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InterviewWorkspace Tech1 Jul 2026 · 2 min read

InfoComm 2026 Recap: Irwin Lazar on AI's Growing Role in AV & Workplace Collaboration

Metrigy's Irwin Lazar shares his key takeaways from Infocomm 2026 – from AI-powered room management and data federation to deep fake detection

Infocomm 2026 in Las Vegas has come and gone, but the conversations it sparked are far from over.

To make sense of the event's biggest themes, UC Today sat down with Irwin Lazar, President & Principal Analyst at Metrigy, to get his take on what stood out – and what it means for the industry going forward.

AI Was Everywhere – But Not All the Same

From improving voice and video quality in meeting rooms, to automating room configuration and management, to breaking down data silos across multi-vendor environments – the use cases on show were varied and increasingly practical.

Neat's decision to open its Pulse management platform via MCP (Model Context Protocol) was a standout example. Customers can now query their device and room data through third-party AI tools like Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, or Anthropic's Claude – a significant step away from the isolated data islands that have long hampered enterprise AI adoption.

Companies Doing AI Right

NetSpeek's Lena agent drew attention for its ability to autonomously resolve device issues across multi-vendor video environments. Meanwhile, Cisco and Neat's Intelligent Director capabilities impressed with smarter, more natural camera switching in meeting rooms.

Not all the conversation was positive. Deep fake detection emerged as a pressing concern – underscored by Zoom's subsidiary BrightHire launching a deep fake detection tool for video job interviews just days after the event. Privacy, security, and governance were recurring themes throughout.

As Lazar noted:

"There's going to be a battle between the good and the evil – and I think you'll continue to see that play out."

Looking Ahead

Lazar also flagged the growing convergence between Infocomm and the broader enterprise collaboration market, and called for more developer-focused workshops around low-code and no-code AI tools at future events.

For now, the industry's challenge is less about embracing AI and more about deploying it responsibly – with the right guardrails, governance, and security measures in place to match its growing ambition.

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