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Gergely Vida | Founder & CEO | Lightware Visual Engineering

Lightware Visual Engineering: A Leading Manufacturer of Highest Quality Audio-Visual Devices

The advancement in technology is driving the world with it. Be it the adoption of cloud-based solutions or the internet of things (IoT). Also, the implementation of AI and ML have prompted the automation process of every sector. The audio-visual sector is no exception to this. The rapid advancement in the AV space is driving the demand for audio-visual systems across multiple end-user industries.

The AV market is enlarging its boundaries each passing day, and organizations are focused on quality and innovation in their devices. One such company is Lightware Visual Engineering, which is a leading manufacturer of DVI, HDMI, and DP matrix switchers and extension systems for the audio-visual market. Being one of the recognized industries, Lightware is developing the highest quality and high-performance products by continuously consulting with design engineers and integrators.

In our quest to find the ‘World’s 10 Best Audio-Visual Solution Providers’, we crossed paths with Gergely Vida, the Founder and CEO of Lightware Visual Engineering. In the following interview, he sheds light on the company’s journey since its inception, its quality services, and the future scope of the audio-visual market.

Please brief our audience about Lightware Visual Engineering, its USPs, and how it is currently positioned as a leading player in the audio-visual solutions niche.

Lightware Visual Engineering is an AV high-fidelity signal management specialist. We have designed, developed, and delivered devices and technologies ever since 1998, serving the global AV industry from 16 offices across the globe.

Shed some light on your solutions/services and how are these making an impact on the industry and your clients?

Our devices are widely regarded in the industry as some of the most reliable and versatile yet intuitive and easy-to-use solutions. To sum up our impact in one sentence: we create the AV technology that makes life easier for partners, from AV integrators to end-users.

Being an experienced leader, share with us your opinion on what impact has the adoption of modern technologies had on the audio-visual solutions space and what more could be expected in the future?

The convergence of IT and AV had a deep impact on our industry. For example, ‘AV-over-IP’ or USB became an organic part of every meeting room, and this trend seems to be continuing.

Software platforms will take over the traditional AV hardware infrastructure (example: Wi-Fi-based connectivity over wired connections or unified communications over the internet will dominate how we communicate both in daily business and private life. The support of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) allows the hybrid workspace to operate smoothly and keep teams together.

Taking into consideration the current pandemic, what initial challenges did you face, and how did you drive your company to sustain operations while ensuring the safety of your employees at the same time?

Activities on certain vertical markets that were previously crucial to us, such as live events, dropped to virtually zero from one day to the other. We’ve shifted our focus to other areas (hybrid workspace, unified communications) to mitigate the impact of this change on our business, while we also successfully transformed our operations to be almost 100% home-office-based during the heights of the pandemic.

But of course, this isn’t only about business objectives and operational goals. It’s an important part of our company culture to support each other through honest discussions and keep the team together through difficult times.

What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the audio-visual solutions market?

According to one of our fellow industry professionals, “The AV world seems all-shiny and attractive for outsiders at first, but once they are in, they realize success in this field requires dedication, discipline, and the acceptance that successes are few and far between.

However, this shouldn’t put off anyone who aspires to develop the next disruptive AV technology. The industry is extremely fast-paced, and it changes quickly. Hence, there is always room for new ideas and innovations and for new players to enter the field.

How do you envision scaling your company’s operations and offerings in the future?

Standardize AV offerings for our customers, who are not only pragmatic but want to be on the safe side even when they innovate their AV systems. We approach our customers with empathy; to understand their problems and their situation.

We also create internal processes and IT systems that support the employee’s daily jobs, and empower the colleagues for making decisions, allow them to fail and always learn from failures. We strongly believe that ultimately, it is individual growth that also drives our growth and success as a business.

Demonstrating Excellence

  • Testimonial 1: Robert McGonigle said in relation to a project for Harvard University – “Due to our recent project involving USB connectivity, I was exposed to other AV technologies, and one device stood out above all the others was the Lightware MMX4x2-HDMI-USB20-L. The team from Lightware were with me along every step of the project, actively supporting the integration process.”
  • Testimonial 2: Phil Hallchurch – VMware – “Lightware have taken the time to understand our needs on a technical and strategic level and have shown dedication to helping us achieve our goals. As an engineering and deployment team, we especially appreciate the reliability and user-friendly configurability of Lightware devices. Lightware products have laid at the heart of our AV standard system designs for approximately 2.5 years, helping to drive the delightful technology experiences our colleagues enjoy across our offices globally.”
  • Recognition: Following years of successful integration of our devices and technologies into Cisco-powered meeting rooms, Lightware has been officially named a Cisco Solutions Plus Partner. We consider this as a recognition of our efforts in helping Cisco users to bring the most out of their Webex Room Devices.

About the Leader

Gergely Vida is the Founder and CEO of Lightware Visual Engineering. He started Lightware over two decades ago, initially being focused on repairing projectors and other AV equipment. As a qualified engineer himself, he saw how these devices could be made better, and as they say, the rest is history. Today, he is still at the forefront of product development, spearheading the company’s efforts to build the AV technologies of the future.

URL: https://lightware.com/