The Conference Debrief: Integrate

Fresh from Integrate in Sydney, AV/UC General Manager Cat Brier and AV/UC Business Development Manager Kevin Cantu join us for this edition of The Conference Debrief.

Integrate Sydney provided no shortage of innovation, insight, and conversation. Taking time to reflect on the event, we've pulled together some of the standout themes, emerging trends, and key takeaways gathered from our vendors, partners, and our own experience on the show floor, along with what they mean for partners navigating the evolving AV/UC landscape. 

Kev's Korner - The Show Floor Through Kev's Lens 

Kev took a moment out of the busy schedule to walk the show floor and chat with our vendors and partners about the emerging trends, technology highlights and what stood out from the event, here’s what he had to say.

AI was everywhere! From AI agents and meeting facilitators to smarter devices and automation, AI is quickly becoming part of the everyday meeting experience. What was particularly interesting was seeing hardware vendors evolve their solutions to support the latest and upcoming AI capabilities within Microsoft Teams Rooms, bringing more intelligence directly into the meeting space.

LED was another stand-out category, with continued innovation and a growing range of solutions making it an increasingly compelling option across workplace, collaboration and broader commercial AV environments.

We also saw the continued convergence of AV and IT, with the lines between the two becoming increasingly blurred as technology becomes more connected and intelligent.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway was that it’s becoming less about individual products and more about the overall experience. Customers are looking for complete solutions that work seamlessly together, are easy for end users to use and, importantly, simple for IT teams to deploy, manage and support. Cameras, microphones and displays are all becoming smarter, but the goal isn’t necessarily more technology, it’s better technology that simply works.

And finally, while the technology continues to evolve at pace, people and relationships still matter. Strong brands, trusted partners, local expertise and having someone you can actually pick up the phone and call remain incredibly valuable in an increasingly complex AV/UC and AI landscape.

Microsoft AI Powered Workplace: What's Next? 

AI is rapidly changing the Teams Rooms experience, with Microsoft moving towards a more agentic workplace where AI can actively assist, rather than simply respond.

Facilitator is becoming your virtual host in the meeting room, an AI presence you can interact with to help run the meeting and make the room more intuitive to use.
Imagine walking into a room and asking Facilitator to:

• Start your meeting
• Explain how to use the room
• Capture key decisions and action items
• Answer a question that comes up during the discussion

It can even help with practical room queries, such as finding a larger meeting space or checking the weather. Facilitator is available across both Teams Rooms on Android (MTRoA) and Teams Rooms on Windows (MTRoW) devices, with its capabilities continuing to evolve as Microsoft develops the agent further.

Interpreter is bringing AI-powered translation directly into the meeting room, allowing participants speaking different languages to communicate more naturally. You can set the language for the room, with Interpreter translating the conversation between meeting rooms in real time. Interpreter is currently available on MTRoW devices, with support for MTRoA coming soon. As these capabilities continue to evolve, the role of the meeting room is shifting from simply connecting people to actively helping them collaborate.

This rapid development is also driving innovation in MTR hardware, with cameras, microphones and room systems needing to keep pace with the AI capabilities coming through the platform. Understanding the differences between MTRoA and MTRoW, and ensuring the right hardware and Teams Rooms Pro licence are in place, will be increasingly important as customers look to take advantage of these new experiences. Ultimately, the meeting room is becoming more than a place to connect, it’s becoming an intelligent participant in the way we work.

Barco ClickShare makes meeting rooms flexible 

Barco ClickShare showcased a strong focus on making meeting rooms more flexible without compromising the simplicity of a standardised room environment.

A key highlight was the recent Wireless BYOD firmware released for ClickShare Hub, which allows users to walk into a Microsoft Teams Room, connect their laptop using the next-generation ClickShare Button and run a Zoom, Google Meet or Webex meeting from their own device, while still using the room’s camera, microphone, speakers and display. It’s a smart solution for the reality of modern workplaces, where meetings don’t always follow the platform or room setup originally planned, giving users the flexibility to bring their own meeting platform while allowing IT to maintain a consistent room environment.

Intelligent, Secure, Interactive - Keep it CommBox!

Designed around productivity, collaboration and enterprise needs, Huntsman brings features including faster access to apps and files, OneDrive, SharePoint and Google Drive integration, enhanced Whiteboard and Microsoft Intune integration for greater IT control and security.

Of course, CommBox did things the CommBox way, bringing plenty of personality to the show with CommBox-brewed beers flowing and the CommBox News Network broadcasting LIVE from the stand each day.

Looking ahead, CommBox sees interactive displays becoming increasingly intelligent, secure and integrated into everyday workflows, with AI moving beyond novelty to solve practical user needs. With an NPU already built into the Classic S5, CommBox is continuing to develop their hardware with a purposeful approach to AI, focusing on technology that genuinely improves the user experience and adds value.

Shure: Intelligent Audio for the AI Powered Workplace 

Shure put intelligent audio at the heart of their Integrate 2026 Demo Day, showcasing how high-quality, AI-enabled audio is becoming critical as Microsoft Teams Rooms gets smarter.

The IntelliMix® Bar Pro stood out as a true all-in-one Android solution, combining video, audio, integrated compute and built-in IntelliMix DSP in a single Teams-certified device, with four 4K AI-powered cameras, array microphones, stereo speakers and AI framing.

The MXA925 Ceiling Array Microphone takes this further with on-device AI processing, running AI Acoustic Echo Cancellation, AI Denoiser and AI Deverb directly on the microphone to deliver cleaner, more intelligible speech.

As features such as Facilitator, Copilot and intelligent transcription rely on accurate voice capture, Shure is putting intelligence directly at the edge - creating the clean audio foundation needed to make these AI experiences work at their best.

Neat: From Passive Space, to Thinking Environments 

 
At Integrate 2026, Neat reinforced their focus on innovation, AI and the future of collaboration, with the launch of Neat Pad 2, Pad Pro and Board 32 Teams Certified as key highlights. Neat are focused on moving meeting rooms from passive spaces to “thinking environments”, with intelligent hardware designed to support the growing range of AI-powered software and collaboration features coming to market.

Features such as Intelligent Framing and Speaker Focus demonstrate how Neat devices can sense what’s happening in the room and respond in real time, creating more natural and intuitive meeting experiences. With support for Teams, Google Meet, Zoom and BYOD, Neat is building the smarter, simpler hardware foundation that enables customers to take advantage of the next generation of AI-powered collaboration.

Lenovo: A Flexible Foundation for AI Rooms 

The show highlighted the continued growth and exciting future of the AV industry, with the entire hall dedicated to AV and Security moving upstairs.

AI is moving conferencing technology beyond simply enabling video calls, with intelligent features such as meeting notes, room readiness, troubleshooting and AI-powered assistance becoming increasingly important.

Lenovo’s ThinkSmart Core Gen2 is well positioned for this evolution, offering features such as BYOD, EDID and an NPU for local AI workloads, while Lenovo’s broader presence across multiple vendor stands this year at Integrate demonstrated the value of its flexible Core + Touch platform as a consistent foundation that can work with a wide range of peripherals and help customers and partners embrace the future of AI-powered meeting rooms.

HP Poly: Smarter, More Personalised Collaboration 

Integrate 2026 was a great opportunity to connect with the AV community, our customers and partners, while showcasing how AI is reshaping the way we work and collaborate. We saw strong interest in our latest HP Poly headsets, video collaboration solutions, MCS and WXP, with a clear shift towards smarter, more personalised experiences for both users and IT.

We see AI becoming increasingly embedded across the workplace - from AI PCs and intelligent audio and video devices to smarter meeting spaces and IT management. HP is bringing together the hardware, AI capabilities and workplace insights to make collaboration more seamless, productive and personalised.

What's Next From Us? 

 Ahead of Integrate 2026, we hosted our first Microsoft AI Powered Workplace ‘Sip & Sync’ event, giving partners an early look at the latest AI innovations for Microsoft Teams Rooms.

These themes continued throughout Integrate, with Microsoft and hardware vendors showcasing how meeting room technology is evolving to support the next generation of AI-powered experiences.

We heard you!

Keeping up with Microsoft’s latest developments is extremely valuable, but we know you also want to understand how the hardware is keeping pace and enabling these new experiences — after all, it’s the hardware solutions you’re selling day in and day out! For future partner events, we will ensure to bring you a closer look at both sides of the equation: the latest update from Microsoft and the hardware innovations that will help you bring them to life for your customers.

Looking to bring the latest AV/UC innovations to your customers?

Get in touch with Kevin to book a demo and explore the right solutions for your business.