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... as the Internet of Things provides more possibilities to better deploy and manage church AV resources, the relevance of AV design and integration can only grow.
The term “Internet of Things” was coined in 1999 by Kevin Ashton. He was working at Procter & Gamble at the time and needed a catchy title for a PowerPoint presentation on using RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags to track products in P&G’s warehouse.
“I knew I wanted to get the word ‘internet’ into it, because then I could get some buy-in," says Ashton. “I was talking about the supply chain being a ‘Network of Things,’ and the Internet being a ‘Network of Bits’, and how sensor technology would merge the two together. Then I thought of an ‘Internet of Things,’ and I thought, ‘That’ll do – or maybe even better.’”
Today, the Internet of Things (IoT) refers to devices that are connected to the internet (like home thermostats and smart speakers), and that use this connection to communicate with their manufacturers, vendors, and other devices online.
The deployment of IoT devices is growing at a dizzying pace. In 2019, there were “26.66 billion active IoT devices” worldwide, say the software experts at TechJury.net. “The number of IoT devices will reach 31 billion in 2020.”
In other words, the Internet of Things really is a thing.
IoT and churches
At first blush, one might wonder how the Internet of Things could be a thing for churches. “After all, most AV devices were not designed to communicate with the internet,” says Patrick Murray, AV specialist and founder of Catch Technologies, a technology services provider. “But they often have an API (application programming interface) for local integration. And by using an IoT gateway, all the functions that a device’s API offers can be made available in a monitoring dashboard.”
When it comes to church AV design and integration, connecting AV systems to the web makes these kinds of features available to church AV managers as well as equipment manufacturers/vendors.
Now the power of IoT is that it allows manufacturers to manage their entire fleet of devices, collect usage data and integrate with other devices and services via the internet. When it comes to church AV design and integration, connecting AV systems to the web makes these kinds of features available to church AV managers as well as equipment manufacturers/vendors.
As well, “the Internet of Things tends to permit greater interoperability among devices,” says Joe Andrulis, Biamp’s EVP of corporate development. “This offers a whole new level of impact for devices that previously operated independently of each other.”
The potential benefits of using IoT devices in church design and integration are many. They include:
- automatic updates over the web to any AV equipment that uses firmware and software (which nowadays means most of them);
- remote fault detection and troubleshooting of faulty devices by manufacturers over the web;
- easy integration of church AV devices in the same location and across the web;
- direct connections to third-party cloud-based platforms for storing, distributing and overlaying graphics on live and on-demand streams of sermons and other church events;
- flexible AV networking between multiple church campuses, with the ability to connect ad hoc sites as needed over the web;
- centralized system control and usage detection by church AV managers.
“Again, by connecting an AV system to the internet, all of these IoT features become available to technology owners and systems integrators,” says Murray. “The big difference is that typical IoT manufacturers focus on single products, while AV professionals work with custom integrated systems. Instead of managing a handful of device types with a well-defined set of features, the challenge in AV is to manage groups of devices that work together as a single system and have varying features from project to project.” (To ease AV systems management, Catch Technologies makes an appliance called the SN-64 Service Node. It checks AV device and system health, alerting AV/IT support teams of any issues as they occur.)
This is a challenge that church AV designers and integrators are well-suited to tackling. In fact, as the Internet of Things provides more possibilities to better deploy and manage church AV resources, the relevance of AV design and integration can only grow.
“When it comes to installing IoT-enabled AV equipment in houses of worship, you need people who are well versed in traditional AV plus people who are comfortable with IT,” says Ardrulis. “Fortunately, this is no longer a new trend. There are now people out there who understand both of these domains equally well.” (Note: Most of Biamp’s line of AV products are IoT-enabled.)
Security concerns
There is a downside to the Internet of Things; namely security. Web-connected devices are vulnerable to hacking, ransomware – where a hack encrypts your data and demands a ransom to release it -- and other cyber crimes. (The reason hackers are such a challenge is that they focus their efforts on cracking other people’s computer systems, whereas those people are busy doing other things with computer security rarely at the top of their To Do lists.)
As well, sharing data with manufacturers about a church’s IoT-enabled AV system can lead to hassles. “The problem is that manufacturers collect usage data from their IoT products in order to sell customers more products,” says consultant Anthony Coppedge. “By giving them all this information, you may end up with someone knowing a whole lot more about your church than you want them to, and leaving yourself open to constant sales pitches.”
In saying this, Coppedge is not warning church AV designers and integrators against using IoT devices; just cautioning them to balance security concerns against IoT’s benefits.
In saying this, Coppedge is not warning church AV designers and integrators against using IoT devices; just cautioning them to balance security concerns against IoT’s benefits. In today’s IT-centric world, the Internet of Things is not avoidable, but the degree to which one embraces it remains a matter of choice.
Pay attention to the Internet of Things
If there’s a moral to this tale, it is that church AV designers and integrators need to learn about the Internet of Things and how IoT affects the choices they make for the clients. This consideration can go as far as minimizing IoT devices in small churches unable to manage cyber threats, and maximizing them in mega-churches that have the knowledgeable staff to use IoT safely.
Whatever the case, it is clear that the Internet of Things is here to stay. Church AV designers and integrators need to heed this reality, and factor it into their plans accordingly.
