How convergence is creating more business opportunities for audio
Over the last few years, the audio installation industry has been about coming together, convergence on every front.
It has expanded everybody’s opportunity to win new business, and it can be seen across every hall at ISE. The convergence of technologies and the convergence of the manufacturers who develop and support them have expanded the business landscape beyond anything we have seen before.
Let’s look at the evidence.
First of all, there’s the uptake in IP to deliver networked audio which is cheap to install, quick to implement and flexible enough to adapt quickly to change. IP audio is the glue that ties everything together, promoting the ability for multiple technology providers to work together.
It has transformed the installation and AV market in the most positive way, with Dante-, Ravenna- and AES67-compliant equipment all able to hook into existing IT infrastructures and use cost-effective commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment to expand and develop. It has reduced installation costs and shortened installation times.
It has done away with traditional power networks by delivering efficient Power over Ethernet (PoE) over the same cable. And it covers everything from speakers to controllers, from cameras to screens.
Driving all these costs down gives many smaller businesses the opportunity to create more immersive and controllable environments across all their spaces as well as deliver better communications between teams on exactly the same fabric. It’s made it possible to install vast audio networks across an entire facility on one Cat5 cable, and its scalability means it can expand and adapt in the future. It can be managed from a central facility, which can be on the premises or remote, and it enable companies and venues in different locations to be connected.
Technologies like Dante (whose creator, Audinate, is in Hall 2 at ISE 2025), which has a growing ecosystem of more than 350 technical partners and endpoints stretching from amplifiers to speakers to intercoms. For end users, it makes buying into the ecosystem a safe bet.
For manufacturers, it provides membership to a club where interoperability is a gateway to new opportunities and new business.
Recent mergers and acquisitions also reflect this attitude of convergence, with many audio companies looking to develop their internal skillsets and provide better connected solutions. Companies like Audiotonix, who added Fourier Audio to its growing roster of companies in 2023, or Shure’s recent acquisition of Finnish software company Ab Wavemark Oy, all add value and intellectual property which brands can use to promote increased convergence.
Finally, end users are also using combinations of equipment to achieve more, and this too can be seen at ISE. Let’s face it; we’re all broadcasters now, and reliable connectivity turned every company into a content creator. While it is a cliché to admit it, the pandemic accelerated this, and it is reflected by the increase in audio companies and who have historically been more at home in broadcast-specific events finding a new home at ISE.
ISE reflects all this. We’ve never had it better and we’re literally all in it together.
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Across the AV world there has been a shift in how we treat audio and what we expect from it. We’re finally at a point where delivery matches the ambitions of technology developers. -
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Here's a selection of some of the audio companies that you can find exhibiting at ISE 2025 - and not just in the Audio Technology Zone.
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