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| A Primedia Property | |
| June 14, 2004 | |
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Table of Contents Corporate A/V Top Story Spread of IP may boost control room business for integrators Installation News Advanced Media Design videoconferencing system to make field debut in Yamaha headquarters Nexo sound reinforcement system installed in World Trade Center Rotterdam Product News Avocent introduces a wireless VGA expansion for Pioneer AMX launches resource management software suite Smart Technologies announces technology breakthrough that advances interactive whiteboard functionality ADVERTISEMENT For over 30 years, Comprehensive has been the professional's choice for premium interface and multimedia products. The new 2004 Comprehensive catalog is packed with thousands of new products including Comprehensive's world famous cables and the latest from Belden, Canare, Kramer, Neutrik much more. Click here for your free copy or shop online at our website www.comprehensiveinc.com Corporate A/V Top Story Spread of IP may boost control room business for integrators If an AV systems integrator has been exploring how to expand into the information technology environment, there's probably been no better time than now, and no better vehicle than the control room. "A lot of AV dealers are really computer-savvy now," notes Eric Wogsberg, president of Jupiter Systems, San Leandro, California. "If a dealer wants to get into the computer side of things, this is the way to do it." Helping to create this new opportunity is the ongoing trend toward moving data worldwide over Internet Protocol-based networks. Although the data to be viewed eventually on a control room display wall may start out in different formats and in different places, once it's in the network it's IP all the way. This greatly simplifies the task of processing and displaying it. A display wall control system today can take multiple incoming data streams in different formats, consolidate them, convert them all to IP and send them out into what Durant calls the "cloud," the worldwide IP network environment. Any remote user, anywhere in that cloud, can access this display information and recreate it without loss. In addition to decisions based on the displays, decisions about the displays can be made anywhere in the network. "Accessing and displaying static computer displays typically used in control and monitoring environments can be done over the client's network and offers attractive cost savings to owners," says Sasha Jevtich, CTS, senior systems designer at AVWashington, Sterling, Virginia. "The use of network remote access has many advantages as the installed costs of analog interfacing, cabling, switching, distribution, and processing are avoided." Some non-IP inputs will still be required, though, if the computer displays must be refreshed constantly. Still, the ability to launch a control room installation without immense new expenditures will appeal to many owners. "It's all IP now, so you don't have to build a whole new infrastructure, and that means a lot more people can do it," says James Durant, market manager/broadcast at Barco Projection Systems, Kennesaw, Georgia. "You can use your existing infrastructure to do much more." Users are also exploring display walls for different reasons today, Durant says. "The 'wow effect' isn't as important now as it was before," he explains. "There's more of a desire to manage the data and interact with the display." Jupiter's Wogsberg attributes the growing interest in control rooms to the fact that there's so much data available to decision-makers today. "Decision-making is complex, yet time is of the essence," he says. What's more, the whole business of designing and building control rooms has changed completely in the last decade. "The overarching issue is a major reduction in cost and improvement in ease-of-use," he notes. "We starting working on projector walls in 1992 when all projectors were CRT-based, very expense ($30K), required a wall structure to be built, were hard to align, costly to maintain, low in brightness, and dealer channels were exclusive, which tended to limit price competition. "Compare that," Wogsberg says, "to the bright, pre-aligned, stackable cubes available today based on digital technology and sold through very competitive non-exclusive reseller channels. With old projectors you not only had a major capital expenditure to get approved, but you also had a construction project. With cubes you can roll them into an existing room, stack them up, connect the display wall controller, and you're in business the same day." Next: A display wall is not just a bigger screen Installation News Advanced Media Design videoconferencing system to make field debut in Yamaha headquarters Reaffirming its commitment to provide systems integrators with highly intuitive, state-of-the-art videoconferencing technologies, Advanced Media Design today announced that the company's platinum dealer and systems integrator ATK of Burbank, California, will implement the first MediaPointe System2i at Yamaha's instrument division U.S. corporate headquarters in Buena Park, California. The installation entails a new first-floor seminar room as well as a second-floor boardroom, both of which will be well equipped with Advanced Media Design's industry standard MediaPointe media-conferencing operating system. The first-floor seminar room at Yamaha will include a DVD player and VCR, high-resolution document camera, Smart Board, motorized drop-down screens, two videoconferencing cameras, four microphones, and a 10,000-lumen Sanyo projector. The second-floor boardroom will consist of 14 microphones, a Sony projector, two cameras, high-resolution document camera, Smart Board, a DVD player and VCR, and a dedicated computer. Both rooms will include the MediaPointe media conferencing platform, which will control digital document cameras, satellite cameras, archival recording/streaming capabilities, eight-channel digital audio processors, wireless microphones, a Tandberg Codec 6000, as well as the systems' automatic camera-switching capabilities. They also include MediaPointe's new wireless PC tablet to provide control for the systems. "In today's digital domain, there is a consistent demand for higher levels of interactivity in a videoconferencing system," said Mark Adams, director of sales and marketing, Advanced Media Design. "With Yamaha, ATK was able to deliver a scalable, integrated system to their customer, offering them complete collaboration tools from a singular source." According to Duncan Foster, director of operations, ATK, the implementation of MediaPointe was envisioned as the panacea to complex control system issues. "MediaPointe is a solution to the everyday problem of making complex systems disappear behind an advanced interface that can be activated simply through e-mail," Foster explained. "In order to effectively communicate with its other offices in Detroit and Japan and its clients and customers, Yamaha wanted a clear, concise communication tool without complexity and hassle, and MediaPointe was the answer. The MediaPointe operating platform is highly scalable, from a single executive conference, to large-scale, multimedia presentation systems. MediaPointe allows any source or combination of sources to be displayed by the operator on a full screen, in multiple windows on the screen, or on multiple screens. The media can be annotated locally using a wireless mouse (or remotely via company LAN or Internet), archived, recorded, captured as high-resolution graphics, dropped to videotape, or printed out. The system can even share, annotate, or collaborate on any media source with a remote site, in real time and automatically. The user simply points at its image using the wireless mouse or touch panel. For more information about ATK, please visit www.atkcorp.com. For more on Advanced Media Design, please visit www.amdsys.com. Nexo sound reinforcement system installed in World Trade Center Rotterdam One of the Netherlands' most prestigious conference venues has installed a Nexo Geo S sound reinforcement system in its main auditorium, which regularly hosts events and meetings for the Dutch government and European authorities. The venue is the largest of the halls in the World Trade Center Rotterdam, measuring 35m x 26m, and with a capacity for about 1,000 delegates. It has always been regarded as a difficult acoustic environment, being a very reverberant hall with marble floors. The installation was carried out in cooperation with Dutch Television Services by Frits Baan, owner of the in Huizen-based company STB, and supported by Iemke Roos, Nexo's distributor in the Netherlands. Bert Koenders of Iemke Roos explains how Geo S was snapped up. "Together with Frits Baan, we prepared a quotation using Nexo's GeoSoft package, and then did a demo on-site; the system was sold that same day." The nearest competitive quotation for the project was twice the price of STB's tender. Two clusters of Geo S, each featuring 5 x S805 and 1 x S830, have been fixed at the back of the hall. "The Geo S modules have such good projection and such tight dispersion that the reflections could be kept to a minimum," explains Koenders. "Even with relatively few speaker cabinets, the coverage is even and clear across a large audience area." The system is amplified by just one Camco Vortex 6 digital amplifier. Two Nexo PS8s are used on stage as floor monitors. Making up the smallest and lightest arrays available today, the S805 and S830 are compact, high-output, full-range loudspeakers. Each has an 8-inch hi-flux neodymium cone transducer reproducing frequencies to 60Hz while the 1-inch neodymium compression driver, loaded with a patented Geo wavesource, is flat to 20kHz. Using patented Geo technology, each module has a virtual source behind the cabinet, allowing multiple Geo loudspeakers to couple with no acoustic interference and behave like a single source. Consistent front-to-rear SPL, improved coherency, efficient zone separation and minimal reverberation from reflective surfaces are some of the major performance advantages of the new system. Product News Avocent introduces a wireless VGA expansion for Pioneer Avocent Wireless, a division of Avocent Corporation, today announced the world's first wireless VGA plug-in module for Pioneer Electronics' PDP-504CMX and PDP-434CMX plasma panels. The Avocent Wireless VGA plug-in module provides high-performance wireless access between a remote PC and the Pioneer PDP plasma panel up to 100 feet indoors through walls. With plug-in capability, the module is ideal for use in digital signage applications where it is preferable to manage and maintain audio, video, and digital data from a central location and broadcast content to remote locations wirelessly. Pioneer, the leading provider of plasma panels for the commercial marketplace, is breaking new ground by offering a versatile, robust open-architectural foundation with a variety of plug-in capabilities. "The Avocent Wireless VGA plug-in module for Pioneer's Expansion Solutions card interface eliminates the need for cabling between a PC and each plasma screen," said Josh Kairoff, director of plasma display engineering for Pioneer. "This capability is extremely useful for applications like digital signage and conference room projection. Using a wireless solution often is simpler, more cost-efficient and flexible than installing a PC with each display. We anticipate that our customers will benefit by the many opportunities opened up by this new technology," Kairoff said. The Avocent Wireless VGA plug-in module fits seamlessly into the Expansion Solutions data slot interface located in the Pioneer plasma panel. Avocent designed the module to be easily installed and instantly functional. No new software, operating systems, or drivers are required. The Avocent Wireless technology streams video and audio using a standard 80211a design. Content sent from the source computer to up to eight plasma panels is encrypted using AES for secure connectivity. The Avocent Wireless VGA plug-in supports XGA resolution, 1024x768, and transmits video at 30 frames per second. "The market for large information displays is expected to see 26 percent compound annual growth over the next five years and companies using those displays will be expecting flexibility in their connectivity options," said Bob O'Donnell, IDC, director, personal technology. The Avocent Wireless VGA plug-in solution for the Pioneer PDP-504CMX and the PDP-434CMX plasma panels includes a wireless transmitter and a plug-in module for the plasma. The transmitter connects to the PC and the local keyboard/video/mouse and serves as the radio interface link allowing the content located on the PC to be easily displayed on plasmas contained in the digital signage configuration. The wireless plug-in module will be available for sale from Avocent in the third quarter of this year. More details are available online, www.avocent.com/wireless. AMX launches resource management software suite AMX Corporation, a worldwide leader in advanced control system technology, recently introduced the Resource Management Suite of software products, which includes an enhanced version of AMX's successful MeetingManager software as well a new product called AssetManager. With new features and functionalities, the Resource Management Suite makes scheduling rooms and managing, monitoring, and securing room equipment more flexible and easier business and campus-wide environments. Powered by AMX's NetLinx controllers, MeetingManager 2.0 -- Pro IT Edition is designed for institutions with advanced means for managing the scheduling and preparation of meeting rooms, in addition to asset management functions such as monitoring and securing room equipment, and reporting on device usage. AssetManager includes all the features of MeetingManager, but at a lower price point for those environments where scheduling management is not a needed function. "Due to the overwhelming acceptance of MeetingManager over the past year, we've expanded this product into a suite with new capabilities specifically designed to increase the return on investment for businesses and educational institutions," said Rashid Skaf, AMX executive vice president. "For many of our education customers who often need to manage large numbers of small classrooms, AssetManager works well with the NI-700 NetLinx controller we also introduced today for small and single-room installations." The Resource Management Suite provides a platform for future applications targeted towards other vertical and residential markets where managing and scheduling assets is needed. New, flexible and customizable point-and-click interfaces for both MeetingManager 2.0 and AssetManager make it easier to search and communicate, while enhanced graphical icons and intuitive text descriptions make problem diagnosis simple and efficient. For the convenience of businesses and universities with multiple locations, a technician's views can be collapsed, expanded ,and grouped so that users see only what locations and devices pertain to them. They also can custom sort their views by the criteria they want to see, such as city, department and room name. A Web-based interface allows administrators and multiple simultaneous users access to Resource Management from any location on or off a wide area network. The Resource Management Suite constantly monitors any equipment in a system and, in real time, reports any disturbances in functionality by paging or e-mailing the appropriate member(s) of the support staff. A new feature allows the user to calculate when a piece of equipment might fail or need repair, such as a projector lamp's life span. Administrators and technicians also may view system status in real time from any location using a browser-based console. New Help Desk Notes allow users to add annotations to help requests, and notes are logged for reporting capabilities. Users can still resolve problems through two-way messaging between the user's touch panel and the administrator's PC. The suite also supports remote diagnostics of equipment through Telnet, AMX Web Control, and FTP. Resource Management integrates seamlessly with database programs including MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server and includes a database upgrade tool to simplify the upgrade process. Asset management is of great concern to institutions of all sizes, and the Resource Management Suite keeps equipment secure and in its proper location using real-time notification. The system can be configured to notify security when specified issues occur, such as high-value pieces of equipment being unplugged. Also new is an administrative login feature that provides four levels of password protection to prevent unauthorized changes within the Resource Management system configurations. Asset management would not be complete without the ability to maintain a database of all system components that includes information such as serial number, model number, as well as a link to the devices online user's manual. To make administration even easier, all AMX equipment information is automatically logged into the database. To help institutions remain organized and efficient by tracking equipment usage, Resource Management applications create instant Web reports to help monitor usage and enable proactive preventative maintenance. Standard reports include help requests, room and source usage, system and device usage, lamp hours, transport device run time, and service quality. The system can log data and export it for customized reports to fit the exact needs of any educational or commercial customers. Compatible with Microsoft Outlook/Exchange, GroupWise, and Lotus Notes, MeetingManager 2.0 combines scheduling with powerful new equipment configuration capabilities to make room preparation effortless. Users can check a room's availability, reserve the room, preset equipment to user's specifications, and have the room up and running as guests arrive. MeetingManager now is able to notify users of conflicting events scheduled in the same room at the same time. An electronic signage feature displays welcome images, graphics and text messages on AMX G4 Modero Touch Panels at room entrances, or welcome text on AMX G3 Touch Panels. MeetingManager 2.0 Pro IT Edition will be available within 90 days. More information about AMX is available on the company Web site: www.amx.com. Smart Technologies announces technology breakthrough that advances interactive whiteboard functionality Smart Technologies announces touch gestures, a new breakthrough in DViT technology that enhances the functionality of Smart Board interactive whiteboards. Touch gestures enable users of both Rear Projection Smart Board and Smart Board for Flat-Panel Displays interactive whiteboards to scroll simply by placing two fingers on the touch-sensitive screen and dragging them either up or down or side to side. Users can also place a finger on the screen and touch another finger to the right of it for a right mouse click. These advanced mouse features eliminate the need to press extra buttons or find scroll bars on the screen. DViT technology, introduced by Smart in March 2003, uses proprietary digital cameras and sophisticated software to pinpoint contact by a finger or stylus on a display. The cameras communicate position information to a digital signal processor that determines the exact location of contact, enabling precise touch control. No special pens or tools are required to interact with the display, nor are special materials required on the touch screen, making the image crystal-clear. A groundbreaking technology for touch-sensitive displays, DViT technology has been recognized by a number of industry awards, including CeBiT America Best of Show Award 2003 - Digital Imaging, IEEE Top Hardware Products of 2003 award, GCN Best New Technology Award 2003 - Display Devices and NSCA Innovations in Technology 2003 Award - Video. Multiple U.S. and foreign patents for DViT technology are pending. "When we launched DViT technology last year, we promised to continue developing features that would enrich the user experience and improve the ease of use of Smart products incorporating this technology," says David Martin, chairman and co-CEO of Smart. "This new advancement delivers on that promise, and we will continue with our research and development efforts to bring even more benefits to our customers." Pricing and Availability All Rear Projection Smart Board and Smart Board for Flat-Panel Displays interactive whiteboards will start shipping with touch gestures June 15, 2004. While the new functionality of DViT technology will enhance these products, their suggested retail prices remain unchanged. About Smart Smart Technologies is both the industry pioneer and global market leader in easy-to-use interactive whiteboards and other group collaboration tools. Smart products include the family of award-winning Smart Board interactive whiteboards, as well as interactive lecterns, multimedia furniture, and software. Using Smart products, groups can access and share the information they need to meet, teach, train, and present. For more information, visit www.smarttech.com. |
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