THIS IS A PROMOTED POST

Welcome to this series highlighting some of the manufacturers and brands that will be featured on the show floor at ISE 2025. As we gear up for the event, we wanted to share a preview of what these companies are bringing to the table — from new products to insights about their focus for the show. These conversations offer a closer look at what you can expect and a chance to get to know the people behind the brands before the doors open in Barcelona. This interview is with Lightware’s Siegfried Hermann, president of global sales.

Q: Why is Lightware exhibiting at ISE this year?

A: ISE has grown to be the biggest and most important show in the AV business world. As a European manufacturer, Europe and ISE is our ’homeland’, we also have a big focus on the EMEA market. For that reason, ISE is the most important exhibition for Lightware. Every year, we get to meet our partners and customers and showcase our technology. It was therefore no question at all whether we would exhibit there or not. It is an absolute must for us to be there.

Q: What trends do you think we’ll see on the show floor, and how is your company positioned to capitalize on these opportunities?

A: There will definitely be several trends and topics that will be popular on many exhibitors’ booths. There are new trends and improvements in LED and display technology, but this is not Lightware’s playground.

Besides this, there will certainly be a lot of discussions around the topic of ‘how AI can be used in our area in the future’. The further and deeper integration of MS Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Cisco and other Unified Communication platforms (with all the AI technology they have implemented) into more complex and bigger conference rooms is an ongoing trend. Lightware offers a lot of solutions around those customer needs and we are really looking forward to showcasing them in Barcelona.

Q: What new products or solutions are you showcasing at ISE, and how do they address current industry challenges?

A: Our industry went from many years in analogue to the shift to digital audio and video signals. Lightware offered the world’s first digital DVI matrix as part of that transition. There was – and still is – the ongoing trend that AV and IT technology merge more and more together. To handle USB type signals was not part of the daily AV business even 3-5 years ago, but it is today.

Now we have to overcome the limitations and restrictions of IT products and standards that were mainly designed for the usage in an office environment. For example, cable length, signal chain challenges (who did not suffer yet with USB tiers) and others. Lightware offers a big variety of products that help to overcome these limitations and challenges and to design hybrid Unified Communication rooms of any size and need. Some customers are already referring to us as the ‘Masters of USB-C’. This is what we will demonstrate again in Barcelona.

Q: How is your company expanding its global presence besides exhibiting at ISE 2025?

A: In the last 3 years we have invested a lot of effort into our global presence. We have opened our Düsseldorf Training Center in June 2024 to offer the best training to our customers. We hired a lot of new colleagues (sales and technical people) and last year we set-up new offices in Warsaw, Madrid, Singapore. Already in January this year, we have opened our new office in Amsterdam and we are working on our new office in Hong Kong and a new location and show room in Dubai. Lightware in Mexico was established a few weeks ago and we appointed a new distributor for South Africa. In short, we did a lot in 2024 to offer the same outstanding support and service globally to all our partners and Enterprise customers and we will continue to proceed in that direction in 2025.

Q: Why should ISE 2025 attendees visit your booth?

A: To not only meet our colleagues from all across the globe and to see our products, but also to see the passion of people working for Lightware around the world.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: We are looking forward to a great ISE, to meeting our partners and customers and to a lot of interesting discussions.