AV & IT Debate
James King
This month’s theme is AV&IT. As you might be well aware there is a divide in the AV community on if AV is IT or if AV is not IT. If you are unaware of this divide please check out BC Hatchett’s April article “AV is IT Versus AV is AV”, Scott Tiner’s March article, from rAVepub, “AV is IT”, the countless podcasts, or even swing by #AVintheAM on Sunday mornings and I’m sure there will be a debate going on. If you follow me on Twitter or have listened to some of the podcasts I have been on you will know that I believe AV is IT. With that said this article is not going to be on why AV is IT or even to try and convince you that AV is IT. This article is to show why it’s important for higher education tech managers to understand the importance of understanding IT and the relationship with IT team members, even if you do not believe you are IT.
The Move to it
Schools are looking at their organization chart and trying to figure out where AV falls. Does AV fall under the library, facilities, academic affairs, IT, or etc..? Even though you can make an argument that AV can easily fall under any one of those departments, more and more are finding themselves under the IT department. Falling under the IT department I believe makes sense and not just because our equipment is finding its way onto the school’s network but also I believe there is a parallel between what AV tech managers and IT tech managers do. We can both benefit from each other.
The network
Our equipment is taking advantage of our school’s network. We have monitoring systems, remote access/support, AVoIP, as well as cloud services. These elements all require a connection to the network that needs an understanding more than “just plug it in and it works”. We need to work with the networking team and make sure that the correct firewall ports are open, that the correct VLANs are set, and that the switches are configured to support the traffic we are sending. If you try plugging in an AVoIP device into your network, and the switch isn’t configured correctly, not only could your equipment not work but the worst-case is you could take down the whole school’s network disrupting our mission of providing education to students. Also, this is a quick way to get on the bad side of the network administrator and further requests will be met with defense and a less open mind. I do not believe that us AV techs need to know how to configure a switch to support AVoIP or even how to open firewall ports for communication. What I do believe us AV tech managers need to know is what is the purpose of a firewall and if you need port(s) open, know which ports and why you need those ports, and if you can limit devices seeing those ports. We should also know that AVoIP devices can cause a flood of traffic onto the network so that starting a discussion with the network administrator, early in the process, will go a long way. Show them that you understand their concerns and that you are willing to work with them.
Security
If you read my January 2021 article, “Summer Upgrade – Security Audit”, you will understand that us higher education tech managers need to take the security of our AV equipment seriously; we can no longer be the low-hanging fruit. Besides the steps mentioned in that article, we need to be communicating with our security team. We should discuss with them what our goals are and listen to the concerns they have about allowing access. This discussion should be around, but not limited to, password management, access to the physical equipment as well as remote access. The security team is not the department of no as they have the same mission as us, which is to make sure students are getting their education. They are the department that needs to make sure information is protected and we should understand this concern.
The Helpdesk
Some schools have a central help desk while others have a help desk for office computers and another for classroom AV equipment. No matter how your help desk is configured it’s important to work with them and have an understanding so both teams can see the full picture. The help desk might be the location that deploys software to the computers being used in our classrooms. Knowing what software is going into our classrooms can help us make sure we have the proper equipment to support the software. Besides software, knowing what type of devices users are bringing to campus, and even what type of devices are being
developed can help the AV team plan for when they are working on upgrading the AV equipment. Besides the physical equipment, the help desk might be rolling out computer policies that limit what a user can do on the computer. Some of these policies could limit what resolution the in-room computer can be set to, what background the in-room computer is set to, what audio source the in-room computer can use, or even who can log onto the computer. Knowing about these policies and how they are rolled out is important for the AV team because they can cause issues with connecting to the AV equipment. Not only can these policies cause issues but the AV team can leverage these policies to limit what users can do to help prevent issues.
Conclusion
Again it’s not if you believe we are IT or we are not IT, the key is we need to work with and understand IT. When AV doesn’t work or understand IT they are looked at as the problem child and IT will just keep steamrolling as they move forward. If you have not already done so you need to build a relationship with key members of the networking, security, help desk, and other IT teams. These relationships will go a long way as we all work to achieve our shared goals of educating students.
Meet the author: James King
James King graduated from Stockton University in 2008 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Information Systems and a Minor in Business Studies. After graduation, he started working full time for Stockton’s IT department and in 2012 was assigned to support the classrooms’ AV equipment. Since joining the AV team, he has continued his education by getting AV certifications as well as working on getting his MBA. Besides working at Stockton, he is also a member of the AVIXA Technology Managers Council, manager of the HETMA award-winning Higher Ed AV/IT Slack workgroup, the current president for Pinelands Soccer Association soccer league, co-coach of a travel soccer team, and a goalkeeper trainer.
