technology


can become disjointed and fail to complement one another. By taking a holistic approach, systems can work synergistically. This allows operators to simplify the management of the system and provides greater functionality while reducing the burden on IT departments that are expected to support the systems.” For a number of years, AV has been


moving steadily towards IT-based technologies; hence the move by many universities to amalgamate the AV/ IT support services under single departmental services structure. “Additionally,” says Mike Shaw, “AV systems are moving towards simpler and less complicated infrastructure requirements as most activities are computer and video based and documents and presentations are delivered over IT networks or from the Cloud.” While AV tech developers and systems


integrators will endeavour to keep the front-end control as simple for the academic to use in classrooms or lecture halls as possible, the real cutting-edge complexity is going on under the hood. It’s a critical issue facing the AV/IT departments in FE/HE as much as any industry vertical.


“There is always a struggle getting good


technicians and retaining them,” says Tessa Rogowski, assistant director IT Services at the University of Essex. “Technology is so advanced and specific that there is a lot of training involved to get people up to speed, and once trained they are able to move. It feels rather like the first days of computing which until it was a core skill with a fully developed workforce designed into pathways was an equal problem.” Rogowski notes that there is awareness


among ISE exhibitors of the importance of the education audience. “ISE set up chances for all of SCHOMS (the professional body for senior managers working within UK HE) to visit exhibitors and talk specifically about enterprise ready technology that we can adapt to our needs. This has proved invaluable to my university – as we are currently deploying AV over Ethernet as a specific example.” She adds that BYOD “is primarily a


consumer grade technology that we have to fit into an enterprise environment. It is still immature and the security problematic. A university network has very desirable information assets so controlling devices on a network is a priority. This is a time consuming headache.”


There are value cloud based services


she finds, “allow us to focus on business value rather than tin. The market is maturing quickly and presents opportunities to do more with the same resource.” When it comes to digital assessment Rogowski feels that with so few standards “interoperability between systems is almost non-existent without some complex integrations.” ISE 2017 will take place from 7-10


February 2017, and is expected to draw over 1,100 exhibitors and more than 65,000 registered attendees to its Amsterdam RAI location.


Useful links: www.iseurope.org


www.crestron.eu www.daktronics.com/en-gb www.kramerelectronics.co.uk www.futuresource-consulting.com www.avstumpfl.com/en


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