Paul Zielie, CTS-D,I is a multi-disciplined generalist with 30 years of experience designing and integrating IT, telecommunications and audiovisual (AV) solutions.
“What I really do for a living is solve problems, little or big, with appropriate technical solutions. I believe that technology is in service to organizational goals and work flow, and not an end in itself and use that as a guiding principle in my design efforts.”
Over the course of his career, he has had most of the roles in the AV/IT spectrum including customer/end user, IT owner, integrator, designer, managed service provider, distributor, pre-sale specifier, executive, and manufacturer. Because of this extensive real-world experience in every facet of the AV/IT lifecycle, “I bring an almost unique perspective in the consequences, both intended and unintended of how product and project features are implemented.”
A side focus of Zielie‘s career has been creating and presenting technical education. He is a strong advocate of fundamental, theory-based technical content rather than a product-based curriculum, allowing the student to adapt to inevitable changes in technology and providing a path to progressive growth.
One reason Zielie gives for his emphasis on education is his viewpoint experience that the AV industry functions as a meritocracy, which allows a person, regardless of formal education and background to rise from any entry position in the industry to the highest levels based on interest, talent, self-education, and work ethic. “I believe the world needs this kind of opportunities, which are becoming increasingly rare, and this is how I can facilitate them.”
He is a prolific writer and speaker and was the recipient of the 2015 InfoComm International, Educator of the year and was inducted into the SCN Hall of Fame in 2020.
His varied specialties include: Product use case development, Solutions architecture, video transport over telecommunications networks, IT security accreditation and mitigation (especially US DoD), network protocols and standards, design for scalability, design for security, design for maintainability, technical documentation, and technical education.
