AVI-SPL Company Profile

AVI-SPL is the largest AV integration firm in North America. For 2018 it’s projecting $805 million in annual revenue with 2,300 employees.

Tampa, Fla.-based AVI-SPL provides audio; video; unified communications and collaboration (UCC); automation; digital signage and other integrated technology solutions and managed services to commercial customers across just about every vertical market – including Fortune 500 companies, medium-sized companies, small businesses, higher education, K-12 schools, government agencies, government facilities, hospitality and more.

By most standards, the integrator has been the AV integration industry’s largest and leading integration firm since it was created via the merger of Audio Visual Innovations, Inc. (“AVI”) and Signal Perfection, Ltd. (“SPL”) in 2008.

Led by CEO John Zettel, AVI-SPl has grown significantly since then in part organically and in large part via acquisition.

However, AVI-SPL’s focus is less on growth and more on making sure it’s in a position to solve customers’ evolving business and technology challenges.

“Our guiding principle is definitely our customers and what they are looking for in the collaboration space and that has changed a lot,” said Zettel in a recent interview with Commercial Integrator.

“Not only has video conferencing become more important as connected solutions become more important, but then the consistency of delivery and the serviceability of that – of those systems – have become critically important. So we’ve changed a great deal in terms of how we can best deliver on those principles, again, just really focused on what the customer expectations and needs are.”

What Does AVI-SPL Stand For?

While there have been countless mergers and acquisitions in the AV integration market over the last decade or so, it’s hard to imagine one more impactful than when Audio Visual Innovations, Inc. and  Signal Perfection, Ltd. announced their merger in 2008.

Since that moment all other North American AV integration firms have been looking up at AVI-SPL, the highest revenue-earning company in the market.

Newly formed AVI-SPL boasted an industry-leading 1,200 employees in 2008.

Audio Visual Innovations (AVI) and Signal Perfection, Ltd., formed the company.

At the time of the merger in 2008 then executive chairman of AVI-SPL Martin Schaffel said it allowed the newly formed company “to build on their respective track records by creating a new company with a national and global presence while offering our customers a wide range of services that are consistent and compatible across geographies and throughout an enterprise.

“Our customers can now employ just one company for all of their AV needs for all of their locations across the map.”

The newly formed AVI-SPL boasted an industry-leading 1,200 employees in 2008. For 2018, the integrator is reporting projected revenue of $805 million with 2,300 employees.

Who Owns AVI-SPL?

In 2016, AVI-SPL itself was acquired by H.I.G. Capital (“H.I.G.”), a leading global private equity investment firm at the time with $19 billion of equity capital under management.

That relationship strengthened AVI-SPL to invest in even more growth, subsequently bulking up its global presence and making key North American integration firm acquisitions such as Anderson AV and Sharp’s AV.

AVI-SPL Annual Revenues

The industry’s largest company projected $720 million in revenues for 2017 and it seems to be inching closer to becoming the first billion-dollar behemoth in AV with the backing of H.I.G. Capital.

“We are very focused [on the global market],” says AVI-SPL CEO John Zettel.

“The enterprise customer is now a global customer and not only do they want consistency of design and consistency; they want to increase utilization. They definitely want serviceability and then the managed services that drive utilization even further. And that’s where there is a tremendous value to having one AV integrator be able to provide that umbrella. Geographical presence plays a critical part of that.”

While revenue streams are not always reflective of employee job satisfaction, Zettel found himself outranking Apple’s Tim Cook in a recent survey about employee happiness by Glassdoor.

AVI-SPL Acquisition of VideoLink

As a leading AV integration firm, AVI-SPL has demonstrated a pattern of recognizing market opportunities and investing in them. As such, it was noteworthy when AVI-SPL acquired Newton, Mass.-based video services provider VideoLink in in early 2017.

In acquiring the Boston-based company with six Northeast locations, the company brought several video services in-house including video production and content creation.

A key component of the acquisition allows AVI-SPL to tap into VideoLink’s patented ReadyCam video studio — essentially a customized production studio created by VideoLink for customers’ specific spaces and purposes that provides customers with cameras, production technology, lighting and everything needed to create videos in their spaces without the need for expertise while production is handled remotely as a service by VideoLink.

AVI-SPL sales professionals can appeal to customers’ need for content creation across all markets by presenting the ReadyCam and offering a video content-related managed service.

Shortly after their acquisition of VideoLink, Richard Silton, president and CEO of VideoLink, joined AVI-SPL CEO John Zettel to discuss the marriage with CI editor Tom LeBlanc inside the Newton, Mass., studio.

About AVI-SPL

6301 Benjamin Road, Suite 101
Tampa, FL 33634

866-708-5034

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