The July 2024 CrowdStrike incident that caused global computer disruptions reminded the world of how dependent we are on technology and, even more so, the people who manage that technology. While much has been written about testing processes before releasing updates, one key takeaway is the importance of change management in production environments. Although ITIL […]

Artificial intelligence is transforming our world of audiovisual, but if we raise our eyes to the horizon instead of the workbench, we’ll see AI will transform the world around us as well. And those changes may be more significant. Let’s call this next stage in AI adoption the AI Rainbow. From content creation to editing […]

In IT (and therefore AV as well), we certainly don’t have a shortage of our acronyms and buzzwords. When Meta, formerly known as Facebook, changed its name in October, the newest buzzword, “metaverse,” exploded into our feeds. We have heard the word countless times, but what the heck does it really mean? What, after all, […]

Over the past several months at my institution, we have been implementing a new Information Technology Service Management Tool (ITSM). After looking at several different products, we chose to go forward with TeamDynamix. The cost is reasonable (not cheap, but reasonable), even for small higher ed institutions (like us). Cost was a factor in our […]

During End User Day of LAVNCH WEEK 3.0 in February (in partnership with HETMA), I enjoyed listening to end users speak about AV security. It was particularly interesting to me since I had just written a blog on how the SolarWinds hack should serve as a lesson to the AV industry. I was tweeting a […]

It’s all going to be in the cloud — that’s what the researchers seem to be saying to the whole AV/IT world. 
Certainly technologies like digital signage storage and retrieval and a lot of security archive are already on or migrating to cloud or some hybrid of the cloud based platforms. The reality is perhaps […]

For all of the massive technology improvements and innovations within the AV industry, there is irony in the faster obsolescence of digital equipment compared to the analog age of AV, leaving customers vulnerable to unexpected end-of-life notifications of planned obsolescence at the discretion of the manufacturer and reducing the life-span of digital AV gear. In […]

Epiphan Video announces they’re adding NDI and NDI|HX support to the Epiphan Pearl-2 all-in-one video switching, streaming and recording system. Pearl-2 all-in-one video encoders and adding NDI is another step in our strategic commitment to offer IT friendly AV solutions, making Pearl-2 a choice for enterprise communications, lecture capture and anyone who wants to use […]

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 […]

When an organization with the legacy of the International Communications Industries Association (ICIA) changes its name to AVIXA (Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association), it heralds not only a branding move but also signals a shift to an agile approach for aligning to the rapid changes in the audiovisual industry. Perhaps above all, AVIXA represents a […]

The “Internet of Things” is a buzzword in the world of information technology. What still has to become part of the general knowledge is already a long known term in expert groups for a new development boost. Everyday objects become intelligent and communicate via the internet. According to visionaries until 2020 50 trillions of such […]

I had an interesting conversation the other day with someone who has been talking about possibly bringing me on to do sales for his company. He has been talking for a while about a recurring revenue based solution sales position and then goes on to call it a “cloud salesman.” Then I think to myself […]

Almost 3 years ago I wrote a piece asking AV professionals “Why are we talking to IT guys?”  Given my recent arguments for video over IP and the potential eclipse of AV Integration firms by large IT managed services providers, you may think that a very strange question indeed.  However, even in today’s world of […]

As your work week wraps up, we give you a look back some of the top stories from the week. Here are the stories you can’t miss. Happy Friyay! Post by rAVe.

We have seen numerous blogs and articles written defining IT terms (and in some cases coinciding AV terms) as well as some discussion concerning them. Some have been direct approaches and some a little more than that. But all in all many are trying to focus on helping the industry to understand more about what […]

I recently read a blog in one of the other AV trade publications that left me scratching my head.  It was meant to be a primer for our industry in learning the language of our IT counterparts, and as the subject is something I think is very important for us to continue learning about, I […]

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 […]

I have worked for 3 integrators over the last 13 years, working on projects that include everything from structured wiring in residential to corporate boardrooms to award winning digital signage projects at universities. As such, I know the advantages of being a one stop shop.  In residential for instance, being able to offer structured cabling, audio video, […]

ihiji at CEDIA today announced the release of a new feature enhancement called ConnectNinja. Available now, ConnectNinja allows authorized network technicians simple and secure remote access to troubleshoot and configure their client’s devices and networks through the ihiji invision web portal. ihiji invision, a cloud-based remote network management system, simplifies the work of IT Professionals […]

Rightfully so, there has been much postulated about AV and IT. You know: all about how they’ve “converged,” how one might not fully understand the other and which is the tail and which is the dog. And while we here in the AV Club are unabashedly biased to the “A” game we also embrace all […]