macom UK Newsletter: ISE 2025 – Lots of movement, but little innovation in the industry
ISE 2025 – the largest international trade fair for AV technology – took place in Barcelona at the beginning of February. As an important trend scout, know-how provider and industry analyst, the macom team was of course on site to analyse the latest developments and innovations. The trade fair was a success, especially in terms of new and intensified contacts. Although there were no ground-breaking innovations taking the spotlight this year, there were promising impulses, especially in forward-looking areas such as sustainability and mixed reality. These complex topics in particular offer scope for further analyses and projects after the trade fair. Once again, ISE proved to be a valuable platform for networking and constructive dialogue within the industry.
The overall mood was very positive. A noticeable increase in exhibitors and visitors compared to the previous year emphasises the continued growth of the trade fair. However, the industry is still in a state of upheaval: traditional pro AV providers are increasingly confronted with new competitors from the IT sector. At the same time, ISE is emancipating itself from an AV trade fair to become an international technology trade fair in which software and service providers are playing an ever greater role. While the number of players has not changed fundamentally, manufacturers with an IT background in particular are taking a stronger market position. Traditional hardware providers such as Crestron and Shure are in direct competition with companies such as Logitech, Yealink and Neat.
Microsoft Teams Rooms, which has established itself as the standard for meeting rooms, plays a central role. With a market share of over 70 % in companies and organisations, Microsoft sets the pace here. Of a potential 7.5 million Microsoft Teams Rooms worldwide, only around 1 million are actually equipped – so there is still huge potential for growth.
Main topics and trends
Artificial intelligence as the dominant theme
Two years ago, AI hardly played a role at ISE – today, it characterises the entire AV industry. There are numerous practical solutions, like automatic translations, speech-to-text applications on displays and speech-to-speech translations including accessibility through avatars in sign language. Another growing field is AI-supported content creation. AI is penetrating the AV industry extensively, whether in the form of smart collaboration tools, automated translation services or intelligent content production and management.
Sensors are playing an increasingly important role in the optimisation of working environments. They enable comprehensive data collection to monitor spaces and increase efficiency – for example, by monitoring CO2 levels and room temperature to maximise productivity or through space utilisation analysis and intelligent energy management.
Security and AV in control centres
Cybersecurity is a key issue – security solutions for connected AV systems are moving centre stage. Control rooms, monitoring centres and security centres are a rapidly growing field of application for AV technology. They are increasingly relying on LED technology, which has now established itself as competitive with previous solutions. Legal requirements and increased demands on security solutions are ensuring high demand here.
Hybrid and virtual meetings
On the hardware side, there are hardly any product revolutions, but there are exciting developments that improve flexibility and the user experience. For example, a new rotatable display makes it possible to adapt to different applications. The biggest developments are on the software side: Microsoft Teams announced speech-to-speech translations with an AI voice that speaks in the desired language in real time. Such applications require considerable computing power, which is why manufacturers are increasingly integrating more powerful chips into their devices.
One interesting innovation is the option for remote participants to choose their own camera perspective in meetings. Holistic systems for virtual meetings are continuing to develop: Google Starline should be ready for the market this year and enable 1:1 meetings with a three-dimensional, rendered model of the dialogue partners – a new level of immersion.
Sustainability – progress with room for improvement
Sustainability remains an important but not yet market-driving topic. Progress is being made, for example with energy-efficient displays, recycled materials and solutions for remote maintenance of devices. Other measures include longer warranties, improved repairability and innovative display technologies such as colour e-ink displays up to A1 size, which are extremely energy-efficient. The industry’s internal initiative SAVe (Sustainability in AV) is not yet active in Europe, but it shows that things are moving. However, the real drivers of sustainability are market and customer requirements – especially ESG targets, which are increasingly being taken into account in procurement.
Small surprises at the trade fair stands
A new exhibition area for e-sports shows that a growth segment is developing here. Creative and innovative solutions such as swarms of drones for large-scale visualisation of information open up new perspectives for entertainment, signage and security applications.
High-resolution LED technologies have now almost completely replaced projections and large-format displays. Particularly in specialised applications such as control rooms and virtual production studios, professional AV providers are increasingly asserting themselves with integrated solutions for specific niche applications. This offers greater potential for added value and opportunities for differentiation.
Further developments at a glance
In addition to the major technological developments, there were a number of smaller innovations that are relevant to the industry:
- All-in-one LED walls and large-format e-ink displays offer new possibilities for presentation and signage.
- Unified communications (UC) is being further standardised to enable cross-platform solutions.
- The demand for electronic room acoustics is constantly increasing.
- Transparent OLEDs and foldable, mobile LED walls offer new applications for flexible displays.
- Although there are few innovations in mixed reality solutions, new products such as the 3D video bar from Cisco improve depth perception in meetings via VR glasses.
- AV over IP continues to be characterised by proprietary systems – the open IMPX standard is still in its infancy.
- Smart building technologies are developing rapidly and are increasingly integrating AV systems.
- The first 8K displays can be admired for museum applications, for example, but are not yet widely used due to the peripherals and players.
Conclusion: ISE as a network trade fair and trend barometer
Instead of revolutionary new developments, ISE 2025 focussed on concrete benefits and the further development of existing solutions. Manufacturers are increasingly presenting holistic solutions, but these are mostly limited to the AV discipline and barely cover the interfaces to the room. Technology consulting and design must be more strongly orientated towards the requirements of communication, well-being, ergonomics and sustainability. The challenge is to integrate the numerous technological components into the room in a meaningful way and to optimise rollout management.
ISE is not and will not be comparable with American innovation trade fairs such as CES or SxSW. Nevertheless, it is the most important networking platform for the global AV industry. The exciting developments in the field of IT integration, the growing influence of AI and changing market structures can now be further developed in the coming weeks and months with our newly established and long-standing contacts. Because even if the ‘next big thing’ wasn’t waiting for us in Barcelona, the evolution of the industry is progressing with gigantic steps.
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