We just returned from the 2015 InfoComm show. Once again, this was a very well-organized event, benefiting from the excellent conditions offered by the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando, FL, and the excellent work of the association and all staff involved. Five stars.

Still, in contrast to the usual vibrant Las Vegas editions, held every other year, the 2015 show felt like somebody threw a large party and only half the guests showed up. The Orlando convention center is certainly excellent but it is huge and easily could have held twice as many attendees... There's also a sense of "deja vu" and an excessive optimism from the organizers, starting with the "WOW" signage outdoors and the fake "enthusiasm" everyone seems to show in new product announcements, from new 19" racks to speaker-podiums, conferencing systems, and ceiling speakers, which are everything but exciting.

According to the InfoComm association, the 2015 show was again "a record breaking event" of technology, training, and networking with 950 exhibitors participating. The annual conference and exhibition was visited by 39,105 professionals attending from more than 108 countries - a 5.6% increase in attendance over InfoComm 2014 (37,048). And that's certainly good for the "Orlando" edition (35,126 participants in 2013).

But we should compare that with the Integrated Systems Europe show - promoted jointly by InfoComm and the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) - which is now Europe's largest AV and systems integration exhibition, receiving 59,350 registered attendees in 2015 (an increase of 8,347 registered attendees over the previous year).

The North-American AV industry is certainly vibrant and there's good reason to be optimistic with the way the market and its technology applications are evolving, from signage to unified communications, enterprise collaboration, and professional audio applications. But in contrast to ISE, the InfoComm show is missing out on many important technology trends, which are the true backbone of the industry - which is IP convergence, involving multiple disciplines, from building management to integrated network systems reaching out not only to audio and video but also to lighting, security, communications, and control solutions. And it certainly doesn't make sense to separate the "residential" applications market from the corporate/commercial applications, as the Integrated Systems Europe model is showing.

We missed seeing exciting immersive audio demonstrations and many of the exciting smart-home applications we can find at a show like ISE. We were certainly impressed with the extraordinary evolution of 4K screens and projectors for digital signage and presentation, but the InfoComm show doesn't offer enough production tools, cinema solutions, or even the variety of outdoor solutions we can find at other events.

This doesn't mean that there weren't reasons to be excited at InfoComm 2015. The most important show highlights include the clear dominance of new signal distribution technologies, with HDBaseT the clear winner in AV and Audinate Dante in audio networking. In the audio section of the InfoComm 2015 show, there were "Dante Spoken Here" signs on almost every booth, and when moving to the AV side of the exhibits, it was all about HDBaseT 2.0, the all-in-one connectivity solution, now supporting uncompressed ultra-HD video and audio, Ethernet, USB, control signals, and up to 100 W of power through a single Ethernet cable. HDBaseT 2.0 technology has become the standard for ultra HD video distribution in residential and commercial applications.

We also liked the informative sessions on AES67 interoperability and the fact that we are starting to see the first solutions bridging different audio networking protocols, from CobraNet to Dante, from AVB to Ravenna and AES67. Audio-over-IP is clearly the hot topic in professional audio, from recording to live events and commercial installation. Those technologies will soon be reaching the consumer, through residential applications and high-end audio, as we've seen recently. It will be interesting to see what happens.