AV/IT Integrator Shares His Take on the AV and IT Conversation and The Cloud

TechDecisions editors were engaging AV/IT integrators on LinkedIn recently. We asked “What conversations should the AV and IT departments be having with each other”? We met Corey Moss, President and CEO of DC Smart AV/IT Solutions and Consulting. He shared his perspective on the convergence of AV and IT and expanded the conversation to unified communications. 

For the past decade in the AV industry, the driving message has continued to be the determined convergence of AV and IT. The phrase “you’re not putting that on my network” has been repeated by IT administrators for varying reasons. Industry insiders have looked to pave the way toward harmonious implementation between the AV integrator and the IT end user, as many integrations involve network delivery and bandwidth requirements as well as work on various OS platforms. Add to this “as a Service” requirements as well.

Will all future integration projects require IT integration either with physical infrastructure requirements or cloud-based technologies? As the push toward unified communications in the corporate medium to enterprise levels grows — solutions in the cloud have further boosted such implementation on the business and education levels. Other solutions exist in the industry that deliver content over the network, cloud-based video conferencing, BYOD and more. Manufacturers are designing equipment and solutions based on such requirements.

Unified communication platforms are being specified along with usage of mobile devices in corporate as well as education environments. As mobile device usage and connectivity grows in popularity, mobility (MaaS) and associated BYOD network management and security measures are building toward necessary specification for such projects. Projects occurring in education, government, corporate, healthcare and retail need to be assessed with such technologies in mind when designing and implementing the AV/IT integration.

With full network implementation capabilities, AV integrators will be met with less challenge from IT administrators as access to the network will ultimately be green-lighted (likely with some – but lessened) reluctance. More projects will come about as knowledge-base and capabilities grow, especially for those who stay abreast of existing and emerging AV and IT technologies.