Hardware VS. software, a true battle for the ages. Myke Ireland breaks it down and explains where the debate is at in the AV integration industry.

Come to think of it, I’ve been an AV integrator since I was six years old. My first “day on the job” was the Christmas I got a Commodore 64. For those who had one, you’ll remember it wasn’t just a computer, it required integration.

The keyboard, which housed the CPU, was the brain. Then you needed a monitor to see what you were doing. There was a data source, either a cassette drive or a five-and-a-quarter-inch floppy disk drive. Some setups had printers, joysticks or even a mouse. And in my case, I had a modem. Believe it or not, I was dialling into bulletin boards at the age of seven—one I distinctly remember was The Island BBS in 1988. On which my first post was: “You spelled Ireland wrong.”

Computer wizard and comedic genius.

Back then, being ‘the kid with the computer’ put you on a pedestal. I remember being pulled out of my grade two class to go to the computer lab—two Apple IIEs strong—to show other students, and even teachers, how to use the machines. At a time when TVs didn’t talk to stereos and phones weren’t remotely connected to doorbells, this ability to make things work together felt like sorcery. Devices were designed with a singular purpose, and they would live and die fulfilling that one role.

Fast forward to today, and the world looks vastly different. Integration has evolved and so has technology. The skill of knowing how to make everything work together is no longer rare—it’s been overtaken by devices that integrate themselves. The printer, the keyboard, the modem, the camera and countless other peripherals are now seamlessly built into a single device, like a laptop or smartphone. Those once-magical abilities to connect hardware are now routine, invisible and largely automated.

But when we turn our gaze back to the AV industry, it still resembles that 1986 Commodore 64 setup. Solutions are delivered piecemeal: one company provides the displays, another the control system and another the cabling. It’s up to a skilled integrator to make all the pieces talk, to program them and to deliver a working solution. For many, these integrators still seem like miracle workers.

Meanwhile, at home, the story couldn’t be more different. People buy $50 smart home devices, download an app and within minutes they’re controlling their entire house. Swipe your phone to unlock your front door and intelligent lights turn on to welcome you. The thermostat adjusts itself based on when you leave work and the air conditioning greets you with a perfectly calibrated climate. It’s seamless, intuitive and doesn’t require a wizard to set up.

For businesses built on integrating hardware, this is a wake-up call. If your livelihood depends on connecting boxes and programming them to work together, the landscape is shifting under your feet. And that’s exactly what we’re here to talk about.

Hardware never gets smarter… software does!

Thinking back to my Commodore 64, I can’t help but marvel at how much effort it took to integrate everything and make it work—cassette drives, disk drives, printers and modems—were connected by a web of physical cables. That was my reality as a seven-year-old. Fast forward to today, and nearly everything on that desk has been replaced by a single device: a laptop.

Modern laptops not only consolidate all those devices but surpass them. Built-in cameras and microphones—unheard of back then—are standard now. Modems are integrated. Even the printer is effectively built-in, with the ability to print a PDF instead of paper. The keyboard, mouse and screen are all part of the same unit. No cables, no fuss and no physical connection to a network—fully mobile and infinitely more capable.

Yet, when we turn back to the AV world, it’s like stepping into a time machine. The AV industry today looks remarkably like my old Commodore 64 setup. Every component is separate and every connection is physical. You need skilled people to install, integrate and program every single piece of equipment.

Now, I understand capitalism. Hardware manufacturers need to sell hardware—it’s their business model. Without hardware sales, their revenue disappears. But here’s the thing: markets change. Look at Nokia, for example. In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, they made the best hardware. Their market share was immense—comparable to what Apple holds today. But Nokia was a hardware company. They built great phones, but they were still just phones.

Apple, on the other hand, understood something revolutionary: people don’t want lots of hardware—they want minimal hardware that can do many things. Steve Jobs exemplified this in his iconic presentation of the iPhone: one device that combined a phone, an iPod and an internet communicator. It changed the industry forever. That principle inherited from Apple’s laptops and other products: a single, sleek device capable of handling multiple tasks. It’s what people wanted—and it’s what manufacturers like Nokia couldn’t deliver.

This lesson applies directly to AV manufacturers. Historically, they’ve thrived on selling devices that perform singular tasks: a control processor, a video switch or a DSP. But markets are shifting and the writing is on the wall.

Take video conferencing as an example. Twenty years ago, video conferencing was a business tool built around proprietary hardware. If you used Polycom, you connected to others on Polycom. If you used Cisco, you stuck to Cisco. Interoperability required expensive middleware—another layer of hardware or software to bridge the gap. Every system was defined by its manufacturer and those manufacturers thrived on keeping users locked into their ecosystem.

But then something changed. Video conferencing didn’t reappear with better hardware—it reemerged with better software. Teams, Zoom and Google Meet entered the market, and suddenly, hardware wasn’t the focus. Dedicated systems were replaced by compute devices, running software that delivered the same or better results. Today, when you buy a video conferencing system, you don’t ask for a ‘Cisco room’ or a ‘Poly room’. You ask for a Teams room or a Zoom room.

This shift happened because software owns the user experience—and the user experience is what wins the project. Consumers no longer care about the hardware. They care about what it can do and how easily it delivers their desired experience. AV manufacturers clinging to the old ways may find themselves facing the same fate as Nokia: left behind, relentlessly, with no way to catch up.

The power behind the curtain: Compute evolution driving software

Before we hail software as the ultimate force behind the AV industry’s transformation, it’s crucial to acknowledge the silent hero behind its success: compute power.

Software, no matter how advanced, is only as good as the hardware that drives it. Ask any developer, and they’ll tell you they could always use more processing power. This is why manufacturers are now venturing into quantum computing, compute farms and other cutting-edge realms. The more compute power you have, the better the software you can run.

Consider the evolution of compute power over the decades. My Commodore 64 had 64 kilobytes of basic RAM—of which you could use maybe three-quarters and a 1MHz CPU, yes that’s an “M”. Loading a game from a tape drive wasn’t a quick task. Processing power was slow, but developers pushed its limits to create fun, engaging experiences. Even now, developers are still limited by the ceiling of compute power—but that ceiling has risen astronomically.

In the AV industry, we’ve seen this shift firsthand. Video conferencing rooms are now built on compute power. Manufacturers like Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and Dell—names that were unheard of in AV spaces a decade ago—are now staples in meeting rooms. Historically, AV equipment wasn’t even allowed on IT networks. IT teams treated AV as a no-go zone, demanding that we keep our equipment separate. The irony today is that AV professionals are introducing PCs into those environments, running our applications on their networks.

It’s not just video conferencing. Look at manufacturers like Q-SYS, Crestron and AMX. They’re moving beyond tradition, recognising the power of using off-the-shelf IT servers with high-performance Xeon or Ryzen processors. With these servers, they can build dedicated software platforms that make these boxes capable of nearly anything. This shift reflects the broader evolution of compute power: fewer physical devices doing more through advanced software.

However, not all manufacturers are adapting. Many still cling to the old ways, relying solely on hardware. These companies are struggling. We’re seeing manufacturers disappear, distributors close their doors and the physical side of the industry shrink. Fewer boxes mean fewer people to make them and fewer distributors to move them. The industry is contracting as consumers and businesses demand less hardware and more flexibility.

For systems integrators, this is a tricky transition. Some recognise the time to pivot is now and are adapting their models. Others are selling off because they can’t see what’s next. And then there are those folding altogether, caught without a plan as the landscape shifts beneath them.

Meanwhile, consumers are setting the bar. They walk into their homes, connect their devices and enjoy seamless experiences without needing a professional. This is what they’ll expect in their workplaces too. The question is: Can the AV industry keep up?

So, we have the bytes, now we need the brains

The reality of the AV industry today is that there are easier ways to achieve better outcomes. We just don’t take them often enough. Why? Because we’re clinging to the notion that every AV experience must be clinically perfect, textbook accurate and rigorously standards-based. While that’s important for some spaces, the majority of users don’t live in that world. They’re accustomed to certain experiences—experiences that prioritise ease and familiarity over technical perfection.

Circling back to the VC example for a second. Nine out of ten users are more comfortable joining a call from their laptop with a pair of headphones than navigating the complexities of a meeting room system. Why? Because their laptops run Teams, Zoom or Google Meet—the tools they use for hours every day. When they step into a Teams room, they’re immediately confronted with a different, unfamiliar interface. If they don’t know how to use it, they’re stuck. And Microsoft, for all its dominance, hasn’t helped by locking integrators into their default home UI, leaving no room for customisation. Zoom, on the other hand, allows greater flexibility for building intuitive experiences around its platform. So, a word to the wise at Microsoft: It’s time for a change.

The tools to deploy less hardware and create better software experiences already exist. But there’s a deeper shift we must make: embracing the reality that software innovation doesn’t come from AV veterans—it comes from those who’ve grown up speaking software. Kids graduating high school today have been programming their own devices, building home automation systems, and writing apps for years. Many of them already have projects on the app store. These digital natives don’t just understand code; they understand user experience better than most of us ever could. They’ve never known a world without digital devices.

If I need a new UI or software tool, I’m choosing the 25-year-old hacker over the 50-year-old AV veteran. Every day of the week. Not because the veteran isn’t capable, but because younger minds are built for this. They know how to find shortcuts, hack systems and get results faster. Their reward-to-result ratio is different. They’re efficient, creative and unencumbered by the traditional constraints we’ve placed on ourselves.

For too long, we’ve let hardware drive the quality of AV solutions. But the future belongs to software. Software determines the quality of the user experience and the best software doesn’t just connect devices—it enables them to anticipate, communicate and unify. When software is siloed and disconnected, it’s like the 1980s all over again: devices with no awareness of each other, no shared data and no unified purpose. The more we can create ecosystems where software works together seamlessly, the better the solutions we can deliver.

But this requires a shift in mindset. We need to stop prioritising hardware brands and focus on user experience. The brand doesn’t matter anymore—it’s the experience that drives the result. Software owns the experience and if hardware plays a role, it’s secondary at best. The industry must pivot from thinking about products to thinking about people. Because in the end, it’s not the hardware that delivers value—it’s how the software brings the experience to life.