ISE 2025: Key Takeaways from the AV Industry's Biggest Event
Written by Richard Cobbold | February 11, 2025
For ISE this year a new record of 1700 exhibitors crowded in the Barcelona Fira, covering every angle of the audio visual universe.
So after a gruelling 50,000 steps, what did we take away regards the health of the mainstream AV industry in 2025…? (See last year’s ISE summary here.)
This year DVSI wasn’t exhibiting on its own, but working with our partners at Interactive Scape, to jointly present the latest developments in touch table object recognition. This allowed a bit more time for exploring and I was lucky enough to have the knowledge and expertise of DVSI’s COO, Ian Larkman, & CTO, Ralph Illingworth at my side.
Here’s my takeaways…
1 - 75 Million Meeting Rooms…
We listened to a top exec at Microsoft Teams say that even though 15 million meeting rooms had Teams kit in them, there were still another 60 million rooms for them to go after…! So it’s not surprising that the industry is still focusing the majority of its product dollars on the collaboration space. The ongoing scramble to own the enhanced conferencing market is seeing camera companies embrace audio; audio companies become networking specialists; and almost everyone launching a branded conferencing bar of some description. However the niche specialisms of the past are not dying away, if anything these companies are leaning into their know-how as they expand. BIAMP’s conferencing systems offer niche audio smarts, whereas OWL brings its 360 degree camera integration to its combined product. Evolutions that ensure some ongoing differentiation in this new ‘everyone-does-everything’ market.
2 – It’s all about the software…
After a long flirtation, it is clear that AV & IT have finally tied the knot. There isn’t a device on the market that doesn’t deliver some form of network based connectivity. The net result seems to be more software and less hardware. Deployment is getting smarter as networked devices automatically know how to talk to each other; whilst fully digital signals can be flexibly routed and re-rendered across networks with the minimum of infrastructure (its already goodbye to video switchers and it looks very much like the DSP will be next). Less black boxes means reduced capex costs for end users, but is inevitably putting more pressure on traditional installation and support teams - particularly as new ‘software smart’ AV engineers aren’t so easy to find. We were impressed by Lightware’s powerful self-configuration platform (LARA) and by Crestron’s latest AV over IP receivers that can deliver windowing from multiple transmitters simultaneously.
3 - Setting the scene for an AI revolution…?
You would think that all these networked smart devices would be opening up the possibilities for exciting A.I. integrations. True, there were plenty of smart audio pick up, speaker tracking and self-configuring systems with loud A.I branding – though perhaps better considered as pre-existing logic neatly rebranded. But hiding away in the innovation zones there were a handful of genuinely exciting early examples of the kind of A.I. that is surely set to come. Companies using A.I. to auto-generate content for digital signage, others integrating A.I. engines to automate support routines and proactively trouble-shoot issues. It’s clear the AV industry hasn’t yet fully seen the need to immerse itself in the A.I phenomenon. That juggernaut will likely need another year or two before it’s a leading story at ISE.
4 - Sustainability remains a niche concern…
For industry built on power and rare earth elements – the sustainability story also remains strangely far from the foreground. Whopping LEDs and super high bright LCD displays continue to abound. However there is one technology bucking that trend - E-PAPER. After fairly low-key appearances at previous ISE events, E-PAPER has suddenly found itself in the limelight with the big hitter display companies. Samsung & Sharp dedicated whole sections of their booths to the ‘carbon-neutral’ power of a technology that provides digital signage without power. The big news was the latest E-INK colour 75” display that has the potential to turn the economics of the digital out-of-home market on its head. Also exciting to see the first dedicated E-PAPER dynamic signage platform from newcomer VerdSign.
Overall I am happy to report that the AV industry appears to remain in extremely robust health. Where the big players seem more focused on buying up the challenger brands operating around their ecosystems., than investing in their own major product revolutions. The evolving workplace continues to drive huge investments in audio visual technology, and most customers still have a long way to go to catch up with the technology that’s already available. No doubt something will come along soon to shake things up again, but for now there’s still those 60 million meeting rooms to go after…
DVSI is specialist audio visual systems integration firm. Deploying high end AV systems, smart networking and immersive experience centres for corporates across the world. DVSI will be exhibiting at InfoComm Mumbai in 2025.
