Frustrated by manufacturers who can't deliver? Join us to learn how to design systems that are not impacted by a single vendor's ability to deliver hardware. By selecting hardware from interoperable ecosystems, and relying more on software, you can protect your bottom line the way IT shops already do. This session will start with an overview of the AV electronics supply chain, from raw materials to microchips and components, all the way to manufactured finished products. Leveraging that baseline knowledge, we will explore the forces that have impacted this supply chain in the past few years - geopolitics, COVID, and finance. And then we will get our head out of the "how-did-we-get-here" clouds and into practical realities. The system designer needs to develop an understanding of technologies and platforms that offer interoperability between manufacturers - so that they never find themselves tied to a single vendor who may or may not be ready to deliver. We also, as an industry, need to encourage manufacturers to adopt interoperable hardware solutions, and to focus as much as possible on software-based solutions, which are far less affected by the manufacturing supply chain in the first place. The talk will wrap up with an overview of technologies and platforms available today that enable designers to make the choices that protect their businesses' bottom line. We will discuss at least five platforms that are software-based, or built on multi-vendor interoperable hardware.