AVoIP | IT in AV
When we talk about AVoIP we are talking about sending audio and/or video over the TCP/IP protocol; this mean we are now looking at layer 4 of the OSI Model. The TCP/IP protocol is using a set of standardized rules that allow devices to communicate with each other on a network. If the device is not using the TCP/IP protocol, in this standardized method, then we are not considering it as an AVoIP device. Now that we covered what AVoIP means I am going to cover what I took away from InfoComm21 on this topic.
The first session I took was titled “Emerging Trends: Top Tips for AV over IP Network Design”. As the titled said the panel covered top tips for AVoIP network design. The panel did a great job in covering the tips mainly when talking about IGMP. IGMP stands for Internet Group Management Protocol and is used to help control multicast traffic so that it only goes to targeted host and not flood the network. IGMP is important when it comes to setting up our network for AVoIP as it helps prevent flooding the network with a load of multicast traffic. Network administrators are not going want to enable multicast traffic if they can prevent it but talking to them about IGMP and mapping out network requirements early will help bring both parties to the goal.
Another session I took was titled “Quality of Service (QoS) Explained for Network AV Systems”. This session covered what QoS is and how it can help in an AVoIP deployment. Using QoS allows the network team to set level of important of packets going across the network. QoS does not determine if the packet will get there or not. QoS is used to say that one packet needs to get to it’s target location quicker than another packet. The way I view QoS is like taking a highway full of vehicles. All vehicles are moving at different speeds across the highway and getting to their location at different time. Now enter an emergency vehicle onto this highway with their lights on (the QoS flag). Traffic allows the emergency vehicle to go by so they can get to their targeted location sooner but this act does not prevent the remaining traffic from getting to their targeted location even though they might be delayed. This is helpful when networks are designed correctly and QoS is setup correctly. If the network is not setup correctly and the highway is jammed pack of vehicles, even emergency vehicles are going to have a hard time getting to their targeted location on time.
The last session isn’t limited to AVoIP but focuses on anything that is going onto the network. This session was titled “Zero Trust Architectures for the Information Communication Industry”. The panel went into saying that there around 35% of our threat actors are inside our walls already. These actors can be our end users and we don’t even know it. Zero trust, at it base level, mean we shouldn’t trust any body or any device on the network. For our AVoIP devices to work with zero trust we need to make sure we are following the proper security policies. As mentioned in the past these security policies are never one and done. We should always be monitoring our devices and making sure they have the lowest security access they need to do their job, at the time they need to do it, and no more.
The last element I am going to discuss is PoE. PoE stands for Power over Ethernet for those that might not know. PoE helps us power our AVoIP devices without using a external power source. PoE makes installation streamline as we only need one cable running to the device. The one thing about PoE, that I do not see people talking about, is power management. As more and more devices start using the network switch’s power, we need to make sure we are not over drawing the unit’s power bank. There are many network end-points that are PoE and all these devices require different amount of power. Network switches have limited amount of power they can provide to devices like IP phones, security cameras, and our AVoIP units. We need to know how much power our end point need to pull and relay this information to the network team. This way they can determine if the current infrastructure can support the load. If they are unable to support the load then our cost of doing AVoIP increases as new network switches are needed.
In conclusion AVoIP could be our next step in classroom designs and standards. This would help make our classrooms flexible and streamline. Just know that this is going to require working with your network team closely. Knowing the demands on the network can aid in our discussion as we all continued to provide a learning environment for our students.