What network requirements does a meeting room have?

A modern meeting room needs a dedicated AV VLAN, PoE+ on the access switches feeding ceiling devices and panels, QoS prioritising video conferencing traffic, certificate-based authentication for native room devices, and roughly 5 Mbps symmetric per simultaneous HD VC stream plus headroom. A flat-network deployment is the single most common cause of VC quality complaints across an estate.

The full list of network requirements for a properly deployed room:

• Dedicated AV VLAN. Separate the VC bar, room PC, control processors, ceiling mics and touch panels from the corporate user VLAN. Reduces broadcast traffic, simplifies firewall rules and contains any device that goes rogue.
• PoE+ (802.3at) on access switches. Ceiling array microphones, scheduling panels and many VC bars draw 25.5W or higher. Standard PoE (802.3af, 15.4W) is insufficient for most modern peripherals. PoE++ (802.3bt, 60W+) is increasingly required for high-end devices.
• QoS marking. VC traffic should be DSCP-marked (typically EF for audio, AF41 for video) and prioritised across the network so a large file transfer on the user VLAN doesn't drop call quality.
• Bandwidth. Budget 2 to 5 Mbps symmetric per HD VC stream and 10 to 15 Mbps per 4K stream. A boardroom with 4K main video plus 4K content sharing wants 25 to 30 Mbps headroom per call.
• Multicast support (IGMP snooping). AV-over-IP standards (Crestron NVX, Q-SYS NV-32-H, Dante AV) rely on multicast video and audio. Switches need IGMP snooping with a querier, jumbo frames (9000 MTU) for video, and PTP precision time for synchronisation.
• Certificate-based authentication. Microsoft Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms typically use certificate auth at the device level rather than user passwords. The certificate authority and issuance process should be agreed before kit lands.
• Cloud control reachability. Crestron XiO Cloud, Q-SYS Reflect, Logitech Sync, Poly Lens and Cisco Control Hub all need outbound HTTPS to specific endpoints. Allow-list the manufacturer's documented IPs and FQDNs through the firewall.
• Wi-Fi for guests, wired for room kit. Room devices should sit on wired ports for reliability. Wi-Fi is fine for guest BYOD and wireless presentation (Barco ClickShare, Mersive Solstice), but native MTR/Zoom Rooms hardware on Wi-Fi causes intermittent quality issues.
• DHCP reservations or static IPs. Cloud monitoring and remote support both depend on stable IP assignments per device.

Network-related problems are responsible for a large share of post-install support tickets in poorly-planned estates. Agreeing the network spec with the IT team before the meeting room AV build starts, and signing it off as part of the installation scope, prevents the most common quality issues from ever materialising.

Quick reference: dedicated AV VLAN, PoE+, QoS, ~5 Mbps symmetric per HD VC stream, multicast support, certificate auth for native rooms.