AV’s Open API Revolution: The Path Forward

In the first part of this series, we explored how open APIs have become essential in the AV world. They simplify integration, break down silos between devices, and unlock new use cases that were hard to imagine just a few years ago. From remote monitoring to multi-vendor automation, APIs are helping AV move faster and scale smarter.

But open APIs only get us so far. To actually deliver on their promise, we need more than just technical access points - we need the right infrastructure behind them. In this post, we’ll look at what that infrastructure should look like, why today’s patchwork approach doesn’t work, and how the AV industry can move toward something truly open, connected, and scalable. 

Why the AV Industry Needs a Cloud API Aggregator

Open APIs are like on-ramps - they make it possible for AV systems to connect and exchange information. But right now, every vendor is building their own on-ramp, and every platform needs to connect to these on-ramps separately. So, although the roads exist, getting on and off them still takes custom work for every device and app.

The result? A tangle of one-off integrations that slows everything down. Every connection has to be rebuilt, tested, and maintained separately. It’s inefficient for manufacturers, overwhelming for integrators, and frustrating for customers.

What’s missing is the infrastructure - a set of roads, intersections, and guidelines that will make it simpler, faster, and more efficient for everybody to get from one place to another. Instead of paving dedicated roads to each on-ramp, one can just connect to the highway and go anywhere. 

In cloud platforms terms - a single, secured set of APIs, aggregating and normalizing all device data, that acts as a common access point. Vendors would only need to integrate once. Third-party apps could talk to any connected device without needing to rebuild each time. Everyone would be driving on the same roads, but all the on-ramps connect to the same “highway”.

From Real-World Complexity to a Scalable AV Cloud

In a typical AV deployment, meeting spaces are filled with devices from multiple vendors - displays, microphones, control systems, and scheduling tools, each with their own APIs and management platforms. While many of these components offer cloud connectivity, integrating them into a unified experience is still a manual, time-consuming process. Every device-to-app connection has to be built, tested, and supported individually. Multiply that across dozens of vendors or hundreds of rooms, and the integration burden quickly becomes unmanageable.

This is the core challenge facing the AV industry: open APIs exist, but without a standardized cloud foundation behind them, they can’t deliver at scale. We’re still relying on a patchwork of one-off solutions.

What’s needed is a common infrastructure - cloud-native APIs designed to support real-time data, remote management, and vendor-agnostic compatibility. When devices and third-party applications connect through a shared model, integration becomes faster, support becomes simpler, and the entire ecosystem becomes more agile.

This shift enables a true platform approach, where devices are modular, interchangeable, and easy to manage. It moves the industry away from reactive problem-solving and toward sustainable, long-term interoperability, which is exactly what modern AV environments demand.

The Solution: A Single API for All Devices

‍Xyte’s Universal Device APIs are here to solve exactly that pain. They are a set of APIs that enable any integrator or 3rd party software platform to easily communicate with any Xyte-supported device. Develop once to retrieve data and send commands in a standardized way to all Zoom Rooms, MS Teams Rooms, Planar displays, Legrand PDUs, and more.

On the other hand, the Universal Device APIs also solve a pain for the device manufacturers supported on Xyte - instead of developing specific integrations to all other platforms, they can develop once for Xyte, and have their devices being supported on any 3rd party platform with minimal effort. 

And the best part? Whenever a new device is added to Xyte - it’s immediately available in any of the 3rd party platforms. No need for extra development 

The Bottom Line

Open APIs have moved the AV industry in the right direction, but they’re only part of the solution. To truly scale and simplify integration, we need a shared foundation - standardized open APIs that connect devices and applications through a single, unified framework.

This approach reduces complexity, accelerates deployment, and opens the door to more flexible, standard solutions. It enables manufacturers, integrators, and software developers to focus on building better products and services - not reworking the same integrations again and again.

At Xyte, we believe this is the logical next step for AV infrastructure, which is why we’ve launched our new Universal Device APIs to address one of the AV industry’s most persistent challenges: the complexity and inefficiency of custom integrations, which often results in a tangled web of incompatible connections between platforms and devices. Xyte’s Universal Device APIs are a set of APIs that enable managed service providers (MSPs), in-house teams, and third-party applications to easily connect their products to any third-party platform, while application developers—such as those building room booking systems—can integrate with all supported devices through one unified interface. This streamlined approach significantly reduces development and maintenance efforts for both manufacturers and developers.

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