IT Will Still Be AV

I’ve been following a lot of discussions lately on the evolving trend whereby traditional DSP platforms are moving away from the dedicated black box delivery method to software that is essentially running on a glorified PC. In those cases, the boxes still look familiar, having the various inputs and outputs you’d expect to find, but what’s actually doing the processing no longer needs to be tied to the box in the same way. The question is how ready, willing and open are we for the software to break out?

This conversation is about so much more than just the nuts and bolts of the physical hardware, how we connect and configure it, whether it's running on a dedicated device or a server. Sure, that’s a huge part of it and there are lots of interesting discussions to be had about that. What it’s also about are the new business models and services that may appear as this kind of technology develops.

The possibilities that emerge from working in this way, will no doubt, present many opportunities for manufacturers and integrators to take a look at what they do, the way that they do it and how they need to adapt to this changing landscape in order to continue to be relevant and provide value to their end customers.

This article is a collection of some of my thoughts on the subject; it’s not about me pretending to know something that others don’t or claiming that anything I suggest will be the way things go. This is one reason I choose to share my thoughts on Linkedin, so that others who can add value to the discussion may do so by way of the comments. So if I’ve missed something, or if you think I've not gotten something quite right, feel free to add your voice.

AV As A Service

The ‘X as a Service’ phrase is something which is thrown about all over the place. It seems like anything can be offered as a service these days: software, infrastructure, storage, a whole heap of stuff. It looks like AV could be heading that way too.

Traditionally, an integrator might install a box that was self-contained, set it up and walk away. They might offer a maintenance contract to keep it running and maybe they’d come back after a number of years to replace it with something newer. As the hardware and software components of a system start to become less co-dependent, this style of working will likely evolve and not remain the norm.

As the DSP side of the equation starts to move into the IT space, server hardware will be doing more of the heavy lifting and with that comes the flexibility which working with that architecture brings. Those servers could be in-house at the premises, or they may eventually be somewhere else altogether. An AV company could be monitoring, looking after, making changes to systems for their clients all from the comfort of their own data centres, or remotely via a cloud provider which they’ve chosen to host their DSPs with. It may be that manufacturers of DSPs will someday offer this hosting themselves. Granted, I’m asking you to take a few leaps of faith with me to imagine this setup, but I think that it might become a possibility someday.

This moves integrators and possibly manufacturers into the realm of being service providers, not just the guys who know how to install the hardware at the client end and set it up properly - yes, that need will still exist too. Integrators will be faced with the challenges of how they acquire the skills to do this and how they present their portfolio to include this new dimension.

Of course, there will still be a market for stand-alone systems for use in smaller environments like bars, clubs, houses of worship etc, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some integrators start looking at their businesses and contemplating how they’re going to focus their resources as the split between installation and service starts to widen.

Hardware Is Getting Too Reliable

I’ve seen different figures given for refresh cycles for corporate AV installations. Some say five to six years, some say shorter. I guess it comes down to the needs of the end users and how well the current equipment continues to meet their requirements.

If you install a system that works perfectly well and continues to do what it was intended to do, where’s the drive for an upgrade? How does a manufacturer continue to shift newer products when a large install base is still working perfectly well?

Software companies have cottoned onto this notion already. Why sell people a stand-alone version of software which they might use for years to come (if it still does what they need) when it's more lucrative to sign them up for an ongoing subscription instead? Add to that the churn in underlying OS upgrades and hardware developments, which often force computer users to upgrade if they want to use the latest releases, and that cycle could play into things too.

Could it be that we’ll see a similar situation with DSP whereby you pay a monthly or annual fee and have the option to use the latest version on your hardware with whatever new functionality has been added? It may be that you won’t have a choice; some manufacturers might one day give up on hardware altogether. We may see an increase in boxes out there that can act as end-points to whatever flavour of DSP you choose, providing the local ins and outs that talk to the DSP server.

There may also be added challenges when things aren't working as they should be. When the software and hardware have a symbiotic relationship but are provided by different vendors, you can imagine the back and forth in support calls and tickets as one side bats responsibility to the other. We already live with this situation trying to get bits of equipment to work together, so it's not a new challenge, but splintering a system adds another moving part into the mix.

All That Data

As AV moves into the data centre, huge amounts of information will be generated. More than just the actual content, there will be all sorts of other information that can be extrapolated and that data can have a dollar value too. Companies who are provisioning and managing DSP systems for their clients can offer insights to those businesses as to how their resources are being utilised. For example, when it might be worth repurposing an underutilised meeting room for something else or adding something to an existing space to fit better with the way employees are actually using it. This is something which is far more difficult to do with conventional setups and an area in which AV integrators can provide new value to add to their services.

Manufacturers can also use this information to drive innovation and help focus their R&D efforts in directions which reflect the way their systems are being used on the ground.

IT Is Not Just AV

The corporate AV market is not the only sector which will be affected by these advances. What this era of hardware and software abstraction provides us with is the possibility of workflows which are not strictly dependent on equipment location. Broadcast is another industry where we’re seeing moves into cloud-based ingest, production and contribution. I suspect we’ll continue to see even more players emerge who base their entire businesses around providing these sorts of services to broadcasters and the like. We may even see facilities which have adopted an IT-centric environment start to sub-hire their own infrastructures out to others whilst they’re not using them, as a way to generate some additional income from their investments.

Moving With The Times

Arthur Schopenhauer gave us the famous quote: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” I don’t think we’ve seen violent opposition, but along this shift to a more IT-centric way of working, I think there will be a certain amount of scepticism and resistance by some. This is not something that we’re strangers to in the audio and video industries, we’ve had it before when digital challenged analogue and this may prove to be another iteration of the same.

It can’t be an easy place to be, seeing your competitors and peers embracing new technology that pushes you out of your comfort zone or taking things in a direction that you never had any real interest or inclination to get involved with. This is true for manufacturers, integrators and end users alike; it certainly happened to me when digital mixing desks were gaining popularity and I was mostly still using analogue boards.

The main thing is that we don’t let the fears of those who hope to cling on to whatever market hold or experience they currently have dissuade us from exploring the possibilities and looking for ways that we can adapt to and embrace what lies ahead. It will still be AV, just not as we’re used to.