Building the AV over IP infrastructure of the future, one switch at a time
Written By:
NETGEAR Enterprise
LANG AG, a leading European distributor and service provider for professional video applications, has built one of the most ambitious AV over IP test and training environments in the industry, powered entirely by NETGEAR AV switches.
What began as a two-switch test setup for broadcast IP protocols has grown into a 22-switch network spanning multiple buildings, supporting live SMPTE ST 2110 testing, weekly customer training sessions, and fully connected meeting and production spaces.
Built around AV over IP
Founded and headquartered in Germany, LANG AG sits at the intersection of AV manufacturing, systems integration, and live event rental. The company works across Pro video and presentation tech, and has built its reputation on a deep understanding of IP-based AV systems, particularly SMPTE ST 2110 and IPMX workflows. As those protocols are becoming increasingly central to broadcast and live production, LANG AG recognized the need for a permanent, purpose-built infrastructure to support product testing, customer demonstrations, and professional training.
LANG AG is a NETGEAR AV partner, with NETGEAR switches forming part of both the company’s rental inventory and its own internal infrastructure. Sven Bauschke, Director IP Connect at LANG AG and the driving force behind the network, manages a facility that has expanded well beyond its original scope and shows no signs of stopping.
“With NETGEAR, you select the profile and everything is set. You know it works. That peace of mind is very important.” Sven Bauschke, Director IP Connect at LANG AG
A network that kept growing
The story of LANG AG’s NETGEAR deployment starts with a simple frustration: every time engineers wanted to test an ST 2110 or IPMX device, they had to build the network first. The solution was equally simple: two NETGEAR switches, configured as a permanent, always-on test environment. “Our first idea was really small”, explains Sven. “We wanted a test setup that runs 24 hours so we could test devices faster without building everything from scratch each time. We started with two switches.”
But once a dedicated AV-over-IP network is built, it reveals its own possibilities. When LANG’s engineers tried to connect IP-based devices across their existing buildings, the corporate IT team raised concerns about high-bandwidth multicast traffic on the main network. That friction point is familiar to any AV professional who has tried to run ST 2110 alongside general business IT. The answer was a second, parallel infrastructure: a media network built on NETGEAR AV switches, running alongside corporate IT but entirely separate from it.
From two switches it grew to four, then ten, then, when a new building joined the estate, to 22. The LANG ACADEMY, the company’s dedicated training facility located in a separate building, was connected to the same fabric. The network now spans three distinct zones: the main studio area, the LANG ACADEMY in a separate building, and the newest building, where each floor has its own dedicated NETGEAR AV switch. In the Academy specifically, switches are also mounted on the lighting trusses themselves, distributing AV signals directly into the production space rather than just to the rack. What had started as a test bench had become the connective tissue of the entire organization.
“When I’m in one building and I want to make changes in the new building, it’s no problem because it’s all one network. That flexibility is something you simply don’t get with traditional infrastructure”, explains Sven.
One infrastructure, two purposes
The same network that runs LANG AG’s internal operations also serves as its primary customer-facing asset. First, it served as a live testbed, then it became the foundation for the company’s training program.
On the testing side, engineers can evaluate customer equipment against a production-grade ST 2110 environment without the overhead of a temporary rig. The network is configured with full PTP synchronization support, allowing uncompressed video streams to be locked across distributed devices exactly as they would be in a real broadcast installation.
When Sven needs to prepare a test configuration across multiple switches, he pushes profiles to all of them simultaneously through NETGEAR Engage. That task would otherwise require hours of configuration on individual devices.
On the training side, the permanent network connection to the LANG ACADEMY has changed how sessions run. Previously, setting up for a training day meant assembling the network from scratch, which took time away from actual instruction. Now the infrastructure is always there, and instructors walk in ready to teach.
The LANG ACADEMY is also home to the NETGEAR Network Workshop, a formal co-branded training program delivered by Sven as a certified NETGEAR trainer. The program runs at two levels: Level 1 introduces the NETGEAR AV ecosystem, Level 2 goes deeper into configuration, troubleshooting, and protocol-specific deployment. Sessions run weekly, and participants train on the same live switches they will encounter in real-world projects.
Trainee feedback consistently reflects the same realization: that managing a NETGEAR AV network is genuinely different from working with general-purpose IT switches.
Engage’s AV-specific presets, covering NDI, Dante, ST 2110, lighting networks, and many more, mean participants can configure a protocol-ready network through a graphical interface, without needing to learn CLI syntax or enterprise networking conventions.
“When people come to our training and see NETGEAR Engage for the first time, it changes how they think about network management. They see the complexity of other brands, and then they see what NETGEAR makes easy”, says Sven.
The offline configuration feature introduced in Engage 2.4 has extended this further, adding a practical tool for customer consultations. Sven can help a customer design and configure a virtual network topology before any hardware is on site. For those considering a rental or purchase, the ability to model a deployment interactively before committing has become an extremely useful part of the conversation.
“With Engage’s offline feature, you can prepare everything before the switches are even on site. For the pro AV industry, that kind of time saving is very significant.” Sven Bauschke, Director IP Connect at LANG AG
A partnership built on trust
LANG AG’s relationship with NETGEAR is built on more than product compatibility. As a certified partner, the company has direct access to NETGEAR’s technical and engineering teams. Sven describes that channel as one of the things that genuinely differentiates the relationship.
Trust runs through the whole operation. The rental inventory includes NETGEAR AV switches that customers take into live projects. The NETGEAR Network Workshop trains those same customers to manage the equipment themselves. And the internal infrastructure with 22 switches, multiple buildings, and a live 100 Gigabit backbone, is the proof of concept that underpins all of it.
From a two-switch test environment to a multi-building AV-over-IP network: the infrastructure grew because it worked, and it kept growing because the need kept growing with it.
22 switches and counting
- 4 x M4350-16V4C
- 4 x M4350-24G4XF
- 1 x M4350-24F4V
- 6 x M4250-9G1F-PoE+
- 4 x M4250-10G2F-PoE+
- 3 x M4250-10G2XF-PoE+
- NETGEAR Engage management software
“What I appreciate most is that NETGEAR actually listens. When I talk to the engineering team, they understand what we need and what we mean. That responsiveness is something that puts NETGEAR ahead of other brands.”Sven Bauschke, Director IP Connect at LANG AG
