Display Endpoint Architectures

In professional mission critical control rooms and enterprise visualization environments, product companies typically deliver content to displays using one of two architectural approaches:

1. Distributed endpoints (“a node behind every display”)

2. Centralized display compute (“a software-defined workstation/server driving the wall”)

Both models exist across the industry, but they optimize for very different priorities. Understanding the tradeoffs is essential when choosing platforms that must balance performance, flexibility, cost, and resilience.

In a distributed model, each display (or small group of displays) has its own dedicated hardware endpoint—typically a compact decoder or processor node located behind the screen.

Modular expansion

Distributed systems can be extended one display at a time by adding another endpoint.

Localized failures

If one device fails, only that display is affected rather than the entire wall.

Effective for basic distribution

For signage-style use cases or simple video routing, distributed nodes can be a workable approach.

Higher cost per display output

Purpose-built video wall processor nodes are often expensive relative to the compute they provide. At scale, the cost of “one node per screen” adds up quickly.

Increased operational overhead

Large deployments may require dozens of endpoints, each needing configuration, firmware updates, monitoring, and replacement planning.

Synchronization challenges

Maintaining seamless motion and perfect alignment across a large wall is inherently more difficult when content is rendered independently across multiple devices.

Performance constraints

Compact endpoints are often limited in GPU horsepower, bandwidth, and multi-layer compositing—especially for high-resolution, real-time visualization environments.

In a centralized model, a single high-performance computer drives the display wall directly. This is the architecture used by vis|ability, where the display endpoint is a powerful software-driven system rather than a collection of specialty manufactured distributed nodes.

A key advantage of this approach is that it scales naturally by machine size:

• A small form factor (SFF) system can power a single display or compact wall

• A workstation-class system can drive large multi-output video walls

• The same vis|ability software platform remains consistent across all endpoints

Exceptional performance at a lower cost point

Modern SFF PCs and GPU-enabled workstations provide massive rendering power at a fraction of the cost of many purpose-built distributed processor nodes.

This enables high-performance visualization without the cost multiplication of “one specialized box per screen.”

Lowest latency and highest bandwidth

Because content is rendered directly through GPU outputs rather than streamed through intermediate decoding devices, centralized endpoints deliver:

• Maximum bandwidth, and Minimal latency

• Unlimited scale of sources without requiring dedicated devices to encode (critical for managing many URL sources).

• Superior responsiveness for operators

This is especially important in mission-critical environments.

Seamless synchronization across the wall

Driving multiple outputs from a unified GPU pipeline provides exceptional visual continuity. Video playback, motion, and window placement remain perfectly aligned—critical for large-format display walls.

Breadth of source types: Full application and workflow flexibility

Centralized display compute natively supports the client's complete information ecosystem.  In a “distributed” model, the same sources must often first be captured and encoded (usually with compression, which can introduce some loss of detail) and then streamed to the nodes, which typically results in higher latency.

• Web dashboards

• SCADA and industrial platforms

• VMS and security systems

• Collaboration tools like Teams and Zoom

• Specialized operator applications

• HDMI captures

The displays behaves as an extension of the operator desktop, not a constrained appliance endpoint.

A common perceived disadvantage of a centralized endpoint is that it is a single point of failure.  However, the vis|ability software itself provides an important advantage:  software-level flexibility in the event of a failure.

Within the software, including the Spaces feature, vis|ability can dynamically “cast” or reassign any operating picture to:

• Any available display endpoint

• Any set of users or operator workstations

• Any alternate visualization space within the environment

This means that if one endpoint becomes unavailable, operators can easily redirect critical content to other displays or users—maintaining situational awareness without being tied to a single physical node.

Resilience is achieved not only through hardware, but through the adaptability of the software platform itself.

Managing Windows-Based Endpoints in Mission-Critical Environments

Some integrators initially assume that a Windows-based display endpoint will be difficult to manage over the long term, particularly due to concerns around:

• Security patching and update cycles

• Unexpected driver changes

• Reboots at inopportune times

• The perception that “Windows PCs break more easily than appliances”

These concerns are understandable—especially when compared to fixed-function decoder nodes.

However, in practice, modern centralized display compute platforms like vis|ability are deployed very differently than a general-purpose unmanaged PC. See how we do it Here.

Output density requires thoughtful design

Very large display walls require appropriate GPU and chassis planning, but modern display compute platforms scale significantly with the right configuration.  The Solutions Design team can readily certify that the computer in your client environment driving such an endpoint meets our specifications.

Distributed nodes can be suitable for basic video distribution especially for signage and general AV, but modern control rooms and high-performance visualization environments increasingly benefit from centralized, software-defined display compute.

When requirements include:

• Perfect wall synchronization

• Low-latency interaction

• Multitude of sources, both types and quantities

• Cost-effective scaling from 1 display to massive walls

• Software-level resilience through dynamic reassignment

A monolithic endpoint architecture, as implemented by vis|ability, provides a stronger foundation and a more future-proof platform.