The Five Elements of Scalable AV Infrastructure


Disparate bespoke systems. Inefficient processes. Overburdened administrators. Organizations are increasingly realizing the financial toll of these issues, and are introducing initiatives to replace their aging systems with an AV&C infrastructure that can scale alongside their individual requirements. How this is achieved can take many forms, but should always align with the following best practices:

Maintain a Software-Based Mentality

A generation ago, the AV&C world was constrained to boxes and cables, a separate space from the burgeoning era of digitally connected devices. Today, though, it is impossible to create a truly scalable infrastructure without the ability to have firmware and design updates pushed to your system remotely. This software-based approach not only allows you to access the best and brightest from a features stand-point, but also provides important security protections in a world where threats are a constant consideration.

Easily Deploy Global Changes

A major cost of inefficiency can be calculated in wasted labor, pointing skilled employees toward hours of mind-dumbing adjustments rather than investing in an optimized solution. The alternative is a solution that allows you to pull down these siloed, manual processes. An example of this in action is made possible by leveraging CSS in the deployment of your room’s touchscreen controller, within Q-SYS Designer Software. Designers can easily develop and deploy styles across multiple UCIs with the push of a button across your entire global enterprise. Minimizing tasks that must be done manually, individually or repetitively is the foundation of architecting for scalability.

Enable Remote Monitoring and Management

Having a subject matter expert physically present to troubleshoot systems and provide feedback comes with inconveniences that manifest both at the employee-level as well as with the end-user. After all, we can only be at any one place at one time. Q-SYS Reflect Enterprise Manager is a technology that enables fast troubleshooting, global system transparency and the extension of skills across physical distance for your Q-SYS systems. With visibility into system issues and statuses, your strategic AV minds can manage amazing customer experiences no matter their location, as well as catch issues far ahead of when your executive team is actually sitting down to conduct their annual board review.

Support An Open System

Standardization does not mean creating a homogenized solution. Technology providers are constantly innovating, and you want a solution that will keep an open-door policy toward third-party manufacturers. Q-SYS Open, a collection of open standards and published developer tools to enable third-party development, provides everything from customized plugin creation to an open API, all to give you the flexibility to structure the best system for your organization.

Provide First-Class Support

The relationship you create with your solution provider doesn’t end with boxes of hardware showing up at your door. The resources provided to you should be personal, accessible and above all else, effective. This begins with training that isn’t hidden behind some distributor network or access-controlled manufacturer website, that can be completed on-line as well as in-person, and facilitates hands-on experience. It continues to publishing robust help files, fostering a community of like-minded developers and providing professional services that exemplify best practices. Support is the mentality that you deserve every resource available along your journey.

Your AV team constantly hemorrhaging time is the price behind not having a systemic approach toward AV&C infrastructures. Hours – each with a calculatable value – are pointed at addressing the maintenance or correction of a patchwork infrastructure, and maintaining the status-quo is the best that can be expected. Making the investment in architecting innovative, streamlined AC&C systems closes the gaps that take a bite out of your budget, allowing your subject matter experts to do what they do best.