Feb. 15, 2023 - At this year's Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) pro AV integration exhibition, which occurred Jan. 31 through Feb. 3 in Barcelona, attendees likely noticed the proliferation of prominently placed displays and signage touting partnerships among AV industry heavyweights.

At the Biamp booth, for example, a large wall showcased our “Conferencing Partners,” with the logos for Lenovo, Logitech, Polycom and Yealink displayed above a collection of Biamp videoconferencing and control solutions that support and/or augment technologies promoted by our featured partners.

Until recently it was almost unheard of for competitors to join forces. But a culture shift among leading AV solutions innovators is clearly developing.

What is the primary driver of this emerging trend? According to Joe Andrulis, executive vice president of corporate development at Biamp, it's quite simple: “…these partnerships have developed because customers want to buy solutions, not individual products—so the choice is to partner or lose business.” That quote comes from the AVNetwork editorial “5 Takeaways from ISE 2023,” which shares the author's noteworthy observations while covering the exhibition and discussing hot topics with AV industry leaders.

So, clearly, many pro AV companies are choosing humility over no-holds-barred competition as they work together to achieve collective success. “Not everybody's got everything,” said Andrulis. “There's more [business] to win by working together.”

In the past, integrators were able to choose AV solutions from multiple manufacturers to meet their end-users' needs. But times have changed, and integrators are increasingly prioritizing deployment consistency, i.e., complete solutions that are proven to perform exceptionally with components from just a few manufacturers who've embraced this friends-not-foes mindset.

It should be very interesting to witness the ways in which AV industry leaders continue to evolve their thinking when faced with promising partnership opportunities with their competitors.