SHOW REVIEW: INFOCOMM 2014
access or some other kind of networking issues wasn’t a concern. As well as launching Dante
Via for PCs and Macs (see page 40), Audinate was in a buoyant mood having just signed up Kramer Electronics as the 150th licensee for the Dante networking protocol. The day before the
exhibition opened, the company hosted the AV Networking World conference, at which case studies of Dante networks in numerous applications were presented – including a Britney Spears Las Vegas show, Microsoft’s Production Studios and the San Jose Convention Center. A common theme of many of the presenters was how easy the Dante is to use. “It makes my life easier,” said one. “It just works – no drama.” In the AVB camp,
Crown was celebrating the certification of its DCi network display amplifiers to the AVB standard. The large- scale installation amplifier series is the first endpoint to be thus recognised, having passed the necessary tests at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL), an AVnu Alliance-appointed test house. “AVnu Certification provides in-depth validation of member products against
established standards enabling a healthy multi- source ecosystem,” said UNH- IOL’s Bob Noseworthy. All-encompassing networks
were very much on the agenda at the Pakedge stand. Its solutions – including wireless access points, switchers and routers – are designed to simplify the deployment of AV systems over IT networks. The company was presenting its BakPak Cloud Management system, which provides visibility of, and the ability to manage, multiple networks from multiple customers – and so enables integrators to offer their customers a managed service. The company has been
in the residential space for about six years, but has recently started targeting commercial customers. Nick Phillips, VP of sales and marketing, was in a bullish mood: “We’re having the same flood of emotion now with commercial customers as we had when we first exhibited at CEDIA. We have the solutions they need, and we can grow much faster this time around.”
PARTNERSHIPS Another trend that has become increasingly evident within the industry
A VISION OF THE FUTURE
managed and developed, should reflect the needs of a generation that craves interactivity.
One implication of the automation of functions within departments is that technology is no longer a source of competitive advantage. “If AV is converging with IT, can you also design and offer a Cloud-based version of your service and be able to offer it to CIOs? Because that’s how the rest of the enterprise stack is going.” Walsh also addressed
In keeping with the show’s theme of ‘AV going forward’, Mike Walsh gave a thought- provoking InfoComm 2014 opening keynote address that examined ways in which the business world is developing, and how the AV world needs to evolve to continue to serve it. The CEO of innovation
research lab Tomorrow, Walsh stressed the need to consider human factors alongside technological ones. “I believe the future emerges from the tension
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between, on the one side, disruptive technologies and, just as importantly on the other side, new patterns of human behaviour.” Education, he said should no longer be about imparting knowledge but about equipping children with “computational thinking skills” – thinking like algorithms, and breaking problems down into variables. Similarly the office of the future, in its physical design and in how work is organised and people are
the role of Big Data, and the need to focus on customer experience (“Real innovation will come from seeing the world through your customers’ eyes”). He also had specific advice for the AV community: “To win the hearts and minds of tomorrow’s consumers requires new ideas, new tools and a whole new communications playbook… AV technologies will need to evolve with a focus on designing amazing experiences.”
is companies partnering together on individual products. Biamp had two examples of this at InfoComm. First, one of the variants of
Lab.gruppen’s new D series amplifier (see page 41) uses Biamp’s Tesira DSP, and so can be used as a complete endpoint in a Tesira AVB system. This follows a long collaboration between the two companies, and engineers have been cross-trained on each other’s products so that they are able to offer a deeper level of support. Further down the line, Biamp is to produce a custom software block for the new Audio-Technica Dante tabletop microphone (launched at the show), which can be used to control various parameters in Dante systems. So, overall the InfoComm
urn to the New Products section on page 40 for more detailed descriptions of some of the products that launched at InfoComm.
www.infocommshow.org
2014 experience was extremely positive. The economy is picking up, and demand is rising – driven in part by new and developing technologies. No wonder the sun kept shining. T
Crestron was one of many exhibitors strongly pushing 4K technology
UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS: WHAT THE INDUSTRY IS LOUSY AT
The unified communications industry as a whole is ‘lousy’ at setting end- user expectations of the limitations of UC capabilities, writes James McGrath. That was the opening remark of Dr S Ann Earon, president of Telemanagement Resources International at the Unified Communications and Collaboration Solutions Summit at InfoComm 2014. The Summit comprised a series of panel discussions, knowledge-sharing sessions and lectures that gave experts and attendees the opportunity to interact. Market trends point
towards no standard definition for unified communications but do show the convergence of audio, data and video. End-users are advised
to research their vendors, and ask themselves ‘How well funded are they [the vendor]?’ and ‘Who else has entrusted their UC system rollout with them?’ Technology trends for UC in 2014 are more mobility, more diversity and more Cloud. External UC drivers include globalisation, mergers, competitive neutrality, and budget issues, as well as effectively controlling and managing demands on time. Earon discussed her daughter, who often uses video communication but doesn’t always looking at the screen. Businesses, she said, should learn from the 25-and- under digital generation that participants shouldn’t feel obliged to make eye contact with other attendees throughout VC meetings. The session also highlighted that vendors often try to roll out single solutions for entire companies without distinguishing the needs of different departments: one department might need VC while another only requires voice. This highlights how
unified communication is a multifaceted term that encompasses different types of communications that can be used singly or as one unified solution as required. “None of us have a cookie cutter operation that works right out of the box,” commented Case Murphy, senior manager of AV & videoconferencing Solutions at AOL.
The sessions produced
three reasons why employees often neglect UC technology: they don’t know it exists; there is no clear strategy for using it; they aren’t given the necessary training. Employees need to be
trained on how to participate in meetings and meeting etiquette. They aren’t in the business of technology and don’t know how to deploy it effectively. It is down to vendors to make employees aware that the technology exists; companies need to put processes into place to ensure the technology used to its full potential. With BYOD gathering pace in the workplace, companies need to make clear distinctions between what is and what is not acceptable to have on devices that will ultimately connect to the central network. This would require setting a policy across the board. Overall there were three
key messages from the Summit. First, VC has many facets, and understanding a company’s communications needs is central to deploying one or many of those facets effectively. Second, employees are essential to the UC technology – communications technology is only as good as its users. And finally, no one is exempt from learning how to use the technology, not even CEOs – especially as systems migrate to desktops and handheld devices.
July 2014 19
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