By Tobie van Schalkwyk, Networking BU Executive at Duxbury Networking

For years, the network switch could sit unnoticed behind an AV installation while the focus stayed on the equipment people could see and hear. That becomes more difficult once more of the audio and video travels over IP. The network can influence how reliably a conference room connects, how content reaches digital signage, how audio is distributed throughout a venue, and how easily a residential AV system can expand.

Today, the switch has become part of the AV design. For resellers and integrators, this changes the conversation around network infrastructure. AV traffic has particular requirements for bandwidth, multicast, power, and configuration. A switch designed principally for conventional IT traffic may be perfectly capable hardware, but making it behave correctly for an AV environment can create unnecessary work for the person installing the system.

AV traffic asks different questions of the network

Audio-over-IP and video-over-IP are sensitive to how traffic moves across the network. An integrator may need to accommodate multicast traffic, keep latency under control, and configure the network around the systems being deployed.

The scale of that requirement also varies considerably. A boardroom collaboration system has different demands from a venue distributing audio across a large site. Digital signage may begin with a handful of screens and grow across an entire property. Residential AV can extend into multi-room audio, high-resolution video, and other connected services. This makes switch selection part of the solution design.

AV-over-IP across different environments

The same networking principles apply across very different AV environments. In conferencing and collaboration, the focus is on consistent audio and video for meeting spaces and remote participants. Audio-over-IP supports applications ranging from distributed music in hospitality environments to professional audio across larger venues. Digital signage can connect everything from menus and kiosks to wayfinding systems and electronic displays, often with the need to scale over time. And in residential AV, the network increasingly carries home cinema, gaming and multi-room audio alongside other connected services.

Purpose-built switching can remove unnecessary friction

NETGEAR developed its AV Line in response to this challenge. The M4250 Series is designed specifically for AV-over-IP and includes an AV-oriented user interface with pre-configured profiles for widely used AV systems and standards. These include environments built around technologies such as Dante, AES67, Q-SYS, NDI, and AVB.

For an AV integrator, this means that common network settings can be applied through application-specific profiles, rather than requiring each installer to translate an AV requirement into a switch configuration from scratch.

NETGEAR has also expanded its AV switching range with the M4350 Series, giving partners options for larger, higher-bandwidth AV environments. The switch should fit the traffic, endpoints, power requirements, and expected growth of the installation. That is where good design starts saving trouble later.

A growing AV network also needs consistent management

As an installation expands beyond a single switch, the management problem changes accordingly. The NETGEAR Engage Controller provides centralised configuration and monitoring across supported NETGEAR AV switches. It can discover devices on the network, apply AV profiles across switches, display the network topology, and manage firmware, all from the same environment.

That is important when an integrator is supporting larger AV networks or trying to reproduce a proven design across several locations. The result is a management approach that presents network controls in workflows more familiar to people working in AV.

AV-over-IP brings two disciplines closer together. Integrators increasingly need networking knowledge, while networking technology itself needs to accommodate how AV systems are designed and operated.

The opportunity for the channel

For South African resellers and integrators, AV-over-IP presents an opportunity that goes beyond simply supplying another piece of hardware. The switch has to be selected with an understanding of the surrounding AV environment. Port capacity, PoE requirements, bandwidth, uplinks, and the protocols being used can all influence the right choice.

That is also where Duxbury can add value. We work with partners to understand the deployment, select the appropriate NETGEAR AV switching platform, and plan the network around the installation requirements.

AV-over-IP has brought the network much closer to the experience the customer ultimately sees and hears, whether that is in a boardroom, across a venue, on a digital display or throughout a connected home. The better that network is designed for the job, the less attention it should demand once the system is in use.