Video Walls in 2025: LED, IP, and Automation Take Over
The visualization segment of security and control rooms has seen significant development over the past few years. What began as a simple array of LCD panels has evolved into sophisticated LED displays, supported by IP networks, centralized management, and automated decision-making mechanisms.
By Mirza Bahić
A recently held webinar titled “Video Walls in 2025 – A Changing Landscape” provided a detailed insight into the industry trends shaping this sector over the past years, with a more than fitting title. Participants analyzed global technology trends in control rooms using the example of Datapath’s platform, whose functions served as a mirror reflecting how the industry is responding to growing demands for video wall functionality and security.
These demands are largely shaped today by the increased circulation of data, which is now available in greater volumes due to the rising number of high-resolution video sources. In addition to these, there are also SCADA control panels, network feeds, and other content that increasingly push operators to demand access to real-time 4K video, both at their workstations and on large video walls. Traditional video distribution systems are starting to lose ground when it comes to keeping pace with this technological tempo.
LED modules, once reserved for trade show attractions, now dominate rooms, offering greater brightness, uniformity, and pixel density compared to their LCD predecessors.
Thus, it is crucial that modern technologies remove all distribution, processing, and display challenges for video walls via IP networks and ensure that every pixel reaches its intended destination with minimal latency and maximum security.
According to Tibbitt, “LED giants are becoming more and more impressive with more and more pixels,” pushing designers and engineers to select pixel sizes based on viewing distances and the type of content, whether it be IPTV feeds or SCADA outputs.
Importance of LED Technology and Pixel Density
“The operator workstation is a miniature video wall in its own right, given the number of pixels it’s got on there,” says Matthew Tibbitt, Senior Product Manager at Datapath. This transformation at the operator level reflects broader changes in control rooms, where a rapid transition to LED video walls is underway. LED modules, once reserved for trade show attractions, now dominate rooms, offering greater brightness, uniformity, and pixel density compared to their LCD predecessors.
According to Tibbitt, “LED giants are becoming more and more impressive with more and more pixels,” pushing designers and engineers to select pixel sizes based on viewing distances and the type of content, whether it be IPTV feeds or SCADA outputs. This shift allows for reducing the overall dimensions of video walls without sacrificing clarity, which is a major advantage in facilities where space is limited.
In modern control rooms, the rise of high-resolution video content has created unprecedented pressure on audiovisual (AV) infrastructure.
Intelligent Automation and Event-Driven Workflows
Another important current trend in video wall technology is the integration of event-driven automation.
Modern systems today “listen” for different triggers in the form of SNMP notifications, MQTT messages, API calls, or even video signal losses and respond to them immediately.
For example, when a camera failure is detected, platforms automatically switch to a backup data source. In case of an emergency, they can perform operations like dimming lights, activating hallway warning indicators, and displaying incident footage on briefing room screens—all without operator intervention. This level of automation not only speeds up response times but also frees up operators to focus on making critical decisions.
Operators in modern control rooms have replaced the once-standard single-screen setups with multiple 4K monitors, effectively creating their own video walls at each workstation.
Growing Hunger for Data
In modern control rooms, the rise of high-resolution video content has created unprecedented pressure on audiovisual (AV) infrastructure. Operators today monitor dozens of UHD streams simultaneously, whether it’s CCTV, IPTV, footage from wearable cameras, or web-based command dashboards.
At the same time, they expect every image displayed to be crystal clear. This reality has evolved into the formula “more data = more pixels,” where operators continuously seek network architectures and video wall controllers capable of transferring terabytes of data per second, without compromising on latency or image quality.
Standardized IP networks offer the flexibility to route any AV data source to any point of display, such as a desktop monitor, video wall, or briefing room screen.
The volume of data continues to grow rapidly, making it increasingly difficult for solutions that cannot meet the rising demand for high-resolution and faithful image rendering to survive in the market.
Workstations as Miniature Video Walls
Going back to the notion that workstations have become miniature video walls, one can say that, alongside the rise of LED technology, the long-term rapid growth of display resolutions has played a significant role in this trend. In fact, operators in modern control rooms have replaced the once-standard single-screen setups with multiple 4K monitors, effectively creating their own video walls at each workstation. More pixels at the operator’s workstation allow for a greater amount of information to be displayed locally, improving situational awareness and reducing reliance on large, centralized video walls.
The final factor in this equation is the design of the control room itself, where video walls play an important role.
In other words, poorly planned spaces can literally be dangerous in these environments. “We’re that central hub of the visualization data. If it’s difficult, if it’s an encumbrance, if it’s cumbersome to deal with, or stuff is not where you expect it to be, not where it was last time, that’s going to make you a much less effective operator”, says Tibbitt.
Centralized Management
At the core of modern video wall setups lies the convergence of AV and IP networks. Integrated platforms separate the sources from the point of display, enabling any input content to be securely distributed throughout the facility, whether it’s a live camera feed, a server stream, or video from a laptop.
According to Tibbitt, Datapath has focused its development on the principle of “anything, anywhere,” ensuring that every stream is delivered with minimal latency and organization-level encryption. This consolidation-focused approach is intended to replace the maze of computers under desks and outdated video controllers, offering administrators a single interface for configuring video walls, workstations, and auxiliary rooms.
AV devices, including video walls, have gradually transformed from isolated display controllers into powerful integrated tools for data visualization.
Transition to IP Networks
To meet new demands, control rooms are moving away from closed matrix video infrastructures in favor of AV over IP networks. Standardized IP networks offer the flexibility to route any AV data source to any point of display, such as a desktop monitor, video wall, or briefing room screen. This approach not only simplifies cabling and installation but also enables virtually unlimited scalability, with no restrictions on the number of inputs and outputs.
However, IP networks also introduce new challenges, particularly in terms of security and latency, which must be addressed to protect critical operations.
Minimizing Latency and the Potential for Errors is Key
In environments where data integrity and access control are crucial, encryption is not just an option but a necessity.
Modern AV-over-IP solutions use AES encryption with rotating keys, ensuring the protection of video, audio, and control signals.
Additionally, integrated KVM functionality enables operators to switch from one source to another within one or two frames, eliminating delays and reducing cognitive load during stressful situations. Consistent user interfaces across multiple points of display further reduce the need for training and the risk of human error.
Moreover, modern control rooms today handle extremely sensitive data, such as live footage, incident reports, and critical dashboards. Transmitting this data over IP networks exposes it to potential cybersecurity threats unless robust encryption measures are implemented. Advanced solutions use AES encryption with rotating keys to keep content unreadable even in the event of interception.
On the latency front, the expansion of 10 GbE networks and the adoption of lossless visual compression techniques have enabled the transmission of uncompressed or minimally compressed video with delays of less than a millisecond. This can be crucial in control scenarios where every millisecond on the ground can literally mean the difference between life and death.
The Evolution of AV Technology’s Role
Beyond traditional sectors like emergency services and utilities, IP-based control rooms now also serve areas like cybersecurity, smart cities, and education. Centralized monitoring of network security has become essential as organizations increasingly manage a dispersed workforce. At the same time, local municipal agencies today use control rooms to manage traffic, environmental sensors, and energy grids, requiring seamless integration of video walls with IoT devices, building management systems, and unified communication platforms.
AV devices, including video walls, have gradually transformed from isolated display controllers into powerful integrated tools for data visualization. Solutions like VuWall’s Application Server, for example, can stream and share dashboards, web applications, and video content across a network, eliminating the need for a dedicated computer per application.
Simultaneously, KVM over IP is gaining importance not only for remote access but also for enhancing security.
By relocating critical servers and workstations to secure central locations, organizations reduce internal threats and improve environmental control, while allowing operators seamless access to desktop stations through encrypted KVM streams.
In 2025, video walls are no longer passive display surfaces but intelligent, networked systems that synthesize data, security, and automation.
Integrating AI and AV Technology on the Video Wall
Artificial intelligence will also play an increasingly important role in the operation of control rooms. While AI analytics already support video surveillance and fault detection systems, tighter integration with AV platforms promises to automate situational workflows.
Imagine a scenario where AI detects a break-in alarm via access control sensors, automatically correlates the data with CCTV analytics, and immediately sends relevant footage to the main video wall and remote dispatcher centers. As AI becomes more sophisticated, it will coordinate cross-sector responses—like police, fire, and emergency medical services—by synchronizing voice, video, and data streams into unified and automated briefings.
Smarter, Faster, and More Secure Future for Video Walls?
In 2025, video walls are no longer passive display surfaces but intelligent, networked systems that synthesize data, security, and automation. From LED screens to personalized video walls at workstations, today’s platforms must deliver the right information to the right people at the right time.
Video wall technology today is defined by its ability to absorb increasing volumes of high-resolution video, protect that data across IP networks, and deliver it with low latency wherever it’s needed. Proprietary platforms like Datapath’s Aetria illustrate the trend toward integrated AV-over-IP solutions, although approaches focused on open development are also gaining attention for their interoperability and flexibility.
As pixel density continues to rise and event-driven workflows mature into standard practice, organizations can benefit from improved situational awareness and optimized operations that characterize next-generation video walls. At the same time, control rooms are evolving into collaborative IT hubs for managing cyber threats and smart cities, where the fusion of AV, IP, and AI on video walls will be key to operational excellence and rapid response.
Smarter Learning Spaces with Video Walls
Although these systems are primarily designed for 24/7 critical operations, the principles behind video wall usage are applicable to a variety of environments, from retail spaces to educational campuses.
The flexibility of AV-over-IP and centralized management allows existing infrastructure to be repurposed to deliver customized content to meeting rooms, classrooms, and auditoriums with minimal reconfiguration.
In modern classrooms, for example, the screen becomes yet another display node on the campus IP network.
With proper user authentication, instructors can stream high-resolution presentations, remote demonstrations, and multimedia resources directly to screens in any room, pulling content from central repositories or laptops.
This IP-focused approach eliminates the need for dedicated computers, reduces cabling complexity, and allows IT staff to centrally manage updates and security, making it easier to transform rooms into interactive and scalable learning environments.
Demand for All-in-One Products
As an example of technological development driven by current user demands for video walls, the webinar also focused on Datapath’s proprietary platform Aetria, described as a solution for the design, management, and operation of control rooms.
As an example of hardware and software convergence, Aetria combines video capture cards, AV distribution over IP, and visualization into a single interface. This allows administrators to centrally manage data sources and associated templates.
Its event recognition engine supports scripting of complex scenarios, such as triggers in the form of light alerts and access control via standard protocols like API calls, SNMP signals, or signal loss warnings. In such cases, automatic switching to backup data sources occurs. Emergency content is then highlighted by blinking frames or by activating external systems such as light dimming or warning indicators. Although its proprietary nature may narrow its field of application, Aetria can also be seen as a wish list of users seeking a unified solution for pixel management, security, automation, and operator ergonomics under one roof.
