The argument that “AV is becoming IT” is too simplistic. Acoustics, electroacoustics, video, control, sightlines, physical integration, and room behavior remain specialized disciplines. What has changed is that AV systems now operate inside the same enterprise technology environment as every other managed service.
That means AV and IT cannot be designed, secured, deployed, and supported as independent worlds.
Network design is now part of AV performance
AV-over-IP, Dante, AES67, NDI, device management, control, and UC all depend on network behavior. VLANs, multicast, QoS, IGMP, PTP, PoE budgets, uplink capacity, and switch configuration can directly affect audio and video.
The AV engineer needs to define application requirements; the network engineer needs to validate how those requirements fit enterprise standards. Neither discipline should simply hand the other a switch model and hope.
Security requirements belong in the design package
Identify which devices have web interfaces, cloud connections, default credentials, APIs, certificates, or remote-management services. Define credential ownership, firmware responsibility, network segmentation, required outbound services, and hardening expectations.
Security review after procurement is too late if the selected device cannot meet policy.
Identity and cloud services are room dependencies
Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms, scheduling panels, signage, and management platforms depend on accounts, licenses, conditional-access policy, calendars, and cloud services. A room deployment plan should include account creation, enrollment, policy validation, and operational ownership.
Use a shared commissioning model
AV commissioning should verify AV performance. IT commissioning should verify network, identity, security, management, and monitoring. The final room acceptance should include both.
A room that passes audio tests but is not enrolled in management is incomplete. A room that is securely enrolled but has poor microphone coverage is also incomplete.
Create one incident experience
Users should not need to decide whether a problem is “AV” or “IT.” Intake should capture the room and symptom, then route using telemetry and ownership. Shared asset data and escalation paths are essential.
Internally, specialized teams can remain specialized. Externally, the room should behave like one supported service.
The practical objective is not more technology. It is a better-performing operation with clearer ownership, less friction, and technology that can be supported over its full lifecycle.