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What is Unified Communications — and why is it now critical to how we work?

In this episode of Behind the Rack, we’re joined by Josh Blalock (Shure, Microsoft MVP) to break down the evolution of UC and collaboration technology — from the pandemic-driven boom to today’s shift toward AI-powered meeting experiences.

We explore how platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom are shaping the modern workplace, why meeting rooms are being redesigned, and how audio and video quality now directly impact AI-driven workflows.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone in AV, IT, or business leadership looking to understand where collaboration technology is heading next.

In this episode:

• What Unified Communications (UC) means
• Microsoft Teams vs Zoom trends
• How AI is transforming meetings
• Why meeting room design matters more than ever
• The shift toward simple, scalable AV solutions
• The importance of audio quality in AI workflows
• What organizations are getting wrong about collaboration

About the guest:

Josh Blalock is Director of Collaboration Ecosystem & Engagement at Shure and a Microsoft MVP with over 20 years of experience in enterprise communications, Microsoft Teams, and collaboration technologies.

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Immersive technology is rapidly evolving — and it’s starting to intersect with the world of professional AV in new and interesting ways.

In this episode of Behind the Rack, we’re joined by Daniel Grozdavov from Imagine360 to explore the world of Extended Reality (XR) and how technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are reshaping how organizations communicate, train, and create experiences.

Together, we discuss what immersive technology really means beyond the buzzwords, how these environments are built, and where XR may intersect with the ProAV ecosystem.

Topics include:
• Understanding XR, VR, and AR
• How immersive experiences are designed
• Applications in storytelling, education, and experiential environments
• The role AV infrastructure plays in immersive deployments
• The future of immersive technology

Whether you work in ProAV, broadcast, content creation, or experiential design, this episode explores how immersive technology is beginning to influence the next generation of AV experiences.

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Infrastructure isn’t the flashy part of an AV system — but it’s the part that determines whether everything works… or fails when it matters most.

In this episode of Behind the Rack, we break down the most common infrastructure mistakes we see across Commercial AV, Pro Live, Broadcast, and Enterprise deployments.

From poor bandwidth planning and VLAN misconfiguration to IT & AV misalignment, lack of redundancy, and scalability blind spots — we’re talking about the real-world issues that cause instability, downtime, and expensive rework.

If you’re deploying AV-over-IP, wireless microphone systems, IPTV, or live production environments, this episode will help you design smarter from day one.

🎧 Topics include:

• Why infrastructure often gets overlooked
• Network & bandwidth planning pitfalls
• IT and AV alignment challenges
• Segmentation and VLAN mistakes
• Redundancy and single points of failure
• Future-proofing for scalability
• Documentation & commissioning gaps

Strong infrastructure isn’t optional — it’s foundational.