Required disclaimer: This represents the opinion and experience of me personally and does not represent any specific policy, law or official guidance.

For the third year in a row, the InfoComm 2013 show started off with what seems to have become a standard practice in itself. This year the group of 50+ was welcomed by keynote with a room filled with guys and gals from all aspects of the ProAV industry wanting to get a quick glimpse of where the “State of Standards” is and where its heading.

InfoComm VP of Standards and Innovation Joseph Bocchiaro informed us of an amazing 550 international volunteers are now registered in Infocomm’s DocDev (aka the InfoCloud?). This number still impresses me, since little over a year ago, I took the volunteer plunge. Something I’d wish I had done years ago!

The agenda was completely packed, jumping into a mind-melting, five plus minute briefings from all the various folks who are or have been developing some sort of standards and or guidelines. For me, the real highlight was the open room discussion regarding why some organizations aren’t adopting standards, and should the push for more ANSI and InfoComm “co-op” standards be pursued. This topic in particular was fascinating and I think a good debate could be done on why Infocomm should “draw a line in the sand” and stop angling itself and become a standard.

For me the debate is simple, and can be divided into considerations. First I acknowledge the fact AV/IT will continue to “co-exist” and convergence will continue into a single platform utilizing whichever dominate standard exists. Therefore, in my opinion if the intent for Infocomm is to continue to develop standards for the ProAV marketplace, then InfoComm should stand up and claim to the industry as the source for all AV standards. Period. Am I alone in this thinking?

Image via xkcd