Editor’s Note: This article featuring Tormod Reed and his 2026 predictions is part of Commercial Integrator’s series running throughout December and January. In this series, we spotlight forward-looking insights from some of the pro AV industry’s most notable luminaries.
As we look ahead to 2026, the pro AV industry stands at the cusp of exciting opportunities and transformative trends. To explore what lies ahead, Commercial Integrator turned to Tormod Reed, chief product and engineering officer at Neat, for his expert predictions on the technologies and strategies that will shape the future of pro AV.
Tormod Reed 2026 Predictions
As 2026 nears, the pro AV industry is poised for significant change. Reed discusses overhyped technologies and the critical move toward distributed intelligence, redefining integration practices.
Commercial Integrator: Which emerging AV technologies do you think are overplayed? Which ones do you think will truly transform the practice of integration in the coming years?
Tormod Reed: I think the ‘smarter codec’ approach is overplayed because vendors are adding AI and better specs to centralized hardware without rethinking the fundamental architecture. The real transformation will come from distributed intelligence: moving compute and awareness into every device rather than centralizing it in one expensive brain. This shift enables setups that can adapt to different meeting configurations, rather than forcing users to conform to specific presets. I expect that integrations will evolve from complex proprietary installations to flexible, network-based systems that scale like IT infrastructure does.
Stay tuned with Commercial Integrator as we gather year-end insights and 2026 pro AV predictions from the brightest minds in the industry. If you’d like to be featured, contact our editorial team (Alyssa Borelli, Amala Reddie and Dan Ferrisi).
