It's a wrap! Takeaways from Integrate 2026

For the first time, Gencom exhibited at this year’s Integrate trade show in Sydney. Integrate brings together the full professional AV ecosystem, spanning commercial AV, live events, IT, broadcasting and emerging technologies. That breadth gives us the opportunity to meet a much wider range of organisations, including many that do not think of themselves as media companies but nevertheless need to produce professional media within their organisations.

Following a tip from our friends at Ross Video, we visited last year’s event and found it noticeably more dynamic than some of the broadcast-focused trade shows we had attended recently. It struck us as a good opportunity to meet people looking for professional AV production tools and expertise, while also catching up with existing customers, partners, and colleagues. 

So this year, we decided to make Integrate a major focus of our marketing efforts—and all indications are that it was a good decision. 

Because Gencom’s product representation differs between Australia and New Zealand, we wanted the stand to reflect what remains consistent across both markets: our capabilities as a systems integrator. Rather than building the stand around a single manufacturer, we brought together complementary technologies from a range of partners into a series of interconnected demonstrations. This gave us the flexibility to tailor each conversation and demonstration to the interests of the customer in front of us. 

We were fortunate to have the support of some key partners in bringing the stand together. In particular, we are grateful to AI-Media and Konos Sound for joining us on the stand and demonstrating their latest technologies. We also greatly appreciate the support of Mo-Sys, ARRI, Blonde Robot (distributors for BirdDog, Netgear and AJA) Focus Group Technologies (Lenovo), Syntec (Radius Windshields, Beyerdynamic, Fostex), Eizo,  and Sennheiser, all of whom contributed equipment or expertise.  And, a special thanks also to Halter Technical for providing Elite Monitor Pro headphones and Peeko IFB Stealth Headsets for our pro audio prize draw.

One part of our original plan proved more ambitious than expected. We had intended to present a complete live virtual-production workflow, but we were not able to bring every element together to the standard we wanted within the show’s setup window. Rather than present a compromised workflow, we focused the live demonstration on the elements we could show properly. 

We are particularly grateful to Mo-Sys for loaning us a StarTracker camera-tracking system and contributing many hours of engineering support. Visitors could see StarTracker operating live on an ARRI ALEXA 35, while a pre-recorded demonstration showed the capabilities of the complete MoStudio environment. 

The rest of the demonstrations more than rose to the occasion. 

AI-Media demonstrated its LEXI platform for live automated captioning and translation. Visitors could speak on the stand and see their words captioned and translated into languages including Mandarin and Italian in real time—an immediate illustration of how the technology can make live content accessible to broader audiences. 

We were also joined by Seamus Rowe from Dotterel Technologies, representing some impressive Kiwi innovation with the new Konos Digital microphone. Its compact body contains an 80-element microphone array, with audio and power carried over a single Ethernet connection. Instead of relying on a fixed pickup pattern, the microphone can electronically adjust or steer its coverage to focus on the part of a scene the operator wants to capture. It was one of those technologies that quickly made people stop and ask, “How does that work?” 

Konos formed the centrepiece of the professional audio side of the stand, where we also presented a range of location-sound and monitoring technologies. These included industry-leading wireless microphone systems from Lectrosonics; Halter Technical’s cost-effective headsets and critical monitoring solutions; WildTrax location-sound recording software; Radius Windshields’ broadcast-quality microphone windshields and shock mounts; Beyerdynamic professional studio headphones, and Fostex’s enduring 6301 monitor loudspeaker. 

Elsewhere on the stand, we demonstrated an HDR colour-grading workflow built around EIZO’s ColorEdge CG3100X DCI 4K monitor, DaVinci Resolve and EditShare’s portable, NVMe-based Ultimate EFS Field shared-storage system. 

Connecting the demonstrations was Roland’s VR-120HD production AV mixer, giving us a flexible way to route SDI, HDMI and analogue audio around the stand to multiple displays and our Neumann KH 120 II monitor loudspeakers. 

A BirdDog XL Ultra camera completed the production setup, mounted on a Cartoni Lifto 25 system brought across from New Zealand. Lifto added remote-controlled vertical movement to the camera’s pan, tilt and zoom, enabling more dynamic shots than a conventional fixed-height PTZ installation. Together, the two products created a capable robotic camera system that was still compact enough for us to transport from Auckland for the show. 

Beyond the technology, however, the real value of Integrate was the people. 

Throughout the show we saw plenty of familiar faces and met many new ones. On the first evening, Gencom hosted a “Drinks and Nibbles” gathering at Fratelli Fresh, just in front of the convention centre. It gave us an opportunity to continue conversations away from the noise of the exhibition floor: catching up with old friends, getting to know new ones, and hearing more about the projects and challenges people are working on. 

The “nibbles” turned out to be rather more substantial than advertised, with a steady supply of gourmet pizzas, sliders and risotto ensuring that those who stayed with us until the end certainly did not leave hungry. 

By the time we packed up the stand, the consensus was clear: Integrate had been a successful first outing for Gencom. The combination of broadcast, professional AV, live production and emerging technologies reflects the increasingly diverse projects our customers are undertaking. It also gave us the chance to demonstrate what Gencom does best: bringing different technologies together into practical, integrated solutions. 

Back home in Auckland, the feeling is that Integrate may well become a regular fixture on our calendar. 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the stand, stopped by for a demonstration, joined us for a drink, or simply came over to say hello. We’ll see you next time.