IT Service Management and ITIL define processes for information technology professionals to follow in order to deliver the best value for their customers. The processes defined are agnostic to whether the clients are internal or external. Some in the industry think of AV and IT as separate, however we are very similar and in many […]

In late June, Andrew Davis posted a blog entry here on rAVe in which he declared that “in 10 years or less, what was once the AV industry is going to be a be a footnote in the history of business technology.” In the post he made the argument that software will, essentially, take over […]

No industry is immune to change, and this is even more true for technology-based economies whose life cycles can be measured in time spans as short as three months. If you’ve worked in the audiovisual (AV) industry in the past decade, you’ve witnessed a hardware-centric community transform itself into one driven by software and innovation. […]

THIS IS A PROMOTED POST FROM LOGITECH In 2017, there was a perfect storm of convergence for Logitech and the timing of its worldwide debut of the MeetUp, a 120-degree All-in-one Conference Camera. At the beginning of 2017, the collaboration board debuted at ISE 2017, in Amsterdam, from more than a dozen companies — adding […]

Unless you’ve been in a hole the last few years, you most likely have noticed the increasing conversation in AV about software, managed services, and IP based signal distribution. Given all of the buzz and apparent end-user demand for all of the above, surprisingly, only a select few AV companies have turned the corner on […]

Since the introduction of the plethora of collaboration boards launched February at ISE, I’ve noticed a troubling and concerning trend: In some segments of AV, the non-AV’ers are doing more AV than the AV’ers are doing. What the heck do I mean? Well, let’s take the huddle space as an example. At first, the AV […]

There seems to be a continuing debate out there on the demand for a true AV as a Service, (AVaaS) model. I have seen good points on both sides of the argument, each giving some logical reasons as to why a true AVaaS model is either the future of AV or an idealistic pipe-dream. There […]

If you work in either the audiovisual (AV) or information technology (IT) sectors of our economy — you’ve probably heard the term ‘AV/IT convergence.’ It’s a term that gets overused and unless you’ve been installing cables on Mars, you’re probably as tired of hearing about it as I am. What AV/IT convergence really means, in short, […]

It’s time to fire up the legendary waaaay-back machine once again to go to the year 1982. Why? Because it was in that year that the National Sound Contractors Association was formed and held its first convention/meeting. (On a side note, that was also the year I launched Sound & Video Contractor Magazine (S&VC) and […]

As I ponder each day’s occurrences in the audio visual industry, the one thing that has come to mind lately with all of the articles and blogs I read, as well as podcasts that I listen to, is whether the industry really has an understanding of where it actually is in terms of that so-called […]

For the longest time (12-15 years?) we have been talking AV/IT convergence. Some will even refer to it as IT/AV. Why? Well, if I was to surmise I’d say that those who are may still be trying to bring validation to this concept, the merger of IT and AV where now AV takes the second player […]

Last month, I wrote about the ITIL guidelines and the powerful changes implementing them can drive. As I wrote, ITIL is divided into five lifecycles. As one begins to look into the learning and certification process, it can be a bit confusing. How do you know which lifecycle you should look into? What about certain […]

Years ago, we used to talk about IT and AV convergence. I think that most of us would agree that the “convergence” is over. AV is part of IT. As we went through the process of convergence we, discussed how best to prepare for this eventual converged state. Many AV specialists went on to get […]

Kramer Electronics is introducing something called Kramer Network, an enterprise management platform for AV over IP solutions at ISE 2016. This new solution from Kramer enables the routing, management and control of standard AV and AV over IP systems and it’s being launched in the Kramer booth, F20 in Hall 1 at the ISE show […]

(It’s a long post – but I think it might be a good one) In my last blog I talked about the vision of Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) and how UC&C can be better than being there. I of course acknowledged the importance of face-to-face meetings. To recap, I emphasized that when you use […]

I want to preface this by stating an important point. Nothing will ever replace the value of face-to-face meetings. A firm handshake to close a deal or the ability to spend time with people building strong relationships is incredibly important. The emphasis of this article is on the building and adding to the personal nature […]

When we discuss the ways that AV can become more IT, It is important to emphasize that the transition to becoming more IT is not one that should take AV away from their core competencies. I have had a lot of discussions lately with some of the best minds in AV and we seem to […]

Last week, I read a very good article titled The Five Reasons Why AV is Not IT by Ernie Beck. The article discussed in a very compelling way how AV has considerable value in systems integration and will continued to for a long time to come. One of the great points in this article is […]

For the past few years the conversation of AV and IT convergence has been discussed ad-nauseam. While this article is no different in subject matter, I’m writing to pose a counter-argument. Before the AV nerds of the inter-webs declare this blasphemy, this should be taken as a tongue and cheek observation. Obviously, AV systems today […]

It’s mid-2015 and I believe in terms of what I’m hearing lately we have arrived at convergence, although I’m not sure that all in the industry agree quite yet. However, in supposing that we have arrived closer to that point of being there, it’s still only part of the overall equation. As an industry — […]

What is really the return when you combine AV and IT? To answer this question you have to better define what AV and IT convergence is. AV and IT convergence is when AV and IT can be deployed where collaboration, control (ease of use), connectivity, conferencing and sending content can all be enhanced by integrating […]

By Ron DeVoe Successful Sales Consulting “Are we there yet?” is a repeated question that was seen on an episode of The Simpsons brought a knowing nod from everyone who has chauffeured children on long trips. “Are we there yet?” is a question that can be applied to many areas, because it indicates a journey […]

I wrote a blog back in September of last year, con·ver·gence, which began this way: The premise of AV and IT convergence is simple, two separate realms of technology come together as a single entity to expand the industry’s capabilities to satisfy full-scale technology needs of the end user. In this day and age the […]

As often happens, I have found myself in the middle of a small debate on AV and IT.  This one happens to deal with whether or not AV has become a subset of the IT industry.  I wrote a blog on HDBaseT last week that referenced a quote by Dave Labuskes of Infocomm. Many times […]

As a former integrator and someone who had to deal with the frustration of specifying HD video extenders, I have to say that even I was initially excited about the introduction of HDBaseT.  Being able to reliably extend 1080p signals up to 300 feet over copper was a necessity in most of the jobs I […]

After a successful run with the Disruptive Forces series, I had decided halfway through “The Leaders Speak” series that it was time to bring a close to it at the end of 2014 and create a new project-based series called Convergent Tech. The Convergent Tech Project was something I had begun considering a few months […]

This is the fourth blog in the series Disruptive Forces: The Leaders Speak. Profile: Tom-Erik Lia is the CEO of Videxio, which he co-founded in 2011. Tom-Erik’s backstory: As a former vice president of research and development at TANDBERG (now Cisco), Tom-Erik Lia has 20 years of experience managing, creating and building video collaboration product portfolios, including working on […]

I loathe the word “convergence.” For nearly two decades, it’s been a byword that has been beaten to death. Yet for the longest time it was also a word that didn’t deliver the goods: so much talk about convergence, with little to show for it. I’m willing to admit that it’s changed over time and […]

If you read Part A of the Michelangelo Effect, you know it dealt with steering our AV businesses into the waters of AV/IT convergence.  The words of Michelangelo seem to extremely relevant in defining just what attitude we need to adopt in order to be successful in that endeavor.  In many ways, adopting that attitude […]

Convergence, in terms of technological convergence (according to Wikipedia), is the tendency for different technological systems to evolve toward performing similar tasks. The premise of AV and IT convergence is simple, two separate realms of technology come together as a single entity to expand the industry’s capabilities to satisfy full-scale technology needs of the end user. In […]

Their army has assembled On the border of the land.        Some say they want no battle But to work hand in hand. Yet there has been a small invasion Into the outer realms One which may show intentions Of what is still to come. Reminiscent of a battle At an ancient date But played out […]

You may remember last year before InfoComm, I put out a post saying that I’d be looking for Howard Hughes on the InfoComm floor.  I defined what I meant by saying that I’d be looking for passion, innovation, and courage like that we hadn’t seen in a few years.  I even gave an AVator Award […]