Day One of LAVNCH WEEK 13 got off to a roaring start. Tuesday, April 7, was all about security as we did a deep dive on AV and security convergence and how it’s impacting our industry.

The Evolving Role of Physical Security in a Connected Technology Ecosystem

Security Day kicked off with a keynote from Matt Barnette, CEO and president of PSA Network, on how physical security is becoming a staple in the connected technology ecosystem. Barnette talked about the shared challenges that security and AV integrators are facing, such as talent shortages, margin pressure, rising expectations from customers and increasing technological complexity.

He also noted a big shift in the industry: “Cloud is no longer a hardware business with some software. It’s largely turning into a software business,” he said. “It still touches the hardware, of course, and that’s not going away anytime soon. But we have to learn to be different. You’re hearing recurring revenue. RMR used to be a strategy. Now it’s really becoming part of survival tactics that every integrator needs to embrace.”

Barnette ended his keynote with this message. “The market doesn’t care what industry you think you’re in; it cares how you operate.”

Why AV Cybersecurity Can’t Be an Afterthought

Up next, we had a discussion with AV Trust, an organization that aims to advance cybersecurity both in AV and UC. Colin Birney, vice president and treasurer of AV Trust, spoke about the direction that cybersecurity is headed.

“Where cybersecurity is going, especially with large language models, being able to orchestrate high-powered, very fast attacks, we can’t really hide in obscurity anymore,” Birney said. “If we show up on a scan, we become a target, and a lot of the standard practices that we’ve seen in the industry for years just aren’t acceptable. They shouldn’t be acceptable to us, but they will stop being acceptable for customers.”

Networked Physical Security Systems for Modern Facilities

Our next session delved into networked physical security systems for modern facilities. The panelists tackled how physical security systems look in facilities today. Christine Lanning, president of Integrated Security Technologies, INC., said she sees convergence between security and multiple areas.

“Systems have become increasingly digital and physical security has become very closely integrated with IT infrastructure, same like AV,” she said.

John Greff, sales manager at Bogen Communications LLC, spoke from the manufacturer’s perspective, adding, “Everything is being pulled into the network, whether people plan for it or not, it’s happening, and a lot of the things that we’re seeing that are pulled into the network is security, audio visual, life safety, communications,” he said. “They are all going IP, and that creates a huge opportunity for integrators and us manufacturers to integrate those solutions.”

Greff also spoke about how communication and alerting systems typically fit into a broader security workflow, adding, “Sensors and systems tell you something happened, but communication really determines whether people understand what to do next and do it quickly and calmly. You can detect everything perfectly and still fail if communication isn’t embedded into the action response that you’re looking for.”

What Makes a Control Room Truly Mission-Critical

Gareth Hay, education committee member, Command and Control Alliance, joined us for our next segment on control rooms and what makes them mission-critical. Hay said that one key factor in whether a control room is efficient is how well people collaborate. When asked about what redundancy looks like in a properly designed command and control environment, Hay said, “No single point of failure, and that includes the operator in the chair, so making sure that any operator can take over a part of that role.”

Future-Proofing AV & Security Systems: Designing Platforms That Last a Decade

Our final Security Day session was titled “Future-Proofing AV and Security Systems: Designing Platforms That Last a Decade.” The panelists included Cynthia Menna, vice president and general manager,  ADI Global Distribution; Shaun Reardon, principal cyber security consultant, DNV Cyber; and Jeremy Caldera, executive vice president, Pearl Technology.

• Caldera said future-proofing is about ensuring that equipment and systems are easily upgradable and interoperable.
• Menna spoke about designing systems and platforms that can evolve and adapt over time.
• Reardon said the biggest security gaps exist in the interfaces between the project management systems and the AV systems. He said it’s absolutely critical that cybersecurity be factored into long-term system design.

And that’s what you missed on Security Day of LAVNCH WEEK 13! Of course, these are just the highlights. To catch each panel in full, you can watch Security Day on demand here.