By Alan C. Brawn CTS, ISF, ISF-C, DSCE
InfoComm is upon us once again and the excitement grows culminating in the get together of nearly 30,000 people from 80 countries all over the world. We all dress up in our best show garb and our most comfortable walking shoes to see what’s new in the world of AV. For those reading carefully I did say “world” of AV. The use of the word is not just semantics but a precursor to the concept that AV has truly become powerful beyond our traditional business lives, our regions, our countries, and into the very fabric of our everyday existence.

In recent history the AV industry basically focused on the design and integration of AV systems for board rooms and conference rooms, education, HOW, video conferencing, broadcast, and a little rental and staging thrown in for good measure. Each one of these is certainly a key market niche but just as certainly not worthy of being described as affecting the “world” in a truly meaningful sense. To qualify for this elevated description, the collective niches of AV must be all encompassing, linked together in some manner and be global in nature, not limited to any one area. The fact is that this is actually coming to pass as we deal with the most recent amalgamation of AV and IT including both hardware and software developments embracing the internet, WAN and LAN networks, broadband, WiFi, cellular, codecs, and digital signage in its various forms as parts of the equation.

In a recent New York Times article, they quoted research that says “we spend 8.5 hours of every day looking at, being affected by, and interacting with screens of one sort or another”. Providing these screens, their subsystems, the “control” over them, as well as the content that is created and distributed on them is the foundation of the “Power of AV” we are talking about. Add to this the concept of interactivity along with the capability to have various modes of conferencing and collaboration and the “Power of AV” is in the process of being fully realized.

When we speak of conferencing we cannot be limited to our traditional paradigm but expanded far beyond the original concept of a video conferencing suite or a portable cart going from room to room. For example, we are seeing the “video concierge” in hospitality applications that lets you conference interactively with a live concierge on a display to get information, sign up for a local tour, make reservations, or get a flight out the next day. We also see a similar trend in medical and the healthcare industries where people can communicate visually and conversationally to a support person at a distant location to make their healthcare experience more efficient and effective. How about portable conferencing and using Skype on your laptop connecting you wherever there is Wi-Fi or an internet connection? Conferencing is even getting personal with your Smart Phone that will permit personal video conferencing at will wherever there is a cellular network. The applications are truly endless.

Collaboration is one of the key elements to the concept of AV affecting the “world”. The sharing of data is no longer limited to a meeting with a Power Point being shown to a group of people with printed handouts. We have new applications in distance learning, distance medical, distance engineering, and distance legal to name a few and the availability of information through the uploading of vast amounts of information for download by the general public or the capability to limit information to a select group under password protection, all of which is becoming the norm.

Digital signage is another key example of the burgeoning “Power of AV”. We have become familiar with the ubiquitous digital signs of all types at airports, retail establishments, entertainment venues, schools, and corporations and perhaps taken them for granted. Before passing this off as something you have assimilated into your daily lives, please consider for a moment the impact of those “simple” signs and what they can affect.

Certainly they can provide public information inside their own network but open this up where one public network can talk to another and the opportunities to disseminate information are literally limitless. How about security you say? There is no problem in providing internal information protected by firewalls and passwords selected by the appropriate administrator. Of course we can use digital signage for advertising and brand building but we can also use it to enhance our experiences in multiple venues, facilitate education, and even influence our behavior.

With over 350 digital signage software programs on the market in every conceivable niche the ability to tailor a combination of technologies in new and advanced AV/IT systems takes on a new meaning and provides a power never before seen in the world of AV. If the application does not exist we write a custom app just for that use.

We can now control what we see, when we see it, how we see it, who we see it with and archive it for future reference. We can research. We can share. We can distribute. We can report. We can do it in real time or near real time. As the slogan of the last presidential campaign urges, “Yes we can!” The Power of AV is truly upon us and the world of AV is our playground and workplace.