is no longer an emerging concept in Pro AV; it’s becoming the operational backbone for how systems are deployed, managed, and scaled.

For many organizations, the primary benefit is visibility. Cloud-based platforms provide centralized monitoring across rooms, buildings, and global campuses, allowing IT teams to proactively identify issues, push updates, and maintain consistent performance without being physically present. This shift is especially valuable as AV footprints expand and support resources remain constrained.

Scalability is another key advantage. New rooms and devices can be onboarded quickly, configurations can be standardized, and updates can be deployed broadly with minimal disruption. This reduces deployment friction and shortens the time between design and usability.

Cloud also enables better data-driven decisions. Usage analytics, system health metrics, and performance trends give organizations insight into how spaces are actually being used—informing future investments and helping justify budgets with real data. Platforms like ViewSonic’s myViewBoard Manager, for example, reflect this shift by enabling centralized, cloud-based device management and remote control across distributed display environments.

However, moving AV into the cloud is not without considerations. Security and compliance must be addressed up front. AV devices are now part of the broader IT ecosystem, requiring alignment with network policies, authentication standards, and data governance practices. Organizations in regulated industries may face additional scrutiny around where data is stored and how it is transmitted.

There is also a dependency on network reliability. Cloud-managed systems assume consistent connectivity, and outages—whether local or upstream—can impact control, monitoring, or functionality.

Ultimately, cloud in AV is less about convenience and more about operational maturity. Organizations that approach it strategically—balancing scalability with security—will be better positioned to manage growing AV ecosystems with confidence.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Petro Shimonishi, Director of New Business Development at Panasonic Projector & Display Americas

The AV industry is undergoing a meaningful transformation, shifting from isolated, hardware-centric systems to open, cloud-connected ecosystems. This evolution is less about moving AV to the cloud and more about extending its capabilities through connectivity, interoperability, and intelligent management.

A defining trend is the move toward open, platform-agnostic systems. As organizations deploy increasingly complex technology stacks, seamless communication across devices is now essential. Historically, proprietary protocols made multi-vendor deployments difficult to manage, which is why industry collaboration is critical. Efforts like the OpenAV Cloud Association are helping drive standardization across device telemetry, cloud-to-cloud communication, security models, and open APIs.

At Panasonic Projector & Display Americas, we’ve embraced this shift as a founding member of the OpenAV Cloud Association and by introducing web-based APIs across our projector and display portfolio. These APIs enable third-party integration and allow external applications to monitor and control devices over IP networks. Through our partnership with XYTE, users gain real-time visibility and remote management.

The benefits of cloud-connected ecosystems are clear: improved system visibility, faster troubleshooting, reduced downtime, and more scalable deployments.

However, there are important considerations. Security and data protection remain top priorities, as connected devices introduce new potential attack surfaces. This is why cloud solutions must incorporate secure communication protocols and rigorous standards such as SOC2 compliance—supported by Panasonic’s ongoing firmware updates and XYTE’s secure cloud infrastructure. Reliability is another concern. That’s why it’s important that Panasonic solutions continue to operate locally, even if the network goes down. Meanwhile, avoiding proprietary lock-in provides long-term flexibility, while clear data policies and total cost visibility support smarter long-term decisions.

Ultimately, cloud-enabled AV should help organizations work smarter and respond faster while staying secure and flexible.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Toine Leerentveld, Director of Product Management, Cloud and Control Services at Crestron

Most conversations about AV in the cloud still focus on what moves where. The more useful question is, what changes about the relationship between vendor, integrator, and customer once the control layer becomes software?

Start with deployment: Cloud-managed AV should reduce the number of people who need to be in the room, literally and figuratively. Crestron built the XiO Cloud platform around that idea, letting one technician provision and monitor a global room footprint from a single dashboard, and turning most truck rolls into remote sessions. The measure of success is not the dashboard itself, but how much faster a new site comes online compared to five years ago.

The control layer is where the bigger shift happens. Crestron Virtual Control (VC-4) can run in a customer's private cloud or existing virtualized environment, scaling from a single room license to enterprise deployments at the customer's pace rather than the vendor's. Growth and upgrades stop being hardware events. That changes the procurement cycle, the refresh cycle, and, eventually, the org chart on the customer side.

Security gets glossed over in this conversation more than it should. Microphones, cameras, and room sensors tied to cloud services create a different threat model than legacy AV. Crestron treats security as a development discipline, with encrypted communications, role-based access, and a real vulnerability response program. The vendors who do the same will pull away from the ones who treat it as a press release.

The last shift is feedback velocity. Software updates ship in weeks, whereas hardware revisions took years, which means a customer request can become a feature inside the same budget cycle. The vendors who actually use that speed will define the next decade of this category.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Adam Sowers, Senior Manager, Business Development at Sony Electronics

Like most areas of modern business and everyday life, AV has shifted to the cloud. As organizations move away from on-prem hardware, AV-as-a-Service (AVaaS) has become a practical, forward-looking model—one that delivers value today while remaining flexible for what’s next.

The benefits are clear. Cloud-based AV improves efficiency, accessibility, and consistency while centralizing visibility and control. Teams gain real-time insight into device health and usage, issues can be identified before they become outages, and the need for on-site maintenance is reduced. Additionally, collaboration becomes more reliable and repeatable across locations.

At the platform level, different solutions serve different roles. Sony’s Device Management Platform (DMP) is purpose-built to manage Sony’s displays, offering device-specific monitoring, control, analytics, and software management that are tightly aligned with Sony hardware. In parallel, Xyte provides an open, hardware-agnostic cloud platform designed to manage devices from multiple manufacturers through a single pane of glass. That openness is especially valuable for organizations and integrators supporting mixed AV environments.

Together, these cloud platforms integrate with content providers to enable seamless digital signage, while cloud collaboration tools support consistent meeting experiences that promote meeting equity. Subscription-based models further simplify budgeting and improve cost predictability.

As with any cloud strategy, success starts with a reliable network, well-defined security and compliance requirements, and alignment with vendors that prioritize interoperability over lock-in.

This is why Sony, Xyte, and other AV manufacturers and technology providers support OpenAV Cloud—an industry initiative focused on driving collaboration, standards, and interoperability for the long-term benefit of integrators and end users.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Joe Andrulis, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at Biamp

The audiovisual industry has reached a pivotal moment. Comprehensive, cloud-based software solutions now deliver what organizations have long sought: a unified platform for managing AV environments throughout their complete lifecycle from anywhere in the world. From initial design concepts through deployment, real-time monitoring, continuous optimization, and daily use, modern cloud-based management platforms provide AV and IT teams with integrated tools at every critical stage. This end-to-end approach reinforces organizations' commitment to connecting people through extraordinary audiovisual experiences across their global operations.

These maturing, cloud-based desktop applications, such as Biamp Workplace, are transforming how AV installers work on-site and remotely, relieving common pressures during installation and commissioning. Built-in intelligent tools enable automated device discovery, streamlined firmware management, and intuitive device configuration. Perhaps most revolutionary is that AI agents are now assisting technicians in configuring devices properly, dramatically reducing setup time and eliminating guesswork during large-scale deployments.

What makes these AV management solutions truly versatile is operational flexibility. Whether teams work fully on premises, remotely, or in hybrid scenarios, the same powerful capabilities remain accessible. Platforms that can support offline or hybrid workflows can also help maintain continuity and momentum regardless of network conditions, supporting productive, consistent workflows. This adaptability means faster commissioning cycles and greater confidence in deployment outcomes, especially for environments that must continue to operate regardless of network conditions.

Ultimately, the holy grail of AV management is within reach: providing organizations with unprecedented control over their entire AV infrastructure at every stage. Whether operating in the cloud, on-premise, or through hybrid architectures, today's comprehensive platforms enable seamless oversight from initial design and deployment through ongoing optimization and support to product end of life—delivering the visibility, efficiency, and reliability that modern audiovisual environments demand.

AVT Question: Please share insights and trends on AV/IT in the cloud, including the benefits and cautions.

Thought Leader: Mohammad Al-Taraireh, Director of Product Management at Shure

As enterprises standardize collaboration spaces across campuses, regions, and hybrid work environments, AV is no longer a one-time room build; it’s becoming a managed service. The shift to cloud-connected AV reflects a broader reality: IT teams are being asked to deliver consistent experiences at scale while keeping systems secure, supportable, and measurable over time.

The biggest benefit of cloud-based AV is not only remote access, but, most importantly, operational control. When devices are connected through a cloud management layer, organizations gain centralized visibility into what’s deployed, what’s healthy, and what needs attention. That makes it possible to apply a fleet mindset: consistent configurations across room types, faster rollout of standardized templates, and proactive monitoring that identifies issues before they disrupt meetings. In practical terms, cloud management reduces truck rolls; shortens time-to-resolution; and helps maintain a predictable user experience, whether a space is a huddle room or a large, divisible conference room.

Interoperability remains essential, especially as Microsoft Teams and Zoom become the standard interface for daily work. Cloud-connected AV can support repeatable designs that align audio performance to certified room environments, helping reduce inconsistency and rework across varied spaces.

However, cloud connectivity raises important precautions. Organizations should evaluate security and governance first, including role-based administration; authentication alignment with IT identity practices; and clear policies for device onboarding, updates, and access control. Network readiness also matters. Segmenting AV endpoints, confirming bandwidth and quality-of-service, and planning for lifecycle management are key to ensuring reliability.

Ultimately, cloud-based AV enables scale without sacrificing control and turns room technology into an enterprise system that can be monitored, governed, and continuously improved.

Artificial intelligence has taken over Pro AV. At least, it feels that way. New products tout “AI this” or “AI that.” Some folks brag how AI is simplifying their inbox or streamlining their reports, while others fear for their jobs. Every professional conversation somehow seems to wind its way back to AI.

Once we get past summaries that reduce hourlong meetings into bullet points and Instagram videos that trample on intellectual properties for comedic effect, what does it all mean? From machine learning to large language models (LLMs), how is AI truly impacting the Pro AV industry today, and what can we expect in the coming years?

To find the answers, SCN reached out to industry futurists and technologists to collect their thoughts on the current state of AI in Pro AV—and explore potential roadmaps into our industry's next chapters.

Accentuate the Positive

Julian Phillips, SVP and managing director of XTG, the AVI-SPL Experience Technology Group, has spoken extensively about AI and last year released LevAIthan: A Brief History of Humanity and AI, a book co-authored with Athena, his AI assistant. In his book, he argued that we should stop calling it “artificial intelligence” and start calling it “augmented intelligence.” His point is that AI’s greatest value is in strengthening people, not replacing them.

“If we call it artificial intelligence, we think substitution. If we call it augmented intelligence, we think amplification,” he explained. “The wording matters because language shapes strategy. The best AI does not remove the human being from the experience; it makes the human more capable within it.”

According to Phillips, AI is most powerful when it helps designers, technicians, support teams, and end users work faster, smarter, and with greater confidence. “At AVI-SPL, for example, Symphony helps organizations monitor and manage assets across the network, identify issues earlier, and support users more proactively,” Phillips said. “That is a practical example of intelligence improving both operational performance and the user experience.”

In his role at Midwich, Chris Neto, head of emerging markets, revealed that AI is changing the conversation both internally at and with external vendor partners. “'Emerging markets' used to mean geography. Now it also means capability,” he said. “AI is accelerating that shift. Markets and verticals that may have lagged in the traditional sense now have the opportunity to leapfrog through software-driven, AI-enabled solutions.”

And that’s where Neto’s role is evolving. “It’s no longer just about identifying where growth might happen,” he said, “it’s about helping our teams within Midwich understand what’s possible and then extending that insight to our vendors and manufacturer partners so we can move together, faster and more strategically. AI doesn’t replace strategy, but it absolutely sharpens it.”

Of course, the willingness to integrate AI with AV systems depends entirely on the client, said Rich Green, president and CEO of Rich Green Design. "We’re still very early in the AI journey," he said, "so what my clients demand is superb audio, superb video, and flawless connectivity. Our job as integrators is to help them understand how AI fits into their broader digital transformation strategy. If AI can improve speech intelligibility or automate presentation connectivity, hooray! If it gets in the way, VC partners get ornery."

Perceptions and Realities

So, is AI being perceived in Pro AV as a godsend or a job killer? If you ask Neto, it's following a very familiar pattern.

“Every major shift, from DSP to networked AV to the cloud, came with the same fear cycle,” he said. “AI is just the latest iteration. The difference now is the speed and accessibility. The people who see it as a job killer are usually thinking about tasks. The people who see it as a tool are thinking about outcomes.”

"The Pro AV industry has always relied heavily on automated workflows, and AI represents a new era for efficiency," added David Labuskes, CEO of AVIXA. "Adopting AI requires thoughtful consideration of how it fits into current systems and processes. In some cases, it may accelerate tasks or simplify programming, but the fundamentals remain the same: Professionals are still defining the goals, guiding the system, and validating the outcomes."

AVIXA maintained a pragmatic view of AI in its education program at InfoComm 2026. "AVIXA is focused on what’s actually happening with AI today," Labuskes said. "We’ve moved past the phases of 'AI will do everything' and 'AI isn’t doing most of those things.' Instead, we’re now in a phase where practical applications are emerging and adoption is steadily growing. Rather than focusing on fears of widespread job loss, the emphasis is on how people are actually using AI in their day-to-day roles to work more efficiently and effectively."

Phillips warned that AI literacy is vital in today's Pro AV workplace, because AI is entering the workplace—whether people are ready for it or not. "In modern Pro AV, understanding AI is becoming as important as understanding signal flow," he said. "AI literacy matters because it helps people separate real capability from hype. It helps them ask better questions, apply the tools responsibly, and have more credible conversations with customers who are already looking at how AI fits into their workplace strategies. This is not about keeping up, it's about staying ahead."

Joe Andrulis, EVP of corporate development for Biamp, expects AI will empower productivity gains, because it eliminates training barriers and helps workers come up to speed more rapidly. "With AI, products get easier to implement because the products themselves incorporate artificial intelligence to make setup more dependable and to handle situations dynamically," he explained. "However, I don’t know the net effect, positive or negative. I think the effect of AI will be varied by sector and by application area. Some jobs are going to be greatly enhanced, and AI will be a big boost to AV, while others might be negatively impacted."

For example, Andrulis acknowledged that one of the big challenges in the dealer community has been finding qualified people. "The more that AV systems can incorporate intelligence natively, the more easily integrators can install systems with less specialized workers, which can make it easier to hire while also ensuring a more standardized outcome across geographies," he said. "In the past, customers were often willing to pay for high-value installation services, but that was very difficult for dealers to scale as the pool of qualified experts is very limited. With AI, they are giving up some of that high-value work, but in return they get scale. Scale is how dealers can win with AI."

Aim Higher

"On the design and pre-construction side, AI tools are meaningfully accelerating how integrators work," Green observed. "AI can help parse complex RFPs, draft system narratives, cross-reference equipment specifications, and even generate first-pass signal flow documentation. Work that used to take days can now take an hour. That's not a small thing because it frees up real time for the higher-value, higher-judgment work that actually requires a human expert."

That expertise is an indispensable part of equation. "We dare not underestimate the human in the loop," Green warned. "Nurturing talented and competent professional humans is the most important path to sustained success and prosperity. The liability and the craft are still ours to own."

AV has always been built on relationships, trust, and experience, which Neto said AI can’t replace. Instead, AI removes friction. “It handles the repeatable, the predictable, and the scalable, which frees us up to focus on what actually matters: creativity, customer experience, and quality service,” he said. “So no, it’s not killing jobs, but it is going to expose complacency.”

Based on discussions with clients and other integrators, Dave Van Hoy, president of Advanced Systems Group, said defining what AI is for Pro AV really depends on who you ask. “AI is a buzzword. AI is an initiative. AI is an actual functional tool. We're at the evolution of these tools, where all these things are true,” he offered. “It’s in many applications. It's a management initiative with no clear definition. It's being used today in everything from camera tracking to closed captioning, graphics generation, and many other things."

AVIXA research shows a shift toward practical adoption. According to Labuskes, studies of AI use in the Pro AV workplace show significant growth in implementation, along with increased recognition of its benefits, particularly since the rise of GenAI. "While AI continues to evolve, it is clearly becoming more deeply embedded within organizations," he said, "and as adoption matures, its business impact will be increasingly measurable."

But Phillips believes too many organizations are treating AI as a productivity hack, rather than as a "partner in exploration" that can help teams model possibilities, test ideas faster, identify patterns, and solve problems. "If we're implementing AI just to make us faster," he argued, "we're aiming too low."

Present Practicalities

In the real world, AI features have gone from nice-to-have to expected faster than most people realize. “Walk into any modern meeting space, and AI is already there—whether people call it that or not,” Neto offered. “Auto-framing, speaker tracking, noise cancellation, transcription, translation. These aren’t futuristic features anymore, they’re baseline expectations.”

However, when it comes to AI and UCC, Neto thinks the industry needs a reality check. “AI is only as good as the environment it’s operating in,” he explained. “We can’t talk about AI-driven transcription and translation, arguably two of the most in-demand features from end users, without talking about acoustics. If the room sounds bad, the AI performs badly. It’s that simple.”

Shure is already integrating AI into its products to provide intelligent noise suppression and voice focus. "AI is only as effective as the data it ingests," agreed Christine Schyvinck, president and CEO of Shure, "so pristine audio is paramount for AI to do its job and for end users to experience greater productivity."

In other words, speech intelligibility should now be considered foundational for meeting spaces. Poor acoustics lead to poor data, which leads to poor outcomes.

“So, while AI is raising the bar for what these systems can do, it’s also raising the bar for how we design spaces,” Neto advised. “Integrators and designers need to think beyond the camera and the codec and start with the room itself. Because at the end of the day, if the AI can’t clearly understand what’s being said, everything else falls apart.”

Improving Products

Schyvinck believes AI can be a game changer when it comes to product development—with the right governance, policies, and planning. At her company, AI is not only assisting with the process, it's making product development more effective and efficient.

"AI has definitely helped accelerate many tasks, which can help us bring products to market faster," Schyvinck noted. "It is especially well suited for rapid prototyping. AI assists with learning and acquiring user feedback earlier in the development process, which is something we value a great deal at Shure because of our focus on customer input."

Schyvinck said Shure has been leveraging AI in its products for years, and it serves a critical role in today's UCC products. " AI helps with hybrid work pain points," she explained. "It enhances meeting intelligence, workflow automation, personalization, and analytics."

AI is certainly improving Biamp products—for example, cameras include auto zoom and focus as well as tilting capabilities, while AI noise reduction is helping to improve voice intelligibility in ways that users may not even realize. "Thinking broadly, AI is enabling products to become easier to use while also becoming more flexible," Andrulis said. "AI software, such as Biamp Launch, is now embedded into system programming, including auto setup and auto tuning.

"This is useful beyond just installation, as it can adapt to changes in the environment. As a result, the end user is getting a much more polished experience in a wider set of use cases," Andrulis added. "It’s all happening more efficiently and at lower cost, with overall better performance and without any overt action from individuals."

Predictions and Next Steps

AI has already made some pretty impressive technological strides. As Labuskes said, "While our eyes are on how AI is being used in practical AV applications, we're also tracking its potential to make huge shifts across the industry."

Coming soon, look for continued growth in Edge AI, which is the practice of running AI locally on AV devices instead of sending it to the cloud. And beyond that is Physical AI, which combines sensors and control systems with AI to create meeting rooms that essentially run themselves.

Van Hoy said the best is yet to come. "Today, AI can take care of many mundane tasks," he said. "As we go forward, it will be able to do more sophisticated things, including technical direct productions and allow voice control of AV systems for unattended use. The applications will continue to evolve, particularly in the routine applications where humans provide the least creative value."

Schyvinck has already seen the shift from static hardware to adaptive learning systems. "End users want meetings that automatically generate, track, and facilitate action items and tasks," she explained. "They want rooms that self-diagnose issues and trigger support workflows or even self-heal."

Green agreed that platforms that can flag anomalies in system behavior before a client even notices a problem are a "genuine operational win" for integrators and end users. "AI-enhanced knowledge management systems for system integrators and support technicians will be a game changer," he predicted.

Voice control in professional environments needs attention, Green said, mostly because consumer voice AI tech can't be used due to cybersecurity and privacy concerns. However, he expects agentic AI, which makes its own decisions and takes action, to have a significant impact on system interoperability. "It’s a wild frontier fraught with hazards but improving exponentially," he added. "That’s the space to watch right now."

A Word of Warning

For Neto, the future of AI in Pro AV is about better overall experiences, not features. The industry is heading toward environments that are context-aware spaces that "understand who’s in the room, what they’re trying to do, and adjust in real time without manual intervention."

However, that kind of AI integration should probably come with a warning sticker. "Just because we can automate everything doesn’t mean we should," Neto said. "There’s a balance between intelligent and intrusive. The winners won’t be the ones who cram in the most AI; they’ll be the ones who use it with purpose thoughtfully, transparently, and in ways that actually make human interaction better, not more complicated."

For Green, the IT manager is often the integrator's point of contact, and they are "extremely cautious" about introducing AI. "Cybersecurity is top of mind in these firms. AI poses new threats, often cleverly disguised," he explained. "It’s best to defer to predictable reliability and hold off on AI tricks in these environments. Sophisticated clients can see right through them."

While AI-driven diagnostics and remote monitoring are maturing, Green said the interoperability and standardization layer still needs improvement. "Integrated systems can be sourced from a dozen different manufacturers, and the AI features often live in proprietary ecosystems that don't talk to each other elegantly," he noted. "The industry needs either stronger open standards or deeper partnerships at the platform level before AI can reach its full potential in a fully integrated system."

Andrulis had his own warning—about unintended consequences. "As the systems become smarter, we need to recognize that our industry is about audio and video sensors," he said, "and as they become more widely used and data is processed more intelligently, there are valid concerns about surveillance or the misuse of personal information. Users may not even be aware it’s happening.

"The good news is that as we get more information, we can do even more wonderful things with that information, but that is assuming good intentions," he continued. "Bad actors can use that information in ways that do not benefit end users. There is a potential dark side to this paradigm and as an industry we need to be cognizant of that."

In live production, switching happens in the moment. In sports, for example, no one knows what’s coming next—and if the operator misses the shot, it’s gone. Even in news, where rundowns provide structure, switching still has to react dynamically to what’s happening on air.

The pressure hasn’t gone away. But the systems behind it have evolved.

In my previous column, I said that FPGA changed the trajectory of production tools by letting engineers evolve a switcher instead of rebuilding it. Functions that once required fixed hardware can now be designed in software and loaded onto programmable silicon. If something needs fixing, it can be reprogrammed. If requirements change, it can often be reworked, provided the FPGA has been sized correctly.

A production switcher can be built to meet today's requirements. When a customer asks whether the system could also do something it wasn’t originally designed to do, the question becomes whether that capability can be added within the existing architecture.

Cloud With Constraints

Across the industry, business models are under pressure. More content is being delivered over the internet and OTT platforms. Long-established broadcasters are rethinking how they operate. Sports organizations stream directly to audiences, corporate teams run significant production infrastructure, and independent producers put content online every day. The production landscape has grown, and with it, the infrastructure decisions.

Five years or so ago, the industry buzzed about moving everything to the cloud. With income and turnover reducing, many organizations needed to find ways to cut both operating costs and CapEx budgets—and the cloud seemed like the answer. Providers like AWS and Azure offer massive amounts of compute power, so the whole industry began working on virtualizing what we've typically done in hardware and FPGAs.

Some parts of media production made that shift easily. Media playout, for example, has always suited the cloud, Netflix being the obvious example.

But live production is different. The challenge isn't insurmountable, but it's technically complex. Getting multiple feeds into the cloud, producing there, and getting the output back requires compromises, including a lot more compression. Still, if it can save money, people want to make it work.

More recently, early enthusiasm about the cloud has given way to a shift in thinking. Without major advances in technology, putting everything in the cloud remains, for live production at least, something closer to a utopian dream than a practical reality, except at relatively small scales.

Bursting into the Cloud

In live production, systems have always been built for the biggest day—the worst-case size and production need. That means a lot of capacity sits idle most of the time. Every studio in the world is overbuilt on purpose, sized for the maximum need, even though that maximum might only happen a few times a year.

Bursting offers a different approach. Rather than investing in permanent infrastructure to handle rare peaks, the cloud can supplement an existing system when demand briefly exceeds the base setup.

Elections are a good example. A broadcaster may suddenly need additional camera feeds for a few hours or a few days, more than the on-prem system can support. In those cases, extra capability can be added temporarily by bursting into the cloud.

Used this way, the cloud doesn’t replace on-prem systems; it complements them. For many use cases, putting everything in the cloud can end up costing more than running systems on-prem. As a supplement, however, there can be enough affordable horsepower to make it worthwhile.

That’s why the conversation has shifted. It’s no longer about on-prem or cloud, but how to combine the two in a way that fits organizations, workflows, and business models. The hybrid approach will be the real game changer. And as it matures, so will the tools and services that support it.

For most, the future looks hybrid.

The post-InfoComm hangover is real, so it was a bit quieter this past week in Pro AV headlines. That is not to say there wasn't news you needed to know.

[Apogee Insights, SCN Partner for SCN Top AV Consultants 2026]

While M&W Pro Audio was founded in 2022 by Greg Mackie and British audio/digital engineer Peter Watts, M&W Pro Audio made its industry debut at InfoComm, introducing itself on the global stage to the Pro AV and pro audio world. There, it demonstrated the new D24 and D32 digital mixers. Engineered for modern live production environments such as houses of worship, theaters, concerts, corporate AV, and nightclubs, the D24 and D32 digital mixers deliver enhanced sound quality, intuitive touch-screen-based operation, versatile signal management, and robust performance in a compact form factor.

Mackie and Watts have a symmetry of talents that spans decades developing of a host of products. Watts brings decades of pro audio engineering experience and a shared vision for the next evolution of digital mixing technology. Together, the M&W Pro Audio team has spent five years developing and refining a new generation of fully digital mixing systems built around advanced DSP architecture, advanced microphone preamps and high resolution touch interfaces, delivering dramatically expanded functionality, faster operation, intuitive workflow, and a platform designed to support continuous feature growth and software evolution throughout the life of the product.

"I've never stopped gathering ideas about how to make live mixing easier," Mackie reflected on his new company. "The D24 and D32 are the culmination of decades of sound experience and four solid years of translating my ideas into a more intuitive, easier workflow. My goal was to create a touch screen mixer “done right”. We believe we have accomplished this, but it took years of design, review, redesign, and final design."

What else happened this week? Keep reading to find out.

1 SOUND Custom Shop Launches Exterior Wood Finishes

1 SOUND’s Custom Shop is now offering outdoor wood finishes for all of its loudspeakers. 1 SOUND is utilizing research and inspiration from ancient techniques of structural building from places like Japan and Norway, which have proven to stand the test of time.

1 SOUND discovered how to offer its premium, commercial loudspeakers in wood finishes that work with the elements of nature for loudspeaker durability and longevity in permanent installation outdoors. All 1 SOUND loudspeakers are customizable for indoor and outdoor applications in only 3-4 weeks' time.

Absen Unveils Upgraded Global Booking Platform

Absen announced a full upgrade to its global showroom booking system, making it easier for customers and partners to schedule visits to the company’s growing international network of showrooms. The platform was designed to deliver an intuitive and user-friendly experience.

Over the past year, Absen has continued to expand its global showroom footprint, opening new sites and brand factory stores across the Americas, EMEA and APAC. Newly added locations include Los Angeles, Mexico, and Denver in the Americas; Morocco and Saudi Arabia in EMEA, as well as Korea and Vietnam in APAC. Each showroom is designed to reflect local market needs with carefully curated displays that demonstrate how Absen’s innovative LED solutions can be applied across a range of sectors and markets.

The newly upgraded booking interface has been created to simplify every stage of the visitor journey including choosing a location and arranging an appointment. With a cleaner design and more seamless navigation, the platform enables users to identify their nearest showroom, select a suitable time and submit visit requests with greater ease and confidence. The result is a smoother digital experience that complements Absen’s on-the-ground investment in local service and customer engagement.

Introducing AVPro Design Services

AVPro Global announced the formation of AVPro Design Services (ADS), a dedicated team of AVPro system architects that helps integrators design, program, and deploy professional AV systems with precision and efficiency. The ADS team will support integrators serving market segments such as business and corporate, education, government, hospitality and retail, houses of worship, and medical. The new support services group represents AVPro’s continued evolution as a leading manufacturer of audio, video, and control solutions for professional integrators.

The ADS team will support the deployment and configuration of AVPro's comprehensive product portfolio, including AVPro Edge, AudioControl Pro, RTI, Bullet Train, Murideo, and ThenAudio brands, by designing systems that are inherently stable, scalable, and perfectly tailored to the client.

Iris Unveils New Angekis and Bolin Integrations

Iris announced OEM partnerships with Angekis and Bolin at InfoComm 2026. These partnerships will bring native Iris technology directly into the firmware of select PTZ camera models from the two brands.

With a simple free upgrade to the latest firmware on the Angekis Saber X and Bolin B2 camera lines, customers can instantly link their now Iris-enabled cameras to the Iris platform. This unlocks a suite of features accessible through a single browser or app window with no additional hardware required.

Through Iris, users can remotely manage cameras with low-latency control, collaborate across teams and locations, and leverage AI-powered tools for framing, preset creation and recall, and more. This is all done without the complexity of traditional hardware-based systems. These new partnerships strengthen Iris's growing ecosystem of camera manufacturers and reinforce its commitment to interoperability. The Iris platform supports more than 400 camera models and integrates with leading switchers, IP controllers, and production software, allowing organizations to modernize operations while preserving existing infrastructure investments. In addition, Angekis and Bolin now join eight other brands that have Iris-enabled devices, allowing those cameras to connect to the Iris platform directly without needing a network bridge device.

MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems is acquiring the assets of MRMC (Mark Roberts Motion Control), a developer of robotic camera systems, motion control solutions, and automated camera tracking technologies for broadcast, digital cinema, sports production, and live events. As part of the transaction, MultiDyne has established MultiDyne Robotics and Motion Control, a new company that will maintain the MRMC brand. The acquisition brings MRMC’s core technologies, intellectual property, manufacturing capabilities, and key engineering expertise into the MultiDyne organization, creating a powerful combination of complementary technologies that extend MultiDyne’s reach to the very beginning of the content creation chain.

[The Experience Economy, Revisited]

"MRMC is a world-class brand with an exceptional reputation for innovation, engineering excellence and customer success," said Frank Jachetta, CEO of MultiDyne. "This acquisition represents a natural and highly strategic extension of our business. MultiDyne has long been focused on the transport, processing and management of video, audio and data signals. MRMC places us at the point of image acquisition itself, allowing us to participate in a much broader portion of the production workflow. Together, our technologies create a powerful end-to-end ecosystem for content creators, broadcasters and live production professionals worldwide."

MRMC has been involved with camera robotics and motion control for six decades, developing solutions that enable precision camera movement, automated tracking, virtual production workflows, and cinematic motion control for some of the world's leading broadcasters, filmmakers and content creators. The move comes during a milestone year for MultiDyne as the company celebrates its 50th anniversary.

The MultiDyne and MRMC product portfolios have virtually no overlap. Instead, the two companies serve many of the same customers, channel partners, and markets with complementary technologies. MultiDyne's fiber-optic transport, camera interface, and signal processing solutions are widely used throughout professional production environments to move video, audio, and data across complex infrastructures. MRMC's robotic camera systems, tracking solutions, motion control rigs, and automated production technologies complement those workflows by controlling the physical movement, positioning, and automation of the cameras themselves.

The combined portfolio will strengthen MultiDyne's value proposition across broadcast television, sports production, digital cinema, virtual production, corporate AV, houses of worship, live events and emerging content creation markets. The acquisition also significantly strengthens MultiDyne's international presence, particularly in Europe, where MRMC has built a respected global brand and loyal customer base. MultiDyne plans to maintain MRMC's operations in the United Kingdom while preserving the engineering expertise, product innovation and customer relationships that have made the company a trusted partner throughout the industry.

"MRMC has earned tremendous loyalty throughout the broadcast and cinema industries because of its innovation, product quality and commitment to customer success," said Neil Maycock, a member of the MultiDyne leadership team, who will now run MRMC as managing director. "Our priority is ensuring continuity for customers, partners and ongoing projects while creating a strong foundation for future growth. We see tremendous opportunities to expand the reach of MRMC technologies through MultiDyne's global sales channels, customer relationships and long-term investment strategy."

First, I must say, from my perspective, InfoComm 2026 was outstanding. The official numbers reported by AVIXA show that attendance was down seven percent from the IC show in Las Vegas in 2024, but you wouldn’t know it from the crowded booths. And when I talked to manufacturers, the overwhelming consensus was that while booth traffic might have been slightly off, there were more focused attendees and fewer tire-kickers. I was pleased to see that the percentage of end-users attending was higher than in previous years.

This was the first InfoComm held in the recently renovated Las Vegas Convention Center. Thank you, thank you, thank you to LVCC for the beautiful new space and air-conditioned hallways, and to AVIXA for creating a great experience. The main lobby was inviting, energizing, and engaging. Not having to walk twenty minutes between halls meant I could see more booths, and I actually had more energy. Rather than being totally wiped on Friday, I had a spring in my step (but that could have been my stormtrooper suit).

AI is No Longer a Buzzword (or two)

I don’t need to tell you that AI is advancing at warp speed. But let’s take it down a notch and relate it to our industry and the positive impact it can have in many areas.

If embraced with intent and the proper context provided, the use of AI assistants, facilitators, or agents in meeting, collaboration, and education spaces can increase productivity.

And, for the moment, let’s forget about hybrid versus all-in at the office, because AI-enabled collaboration spaces apply to all scenarios.

First things first. I think we can all agree that high-quality audio is foundational to the success of AI-enabled collaboration spaces. AI is about receiving clean data to deliver actionable data. Good enough audio is NOT good enough. Josh Blalock, director, Alliances & Engagement at Shure, said, "In the era of AI and particularly as we shift deeper into the agentic side of things, having crystal clear audio being passed from the spoken word into the platform that is processing that transcript and who said what and all that on the back end is 100% in focus and important right now." For anyone thinking that 95% is a pretty good average for accuracy, Blalock countered, "That's 5% that you're missing, and that 5% can change the entire context of what was just said. It could be leaving out who owns a task. If we're not clearly identifying every single person that said something, then the data is not as useful."

If you’re ready to embrace it, AI can be enormously helpful with programming, deployment, troubleshooting, upgrading, and monitoring of systems and devices. And that doesn’t mean eliminating jobs. It’s about making your job more efficient.

Kendra Philips, senior vice president of Sales at Legrand | AV, said, “Our new Unified Cloud Platform brings AI-driven remote monitoring and management to the AV stack, giving integrators visibility, predictive insight, and recurring managed service revenue opportunities that didn’t exist before.”

I stopped by the DVIGear booth to learn more about DisplayNet Connect for AI Agents for AV over IP signal distribution platforms. “We are taking the parts of an AV over IP project that have traditionally required deep API expertise—writing integrations, building control UIs, and debugging issues in the field—and making them accessible through the same AI tools our customers already use every day,” said Steven Barlow, president of DVIGear.

ENCO demonstrated enSpeak as part of a complete multilingual communication workflow that combines live captioning, real-time text translation, and AI-powered voice synthesis into a seamless end-to-end solution.

At InfoComm, the AI-enabled and AI enabler solutions were endless.

Remember, it’s about the data.

Eyes and Ears, Everywhere

The immense number of “videobars” shown at InfoComm this year was, let’s say, noticeable. Actually, it seemed like they multiplied like rabbits. That said, with AI being deployed fast and furious in collaboration and education spaces, the more the merrier. And they’re not all created equal.

Huddly’s C1 Crew is Microsoft Teams certified and comes as a complete kit: one C1 videobar, two Crew Add-On Cameras, cabling, mounting hardware, an Ethernet switch, and runs Edge AI onboard, working as one system. Barco announced the solution with its new wireless room system bundle developed in partnership with Huddly and Certified for Microsoft Teams. The solution combines ClickShare Hub Pro with the Huddly C1 video bar, bringing effortless wireless conferencing and presentation to small to medium-sized rooms.

And, as mentioned, I firmly believe audio is the most important element in a collaboration. At InfoComm, many audio companies upped the ante with new solutions and revisions to already great products.

David Missall, insights manager, consultant, and technical application engineer manager at Sennheiser, said, “Our philosophy is simple: Build flexible, scalable tools grounded in real customer needs and empower users to connect and collaborate through exceptional sound.” This vision included the TeamConnect Ceiling M Plus (TCC M Plus), a new ceiling microphone that combines premium audio performance with a new generation of features designed to reduce deployment effort, simplify system configuration, and scale easily. A new capability included with TCC M Plus is PartnerLink, Sennheiser’s integration feature designed to simplify how microphones are configured within leading AV platforms.

All for One, and All-In-Ones for Everybody

The term “all-in-one” is used freely to describe a combination of technologies engineered into one form factor for ease-of-use for integrators, AV/IT managers and end-users. From display manufacturers to collaboration device and solution companies, there was no shortage of unified solutions.

Display manufacturers often put the “All-in-One” moniker in the product name.

Sony showed its new entry into the category, the Crystal LED UNIFY All-in-One display. "Expanding our portfolio to include a 135-inch All-in-One model helps us meet customer demand, makes our solutions easier to spec and deploy, and serves as the perfect complement and extension to enhance our existing lineup while adding compatibility and consistency across our integrated pro AV family of solutions," said Rich Ventura, vice president, Professional Display Solutions, Sony Electronics.

“From all-in-one dvLED systems to foldable LED displays, we’re rethinking how large-scale displays are installed and maintained, reducing time, effort, and uncertainty for AV and IT managers alike,” said Shane Roma, technical product manager of dvLED and Commercial Displays at ViewSonic.

The Q-SYS RoomSuite Collaboration Bar is a Windows-based device, certified for Microsoft Teams. The solution features four high-resolution 50 MP cameras and a 16-element microphone array and is bundled with an 11-inch touchscreen controller. While it offers standard collaboration features, its true value lies in its integration with the wider Q-SYS Platform via Q-SYS Reflect. "It’s so much more than bar," said Sanjay Kulkarni, VP of Product for QSC. "It’s a context-generating endpoint that feeds into the cognitive cloud layer of our platform, capable of generating insights and actions across the enterprise."

The Ecosystem

Discussing an “ecosystem” has been a growing trend, but I noticed a more expanded role. Why not have your ecosystem talk to my ecosystem and be part of a larger, transparent ecosystem, and so on?

“Xyte is focusing on unified cloud management, automation, and AI-assisted operations,” said Omer Brookstein, chief executive officer and co-founder of Xyte. At InfoComm, the company demonstrated how AV/IT teams can centralize device data, automate routine actions, schedule operational workflows, and use the Xyte CLI to create a consistent, auditable language for people, scripts, and AI agents. “Our philosophy is that AI in AV should not be a demo trick; it should help teams reduce downtime, control cost, improve room readiness, and make every action traceable. The next phase of AV/IT management is not just smarter dashboards; it is governed execution across the full device fleet—from the cloud to the room.”

MDEP

Barco, Crestron, Jabra, Optoma, and QSC were among the many manufacturers that announced products and solutions that included or were built on the MDEP Android-based platform.

The Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform (MDEP) is the Android-based platform from Microsoft that enables device manufacturers and software developers to deliver innovative solutions, backed by Microsoft's reputation for security, trust, and management. Built on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), the platform is designed to be extended and customized for both hardware and software solutions.

Mark Yang, group CEO at Optoma Corporation, said, "We are thrilled to become part of the MDEP community, which is an important endorsement for Optoma. As part of MDEP, Optoma will focus on developing and evolving a portfolio of enterprise-grade visual solutions designed for shared workspaces, collaboration environments, and digital signage applications—prioritizing interoperability, security, manageability, and scalability."

More Trends

My counterpart in crime, Mark J. Pescatore, SCN’s content director, covered more trends from InfoComm 2026 that you should check out.

Sustainability is not a new innovation in Pro AV. The industry has long strived to reduce its carbon footprint for a greener tomorrow, whether that be replacing packaging to more biodegradable products or advancing the longevity and recyclability of hardware solutions. There have been major advances in just a few years, but there is much work to be done.

Recently, SAVe has been front and center in the Pro AV sustainability revolution. Since its founding in 2022, the nonprofit has seen progress within the AV industry toward meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. "But let’s be honest," said Tim Alevizos, SAVe board member and co-chair of marketing and PR, "the scope of the challenge we’re facing is gigantic. If the 2030 SDGs are to be achieved, it’s going to take a concerted global effort that goes well beyond what we can achieve in the AV sector."

Whether it is events like the SAVe 2026 Global Conference (coming this October) or manufacturers making impactful changes, SAVe applauds incremental progress and efforts to reduce e-waste and longevity of products. However, as Alevizos explained, SAVe is a catalyst for change on a larger scale.

"To fulfill our mission, we need more volunteers—and, specifically, more leaders—to step up for the sake of future generations and, indeed, the planet itself," he noted. "Our advice is for people in our industry, and far outside it, to take action as individuals and as organizations, but not to step there: We need to act collectively in a broader sense, and that requires leaders who can inspire, educate, unite, and organize people and resources to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development."

Here is how some companies are paving the way for reaching these goals.

'Ecofficient' and Paper Packaging

Extron has made sustainability a major focal point. Its Ecofficient initiative, developed in response to the sunsetting of the ENERGY STAR program for commercial AV devices, spotlights energy-efficient excellence across its entire AV product portfolio. It signals Extron’s ongoing commitment to reducing power consumption, lowering operating costs, and supporting global sustainability goals.

“At Extron, we’ve always believed that sustainability and performance go hand in hand," said Joe da Silva, VP of marketing, Extron. "Opportunities for sustainability and conservation are evaluated at every step of a product’s life, from power supply designs leveraging GaN [gallium nitrade] technology for cooler and more efficient operation, to shipping materials optimized for recyclability, to our product recycling program that minimizes landfill waste."

One way to reduce Pro AV's environmental footprint is about how the technology is delivered. Switching to eco-friendly packaging is big step, reducing shipping costs and providing much greener transport.

Lightware Visual Engineering, which has already reduced its carbon footprint by designing and manufacturing its solutions in a centralized headquarters, switched to all-paper packaging in the next step of its ESG strategy. The biodegradable, recyclable paper-only packaging will be used for Taurus UCX, Taurus TPX, Taurus TPN, OPTX, and OPTN products. Packaging is still secure, yet it offers plenty of benefits for a greener tomorrow.

Sustainable and Socially Responsible

Sustainability has long been a part of the PPDS philosophy. The display manufacturer was eco-conscious before it was trendy in Pro AV. PPDS focuses on low-energy solutions with long-lasting shelf life. For example, PPDS e-paper solutions, like the Philips Tableaux, save energy and maximize technology uses, further reducing a carbon footprint.

As the saying goes, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

Last August, TPV Technology, the parent company behind PPDS as well as TP Vision, MMD Monitors and Displays, and AOC, earned the EcoVadis Platinum Medal. Founded in 2007, EcoVadis provides business ratings, having screened more than three million companies across 185 countries, awarding bronze, silver, gold, or platinum honors. The platinum recognition places TPV Technology in the top 1% globally as one of the most sustainable and socially responsible manufacturers in Pro AV.

Not long ago, Kinly's net-zero targets were validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This achievement—which, per Kinly, made it the first global systems integrator to have the honor—validates the work the company has done towards achieving "net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2050; reducing absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 54.6% by 2033 from a 2023 base year, as well as scope 3 GHG emissions by 61.1% per EUR value added within the same timeframe," according to a recent release.

It isn't simply big displays and packaging that are focused on enhancing the carbon footprint. Last summer, L-Acoustics invested in French-based MagREEsource. Per the company's report on the partnership, it introduces a "breakthrough circular economy model for the professional audio industry" that focuses on magnet recycling and manufacturing technology.

There are many hands in the pot helping to stir a greener future in Pro AV. And that is exactly what SAVe's goal continues to be. "It won’t be easy," Alevizos admitted. "Systemic change is required. But there is strength in numbers, and we have the numbers on our side to create the groundswell necessary to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We won’t be satisfied until the potential of our movement for change is fully realized."