How to Choose the Right AV over IP Solutions Provider
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- 6 min read
A powerful network solution, AV over IP — or AVoIP, as it’s often called — offers a wide range of benefits to businesses and other organizations, as we explored in our last installment. Let’s take a closer look at how those benefits apply to different industries, and how to realize their full potential by choosing the right AV over IP solutions provider.
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Choosing AVoIP Solutions: Key Takeaways
All types and sizes of businesses and organizations can benefit from AV over IP solutions, especially those in corporate, education, government, entertainment, hospitality, and data center industries
Key factors to consider when choosing an AVoIP solutions provider include advanced expertise in network design, a high level of staff development and training, and an advanced understanding of AVoIP protocols and standards, among others
What Types of Organizations Can Benefit from AVoIP?
The benefits of AVoIP can be applied to virtually any organization. Smaller companies and startups can use it to avoid the costs that come with later expansion and retrofitting. And larger organizations — especially those with ambitious growth targets, where network scalability can have a serious impact on revenue — can use it to future-proof the infrastructures that power their most critical systems.
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In addition, AVoIP systems can be used to integrate advanced technology, bringing immersive displays and real-time 4k/8k feeds within the reach of more organizations. Video can be re-routed when and where needed, ads quickly and seamlessly delivered across all displays, and security systems provided with higher-quality, AI-powered cameras.
But that’s just the beginning. AVoIP systems can also meet more specific industry needs, including:
Enterprise. The flexibility and adaptability offered by AVoIP are particularly useful for enterprise-level corporations and multinationals, which can seize the power of key tools like IoT and AI while reducing the cost and disruption of large-scale, multisite integration.
Education. With more accessible and affordable video networks and high-grade broadcasting capabilities, schools and other educational organizations can improve the quality and availability of digital learning while enabling remote collaboration for staff.
Government. By improving video monitoring and the distribution of mass notifications, communities can better meet smart-city and public safety goals while enabling real-time command centers (RTCCs) for law enforcement and emergency response.
Entertainment. Real-time, high-definition transmission of low-latency 4k and 8k content allows for more cost-effective, broadcast-ready integrations for concert venues and production studios, while better protecting that content with robust encryption.
Hospitality. Hotels, casinos, resorts, and event venues can better engage, inform, and upsell visitors by utilizing existing Cat6 cabling to streamline transmissions to guest rooms and meeting spaces while enhancing video monitoring for security purposes.
Data centers. Network operation centers (NOCs) can improve network transparency and management by bringing reliable, real-time, ultra-low latency visualization to local dashboards while more readily integrating AI for smart monitoring, analytics, and alerts.
5 Things to Consider When Choosing an AVoIP Solutions Provider
Although AV over IP offers tremendous potential, not every service provider has the capability to deliver on it. In addition to AV expertise, a strong base of IT-centric knowledge is required to address the most prominent concerns about the viability of AVoIP — for instance:
What are the initial costs of AVoIP installation, and what’s the long-term ROI?
What specific expertise is required to ensure high performance and true scalability?
What are the risks of vendor lock-in, and how can they be avoided?
There are important questions, and it’s equally important to get the right answers before moving forward. With that in mind, here are five essential factors to consider when assessing an AVoIP solutions provider.
1. A Track Record of Controlling Costs and Providing ROI
The initial cost of AVoIP may be less for companies with an existing network infrastructure than those building from the ground up. However, the latter have the advantage of starting fresh with the latest, highest-quality cabling and components, helping to ensure optimal performance not only for AV but their entire network infrastructure in the years to come.
Either way, it’s crucial to find a partner that can truly ensure your investment is recouped and maximized in the long term. And that requires a significant network of resources and financial backing, plus a track record of expertise in building scalable networks. So, don’t hesitate to ask a potential provider for specifics and projections unique to your needs.
What to look for: • Backing by a listed holding company with a nationwide footprint • a history of successful AV and cabling installations • a record of providing measurable ROI
2. Experience in Network Design & Integration
An inherently networked process, AVoIP is an important first step in introducing a pipeline of managed services that can deliver economies of scale and more productive integration of key workflows, among other benefits. Again, though, achieving this potential requires specific expertise — and not just in high-grade AV installation, but also structured cabling, security, and other mission-critical networks, as well as converged network services.
What to look for: • Breadth of expertise, including a track record in AV, security & structured cabling • decades of experience designing and installing mission-critical systems • a nationwide footprint with multiple field offices • a high level of expertise with leading brands like Crestron, Extron, Microsoft, Netgear, Atlona, Cisco, and Zoom
3. Expertise in Assessing & Managing Network Complexity
Because enabling future-readiness is one of its central benefits, AVoIP needs to be able to integrate high-performance components and capabilities as they become available — a task that can entail a considerable amount of technological complexity.
That makes it essential to choose an AVoIP solutions provider with wide-ranging experience in network design, including a demonstrated ability to expertly assess existing infrastructure and determine when general-purpose infrastructure needs to be replaced with bespoke hardware — and how to do it in a way that maximizes performance and minimizes costs.
What to look for: • Experience with and high-level knowledge of different AVoIP protocols and their best applications, including H.264/265, JPEG2000, and ST-2110
Sidebar: Quick Guide to AV over IP Protocols
Which AVoIP protocol is right for your network? Each has different strengths in terms of quality, speed, and bandwidth. Here’s a quick guide on how to choose the right one.
Highly efficient in settings with low-bandwidth and low-resolution requirements, H.264 (AVC) / 265 (HEVC) is ideal for large campus settings that use a WAN to distribute messaging across digital signage and live TV streams.
Bridging the gap between high quality and low latency, JPEG 2000 (JP2) is useful for boardrooms, conference rooms, and command centers that need motion-handling video. It scales well across 1Gb and 10Gb networks and requires a design that can accommodate higher bandwidth.
With its ability to support uncompressed or lightly compressed transmissions at massive scale and ultra-low latency, SMPTE ST 2110 is best for broadcast-grade facilities like TV studios and NOCs. Requiring advanced configuration, it's typically deployed over 10Gb, 25Gb, 40Gb, and 100Gb networks.
4. A High Level of Training, Talent Acquisition & IT Coordination
Decades of industry experience and a nationwide reputation for excellence are also strong indicators that a provider excels at training and talent acquisition, which are both essential for expert network design and high-performance installation. And that expertise should also include an ability to effectively coordinate with your own internal IT teams.
In fact, the best AV over IP solutions providers will have a track record of creating cross-functional task forces to make sure all stakeholders are involved in every step of the process, and heard in a way that seamlessly supports your goals and future plans.
What to look for: • Leading certifications • Ongoing staff training • Industry-leading ratings in safety indicators like experience modification rate (EMR) and total recordable incident rate (TRIR)
5. Advanced Understanding of AVoIP Standards
Because it consolidates so many important processes within a single network, vendor lock-in is understandably a concern with AVoIP. This can be addressed by choosing a partner that’s also a champion of open standards, which can ensure longevity and support future expansion while avoiding the risk of bandwidth and infrastructure dependence on a provider that may not be able to meet your future growth or strategic needs.
In AVoIP, those standards are known as IMPX. Created by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), IMPX provides a royalty-free basis for defining how digital media should be sent over IP networks, including 4k/8k video, multichannel audio, and access/control data across IP networks using Cat5/6 Ethernet switches and decoders.
What to look for: • Expertise in advanced AV systems, including SMPTE standards for installation and component selection • Backing by a nationally listed holding company
Bonus Requirement: Separate Expertise in Building Security Systems
It’s also essential to choose a provider with extensive expertise in security — not just protecting data, but integrating essential functions like video monitoring and access control into an AVoIP system. But the convergence of security and AV systems is a vital topic in and of itself, and we’ll explore it more in our next installment.
Find the AVoIP Solutions that Meet Your Unique Needs
Here at IES Communications, the future promise of AVoIP is already a reality. As an established leader in converged AV/IT, we do more than meet the criteria above — we're also proud to lead the industry in setting new standards for successful AV over IP systems. Contact us here to learn more, or get a quote today.
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