AV Technology - January 2009 - (Page 18)

avantage government by Gary L. Hall THE GREAT UNIFIER Now that AV, IT, and telephony are tied together, how do you manage them effectively? W hat do the concepts of visual communications, rich media, collaboration technology, electronic work, and interactive learning have in common? They have all been used describe elements of what is now being referred to as unified communications (see “Integrating Communications into Your Business Process,” beginning on page 22). Unified communications is a result of the convergence of AV, IT, and telephony systems that were previously operating as separate “stovepipes” within most organizations. Over the last few years many companies have developed solutions to tie together all of the disparate elements of collaboration and communication into unified communications systems. These systems link together software applications, including email, IM, presence, data conferencing, calendaring, text chat, wikis, polling, application sharing, and social networking, and connect them to communication devices such as VoIP and traditional telephones, mobile phones, IP soft phones, videoconferencing units, and streaming media capture devices. Unified communications systems enable collaboration processes and help organizations improve their workflows by automating connections via the best available means of communication in real time. So what does all this mean to government AV and IT technology managers? It means we need to understand IT while maintaining and enhancing our specialization in AV technologies. As major IT players embrace unified communications, AV systems that were traditionally standalone have been migrated onto the network. This is not an issue of “if” AV will converge with IT. It isn’t even a question of “when” the convergence will occur. It has already happened. AV systems are now network resources and are being managed as such. The question is, how will we take advantage of the opportunities that convergence creates? Will we use it to add value to our organizations and to contribute to our agencies’ missions, or will we miss out? UC CHALLENGES Convergence and unified communications do not come without their challenges. Some big organizational problems are created by the increase of AV traffic on formerly data-only networks. If you ask an IT practitioner, most likely they will tell you the biggest problem is bandwidth. The bandwidth demands of AV — especially “V” — put an enormous strain on network infrastructure. But bandwidth is their parts. In the Intelligence Community, various working groups and “tiger teams” are working on federating network infrastructures, integrating telephony systems, and standardizing videoconferencing and streaming media solutions. There are groups looking broadly at collaboration and narrowly at telephony numbering schemes. These are all good efforts by themselves, but when these efforts are combined, the resulting unified communications systems will be great assets for the community. Avoiding problems from increased communications and collaboration requires policies, governance, and oversight. For these reasons, many agencies are expanding their IT departments to include AV SYSTEMS ARE NOW NETWORK RESOURCES AND ARE BEING MANAGED AS SUCH. not the only challenge. The scarcity of adequate bandwidth often requires complex provisioning and prioritization of IP resources. Some networks require a complete overhaul to manage things like multicasting and videoconferencing traffic. Unified communications infrastructures are often complex, and this complexity can cause problems. Few people understand the intricate engineering required to develop effective unified communications systems. Subject matter experts from various components of unified communications elements need to work together to figure out what is needed to seam systems together to create communication and collaboration networks that are more effective than the sum of AV specialists. AV technology managers, engineers, and operators are becoming increasingly more important to the overall health of organizations as the systems they support become mission critical elements of business operations. This is leading to the rise of a previously underrepresented segment of the AV community. As government AV practitioners find a stronger voice, they will increase their influence on the direction of the industry. Manufacturers, designers, and integrators that embrace partnerships with these customers will benefit from their knowledge and input as much as from their purchases. The results of these partnerships will move the industry forward and will help to overcome the challenges of end users www.avtechnologyonline.com 18 | AVTECHNOLOGY | january 2009 http://www.avtechnologyonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AV Technology - January 2009

AV Technology - January 2009 Contents Precedent Corporate: Hunkering Down Government: The Great Unifier Education: Technological Self-Sufficiency Integrating Communications into Your Business Process DVI/HDMI Signals over Twisted-Pair Cable AV Helps Explain the Unexplainable AV Enhancements at the Coliseum Product Forum Tech Horizons Product Spotlight New Products Ad Index AV MO

AV Technology - January 2009

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