“Every year we see the gap between AV and IT narrowing as the skills converge,” says Pam Taggart, vice president of content creation for the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association (AVIXA). “AV is increasingly moving into networks, but understanding how AV works in a physical space in addition to cable is vital to serving customers effectively.”
For example, the MSG Sphere at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada utilizes a mix of AV and IT technologies. Built to deliver 16K high-definition video and audio experiences through 164,000 speakers, the 15,000-square-foot venue uses an entire system built on internet protocol (IP) to process uncompressed video.
“Since all of these jobs require knowledge of AV networking, it is becoming very common for someone with IT training to be responsible for audio, video and lighting,” says Taggart. “With the rise of businesses transferring corporate addresses from their CEOs to their employees, the ubiquitous use of hybrid meeting tools and spaces, and the flexibility of networked voice and digital communications, many IT professionals have entered the realm of AV and unfamiliar protocols, needs, and requirements. signage for multiple applications and cybersecurity issues that extend to audio and video applications.
“AVIXA has also seen an increase in the number of individuals with IT backgrounds attending our InfoComm show, webinars or courses looking to improve their AV networking skills to address pain points in their day-to-day work. While we have covered AV networking from the AV professional’s perspective, we focus on the IT perspective We didn’t touch on this in our courses.”
“The course will help participants understand the business processes between AV and IT by covering the strategies needed to accommodate AV within existing IT networks, AV control systems, and manage AV traffic and bandwidth,” says Taggart.
The course will gradually cover these aspects in five one-hour e-learning sessions. For example, the first session will cover the roles of IT and AV, while the second session will highlight how to prepare an IT network for AV.
“Decisions regarding static and/or dynamic IP addressing will be addressed in the third session,” says Taggart. “We will then move on to network planning, firewall configuration and quality of service work to ensure appropriate bandwidth and minimize latency, troubleshooting and security monitoring. None of these terms or steps will be foreign to IT; “The aim of the course is to explore areas where AV is handled differently in this process.”
AVIXA also aims to outline the numerous applications and protocols that govern AV functionality, such as video conferencing and streaming, that impact the integration of AV into IT networks.
“IT professionals may be familiar with AV over IP protocols such as streaming protocol and dynamic adaptive streaming,” says Taggart. “However, people with IT backgrounds are often less familiar with protocols for AV control, which is also vital to total system functionality for applications such as streaming, hybrid meetings, digital signage, and other common AV use cases. Where everything goes with everything.” “It is not a matter of course; it is vital to check that input and output devices, encoders and decoders, and control systems are compatible.”
In this context, the course introduces students to common AV control protocols such as HDMI consumer electronics control, Recommended Standard 232 for data transmission and digital multiplex. It also defines common AV protocols such as AV bridging, Dante, software-defined video over ethernet, and IP protocol media experience. Additionally, IT professionals will learn how to manage AV traffic effectively.
“It all starts with a good needs analysis and understanding of where AV will require applications that are slightly different from typical network design and management,” Taggart says. “Bandwidth, latency issues, and compatibility are key elements that can make or break the performance of AV systems on a network, and there are practices to solve these, such as segmenting AV traffic from other types of traffic on a given network.”
“The course provides a comprehensive overview of the current elements, quick pros and cons, and explains why these aspects should be considered as well as how they interact with networks,” says Taggart. “In addition to these AV-specific protocols, those who want to delve deeper into AV over IP can use ‘AVo with AVIXA.