AV over IP reached an inflection point this year, with myriad brands showing off their solutions at InfoComm. The reason is that people — both AV integrators and their customers — now truly seem to understand what AVoIP can do for them. We’re beyond the innovation portion of the adoption curve, and now we’re well into the early adoption phase.
Why?
“Technology and availability are playing a huge role in this,” says Jason Fitzgerald, product manager, Nortek Security and Control/Gefen.
“In terms of standards, there a number of protocols available like SDVoE and HDBaseT. Let’s face it: all integrators need some kind of networking capability on-staff, and their comfort with this has played into the convergence of networking into AV.”
For Gefen’s channels, the period of time between 2007 and 2019 proved fruitful in these “standard,” small corporate space markets. As long as manufacturers make these products easier to install, the less time it takes for integrators to place them in these in-demand environments.
That has a compounding effect industry-wide, says Fitzgerald.
“Ease of accessibility and how we interact with these products — as long as we continue to make it easier and less expensive, the more it is going to increase.”
AV over IP Resource
The convergence of AV and IT has hit both sides of the industry by storm in the past several years. IT Pros are more involved in technology decision making than ever before, now responsible for the myriad AV products that are touching the network.
AV has traditionally been designed around having a matrix switch in the middle that you tie your AV devices into. AV over IP allows for that same AV signal to be sent over the network. This means more flexibility and less need for hardware space when it comes to installations and implementations.
Today, a host of applications are possible with AV over IP. The flexibility and quality of AV over IP has long been understood within the industry. But now the low cost makes it a must-have for every organization.
View this free webinar to understand why AV over IP is the right choice and how you can leverage the devices and infrastructure you already have.