INNOVATOR PROFILES
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CLINT HOFFMAN Job title President of the Americas Company Lightware Visual Engineering
How did you get into AV? I started at an integrator right out of college. I majored in communications in college with an emphasis on radio, television and film, and was fortunate to do a lot of work in those disciplines. Soon after I graduated, I saw an ad for a sales position at Video Corporation of America, aka VCA, a pro AV integrator. I started in educational sales and was responsible for finding and replying to pro AV bids throughout the US. What are you currently working on? I am working to build up the US sales office and will soon establish a Canadian sales office. I am also working to further develop our presence in Latin America. We have grown so rapidly that we need to continue to properly align our teams and resources accordingly. Favourite project? We were recently successful in having our Lightware Taurus UCX universal USB-C enabled matrix switcher become part of a global conferencing room standard for a large financial company. But what I am most proud of in this success story is how it came to be, because that story is very indicative of who Lightware is as a company. At the Infocomm show in 2022, a key manager from that global financial company was
with our solutions worldwide in the coming years. What does the future hold for the AV industry? The continuing evolution of room automation control, artificial intelligence and USB technology help make pro AV solutions even more user-friendly than before. This is important as the world settles into the post-Covid era. Today, hybrid work and hybrid education arrangements are very common. This elevates the need for high-performance video conferencing solutions. These need to provide a simple, repeatable and reliable user experience to be effective, and the developments in room automation control, AI and USB technology are enabling these higher- performance conferencing solutions. What advice would you give to someone starting a career in AV tech? Become a part of AVIXA and make sure you avail yourself of all the educational and networking opportunities this provides. Get to know NSCA and take advantage of all the benefits offered. If you are involved in residential AV, make sure you are part of CEDIA. When you can attend a show like ISE, or Infocomm or CEDIA, be sure to absorb everything you can.
The evolution of room automation control, AI and USB tech help make pro AV solutions more user-friendly” walking the show floor with a cardboard sign on which he had essentially written something to the effect of: ‘please talk to me if you have 802.1X security in your solutions’. Our team engaged in a conversation at the show and came to understand the importance of the 802.1X network security protocols for the future of almost all pro AV users. While I am sure he had conversations at that show with other manufacturers as well, our engineers went right to work on the challenge. We stayed in close contact with customers and successfully developed 802.1X protocols into our Taurus UCX products. With that level of network security and our already- existing outstanding features, we are proud to be a part of one of their room standards – and we are positioned to outfit more and more of their offices
SIMON PARKINSON Job title Managing director Company Dot Group
How did you get into AV? I run a firm that supports AV companies with distribution of content. We are global leaders in software called Aspera which accelerates file transfers. As files get larger with onboarding of higher- resolution content capture hardware, Be brave and go for it. Don’t be worried too much about where you start, it is a great industry to be in”
they could process in a day. Datasprint has transformed their business by increasing that throughput tenfold. What does the future hold for the AV industry? In the short term, with the Hollywood strikes now in the past, we are seeing an initial backlog of production to process. While in the medium term, we see an important role for AI; one that we are looking to embrace. What advice would you give to someone starting a career in AV tech? Be brave and go for it. Don’t be worried too much about where you start, it is a great industry. Fast-paced, modern and rich with a huge variety of roles. Plus, I have seen first-hand what a supportive culture and network exists.
our clients have been struggling to meet the demands of their customers. What are you currently working on? Access to the Aspera SW had become seen as the luxury of large media firms. We have been able to produce a unique proposition using Aspera that is truly affordable. This is called Datasprint (powered by IBM Aspera). We are now evolving Datasprint Private to offer clients a short-term ‘rental’ called Datasprint on Demand; we see this as particularly helpful in the AV industry, as they can now use our solution for short-term productions or projects without the need for long contracts. Favourite project? A client whose business was limited to the number of clients whose content
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