SCN: How long have you been with this company, and what are your responsibilities?

Mike Gleason: I have been with Utelogy for over a year. As a growing company, we are lean by design, which means I wear many hats. In my role as chief revenue officer, my core responsibilities include developing and executing revenue strategies, leading sales teams and initiatives, and aligning our growth with strategic partnerships.

SCN: Utelogy is all about remote monitoring, but how much can that really save in labor costs and truck rolls?

MG: In the AV world, the vast majority of support processes remain manual and reactive. Utelogy is changing that through automation and intelligent service management workflows. We differentiate ourselves by enabling end users and MSP partners to manage their AV/UC environments in a proactive, rather than reactive, way.

Our platform can perform automated, self-testing room sweeps, eliminating the need for IT staff to manually test every conference room each morning. We also enable self-healing capabilities, allowing the system to automatically detect when a room’s baseline configuration has been altered and restore it to its original, validated state without manual intervention. Our cloud first platform allows admins to monitor their environment from anywhere in the world and react to issues in seconds without on-site intervention.

SCN: Utelogy likes to use the term “360-degree view,” but what does that mean for your customers?

MG: This means you can manage your environment without jumping between multiple manufacturer-specific portals, which often leads to portal fatigue and longer mean time to resolution. As a vendor-agnostic platform, Utelogy provides a true single pane of glass to monitor and manage your entire environment from one portal, regardless of manufacturer.

When a meeting space goes down, IT support teams put both their reputation and internal operating costs on the line. With Utelogy in place, they can be confident that issues are detected quickly, root causes are identified, and a single source of truth is provided to accelerate resolution.

SCN: What sort of analytics can Utelogy’s platform generate, and how are they helping organizations?

MG: Our analytics focus on giving organizations meaningful, actionable visibility, not just status charts. The platform generates insights into device health, room usage and utilization, and alert metrics made available through customizable dashboards, reports, and on-demand data exploration. Just as importantly, customers can access this data however they need to: through APIs, webhooks, or native integrations with ITSM platforms like ServiceNow.

This flexibility is critical. By making data accessible in multiple formats and pipelines, organizations can feed it into their existing ITSM and AIOps tools to processes and correlate it with broader IT data, and build more proactive, efficient operations.

SCN: How is AI impacting Utelogy’s effectiveness?

MG: AI is becoming a much larger part of how we deliver value and how we run our own business. Recently, we announced Utelogy Predict, actively in development in collaboration with Intel. This new feature will bring advanced predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, and deeper insights to the platform. This allows organizations to identify issues earlier, understand long-term trends, and operate their estates far more proactively.

We’re also investing heavily in agentic AI that will run on Utelogy’s MCP servers. With natural-language interaction, users can run diagnostics, retrieve status updates, analyze trends, and gain actionable insights that enable AI-driven control across their operational environment offering a secure enterprise-ready solution. This empowers teams to preempt issues earlier and make more informed decisions at scale.

And importantly, AI isn’t something we only build for customers. We leverage it internally across our own teams for data analysis, support workflows, product planning, and operational decision-making. It helps us move faster, understand our users better, and focus our engineering efforts on the highest-impact areas. In short, AI is shaping both our platform and the way we work.

SCN: Why is the Utelligent Partner Alliance so important?

MG: Our manufacturing partners are a critical part of Utelogy’s success. We invest in them, and they invest in us. We partner closely with their teams to ensure visibility into their APIs, enabling us to build the integrations that provide our clients with the data they need to make informed decisions. We work with over 200 manufacturers and support over 3,500 unique models, an achievement that would not have been possible over the past 16 years without their strong alignment and partnership.

SCN: What’s next for the Pro AV industry?

MG: The AV industry is entering a new phase where software, data, and automation are no longer optional, they’re becoming the foundation of how modern environments are operated. For years we’ve talked about AV/IT convergence; now, we’re finally seeing it materialize through networked devices, cloud-connected systems, and tighter alignment with IT workflows and security practices.

What’s next is a shift toward ecosystems that are measurable, manageable, and integrated. Organizations want and need AV to behave like the rest of their technology stack: centrally monitored, data-driven, automated, and connected to ITSM and AIOps tools. This doesn’t diminish the importance of AV, it elevates it. When AV data can flow into the same platforms that track service health, security posture, and user experience, it becomes far more strategic to the business.

This evolution will challenge teams who rely solely on manual checks or isolated, hardware-centric approaches and those who have been unwilling to change, but it opens meaningful opportunity for those who embrace vendor-agnostic platforms, open standards, and automation. The move away from reactive support toward proactive, analytics-led operations positions AV professionals as true partners in workplace experience, not just responders when something breaks. The organizations and integrators who adapt to this model by combining AV expertise with data literacy, IT alignment, and software fluency will define the next decade of the industry.

Do you have legacy AV equipment that is still earning its keep? Does your organization have a combination of hardware and software from different manufacturers, and does interoperability sometimes pose an issue? Is your AV/IT department full speed ahead with AV over IP, the cloud, and AI-enabled systems?

No matter which end of the AV or IT spectrum your systems reside, these 25 industry thought leaders share insights into the transition to IP, trends in The State of AV/IT today, and predictions for the next few years.

CATHERINE KOUTSARIS
Product Marketing Manager at Matrox Video

For many organizations, the biggest hesitation in modernizing AV systems is the belief that moving forward means ripping everything out and starting from scratch. In reality, most end users don’t need or want to replace entire systems. What’s more practical and sustainable is keeping the elements that still work well and bridging them with newer technologies. This approach reduces staff retraining and avoids waste. Teams can then evolve at their own pace.

That’s where interoperability comes in. Today’s AV/IT environments often resemble technology islands—ecosystems that work well independently but don’t always communicate with one another. End users may value their existing cameras or video walls, but when new requirements emerge, incompatibility becomes a real obstacle. AV gateway products are a great way to bridge between older systems and newer technology, allowing both to be used in the same installation.

Standards-based solutions provide the clearest path forward. Open standards like IPMX and SMPTE ST 2110 make it possible to mix equipment from multiple manufacturers and reduce the risk of vendor lock-in. In practice, this can mean running day-to-day conferencing over a corporate 1GbE network while seamlessly shifting to a 10GbE broadcast workflow for high-end production—all with the same underlying infrastructure. Organizations gain freedom from vendor lock-in and proprietary constraints.

The advice for end users is to focus on flexibility. Prioritize systems that integrate with what you already have and embrace open standards. This approach ensures that today’s investments remain relevant, while giving you the freedom to adopt new technologies and build AI-over-IP systems that can grow with you on your own terms.

RICHARD JONKER
Vice President Marketing and Business Development at NETGEAR Enterprise

The most successful organizations are shifting their mindset from, “What AV equipment do we need?” to, “How can we create experiences that drive business results?” This approach means your AV investments should solve specific business challenges rather than simply upgrade hardware.

The proof is in your meeting rooms. Setup time has dropped from seven frustrating minutes to under twenty seconds. This translates to improved productivity and employee satisfaction.

Behind the shifting mindset are four key technologies reshaping how you’ll interact with AV systems: AV over IP, cloud solutions, artificial intelligence, and extended reality (XR/AR). These represent fundamental changes, creating practical benefits for organizations willing to evolve.

AV over IP leads this transformation by using your IP network infrastructure instead of dedicated AV cabling. This means you get to benefit from all the advantages of the network world: easier scaling when adding endpoints like speakers, microphones, or displays; when you need remote troubleshooting by IT teams without the need for room visits; better integration with existing security tools; and the flexibility to reconfigure spaces as needs change.

As your AV systems become networked, artificial intelligence transforms infrastructure management through automated configuration and intelligent power optimization. However, connectivity introduces security vulnerabilities requiring proactive protection. Modern solutions now integrate AI-driven network simplification with built-in cybersecurity capabilities, creating inherently secure, intelligent systems that adapt to threats while simplifying operations.

At NETGEAR, we believe that organizations investing in these transitions today—and focusing on experiences that solve specific business challenges—are positioning themselves for significant advantages as the market evolves.

SAM SABET
Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Shure

The simple answer for any customer looking to invest in new AV technologies today, whether for upgrading or otherwise, is to consider a flexible, adaptable platform. Today’s AV world is characterized by rapid and constant changes. These changes are evident both in the environment—workspaces, collaboration modes, and the balance between RTO and remote work—and in features and technologies such as AI, feature deployment speed, and processing power.

When choosing a platform, it’s imperative to keep in mind the ease of adaptability to evolving changes. Consider the flexibility of configuration and provisioning, as well as the longevity of the platform. Shure’s ecosystem of MXA and collaboration solutions, supported by software infrastructure like ShureCloud and our advanced DSP and AI algorithms, provides a perfect platform. It can automatically adapt and grow with our end users’ needs.

EMMA EAGLE
Manager of Marketing at Hall Research

When it comes to evolving AV systems, whether you’re replacing legacy gear or updating something relatively new, the key is to plan for what’s next—not just what’s now. AV and IT are no longer separate worlds. Your AV strategy should be as scalable, secure, and manageable as the rest of your IT infrastructure.

Don’t get stuck on spec sheets. Instead, ask: Will this system grow with us? Can it integrate with cloud platforms? Is it simple enough that anyone can use it without frustration? Because at the end of the day, simplicity drives adoption, and adoption drives ROI.

The next few years will bring even more AV over IP, smarter automation through AI, tighter cybersecurity requirements, and an increased demand for sustainable solutions. Organizations that embrace these shifts will be in the best position to maximize both their technology and their people.

My advice? Evolve with intention. Choose solutions that are scalable, secure, and user-friendly. That’s how you future-proof your AV/IT investments.

MAX RITCHER
Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing at Insta360

The AV/IT industry is at a turning point..

We’re moving from static, hardware-first setups to flexible, cloud-connected ecosystems that are easier to manage and adapt to how people really work. Three forces are driving this shift: the cloud, AI, and interoperability.

Cloud platforms now sit at the center of modern AV, making it possible for IT teams to monitor and update systems across campuses or offices from one place. This reduces complexity and takes the burden off on-site staff.

AI adds another layer, turning AV from something reactive into something proactive. We’ve seen this in the evolution of Insta360’s enterprise tools. We came from humble (yet ambitious!) origins with the Link AI webcam. This was our first entry into the industry, already sporting smart tracking. We’ve now moved onto the Connect video bar for larger rooms, and our latest release, Insta360 Wave. As an AI speakerphone, we’ve crafted something that is adaptive and resilient, designed to work together with our other products as a seamless experience.

But none of this potential can be unlocked without interoperability. Proprietary systems have long slowed progress by creating silos and forcing users into narrow ecosystems. That’s why open standards matter. By supporting initiatives like OpenAV Cloud and pushing for shared APIs, the industry can break down barriers, give organizations more choice, and ensure systems can grow together instead of being locked in.

The convergence of cloud, AI, and interoperability is shaping the future of AV. We’re beyond just releasing flashy tech for its own sake. We’re building smarter, more reliable systems that actually make work easier and more connected for everyone.

OLIVER VAN CAMP
Product Director, Meeting Experience at Barco ClickShare

Today’s meeting room technology must do more than connect devices; it needs to enable seamless, inclusive collaboration for all meeting room users. That’s why Barco ClickShare and Microsoft are re-imagining hybrid collaboration through smarter, more human-centric meeting experiences.

ClickShare provides a secure, scalable meeting room system that lets room participants conference, collaborate, and present with just one click, with no technical hassle, no cables, and no delays. Intuitive and easy to use, ClickShare ensures the meeting experience is consistent and seamless across any space—from huddle rooms to large boardrooms—and is designed around how people truly work.

In a Microsoft Teams environment, this experience becomes more intelligent and user-friendly. AI-powered features like speaker recognition, automatic camera framing, and smart content sharing create meetings that feel more natural and engaging, whether participants are in the room or remote.

AI is now doing even more to support the flow of work. Features like speaker attribution (knowing who’s speaking), facilitator agent (a virtual assistant capturing next steps and deadlines), and interpreter agent (allowing everyone to speak in their native language) benefit both in-room and remote participants. These tools help overcome proximity barriers, reduce administrative tasks, minimize miscommunication, and integrate smoothly into everyday workflows—even as they are still emerging.

ClickShare brings wireless collaboration solutions into the meeting room, empowering companies to run AI applications locally and in real time via the ClickShare Base Units. This unlocks smarter, faster interactions—from live speaker recognition and automatic camera framing to translation and real-time note-taking—enhancing every interaction to keep users productive, engaged, and focused. Together, ClickShare and Microsoft are redefining hybrid meetings: secure, smart, scalable, and made for people.

RYAN WALLENBERG
AIMS Member and Vice President of Engineering at Cobalt Digital

Whether AV systems are for rich experiences in venues or for managing signals on campuses like businesses or universities, they often involve equipment from different tech categories. For example, in many organizations it is not rare to see mixtures of two or all three of the following things: media processing equipment, signal extension and switching equipment, and IT department equipment.

There are many factors that have made it possible to accomplish any task that previously required hardwired cables to be achievable using packetized IP. The most challenging thing left to overcome while migrating from hardwired cables to IP is dealing with mixing different equipment types, equipment classes, and vendor solutions with interfaces such as HDMI.

The two most important things that have happened to address this final challenge is the emergence of open standards and specifications—such as SMPTE ST 2110, AES67, NMOS, and IPMX—and the emergence of IP-to-IP gateway converters of many types to help deal with conversions of media profiles within the media options of the standards and between different media and protocols including proprietary options.

End users looking to evolve legacy or even newer AV systems should consider IPMX-compliant solutions that offer smooth plug-and-play integration. An optimized hybrid infrastructure will leverage interoperability for high-quality audio, video, and data for SMPTE ST 2110 transport across common networks. Organizations should be able to add capabilities at their own pace while avoiding vendor lock-in and giving them the flexibility to build infrastructures that grow with them. Several vendors have always offered modular and standards-based technologies that adapt to real-world challenges, and they are now embracing IPMX integration.

SKYLER BOWDEN
Senior Marketing Manager at Mersive

In today’s hype-heavy tech climate, AI gets most of the headlines. Promises of 10x productivity and AI-driven transformation abound—but for AV/IT professionals managing real systems, real spaces, and real users, it’s essential to cut through the noise.

The truth? AI will shape the future of collaboration—but it won’t fix broken workflows or magically modernize outdated AV infrastructure. Productivity gains only happen when technology is aligned with how people actually work, connect, and communicate. This is especially true in education, healthcare, and enterprise environments, where every decision has to balance performance, cost, security, and usability.

What’s often overlooked in the rush to optimize is a critical factor: the human experience. Meaningful technology doesn’t just improve business outcomes; it impacts how people feel about their work. When meetings are more efficient and tools actually support connection instead of complicating it, your teams regain focus, time, and energy. That’s where real value emerges: better engagement, clearer communication, and a healthier work-life balance.

The most exciting AI potential isn’t about replacing people; it’s about revealing insights. Meeting analytics can surface engagement trends, highlight contributor impact, and track follow-ups so no one flies blind. Instead of attributing all tasks to the in-room device, imagine a system that accurately reflects every participant’s input and commitments—remote or on-site.

So what’s the takeaway? Don’t get distracted by magic wands. Invest in technology that is secure, scalable, and user-friendly—solutions that create space for the innovation your teams are primed to deliver. Then, let AI help you fine-tune how your teams meet, share, and succeed—without forcing in one-size-fits-all tech that misses the mark on deeper challenges like process gaps. AI will naturally optimize efficiency, but not overnight and not without an intimate understanding of how your teams do their best work.

BLAKE ABIG
Director of National Sales at Full Compass Systems

In my role, I spend much of my time listening to colleges, universities, and corporations as they rethink how their AV systems support teaching and collaboration. One of the most common concerns I hear is that rooms feel inconsistent. A professor might walk into one classroom and everything works smoothly, then step into another and struggle to get the system started. The same frustration shows up in corporate offices. Consistency is one of the simplest ways to improve user confidence and adoption.

Another challenge customers raise is the pressure on lean support teams. Higher ed IT groups may be responsible for hundreds of classrooms, while corporate AV staff cover global meeting spaces. I often hear, “We can’t be everywhere at once.” This is where centralized, cloud-based monitoring really makes a difference. When teams can see issues in real time and push updates remotely, they spend less time firefighting and more time enabling productivity.

Clients are also curious about how artificial intelligence fits in. What I tell them is that AI works best when it disappears into the background. Cameras that automatically follow a presenter, microphones that remove noise, and live captions that improve accessibility all make the experience smoother without adding complexity.

Finally, one theme that comes up again and again is equity for remote participants. Whether it is a student joining from home or a colleague dialing in from another office, people expect to be seen and heard clearly. That is no longer optional; it is the baseline.

The most successful AV strategies I see are the ones that put people first. When systems are reliable, intuitive, and supportive of everyone in the room and beyond, the technology simply enables better outcomes.

MITCH RAUCH
U.S. Sales Director at Powersoft

As AV systems grow more complex and distributed, spanning corporate campuses, higher education institutions, and dynamic multi-use facilities, the role of the integrator is evolving just as quickly. Success in today’s audiovisual environments requires more than just great sound and video; it also depends on smooth, seamless integration with the broader IT infrastructure.

Legacy rack rooms and point-to-point signal paths are giving way to decentralized, IP-based infrastructures. AV-over-IP is no longer a trend—but the very foundation. In this environment, amplifiers are active, networked components capable of intelligent signal routing, system synchronization, and real-time control. As a result, integrators are becoming more involved in network design, such as IP addressing, VLANs, QoS, and switch configuration, which are as essential as gain structure and speaker coverage.

Cloud integration is accelerating the evolution of network-based devices. Remote monitoring and system management capabilities are quickly becoming indispensable. Whether diagnosing issues, pushing firmware updates, or fine-tuning performance from a distance, cloud connectivity empowers integrators to deliver faster, more efficient support, often before the client even notices a problem. The shift to cloud integration can save time, reduce site visits, and pave the way for recurring service models.

Through these advancements, our mission at Powersoft remains to deliver transparent, intelligible audio without distraction. We’ve embraced this evolution with platforms like Unica and Nota 142. Both Unica and Nota 142 are purpose built for decentralized, IT-friendly environments, and combine robust performance with smart design and native cloud connectivity. Unica and Nota 142 highlight our commitment to helping integrators meet today’s challenges while preparing for tomorrow’s demands by bridging the worlds of AV and IT with powerful, future-ready solutions.

JAKUB KOLACZ
Manager Product and Commercialization, Business Communication at Sennheiser

As AV systems become increasingly networked, end users are grappling with how to evolve their environments without creating disruption. Legacy software, fragmented device tools, and rising IT security expectations often slow progress—yet the demand for simpler, more scalable management is only growing.

Now is the time for end users to prepare for this new era of AV/IT convergence. The priority is ease of deployment and configuration. Complex setup processes not only consume valuable IT/AV resources but also increase the risk of errors. Solutions that enable devices to be onboarded quickly, with minimal dependencies, free teams to focus on higher-value tasks.

Next, interoperability and centralization are key. While many organizations still rely on a patchwork of vendor-specific tools, the future lies in platforms that embrace open standards and integration. By consolidating device management into a single, standardized platform, teams gain a clearer view of their systems and reduce friction across locations and departments.

Security remains non-negotiable. With AV fully part of the enterprise IT landscape, encryption, authentication, and role-based access are essential to protect both data and devices.

Finally, consider ongoing performance. Management shouldn’t stop at installation. Proactive monitoring, real-time alerts, and predictive maintenance help teams spot issues before they escalate, keeping collaboration spaces available and reliable.

IT and AV pros should consider feature-rich, cloud-based device management platforms offering them all of the above services and more, with room to scale as systems become even more complex in the future. Providing a centralized hub for devices ensures not only improved on-site or remote management, but also the ability to react quickly to any issues at the time they occur.

Looking ahead, the convergence of AV and IT will continue to accelerate. End users who prioritize simplicity, interoperability, and proactive management today will be best placed to evolve their systems tomorrow, without sacrificing security or reliability.

ART WEEKS
Project Manager at ZeeVee by Kramer

We’re at an inflection point where both integrators and end users are rethinking AV system design. The old rack-full-of-boxes model is giving way to multi-function components that combine switching, DSP, and control. The motivation isn’t just fewer devices; it’s lower total cost of ownership over the life of a system.

By consolidating functions, projects install faster, take up less rack space, draw less power, and reduce the number of potential failure points. That translates to fewer service calls, easier remote management, and reduced labor costs across the system lifecycle. Realistically, integrators can save thousands per room, per year, while giving clients a cleaner, more reliable experience. It also helps projects get approved faster because decision makers can see long-term savings rather than just the upfront price tag.

At the same time, high-performance environments—like large lecture halls or mission-critical control rooms—are pushing adoption of AVoIP. End users want ultra-low latency and the flexibility to scale on standard networks. Today, that often means choosing between 1Gb and 10Gb deployments, but we’re seeing more forward-thinking firms pre-install CAT-6a cabling even when starting at 1Gb. That future-proofs the space, making it easier and cheaper to upgrade when higher bandwidth is needed.

In short, the state of AV/IT today is about simplification without compromise, and the next few years will be defined by scalable networked video paired with systems designed to reduce complexity, cost, and risk.

JOHN KRUSE
Senior Field Solutions Architect at ViewSonic

The convergence of AV and IT is reshaping how organizations design and manage their technology ecosystems. For end users modernizing legacy systems—or even optimizing newer ones—the goal is no longer just to add AV, but to create connected, intelligent environments that align with enterprise IT strategies.

There are a number of important considerations that go into achieving this. First, interoperability is foundational. Proprietary silos, especially technology-based ones, are becoming less viable, so end users should prioritize solutions certified across major platforms—Teams, Zoom, Google Meet—and integrate these with control systems to ensure long-term flexibility.

The second consideration is keeping the cloud as your control layer. Cloud-enabled management is shifting from optional to essential. Remote monitoring, analytics, and centralized updates improve uptime, lower service costs, and scale across campuses and enterprises.

Third, consider that AI is moving mainstream. AI features are already raising user expectations—from camera framing and noise suppression to predictive diagnostics. The differentiator in the coming years will be how seamlessly these features enhance collaboration and reduce friction.

Fourth, remember that budgets are tight, so sustainability and ROI are under more scrutiny than ever. End users should look for solutions that extend product lifecycles through firmware updates, modular upgrades, and energy efficiency instead of requiring rip-and-replace strategies.

And finally, as AV lives fully on the network, alignment with corporate IT security standards is critical. Device-level protections and encrypted data handling must be built in—not bolted on.

The state of AV/IT today is one of acceleration—driven by interoperability, cloud-first management, and AI intelligence. End users who embrace openness, scalability, and sustainability will not only protect their investments but also position their organizations for smarter, more adaptable experiences in the years ahead.

PAUL HARRIS
CEO at Aurora Multimedia

For end-users looking to evolve their AV systems, I recommend attending industry trade shows like InfoComm, ISE, and NAB, among others, which provide a neutral platform to explore new technologies. Ignore the marketing, and what size booth, and who throws the best parties. Do not be a “zombie” tradeshow walker either. That is where you walk aimlessly and get sucked in by the pretty shows people put on, but miss what is right in front of you that can make a difference. Dealer and distributor local shows can work well, just understand the limitations and combine them with other research, as many of these shows will only show you what they sell and are aligned with, leaving out many other brands and new technologies.

If you really want to do what is right for your company, due diligence is everything. Talk directly with a variety of manufacturers and test the products yourself to see if they meet your requirements. Nothing is better than a good old-fashioned shootout between brands, especially if the end user is in control of it to make sure everything is on a proper playing field. All manufacturers are guilty of making their products sound as good as possible. That is simply marketing at its best or worst, for that matter.

Ask questions like what makes your technology better than the competition, what is your warranty, where is it made, what is the life span of the product, do you make the product (yeah, many companies just slap their name on OEM and pretend it is theirs, support, education, TAA compliant, and roadmap. Don’t fall into the AI trap where companies make it sound exciting from a buzzword. See that it really does what they say, regardless of the tag line. At the end of the day, you are solving a problem, and it does not matter what fancy wrapper it comes in; does it simply do what is advertised, and does it do it well?

ADAM SOWERS
Senior Manager, Business Development at Sony Electronics

As organizations evolve their AV systems, the integration of interoperability, cloud solutions, and AI is paramount. AV systems aren’t just about hardware anymore; now, it’s all about being open, smart, and working together seamlessly. Even the newest legacy systems must catch up with the demands of hybrid work, smarter buildings, and AI-powered experiences. How would this actually get done? By embracing interoperability.

For anyone choosing platforms, I’d recommend looking for those that support open architectures and APIs. This is because open systems make it much easier for all your devices and services to communicate with each other. Think of it this way: By choosing solutions that can grow and adapt, you’re making sure your tech keeps up with the times as best as possible and is set up to evolve as quickly as possible. If you haven’t yet, check out initiatives like OpenAV Cloud, of which Sony Electronics is a member, to help you stay ahead.

Additionally, we’re all aware of the impact AI is starting to have. For example, virtual assistants and service bots are not just for demos anymore. Tools like predictive maintenance and smart troubleshooting mean less downtime and happier users. Virtual attendants can automate routines, personalize rooms, and manage schedules with minimal fuss.

Over the next few years, the efforts to unite disparate systems to create holistic solutions will finally come together. To prepare for that, think about going for modular, cloud-native solutions that are ready for AI and can grow with your evolution path. And partner with brands—like Sony—that believe in interoperability and open standards.

NICOLE CORBIN
Vice President of Product at Utelogy Corporation

As AV and IT continue to converge, the future belongs to organizations that embrace interoperability, automation, and intelligent systems. From cloud control platforms to AI-driven workflows, the industry is moving into an era where your technology estate shouldn’t just be about how it’s managed, but about how it’s orchestrated (ideally remotely and automatically).

Legacy and even modern AV systems weren’t designed to support the kind of dynamic, scalable, and data-driven operations today’s enterprises demand, but that’s changing fast.

At Utelogy, we’re seeing end users evolve by connecting AI agents across their IT/AV environments to support services that manage device health, power scheduling, room utilization, and even energy-saving measures. But these agents need a toolkit to work—a platform that provides control, telemetry, configuration, and automation in real-time. That’s where the Utelogy Platform comes in, delivering innovations like Agentic AI on our MCP Server to solve these challenges.

Agentic AI brings a conversational interface to the heart of AV/UC operations. Issue a command like, “Restart all devices in Building B with recent alert history,” and the system not only executes it, but recommends how to turn that action into a self-healing event going forward. This is AI for productivity, not just novelty.

Our advice? Don’t be afraid to integrate. Whether you’re managing a few rooms or thousands of devices across campuses and continents, the right tools let you reduce manual effort, increase uptime, and make smarter decisions using the data you already have.

In the coming years, the winners won’t just be those who adopt the newest tech, but those who build agile, interoperable systems that allow humans and machines to work together. The future of AV/IT isn’t siloed; it’s smart, connected, and cloud-enabled.

JATAN SHAH
President at QSC

My advice to end users looking to evolve their AV systems is to focus on flexibility, scalability, and intelligence. Technology is moving quickly, and the most future-ready solutions are those that adapt as your needs change while simplifying day-to-day experiences.

One of the biggest shifts in the industry is the move toward full integration of AV, IT, and building systems. AV is no longer a standalone function; it’s becoming deeply embedded in the workplace and experiential design. This means organizations should seek out open platforms that can seamlessly integrate into broader ecosystems rather than locking into closed or siloed technologies.

Another important trend is the rise of AI and data-driven automation. Instead of just enabling meetings or presentations, AI is becoming the eyes and ears of the room, driving context-aware actions like presenter tracking, speaker detection, and intelligent room adjustments. This shift makes technology more intuitive, reduces friction for end users, and helps deliver consistent, high-quality experiences.

Scalability also plays a critical role. End users should think not only about solving today’s challenges, but also about whether their AV approach can expand across multiple spaces or campuses while continuing to deliver measurable outcomes. Collecting and analyzing data from connected systems will become essential for optimizing utilization, proving ROI, and informing future planning.

Ultimately, the future of AV/IT is about creating smarter, more connected environments that support collaboration and innovation. By prioritizing open, data-driven platforms, organizations can ensure they’re not just keeping up with change but actively shaping spaces that are efficient, adaptive, and human-centered.

KATHRYN TAUB
Senior Product Marketing Manager at Audinate

Over the past decade, AV over IP has become central to professional systems, with nearly every major manufacturer offering networked products. And yet, interoperability across brands remains uneven, and customers expect systems that are easy to deploy, adaptable, and capable of integrating devices from different vendors.

The main challenge is that many products are built on unique implementations that work within a single brand but don’t extend beyond it. Such closed systems may be reliable, but hinder specialized features, gradual upgrades, or integration with existing investments. Open standards offer a pathway toward compatibility, but progress is slow and adoption is uneven, usually limited to basic transport of media across the network. Licensable platform solutions have become a widely adopted alternative. Backed by dedicated engineering teams, they extend beyond basic transport to provide APIs, stronger security, monitoring, and cloud-based tools that work consistently across multiple manufacturers.

Interoperability is what ensures AV-over-IP systems meet expectations in practice. Reliable audio and video depend on devices working together without added latency or quality loss, regardless of brand. As networks grow from single rooms to campuses, interoperability allows them to scale without fragmentation or costly redesigns. Shared APIs and common control frameworks make management practical by giving integrators the visibility they need to simplify support. Security underscores the same point: A system is only as strong as its weakest device, and without network-wide encryption or access control, interoperability is incomplete. Systems must balance performance and flexibility so they can meet the distinct demands of any environment.

The future of AV over IP depends on interoperability. With common protocols, consistent testing, and manufacturer-agnostic design, the industry can build networks that scale and adapt with ease. Interoperability safeguards current investments while opening the door to the innovation and growth that will define the next generation of AV systems.

BRAD HINTZE
Executive Vice President of Global Marketing at Crestron

Ultimately, convergence is all about scale. While organizations grow and their services expand, every system has to evolve to support new demands. This doesn’t mean simply upgrading individual components; instead, it requires a strategic approach and selecting platforms that are built on scalable standards that can grow with an organization over time. This scalability isn’t enough on its own, though. The platforms must also offer flexibility to accommodate a diverse range of spaces and room configurations to address smaller huddle rooms and multifunctional boardrooms alike. When choosing solutions that balance both of these components, organizations can future-proof their environments while maintaining consistency and performance.

Just as important is the user experience, as the expectations of end users are rising rapidly.

Today’s employees walk into a room with a clear vision for how they want the space to operate. Basic connectivity and audiovisual capabilities are no longer sufficient. Organizations must enable people to use the room with an easy-to-use system that offers AI features such as transcription and notetaking—just like they have come to expect from their individual workspaces.

Success lies in selecting technologies that scale with your organization while enhancing the experience of every individual who interacts
with them.

KEITH YANKE
Vice President of Product & Solutions Marketing at Sharp Imaging
& Information Company of America

The AV/IT landscape is rapidly evolving, shaped by AI, cloud interoperability, and new display technology. For end-users upgrading legacy or newer AV systems, it’s important to consider scalability, security, and sustainability.

AI is transforming display intelligence. From content triggering based on audience behavior to predictive diagnostics and remote monitoring, AI makes systems smarter, more responsive, and easier to manage. Paired with cloud-based management, AV networks can be centrally controlled, ensuring updates are applied, standards upheld, and devices remain secure throughout their lifecycle.

As systems grow more interconnected, interoperability introduces both opportunity and risk—making security foundational. AV systems must be designed with lifecycle security in mind, including firmware and software support beyond deployment. With that, manufacturers will be expected to maintain robust protocols throughout a product’s life.

As display technologies evolve alongside AI and cloud, LED displays continue to gain momentum with chip-on-board (COB) and smaller pixel pitch options becoming more affordable. When paired with cloud-driven control, LED provides scalable, high-performance displays that integrate seamlessly into AV/IT ecosystems.

Immersive experiences—from simulation to projection mapping—are expanding as AI simplifies both content creation and the mapping process. Tasks that once required niche expertise now have easier learning curves, making immersive environments more accessible to broader markets and applications. Combined with cloud-based platforms, interoperable AV systems can deliver these experiences in ways that are seamless, adaptable, and scalable.

Sustainability has also become a decisive purchasing driver. Beyond efficient hardware, cloud interoperability supports smarter lifecycle management—optimizing usage, reducing waste, and extending product longevity. Combined with durable displays, this proves that performance and sustainability can align.

Looking ahead, AV/IT systems will be defined by their ability to adapt, connect, and contribute to intelligent, secure, and sustainable workplaces across industries.

EFFI GOLDSTEIN
President of the HDBaseT Alliance

Whether upgrading legacy installations or enhancing newer deployments, end users would be best served by adopting a strategy centered around proven, reliable standards.

Modern AV systems are expensive, and organizations need to be sure that today’s investment will support tomorrow’s requirements. Building on established protocols like HDBaseT helps teams avoid getting locked into a single vendor’s ecosystem, resulting in greater and faster access to equipment than when relying on one source. This flexibility is especially important when it comes to maintenance, replacement, and time-sensitive system expansion.

Another key factor that must be taken into consideration is maintaining full functionality of the interfaces being used. For example, USB-C has become ubiquitous in modern devices, but not all connectivity solutions support the same bandwidth, creating hidden bottlenecks. For example, when connecting a USB 3.0 camera, you don’t want it to be downgraded to USB 2.0 because a system’s connectivity infrastructure can’t handle the higher data rates. Quality standards ensure your investment performs at the level it was intended to.

An additional advantage of standards-based systems is their ability to support upgrades in stages rather than being forced into complete overhauls. HDBaseT’s backward compatibility means you can reuse existing components and upgrade others as needs evolve incrementally—all while staying within budget. This offers dual benefits: It’s more economically friendly for the organization, and it supports sustainability initiatives by extending equipment lifecycles.

PETRO SHIMONISHI
Director of New Business Development at Panasonic Projector and Display Americas

AV/IT convergence not only poses an opportunity to streamline workflows, but it also exposes the need for flexible, interoperable, and easy-to-use solutions. Delivering end-to-end workflow solutions is essential to empowering AV professionals to focus on what matters: creating shared experiences. Effective, efficient workflows allow users to deliver stronger results with fewer resources to maximize the value of AV systems.

We’ll continue to see more integrations between hardware and software providers to streamline workflows and give customers the ability to design, create, and manage applications with more ease than ever before. For instance, at Panasonic Projector and Display Americas, we recently partnered with XTEN-AV to develop an integration that allows AV professionals to specify the correct lens for their Panasonic projector. Corporate AV/IT teams can confidently create system designs, reducing guesswork and speeding installation of interchangeable lens projectors.

Another market trend we anticipate will continue is the evolution of simplicity in installations. Universities upgrading lecture halls or other spaces often require additional hardware to manage streaming, content sharing, and network integration. This can increase system complexity, which becomes challenging for tight spaces. Panasonic’s displays and projectors feature SDM card slots and our partnership with Matrox Video gives AV professionals the freedom to choose the AVoIP standard that best meets their needs, with a clean system design that’s flexible for the future.

The migration of AV system workflows to the cloud is accelerating. This transition will help power seamless, engaging content as siloed, proprietary systems inhibit integration and innovation. As a founding member of OpenAV Cloud, Panasonic aims to accelerate this transition by supporting OpenAPI standards and working with the association to create a cloud-to-cloud communication standard that drives easy, cross-platform collaboration.

JOE ANDRULIS
Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at Biamp

AI continues to transform the audiovisual landscape, integrating into both legacy and contemporary AV systems. For end users, this ongoing evolution represents an unprecedented opportunity to enhance meeting experiences while also simplifying system management and support.

Beyond traditional configuration and provisioning, AI is fundamentally reshaping how end users experience corporate meetings of all types, whether participants are in person, remote, or in a hybrid setting. The most remarkable aspect of this transformation is its invisibility. Participants benefit from sophisticated, AI-driven enhancements without ever sensing the technology working behind the scenes. This seamless integration is crucial for creating truly effective meeting environments that prioritize simplicity, speed, and unwavering reliability.

Modern conferencing solutions exemplify this invisible intelligence. All-in-one conferencing bars, for example, demonstrate how AI can elevate user experiences through intelligent features such as beamtracking technology, which actively monitors and intelligently mixes conversations to ensure remote participants feel fully engaged. Coupled with AI-powered noise reduction algorithms, these systems deliver crystal-clear voice reproduction that eliminates distractions and maintains professional communication standards.

Visual intelligence further enhances the experience through electronic pan-tilt-zoom cameras paired with auto-framing technology, ensuring all participants remain perfectly positioned regardless of their location or movement. This technology keeps everyone front and center, creating an inclusive environment where physical location becomes irrelevant to participation quality.

The impact of AI also extends into operational excellence, benefiting end users in other ways they may not realize. For technical support teams, AI provides unprecedented insights into system performance, enabling rapid problem identification and resolution. This enables support teams to implement predictive capabilities to address potential issues before they impact end users, transforming reactive support into proactive system optimization. This paradigm shift ensures that mundane technical issues are resolved automatically, while more complex challenges are anticipated and prevented, creating a seamless, uninterrupted meeting experience for all participants.

OMER BROOKSTEIN, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Xyte

For enterprise end users looking to evolve their AV systems, the most important step is ensuring a foundation that’s open and adaptable. Proprietary silos slow innovation and increase costs, while open APIs provide the flexibility to integrate best-in-class solutions and scale as needs change. That’s why OpenAV Cloud—an industry initiative focused on standardizing open, cloud-based APIs and fostering cross-platform collaboration—is so critical.

The value of choosing an OpenAV solution is clear: It delivers vendor-neutral flexibility, easier integrations and scalability, and faster support and troubleshooting—all while future-proofing AV/IT investments with the backing of industry leaders. With this foundation in place, enterprises can not only streamline today’s operations but also prepare for the intelligent automation that’s rapidly reshaping the industry.

The real opportunity today, however, lies in how AI will transform the way AV systems are supported, maintained, and experienced. AI-powered teammates are emerging as a force multiplier for IT and AV teams.

Autonomous issue resolution means that if a microphone drops mid-call, AI detects it and reboots or reroutes before users notice. With proactive scheduling and monitoring, AI forecasts failures from usage patterns and environmental data, then books service windows automatically. Context-aware support in hybrid meetings allows AI to adjust audio, cameras, and layouts to match participants and context. And finally, with self-service for end users, employees can resolve minor issues with AI-guided instructions, reducing IT workload.

AI in enterprise AV isn’t about replacing humans; it’s about augmenting teams with intelligent assistants that deliver resilience, efficiency, and better user experiences. Future-ready AV means building for both interoperability and intelligence—without one, the other cannot succeed. And with AI teammates stepping in to resolve issues, anticipate needs, and empower users, organizations that embrace this shift now will set the pace for the entire industry.

STEPHANE TREMBLAY
President of the SDVoE Alliance

Today, we’re recognizing that many integrators, IT managers, and end users are seeking solutions that deliver high-quality performance without requiring a complete rip and replace of existing infrastructure. As a result, AV over IP has emerged as a viable solution. By shifting AV distribution onto standard Ethernet networks, it enables organizations to harness the power of their current infrastructure while unlocking new levels of flexibility, scalability, and reliability. Unlike traditional systems that often depend on proprietary hardware and cabling, AV over IP integrates seamlessly into IT environments.

A key advantage of AV over IP, and particularly Software-Defined Video over Ethernet (SDVoE), is its ability to deliver high-performance video and audio with the reliability and interoperability that IT teams expect. With SDVoE technology, audiovisual functions become software-defined, meaning updates, enhancements, and even new features can be deployed through firmware rather than hardware replacement. A software-based approach offers significant future proofing, delaying obsolescence and protecting investments. In an era where supply chain disruptions and budget pressures remain real challenges, that flexibility matters.

Higher education, corporate facilities, houses of worship, and other verticals need standardized, interoperable solutions that scale to large spaces without compromising user experience. In higher education, for instance, AV over IP enables classrooms, lecture halls, and collaborative spaces to run on a consistent backbone, easing IT management and improving reliability.

Looking ahead, AV and IT continue to converge more closely. AV is no longer siloed, but treated as another service on the network, and is subject to the same demands for uptime, security, and scalability. Ethernet’s continued evolution, coupled with AV over IP’s flexibility, suggests that over the next few years, organizations will increasingly standardize on 10G Ethernet backbones. As a result, AV systems will become more reliable, interoperable, and adaptable to future needs, ensuring end users can keep pace with changing expectations without constant reinvestment.

It was another very busy week in Pro AV. Diversified opened a new headquarters, Nanolumens and FOR-A were among a slew of industry companies that made new appointments, and NDI named a new Board.

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Let's get right to it.

People News

Tom Baldassare Joins Advanced Systems Group

Industry veteran Tom Baldassare has joined Advanced Systems Group as a senior account executive. In his new role, he will maintain and develop relationships with Fortune 100 tech and financial firms on both coasts. Baldassare is one of the creators of the Silicon Valley Video Summit, a consistently sold-out event every January, co-sponsored by ASG.

Baldassare has built a following among the top Silicon Valley and west coast tech firms. In addition to servicing existing clientele, Baldassare will also lead ASG’s initiative to cultivate new technology and finance firms as clientele in New York City.

Cobalt Iron Appoints Joshua Pressnell as VP of Engineering

Cobalt Iron welcomed Joshua Pressnell as VP of engineering. Based in Ohio, Pressnell will draw on his diverse background in defense systems, mobile applications, and enterprise software to further strengthen Cobalt Iron’s engineering organization and drive innovation across its Compass enterprise data protection platform.

Pressnell will lead Cobalt Iron’s Software and Systems teams, applying proven engineering leadership to accelerate innovation and product delivery. He aims to build on Cobalt Iron’s strong engineering foundation by enhancing collaboration across departments and refining how technical execution supports strategic business goals. His focus is on evolving engineering practices to align with the company’s vision for 2025 and beyond, ensuring continued delivery of innovative, reliable solutions that meet the dynamic needs of enterprise customers.

Pressnell’s career began in the defense sector, where he lead the creation of mission-critical systems for the U.S. Department of Defense, developing a deep appreciation for cyber security and bulletproof software design. He later founded Varietas Software, producing over 30 niche mobile applications — including a pioneering personal book cataloging app and an email prioritization tool used by enterprise clients. Later, as CTO at Penthera Technologies, he led the development of advanced video streaming solutions for major media brands. His leadership roles at RTI, Ascendum Solutions, and various startups further showcase his expertise in cloud computing, cross-functional team management, and delivering scalable, customer-focused solutions.

FOR-A America Names Ernie Leon SVP, Head of Sales and Strategic Growth

FOR-A America named Ernie Leon as SVP, head of sales and strategic growth. In his new role, Leon will oversee sales strategy, business development, and market expansion.

With previous senior leadership roles at Sony and Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud solutions, Leon brings a unique blend of broadcast expertise, cloud workflow innovation, and customer-focused strategy to help FOR-A America accelerate growth and better serve core customers in the broadcast, corporate, and house-of-worship markets.

Nanolumens Appoints Patrick Britton as Chief Operating Officer

Nanolumens has appointed Patrick Britton as chief operating officer. Britton brings more than 25 years of experience in the audiovisual industry, with a versatile background spanning project management, product launches, operations and executive leadership. His career includes roles as VP of sales and marketing at IMS Technology Services, CEO of South Central AV, regional general manager at AVI-SPL, principal consultant at Polaris Management Advisors, and, most recently, senior consultant at Navigate Management Consulting.

In his new role, Britton will focus on strengthening Nanolumens’ operational workflows to manage increasing volumes and unify systems across the organization. His expertise in enterprise resource planning tools will be a key asset in optimizing efficiency, productivity, and alignment throughout the company.

PPDS Appoints Digital Signage Sales Specialist Hendrik Hack

PPDS welcomed digital signage sales specialist, Hendrik Hack. Accepting the role of sales manager digital signage for north and northeast Germany, Hack joins PPDS with a career spanning almost 10 years, specializing exclusively in digital signage and interactive display sales and project management.

Hack will play a key role in PPDS achieving its growth ambitions for Philips digital signage, as well as value added solutions such as Philips Wave, in Germany. His responsibilities will include working with and supporting PPDS’ partners and customers, as well as with PPDS’ global teams for multinational projects, helping to increase business opportunities, secure tenders, and ensure seamless project completions across all market verticals, including retail, corporate, education, hospitality, healthcare, transportation, public venues, and more.

StreamGuys Promotes Two to Executive Layer

StreamGuys has promoted Tim LaBelle to EVP of global sales and Jesse Orr to EVP of engineering, effective immediately. They will work closely together to fuel the company’s next generation of business growth.

In his new role, LaBelle will oversee all sales and business development. His innate understanding of the company’s technology brings valuable insights for customers and enterprises. Orr has long been a key contributor and leader behind the scenes at StreamGuys, where his core responsibilities include bringing more efficiency to both StreamGuys and customer organizations. That includes maintaining the networking and infrastructure, global data centers, and working to assure 100% uptime for customers' streams and StreamGuys’ suite of services.

Cam Eicher Named EVP of Audio Production for Telos Alliance

Telos Alliance has promoted Cam Eicher to EVP of audio production. In his newly created role, Eicher will leverage his 35-plus years of broadcast experience, deep understanding of customers’ needs, and the strong relationships he has built while at Telos Alliance to bring a more unified product portfolio to market more quickly and ensure a cohesive and consistent user experience across products and brand families.

Company News

22Miles Joins the BrightSign Bright Alliance Program

22Miles has been named an Elite Partner within BrightSign’s Bright Alliance program. The recognition underscores the companies’ long-standing collaboration and highlights their shared commitment to delivering seamless, innovative digital signage experiences across retail, healthcare, education, and hospitality environments.

Bright Alliance is BrightSign’s strategic partner program designed to unlock new possibilities for digital signage by fostering collaborative solutions, seamless technology integration, and joint go-to-market support. Within this program, Elite partners represent the highest level of collaboration. Elite status is reserved for CMS providers that work in close alignment with BrightSign’s technical roadmap, pioneer new markets, and drive customer success at scale.

Audio-Technica Introduces Technica Base Product Portal

Audio-Technica unveiled Technica Base, a new online technical resource center designed to give system integrators, consultants, and Pro AV specialists streamlined access to A-T commercial audio product information. Technica Base offers technical product information, relevant downloads, and other resources to support the specification and deployment of Audio-Technica solutions for commercial audio applications, perfect for accessing information in the integrator’s office or out in the field at their job site.

Technica Base is an easy-to-use search hub offering users up-to-date information on A-T solutions, including documents on each product, technical specifications, software and firmware downloads, high-res images, videos and more. Product information on Technica Base is organized by Wired Products, Wireless Products, and Products by Line (Engineered Sound, UniPoint, ProPoint). Additional System Solution Links include Software and Firmware (Download current software and firmware), Strategic Alliances and Partnerships (complete listing of third-party partners), Case Studies (examples of real-world applications of A-T solutions) and System Solution Territory Contacts.

NDI Appoints Global Advisory Board

Last month, NDI formed its inaugural Global Advisory Board, uniting top industry leaders from across the video technology ecosystem to support NDI’s continued growth, innovation, and worldwide adoption. The NDI Advisory Board will provide strategic counsel on interoperability, standards development, developer outreach, and broader ecosystem opportunities.

Steve Taylor, chief product and technology officer at Vizrt, will serve as chair of the Advisory Board, bringing deep product and industry expertise to lead this strategic group. The six additional members are Jeff Moore, EVP and chief marketing officer, Ross Video; Laurent Masia, senior director of product line management, NETGEAR; Fintan McKiernan, CEO, Ideal Systems; Mahmoud Al-Daccak, video technology expert, MulticoreWare; Andy Carluccio, head of client innovation, Zoom; and Miguel Coutinho, head of NDI.

NSCA Education Foundation Launches Legacy Program

The NSCA Education Foundation, the 501c3 charitable activity affiliate of NSCA focused on workforce development and industry advancement, recently announced a significant financial contribution from Ray Bailey, CEO of Lone Star Communications, to help support the foundation's new Legacy Program.

Bailey is stepping back from his longstanding roles with NSCA and the NSCA Education Foundation, where he’s served in various leadership and Board of Directors roles for more than two decades. He presented the donation in July during his final NSCA Board of Directors meeting, coinciding with his company’s transition to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

The Legacy Program is designed to sustain long-term investments in career, talent, and professional-develop resources that strengthen the commercial integration industry. Bailey will play an instrumental role in determining how his contributions are applied. Potential initiatives include specialized training programs, such as AI-related skills for integrators, as well as events and programs focused on attracting young professionals to the industry.

Sennheiser Partners with Rise AV to Support Diversity in the AV Industry

The Sennheiser Group has joined forces with Rise AV, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing gender diversity and inclusion in the audiovisual sector. As a Gold Sponsor, Sennheiser supports Rise AV’s mission to create pathways for women and underrepresented talent. By supporting Rise AV, Sennheiser contributes to a shared vision: an AV industry where talent is recognized regardless of gender, and where inclusive structures enable long-term change.

Sennheiser has been advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion through initiatives such as its Diversity Network, launched in 2019 and rooted in a women’s network from 2016. Other milestones include the signing of the German Diversity Charter in 2022, the introduction of global DEI training for all employees by 2025, and the annual celebration of Diversity Day. Together, these measures reflect a culture where every voice counts, and different perspectives are valued as sources of innovation.

Utelogy Joins Forces with Natilik to Enhance Managed Meeting Spaces

Utelogy Corporation announced its strategic partnership with Natilik, an IT solutions provider with headquarters in London and offices in New York and Sydney. This collaboration brings Utelogy’s intelligent software platform into Natilik’s long-standing Managed Services portfolio, further strengthening its Managed Meeting Spaces offering.

Together, Utelogy and Natilik are enabling enterprises to achieve proactive support, real-time monitoring, historical analytics, and remote troubleshooting across their AV and UC environments. This combination empowers organizations to optimize uptime, streamline operations, and improve user experiences across global deployments.

WeQuote Expands to North America

For AV integrators, managing quotes, projects, and client communications often means juggling tools that weren’t built for their business. Designed by AV professionals, WeQuote is a software platform that makes quoting, project management, and client updates simple, fast, and reliable. Already used across Europe, WeQuote is now expanding to North America, giving integrators a tool that fits their workflow.

WeQuote’s U.S. launch marks a major milestone in the company’s global growth, helping AV professionals everywhere streamline their workflow and eliminate inefficiencies. “Integrators shouldn’t have to work around software,” said Lee Roche, WeQuote co-founder and CEO of. “WeQuote adapts to how teams actually work, so they can focus on delivering great AV experiences instead of fighting spreadsheets and emails."

Pro AV Around the World

Diversified opened a new office in Frankfurt, Germany. The strategic hub expands the company’s operational footprint in EMEA, serving as a center for client engagement, technology demonstrations, engineering, and project delivery. The office space spans ~5,400 square feet (500 square meters), with a 1300 square meter warehouse, supporting Diversified’s existing team with plans to grow headcount over the next two years. The facility provides ample space for prestaging, warehousing, and collaboration for Diversified and its technology partners, including Sennheiser and Crestron, to engage with clients and showcase solutions on-site.

SpinetiX appointed Green Sources as a distribution partner for India. Green Sources will offer the full SpinetiX portfolio and provide on-the-ground commercial and technical support to SpinetiX resellers and integrators nationwide.

Newly Certified

AVer Information's MD720UIS, a medical-grade, all-in-one PTZ camera, has obtained Zoom Pro AV Camera Certification. Purpose-built for telehealth and patient monitoring, the MD720UIS delivers a seamless Zoom experience, enabling healthcare professionals to provide consistent, high-quality care in virtual consultations, intensive care units, telesitting programs and remote patient monitoring environments.

The MD720UIS is engineered to meet the evolving demands of modern healthcare. Featuring 20X optical zoom, ultra-clear 4K imaging and IR night vision, the MD720UIS ensures sharp, detailed visuals in any lighting condition. With PoE++ connectivity, it transmits both power and data over a single Ethernet cable, simplifying setup across medical carts, patient rooms and virtual nurse stations. Designed with privacy and compliance in mind, the MD720UIS features a Local Privacy Mode that halts audio and video transmission, plus an intelligent Mosaic function that automatically masks bodies or faces in the frame to protect patient identity.

Elsewhere, Owl Labs announced its Meeting Owl 4+ has achieved Microsoft Teams certification. With this milestone, the Meeting Owl 4+ joins the Meeting Owl 3 and Owl Bar as peripherals that are certified for Microsoft Teams. With its full ecosystem now certified, Owl Labs provides IT professionals with a comprehensive suite of industry-leading hybrid collaboration solutions.

With this achievement, Owl Labs reinforces its role as a trusted IT partner, serving nearly 250,000 organizations and 92 of the Fortune 100. The Teams certification validates that Owl Labs products meet the rigorous requirements of IT buyers and ensures optimal functionality in enterprise ecosystems.

AVT Question: Please share your insights into emerging trends and how AV/IT technologies are reshaping the higher education classroom and beyond.

Thought Leader: Nicole Corbin, Vice President of Product at Utelogy

Educational institutions across the country are deploying more technology in more rooms across more dispersed campuses. Simultaneously, tech support teams and estate managers are challenged to manage these increasingly complex spaces with fewer resources, less staff, and minimal budgets—sometimes even relying on students to support installed technology.

These same students, and many faculty, are also digital natives who have only ever known technology at their fingertips. Their expectation is straightforward: Classroom tech must work when they need it.

This focus on the user experience has raised the stakes for AV/IT estate management. State-of-the-art classroom technology does more than provide a competitive edge for attracting students and faculty; it’s also a key contributor to maintaining sustainability efforts.

Technical support teams need the flexibility to do their jobs from anywhere, at any time. Remote monitoring and management software that may have once been a luxury is now a necessity, especially with shrinking budgets caused in large part by reductions in federal funding. Estate managers can remotely monitor and manage devices and systems across a network to perform remote troubleshooting or prevent issues before they escalate and disrupt classroom schedules. Alerts and self-healing system capabilities are also critical for ensuring educational technology is fully operational on demand. The ability to track device and room usage helps organizations make data-based operational and purchasing decisions.

Effective asset management is critical for ed tech managers. Support teams need to ensure uninterrupted service by tracking warranties, license expiration dates, security patches, firmware versions, and device refresh cycles, which are necessary for accurate and timely planning and budgeting as they evaluate their needs for the next year.

Solutions such as the Utelogy Platform provide support staff with software-based productivity tools combined with on-campus and remote management capabilities. The platform also offers asset management, monitoring, room automation, usage metrics and analytics, alerting, and reporting, plus the ability to adapt to legacy AV or new AV/UC technologies.

After July kicked off with a flurry of acquisitions, Week 2 of the month was a bit quieter. That doesn't mean there weren't several strategic moves which occurred... and yes, there was another acquisition. Get caught up on people movers and partnerships that you should know.

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People News

ACT Entertainment Expands Sales Team

ACT Entertainment has appointed two members of the lighting sales team to newly designated sales territories. Jonathan Schneider and Asha Washington have been named as regional outside sales reps. Schneider is lighting for the South-Central U.S. and Washington is for the Southeast U.S.

Schneider was a media server engineer, lighting tech, and crew chief with Upstaging for the last 11 years. He worked on various tours, including Celtic Thunder, Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones, and served as the Hippo and network tech with the WWE for eight years. For the last five years, Washington has served as inside sales rep and, most recently, outside sales rep for Barbizon Lighting Company. Earlier, she was the technical director for the Beaufort County School District.

AtlasIED Announces Dirk Greef as Regional Sales Manager for Germany

AtlasIED appointed Dirk Greef as regional sales manager for Germany, supporting the company’s ongoing international growth and presence across Europe. Greef joins AtlasIED Europe GmbH and will be based in Germany.

Greef has over a decade of experience in the industry, having held essential sales roles in both integration and distribution. His career includes more than five years with a German integrator, where he directed the company’s sales and commercial operations. He then took on the role of area sales manager for Western Germany at a leading German distributor, where he further enhanced his market knowledge and built strong customer relationships. In his new role, Greef will focus on expanding AtlasIED’s footprint throughout Germany, introducing the company’s extensive product range to integrators, consultants, and end users across the region.

Lukas von Arx Appointed CEO of Neutrik Group

The Neutrik Group has appointed Lukas von Arx as its new chief executive officer. He officially takes on the leadership of the globally active company headquartered in Liechtenstein.

von Arx brings a wealth of international experience and leadership expertise in the cable and connectivity industry. His career has included roles at Ernst & Young, LEONI, and most recently BizLink.

At LEONI, von Arx was, among other responsibilities, in charge of establishing a new production facility in India and later led the company’s Canadian operations. He joined BizLink in 2022 as president and managing director of BizLink elocab in Canada and took over global responsibility in 2023 for the Tailor-Made Business Unit, overseeing nine sites and approximately 1,000 employees.

Company News

Introducing Dale Pro Audio Advanced Wireless Group

Dale Pro Audio and RF coordinating guru James Stoffo partner to offer custom-designed, mission-critical wireless solutions. The newly formed Dale Pro Audio Advanced Wireless Group was created to support clients from initial site survey and design to procurement and installation with a reliable wireless system tailored to customers’ exact specifications.

Stoffo authored the RF Coordination and Procedures Manual for the Olympic Committee, which has served as the radio communications and wireless microphone operations blueprint for every World Cup game since 2006. Stoffo has also designed large antenna systems for events including: two decades of Super Bowls and Rose Bowls; CMA Awards and Latin Grammy shows; and Fortune 100 corporate events, including Microsoft and Salesforce

Formed in 1956, Dale Pro Audio’s specialists have decades of experience supporting broadcast and large-scale productions all over the world. “Dale’s products and solutions are manufacturer agnostic and are focused entirely on what best meets our clients’ specific needs,” said Al Spinelli, VP of sales and operations at Dale Pro Audio.

Adam Hall Group Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary

Adam Hall Group is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025. With over 800 guests on campus, the technology manufacturer celebrated with a big staff party in the Experience Centre at its headquarters in Neu-Anspach, Hesse, on July 4.

Together with its employees and their families, the Adam Hall Group looked back on 50 years of event technology history. One particular highlight was parked right outside the door: the restored 1972 Wings Over Europe tour bus belonging to Paul McCartney and his band Wings, discovered by co-founder and classic car fan David Kirby at an auction. The iconic bus now serves as an exhibit in the company’s own Rock ‘n Roll Library, and as an inspiring creative space for employees. It is a physical symbol of the anniversary motto: “Honoring the past, driving the future.”

50 years ago, Adam Hall founded a small company in Southend-on-Sea, England, which manufactured fittings for flight cases under the name Adam Hall Hardware. Just five years later, Kirby laid the foundations in Germany for what is now known worldwide as the Adam Hall Group. What started out small has developed over the decades into an internationally active group of companies with strong brands such as Palmer, DEFENDER, LD Systems, Cameo, Gravity, and Adam Hall Cables.

The next groundbreaking step followed in 2013: Alexander Pietschmann and Markus Jahnel took over the management of the company as part of a management buyout. Kirby remains with the company as executive chairman to this day. Today, the Adam Hall Group is a globally active company with around 400 employees worldwide and is one of the leading manufacturers in the event technology industry. The established international locations and showrooms, such as those in Barcelona, Asia, the U.K., and North America, have also contributed significantly to this.

AVer Joins HETMA as Gold Partner

AVer Information USA, an award-winning provider of video collaboration and education technology solutions, announces its role as a Gold Partner of HETMA (Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance). AVer’s partnership reflects the company’s dedication to empowering higher education through advanced audiovisual technology and aligns seamlessly with HETMA’s mission to enhance AV technology across college campuses nationwide.

As a Gold Partner, AVer will be recognized by HETMA as a catalyst for technology innovation and adoption in the higher education sector. A key initiative supported by this partnership is the HETMA Approved Program, a rigorous, independent, peer-reviewed product evaluation that streamlines technology adoption for institutions. AVer’s support of this program ensures colleges and universities can confidently implement cutting-edge solutions that meet the demands of modern learning environments.

AVer’s portfolio of video collaboration solutions is designed with higher education in mind. From immersive lecture capture to interactive hybrid classrooms, AVer’s AI-powered cameras deliver unmatched performance with features such as crystal-clear 4K resolution, powerful 30X optical zoom, and seamless integration with leading Learning Management Systems (LMS) and video platforms.

Carousel Digital Signage Software Expands Compatibility to Samsung Tizen Displays

Carousel Digital Signage now enables media player support for Samsung commercial displays built on the Samsung Smart Signage Platform (SSSP) with the Tizen operating system. This means AV integrators and IT teams can deploy digital signage on Samsung commercial TVs already in use without adding external players.

By leveraging Samsung’s embedded SoC (System on Chip) platform, Carousel now extends its reach to this vast installed base of screens, enabling customers to “keep [their] audience informed and connected” on existing Samsung panels.

SSSP displays include built‑in SoC hardware that can run apps like Carousel Cloud Player directly on the screen, making the display its own media player with no separate PC or box is required. As Samsung has noted, these SoC-equipped signage panels “can now be used as digital signage media players, negating the need for external players,” lowering the cost and complexity of deployments. Integrators mount the display and power it on rather than wiring up an external computer. Carousel’s app runs natively on the Samsung Tizen OS, so any supported display becomes a Carousel endpoint capable of playing content from the cloud.

Daktronics and Grass Valley Announce Strategic Partnership

Grass Valley and Daktronics announced a strategic technology partnership that unites Grass Valley’s live production expertise with Daktronics’ leadership in large-scale LED displays. Together, they deliver fully integrated, end-to-end solutions that enhance content creation, production efficiency, and real-time presentation for sports and entertainment venues. The collaboration underscores both companies’ shared commitment to innovation, offering venue solutions that adapt to the evolving needs of modern sports and entertainment, setting a new industry standard for immersive fan experiences and scalable infrastructure.

Several joint projects are already underway, applying the technical integration of Daktronics’ display and Show Control + Camino with Grass Valley’s IP-based live production tools. These initiatives are leveraging the combined strengths of both companies to deliver seamless, end-to-end solutions that elevate the fan experience and streamline production workflows. Details of these innovative deployments will be unveiled in the coming months.

LG and Design Mindset to Host 'Futures Workshop' for Educators' July 21-22 in Denver

LG Electronics USA, together with edtech innovator Design Mindset, will host an exclusive two-day Futures Workshop for Educators, July 21-22 at Bauer’s Candy Factory Coworking Space in Denver, CO. This invitation-only event will immerse K-12 educators, tech coaches and instructional leaders in a hands-on experience blending cutting-edge tools with visionary thinking. Interested educators can apply here.

“Education is being rewritten by rapidly evolving technologies,” said Victoria Sanville, education director at LG Electronics USA. “As educators, we need to stay ahead of the curve to provide today’s students with the best possible learning outcomes in an increasingly AI centric world. Together with Design Mindset, we’re inviting forward-thinking educators to collaborate with us on ways to move from ‘what now?’ to ‘what if?,' and co-create the future of learning.”

During the workshop, participants will enter a collaborative design lab featuring AI + Design Thinking in Action; Hands-On LG CreateBoard Sessions; Immersive AI Integration; Keynotes and Social Salons; and Vision Pitch Fest.

The workshop will kick off with a keynote by educator Kevin Brookhouser, author of, among others, The 20time Project, Code in Every Class, and Teaching Future-Ready Students. Self-described as a “Learning Animal,” Brookhouser believes the world's biggest challenges can be solved by students empowered with the right tools and guidance. He teaches language arts, computer programming, and design thinking at York School in Monterey, CA, and is a Google for Education Certified Innovator, Google Certified Trainer, and National Association of Independent Schools Teacher of the Future.

NDI Launches Pro-Level AV-over-IP Training with AVIXA Certification

NDI has launched its NDI Professional Course, a new on-demand training that is designed for AV professionals to build on their foundational knowledge and develop advanced AV over IP skills and expertise. Available now through the NDI Connected Community, the course empowers professionals to design, deploy and optimize advanced NDI workflows.

The NDI Professional Course builds on foundational concepts from its introductory course and is part of the company’s broader initiative to provide certified training to its growing global community of users. Ideal for professionals looking to gain recognition as NDI experts and seeking the tools to build scalable systems, this course empowers users to unlock the full potential of NDI.

Connected Community members receive access to the course content and all future updates for a one-time fee of $25. Participants will also obtain the NDI Professional Certificate signed by NDI’s technical director, and AVIXA certification with 3.5 Renewal Units for CTS, CTS-D, CTS-I, and ANP. The course includes workflow walkthroughs and applied use cases, offering flexible, anytime learning.

PlexusAV Selects PAG to Distribute in Canada

PlexusAV announced it has signed a distribution agreement with PAG to represent its products in Canada.

Under this new agreement, PAG Canada will lead all facets of PlexusAV engagement in Canada, including strategic business development and sales execution across all provinces and territories; technical onboarding and training tailored to integrators and specifiers; pre and post-sales support, ensuring seamless product adoption; and marketing and promotional efforts, including live demonstrations and regional events.

Telycam Simplifies Live Video Production with Elgato

Telycam has expanded the control options for its portfolio of advanced PTZ cameras with the introduction of a new plug-in for Elgato's Stream Deck family of controllers. The new integration simplifies live production workflows while enabling users to easily achieve precise camera movements and adjustments.

Elgato's Stream Deck series of controllers combine precise tactile control with easy drag-and-drop setup, unlimited customization options, space-saving form factors and an extensive third-party ecosystem. Telycam's new Stream Deck plug-in supports a wide range of Elgato models, from the compact Stream Deck Mini to the expansive Stream Deck XL and the rack-mount Stream Deck Studio.

Designed for simplicity and efficiency, the new Stream Deck plug-in for Telycam PTZ cameras lets users control pan, tilt, zoom, focus, and image settings with ease. Functions ranging from PTZ controls, presets and auto-tracking to exposure settings and white balance can be assigned to the customizable LCD buttons on Stream Deck controllers.

Legrand | AV Brands now Part of Expanded Utelogy Utelligence Alliance Partner Program

Utelogy Corporation has added Legrand|AV brands into its Utelligence Alliance Partner Program. This partnership brings expanded support for Legrand | AV brands and products. Middle Atlantic’s RackLink-enabled PDU and UPS power control solutions, as well as Vaddio AV Bridge and conferencing camera systems, are now part of the Utelogy platform, enabling deeper control, intelligent remote monitoring, and automated management across enterprise AV and UC environments.

With the growing need to manage and monitor AV infrastructure across distributed and hybrid environments, Legrand|AV’s robust hardware solutions now integrate seamlessly with Utelogy's software-driven platform. The Middle Atlantic RackLink-enabled power solutions offer intelligent power control and battery health diagnostics for any AV installation, while Vaddio conferencing systems deliver professional-grade camera automation and advanced AV switching for UC deployments.

As part of the expanding partnership, future support will be offered for Legrand | AV’s connected product line, including Luxul networking solutions. With Luxul’s routers, switches, and wireless access points, specifically designed for AV over IP and smart building environments, Utelogy plans to deliver deep integration for remote monitoring, diagnostics, and configuration. This will enable IT and AV teams to gain visibility into network performance and proactively manage connected AV systems from a single, centralized platform. Further plans on the roadmap will provide support for C2G products and networking, and more.

Wowza Accelerates AI-First Strategy with Acquisition

Wowza, known for its video streaming infrastructure for mission-critical applications, recently acquired AVA Intellect, an AI-native startup specializing in intelligent and embedded agent technology for video platforms. The acquisition reinforces Wowza’s commitment to embedding AI across the entire video lifecycle, starting with capabilities that drive immediate value for customers. As part of the acquisition, AVA’s co-founder, Mike Vitale, has joined Wowza as head of intelligence, accelerating Wowza’s shift toward an AI-first product strategy.

“What drew me to Wowza was the chance to pair next-gen AI with a platform that already powers some of the most demanding video infrastructure in the world,” Vitale said. “We’re building on that foundation with new intelligence that’s embeddable and aligned with how developers and product teams want to work today—across industries, use cases, and environments.”

“We’re integrating AVA Intellect’s agent framework into our platform to deliver video insights and real-time configuration support that adapts to customer needs," added Krish Kumar, CEO of Wowza. "It’s a practical step forward in making video delivery more intelligent and responsive."

With AVA Intellect on board, Wowza is introducing two major product innovations. First, AVA’s stream intelligence adds the ability to detect key markers and pull real-time insights directly from video. Second, its agent-based technology unlocks agent-powered experiences that enhance every stage of the user journey, bringing more intelligence and automation to Wowza’s video infrastructure. Beyond better usability, the new features cut friction, boost productivity, and elevate the streaming experience across every industry for Wowza’s customers.

Pro AV Around the Globe

1 SOUND announced its partnership with JS Audio Solutions, naming them the official 1 SOUND distributor for New Zealand, Australia, and the Oceania region. With over 20 years of experience, JS Audio Solutions is a trusted provider of premium AV solutions. This collaboration marks 1 SOUND’s debut into the markets, broadening its global presence.

SoundTube Entertainment named AVIT Vision as its new exclusive distributor in Spain. Based in Seville, AVIT Vision will offer the full portfolio of SoundTube products, including its Dante-enabled speakers, outdoor solutions, and SolidDrive sound transducers. Known for their technical expertise and customer support, AVIT Vision will provide integrators with localized inventory, technical training, and pre- and post-sales support.

Digital signage and integrated solutions specialist, Scala, officially opened its new showroom in Central London, U.K. Located just a short walk from Angel underground station, the showroom will serve as a dynamic hub for technology demonstrations, partner meetings, and educational initiatives all supporting Scala’s presence in the U.K. and across the wider European market. The Scala London showroom was officially opened on the evening of the July 9 with a party attended by key integration partners.

Record-setting numbers. Booths that dazzled. InfoComm stole the headlines last week, but there was so much more happening in Pro AV.

Sit back, shake off the InfoComm hangover from another successful show, and get caught up with last week

People News

RTSales Promotes Jennifer Tunks to Vice President

RTSales promoted Jennifer Tunks from sales director to VP, effective immediately.

This milestone marks a significant moment in company history, coming exactly 20 years after Bert Tunks assumed the role of president from their father, who founded RTSales in 1979. Jennifer Tunks began her journey with RTSales in 2010 and has been a driving force within the organization ever since. Her leadership, client-centered approach, and passion for the industry have not only strengthened the company’s reputation but also inspired a culture of growth and innovation.

Throughout her career, Jennifer has earned numerous accolades including recognition in SCN’s The Nine in 2022. Beyond her professional achievements, she has made meaningful contributions through years of volunteer work with AVIXA councils.

Chyron Welcomes David Silverstein as US Sales Executive

Chyron has appointed David Silverstein as U.S. sales executive. Silverstein comes to Chyron as a multi-Emmy Award-winning media professional expert in consultative selling via his broad and deep knowledge in news production and content innovation. His background includes time spent as a producer, executive producer, and news director at several major market television stations. Most recently, he spent nearly a decade as a national sales director for The Associated Press.

In his new role, he focuses on strengthening relationships with station groups, universities, and others, and also North American channel partners. His client roster will include legacy Chyron customers, major broadcasters new to Chyron, as well as emerging broadcasters.

PPDS Appoints Marco van der Knaap as New Global Product Manager of Philips LED displays

PPDS welcomed accomplished AV/IT specialist Marco van der Knaap as its new global product manager of Philips LED displays.

With a 25 year career dedicated almost exclusively to LED, van der Knaap is one of the AV industry’s most respected and sought after talents. He will support the team in navigating the highly competitive marketplace, continuing to position the expanding Philips direct view LED displays range in line with PPDS’ global strategy and growth ambitions.

van der Knaap will support PPDS’ indoor and outdoor dvLED sales teams globally. Leveraging his deep technical expertise, his new role will include increasing awareness of Philips indoor and outdoor LED line up and delivering tailored solutions (including hardware and software) to meet the evolving and unique needs of customers across a broad spectrum of market verticals. These include retail, broadcast, public venues including sports and stadia, corporate, education, hospitality, transportation, and many more.

Visionary Appoints David Lawrence as Western Regional Sales Manager

Visionary has appointed David Lawrence as Western regional sales manager. In this role, Lawrence is responsible for developing and managing strategic business relationships throughout the Western United States, encompassing Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Lawrence joins Visionary with more than 20 years of proven success in sales leadership, operations management and business development within the professional audiovisual industry. He most recently served as VP of sales at The Farm AV, where he spent nearly 12 years in a leadership capacity. His tenure at The Farm, and consequently Midwich, was instrumental in shaping the company’s growth trajectory and he is widely recognized for cultivating deep, enduring relationships with AV professionals and integrators across the region. Lawrence’s career also includes key account management roles with Mitsubishi and Electrograph, where he developed a strong foundation in AV technology solutions and customer engagement. Over the years, he has established a reputation for his customer-centric approach and operational expertise

Company News

AVer Expands Lineup of Pro AV Products Certified for Microsoft Teams

AVer Information, an award-winning provider of video collaboration and education technology solutions, announces that the PTZ211, PTZ31OUV2, TR315, and TR211 have been Certified for Microsoft Teams. As a result, users can expect an elevated experience through plug-and-play setup, optimized functionality and superior performance across a wide range of professional applications.

AVer’s PTZ211 is a pan-tilt-zoom camera designed to deliver crisp, professional-quality video with 12X optical zoom and full HD 1080p resolution. The PTZ310UV2 is a professional-grade PTZ camera that delivers outstanding image quality with 12X optical zoom, 4K resolution, and 8MP imaging at 60 frames per second. AVer’s TR315 camera delivers high-performance video with intelligent automation, making it ideal for dynamic content creation. And the TR211 is a versatile, full HD solution built for professional applications such as higher education, corporate communication, and live production.

Bluesound Professional and Moodsonic Partner to Accelerate Generative Soundscaping

Moodsonic, known for generative soundscaping, and Bluesound Professional announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the global adoption of responsive, intelligent soundscaping across the built environment at InfoComm 2025.

The announcement marks a major step forward in the commercial deployment of generative soundscaping—an emerging category of adaptive audio that uses real-time environmental sensing and generative sound to enhance wellbeing, productivity, and inclusivity in buildings.

Moodsonic’s platform generates non-looping, sensor-responsive soundscapes tailored to activity and context—from quiet workspaces to collaborative zones, and for diverse users including the hypersensitive and neurodiverse populations. Already deployed as part of GSK’s global workplace strategy—including its London headquarters, designed to be the healthiest workplace in the world—Moodsonic has also been implemented across other leading organizations such as Elevance Health, SAP, and CBRE.

Chief and BlueSquare X Announce Strategic Partnership

Chief, a brand of Legrand | AV, and BlueSquare X, a digital signage solutions provider, announced a strategic partnership to bring video wall solutions to the Pro AV market. This collaboration showcases the strengths of both companies to deliver seamless, scalable, and visually stunning experiential solutions.

The new video wall solutions will integrate BlueSquare X’s Vision X state-of-the-art LED and Vivid X LCD display panels with custom video wall mounting solutions from Chief. The result is a turnkey solution that offers unmatched image clarity, operational efficiency, and design flexibility.

Humly Partners with Disruptive Technology

Humly has laid the foundation for a multi-phase development strategy for sensor development and integration through a strategic partnership with Disruptive Technology. Humly officially entered a research and development alliance with the Norwegian-based innovator and supplier of ultra-compact wireless IoT sensors last year, the first of which have found their way into Humly Booking Device and Humly Room Display, Humly’s award-winning premium hardware devices.

The two companies joined forces with the goal transforming modern office environments through enhanced intelligence, sustainability, and user-centric design. The collaboration integrates Disruptive Technologies' award-winning sensors—known for their 15-year battery life and effortless peel-and-stick installation—with Humly's comprehensive workplace platform, which includes room displays, booking devices, wayfinding tools, and the new Humly Sense sensor integration platform announced last month.

Midwich Announces New Partnership with Sennheiser

Midwich entered new partnership with Sennheiser. This collaboration strengthens Midwich’s Integrated Audio portfolio in and reinforces its commitment to delivering end-to-end solutions for its customers.

A core innovator in audio technology, Sennheiser has been foundational to many developments that have shaped the AV industry. With a growing footprint in the Unified Communications (UC) space, Sennheiser brings forward-thinking solutions for today’s modern workspaces.

The partnership will enable Midwich to offer Sennheiser’s full suite of enterprise audio products, including wireless conferencing systems, advanced ceiling microphone arrays, and scalable solutions for collaboration environments, all designed to empower integrators and end users across corporate, education, government, and entertainment verticals.

Planar and Megapixel Partner to Deliver LED Display Platform

Planar and Megapixel announced a partnership to develop a next-generation LED display solution that enhances visual performance. By combining Planar’s leadership in display technologies with Megapixel’s innovation in advanced processing, the companies will deliver an ultra-fine pixel pitch LED video wall line engineered to meet the most demanding visual performance standards for premium applications.

As companies with strong reputations for delivering reliable products backed by high quality and user-friendly experiences, Planar and Megapixel are well-positioned to introduce an advanced LED video wall platform built to push the boundaries of visual excellence. The partnership leverages Planar’s decades of display technology innovation and Megapixel’s longstanding commitment to engineering excellence and innovative advanced processing solutions. The collaboration represents the first step in the industry leaders’ work together, bolstering each company’s portfolio of groundbreaking visualization solutions as well as strengthening their ability to support an even wider range of applications.

Utelogy and Yorktel Expand Strategic Partnership

Yorktel and Utelogy Corporation announced the expansion of their long-standing strategic partnership, bringing next-generation innovation to enterprises looking to get the biggest ROI from their AV and UC environments. As organizations face increasing demands for operational efficiency, global support, and seamless user experiences, this partnership delivers scalable, outcomes-focused solutions designed to meet the needs of today’s hybrid workplace and tomorrow’s evolving business landscape.

Yorktel has long entrusted Utelogy’s intelligent, hardware-agnostic platform as a core component of its managed services ecosystem. The upcoming integration of new capabilities—including Agentic AI, cloud configuration, advanced analytics, and Webhooks—further strengthens Yorktel’s ability to proactively manage complex global environments, reduce meeting room downtime, and deliver consistently high-quality user experiences.

This continued collaboration represents a “better together” approach, uniting Yorktel’s managed services with Utelogy’s software platform. By combining operational expertise with intelligent automation, actionable insights, and flexible cloud-based deployments, Yorktel and Utelogy are redefining how enterprise AV/UC environments are managed; empowering organizations to move from a reactive to a strategic approach with measurable results.

Utelogy also announced a strategic partnership with Astreya, known for IT managed services with operations spanning the United States, Europe, and Asia. The partnership between Utelogy and Astreya is focused on improving operational efficiency and user experience for enterprise clients around the world. By integrating the Utelogy platform into Astreya’s robust services portfolio, customers will benefit from enhanced visibility, proactive monitoring, and intelligent automation that improve mean time to detect issues and also mean time to resolve issues associated with IT infrastructure.

Pro AV Around the Globe

AtlasIED has announced the opening of new offices in Thailand. This move represents a significant step in the company’s global expansion efforts. The new location enhances AtlasIED’s presence in the APAC region, allowing the company to provide innovative solutions and dedicated, on-the-ground support to customers worldwide. Located in Bangkok, the new office will function as a regional hub for customer engagement, operations, and sales. This setup will enable AtlasIED to effectively meet the needs of its expanding client base throughout Asia and beyond. The expansion demonstrates the company’s commitment to accessibility, excellence in customer service, and driving innovation in the industry on a global scale.

AVT Question: Please share how technologies are helping to reshape the workplace and create user-friendly environments.

Thought Leader: Nicole Corbin, Vice President of Product at Utelogy

As organizations shift back toward in-office attendance, they must align space and technology planning with evolving work culture. The coming year will see transformations in how employees engage with their work environment, from redesigned office layouts to AI-driven analytics.

Traditional boardrooms are being reimagined as multifunctional spaces that support independent work within a communal setting. We are also starting to see companies creating home-like environments with comfortable lounge areas, informal meeting spaces, and wellness-oriented design elements.

Technology continues to play a critical role in ensuring efficiency and connectivity across distributed teams. AI-enhanced virtual meetings, smart whiteboards, and advanced room and desk booking solutions drive productive, purpose-driven workspaces. With more technology-equipped spaces to manage, estate managers seek solutions to maximize room uptime and usability. Occupancy, people counting, and temperature sensors automate device and environmental controls to enhance experiences and collect data. AI tools analyze this data to optimize space utilization, saving time, energy, and costs.

The Utelogy Platform continues to evolve, aligning with key workplace trends such as workflow management, automation, and sustainability. With real-time analytics and actionable insights, organizations can understand usage patterns, streamline workflows, and make data-driven decisions.

The platform integrates proactive monitoring, automated power cycling, and real-time energy insights to optimize power consumption in AV/UC environments. Businesses leveraging these tools can reduce energy waste, lower total cost of ownership, and enhance overall efficiency.

Utelogy’s new award-winning “Tech Tool in the Cloud” enables remote AV/UC control, troubleshooting, and remediation, improving IT support efficiency and minimizing downtime for seamless workplace operations.

The workplace continues to evolve, shaped by new cultural norms, innovative space planning, and intelligent technology solutions. Organizations must prioritize adaptability and employee experience to bolster a productive and engaging work environment.

Another week, and another Pro AV acquisition steals the headlines.

Over the past two decades, West Coast-based 3G Productions has steadily grown its live event production services and systems integration businesses. Bolstering the company’s strategic plans to diversify its client base and further develop into a national brand, 3G Productions announced last month that it purchased the assets of Switch Video, a provider of video rental services for the film/television, corporate/tradeshow, and live event and touring industries.

3G assumed ownership of Switch Video’s operations in both Castaic, CA and Atlanta, rebranding them as 3G Productions facilities. Switch’s leadership team—including industry veterans Alan Barber, Justin Edgerly, and Shawn Orm—will remain with 3G will be tasked with leading the business development of the company’s new vertical markets.

“We are excited to welcome Switch Video to the 3G family,” said Keith Conrad, CEO, 3G Productions. “Not only is their equipment inventory highly complementary to our own arsenal of production tools, but Switch’s talented team of industry experts fits very well into 3G’s culture as our ‘people first’ organization continues to expand. This acquisition represents a significant step forward in our commitment to grow into a national full-service production company with a deep and diversified client base.”

That wasn't all. Get caught up in last week's Pro AV people movers and partnerships.

Grass Valley Announces New Key Leadership Hires

Grass Valley appointed Jon Wilson as its new chief executive officer. Wilson, the company’s former president and chief operating officer, leads the next phase of growth with a primary focus on delivering successful customer outcomes, led by technology solutions that enable media companies to maximize the value of their content, reduce technology costs, and optimize operations.

Grass Valley is also reinforcing its leadership team with key strategic hires to accelerate customer success, product innovation, and regional expansion. At the forefront of these appointments is Claudio Szabas, who returns to Grass Valley as EVP, Customer Success. I this role, Szabas is responsible for designing and executing Grass Valley’s global customer success strategy. Working closely with the sales, product, and development teams, he ensures the seamless delivery of solutions and an exceptional customer experience, overseeing implementation, post-deployment support, and ongoing customer satisfaction management.

With over 20 years of experience in the Media, Broadcast, and Telecom industries, he brings a unique perspective, having worked extensively as both a customer and a vendor. In addition, Grass Valley announced two additional key hires to its team.

Chris Partington joins as product director, content and editing. Formerly head of product for media asset management solutions at NEP, he brings deep expertise in content and media asset workflows. In his new role, he drives the development strategy for Grass Valley’s industry-leading Framelight X media and production asset management system and EDIUS editing solution, leveraging AMPP to enhance efficiency, flexibility, and collaboration in live and post-production workflows.

Vincent Eade is appointed regional sales director for Northern Europe. Eade rejoins Grass Valley from EditShare, bringing a wealth of sales and leadership experience, including a prior tenure with the company. With more than 25 years of experience in the media technology industry and a proven track record of building high-performing teams, his deep regional expertise and strong customer relationships will be invaluable as Grass Valley continues to expand its footprint in Northern Europe.

Jabra Welcomes Sandrine Desbarbieux-Lloyd as SVP of Jabra Global Marketing

Jabra has appointed Sandrine Desbarbieux-Lloyd as SVP of global marketing. In her new role, Desbarbieux-Lloyd leads marketing initiatives for Jabra’s headsets and speakerphones, as well as software and AI-driven videoconferencing solutions.

Bringing a wealth of C-level marketing, digital transformation and AI expertise, Desbarbieux-Lloyd has previously held leadership roles at Meta, Tesco, Samsung and Avis. She steps into the role previously held by Calum MacDougall, who has accepted the role of president of the Enterprise division at GN, which holds the Jabra brand. His leadership will drive continued innovation and business growth across Jabra and the Enterprise division as a whole.

Live Media Group Names Ryan Hatch VP, Strategic Accounts

Live Media Group has named Ryan Hatch as VP, Strategic Accounts. In this role, Hatch focuses on client engagement, business development, and operational strategy.

Hatch brings more than two decades of expertise in revenue generation, strategic planning, and client engagement to his new role. He joins Live Media Group from NEP Group, where he worked as VP, Engineering and Operations, U.S. Broadcast Services. During this time, Hatch oversaw operations, engineering, scheduling, transportation, and facility management. He focused on managing project teams, technical specialists, and logistics while ensuring seamless scheduling and operations for mobile units and production facilities. Prior to his time at NEP, Hatch served as director of operations for Mobile TV Group and was responsible for coordinating mobile broadcast units and engineering staff for more than 4,200 sporting events in North America and Canada.

Nice Appoints Jeff Shaw as New Chief Product Officer 

Nice has appointed Jeff Shaw as its chief product officer (CPO). With over 20 years of experience in product management and marketing, Shaw brings a proven track record of driving innovation, developing products, and shaping innovative solutions.

Before stepping into this role, Shaw served as head of product management for luxury solutions in the Nice Home Management Systems business unit, where he played a pivotal role in advancing Nice’s smart home and building solutions. Prior to that, he led product management for Nice North America as VP of control products, overseeing the development of cutting-edge technologies that have redefined the smart home category and earned numerous industry accolades.

Shaw’s expertise spans across product management, marketing, and business development, with a focus on creating solutions that enhance everyday life. His leadership will be crucial as Nice continues to expand its global presence and reinforce its position as a leader in the smart home and building management industry.

VIOSO Welcomes Mark Wadsworth As CMO

VIOSO appointed Mark Wadsworth as chief marketing officer. The appointment is the latest in an extensive recruitment program, centered on growing the brand and focusing efforts on VIOSO’s three core pillars of software, servers, and services for system integrators. In the newly created role, Wadsworth is tasked with further developing the visibility and growth of the VIOSO brand and its strategic direction across global vertical markets.

Wadsworth will play a key role in identifying market opportunities for VIOSO’s extensive product line-up and launching some exciting new technology that is in development. He brings 13 years of AV experience to his new role, having previously worked for a leading display manufacturer as VP of global marketing.

Company News

swXtch.io and Diversified Enter into Strategic Business and Technology Partnerships

swXtch.io announced two key partnership agreements with Diversified at the start of NAB Show 2025. Diversified officially becomes a cloudSwXtch reseller, and will work closely with swXtch.io to raise visibility and brand recognition in North America. The agreement extends the partnership between swXtch.io and Diversified, who last year joined swXtch.io’s Federated Partner Program.

swXtch.io is also one of nine vendors to join Diversified’s Atlas Orchestrate, a “secure-by-design” infrastructure built to simplify and accelerate cloud deployments. The breakthrough platform will help media and entertainment businesses configure and establish cloud environments and software packages within minutes, removing the complexities that often stretch foundational phases over several weeks.

swXtch.io’s role in Diversified’s ecosystem is to provide an interoperable multicast solution in the cloud that helps businesses create one harmonious network across on-prem and cloud environments. swXtch.io’s cloudSwXtch intelligent media network serves as the core networking platform within the Atlas Orchestrate infrastructure, fueling the on-prem applications of partnering vendors as they move into and through the cloud.

Grass Valley and Ross Video Unite for Seamless Live Production Control

Grass Valley’s Maverik X Production Switcher, powered by AMPP OS (Agile Media Processing Platform), can now be directly controlled via Ross Video’s OverDrive. This collaboration enhances flexibility for broadcasters, enabling seamless interoperability between two production technologies for studio production.

By working closely together, Grass Valley and Ross Video have expanded OverDrive’s capabilities to include the Maverik X Production Switcher, reinforcing both companies’ commitment to open and adaptable production workflows. Ross Video continues to expand OverDrive’s compatibility with a wide range of third-party devices—enabling customers to utilize the production tools that work best for them.

LEA Professional Partners with GPA to Expand Global Reach

LEA Professional announced a new partnership with GPA, a global network of AV and technology service providers. This collaboration underscores LEA's commitment to achieving global reach and enhancing its presence by providing GPA's clients with access to LEA's extensive technology catalog, which includes intelligent IT solutions, DSP, and smart power management.

GPA brings together over 4,000 AV professionals from more than 50 countries, providing standardized, scalable, and consistent technology solutions for global organizations. Through this partnership, GPA’s integrators will have access to LEA Professional’s Network Connect series of amplifiers and the companion Dante Connect series, which feature Dante and AES67 connectivity. 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.

NSI’s Network Infrastructure Division Names Phoenix Marketing Group New Sales Representatives

NSI’s Network Infrastructure Division has appointed Phoenix Marketing Group as the company’s national sales representatives for its Platinum Tools, LYNN Electronics, TechLogix Networx, and ENET lines in the AV and security channels.

Phoenix Marketing Group is a luxury technology manufacturer’s representative in the nation. PMG currently covers 45 states with a team of uniquely talented individuals who believe technology should be perfectly blended within the environment, matching the client’s needs, being simple to design, install and operate. PMG focuses on lighting, shades, smart home automation, audio, and video solutions for residential and commercial projects in any environment.

PSNI Global Alliance Introduces Exclusive Quality Assurance Certification

PSNI Global Alliance is reinforcing its commitment to excellence in AV service and support with the launch of a new Quality Assurance Certification (QAC). This program is designed to empower its network of Certified Solution Providers (CSPs) with advanced quality assurance knowledge, ensuring standardized excellence across global AV projects.

Developed in collaboration with a committee of leaders from PSNI’s CSP companies worldwide and and based on AQAV (Association for Quality in Audio-Visual Technology) AV9000 standard, the QAC merges quality principles with real-world business applications. By leveraging core concepts from the AV9000 quality documentation process, the certification fosters a culture of continual improvement and technological precision.

Tailored for professionals in technical field operations, system design, service management, and installation, the QAC course delivers a two-day, interactive workshop format, concluding with a Q&A assessment. Participants will gain practical insights into Continual Improvement, Best Practices Implementation, Customer Satisfaction Optimization, and Compliance Mastery. The inaugural QAC course took place March 31–April 1 in Atlanta, ahead of PSNI’s annual Supersummit.

Utelogy and Poly Collaborate to Elevate Unified Technology Management

Utelogy now integrates with with Poly Lens, a cloud-based device management solution. This collaboration with long-standing Utelligence partner, HP|Poly, enhances the capabilities of Utelogy’s platform with advanced monitoring and control features supported by Poly Lens.

This partnership allows users of the Utelogy platform to leverage the Poly Lens API, enhancing operational functionalities across supported HP and Poly devices. Users can now access detailed information about call status, device models, serial numbers, room and device identification, firmware versions, and overall device health and usage. This comprehensive monitoring ensures systems are optimized for performance and helps in proactive maintenance on all Poly Lens supported devices, including video, phone, and personal collaboration devices.

The integration extends Utelogy's control over Poly devices, allowing remote OS updates, device reboots, and more direct management features through a single interface. These tools are crucial for maintaining the integrity and security of the AV systems, minimizing downtime, and ensuring continuous operational efficiency.

SAVI Controls and OliverIQ Announce Strategic Merger

SAVI Controls and OliverIQ have announced a strategic merger. The newly formed company will operate as SAVI iQ and will deliver an AI-driven, cloud-based automation and support platform for commercial and residential markets, engineered to accelerate growth for integrators and service providers.

Before the merger, SAVI Controls provided a simplified, easy-to-program, all-in-one solution that’s powerful enough to transform any commercial space into an extraordinary one. OliverIQ has developed an AI-powered intelligent home-as-a-service platform engineered for service providers. The newly unified company plans to bolster its product line with AI-powered cloud services for commercial projects from bars, restaurants, and casinos to massive sports stadiums. ISPs and security partners can now extend services beyond residential subscribers to commercial customers.

Key to this transformation is Ollie, an intelligent automation agent that recognizes patterns, optimizes performance, and proactively resolves potential issues. By reducing support calls, Ollie enables dealers and commercial integrators, Telcos and ISPs, builders, and security providers to focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences while minimizing costs.

Zynchro Collaborates with Sony Semiconductor Solutions

Zynchro System has collaborated with Sony Semiconductor Solutions as the first integration partner to develop and integrate Sony’s AITRIOS technology suite for the digital signage market.

[The SCN Digital Signage Issue Is Here. Download Yours Today!]

Zynchro pairs first-tier software development and customer support to deliver a successful digital signage system based on data and analytics. Its latest collaboration with Sony’s AITRIOS demonstrates a commitment to measure, manage, monetize, and control a digital signage investment, ultimately to increase profitability in retail environments.

Retailers today are in need of actionable data that enables smart business decisions. The most important metric in retail is centered around customer segmentation. Integrated with Sony’s AITRIOS, Zynchro customers will understand key audience metrics such as attributes, gaze measurement, proximity to the device, and the number of people in a given area during a certain period of time. These reports and analytics empower a retailer with first-party shopper data while making important decisions related to stocking products, refreshing end-caps and promoting brands.

Vislink joins Ericsson’s Partner Program

Vislink Technologies has joined Ericsson’s Enterprise Wireless Solutions Industry 4.0 Partner Program. Together, Vislink and Ericsson can now provide next-generation 5G and LTE network solutions for private cellular networks, delivering value by opening up new opportunities for broadcasters, media companies, and enterprise organizations to leverage secure, ultra-low latency video transmission over 5G.

Members of Ericsson’s Industry 4.0 Partner program are solution providers who offer technologies as a part of the enterprise cellular ecosystem. This program sets the standard for recognizing a partner’s investment in the tools and processes necessary to provide high return on investment for customers using cellular connectivity as the foundation of more complex operating environments. Together, Vislink and Ericsson can help customers optimize connectivity performance and coverage by providing them with seamless, secure, and ultra-low-latency video transmission over private 5G networks. This collaboration empowers broadcasters and enterprises to enhance live production workflows, extend coverage beyond traditional RF limits, and enable real-time video streaming in any environment.

Pro AV Around the Globe

• Atlona Amplifies Distribution Channel in Switzerland. The partnership provides Atlona with a full-service, go-to-market partner for corporate and AV event projects in Switzerland, with LANG-BARANDAY AG providing value-added technical services along with channel sales and business development support.
• Extron Opens New Training and Experience Center in Sydney, Australia. The facility, which is centrally located in North Sydney's Victoria Cross district, is aimed at offering hands-on training, live demonstrations and expert support to AV professionals.
• Genelec partners with Geovoice in Georgia. Geovoice is a professional audio distributor in the Caucasus region, with a partner-based approach built around trust and collaboration. Having developed a strong network of local relationships supported by an experienced, highly qualified team, Geovoice provides high levels of service tailored to the needs of the local market.

It was another week in Pro AV. Several companies made strategic personnel moves, while other companies celebrated anniversaries, made new distribution partnerships, and readied themselves for the NASCAR circuit.

Here's what you missed.

People News

John Smart, KC Najarian Have New Positions at ASG

Advanced Systems Group recently named broadcast engineer and veteran event operations manager John Smart as account executive, Northern California region. Smart has been with ASG for eight years and joins the Account Management team. Prior to working with ASG, Smart was a recording engineer and studio manager. He was on staff at the 25th Street Recording studio in Oakland, CA.

In his new position, Smart brings his experience as a broadcast engineer and operations manager to find solutions that best meet client needs and budget.

KC Najarian is the new director of strategic accounts, Southwest. Najarian, with extensive experience providing customer-focused solutions, will concentrate her efforts on the broadcast and video production markets.

Having worked for manufacturers such as Quantum, Grass Valley, and Avid, along with her previous experience at systems integration firms, Najarian brings the breadth of experience that customers value when working with ASG.

“I’m excited about working in broadcast and video production again,” Najarian explained. “My new role with ASG gives me the opportunity to get back to what I love and be free to offer customers the technology that works best for them without being tied to a specific vendor.”

BeckTV Welcomes Kate Gazdic as Senior Procurement Specialist

Kate Gazdic has joined BeckTV as a senior procurement specialist. She oversees the procurement aspects of BeckTV’s diverse portfolio, which primarily involves projects related to sports and live events.

Gazdic’s experience includes roles at Broadfield Distributing and multiple systems integrators, where she served as inside sales and procurement manager on large projects such as the Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies, MLB, and the Carolina Panthers. As a purchasing agent at Gepco International, she managed stadium, studio, and mobile truck projects from pricing to delivery for clients such as Texas A&M and Baylor University.

Celestion Appoints Matt Daigler as Business Development Executive for North America

Celestion has appointed Matt Daigler as business development executive. In his new role, Matt Daigler works together with Celestion’s valued sales and distribution partners in the U.S. musical instrument category, the PA service market, and retailers who cater to DIY hobbyists. In addition, Daigler is managing existing OEM relationships and pursuing new OEM partners in the pro audio and high-end home theater markets.

Daigler joins Celestion continuing his extensive career in the audio industry that started at Westlake Audio as a mechanical assembler, then production manager, eventually moving to HARMAN owned Audax of America where he worked as a sales engineer. Daigler later worked in custom residential integration for Harrison Systems, Pro Design AV, and Logic Integration. He is an audio enthusiast with personal projects repairing and modifying vintage speakers and hi-fi components.

Christie Appoints Hideaki Takizawa as New CFO

Christie appointed Hideaki Takizawa as the new chief financial officer of Christie and its subsidiaries. Takizawa aligns Christie’s financial strategy with its overall goals and manage internal controls and reporting to support continued growth and innovation.

Takizawa succeeds Michael Phipps, who transitioned to president and chief operating officer in November 2024 while maintaining his CFO role. Christie further strengthens the company’s leadership team by adding Takizawa as CFO. He brings more than 34 years of experience working at Ushio and a wealth of expertise in business management and finance.

Before joining Christie, Takizawa served as general manager of Ushio Group’s Business Management Division, overseeing three departments: Accounting, Finance, and Legal. During his tenure, he was responsible for strengthening Ushio Group’s governance and financial strategies for the company’s 2030 business growth strategy while enhancing capital efficiency.

Vaino Gennaro Joins DirectOut 

DirectOut appointed pro audio veteran Vaino Gennaro as the first point of contact for North American customers. With his extensive experience in the pro audio industry and expertise in sales, business development, and customer relations, Gennaro plays a key role in expanding DirectOut’s market presence in the region.

The appointment forms the basis of a strategic growth initiative to provide even better service and advanced audio solutions to DirectOut’s North American customers. His passion for advanced signal processing and network technology perfectly aligns with DirectOut’s philosophy. In this new role, he is instrumental in further establishing DirectOut’s innovative audio solutions across the country.

DirectOut also promoted Lorenzo Sassi to head of global marketing and sales. With the support of Gennaro (North America) and Diego Cardenas (LATAM), the former business development manager now oversees DirectOut's entire global sales network and report directly to senior management. He also continues to be directly responsible for the EMEA and APAC markets.

Fourier Audio Announces New Hires and Management Changes

Fourier Audio is expanding with the addition of two new employees: Ben Evans, who has been appointed to the post of operations manager, and Ross Paterson, who now serves as product specialist. The announcement comes as Fourier Audio co-founder and former CTO Pete Bridgman steps into the role of CEO.

Evans joins the company from the Royal Albert Hall, where he managed the founding team that brought audio “in-house,” leading a large group of engineers in facilitating audio solutions for the 300-plus shows there per year. His main role with Fourier Audio is managing the day-to-day operations of the company, alongside developing relationships with plugin manufacturers across the industry.

Paterson has worked on audio crews with global touring acts as well as a product test engineer at DiGiCo, contributing to the development of the Quantum Range of consoles. In his new position, Ross works closely with the engineering, support, and sales teams to continue the successful development and deployment of Fourier Audio products.

In addition to these two appointments, as well as the news that Bridgman is now CEO, Fourier Audio reports that Elliot Sinclair has been internally promoted to head of sales, while Michael Williamson has been promoted to principal software engineer.

Pixel Power Welcomes Brad Rochon as Senior Business Development Manager for North America

Brad Rochon has recently joined Pixel Power, a Rohde & Schwarz company, in the newly created position of senior business development manager for North America. Rochon is an important addition to Pixel Power’s presence at NAB Show 2025 on the Rohde & Schwarz booth and will be a very familiar face to those working in the industry in North America.

Graduating as a broadcast engineer in 1989, he has since held a variety of commercial positions with companies including Tektronix and Panasonic. He worked at Ross Video for nearly 25 years in a number of roles, latterly looking after the company’s West Coast customer accounts.

Company News: Partnerships, Collabs, and More

AVPro Global Unveils Enhanced Training Initiatives

AVPro Global announced the completion of the first ISF (Imaging Science Foundation) Level III Certification course hosted in AVPro’s new training and audio/video laboratory. During the two-day seminar, attendees mastered advanced video calibration techniques, endorsed by top AV, TV, video projector, and screen manufacturers worldwide, through an intensive hands-on approach, enabling AV integrators to deliver enhanced image clarity, sharpness, detail, color purity, and overall picture quality to their clients.

AVPro Global unveiled its training and audio/video laboratory at its St. Petersburg, FL facility. The new 1,000-square-foot space, part of the company's technical support, training, and executive offices, is easily configured to accommodate various training activities and certifications. Equipped with an array of video projectors, flat panel TVs, projection screens, audio/video equipment, and network equipment racks, the versatile laboratory allows AVPro product trainers to conduct comprehensive seminars on audio/video system design, configuration, installation, and troubleshooting. The facility also hosts AVIXA and CEDIA-accredited courses, including the recent ISF Level III Certification course, further solidifying AVPro's commitment to providing cutting-edge education and training opportunities for audio/video professionals.

HARMAN Becomes NASCAR Technology Partner

HARMAN International has become a NASCAR Technology Partner aimed at delivering premium audio experiences for racing fans through future racetrack audio upgrades. This partnership enables NASCAR to design and implement high-quality integrated audio systems using HARMAN Professional Solutions brands, including JBL Professional loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers, BSS digital signal processing, and more.

Through this technology partnership, HARMAN’s expertise and product offerings will help elevate sound quality for race fans across NASCAR’s racetrack properties as upgrades are required at any one of the 14 NASCAR-owned venues. In addition to the primary exterior racetrack areas, NASCAR venues feature numerous interior spaces where intelligibility and high-quality audio is essential for announcements, broadcast coverage, and music.

Samsung and Logitech Mark Five Years of Videoconferencing Collaboration

Samsung and Logitech celebrate five years of partnership in videoconferencing, combining their solutions to enhance workplace collaboration and productivity. The integration of Samsung high-definition displays with Logitech’s videoconferencing solutions creates immersive, connected experiences ready to meet the needs of today’s employees.

With the rise of flexible work environments, organizations require meeting spaces equipped with advanced video conferencing technology to enable seamless collaboration for distributed teams. Businesses can now leverage Samsung’s high-definition displays with Logitech’s conference cameras, webcams and audio systems to achieve crystal-clear video and sound, helping remote and in-person participants feel like they are in the same room. Samsung Interactive Displays also enable teams to connect, share ideas and whiteboard on a single screen. These meeting solutions make every participant feel equally engaged regardless of location.

Samsung and Logitech also share a mutual commitment to building environmental sustainability into every product. Both companies have created solutions that automatically go into standby mode or turn off when not in use to help reduce energy consumption. Device management systems like Samsung SmartThings Pro offer remote control and monitoring of the performance and environmental impact of connected office technologies. Logitech’s ambitious climate strategy includes Design for Sustainability principles that have resulted in three out of four products using next-life, recycled plastics, 66% of products carbon labeled and 94% of the company’s electricity footprint coming from direct and indirect renewable electricity purchases.

TEG Appointed Distributor for Roly

Transformation Entertainment Group (TEG) is now Taiwan-based Roly Technology, which specializes in the development, production, and sales of projection display devices, exclusive distributor for the North America market.

Roly projectors feature 4K, Laser 3LCD, and optimum color performance. With 3LCD technology, color brightness is equal to white brightness, ensuring consistent and accurate image quality. This technology eliminates the rainbow effect often seen in other projection systems and enhances color accuracy, resulting in more realistic and true-to-life colors.

Utelogy Welcomes Epiphan into the Utelligence Program 

Utelogy welcomed Epiphan to a technology partnership into its Utelligence Program. This partnership enhances AV automation and monitoring capabilities, providing organizations with a powerful, centralized solution for managing professional streaming and recording devices.

The Epiphan Pearl Series is known for its live streaming, recording, and video switching technology. By integrating with Utelogy’s AV/UC cloud management platform, users can now experience seamless remote control, monitoring, and automation of Pearl devices—driving efficiency, reducing downtime, and optimizing AV operations.

With this integration, organizations using the Epiphan Pearl Series can now:

• Remotely manage devices: Monitor firmware, device health, and storage status in real time
• Automate recording and streaming: Start, stop, and schedule recording and streaming events
• Enhance security and reliability: Proactive monitoring to ensure optimal performance and system health
• Reduce operational complexity: Centralized control eliminating manual workflows and streamlining AV operations

AVT Question: Please share insights into your company's roadmap and what 2025 holds for customers.

Thought Leader: Nicole Corbin, Vice President of Product at Utelogy

At Utelogy, our vision for 2025 is grounded in a philosophy of empowering organizations to work smarter, collaborate better, and embrace sustainability through transformative technology solutions. While our roadmap is packed with exciting product innovations, it is our unwavering commitment to simplifying complexity and delivering meaningful impact that defines who we are as a company.

As the world increasingly embraces IoT-enabled devices, cloud platforms, and energy management systems, businesses face mounting challenges in managing and optimizing their technology environments. Utelogy’s mission is to break down these barriers by providing cloud-centric tools that streamline workflows, deliver actionable data, and enable smarter decision-making.

Our upcoming advancements focus on building intelligent solutions that adapt to the evolving needs of our customers. In 2025, we are expanding our platform’s portfolio of integrated devices and device types, empowering organizations with real-time insights and powerful analytics. By making data accessible and actionable, we enable IT and operations teams to identify inefficiencies, reduce downtime, and improve overall performance.

Sustainability is another core pillar of our roadmap. AV/UC technology is often overlooked in energy management, but Utelogy is changing that narrative. Our platform includes tools for proactive monitoring, automated power cycling, and energy usage optimization, helping organizations meet sustainability goals while reducing costs.

At its heart, Utelogy is about creating solutions that work in the background, allowing people and organizations to thrive. Whether it’s simplifying global AV/UC deployments, enhancing energy efficiency, or enabling seamless collaboration, we remain focused on helping our customers adapt to the challenges of today while preparing for the opportunities of tomorrow.

As we continue to innovate, our philosophy remains clear: Technology should empower, not complicate. This belief drives everything we do—and it’s what makes Utelogy a trusted partner in navigating the future of technology management.

Like much of the country the past few weeks, the Pro AV world has seen quite a flurry. Instead of snowflakes, it has been acquisitions, people movers, and partnerships galore. 

In case you missed it, LG Electronics has taken a significant step in advancing its robotics capabilities by securing a majority stake in Bear Robotics, a prominent Silicon Valley-based startup specializing in AI-driven autonomous service robots. Read SCN's full coverage and all the details by clicking here. 

VuWall announced its acquisition by Naxicap, a private equity firm that previously acquired Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) in 2020 and Tritec Electronic in 2022. The strategic alignment under Naxicap creates exceptional synergy, allowing the companies to leverage each other’s technology, workforce, and market presence. You can read all the details from SCN here.

CTI made yet another acquisition, continuing a frenzied 12 months of growth. CTI has acquired Delta AV of Gresham, OR, which has been serving clients in and around the Portland area for almost 30 years. Delta AV is the company's 39th U.S. location, providing expanded coverage of the Pacific Northwest to Portland Metro Area. Read all about it here. 

Now, on with your weekly recap of Pro AV newsmakers.

People News

L-Acoustics Names Bryan Bradley as CEO Americas

Bryan Bradley has joined L-Acoustics as CEO Americas. Bradley now oversees all of the manufacturer’s North, Central, and South American operations and shares his time between the global hub in Westlake Village, CA, and a new Americas operations and creative hub at Nashville Yards when it officially opens later this year.

Bradley recently spent six years serving as the president of Group One Limited, the New York-based U.S. distributor for DiGiCo, Calrec, Solid State Logic, Sound Devices, and several other pro audio and lighting manufacturers. Prior to that he held multiple executive management positions at Harman, most recently as SVP and general manager of the Americas for Harman Professional Solutions, where he managed the retail, live performance, large venue, hospitality and enterprise channels for JBL Professional, AKG, AMX, Crown, dbx, Lexicon, Soundcraft and Martin, among other Harman brands, across the American continents.

Bradley has also held the role of COO for Alfred Music, as well as management positions with Guitar Center. He has been a songwriter/composer for television and film, including serving as the music director on The Young and the Restless. 

Industry Veteran Joe Paryzek Joins FOR-A America

FOR-A America appointed industry veteran Joe Paryzek to the newly created position director, solutions development. In this role, Paryzek is responsible for key account management and customer communication to drive development of FOR-A’s  technology, with a focus on the company’s IP based-software defined solutions.

Thanks to Paryzek’s deep engineering and customer service background most recently as co-owner and Video Systems Design for the live video systems design firm Strata AVL, as a project engineer at the systems integration firm Diversified, and in pre-sale technical support at Grass Valley, he has the technical product and systems design expertise to ensure success in his new role.

Group One Limited Names New Leadership Team

Long Island, New York-based Group One Limited announced several key changes to its management team ahead of the 2025 NAMM Show. Austin Freshwater has been appointed to serve as the new CEO for Group One, in addition to carrying on his current role as managing director for DiGiCo. Freshwater originally joined DiGiCo as general manager in 2017, coming to the brand after a decade spent with Canon, the world-leading innovator and provider of imaging and information technology solutions. After four years with DiGiCo at its global headquarters in Chessington, UK, he was promoted to the position of managing director in 2021. Now, as CEO of Group One, Freshwater oversees all sales, marketing, and support teams for each of the distributor’s pro audio and lighting brands across the United States.

In tandem with Freshwater’s appointment, Solid State Logic, a key brand in the Group One portfolio, has appointed Rick Naqvi to the position of SVP, sales, where he is responsible for the sales of all SSL hardware products in the United States and Mexico, including recording, broadcast, live, and audio creation products (ACP). Based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Naqvi most recently served as VP of sales for PreSonus Audio Electronics, which he joined in 1995 as one of the company’s first full-time employees nearly 30 years ago.

Franck Racapé Joins Iagona as Managing Director Strategy and Development

Franck Racapé joins French AV manufacturer and SI, Iagona as managing director strategy and development. With a solid experience in the audiovisual and digital solutions sector, Racapé—formerly VP of Global Communications at PPDS—will be responsible for driving and accelerating Iagona's strategic transformation. His expertise in sales performance, technological innovation and complex project management will be a key asset in meeting the challenges of a rapidly changing market.

“I am absolutely thrilled to join the team at Iagona on the journey to achieve exponential growth," he said. "The quality of the company and its people combined with its investments into product portfolio expansion will not only set Iagona up as a leader in the French domestic market, it will also make the company ready to scale internationally.”

SMPTE Selects Raymond Yeung to Serve as Standards Vice President

Raymond Yeung is taking over the role of standards vice president for the SMPTE. Yeung is the head of content standards at Amazon MGM Studios Technology, where he is focused on advancements in the media supply chain. With extensive experience in digital visual effects and film mastering, he joined the HDR imaging development effort at Dolby Laboratories in 2012. Yeung is a SMPTE Life Fellow and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

“I am honored to be serving as the new standards vice president,” said Yeung. “Leading this renowned standards development institution is a great responsibility, and one that I take very seriously. I plan to draw from my experience serving as a SMPTE standards director and chair of Technology Committee 35PM to drive innovation for the standards community.”

SoundTube Welcomes New Sales Engineer

SoundTube has added Sarah Chauvin as a sales engineer. With nearly two decades of experience in the music and audio industry, Chauvin brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her new role.

Chauvin's background includes numerous industry certifications, including AVIXA’s CTS (Certified Technology Specialist) designation. Her extensive experience in developing technical sales materials and teams, particularly during her tenure at Biamp, has honed her skills in design engineering and technical training. She has demonstrated a commitment to coaching and mentoring, creating technical trainings that benefit both her team and industry colleagues. Her responsibilities at SoundTube include creating product training/webinars, customer/technical training, and assisting as an additional technical resource to reps and customers. 

Company News

B-Tech, Data Tech Partner for Latin America

B-Tech AV Mounts announced a new distribution agreement with Florida-based Data Tech, which will distribute B-Tech products throughout Central and South America.

Operating from Miami, FL, Data Techwas established in 1996 and has specialized in the distribution of original supplies from leading printing brands such as HP, Lexmark, Brother, Xerox,and Epson for the Latin American and Caribbean markets.

Over the past 29 years, Data Tech has built a large network of clients throughout Central and South America and has become a master dealer for Latin America for Tech solutions brands such as Samsung, Vertiv Sat, Ecoflow, and Nitrotel. For this reason, they are perfectly positioned to supply the globally recognized AV supports of B-Tech to professional AV clients in these markets.

Now in their 53rd year of trading and headquartered in the U.K., B-Tech launched its North American operation with offices and warehousing in Brea, California in 2019. A period of sustained growth across the continent has continued, as demand grew for their tried and trusted mounting solutions amongst top pro AV integrators, both domestically and internationally.

Listen Technologies and Ampetronic Further Their Strategic Partnership

Listen Technologies Corporation and Ampetronic are joining forces and combining their decades of expertise to redefine assistive listening and  communication.

The two companies are deepening their partnership under the Allvida umbrella, aligning their operations, leadership, and resources to deliver greater value to customers and partners. This partnership further unites two trusted brands with over 65 years of expertise and brings together innovation, quality, and a shared mission to make audio accessible for everyone. By joining forces, Listen Technologies and Ampetronic are positioned to lead the assistive listening and communication industry with expanded resources, a broad suite of products, and a steadfast commitment to help the world “simply hear better.”

The combined leadership team includes Maile Keone serving as president and CEO of both Listen Technologies and Ampetronic, ensuring consistent leadership and strategic alignment across the organization. Julian Pieters will assume the role of Chief Strategy Officer, focusing on business strategy, product and technology development, and partnerships. The centralized leadership streamlines operations to deliver seamless customer and partner experiences. This unified structure enhances collaboration across teams and regions, drives innovation, and ensures consistent excellence in customer support and global accessibility.

PPDS (Philips) and F1 World Champions Oracle Red Bull Racing Sign New Multi-Year Digital Display Contract

PPDS announced a new multi-year contract extension with Oracle Red Bull Racing, becoming a team partner while continuing as the sole supplier of digital displays to the eight-time Formula One World Championship winning team for 2025 and beyond.

A partnership driven by innovation and teamwork, PPDS joined forces with Oracle Red Bull Racing in 2022 as an ‘Official Team Supplier’, with the mission of transforming the race day experience for VIP guests inside the team’s famous Oracle Red Bull Racing Paddock Club.

Fuelled by a joint desire to always lead from the frontt, this was achieved using displays from the full portfolio of Philips Professional Displays, offering live 4K UHD race coverage, access to exclusive behind-the-scenes content, links to the pit lane, and audio feeds from the drivers and crew, with the centerpiece being a custom designed, portable and easily transportable 10m2 Ultra HD Philips dvLED videowall.  

Utelogy Partners with Ascentae

Utelogy announced its partnership with Ascentae, a technology distributor in the U.K. Together they aim to offer innovative workplace solutions that enhance collaboration and productivity.

Ascentae specializes in delivering innovative workplace solutions that enhance collaboration and productivity. Integrating Utelogy's advanced technology management software into its portfolio, Ascentae will continue to work with workplace brands to build ecosystems that enable organizations to improve operational efficiency and data-driven decision-making.

Before Pro AV's show of all shows takes over the Las Vegas Convention Center this June 8-14, keep up with SCN's preshow coverage with new products, events, and insights to expect on the show floor. And don't forget to bookmark the links below for all of SCN's InfoComm 2024 coverage. 

[The Road to InfoComm 2024: Everything You Need to Know Before You Go]

[Trends, Technologies, and What to Expect in Vegas]

Korbyt to Offer Sneak Peek at its Latest AI Innovations

Visitors to Korbyt's Booth C6615 will get a peek at new AI-driven features coming to its Korbyt Anywhere cloud-based CMS platform. The enhancements will help businesses, universities, and other organizations captivate audiences with unified, on-brand messages on any screen, anywhere.

Korbyt will also demonstrate new solutions developed in tandem with key AV leaders to make it easier for businesses to deploy Korbyt Anywhere throughout their organizations. This includes enhanced hardware support for BrightSign’s latest Series 5 media players, and new app-based integration with leading office collaboration solutions, including Zoom and Webex by Cisco.

ADTECHNO to Debut Dante AV Ultra Encoder and Decoder

ADTECHNO will debut its Dante AV Ultra Encoder and Decoder at Booth C6328 and Audinate booth C8012. These devices deliver visually lossless video and perfectly synced audio with a single network clock, eliminating any lip-sync issues. They support the transmission of 8-channel audio, up to 4Kp60 4:4:4 video, USB and RS-422 serial commands over a 1GbE network. Users can conveniently manage all signal streams through the widely used Dante Controller software.

The DAV-02HT Encoder is equipped with USB-C and HDMI input ports. It automatically switches sources when it detects an incoming TMDS signal. Users can also manually select sources by pressing a front-panel button or by utilizing a sensor input to connect custom-tailored press button, allowing system integrators to externally wire a press button, suitable for installation on a table.

The DAV-02HR Decoder features dual HDMI output ports, allowing for simultaneous video display. Each HDMI port automatically reads Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) of connected screens and adjusts the output video resolution to ensure the optimal display resolution for each screen. Additionally, HDCP is automatically converted to the appropriate revision for each connected screen.

Blackwire Designs to Showcase AV and Networking Solutions

Attendees to Blackwire's Booth C9869 can expect to witness Blackwire's latest advancements, including seamless integration of commercial audio systems with control platforms, updated drivers for enhanced video wall and multiview management, comprehensive access control offerings, and the newly launched Network Provisioning Service designed to streamline networking installations.

The recently launched Blackwire Network Provisioning Service allows integrators to receive networking equipment that is fully configured, updated, labeled, and ready for installation right out of the box. Before the introduction of this service, integrators often faced challenges with on-site configuration and troubleshooting, leading to potential delays and increased costs. This new service not only addresses these issues but also sets a new standard in the industry by extending Blackwire's proven video distribution system provisioning to networking products.

Blackwire has also recently updated two of its other Control4 drivers—MultiView Pro and VideoWall Pro—to accommodate an intuitive interface for Just Add Power 3G and MaxColor products and AVPro Edge MXNet systems that utilize video walls or multiview video tilers. These drivers are designed to integrate seamlessly into the Control4 UI on both T4 touchscreens and mobile/tablet devices, enabling end users to easily manage these intricate systems through a user-friendly and visually engaging interface.

AV Stumpfl to Unveil Ada Upgrade for PIXERA Four

AV Stumpfl will present the latest generation of its PIXERA four media server hardware, now optionally equipped with NVIDIA’s ultra-powerful, next-generation Ada GPU architecture, at Booth W2556. By further enhancing PIXERA four’s already efficiency, the upgrade to NVIDIA’s Ada architecture ensures PIXERA four is capable of effortlessly tackling even the most demanding workloads, now and into the future.

With 48GB of VRAM and single-precision performance of up to 91.1 TFLOPS, the new Ada card brings creative projects to life with double rendering capability. Whether working on complex 3D scenes or enjoying seamless 2D playback, the Ada upgrade allows PIXERA four users to harness the possibilities offered by powerful graphics hardware, as shown by the Notchmark score (GPU benchmark) for the PIXERA four server equipped with the Ada card. Alongside the Ada update, AV Stumpfl will also introduce an important new option for its hardware fleet to go with the new SMPTE ST 2110 standard for media over IP, to be released in the coming months.

Utelogy to Showcase New Technology, Partnerships, and Platform Innovations 

Utelogy will introduce several new features that will significantly elevate the capabilities and value of the Utelogy Platform at Booth C6609. Key among these is an upgraded analytics engine, which now includes advanced reporting capabilities. Users will benefit from detailed SLA reporting and new room utilization reports integrated with occupancy data, offering a comprehensive view of space usage to enable better management and optimization.

Utelogy is also adding U-Server application functionality within the U-Manage cloud, streamlining remote management and troubleshooting for AV and IT technicians. This move enhances efficiency, allowing technicians to address device issues even faster from anywhere with ease and precision. Our commitment to continuously improving our customers’ experience is exemplified by our forthcoming updates and enhancements to the platform.

Also being highlighted are:

• Partnerships and Integrations: We are excited to continue to drive the industry forward with our agnostic and scalable platform, and partnerships with industry-leading manufacturers such as Barco, Bose, Catchbox, Cisco, GUDE Systems, Intel, Jabra, Lightware Visual Engineering, Logitech, LG, Neat, Netio, Netgear, NFS, Poly, Sennheiser, Sony, SurgeX, Yealink, and others.
• Upgraded Analytics Engine: Featuring advanced reporting capabilities, including detailed SLA reporting and room utilization integrated with occupancy data, providing comprehensive insights for better space management.
• Cloud-Based Functionality: New capabilities for real-time monitoring and control of devices from the cloud, enhancing remote management and operational efficiency.
• Environmental Monitoring and Sustainability Initiatives: Advanced integration with environmental sensors to provide detailed analytics on air quality, temperature, and other crucial metrics, supporting sustainability initiatives.
• ServiceNow Integration: Launched earlier this year, learn more about the seamless integration with ServiceNow for streamlined service ticket management and enhanced operational workflows.

Title: VP of Business Operations

Company: Utelogy

Location: Central Massachusetts

Overtime: Newly engaged, she’s planning a wedding for next spring. She also loves nature photography and has a black belt in Krav Maga.

Why You Need to Know Her: Utelogy’s human Swiss Army Knife has a background in UX design, but now she’s tasked with launching new initiatives and optimizing day-to-day operations at Utelogy.

Nicole Corbin’s career could have gone in a very different direction. She attended a vocational technical high school, where she initially thought she would pursue graphic design. 

She quickly realized that working with printing presses was not her calling, so she moved to the business technology program. There, she was tasked with some light web development as well as presentation design. “I found designing on a computer very interesting,” she recalled.

That’s when she gravitated toward building websites that looked nice and were useful, and pursued a degree at Boston University that would allow her to learn both design and development. Corbin graduated early and began her career as a front-end web developer for a major healthcare company, where she worked closely with product teams on several sites.

After a couple of acquisitions, her job responsibilities shifted to building ads and revenue-generating content. That’s when Corbin decided it was time for a new opportunity—and a smaller company. She found the right fit at Utelogy. The California-based company offers intelligent monitoring software that helps organizations manage their AV assets.

Corbin started her Pro AV career in June 2019 as the director of product and user experience at Utelogy. A few days later, with no AV background whatsoever, she was at InfoComm. It was admittedly “very different” from her consumer-facing healthcare work. “I got a really good sense of what we were doing in the industry and who the other players were,” she said. “It was a great experience for me.”

Since that first InfoComm, internal changes in Utelogy have pushed Corbin to grow professionally. “That was to my benefit, taking on a lot of different responsibilities along the way,” she said.

Today, as VP of business operations, she runs Utelligence, the company’s strategic alliance partner program. Working with companies like Barco, Lightware, Logitech, Neat, and Sennheiser, to name a few,  Corbin manages everything from marketing efforts to security certifications. Security is an important part of the Utelogy solution, as most of its major customers have strict information security processes for data protection. She’s also involved with “the business” part of the business, including internal processes and procedures.

Pro AV peaked her interest quickly—and after five years, Cobin said she’s still learning about the industry.  She has watched first-hand how much has changed in such a short time, and her new knowledge lets her revisit the difficulties of trying to setup and join a corporate HQ videoconference a decade ago through new eyes. “It just feels so funny looking back at that,” she said. “Compared to now, when everything is just so easy, and everyone is trying to streamline the home experience into the work experience.”

One day, Corbin will likely run her own business. In the meantime, she’s been learning as much as possible about every aspect of Utelogy’s business, which is great experience for her and much appreciated by the company. “I’m very fortunate that the people I work for know those are my goals and they are helping me get there,” she said.

Meet the rest of The Nine.

Last week started with some big Pro AV news as Resideo acquired Snap One. That wasn't all that went down. While NAB Show 2024 was going down in Las Vegas, here are some of the people moves and partnerships you may have missed. 

People News

EAW Introduces Raymond Tee as APAC Technical Sales Manager

Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) welcomed Raymond Tee as APAC technical sales manager. In this role, Tee will be the primary pre and post-sales technical support contact for EAW’s APAC partners. He will also assist James Bamlett, the senior director of EMEA and APAC Sales, with identifying, training and managing new partners to strengthen EAW’s network throughout the region.

Tee has held sales, technical and engineering positions at several international manufacturers, was the operations manager at a large rental company and most recently served as Powersoft’s solutions engineer for APAC. He has provided support for EAW in a few of these positions, and along with the culmination of his experience in the field, he is a valuable addition to the team.

Jetbuilt Appoints Steve Samson as Director of Vendor Partnerships

Jetbuilt has appointed Steve Samson as its new director of vendor partnerships. In this role, Samson will spearhead the management of relationships and partnerships with both current and prospective vendors, further solidifying Jetbuilt’s position as the industry leader in providing powerful proposal generation and comprehensive 360-degree project management solutions. 

With a deep understanding of the needs of integrators, manufacturers and distributors, Samson brings invaluable expertise to Jetbuilt. Before joining Jetbuilt, Samson served as Lightware Visual Engineering’s VP, where he was instrumental in accelerating sales and growing Lightware’s business 20 times over five years. Throughout his career, Samson has worked with manufacturers such as Lightware Visual Engineering, Crestron, and Tweeter, and served as the board director for the Consumer Technology Association. 

Samson's primary focus will be collaborating closely with manufacturers and distributors, emphasizing the significance of Jetbuilt in creating a comprehensive database to help them better understand their businesses. By leveraging Jetbuilt's ecosystem, vendors can gain visibility into future trends and customer preferences, enabling them to make informed decisions that drive success.

PPDS Welcomes Jan Van Tieghem as New Director of Technical Sales Support

Jan Van Tieghem is the new director of technical sales support at PPDS. Van Tieghem has an AV career spanning more than 20 years, 15 of which have been devoted exclusively to supporting the evolution, development, and success of Philips Professional Displays on a global scale.

Van Tieghem began with Philips in 2006 when he joined the company as a system validation engineer. He will now lead support teams across all PPDS product ranges—digital signage including ePaper, interactive displays, videowalls, dvLED, and professional TVs—located in the company’s innovation center in Ghent, Belgium, and throughout all regions in EMEA, including Benelux, CEE, DACH, France, Iberia, Italy, the Nordics, SEE, and U.K., and Ireland.

In his new role, his key responsibilities will include supporting B2B sales activities (pre and post-sales), working with new and existing partners for final validation of new software releases on all product platforms, ensuring EMEA market compliance, and assisting customers in delivering hands-on, live, and video training for seamless and successful installation and project outcomes.

Daniel McKenzie Joins Visual Sound

Daniel McKenzie CTS, DMC-D4K has joined Visual Sound as director of technical operations. McKenzie will be based out of the company’s headquarter location in Broomall, PA, and will serve as the technical operations lead for Visual Sound’s three business units and industry-specific solutions teams. McKenzie is a results-oriented engineer leader with over 25 years of deep and wide audiovisual industry experience and has a proven track record of managing projects from conception to completion, and beyond.

Before joining Visual Sound, McKenzie was the director of engineering for IMS Technology and brings key industry experience and a wealth of knowledge designing, implementing, and managing cutting-edge audiovisual solutions. Prior to his tenure at IMS, McKenzie began as a senior installation technician and was promoted to field engineer for Judge Audio Visual.

Jay Rogina Joins XTEN-AV

XTEN-AV appointed Jay Rogina as an advisory board member with the organization. Coming with 35 years of experience in the AV industry, Rogina brings in expertise and leadership to guide the AV firm in their new phase of growth.

Rogina is the former principal of Spinitar,  where he served from 1999-2022. Rogina drove Spinitar’s entrance and growth into AV integration. He also served as the chairman of Infocomm International from Jan-Dec 2009. Earlier in his career, Rogina served as the director of technical services at Startel Corporation and as the VP, technical services at American Video Communications.

CrimsonAV Welcomes Matthew Sulkowski as National Sales Director-dvLED

CrimsonAV has appointed Matt Sulkowski as its new national sales director-dvLED. With an impressive background in sales and account management spanning over two decades, Sulkowski brings a wealth of experience, energy, and expertise to his new role.

"We are delighted to welcome Matt to the CrimsonAV family," said William Bear, VP of sales and marketing at CrimsonAV. "His extensive sales experience and passion for customer satisfaction make him the perfect fit to lead our LED sales division. We look forward to his contributions as we continue to expand our market presence."

Lone Star Communications Appoints New CTO

Lone Star Communications has promoted Justin Bailey to chief technology officer. Bailey has a 25-year history at LSC. 

He will be entrusted with defining and executing the LSC technology vision; managing the team of software developers, engineers, data scientists, and other IT specialties; designing the organization's technical architecture and infrastructure; aiding in the development of healthcare technology products and solutions; leading all research and development efforts; maintaining a robust cybersecurity infrastructure across the company's digital landscape; forging strategic partnerships with outside technology companies; and managing IT budgets and resource allocations. 

Company News

ACT Entertainment Becomes Exclusive Distributor of Green Hippo in North America

ACT Entertainment has become the exclusive North American distributor of Green Hippo media servers and digital display products, as the demand for the brand’s live entertainment solutions continues to expand. ACT acquired Green Hippo in late 2023 as part of a larger acquisition that also included tvONE, a video processing and media server brand, which will continue with its existing strategy. 

Green Hippo is known for its innovative and high-quality media server products, which are recognized globally for performance, reliability, and technology. With ACT Entertainment as its exclusive distribution partner, the brand’s products will now be more accessible than ever to customers across North America.

CueScript Celebrated 10 Years at NAB Show 2024

CueScript turned 10 at NAB 2024. The professional teleprompting solutions developer for both studio and field use has been serving industries ranging from Pro AV environments to broadcast studios and networks since 2014 when it was founded by Michael Accardi and Brian Larter, both long-time veterans of the teleprompting business. 

[NAB 2024: 5 Booths That Caught Our Eye on the Show Floor]

CueScript made its first official appearance at NAB 2014 with the intent of bringing a new kind of prompter company, one that placed emphasis on both service and technology, to the industry’s largest gathering of broadcasters. CueScript launched that year with a modest product line and a corporate mission steeped in unparalleled support. The company’s platform has since increased from four products to include more than a dozen monitors, prompters and hoods, a series of software and controls—including  CueTALK Cloud, plus its own set of mounts, accessories, and speech prompters. In 2015, responding to an industry transitioning to IP, the company introduced CueiT software, followed by IP-based prompters in 2018. 

U.S. operations were originally based in Fairfield, CT, but the company soon outgrew its location and moved to a larger facility in Stratford. The new space accommodates a full inventory of equipment ready for immediate shipping, and enough room for CueScript’s expanding team. On the other side of the pond, CueScript maintains headquarters in Epsom, UK to serve and support Europe and the rest of the world. From its first sale 10 years ago, CueScript prompters are now found in broadcast studios, networks and field operations, educational institutions, corporate settings, and houses of worship in every corner of the globe.

Vizrt, EVS Extend Strategic Technical Partnership

Vizrt recently took its technical partnership with EVS to a new level. The combination of Vizrt’s flagship studio automation solution, Viz Mosart, and EVS XT and XS-series servers, has for many years provided broadcasters with a high-level of control and flexibility for 24/7 seamless operation playout.  

This support now extends to the XS-NEO, EVS’s software defined server. The XS-NEO builds upon the legacy of EVS speed and reliability, while delivering the codec flexibility that modern news operations demand.  

This new collaboration integrates Vizrt’s expertise in automated production tools with EVS’s renowned capabilities in live broadcast technology, aiming to deliver an out of the box solution for both ingest and automation-based playout.  

The new XS-NEO server from EVS empowers broadcasters to natively play multiple formats, including XDCam, and supports play from local high-performance RAID disks or directly from a facility's central storage, streamlining workflows for maximum efficiency. 

New Utelogy Partnership Expands Its Utelligence Program for AV Device Standardization

Utelogy Corporation has expanded its Utelligence Program for AV and UC Device Standardization with the integration of NETIO products. This partnership with the European producer of intelligent PDUs and power solutions will integrate NETIO's entire line of innovative power distribution units (PDUs) into the Utelogy software ecosystem, facilitating seamless control over third-party power devices and ensuring constant reliable service through remote management capabilities.

The integration promises to bolster AV system stability across various environments such as meeting rooms, museums, retail spaces, and more, with NETIO PDUs being manageable within the Utelogy platform. This includes applications like motion-activated device control and scheduled power management for lighting and advertising displays. NETIO's product suite, compatible with global power standards and available in multiple form-factors, is designed to enhance power efficiency and operational stability via advanced consumption analytics and Watchdog features.

The FlatPDU series by NETIO stands out for its unobtrusive design that simplifies the remote management of power for television setups. 

Visionary Selects Sweden-Based Audiovision AB for Distribution

Visionary has partnered with Audiovision AB for exclusive distribution in Sweden. Based in Karlstad, Sweden, Audiovision AB is an importer and distributor of professional audio and video products, representing many brands worldwide. Audiovision AB will serve as the exclusive distributor of Visionary’s network audiovisual solutions throughout Sweden. 

Established in 1984, Audiovision AB is a leading technology distributor specializing in reliable, feature-rich audiovisual equipment. The products and solutions distributed by Audiovision AB can be found in over 35,000 meeting, conference and training rooms across Sweden. Audiovision AB brings extensive experience in designing, adapting and developing system solutions. Audiovision AB supports integrators and resellers by providing attentive, hands-on resources throughout pre-sale, delivery and post-sale processes. As a result, customers and end users receive the best overall support and experience. 

Optimal Audio Appoints Audiosales as Distributor for Italy

Optimal Audio has appointed Audiosales as its distributor in Italy. Part of the Focusrite Group, Optimal Audio manufactures a one-stop solution of controllers, amplifiers, and loudspeakers for small to medium-sized commercial installations, with a focus on supporting multi-zoned venues.
 
Based near Parma, Audiosales has been in business for more than twenty-five years, distributing world-leading brands to the live and install markets in Italy, and providing system design and consultancy for the widest possible range of applications. Audiosales places great emphasis on advice, training, and support across its portfolio of international brands.

HOLOPLOT Announces Chinese Distribution Partnership

Prime Connections International (PCI Group) has over 30 years of experience in Greater China’s expansive audiovisual industry, representing several brands within the AV industry.  As part of its continuing push to bring its Matrix Array systems to the Asian audio market, HOLOPLOT named PCI Group its official distributor for China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The distribution partnership will see both companies enjoy significant expansion in not only the experiential and live entertainment industries but also fuel growth in speech-based applications, within the education and business sectors. PCI Group is uniquely placed to ensure HOLOPLOT’s innovative technology will meet the territory’s increasing demand for advanced audio experiences, pushing the boundaries of audio solutions for decades to come.

In early February, technology solutions provider Diversified, headquartered in Kenilworth, NJ, and GroCyber, a cybersecurity services firm headquartered in Fairfax, VA, announced a partnership. Under the agreement, the two organizations are providing a suite of cybersecurity solutions designed specifically for AV and media companies.

Mathew Newfield, president and chief commercial officer at Diversified, explained that in addition to its integration activities, the company is placing more focus on providing consultative services to its customers. In particular, he notes that there is a high customer demand for AV cybersecurity expertise.

[Viewpoint: Hybrid Headaches]

“One of the things we realized last year is we were getting a lot of requests from our client base to assist them with not only physical security—where we’ve had solutions for a while—but the cybersecurity side of that equation,” Newfield said.

The Diversified-GroCyber offering is divided into three main categories:

Cyber certification. GroCyber acts as an independent third party that tests and then certifies the broadcast environments and components of Pro AV systems based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework. (In other words, they will certify the manufacturers and vendors that Diversified works with according to internationally recognized standards.)

Cyber hygiene and monitoring. This includes configuration and access control, as well as hardware and software monitoring and patching.

Vulnerability management. In the interest of protecting their media assets, consultations are focused on designing a secure architecture, plus scanning and penetration testing to identify weak spots within the client’s environment.

Driving Demand

Until recently, cybersecurity wasn’t a big issue for the Pro AV industry because of the how systems were deployed. As a result, IT leaders were much less concerned about them.

“In many instances, those systems were physically isolated,” explained Jeff Fillbrandt, VP of technical operations at Utelogy, an AV systems monitoring and management platform developer headquartered in Petaluma, CA. “The AV equipment didn’t touch the enterprise corporate network.”

[Cloud Power: Decisions, Decisions]

But because today’s Pro AV systems are no longer air gapped, CISOs and CIOs need to know about how things like patch management, penetration testing, and vulnerability testing will be applied to the Pro AV systems being deployed onto the enterprise network. “Because it’s all IP-enabled—and it’s about speed and being able to get the most streaming possible across the IT platform and where we are going to connect from the streaming environment over to the IT environment—we have to make sure that all of that is patched, updated, and best of breed,” said Alison Kidd, managing partner at GroCyber.

Not only that, but AV professionals must now consider what happens if one of their customers’ systems is breached. “Now you have to have an incident response plan—you have to have the steps [in place] for what you’re going to do if something actually does occur,” Kidd offered. If a customer is compromised through the technology that the AV integrator deployed, the integration firm should be playing a role in assisting the client through the incident.

All of this is extremely important to customers with valuable digital assets. Yong-Gon Chon, managing partner at GroCyber, illustrates it this way: Consider a customer with a media asset library worth almost $1 billion. In a traditional brick-and-mortar library, a thief may succeed at stealing one book. However, in the world of media storage area networks, a threat actor can get away with the entire library. “When you’re seeing that kind of asset value and business impact, it certainly raises the level of concern now that everything is interconnected,” he added.

AV/IT Relationship

This potential level of breach requires a shift in mindset for many in Pro AV. “For a lot of the people who run these AV environments, this is a new world order for them,” Newfield acknowledged. “We are starting to have that consultative conversation to help them set processes up so that their environments can stay up and running, they can do it in a secure manner, and they can get past that wall of the CIO/CISO saying, 'Here’s the base—you’ve got to be here. And if you’re not here, you’re out.’”

In large organizations, AV teams are starting to operate under the umbrella of the CIO—a promising development, according to Newfield. This convergence is important, because it helps advance the discussion about service-level objectives for both AV and IT, which are often significantly different.

For example, in the broadcast environment, there is little or no tolerance for latency. This is especially taboo in sports broadcasting, where even microseconds of delay are unacceptable. “If you’re putting too many cyber controls on those systems, you could introduce delays,” Newfield said. “Helping to have them change their mindset of how they can put in security controls that are right for them is important.”

Mandates and Best Practices

Cybersecurity requirements are often mandated by regulators and government agencies, Chon noted. For example, the healthcare and financial services industries are highly regulated, which result in the need for integrators working in these markets to adhere to strict cybersecurity practices, such as those outlined in the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.

Contractors working in the public sector may be required to fulfill federal regulations, such as the DFARS Clause 252.204-7012, issued by the Department of Defense (which also lists NIST requirements). Organizations dealing with clients in the European Union must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and should also take into account the rules set out in the proposed EU Cyber Resilience Act.

[Every Day Is Game Day]

All these mandates have pushed cybersecurity to the forefront for everyone, Pro AV companies included. “It’s become incumbent upon the service providers and manufacturers in [this space] to become way more cyber literate,” Chon said.

Often, the first talking point during an initial conversation about a new project is cybersecurity, Fillbrandt observed. In many cases, clients need to know that a vendor or integrator can pass an information security (infosec) review before entering more profound discussions on project specifics. “Knowing how to navigate those discussions is critical,” he said.

That said, cybersecurity is a fast-evolving field, and Fillbrandt acknowledged that AV integrators may not have the resources to remain up to date. For this reason, he urges these organizations to lean on their vendor partners for support.

“We want to play an active role to help guide them through the process,” he said. “Those [AV companies] that bring in the appropriate people that can have those discussions, those are the organizations that are delivering value to their customers.”

Cyber Resources for Pro AV

National Systems Contractors Association (NSCA) members who need information on cybersecurity in AV can turn to the NSCA Cybersecurity and AI Committee. According to Mike Abernathy, NSCA’s director of business resources, this committee’s goal is to recognize the cybersecurity standards that have an impact on both NSCA members and their customers, as well as provide resources related to relevant cybersecurity standards, frameworks, and certifications. The group will also examine the impact AI has on the Pro AV integration firms that are using it, offer guidance on data protection for businesses using AI, and explore the legal aspects to consider when applying artificial intelligence.

Another week means more Pro AV partnerships and people moving on up. Here's a look at what you may have missed. 

[The Force Is Strong in this Light Show]

People News

Rusty Wagner Joins SNA Displays as Sales Director, Central

Rusty Wagner has joined SNA Displays’ sales division, working out of the company’s Dallas office. Wagner brings 25 years of audiovisual industry experience, recently from AVI Systems where he was the area VP responsible for building and coaching sales teams. His focus at SNA Displays will be serving existing client accounts and growing new business in the central United States.

“I look forward to applying my experience both as a sales team leader and individual contributor to my new role at SNA Displays,” said Wagner. “I bring a cross-functional mindset in my approach, working with operations, engineering, project management, and marketing to ensure clients receive detailed and thorough care.”

Rainer Brandstätter Returns to AV Stumpfl

Pro AV veteran Rainer Brandstätter has rejoined AV Stumpfl  in the newly created role of product partnership manager.

After transitioning into an IT consultant role during COVID-19, he returned to AV Stumpfl in September. In his new position, which he describes as a hybrid role that sits between the sales and technical teams, he is responsible for PIXERA’s technology partners and third-party integrations, a role which takes on particular importance given the open-API nature of PIXERA 2.0.

Draper Names New Pro AV Regional Sales Manager–Western U.S.

Draper has hired Sam Nord as Pro AV regional sales manager for the Western United States. Nord will be responsible for working with AV dealers and The Farm rep firm in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Nord brings over 25 years of experience with system integrators and as a manufacturer. He was most recently as VP of global sales for Listen Technologies. 

“I’m looking forward to this tremendous opportunity,” said Nord. “Draper has a great reputation in the industry and I’m going to enjoy working with the sales team to support our rep, dealers, and partners throughout the region. I could not be more pleased.”

Company News

Utelogy, Neat to Elevate Smart Workspace Technology

Utelogy now integrates with Neat's innovative video devices. This collaboration leverages the Neat Pulse API for seamless cloud integration, enriching Utelogy's platform with a suite of features aimed at optimizing workplace efficiency and simplifying device management.

Through this partnership, Utelogy's platform now integrates with Neat devices supported through the Neat Pulse API, offering unprecedented capabilities in people counting, occupancy reporting, and environmental monitoring—elements crucial for today's smart buildings and collaborative workspaces.

Features for Enhanced Workspace Intelligence

• Accurate people counting and occupancy insights via Neat devices, integrated seamlessly into Utelogy’s platform for measurable real-time space utilization.
• Real-time and historic insights into environmental data, including CO2 levels, humidity, temperature, and device health, ensuring optimal meeting conditions.
• Advanced control and configuration capabilities, such as remote reboot and change audio/video settings, alongside visibility into the device’s operational mode (Zoom Mode, Teams Mode).

This collaboration also emphasizes sustainability and efficiency. At the heart of this integration lies the enhanced energy savings and robust environmental monitoring capabilities, which collectively forge a sustainable operational footprint. The Utelogy platform is equipped with real-time alerting mechanisms, pivotal in enabling swift technical responses that guarantee an uninterrupted workflow and sustained device functionality. The practicality of remotely rebooting devices simplifies troubleshooting, minimizing downtime and enhancing productivity.

AVI-SPL India Opens Hyderabad Office

AVI-SPL has a new office in Hyderabad, one of the fastest growing cities in India and the company’s fifth location in the country. Since its incorporation in 2022, AVI-SPL India Private Limited has expanded at a tremendous pace, adding more than 150 team members and serving an increasing roster of local and global customers.

Hyderabad is a technology and operations hub for dozens of the Global Fortune 500 companies, including those who already work with AVI-SPL through its Global Strategic Accounts Program. AVI-SPL India’s vision for Hyderabad is greenfield opportunities fueled by fresh demand for digital workplace and experience technology. The digital transformation taking place in the market warrants the company establishing a solid home base and deep pool of talent there.

[Blueprint for Success: CAIO and Arrivederci]

“We’re bringing a team of highly qualified project engineers, installation technicians, project managers, and service delivery managers to Hyderabad,” said Mala Prasad, regional director of AVI-SPL India. “The potential here is tremendous and we’re ready to help our customers think beyond to discover new communications and collaboration technology solutions that help them work smarter and live better.”

AV Partners Announces New Vendors and Team Appointments

Eric Leicht, president of Southern California independent manufacturers sales representative firm AV Partners, recently announced the addition of Screen Innovations, URC, and Lenbrook to the firm’s portfolio.  

In addition, channel sales veteran Danny Thompson has joined the firm. Thompson brings four decades of consumer electronics experience. For the last three decades he has held sales and training roles with Oliver Marketing, MK Marketing, Savant, and Kaleidescape, and has earned numerous industry awards and certifications (ISF). As regional sales manager, Thompson covers San Diego, Inland Empire, and Arizona for AV Partners.

Screen Innovations Expands Sales Force, Boost Dealer Training, and Incentives

Screen Innovations (SI) is upping its sales staff and factory training opportunities. There will be seven new sales firms including six new U.S. firms and one Canadian company. Since the fall of 2023 SI added AV Marketing Services (North Central), Momentum Marketing (Rockies), AV Partners (SoCal / AZ / LV), Elite3 Pro (TOLA), Luxury Integrated Technologies (SE), A I T Marketing (Metro NY / NJ), and 5 Element Sales and Marketing (Canada). The new sales partners were trained in Austin, TX, at SI facilities in February. 

Additionally, SI is offering live event and online training events in March, April, and May 2024. Dealers are invited to join one of the free factory training events either in person or online. Live event participants will enjoy fun, food, and drinks while learning during the factory training meeting in Austin, TX. Dealers can sign up and work with their local sales representative.

Check Out the Plans for Powersoft's New Human Audio Experience Center HQ

Powersoft plans to open a new headquarters, the Powersoft Human Audio Experience Center. The new headquarters, covering more than 99,000 square feet across four floors, is built to accommodate a projected increase in the size of the company’s workforce, as outlined in its development plan for the coming years. By centralizing all corporate functions, it enhances departmental potential, improves cross-team collaboration, and delivers significant operational cost savings while boosting energy efficiency.

Powersoft's new HQ will be based on three core values: Human, Audio, Experience. The philosophy revolves around placing people, technology and experimentation at the core of the plan, with spaces designed to cater to the diverse needs of employees, clients, consultants and guests, as well as students and the local community. In addition to areas intended to foster innovation and technological excellence through research laboratories, spaces for quality testing, measurement and product demonstration, the Powersoft Human Audio Experience Center will boast green areas, meeting rooms, fitness areas, a fully equipped canteen, meeting rooms and coffee corners—environments to cultivate a vibrant and inviting workplace conducive to collaboration and employee welfare. The new building will serve as a versatile, multifaceted hub, featuring spaces for events, demonstrations, and educational purposes, alongside exhibition areas dedicated to showcasing the history and evolution of audio technologies.

Construction is anticipated to conclude in the latter part of 2026, after which production lines and all company departments will relocate from the existing premises to the new HQ.

As the first quarter of 2024 ends, the year is off to a great start. Companies are settling into hybrid workplace models, higher education institutions are continuing to deploy networked AV throughout the campus, and for the most part, supply chain issues are in the rearview mirror.

To understand upcoming trends, I look to the responses to my question regarding company roadmaps and philosophies. Artificial intelligence, sustainability, strategic alliances, cloud, immersive environments, ease of use, and improving the user experience are common threads from the responses of 40 AV/IT thought leaders. 

Manufacturers introduced new products and solutions at Integrated Systems Europe in February and are finetuning offerings that will be announced at InfoComm in June.

During the past couple of years, the most significant trend that emerged was out of necessity; end users embraced the need for high-quality audio, and the deployment of these solutions continues.

Set aside any thoughts of nefarious intent you might have about AI and look no further than the AV/IT industry to see the immense benefits already being implemented in audio and video collaboration products.

AI has entered our audiovisual products over the last few years, leading to better detection of meaningful audio versus non-meaningful audio, detection of speakers in audio and video, and delivery of a good meeting experience to remote participants. “The use of AI will increase in our products, delivering even more meaningful experiences to the remote participant at the far end,” said Holger Stoltze, director of Product Management at Yamaha UC. “It is important to note that these improvements can be introduced through firmware upgrades of existing products—not a ‘fork-lift’ upgrade of existing infrastructure.” 

When it comes to keeping the ship running smoothly, sustainability might not be what keeps you up at night, but fortunately, manufacturers are taking our future seriously. “Minimizing the environmental impact of our products will be an integral feature of our roadmap, including less energy wastage, even more recycling, and further steps to minimize our logistics’ environmental impact,” said Bjorn Krylander, chief executive officer and managing director at Datapath.

Mark Bonifacio, director of Business Management of Professional Display Solutions at Sony Electronics, added, “Building on our Road to Zero global environmental plan, we’ve implemented sustainable practices, large and small, across our entire product lifecycle.”

Creating alliances is one of the ways companies are helping to ensure the overall experience is seamless. “At Sennheiser, we want to be the easiest technology partner for our customers to work with, regardless of their setup,” said Charlie Jones, global alliance and partnership manager, Business Communication at Sennheiser.

History tells us that if something is not easy to use, it won’t be used, and the technology investment will have a negative ROI. Ultimately, a positive user experience will be the measure of success.

Susy Liem, associate vice president of conferencing product management at Shure, said, “Having the right AV equipment and solutions in place helps improve the employee experience, productivity, and decision-making—all key to a business’s success.”

“Nureva’s 2024 roadmap is focused on delivering large-room audio solutions that support the much-needed quality of experience—with maximum adaptability and flexibility but without complexity,” said Nancy Knowlton, Nureva's chief executive officer.

Amber Ward, director of marketing at Carousel Digital Signage, added, “As we move forward into 2024, we’re looking at one guiding principle: helping our customers break through the noise so they can get the most out of their signage system.”

“Working with our entire ecosystem of customers and partners, we’re going head-on into the new year to help elevate experiences and spaces so that they reach their fullest potential,” said Ryan Carson, vice president and general manager of Professional Imaging and Visual Systems at Panasonic Connect North America.

Read the full interviews of these thought leaders and more by clicking on the company names in the box to the right.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Megan Zeller, Senior Director of Business Development at Peerless-AV

Peerless-AV prides itself on keeping innovation, progression, and forward-thinking at the forefront of our goals. We continue to look for new, different, and better ways to deliver new solutions to our customers, enhancing the overall user experience.

As we enter 2024, our focus remains steadfast on delivering top-notch structural systems for dvLED video walls, hybrid work solutions, and more. With a dedication to innovation, Peerless-AV solutions carry OEM certifications; we offer continued education for our sales representatives; and more to ensure that from beginning to end, Peerless-AV is a valued partner to our customers. Grounded in quality manufacturing, perpetual innovation, and unwavering customer service, these core values empower everyone at Peerless-AV to defy conventions and unlock new possibilities.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Tim Bigoness, Chief Marketing Officer and vice President of Sales at D-Tools

D-Tools manufacturing roadmap for 2024 is as clear as it’s ever been. For 25 years, we devoted our product development time and resources to the evolution of our core business management software platforms, providing custom integrators a valuable tool that helps them operate their businesses more efficiently and prosper in a highly competitive tech market. Our knowledge of and appreciation for the products and services our integration partners provide commercial and residential customers runs deep, and our software solutions are a direct reflection of this understanding. With every new feature refined or added to our award-winning on-premise System Integrator and off-premise Cloud software platforms, integrators experience greater business efficiency and profitability. Workflow is streamlined, processes standardized, organization of data and schedules simplified, and communication with all stakeholders improved.

Due to the dynamic nature of software and the fast progression of the tech industry, our software platforms will continue to advance in 2024. The aim and focus of D-Tools has always been on enabling greater success for our integrator partners, and we’ll stay laser-focused on this primary initiative for 2024. Through closer collaboration with our integrator customers and intensive data analysis, we will gain even better insights into the market and the needs of integrators to further fine-tune and expand our software solutions. With each step, we will deliver meaningful benefits to our loyal integration partners through software that is easy to implement and for everyone in the company to use. When an integration business can tackle projects with efficiency, confidence and professionalism, everyone involved in a project stands to gain—employees, adjacent trades, and end users alike.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Omer Brookstein, Chief Executive Officer at Xyte

The landscape of device and hardware manufacturing is shifting profoundly due to hardware commoditization and evolving customer preferences. In response to these changes, manufacturers have been compelled to reassess their business strategies. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are pivoting towards offering integrated business solutions that encompass hardware, software, and services. 

As 2024 unfolds, Xyte Device Cloud, a comprehensive servitization platform, is poised for significant growth following a successful $30 million investment round. 

The investment will propel Xyte on its mission to support connected device manufacturers across diverse industries. With a focus on advancing capabilities and reach, the funding will fuel the company's success trajectory and expedite its expansion, particularly in North America and Europe. 

For the AV industry, Xyte is an AV-as-a-Service (AVaaS) enabler, allowing manufacturers to provide remote support and remote device management capabilities to their channel partners and customers. Yet AVaaS is a concept that encompasses much more—a direct engagement of OEMs with their customer base. This brings with it the option to tap into additional revenue streams beyond the initial sales, with the ability to provide additional functionalities on demand without requiring new hardware, eliminating the need to replace products, and allowing faster time to market for new features.

Throughout 2024 Xyte is set to unveil a series of enhancements. At ISE, Xyte introduced Xyte Connect, which empowers OEMs and their industry partners to share data via the cloud. Xyte Connect fosters collaboration on various fronts, including device configuration, setup, support, updates, and comprehensive monitoring and management. By facilitating this shared ecosystem, Xyte aims to enhance efficiency and collaboration across AV and other industries, enabling manufacturers and their partners to optimize and lengthen the life cycle of connected devices. 

With AVaaS, OEMs are able to extract more value from their products, fostering customer loyalty and a competitive edge in the dynamic AV market.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Kevin Morrison, Chief Executive Officer at Utelogy

As the global leader in the management, monitoring, and automated control in the modern workplace, Utelogy made a significant appearance at ISE 2024. The Utelogy platform enables customers to proactively manage their meeting space technology and helps to deliver meeting equity. 

The past year has been pivotal for Utelogy, with substantial enhancements to the platform driven by the growth of its global customer base. At ISE 2024, Utelogy announced a major architectural upgrade, introducing new features that promise to elevate platform usability and value. Strengthening the Utelligence program, Utelogy is raising the bar in security and compatibility, working alongside industry manufacturers to showcase exciting product integrations. Highlights include collaborations with MTR Cloud, Zoom Cloud, Logitech CollabOS, Poly Lens, NEAT Pulse, Yealink, and others.

A standout was Utelogy's integration with ServiceNow, which brings a new level of efficiency to alert management by seamlessly automating workflows and incident creation within ServiceNow's ITSM suite, backed by rich data from Utelogy.

Looking ahead, Utelogy's vision encompasses reshaping the AV/UC, IoT, and smart workspace management landscape. The forthcoming iteration of Utelogy will introduce digital twin technology, sustainability efforts, intelligent alerting, enhanced automation, self-healing features, and API expansions, all supported by a cloud-centric architecture and an improved user experience.

Utelogy's strategy is grounded in smart, software-only solutions, leveraging advanced analytics, IoT, and AI to streamline energy and resource management. This approach not only slashes total ownership costs but also delivers valuable analytics and insights.

Global growth and the crafting of connected environments demand bespoke solutions and relentless industry collaboration attuned to our customers' operational efficiencies. By delivering intelligent solutions that enhance user experiences through advanced insights and analytics, Utelogy is catering to the demands of a technologically interconnected global workspace. Utelogy's commitment to innovation ensures it remains the vanguard, meeting the ever-changing needs of AV and IT professionals with intuitive, cost-effective management tools.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: George Walter, Senior Executive at Digital Projection

For Digital Projection, 2024 will be a year of getting back to the business of providing premium imaging solutions that help our customers overcome common design and installation challenges for quicker, faster deployment in residential and commercial environments and with greater customer satisfaction. 

We continue to receive glowing reports from our dealers about how our team worked with them to streamline the design, configuration, calibration, and installation of our projectors and LED displays and exceeded customer expectations with superior imaging performance. At Digital Projection, our strategy rests on providing our dealers with a great experience with our team, our products, and our company. After all, when our dealers are successful, we are successful. The new year is certainly looking bright.

After three years of proactively addressing the many business challenges and supply chain issues plaguing the AV industry, we’ve fully rebounded, are stronger than ever, and foresee a very exciting and promising year for Digital Projection. Our outlook is bright, showcased by many innovative product introductions and stronger than ever concierge-level service and support for our dealers and customers. We’ve added a host of new features and enhanced color gamut and brightness to our line of projectors and have made steady improvements to the resolution, color performance, and contrast of our growing family of LED displays, all while simplifying installation for a growing range of emerging applications—even those requiring curved displays! 

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Bob Michaels, Chief Executive Officer at ZeeVee

Security remains a paramount concern, and we channel substantial resources into fortifying our systems. Our latest innovation, the ZyPer Management Platform 3.x, is a testament to our commitment to robust security measures. This software-based solution simplifies the implementation of safeguards across networks, user accounts, and graphical user interface applications. Notably, our dedication to security is heightened for clients engaged in government, enterprise, healthcare, and similar sectors where sensitive data is integral. 

As part of our comprehensive security architecture, we adhere to IT-level security standards, ensuring end-to-end video encryption and employing 802.1x authentication protocols. This multifaceted approach underscores our proactive stance on safeguarding against evolving cybersecurity threats and ensuring the integrity of our clients' critical projects and sensitive information.

Focusing on software-based solutions will enable us to add features, functions, and capabilities to our products that simplify the installation and operation of AVoIP-driven systems. We’re very aware that there are many AV system end users that still lean towards HDBaseT because they fear AVoIP is difficult to learn and implement. Intuitive management and control will go a long way to continuing the steady conversion of the industry to network-based AV signal distribution. Post-installation, users can confidently expect long-term performance with ongoing robust enhancements via firmware updates.

It has long been our mantra and corporate responsibility to provide the industry with detailed AVoIP education. Since the pandemic, we’ve offered our series of zero-cost, Certified Solution Partner Training courses that award attendees AVIXA CTS credits. Attendance at these twice-a-month sessions remains strong, and we’re adding three new courses that will dive deeper into best practices for successful AVoIP system implementations.

Lastly, our support for RF modulation persists, catering to applications like sports content delivery in HD, especially in settings like bars and restaurants. RF also remains a preferred and cost-effective solution for retail and health clubs.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Kohei Hattori, General Manager, Live Production Business Department at Roland

Demand for high-quality audio and visual production for online and in-person events has been increasing. Roland is firmly committed to meeting the expectations of mobile and installation-based customers with new product releases, timely updates for our current lineup, and adding more value to the investments our customers make with confidence.

As we begin the new year, we are introducing several unique functions for our flagship Roland switchers, the V-160HD and V-600UHD. These updates are in response to direct feedback from our customers and the market worldwide. 

It is also worth highlighting that our Roland video products continue incorporating advanced audio functions made possible by more than 50 years of Roland’s electronic musical instrument expertise. Professional quality audio functions like ours are highly appreciated in the streaming market as it continues to expand and evolve. 

Our products also allow system integrators to offer affordable solutions with unique technological integrations and intuitive user interfaces. 

The teams at Roland look forward to listening to and acting on customer feedback. It allows Roland to make businesses successful, and we become loyal business partners in the process.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Robert Detwiler, Senior Director of Product Management and Training at Planar

In 2024, our customers can expect to see our selection of fine pixel pitch front-of-room display products expand. This includes support for outdoor use, and as MicroLED manufacturing efficiency and volume increase, we see an opportunity to incorporate MicroLED into more of our products. 

As with any year, we remain focused on assessing new and evolving technology trends to best address our customers’ needs and offer mature, repeatable products that are easy to integrate and are more readily available. This is true of all-in-one models, which are on the rise and enable quick deployment and ease of use for customers who have limited to no training. We’re excited to stay on top of this demand and further our support in this space.

We’re still seeing new virtual production (VP) applications emerge every day. This spans production and multimedia studios, universities, and an increasing number of corporate settings. We’re evolving our product portfolio as needs arise, and we continue to foster industry events and hands-on learning experiences to help those who may be implementing the technology in a new way or for the very first time. Last year, we launched the Planar Studios Virtual Production Workshop, offering the AV and IT communities a week-long series aimed at helping design, deploy, and support VP and extended reality (XR) projects. VP and XR were once new concepts for us, but today we know the technology holds tremendous opportunity for revolutionizing the production of lifelike content and we want to help make this accessible for all.

Outside of VP and XR, we’re closely following cybersecurity for networked devices, and exploring more connected devices that can help AV and IT professionals maintain their technology over large deployments.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Tomer Mann, Chief Revenue Officer at 22Miles

As we embark on the new year, 22Miles is celebrating a significant leap in our commitment to revolutionizing digital experiences. Our latest Content Manager update, version 7.5, brings new features to our customers to better manage enterprise space management, collaboration, and user experience across their hardware ecosystems. 

As part of this release, our AI tools—AI Command, AI Assistant, and AI Backoffice—harness the cutting-edge capabilities of large language models (LLMs) to deliver incredibly responsive user experiences. Using GPT or a propriety on-premises model, 22Miles creates custom AI interfaces suitable for enterprise use cases. These tools empower clients to integrate personalized, accurate, secure content and service tools into their digital signage walls, kiosks, websites, or mobile applications. 

Our platform updates include several new employee engagement features, including a Microsoft Outlook plug-in to make space management and room booking easier and more visually accessible for global users. We’ve also debuted the Microsoft Teams App, which integrates collaboration within Teams channels and chats directly with the system’s other functionality: space booking, concierge kiosk services, dynamic digital signage, emergency alerts, and push notifications. Customers will also enjoy new scheduling capabilities for over 250 players within Web Manager and new wayfinding templates to support workplace efficiency. 

Our product roadmap for 2024 reflects our ongoing commitment to delivering a robust, user-friendly CMS that has garnered client trust and loyalty for over a decade. With continuous evolution at our core and ongoing improvements at the forefront of our innovation strategy, our portfolio guarantees that customers will enjoy consistency and efficiency in the new year and beyond. Eager to deliver unparalleled consistency, efficiency, and ROI across digital ecosystems in 2024, we invite new and existing clients to harness the power of our CMS and our AI-driven solutions to craft engaging, unified, and secure experiences.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: John Henkel, Director of Marketing at NETGEAR Business

Last year, NETGEAR released the new PR460X professional router and the first wave of a completely new set of network switches, the M4350 series. For 2024, we will continue to target the AV market with products that are easier to use and at a great value.

We have just released two models of the new M4350 series that support the SMPTE ST 2110 broadcast standard, and this changes the equation. Now instead of a very expensive switch that you have to spend a lot of time configuring, you can get an M4350 switch and have the NETGEAR AV OS set up the switch with a certified profile in seconds. Additionally, our NETGEAR Engage Controller will continue to evolve and offer more and more functionality to anyone setting up an AV network—for a single switch or multiple switches. 

Our focus on making it easier for people to transition to AV over IP will continue with the use of our worldwide team of AV network specialists who can help design your network, choose the right products, and troubleshoot any issues that may arise. Our pro WiFi access points will be growing as well, with exciting new product releases taking advantage of the latest wireless standards. 

Bottom line: more of the same goodness we shared in 2023.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Joshua Rush, Chief Marketing Officer at Audinate

2023 was a bellwether year for Audinate, having shipped over 1 million units. Given the strong connection and recognition with customers, we plan to build on last year’s success by continuing to add elements to our complete Dante AV-over-IP platform. Long the de facto standard in networked audio, our growing portfolio of video products and ever-expanding options for control and management have transformed Dante into a comprehensive, interoperable solution for customers looking to deploy AV-over-IP solutions. 

We’re seeing rapid growth in Dante AV, our family of networked video solutions that bring the simplicity of Dante to AV-over-IP. Dante AV comprises hardware and software products that serve the needs of in-house video distribution (Dante AV Ultra), H.26x streaming (Dante AV-H), and products for signal distribution based on the ASPEED chipset (Dante AV-A). Audinate’s video products are rapidly gaining adoption within the AV-over-IP market, with 35 OEMs currently licensed and developing and delivering video-enabled products to end users.

Beyond the growth in video, our strategy over time is to add more value, services, and capabilities to Dante networks. For example, we’ve made huge strides in cloud-based management and control offerings with the recent launch of Dante Connect and our beta program for Dante Director. With Dante Connect, a network of Dante audio products can send up to 256 channels of synchronized audio from any site to cloud-based Virtual Machines for broadcast editing and production, saving time and money. The soon-to-be-launched Dante Director is a cloud-based application that enables you to organize Dante devices in logical groups and more easily manage Dante networks remotely.

We have a rich product roadmap planned for the remainder of 2024 intended to broaden our solutions offerings and delight our customers, so look for additional announcements from Audinate in the near future.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Beau Wilder, Global Head of Future Customer Experiences, Hybrid Work Solutions at HP

The success of any organization will depend on its adaptability to the ever-changing needs and work styles of its employees. Employees want flexibility, autonomy, inclusivity, and technology that enhances their collaborative capabilities and productivity.

At HP, we create technology that empowers employees to do their best work wherever they are. By leveraging more than a decade of workplace persona research, we have honed our ability to identify the right tools for various workstyle personas and workplace needs. Whether you work from home, in the office, or anywhere in between, we design our solutions to meet the demands of the modern-day workforce.

AI will become the collaboration technology standard for the future of work. Solutions that can scale, adapt, integrate, and be remotely managed will be at the forefront. HP and Poly have been in the AI space for decades. We integrate AI to enhance, not replace, the human experience. For example, HP | Poly’s DirectorAI technology automatically frames and captures speakers in a meeting, while NoiseBlockAI and Acoustic Fence technology block out unwanted noise. We will continue to leverage the power of AI-driven innovations that allow everyone to have a seat at the table—physically or virtually—so you can have your best meeting, every meeting.

A strategic focus on empowering employees to do their best work by investing in the right tools and technology integrations, and workspace transformation focused on the collaboration experience will be a top priority this year. At HP, our comprehensive portfolio of products can easily integrate with your existing tools and boost productivity. We want to help teams show up and stand out so everyone in the meeting feels seen and heard, from wherever they are.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Jeff Boggess, Director of Product Marketing at Avocor

2023 was a big year for Avocor. Not only did we launch our L Series range of ultra-wide 21:9 displays to support a wider range of team collaboration formats, but we also released the R Series, our first co-branded Avocor and Rise Vision products as a result of our strategic partnership with AUO Display Plus.

The release of the R Series saw Avocor move into the realm of digital signage to offer more flexible solutions for clients. Our signature premium interactive display technology was further enhanced with a suite of Rise Vision digital signage software, to create a range of displays that can be used for multiple scenarios in both corporate and education environments. From team collaboration to wayfinding and instant campus-wide alerts—the R Series is a multi-purpose tool that seamlessly adapts to different uses and communication requirements. 

So, what’s in store for 2024? At ISE 2024, we shared the first of our new product developments, which includes a new range of more affordable Avocor displays, ideal for the education market, and a preview of a very cool modular display hitting the market later this year. 

For Avocor as a company, we have worked extremely hard for the last few years to garner excellent strategic partnerships—Google Workspace, Microsoft, Ring Central, Zoom, HP, Lenovo, and Logitech—and combine our expertise to produce meaningful innovations. 

This year, we’ll be stepping away from our traditional interactive display roots and into exciting new areas with products that enhance collaboration, work seamlessly, stand out, and meet the real-time and future needs of our customers.

Watch this space!

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Randy Reece, Director of Audio Visual Sales and Marketing at Draper

In 2024, Draper will redouble our efforts to provide AV solutions that meet the needs of both today and tomorrow.

We are dedicated to growth, as demonstrated by adding 100,000 square feet to our manufacturing facility in late 2023. In 2024, we will leverage this 25 percent increase in space to improve our already impressive lead times, and increase our efforts to design and manufacture next-generation mounting solutions for dvLED. As part of our commitment to innovation, we’ve completely reinvented the approach to faceted curved structures for cost-effectiveness, faster installation, and improved performance. We will focus on continuing this evolution throughout this year.

Educating the market is another important goal. Draper believes in doing things right the first time around, so there are no nasty surprises. There needs to be an industry focus on items like building in seismic requirements and PE review upfront in projects so they don’t need to be redone later at an additional cost to the customer.

We are also signaling our dedication to growth through team expansion. In 2023, for the first time in Draper’s history, the company began working with Pro AV manufacturers’ representatives. Increasing our presence in this way means better service and more resources to help our dealer network provide end users with the solutions they want and the support they need.

We will also continue to listen to our dealers and the market to fine-tune product and service offerings. Even now, our product designers and engineers are hard at work developing innovative new solutions that will make life easier for installers, dealers, and end users alike.

Draper has a reputation for designing and manufacturing quality products—and standing behind them 100 percent. That will continue with several new product introductions in 2024.

After 122 years in business, we’re just getting started!

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Gina Sansivero, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at AtlasIED

With 2023 behind us, the work we accomplished last year has set the stage for an extraordinary year ahead. As an audio and communications technology solutions manufacturer, we design products that help customers solve their most complicated challenges, providing safety or bringing delight to their businesses and venues. With an already expansive portfolio serving many markets, in 2024, we'll continue to expand our loudspeaker lineup with more premium-tier offerings, building upon the foundation of quality and reliability built over the more than 85 years AtlasIED has been in business. 

In 2023, we announced a partnership with Fyne Audio that helped us offer customers a new premium line of point-source loudspeakers. At ISE 2024 in Barcelona, we announced a significant equity stake in German loudspeaker manufacturer Aimline. Through the investment, we've introduced a new line of column loudspeakers, including digitally steerable and passive models. Both investments allow us to offer excellent-quality loudspeakers for various applications and broaden our offerings for customers who need greater variety. In addition, you’ll see more strategic partnerships from AtlasIED this year that will support the growth of our security-focused mass communications solutions.

In addition to hardware, AtlasIED designs and manufactures multiple software-based audio platform solutions. One key area of focus for our product teams in 2024 is to continue to innovate and provide value to customers who already own our products. Through our software-based platforms, such as Atmosphere, customers with these systems will receive new features through free software updates to extend the functionality and usable product lifespan.

We're excited to continue to delight our customers, and to show how our premium loudspeakers help make a difference in retail, hospitality, corporate, entertainment, education, and transportation. Here's to growth, partnerships, and enriching the customer experience in 2024.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Zach Snook, Director of Product Management at Biamp 

AV and IT leaders across mid- to enterprise-level businesses need to think not just about how they accommodate a distributed workforce within a hybrid work environment, but also about how best to leverage a scaled-down physical office footprint. 

A smaller office space creates a need to be more intentional and strategic with how that space is utilized across individual offices, shared workspaces, and conference rooms. In response, organizations are increasingly adopting benching and hoteling strategies.

Benching promotes collaboration and interaction among in-office employees. Instead of assigned cubicles, employees share open workspaces, creating a more dynamic and collaborative environment. Benching fosters communication, encourages teamwork, and can optimize office space utilization. 

Meanwhile, hoteling takes the concept of flexible workspaces a step further. Instead of having dedicated workstations, employees reserve desks or meeting rooms as needed. This approach allows for maximum flexibility, as employees can choose the most suitable workspace based on their specific tasks and requirements. Hoteling is particularly beneficial for organizations with a significant portion of their workforce operating remotely.

Organizations, therefore, must address issues like equitable access to workplace technology, effective communication in hybrid settings, maintaining company culture with a distributed workforce, and making it quick and easy for employees to reserve shared in-office resources—such as a workstation in a benching or hoteling environment—from anywhere. 

Reserving office resources quickly and easily, and integrating a scheduling system with other office technologies such as conferencing solutions and unified communication platforms is now easier than ever thanks to the convergence of scheduling software and hardware within the corporate IT environment. 

Those organizations that can master scheduling within effective conferencing AV ecosystems, including unified communication tools, will generate the most employee delight in hybrid work environments well into the future. 

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Effi Goldstein, President of HDBaseT Alliance

The non-stop adoption of peripherals requiring USB connectivity and extension puts innovations improving the experience for both installers and end users at the top of our 2024 roadmap.

Considering the proliferation of the BYOD trend, the growing demand for multi-camera support, along with the EU’s standardization of USB-C, there is a strong need for a reliable extension with plug-and-play simplicity over a cost-effective cabling infrastructure. As more of these devices come out with USB 3.0, the call for high-performance connectivity is becoming evident.

With that in mind, we are once again leading the way in answering what our industry demands, with the introduction of the all-new HDBaseT-USB3 standard. This new technology provides a professional-grade extension of not only USB 2.0, but USB 3.2, controls, power, and frame synchronization up to 328 feet (100m) over a single Category cable. The first wave of more than a dozen of these solutions supporting HDBaseT-USB3 was on display in our booth at ISE in February 2024.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Karen Smidt, Senior Director of Marketing at Legrand | AV

In 2024, we’re excited to expand on our corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to support the values of our industry.

We continue to meet the goals of our fifth CSR roadmap, including the promotion of diversity and inclusion; reducing our carbon footprint; promoting the circular economy; and being a highly principled, ethical business partner. Each of these priorities includes measurable goals such as upskilling 85 percent of employees with seven hours of training each year, reducing single-use plastic in packaging, and achieving 30 percent of women in manager positions (to name just a few). We’ll be starting a new roadmap in 2025, so look for these initiatives to evolve using feedback from our employees, customers, and industry.

In November, we passed the ISO 27001 audit and continue to work toward certification to ensure our connectivity solutions meet cybersecurity standards. Being able to reassure end users that their AV system will hold up under stress is even more important in hybrid work environments, and Legrand will continue to make it a priority. 

We expect digital signage to continue playing a larger role in installations, with our brands working together behind the display to fulfill the promise of exceptional audience experiences. Look for exciting new options specifically from Chief in this area. 

Middle Atlantic will be building on the success of the Forum Collaboration Suite with new offerings in the series, and Da-Lite will expand Sightline options to additional screen sizes. Collaboration spaces are going to look incredible with these aesthetic-forward options!

Also in the collaboration space, we’re looking forward to finding new ways to enhance the Microsoft Teams Rooms experience after the success of outfitting two of these spaces at Microsoft headquarters in 2023. 

It’s going to be an exciting year for AV, and we are excited to see what challenges our integration partners can address with Legrand | AV.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Brad Hintze, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing at Crestron

The organizations we provide solutions for have been through many, many tumultuous changes over the past several years. Our focus for 2024 is helping businesses as they come out the other side of that tumult—how do we help them scale their technological deployments so they can accomplish what they need to do now?

For example: Everybody was focused on video conferencing for the duration of the pandemic and its aftermath, but now priorities have shifted. Our clients are asking themselves, “What’s the new culture within our organization, now that more of our staff is returning to the office? How do we collaborate more effectively in person with the occasional virtual meeting attendee?”

During that period, we spoke a lot about meeting equity, and there’s been an interesting shift in that regard. Meeting equity was initially about virtual meetings, but if you expand that to the culture of collaboration within an organization—whether that’s a virtual meeting, an in-person meeting, or asynchronous chats and email and so on—maintaining that culture becomes critical. 

Technology can be incredibly useful in helping to define, establish, and enable a collaboration culture within an organization. Our core technologies are built for fostering just that: Crestron Control solutions, Crestron Flex Video Conferencing, DM NVX AV-over-IP, 1 Beyond speaker tracking cameras, and AirMedia wireless presentation and conferencing systems. They’re all built for intuitive, seamless operations that allow collaborators to meet, create, and ideate without thinking about the tech driving the experience. Refining those solutions means that their users will have more time to collaborate without concerning themselves with the way a space works. Our focus is on creating more of those solutions and refining them—all while maintaining the best-in-class reputation we’ve come to be known for.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Kim Franklin, Vice President of Global Marketing at Listen Technologies

At Listen Technologies, we pride ourselves on innovation and believe that everyone deserves the same great listening experience. Our vision is to revolutionize the way people connect, communicate, and engage through seamless audio experiences.

As smartphones and wearables such as hearing aids, earbuds, and headphones evolve, Listen Technologies continues to bring creative, flexible solutions to market that support these advances in user technology and help people hear clearly. Our newest products and solutions reflect the future of assistive listening and wireless audio.

The next generation of audio over Wi-Fi, ListenWIFI, features a dedicated receiver, beacons, a new server, and enhanced software to simplify venue management, and provides a better experience for venues and guests.

Additionally, Listen Technologies and Ampetronic have partnered both to create a single, market-leading source for innovative audio solutions, and to bring new technologies to market. Together, we are developing the first complete installed assistive listening system utilizing Auracast broadcast audio technology, to be released later this year. This new platform will transform the way hearing assistance is delivered in public spaces.

In a world where sound is a crucial part of how we connect, learn, and experience, Listen Technologies is not just an industry leader; we are dedicated to improving life's experiences through sound. In this ever-changing landscape of technology innovation, we will continue to be at the forefront of development, revolutionizing the way individuals connect and experience sound. We are excited about the future and proud to help end users engage in the things they enjoy.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Colin Mahoney, Product Marketing Manager at HARMAN Professional Solutions

Our goal at HARMAN Professional is to develop innovative audio, video, control, and lighting solutions that create experiences which make life more productive and entertaining.

Our most recent product introductions from AMX prove we are on a clear trajectory toward open standards, interoperability, flexibility, and ease of use. The MUSE Automation platform is capable of simultaneously processing multiple standard scripting languages and supporting no-code and low-code development, opening the possibilities for technicians and IT managers of all skillsets to deliver advanced automation with the tools they’re most comfortable using. Varia touch panels have an app-based design which allows them to adapt to the unique needs of any environment. They are pre-loaded with apps that enable them to be used as standard AMX control panels or AMX Book Room Scheduling panels, of course, but they can also be configured as dedicated interfaces for Web apps or custom Android apps. And our new series of networked AV encoders and decoders, the N2600s and N3300s, both include support for Dante AV and an open control API.

At the same time, we have built upon our core strengths of security and reliability. Our solutions include professional-grade hardware and leverage a common secure OS, the latest IP security and management technologies, and are put through the most rigorous government security testing.

In 2024, we will build upon these latest platforms, but we’re also proud to be introducing an entirely new open architecture DSP platform. The BSS Soundweb OMNI Series combines purpose-built hardware with intuitive software that offers the flexibility of centralized or distributed DSP. This platform shares many of the technologies seen in HARMAN products from AMX including the secure OS, open HControl communication protocol, and integrated MUSE control. The BSS Soundweb OMNI Series exemplifies our philosophy of open standards, interoperability, flexibility, and ease of use and will enable a new level of holistic installed AV solutions from HARMAN Professional.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Spiro Plagakis, Vice President of Product Management at Matrox Video

Matrox Video has been around since 1976. Our longevity is due primarily to the quality and reliability of our products and our ability to adapt to changing customer and market needs. Case in point: We anticipated the shift to IP and networked products years ago, and our product roadmap evolved not only to reflect that transition, but to make it as easy as possible to install, configure, and integrate IP-based products into existing infrastructure.

As part of that effort, we’ve long championed open standards to ensure maximum flexibility and compatibility (hence our leadership in ST 2110 and now IPMX.) Avoiding proprietary implementations whenever possible means we can also maximize interoperability, including with third parties. This is part of our DNA.

Matrox Video was among the first companies to offer ST 2110 products when that standard first came to market, and we continue to support it heavily. Now we’re working toward making IPMX a standard and expanding our product line to support it.

Our involvement with IPMX reflects our understanding of the challenges associated with shifting to IP infrastructure, as does our first IPMX-ready product line, Matrox ConvertIP Series.

We see a future driven by IP, and 2024 is shaping up to be an inflection point for IPMX. The standard is only as good as the number of available products that adhere to it, and those products must address all the different requirements of doing video over IP (encoders, KVMs, video wall products, et cetera). So in 2024, Matrox Video will put out more IPMX-ready products for the entire video-over-IP workflow. Our 2024 roadmap includes products that will make it even easier to work over IP, to integrate into IP infrastructure, and to move video signals over IP. This will give our customers more choices for populating their end-to-end video-over-IP infrastructure.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Nancy Knowlton, Chief Executive Officer at Nureva

As we listen to our customers, they talk about their struggles in adapting to the messy realities of returning to in-person working and learning. They don’t want to lose the flexibility and quality-of-experience gains they’ve made in the past few years.

Many of our customers are now focusing on moving from a “continuity” to a “quality” mindset—in many cases replacing hastily selected and installed stopgap solutions; ensuring their large meeting rooms and higher education classrooms can support a variety of use cases, layouts, and configurations; and handling the challenge of large rooms needing to do more than they did in the past—all while IT managers have shrinking teams and budgets with which to work. 

Nureva’s 2024 roadmap is focused on delivering large-room audio solutions that support the much-needed quality of experience—with maximum adaptability and flexibility but without the complexity. Nureva audio solutions ensure that a room can be set up once and have the intelligence to adapt (auto-calibrate) to changes in layouts and use cases. 

With our second-generation products now fully certified for large and extra-large Microsoft Teams Rooms, we’ll continue to focus on big-room audio experiences and enhancements to Microphone Mist technology algorithms, including via AI. Another key area will be sound location data and new camera zone functionality to support simple multi-camera solutions for larger spaces. We’ll continue to work with camera companies like AVer, Lumens, and PTZOptics that have used our sound location API to create camera tracking and switching solutions. 

Finally, we’ll continue to simplify the setup, installation, and manageability of our solutions with new features in Nureva Console and the creation of assistive tools and apps.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Adam Griffin, Director of Sales and Business Development, North America at Atlona

The AV industry has always served a broad array of vertical markets. What is striking is the extent to which AV transformed how organizations communicate across their facilities is made even stronger through seamless convergence with IT infrastructure. We see that transformation taking place in public-facing retail and hospitality, as well as schools and private businesses.

Atlona has a global presence in these and other AV business verticals, though we have increasingly focused on serving the busy education and corporate verticals. We have introduced products over the last several years with these verticals in mind, helping them address the challenges they face today inside learning and meeting spaces. We are also helping them establish networked foundations to distribute, control, and manage signals through entire buildings and across large campuses more efficiently.

The education vertical proved especially strong for AV adoption in 2023, and we see no signs of that slowing in 2024. Higher education customers have spent the last two years racing to bring their classrooms up to speed for hybrid learning, and the results begged for a more standardized approach. With less pressure and cooler heads prevailing, AV managers and IT directors have taken a fresh look at improving their existing spaces with technology that offers better connectivity, less obtrusiveness, and enhanced communication. For example, our customers are adopting more USB-C native designs, and sales engineers are responding to that need by designing more USB switching and management into their AV systems.

Atlona is well-prepared to support our education customers through our platform-agnostic technologies, and our business development managers are dedicated solely to addressing the unique teaching challenges. We continue to see brisk activity in the corporate vertical, including our Captivate family of cameras and speakerphones for small- to medium-sized spaces; and our WAVE-101 wireless presentation switcher. We unveiled the new Omega switching/extension and Velocity control solutions at ISE this year to meet a variety of needs for all customers.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Gareth Heywood, Technology Evangelist at SDVoE Alliance

The SDVoE Alliance is steadfast in its commitment to advancing high-performance AV with an emphasis on sustainability. As hardware devices grow in complexity, their power consumption rises significantly. The conventional approach to compression, driven by escalating technological demands, has led to intricate and power-hungry solutions. The imminent arrival of 8K resolutions necessitates an evolution in compression techniques, resulting in larger devices, increased fan usage, and a compromise in performance.

In contrast, an ASIC-based device has the potential to reduce power consumption by up to 80 percent compared to its FPGA-based counterpart, while delivering equivalent performance. While this power efficiency is crucial for current 4K requirements, it becomes even more vital as resolutions continue to climb. The pixel rate directly correlates with power consumption, making ASIC-based solutions, such as SDVoE, indispensable.

The SDVoE Alliance is dedicated to offering a sustainable and eco-friendly solution for uncompressed video transmission. By overcoming the limitations of traditional FPGA devices, SDVoE technology not only eliminates latency but also reduces the device footprint. This is achieved through an ultra-lightweight compression engine, resulting in lower power consumption and more compact products. In collaboration, the SDVoE Alliance's members have developed over 700 products that seamlessly integrate, providing system integrators, designers, consultants, and installers with a reliable and environmentally conscious solution.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Taft Stricklin, Sales Team Manager at Just Add Power

Just Add Power continues its mission into 2024 of being dedicated to doing tech differently. Instead of being consigned to the dustbin by planned obsolescence, the company's high-quality video-over-IP distribution solutions increase in value over time. By offering new devices that are compatible or can be bridged with previous systems and providing free firmware updates with new features, Just Add Power respects the original investment end users made in their system. Product-wise, the Max Color line will continue to grow, with a few new SKUs coming throughout the year.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Hal Truax, President at WyreStorm Commercial

At the heart of every manufacturer's success lies a forward-thinking product roadmap that should revolve around anticipating future needs and staying one step ahead of technological trends. For WyreStorm, we’re looking towards the seamless integration of cutting-edge features into our products, making them not just reactive, but proactive in meeting the demands of an ever-changing market.

One of my favorite artists said, “It’s not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating, they have to be about change.” That’s from Miles Davis, and it applies to our thought process at WyreStorm as well. As a leader for signal distribution and collaboration solutions, we have to keep creating, innovating, and push the boundaries of what's possible in the AV industry.

Our philosophy is rooted in user-centric product designs and functionality. We understand that AV solutions are not just about delivering audio and video; they are about creating immersive and collaborative experiences. Our commitment to the user experience (UX) is reflected in the intuitive interfaces of our products, allowing users to effortlessly navigate and utilize advanced functionalities.

A notable aspect of our product roadmap is the emphasis on scalability. Recognizing the diverse requirements of our clientele is key. We’ve engineered solutions that can seamlessly grow with the evolving needs of businesses and institutions. Whether it's a small conference room or a large auditorium, WyreStorm provides solutions that can be tailored to fit any space.

Lastly, sustainability is a key pillar of our company. Going green by removing plastics and other harmful substances is crucial for our Earth. We continue to improve our packaging to be more environmentally conscious. It’s paramount to not only meet high-performance standards but also to align with global sustainability goals.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Holger Stoltze, Director of Product Management at Yamaha Unified Communications

At Yamaha Unified Communications, our efforts over the last few years have been focused on improving audio and video for remote meetings and communications. We do this by offering simplified configuration tools that allow for the creation of the best possible audio without requiring an audio expert, and by implementing new technologies that focus on meeting participants while ignoring and reducing audio and video interruptions from sources not relevant to the meeting.

These efforts resulted in market-leading products that simplify and improve the setup and meeting experiences of our customers. Our philosophy for the next year (and years) is simply to expand on these efforts. We will do this by expanding our product family to offer additional options answering our customers’ needs. We will enhance and add features and functionalities to our existing products, leading to an even better meeting experience. We will also introduce more and new tools to simplify the design, installation, and optimization of solutions in our customers’ environments.

AI has entered our audiovisual products over the last few years, leading to better detection of meaningful audio versus non-meaningful audio, detection of speakers in audio and video, and delivery of a good meeting experience to remote participants. The use of AI will increase in our products, delivering even more meaningful experiences to the remote participant at the far end. It is important to note that these improvements can be introduced through firmware upgrades of existing products—not a “fork-lift” upgrade of existing infrastructure.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Ryan Carson, Vice President and General Manager of Professional Imaging and Visual Systems at Panasonic Connect North America

At Panasonic Connect, we believe that creativity and connectivity can spark newfound interest and productivity in all walks of life, and that experiencing the world will be more immersive than ever in 2024. As we head into 2024, our priority is to continue working with our customers to push the boundaries of how we power immersive, high-tech experiences as more and more people crave them in every aspect of their day-to-day lives. 

Organizations now face increased pressure to deliver high-quality experiences regardless of the format. When designed to prioritize quality and flexibility, a wide range of AV technology can relieve this pressure by bridging the gap between the virtual and in-person experience. Everyone wants to enjoy crisp visuals and clear audio no matter where they’re tuning in from. In the same way that clear audio and visuals can heighten the clarity of a professor, manager, or preacher, it can also bring a city together to experience art, or fans together to cheer on their team.

Panasonic Connect recognizes the deep need for digital-first environments, and we’re meeting this need with flexible, powerful technology. Working with our entire ecosystem of customers and partners, we’re going head-on into the new year to help elevate experiences and spaces so that they reach their fullest potential. Organizations are experimenting and expanding upon the future capabilities of AI, AR, and VR, testing the abilities of a completely virtual world. Until then, 2024 requires modernized and accessible technology to create a flexible, immersive experience for those both in and out of the office, at universities, enjoying live events, worshiping at a church service, or rooting for their teams via a live stream. 

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Sidney Rittenberg, Chief Executive Officer at Jupiter

As Jupiter revolutionizes the enterprise visual form factor, we will continue our breakthroughs in large, 21:9 5K displays, and at the same time champion the highest security standards with our video wall processors.

Leading our 21:9 positioning, Jupiter is raising the bar this year to unbelievable heights. We’re launching our Gen3 large format 21:9 5K LCD products with Quantum Dot Mini-LED backlight and our unique dual-brightness enhancement technology and at 120Hz refresh rate, ADA-compliant through ultra-low-profile mount, and up to 2,200 nits peak brightness with VESA DisplayHDR1400 certification.

Going back to the office has a new allure—with panoramic display visuals rivaling high-end home TVs.

Our state-of-the-art Zavus direct-view MicroLED is now mature with a full product lineup for 2024, from ultra-fine 0.7mm up to 1.2mm pixel pitch. Unmatched color and contrast in a seamless visual is proof of our vigorous engineering in display quality. Zavus maximizes Jupiter’s large-scale 21:9 vision. 

Our philosophy is simple: delivering innovative visual experiences to enterprise customers—from single, 21:9 displays to video wall management; and formulating the best firmware for seamless integration into any enterprise IT infrastructure.

Jupiter has teams of dedicated engineers in various areas of product development, and a wealth of supply chain partners (exclusively) supporting our effort. The optical, electrical, and mechanical engineering that goes into our displays is exclusive to us. We stretched newly launched chipsets to run our large Pana at native 120Hz breakneck refresh rate, developed our own algorithm to drive LCD backlight with over 2,300 local dimming zones, and created our industrial design and especially our own internal boards and connectivity layout. 

Our passion for 21:9 5K has seemingly infected the world over. We will continue to push engineering boundaries and lead in the display and video wall processor space.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Susy Liem, Associate Vice President of Conferencing Product Management at Shure

Our philosophy at Shure is to provide customers with the tools they need to succeed while creating high-quality, reliable products that are built to last. The last few years have shown us that more than ever, customers need solutions that improve their ability to communicate and collaborate. 

We commissioned market research firm IDC to conduct a global study on the challenges facing businesses in the age of hybrid work. While most businesses understand that hybrid meetings remain essential for collaboration, we see clear differences in outcomes between those who embrace and prioritize quality hybrid working models and those who seek quick-fix solutions. 

The research found that businesses with higher maturity levels are more likely to have invested in high-quality audio equipment that is standardized across the organization. This results in an enhanced hybrid working experience for employees. Notably, of the businesses that are thriving financially, 72 percent use professional audio equipment, helping draw the correlation between high-quality audio and business success.

On the other hand, when hybrid meetings don’t incorporate the right technology for a smooth experience, employees are left frustrated, highlighting poor communication, impacting collaboration abilities, distracting employees, and contributing to low attention levels. This leads to overall poor performance within a business. With the right technology, businesses can improve the hybrid experience along with employee morale and satisfaction.

Having the right AV equipment and solutions in place helps improve the employee experience, productivity, and decision making—all key to a business’s success. Adding to our ecosystem of existing conferencing solutions, new products are on the horizon to support both AV/IT end users and integrators on their journeys to creating more equitable and effective meeting environments.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

Thought Leader: Mark Bonifacio, Director of Business Management, Professional Display Solutions at Sony Electronics

Beyond being a great place to work, Sony’s company philosophy remains to get closer to our customers, help solve their pain points, and become even easier to do business with. We’ve placed a great emphasis on this approach and kept these objectives top of mind. As Sony evolves, we’ve demonstrated this commitment through our work with customers, partners, end users, resellers, integrators, and beyond. We’ve created resources such as our Architects, Consultants, and Engineers (ACE) Portal to make Sony even easier to spec and integrate. We’ve continued our regular educational webinar series, Tech Tuesday, to both keep our community informed and to open a two-way, real-time dialogue between ourselves and our (prospective) users. We’ve also grown our professional AV alliances program to nearly 100 affiliated companies, combining our collective strengths and giving the industry more compatibility and choice. In 2024, expect even more partnerships and alliances that bring additional value and freedom.

Additionally, we have or are looking to incorporate the most transformative, trending, and disruptive technologies into our portfolio of Pro AV solutions. As AI comes to the forefront, it provides a lot of opportunity but also yields questions. We’re finding innovative ways to create automation, efficiencies, and customization through the power of AI. Our latest generation of PTZ cameras, the SRG-A series, features AI analytics to enable automatic tracking and framing, including options for full body, waist up, or close up. 

Another global focus for Sony is sustainability. Building on our Road to Zero global environmental plan, we’ve implemented sustainable practices, large and small, across our entire product lifecycle. From employing recycled materials to using less ink and making certain accessories optional, we’re committed to the environment and the future. We’re also helping our users to better understand and optimize their power consumption through tools like the ECO Dashboard in our professional BRAVA displays.

AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2024.

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

What is our philosophy? At Carousel, we believe that success in digital signage communication hinges on targeting the right person, in the right place, and at the right time. By tailoring your content to the unique interests and needs of your audience, you enhance the impact of your messages.

We help you supercharge your communications by keeping everyone, from your corporate office to your school districts, storefronts, and everywhere in between feeling welcome, informed, and connected. Carousel allows you to go beyond your wall displays, tailoring messages to screens of all sizes. This ensures you reach your audience precisely—when and where they need it—whether it be through typical signage, tablets, mobile devices, or desktop computers.

As we move forward into 2024, we’re looking at one guiding principle: helping our customers break through the noise so they can get the most out of their signage system. We’ll explore what it means to reach your audience and tailor content to their needs, ensuring a seamless experience for all.