AVT Question: Please share insight into your company's roadmap for 2023.
Thought Leader: Tzahi Madgar, President of HDBaseT Alliance
With an ecosystem of nearly 200 members comprising pro-AV’s leading manufacturers, the HDBaseT Alliance is uniquely positioned for communicating directly with those influencing future market trends to better translate needs derived from the “new normal.”
Not surprisingly, the rapid expansion of video conferencing finds itself atop the list, with perhaps the greatest drivers being the software providers that allow us to connect multiple devices to UC cloud-based platforms like Zoom or Microsoft Teams. These software providers are leading the market in transforming the end users’ ever-growing demand for a better conference experience, aiming to make remote participants feel as if they are present in the conference room, and vice versa. This shift in power represents a major contrast to when hardware served as the primary focus for fulfilling the expectations of an optimal user experience. Additionally, the emphasis on software has also led to a greater need for multiple cameras and simple plug-and-play BYOD accommodation in hybrid environments requiring that all-important “meeting equity.” Regardless of the application, one commonality exists among the various devices being turned to satisfy these UC&C requirements: an almost universal reliance on USB connectivity.
With that in mind, a large focus of our 2023 roadmap is finding even more robust ways to offer professional-grade USB extension to integrators and installers, including the latest USB 3.0. Given the acceleration in adoption of more cameras, smartboards, and other devices requiring professional-grade USB extension in both corporate and education installations, as well as ways to power them, HDBaseT and its 5Play feature set were already poised to fill this need for integrators and installers, especially in their existing install bases. We realize, however, that there is so much more to build on and we are excited to be spearheading the support for higher bandwidths in the near future.