Atlona not at InfoComm 2025: Flexibility Without Lock-In
While Atlona may not have had a physical booth at InfoComm 2025, the company’s presence was still felt — especially in the conversations shaping the future of AV in higher education. Sitting out the show floor wasn’t a strategic absence but a literal one, as Steve Bogart of Atlona explained in a post-show interview with Higher Ed AV Media. “Unfortunately, right before Infocom, I broke my ankle in South Padre… got carried off by six of my new friend firefighters barefoot off a fishing pier,” he said with a laugh. Despite the injury, the conversation made one thing clear: Atlona has been busy.
And what they’ve been working on aligns closely with the needs of higher ed AV professionals who demand flexibility, openness, and practical integration — not just flashy product drops.
Making USB and Video Switching Simple
The first new product Bogart spotlighted was the AT-OME-SW21-TX, a transmitter switcher designed for smaller learning environments. “Think HDBaseT transmitter, USB-C and HDMI at the transmitter location,” he said. “It’s also got an HDMI output… great for those really small classrooms.”
The core appeal here is simplicity and utility. Faculty walk into a room with a laptop — maybe it has USB-C, maybe it still needs HDMI — and this transmitter handles both. It also provides USB switching alongside video, making it easy to connect shared USB peripherals like cameras or microphones at the lectern. As Bogart put it,
“Any of these USB devices that you share at the lectern are going to be available to that new device that gets plugged in.”
This solves a real-world pain point. Small classrooms often get shortchanged on infrastructure, but the SW21-TX brings serious capability in a compact form factor — and without forcing a specific control ecosystem.
Still Believing in the Matrix
It’s become somewhat trendy in AV to declare the matrix switcher dead. But Atlona isn’t following that trend. Instead, they’re doubling down — with a twist.
“We still have two new ones this year,” Bogart said, highlighting the AT-PRO5-MX810, a 10×8 matrix switcher that uses SDVoE (Software Defined Video over Ethernet). It offers HDMI inputs and SDVoE outputs, with an integrated network switch, and the receivers can be either scaling or passthrough depending on the need.
The tech here matters: SDVoE supports uncompressed video over standard Ethernet, with extremely low latency and the flexibility to use fiber or CAT6 runs depending on the distance and infrastructure. In other words, it’s a matrix switcher — but one designed for the world of AV over IP.
In higher ed, this could be a fit for larger classroom buildings or departmental rollouts that want to centralize routing while maintaining flexibility in display types and locations. It also gives integrators a middle path: the familiarity of HDMI matrix inputs with the scalability of IP output.
Upgrading the Gateway
Scheduling panels continue to be a staple of higher ed room management, and Atlona’s AT-VGW-HW-T gateway just got a performance boost. The new version is faster, more scalable, and built to handle multiple spaces and interfaces.
“It starts as a 20-room gateway, which will do 40 scheduling panels,” said Bogart, “but can be… license-added to it for 30 rooms and up to 60 scheduling panels.”
That kind of modular scalability makes a difference for schools rolling out scheduling in waves — especially those using Velocity, Atlona’s control platform. Whether you’re just dipping a toe into scheduling or looking to standardize across an entire campus, the gateway now scales with you.
Velocity: Open by Design
Control systems can be a double-edged sword. They unify the experience — but they can also lock institutions into costly relationships, especially when source code or support is proprietary. Bogart was clear that Atlona takes a different approach.
“Velocity is a great little platform, very easy to use,” he said. “Won’t be held hostage by a programmer holding out source code.”
This resonates in higher education, where staffing and budgets vary widely. Schools want the power of custom interfaces, but not if it means being dependent on a single integrator or manufacturer. Bogart continued, “Touch panels can be as simple as a phone, can be an iPad tablet, can be a Samsung tablet… If you want our glass, great, we have very inexpensive glass… but if you want to use Crestron, Extron, AMX… all of our stuff is open API.”
That’s the kind of interoperability that higher ed AV pros appreciate. Use what you’ve got. Build on what you know. Don’t rip and replace unless you want to.
From Ecosystem to Options
It’s clear from the conversation that Atlona is leaning into an ecosystem mindset — but one without walls.
“If you want to use it with our ecosystem, great, But our strive is really to make it an open product.”
That applies to control, signal transport, switching, and scheduling.
Even the new products reflect this approach: USB and HDMI side by side. HDBaseT and SDVoE offerings in parallel. Support for Velocity, but no requirement to use it.
As Ryan Gray noted in the interview, “At Lona was one of the first… to have a lot of those things that were solving some of those problems… at a price point that makes these things more accessible in larger numbers.”
Bogart agreed: “Price point and available, which is the other thing we’ve been down for.”
A Local Strategy
In stepping back from InfoComm’s show floor this year, Atlona didn’t just miss a trade show — they reallocated their energy.
“We’re gonna be at a lot of the local events,” Bogart said. “That was the decision we made on Infocom… to do a lot more of the local events where you have a little more time, a little more intimacy.”
For the higher ed vertical, that’s not just a good marketing decision — it’s a strategic one. When manufacturers show up at local events, hosted by HETMA or regional AV user groups, they get to listen. It’s not about booth buzz; it’s about unplugging a cable and seeing what happens in a real-world scenario.
As Gray put it, “In a big booth at a trade show, you don’t get the chance to do [what] at a six-foot table… you can go, ‘I’m going to unplug this plug, and let’s see what happens with the thing.’”
This kind of engagement is what builds trust in long-term partnerships — and makes product feedback loops shorter, tighter, and more responsive.
Looking Ahead
Although Bogart didn’t share details on what’s launching next, he hinted at more new releases coming in July and August — outside of the typical Infocomm/ISE product cycle. “Which is kind of unusual for us,” he said, “but stay tuned.”
While marketing has evidently banned him from pre-announcing anything (“the electrodes that they’ve installed on me will just be activated”), the bigger takeaway is that Atlona is keeping a dynamic release schedule — and clearly listening to its users.
That listening loop matters. From focus groups with HETMA to open APIs that invite integration with other platforms, Atlona seems to be positioning itself not as a walled garden but as a flexible toolkit for campuses that have a little bit of everything.
For AV pros navigating the unpredictable landscape of instructional tech, that’s a welcome posture. Availability, interoperability, and price transparency aren’t just nice-to-haves — they’re survival strategies.
So while you may not have seen Atlona’s logo glowing above a booth at InfoComm 2025, the company’s fingerprint is still on the tools many of us are using. And if you’re headed to a local higher ed AV meetup this year, there’s a good chance you’ll see them there — ready to listen, ready to unplug the plug, and ready to help solve the next classroom challenge.