AV in Italy: Tailored applications

AV Magazine

article here

A new cycle of political stability could provide the basis for strong market growth in Italy allowing companies to invest in new processes and technologies. Adriano D’Alessio, country manager for Lightware judges the prospects for pro AV in Italy “effervescent”; Massimiliano Carlesi of HYPERVSN says the market is “solid and resilient”; and Gianluigi Cravedi, CEO at local distributor, Ligra DS calls it “positive and enthusiastic”, particularly for SIs.

“AV integrators started to merge and grow last year here, which means that there are huge opportunities right now,” says Emiliano Faccioli, who heads up local sales for Crestron. “End users are working with quick fixes and buying commodities when equipping rooms for virtual meetings, but I’m excited for the gradual shift we see towards well thought-out, accessible AV installations.”

Peerless-AV’s sales director, Stefan Krüger is confident that Italian pro AV will return to its pre-Covid level this year: “As we look toward 2024, we expect significant growth with more projects in the pipeline and demand for our key product lines.”

Datapath’s regional sales boss, Carmen Jerez is also “very optimistic” regarding Italy’s prospects noting that many companies are “reorganising, re-evaluating and re-starting investments that were slowed or directly stopped” under Covid and the recent political hiatus.

“In terms of business development, it is the most powerful country in the Southern Europe region,” she says, putting Italy ahead of Germany, France and the UK. “Italy represents a great opportunity to promote pro AV and bring growth to our company in the medium and long term.”

Recovery plan
The state’s €750 billion National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza, NRRP) – of which about half is in the form of grants from the EU – is the most significant funding pot, of which roughly €31 billion is allocated to education and €19 billion to the research sector.

“Both are intended to strengthen educational services offered throughout Italy from kindergarten to higher education,” reports Marco Bolzonello, Atlona’s regional sales manager. “The biggest challenge is to educate the decision makers – particularly at public universities where they have plenty of capital to spend – how to properly invest in AV technology that will upgrade ageing installations in classrooms, conference rooms and lecture halls. It is time to retire VGA connectivity, which can be challenging to communicate as it is still a very common technology in Italian educational facilities.”

Although universities shifted back to in-person teaching post Covid, they know they need to adapt to hybrid learning facilities. “AV-over-IP is key here,” says Faccioli, “and also software codecs dedicated to e-learning will need to be integrated in the physical classroom.

“We’ll see a lot of movement coming from the EU recovery fund because of how hard Covid hit us,” he predicts, “not only from a human perspective, but also economically, Italy will receive a large sum of money which has to be used to promote innovation and growth.”

PNRR funds are targeting green and digital development across the country. Green projects, says Kruger, “will be a priority over the next eighteen months following soaring energy prices, higher than most other European countries.”

 

Bolzonello says this funding will require expertise to develop smart cities, decrease pollution in city centres (as in Milan) and propose green projects to relaunch the agriculture in the countryside. “We believe that AV technology will play a major role in supporting these initiatives,” he adds.

A recent Atlona installation was for Luxottica, a premium luxury and sports eyewear company based in Milan that needed its AV systems connected with HDBaseT extenders. Bolzonello says it helped in this instance that Atlona is owned by Panduit, a global IT and network infrastructure company, with its Italian base in Milan.

Since the pandemic, the number of Italian businesses that have adopted hybrid workspaces has shot up from 20 to 80 per cent. That makes improving AV and UC technology both in the office and at home vital in the long term.

“By digitising AV systems, the business is sending a message that they are thinking of the employee while it also provides the employer with technology that improves productivity,” says Bolzonello.

Hospitals are investing in video-over-IP too, to connect surgery rooms with lecture halls, for example. “Now students can sit in the lecture hall and feel like they are standing next to the surgeon, seeing everything the surgeon is seeing thanks to a pixel-perfect, zero perceivable latency images,” says Faccioli.

D’Alessio reports customers are looking for cableless and plug-and-play solutions, especially in the corporate and government market: “The idea of having an old-school control system is over,” he says.

In and outdoors
For other vendors the biggest growth areas are outdoor DooH and indoor LED. “Outdoor signage is getting bigger and brighter and must be outdoor rated for reliable 24/7 operation,” says Krüger. “They also need to offer low power consumption with energy efficiency being high on the priority list for Italian buyers.”
There’s some disagreement as to whether Italy exhibits any difference in terms of AV use to the rest of Europe, but considerable agreement that Italy contains within it distinct regional strengths. It’s a touch contradictory.

For instance, Ross Video’s local sales manager, David Mosca finds no major differences between the country and its neighbours while highlighting, “ease of use” as a key consideration for its products “as operators don’t have a broadcast background. Therefore, a unified touchscreen interface with customisation options is essential.”

D’Alessio says Italy is basically divided into two macro regions: the north for the corporate market and the centre-south for military and government. “Italy changes from the north to the south and from customer to customer. You must adapt to every solution and to the different view of our customers about our solutions.

“There are also specific areas for cruise ship manufacturing like the Italian North-East, and for yacht manufacturing in central seaside areas. The rental and staging markets change across the territory. Milan is more live events-driven, whereas Rome is more focused around TV.”

Milan, Turin, Florence and Rome are major hubs for Italian TV stations (Mediaset is in Milan, RAI in Rome) with plenty of installers, equipment rental services and maintenance technicians. “Separate from the main AV verticals such as corporate, education, government and hospitality, AV tech and activity will be high in the museum, naval and aerospace sectors,” says Bolzonello. “In cities like Venice and Naples, we will see a rise in luxury AV installations, such as onboard yachts.”

Mosca elaborates on the cruise ship industry – “an emerging market for video production as customers in this sector expect access to high-quality video.” Ross’ Ultrix platform has been installed on various cruise ships to manage video signals.

“The superyacht sector is also growing,” he adds. “Many builders are based in Italy and the cost of investing in advanced AV solutions is not a concern for these high-end clients.”
Bolzonello says, “Italy can feel like a very different country depending on the regions to which you travel. There are diverse regional needs birthed from historical, geographical and political climates.”

He spots an opportunity for SIs and distributors to “share professional installation experiences and the benefits of modern AV and IT technology that have taken hold in one territory with potential customers in other areas where the technology has not yet taken hold.”

Krüger picks out Milan as the main hotspot for AV where the DooH market is growing “with more installers adopting and integrating new technologies across all applications.” In contrast, Rome is more restricted, because of its historic centre and UNESCO World Heritage listing.

Yet Rome is the powerhouse of decision making. “Most of the money coming from the EU recovery fund will be used for government infrastructure,” reports Faccioli. “Which means that the decisions will be made in Rome, and then implemented all over the country, mainly in healthcare and education.”

All AV tenders in Italy are based in central Italy, confirms Jerez. She drills down further. North Italy, she says, represents the business centre “considered the engine of Italy in terms of finance and industry. Many technology companies in North Italy are open to AV opportunities.”

Datapath sold its first AETRIA control room software in Italy last November, via distributor AG Multivision, to the Rome HQ of US multinational, Kyndryl. Lombardia (Milan) is the home of multinational HQs for Tesla, Danone, Google, and Microsoft. Trentino has many German-speakers. Piedmont is strong in automotive (the Fiat-Group is based here). In this region ship construction is busy and requires simulators to train seafarers to sail them. Emilia-Rogmana is strong in pharma and medical as well as automotive (Ferrari-Fiat and Lamborgini-Audi are based here).

Central Italy
Central Italy represents the administrative and governmental hub. Banks are mostly headquartered in Rome. “Marche, Toscana and Umbria are very strong in shoe manufacture,” reports Jerez. “This area is strong in textile, fashion, luxury and tourism.” For example, HYPERVSN’s holographic activations have popped up in numerous exhibition spaces and retail environments in Italy. With Italian partner Hologram Communication for example the SmartV Solo and 3D Catalogue solution transformed a physical store of brand My Glam Boutique into a virtual shopping experience.

The south is particularly strong in agriculture, culture and tourism. Cravedi highlights Rome, Naples, Bari and Sicily as hotspots for AV applications related to tourist hospitality though clearly the whole country is a tourism and museum treasure trove.

“Italy is the number one country in the world in terms of cultural heritage,” claims Bolzonello.

As any tourist knows, says Mosca, “The pro AV market in Italy relies on major events to attract and retain visitors. The combination of delicious food, variety of landscapes, and favourable weather conditions make Italy a prime location for hosting a wide range of events throughout the year.”

Most notable as a universal characteristic of the Italian market is design quality. Several commentators tell us that design ranks highly in the eyes of buyers.
Architects, consultants and integrators want products that offer the aesthetics, source materials and functionality to match their creative projects.