AV Technology - September 2019

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SEPTEMBER 2019

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VOL.12 NO.7

LECTURE CAPTURE GRADUATES TO A FULL-CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE

LIGHTS, CAMERA, LEARNING!

TEACHING IT REAL LEARNING WITH AR AND VR

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY TRAINS STUDENTS FOR NEXT-GEN FILM AND TV PRODUCTION CAREERS

BYTE-SIZED LESSON IN AV/IP IP-RELATED TIMING

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SPECIAL GUIDES Technology Manager’s Guide to Classroom AV Technology Manager’s Guide to the Evolution of AV over IP

The Contents PERSPECTIVE

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LIVING LEARNING

BIG IDEAS

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A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP Steve Greenblatt discusses ways to cultivate and maintain productive and mutually beneficial partnerships in the AV industry.

10 BYTE-SIZED LESSON IN AV/IP

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Features

MEET YOUR MANAGER

SCHOOL OF FILM AND TELEVISION

GUIDES

29 THE TECHNOLOGY MANAGER’S GUIDE TO 29

CLASSROOM AV

45 THE TECHNOLOGY MANAGER’S GUIDE TO THE EVOLUTION OF AV OVER IP

AV IN ACTION

24 PROTECTING PRIVACY

While network security is a paramount concern for all verticals, the stakes are even higher in higher ed. How are tech managers navigating the challenge of facilitating collaboration while ensuring the privacy of student data?

ways of managing it.

TEAM, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY

VR and AR receive a lot of hype these days, and in many cases, they’re solely associated with gaming. But both hold tremendous potential to transform the experience of teaching and learning at all educational levels.

Lecture capture technology is becoming a critical component for higher education, providing professors and students with tools to engage more deeply with course material.

What are some of the latest trends in this growing category?

behind IP-related timing, as well as some of the many

20 CLASSROOM AND CREATIVE SERVICES

12 TEACHING IT REAL

16 LESSONS LEARNED

Dr. Phil Hippensteel covers the technical mechanisms

60 VISUAL EDUCATION Auburn University’s Visualization Lab features an immersive collaboration environment that has had a

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dramatic effect on students’ learning.

HOW IT’S DONE

66 INTERACTIVE INSTRUCTION

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Perspective

vol. 12 no. 7

September 2019

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LIVING LEARNING

twitter.com/AVTechnologyMag CONTENT VP/Content Creation Anthony Savona Content Director Matt Pruznick, matthew.pruznick@futurenet.com

As the grade school teacher explains to her class the colossal proportions of a blue whale, the students stare in awe as the world’s largest creature glides gracefully beneath their desks.

In lessons about Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, they watch as civilization springs forth from the Fertile Crescent and witness the pyramids rise from the Giza Plateau.

How much more powerful would your imagination be if you had all of this imagery installed in your mind at such an impressionable age? How much more curious would the average student be if he could engage at a visceral level with the material being discussed? And how much more compassionate might we be if we could observe the world from points of view most different from our own?

As I made my way through elementary school in the 1990s, my education was abetted by largely the same tools as my parents’ generation in the 50s and 60s: textbooks, chalkboards, and overhead projectors. Occasionally, the teacher would wheel in a CRT TV strapped to an AV cart, and we’d all gather around to watch a video. Sure, we had computer labs—but the primitive educational games and software on these machines were hardly memorable, let alone transformative.

The decades since have brought a deluge of innovation to instruction at all levels of education. Now, with digital whiteboards and short-throw projection, multimedia content is a mainstay of the learning experience from the lowest grades onward. And with interactive devices and applications, students can touch and connect with today’s classroom media, rather than just sitting passively around it.

But things are really getting interesting as we introduce the ability for students to actually get inside their lessons, by way of augmented and virtual reality. A child goes from learning about tropical rainforests to being immersed in their flora, from hearing about foreign cultures to taking a seat at the center of their traditions. Thanks to technology, future generations will matriculate into society with far more perspective, enthusiasm, and empathy.

In this issue, we take a look at the many ways audiovisual technology is enhancing education. From shaping young minds with AR and VR, to elevating the value of higher ed with active learning and AI-enabled lecture capture, AV is a principal force behind a building wave of pedagogical transformation.

And as students engage with all of these novel technologies, you can be sure that some of them will emerge not only curious about what they learned, but about the tech itself—and wonder how they might one day engineer a way to make it even better.

Contributors: Cindy Davis, Carolyn Heinze, Camille Burch, Phil Hippensteel, Steve Greenblatt Managing Design Director Nicole Cobban Design Director Walter Makarucha, Jr. Production Managers Heather Tatrow, Nicole Schilling ADVERTISING SALES VP/Market Expert, AV/Consumer Electronics & Pro Audio Adam Goldstein, adam.goldstein@futurenet.com, 212-378-0465 Janis Crowley, janis.crowley@futurenet.com, 845-414-6791 Debbie Rosenthal, debbie.rosenthal@futurenet.com, 212-378-0468 Zahra Majma, zahra.majma@futurenet.com, 845-678-3752 SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE To subscribe, change your address, or check on your current account status, go to MyAVTechmag.com and click on About Us, email futureplc@computerfulfillment.com, call 888-266-5828, or write P.O. Box 8692, Lowell, MA 01853.

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Are there fundamental issues or inherent disconnects preventing successful relationships between technology managers and AV services providers?

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achieve their desired goal by committing to a common set of principles, challenges and frustrations continue to be voiced by technology managers and AV service providers.

With hardware no longer being a differentiator nor a profit center for

A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP

SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER TO HELP YOU MAINTAIN STRONG WORK PARTNERSHIPS

By Steve Greenblatt

T

he pursuit of relationships is a popular topic for discussion in the AV industry nowadays.

Whether from the perspective of technology managers who seek a relationship-based partner rather than a transactional vendor, or AV services providers that are in pursuit of client relationships that yield positive results, appreciation, and repeat business; both parties must take on the responsibility of being an accountable participant if a relationship is to succeed.

Just as in life, successful relationships are built on mutual interest, give and take, compromise, and rewarding outcomes. Additionally, the qualities of open and effective communication, trust, honesty, and commitment remain vital core values for lasting partnerships. While it would seem clear how both parties can

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AV service providers, more emphasis is being put on the importance of expertise, services, client care, and sup-

Big Ideas port. Like many other competitive industries, the AV business has prided itself on being customer-centric for decades. Manufacturers have hung their hats on the support of their products, service providers have sought to be highly responsive, and the industry as a whole has made significant accommodations to elevate the needs of end users over maximizing profitability. However, with the current trend toward technology managers doing more work in-house, it is apparent that needs are not being met and expectations not being satisfied.

Keeping that in mind, are there fundamental issues or inherent disconnects preventing successful relationships between technology managers and AV services providers? If so, how can each party help the other build more valued and successful relationships?

A common pitfall of AV service providers is to lose sight of their best clients because they are easygoing and low maintenance. Following the squeaky wheel principle, it is easy for AV service providers to get caught in the trap of focusing their efforts on trying to satisfy the most demanding and difficult clients who are not ideal, while neglecting to show more appreciation and consideration for their best clients. Over time, this lack of attention or dedicated interest will cause once-strong relationships to strain or fracture, leaving both parties dissatisfied. What could easily have been avoided by maintaining the attentiveness and quality of service that built the relationship ends up contributing to its downfall.

Being that everyone faces a shortage of resources, tightening budgets, and aggressive scheduling, technology managers can help AV service providers be more effective through increased communication, providing more advanced notice about upcoming needs, and helping manage situations to achieve the best outcome. Good examples of obstacles that limit successful results are changing requirements, lastminute requests, compressed schedules, challenges with network availability or IT support, and being

With hardware no longer being a differentiator nor a profit center for AV service providers, more emphasis is being put on the importance of expertise, services, client care, and support.

on the outside of planning discussions. By working more closely together and allowing AV service providers to feel like a part of the internal team, common issues will become speed bumps rather than roadblocks and results can be greatly improved.

Here are some general tips that can help everyone build more effective relationships: LISTEN AND OBSERVE In a very busy, fast-pace society where distractions are abundant, deadlines are looming, and everyone expects instant results, it is becoming more challenging to take the time to listen to others’ requests and feedback and to collect information that can contribute to strengthening a relationship.

ADMIT MISTAKES AND LEARN FROM THEM As humans, we all make mistakes. It is how these missteps are handled that can be critical to successful relationships. Rather than trying to be deceptive and not owning up to an error, IFP AV Tech Ad - Aug 2019 Bleeds.pdf or 1 8/8/2019 2:29:58 PM miscalculation, bad judgement call, trust, confidence, knowledge, and compassion can

be earned from owning your actions and learning from them. Beware that while it is okay to make mistakes, making the same mistake repeatedly or not learning afterward puts a strain on relationships.

While relationships take work, anything of value is worth working hard to achieve. It is important to understand that all relationships are a two-way street. If both parties see the value in a relationship, success comes down to agreeing to core principles and resolving hiccups before they become issues. In general, it costs much more to seek and develop a new

GIVE MORE THAN YOU EXPECT TO RECEIVE A key to a good relationship is having each party strive to meet the other more than half way. What this means is that both sides need to be willing to give more than they receive to make the relationship work. If applied consistently to various situations, the result should be greater outcomes and increased value.

A key to a good relationship is having each party strive to meet the other more than half way.

DEMONSTRATE CONSIDERATION AND APPRECIATION Like the old adage that it is easier to attract more flies with honey than vinegar, everyone values praise and appreciation. This is especially true with millennials who seek more feedback and recognition. From simple compliments to tangible rewards, most people will work harder when know they are appreciated and recognized.

relationship than is does to grow an existing one. Therefore, it is important to put forth the effort to make a relationship work for both parties and resist the ill thoughts or temptation to seek a quick win.

Steve Greenblatt, CTS, is president and founder of Control Concepts, a provider of specialized software and services for the audiovisual industry.

Connect to an interactive world.

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Packed with useful annotation tools, Optoma Creative Touch interactive flat panels combine 4K UHD resolution and 20-point multi-touch capabilities to make interactive collaboration easy in classrooms, lecture halls, boardrooms and other shared spaces.

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4K UHD resolution Up to 20-point multi-touch capabilities Ready-to-use whiteboard and annotation tools Blue Light Filter, anti-glare glass and wide viewing angle Plug and play compatibility with Windows, Mac and Chrome OS devices BYOD collaboration—wireless content sharing via iMirror and ScreenShare Built-in Cloud Drive with easy access to Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive

Learn more about Optoma Creative Touch interactive flat panels at Optoma.com. © Copyright 2019 Optoma USA

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Big Ideas

BYTE-SIZED LESSON IN AV/IP IP-RELATED TIMING

By Phil Hippensteel

hen networks are used to vides a time stamp that is placed in the deliver multimedia, tim- RTP header. In other words, the clock ing becomes an issue. As for an RTP transmission is based on IP networks were devel- the source of the audio or video. The oped and deployed for primary purpose of this time stamp is data applications, timing seemed to to help the receiver with the exact time be somewhat unimportant. Getting the data is to be presented (played) data to the destination and preserving to the listener or viewer. Normally, its integrity was paramount. That con- network devices such as switches and cept began to change when IP started routers will not tamper with the time to transport voice (VoIP). Suddenly, stamp; the sender simply creates it and we became concerned about pauses the receiver uses it. Voice and conferbetween speakers that would cause encing commonly use UDP at layer the participants to feel uncomfortable. four. UDP does not provide for a time Now, there are a variety of ways we stamp. That’s why RTP is needed. manage timing with IP transported When TCP is used for transport, information. such as in adaptive bit-rate video, the One of the earliest techniques was layer-four protocol is TCP. There is to use the Network Time Protocol a provision for a time stamp to be (NTP), which focused on internet data inserted in the TCP header. However, traffic. After several revisions to the both the sender and receiver must protocol, it could boast an accuracy negotiate its use during session estabamong a group of devices that was lishment—that is, during the threewithin a few milliseconds. This was way handshake. This time stamp has seen in an unfavorable light by the industry that was delivering voice (telecommunications) or video (broadcasters), since they were using leased connections or satellite transmission.

In VoIP, timing is nearly always based on the Real-time Protocol (RTP). It’s also the primary technique used in audio or videoconferencing. In RTP, each source is identified by a code.

It is called either the synchronization source or a contributing There are a variety of ways we manage timing with IP source. Each of these sources pro- transported information.

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become more prevalent as networks have more delay than in the past. Yet, its use in a session is dependent on whether the TCP software in each station can support it. In addition, the application software requesting the creation of the session must include a request for it to be used.

One of the most popular mechanisms to transport audio or video is the MPEG transport stream format (MPTS). In this packet arrangement, audio and video samples are 188 bytes long and an IP packet generally carries seven of these. Each of these samples carries a Presentation Time Stamp (PTS). So, if an MPTS stream is carrying a video signal and two audio signals, the IP packets will contain a PTS values corresponding to each of the three sources. Each sample will have a PTS indicating the clock by which the sounds and video can be remixed into a synchronized output stream for the viewer.

The choice of the timing method seems to be based, to a great extent, on the segment of the industry that develops the products that will stream the audio or video. There is an engineering concern as well. Some of these methods are more accurate than others. Finally, we should mention that the issue of synchronizing a group of output devices is based on a common clock has not been considered here. What we have focused on in this article is the synchronization between one sender and one receiver.

Teaching it Real How augmented and virtual reality technology are enhancing the process of teaching and learning

By Carolyn Heinze Marie Graham’s first experience with virtual reality was with Google Cardboard. A teacher and director of the VR Lab at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, a pre-K-to-12 school in Atlanta, GA, Graham was leading a discussion on the refugee experience. But while she focused on refugees that were approximately the same age as her students, she wasn’t satisfied that the material she was presenting to her class was making the desired impact.

“I noticed a disconnect,” Graham said. “I don’t think the disconnect was because they’re not good people. They’re middle schoolers in Atlanta, GA. They don’t have the same needs.”

INSTILLING THE MAGIC Enter Google Cardboard. Mount Vernon had recently received a batch of the virtual reality viewers. Graham had also recently watched The Displaced, a New York Times VR documentary that explores the refugee crisis from the eyes of three children approximately the same age as her students. She put the two together, and seized the opportunity to get through to her class.

“I am able to point to that moment, because [there was] complete silence,” she recalled. “I feel like the first time someone uses immersive technology is almost sacred, because you’ve transported them to another place, and their body, their brain, believe they’re there. Slowly but surely, the Google Cardboards came off their faces and they were silent—which, with 13-year-olds, is not really common.” After the initial speechlessness, a soft voice piped up with: “‘Oh, Ms. Graham, they’re like us.’ It changed the way they felt. They grew; it was empathy. I used to be a nurse midwife and a nurse practitioner. I’ve delivered over 1,000 babies. I know magic when I see it, and it was powerful.”

Graham and her students took that magic and ran with it. They formed partnerships with tech companies. They approached local institutions, and ultimately, established a VR lab designed with the goal of solving real-world problems and doing good in their community. Their first project was for patients at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta,

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The Tenzer AR/VR lab is utilized by non-technical students who take advantage of existing applications, as well as computer science students who create more sophisticated, custom applications.

“I feel like the first time someone uses immersive technology is almost sacred, because you’ve transported them to another place, and their body, their brain, believe they’re there.”

—Marie Graham, Mount Vernon Presbyterian School

one of the Southern United States’ largest pediatric care facilities. Its goal: to ease the burden of living through long and sometimes painful healthcare treatment by providing a virtual reality experience that enables patients to relax, escape, and feel better.

THE NEXT MASS MEDIUM Graham is far from the only educator to embrace VR as a teaching tool. At the Virtual Science Center in Sunnyvale, CA, exhibit designers collaborate with tech companies, museums, science centers, and education professionals to create virtual reality experiences that will promote interest in STEM. Bill Meyer, VSC’s chief experience officer, believes that both augmented and virtual reality are positioned to become just as influential a communication medium as television was when it was first introduced.

“This is not just a new technology; it is a new human communication medium that is going to be every bit as big and important [as television].”

—Bill Meyer, Virtual Science Center “This is not just a new technology; it is a new human communication medium that is going to be every bit as big and important,” he said. While AR and VR have been around for a while, now this tech is more accessible and less expensive than it was in the past, which is driving adoption.

“Computers are fast, video cards are fast, and it’s possible to have something that doesn’t make you motion sick and that works. But don’t mistake that for how much farther this is going to go, the same way you might think about the early days of cell phones or even smartphones.”

THE ART OF SIMPLICITY At Tenzer Technology Center at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN, Michael Boyles oversees a number of high-tech initiatives, including an AR/ VR lab equipped with a number of desktop and mobile solutions, as well as a Microsoft HoloLens.

He relayed that one of the university’s computer

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The Tenzer Technology Center at DePauw University features an AR/VR lab equipped with a number of desktop and mobile solutions, as well as a Microsoft HoloLens.

science students has been working with an art student to create an original exhibit. The project has been featured in DePauw’s Peeler Art Gallery for the past six months.

What makes AR and VR attractive is that one doesn’t need to be a coder or programmer to create a meaningful experience with this technology.

Boyles pointed out that at DePauw, the Tenzer AR/ VR lab is utilized by non-technical students who take advantage of existing applications to develop their projects, as well as computer science students who create more sophisticated, custom applications from scratch. “It can welcome all of them for a relatively inexpensive cost,” he said.

To simplify the creation of AR and VR experiences, Meyer counsels tech managers to select a development platform that can grow and scale with an organization over time. Unity is the platform of choice at VSC, largely because it is

manufacturer-agnostic when it comes to hardware (it will support headsets from multiple developers), and it will create experiences that run easily on mobile and desktop operating systems alike.

“My advice to people is to pick a platform that can grow, [so you] don’t have to worry about what happens when a new headset comes out next year,” he said.

CHALLENGES IN MANAGEMENT One of the challenges Boyles and his team runs up against is that the equipment they’re currently using isn’t designed for enterprise use. “The technology that we’re using—and I think most of the universities are using for VR and AR generally— would be considered consumer technologies,” he said. This creates issues related to scalability and account management: does one establish an account per machine, or per student? How should

“I’m big on promoting the idea of having good first impressions [of this technology].

First impressions are important, particularly for administration and [business] leaders.”

—Michael Boyles, DePauw University

one distribute software titles and applications? Are there any problems associated with permissions?

Can permissions be centralized? At the hardware level, there is cable management to consider: “The one room we’re using now only has three virtual reality stations and each machine has two [charging cables].” Ideally, students recharge the stations when they’re finished using them, but that doesn’t always happen. “The best thing I’ve got now is manpower. The first thing we do in the morning is check [to] make sure the cables are plugged in.”

A nightly reboot ensures that the system will start fresh the following day.

Boyles also noted that he endeavors to automate as much as possible. “We have user accounts, so [one of our questions was] can we script and auto-log into those accounts? We can, and we figured that out,” he said. “That’s not rocket science by any means, but it’s these subtle things that I believe make or break these experiences.” The goal, especially because this is new technology,

is to make it as accessible as possible. “We want our users to come in and buy in, and have a good experience.”

MAKING IMPRESSIONS VR and AR receive a lot of hype these days, and in many cases, they’re solely associated with gaming.

Boyles argues that it’s necessary to move beyond this in order to receive the support required to truly take advantage of what this technology has to offer. “It’s also a good learning tool—it can supplement a curriculum. It can help a business [with] training,” he said. It’s these applications that should be discussed in educational institutions and the enterprise, he argues. “I’m big on promoting the idea of having good first impressions [of this technology]. First impressions are important, particularly for administration and [business] leaders.”

It’s also necessary, Boyles adds, to recognize that there are use cases that aren’t suited for aug-

mented and virtual reality. “VR and AR are not the solution for everything; they can supplement learning, but they’re not the end-all,” he said. “It doesn’t make every course better, it doesn’t benefit every student—it’s not the hammer for every nail.”

The good news is that it’s relatively inexpensive, which means that it doesn’t need to be positioned as the go-to solution for all learning initiatives.

“It can be successful and a good investment for a campus or a learning community even if it’s only doing a couple of things.”

For Graham, creating VR projects has enriched both teaching and learning. Based on her experience, she said that the best way to enable students to achieve success with this is to get out of their way. “It is not a traditional teacher/student experience; it is more like working with peers—you’re working as colleagues, solving problems,” she said. “And what happens is—and this is true for all classes, by the way—if students are involved in real-world work, they are intrinsically motivated, [because] it’s their work and they see real-world impact. Kids don’t have to wait until they’re grown up to make a difference in the world. They can do it right now.”

Carolyn Heinze is a freelance writer/editor.

info MOUNT VERNON PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOL www.mountvernonschool.org TENZER TECHNOLOGY CENTER, DEPAUW UNIVERSITY www.depauw.edu https://sites.google.com/depauw.edu/ ttc-constructedvrlandscapes VIRTUAL SCIENCE CENTER www.virtualsciencecenter.org

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Lessons Learned With new advancements, lecture capture is graduating into a full-classroom experience.

What are Key Trends in Lecture Capture in 2019?

“Wider adoption of AutoTracking cameras and early adoption of AV over IP. Many schools are just now recognizing the cost savings that come from installing AutoTracker cameras and the improved video that results, saving on staffing costs and freeing the presenter to walk around.

Early adopters of AV over IP are finding cost savings from simplified cabling. Also, nascent standards like NDI and Dante AV over IP will, eventually, take over from traditional SDI/ HDMI implementations.” —Rony Sebok, VP, www.1beyond.com

Lecture capture is transforming higher education, providing students and professors alike with tools to enhance and revisit lessons and for remote students to engage with the course material.

By Margot Douaihy One of the most transformative technologies shaping higher education is lecture capture—providing students and professors alike with tools to enhance and revisit lessons, and for remote students to engage with the course material. More than one million videos are created annually with the Mediasite solution alone, with 40-plus-million views annually.

Advancements, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR), are promising to take this engaging technological category even further.

SKYROCKETING DEMAND At an institutional level, Indiana University has been using lecture capture solutions since 2010.

Since the first-generation systems were installed,

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“We’ve tried to make it available to everyone,” said James Scott McGookey, manager of collaboration technologies at Indiana University.

IU deploys lecture capture in various ways.

Classrooms have their own installed PCs with software enabling lecture capture, so every classroom is capable of offering lecture capture at a minimum level. For IU, that translates into 700 classrooms, approximately. With lecture capture enabled across myriad spaces—from regional locations to departmental spaces to and university-owned classrooms—the uniting factor must be ease of use. As McGookey explained, “We’ve worked with our vendors over the years to create something that’s incredibly easy to use.”

Joel Bennett, media services, Santa Clara University (SCU), is also managing a diverse array of capture spaces. “We have 70 capture stations,” he said. “The primary usage is classroom recordings, and we do about a thousand recordings per month across campus.”

SCU is currently using the Matrox Maevex 6020 remote recorder and Panopto VMS. From academic lecture needs to classrooms, “everything’s distributed through Canvas—that’s how the students access the content,” Bennett noted.

The lecture capture figures are impressive at the

University of Pennsylvania. “We’ve been hovering around 25,000 hours a year,” said Jimmy Lieu, IT director of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. “That number has been going up about 10 to 15 percent every year.”

Why such a dramatic spike? Lieu has observed that when the technology first rolled out, faculty were hesitant to do lecture capture, because “they thought that if we distributed lectures online, students wouldn’t come to class. But we’re seeing a bigger push from today’s generation of students.

They are actually pushing lecture capture, not as a tool to replace class, but as a tool to review it and get even more out of it.”

EASE OF USE Customization where and when possible has been beneficial, said McGookey. He pointed to a pivotal moment a few years ago when IU made a vendor change. The team was then able to craft a software solution that would make lecture capture operation even easier for instructors. “When the faculty member logs into the in-room computer, they press the big red button. That’s it. That’s all they have to do to make a recording. You just can’t make it any easier than that.”

AV INFRASTRUCTURE AND ROI First things first: For a lecture capture system to deliver its RoI, reliable cameras and proper microphones are vital. When it comes to audio, one size does not fit all. Acoustics vary from space to space.

Audio’s inherent variables also affect lecture cap-

“[Today’s students] are pushing lecture capture, not as a tool to replace class, but as a tool to review it and get even more out of it.”

—Jimmy Lieu, University of Pennsylvania ture system design, so understanding the use case is paramount. What happens, for example, when one room houses a faculty member in the morning with an active learning class who wants to record every single conversation and every activity in that room, but the professor who enters the room next prefers straight lecture—recording no student engagements nor papers rustling? One best practice

is finding a microphone system that is both reliable and flexible enough to meet the needs of both whole-room and single presenter capture.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS For tech teams running lecture capture over a wired Ethernet infrastructure, having good network bandwidth on the wired network is absolutely critical.

Room-by-room management works for Wharton. As Lieu explained, “We tried to keep everything contained within a room. If we lose the network, video capture will still happen. We can still turn our rooms on and off without having to traverse the network just to be able to do so.”

This approach helps Lieu make every classroom as usable as possible.

Wharton also deploys a lecture capture box in every single classroom, paired with Magewell capture cards, a system controller, and the room system all driven by a touchpanel interface.

CLOUD CAPTURE While Wharton appreciates the room containment, Lieu noted that Wharton uses Panopto for lecture capture, equipped with a cloud-based service.

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Santa Clara University captures about 1,000 lecutres per month across campus using the Matrox Maevex 6020 remote recorder and Panopto VMS.

“One of the biggest reasons why we use [Panopto] is because, even if our clients are not connected to the cloud, we’re able to still kick off scheduled recordings, as long as the schedule got there before we lost the network. We can also start clients from our classroom touchpanel through RS-232 control, removing any dependency on the network.”

FROM LECTURE CAPTURE TO CLASSROOM CAPTURE IU thinks about the technology in the terms of “classroom capture,” not just lecture capture, because stakeholders want to promote active

McGookey said, “not to focus exclusively on the ‘lecture capture’ piece, and to think about enhancing engagement more broadly.”

PEDAGOGICAL FIRST Across the higher ed landscape, online learning, flipped learning, and other permutations of cyberlearning are gathering traction. But lecture capture itself doesn’t constitute an effective online learning program. “Lecture capture, on its own, is not an online strategy,” McGookey said.

A robust online program should incorporate best practices gleaned from instructional designers. Lecture capture should serve as a tool, not the

“When the faculty member logs into the in-room computer, they press the big red button. That’s it.

That’s all they have to do to make a recording.”

—James Scott McGookey, Indiana University learning and keep everything deeply interactive.

There are many classroom activities that are not necessarily lectures that would benefit from a recording. For example, in a 100-level speech class, students can make their recordings using the same tools that faculty use for lecture capture.

Students can record assignments or as practice for an upcoming presentation. “This is a shift for us,”

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dents feeling like they are indeed distant, or “that you’re being spoken to by a head on the screen,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be amazing to [project] a professor into the middle of the room to teach a class remotely?” he enthused.

While still on the bleeding edge, newer technologies like AR eventually do “come into the classroom and interact with our AV technology.”

The bottom line, according to Lieu: “We want to get away from the teaching through PowerPoint.” More fully featured classroom capture is one strategy.

ACCESSIBILITY Another driver for lecture capture is its relationship to accommodations vis-à-vis a school’s disability services. By having lecture capture tools in place, higher ed stakeholders can make it easier to capture what’s happening in the room to get it closed-captioned or create transcripts for those students who require accommodations.

core, of a cogent online learning experience.

CLASSROOM CAPTURE AND AR Augmented reality (AR) and holographic projections are being explored in higher education as ways to enhance lecture capture and telepresence.

Lieu expressed interest in technologies that might help to facilitate distance learning without stu-

SCALING UP AND BIG PICTURE PLANNING Phase one is making a system work in a specific classroom, but once a tech team starts to scale up, it can become challenging. A best practice is implementing a solution that users can grow with and scale up from the beginning.

At IU, standardization has been useful.

“Standarization of AV in our classrooms has allowed us to scale,” McGookey said. “Coming up with those standards so that faculty know what to expect when they walk into different classrooms— a baseline of AV capabilities.” IU also tries to think about AV in the classroom holistically, putting “all the relevant people together on the same team so they can think about workflow.”

“We’ve standardized on providing a pan/ tilt/zoom camera with control from our AV system for the end users.”

—Joel Bennett, Santa Clara University Standardizing doesn’t mean compromising on functionality. “Our systems are more complex and expensive than the average university’s,” added SCU’s Joel Bennett. “We’ve standardized on providing a pan/tilt/zoom camera with

control from our AV system for the end users, where a decent portion of the universities are just doing a fixed camera and sometimes a fixed USB camera in the room.” He is also moving to a Linux device. Prior to that, SCU had spent about 10 years running a Windows-based system with capture cards. With security updates, it’s became unmanageable.

Having the right management tools in place is another key. IU is using Matrox appliances in about 60 classrooms; Matrox supplies the management tool for the team to monitor devices and usage, and push firmware updates when needed.

FUTURE OF CLASSROOM CAPTURE Tech managers are also watching AV over IP closely with relation to classroom capture. Imagine tapping into a live stream—any stream—and recording it.

Without one dominant standard, and proprietary solutions still quite popular, some silos remain. However, the industry is starting to see consolidation and interoperability. McGookey looks forward to a time when “we’ll just have a camera that’s a PoE camera that can stream out and be received somewhere remotely. Who knows

What Do Younger Users Want?

“Generation Z students still want a traditional developmental college experience, but schools must figure out what that looks like in the everchanging educational landscape. Technologies like streaming video have an unparalleled ability to deliver information where and when these digital native students want it. There is massive potential in higher education for artificial intelligence to offer the Netflix model for learning, a la using AI to suggest relevant videos and build personalized playlists. The future of learning will consider student preferences like how and when they want to learn and on what device.” – Michael Norregaard, CEO, Sonic Foundry, maker of Mediasite www.mediasite.com/education

where it’s going to be received. That will be our lecture capture, but we’re not quite there yet.”

Margot Douaihy, PhD, is a writer and editor based in Northampton, MA.

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Lights, Camera, Active Learning Emerging technologies, bold ideas, and AV/IT alignment give LMU’s School of Film and Television an edge Loyola Marymount University’s new Playa Vista Campus in Los Angeles, CA serves as a creative center for graduate and professional education, anchored by LMU’s renowned School of Film and Television (SFTV). A garden of 4K and hightech delights in the heart of Silicon Beach, the new facility represents the university’s goal of preparing students for success in the competitive movie and TV industries. One of LMU’s keys to career readiness is outfitting students with the latest tools and engaging pedagogical models.

After graduation, these aspiring filmmakers, editors, writers, and showrunners should be wellpositioned to not only join the industry, but to lead it. The AV team sees its role as a technological partner and a mentor—keeping the entire LMU community current on the state of technology and its latest iterations.

“We worked with the faculty and staff of the School of Film and Television to create the technology plans for the facility,” said Matt Frank, associate director of Classroom and Creative Services, Information Technology Services, at LMU. “They know what their plans are for the future of technology in the program and they know that when students go out into the workplace, tech will continue to change.”

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LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY

By Margot Douaihy

Brian Kotowski (left), post production supervisor and Matt Frank, associate director of Classroom and Creative Services, Information Technology Services, Loyola Marymount University

LISTEN CLOSELY, CULTIVATE RELATIONSHIPS For LMU’s Classroom and Creative Services team, creating the right spaces for the School of Film and Television came down to choosing the right partners, listening closely to users, and then cultivating long-term relationships with them to achieve the most desirable results.

“We collaborated closely with the school’s faculty and staff, because they really have their fingers on the pulse of post-production technology,” echoed Brian Kotowski, post production supervisor at LMU. For instance, “at the time we were starting to plan this building, HDR was at the forefront,”

Frank said. “The faculty and staff were able to identify HDR as something that they needed to have in post-production when this facility was up and running.”

The general classroom designs were driven by the faculty’s preferred teaching styles, rather than conventional classroom layouts. “We have a lot of screenwriting faculty who are teaching in this facility and they don’t like the traditional classroom [design] with rows of desks or rows of tables and chairs,” Frank said. “They want to really have that writer’s room vibe as they’re teaching. [So] they want a conference room with lots of writeable surfaces, with a screen that they can easily just show screenplays on or connect their laptop to.”

The takeaway: “Striking that right balance to find spaces that’ll work for each group was achieved by having conversations with them, and really involving them in the process,” he said.

AV MEETS IT LMU moved AV support into the university’s IT department five years ago. Today, “we see AV as a subset of IT,” Frank said.

This philosophy has led to IT playing a major role in designing the school’s AV facilities, in part because modern AV relies so much on digital technology and data transmission to get the job done.

“For example, our networking team was hugely influential in the design of this building because we need to make sure that the right spaces have the right network infrastructure to move these large video files,” he said.

The secret to bringing AV and IT together is to break down the traditional walls between these sectors and get people to work together.

At LMU, “Brian works within the School of Film and Television, and I work within central IT, but we have an incredibly collaborative and close relationship in making sure that this facility is successful,” Frank noted. “At the same time, Brian

works with our networking team as well to make sure that the needs are met.”

TRANSFORMATIVE, FLEXIBLE, ACTIVE In creating AV-enabled spaces at LMU’s School of Film and Television, the AV team wanted to build “transformative” facilities that help instructors actively shape their students’ knowledge and world views. At the same time, these spaces need to be flexible (multipurpose), and active (i.e. fitted with AV technologies that actively engage the students’ minds as they learn).

“The phrase that we have latched onto is ‘active learning,’” Frank said. To make this happen, “we are trying to design spaces that faculty can use in a variety of modalities to best meet their teaching styles and their pedagogical needs.” The goal is to create AV-enabled spaces “that faculty can use in a way that doesn’t limit them.”

To understand how the school’s rooms are actually being used and what could be optimized, the AV team monitors their operations over time using an AMX Resource Management Suite (RMS).

It combines this data with the feedback offered by staff to decide which improvements make the most sense.

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT LMU partnered with Spinitar, an integration firm with decades of classroom AV experience, to help develop the budget, scope, and systems design for 33 new rooms. The AV and postproduction technology also needed to match the contemporary aesthetics of LMU’s environment and the design plan. Spinitar selected Epson projectors for 11 of the news spaces and worked with local manufacturers that would make testing, installation, and support more productive. Spinitar collaborated with Draper, Stewart Filmscreen, QSC, and Avid, among others, to streamline the process. Info courtesy of Spinitar.

“We let data drive our decision making, but because we do have such good conversations and such a good relationship with our faculty and with the technical staff, I feel like we are able to make better decisions through a combination of data and relationship building,” Frank said.

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PHOTOS: LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY

In creating AV-enabled spaces at LMU’s School of Film and Television, the AV team wanted to build “transformative” facilities that help instructors actively shape their students’ knowledge and world views.

AV EQUIPMENT LIST (PARTIAL) Standard Classroom

Theater

* Extron IN1608

* Dolby Cinema 7.1

* AMX Modero S 7 * Epson PL2255WU Gallery Event Space * AMX Modero S 10.1 * Extron XTP CrossPoint 32x32 * Extron SMP 351 * Epson Pro L1500U Laser Projector

Sound Processor * QSC Speakers and Core DSP * Christie CP2215 Cinema Projector Sound Mix Classroom * Avid S6 Mixing Console * QSC Speakers and Core DSP

According to the booking data, active learning rooms are in high demand: “As we started to put more active learning spaces on campus, we see that those spaces get requested more and more,” he explained.

INTERSECTION OF AV AND VR/AR The growing popularity of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) is opening up job opportunities for properly trained practitioners. Not surprisingly, the School of Film and Television is

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watching this trend with interest and positioning its curriculum and AV facilities to keep up.

“The School of Film and Television is actively pursuing some hopeful, professional partnerships with studios on VR and AR,” Kotowski said. “If those come through, we are hoping to house those in this facility. It is definitely something that has been on our minds for the last few years.

The AV team is hedging LMU’s VR bets by using the Dolby Vision and HDR10 production systems. “We’re set up to master in both,” he said. “That was one of our big initiatives this year.” He added that the School of Film and Television is particularly interested in its students mastering Dolby Vision, because the format is popular with Netflix.

NETWORK REQUIREMENTS FOR BLEEDING-EDGE TECH Working in, editing, and sharing VR means extremely large file sizes, so network throughput cannot be an afterthought. This is why LMU’s AV team and central IT department are working collaboratively to stay ahead of the school’s burgeoning bandwidth demands.

“One of the great things about collaborating closely with IT is that we have open discussions about networking,” Kotowski said. “We talked about getting a new server specifically for the School of Film and Television early last year. We picked an Avid NEXIS: I worked with Matt and his

LMU strives to outfit students with the latest tools and engaging pedagogical models to prepare them for success in the competitive movie and TV industries.

team and Networking to spec that, get it installed, and create something that we can continue to build on in the future.”

As a result, LMU’s AV team is ready for VR/AR to come to class. “Most of our AV technology for that is already in place,” Kotowski said. “On the networking side, it would just be a 10-gig pipe to the NEXIS server.”

A CONSISTENT USER EXPERIENCE There has never been more emphasis on the user experience (UX) in AV than there is today—an emphasis that includes ensuring consistency as people move from space to space.

At LMU, “our goal is that the user interface is standardized for the faculty member,” Frank said.

“When they go in to teach in a location, they know how that room is going to work.”

“LMU Playa Vista Campus was designed to inspire creativity and innovation, and that vision was brought to life by a collaboration between faculty and the university’s AV and IT professionals,” said Peggy Rajski, dean of the School of Film and Television. “Their commitment to creating a true active learning space allows LMU students to be immersed in one of the most vital, thriving creative hubs on the cutting edge of technology in entertainment.”

Margot Douaihy, PhD, is a writer, editor, and storyteller based in Northampton, MA. She teaches at Franklin Pierce University.

Protecting Privacy Cybersecurity on campus must account for legal regulations

By Lindsey M. Adler

“You can’t lock everything down and be a public institution.”

Cybercrime has consistently outpaced violent crimes as the numberone threat Americans fear in the past decade by a large margin, according to an annual Gallup study. It’s no wonder why. The threats persist as security breaches seem to increase in frequency and severity.

Networked audio and video systems provide a legitimate vulnerability, and AV pros need to brush up on their information security standards. The issue is even more complex for education institutions as they are subject to regulations like FERPA, the Family Education and Rights and Privacy Act, established to protect the privacy of student education records. Photos and videos of students are considered part of their education records, as well as any other part of their digital footprint on campus.

Education technology managers are challenged by the demand to enable easy collaboration while ensuring the security of student data. But it’s certainly not just collaboration devices to be concerned with. “Almost any software that’s out there in the cloud, there’s going to be a security risk,” said John O’Brien, assistant director of academic technology, technical support services at Montclair State University in New Jersey.

While FERPA certainly gets the most attention, there are myriad other regulations with which education institutions must comply, according to Bill Britton, vice president of information technology, CIO and director of Cal Poly’s Cybersecurity Center. Any college or university that maintains health records on student athletes falls under HIPAA regulations. Research working with corporate partners may be handling intellectual property data, thus subject to IP law privacy standards. For those postsecondary schools working with government entities, there’s the ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), which regulates defense and military-related technologies in the

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John O’Brien, Montclair State University

interest of national security.

Then there are state regulations. California, for example, has some of the strictest privacy laws in the country. The California Consumer Privacy Act is known as GDPR Light, a nod to Europe’s sweeping data privacy law. The Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA), which took effect in 2016, prohibits sharing K-12 student data for targeted advertising.

When it comes to complying with regulations, there are just so many different rules with each one. They all report to different offices, and often, IT people aren’t even drawn into the conversation—until, of course, there’s a breach.

“Organization and structure are really important in this conversation,” Britton said. “Smart organizations have coworking groups,” which function across departments.

The issue presents a sense of urgency behind the move to converge AV and IT departments.

Cal Poly is fortunate to have a much larger IT

department than most universities, comprising three sub-groups: policy and governance, which works with the rest of the university; tech support; and forensics, which responds to incidents and proactively seeks vulnerabilities. The audiovisual team resides under the governance group’s Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI), a policy making IT resources and services accessible to all, as well as guiding proper implementation of technology. “ATI and cybersecurity are tied at the hip now,” which is very rare, Britton noted.

At Montclair State, the AV department was absorbed into IT back in 1998. When the AV team seeks to onboard a new device, they have a detailed system in place. They’re required to provide a host of information to their IT colleagues.

“We have a security checklist that new [vendors] have to fill out,” he said. “They have to meet the Montclair State University standards.”

The process covers the methods a device uses to get on the network, how it functions, MAC

address, SSL, and all other security protocols.

This is all in addition to automated network monitoring software, Cisco’s ISE (Identity Services Engine), which simplifies identity management across diverse network devices. Additionally, if an IP device hasn’t been used in a while, say, for two or three months, it gets knocked off the network.

POLICY IS FUNDAMENTAL Internal policies play an important role after devices are onboarded. The policy at Montclair State is to share content on the learning management platform, Canvas, which is private and protected by internal servers. Content posted to Canvas is only available to students and faculty who have access to that specific course. Despite clear rules being in place, there is still potential risk of violation with some adjuncts or others if they were to obliviously post videos or photos on a social media platform without written permission. That’s a clear violation of the policy putting the university at risk of FERPA violation.

“People who use Canvas all should know that videos you’re going to share with your students should be in Canvas—not on Facebook, not YouTube,” O’Brien said. “It all has to be behind some type of authentication. This goes to all student work.”

Two teams are involved in reviewing new networked devices at Cal Poly, so they can check accessibility and security at the same time, adding a layer of redundancy to the process—a rare and important safeguard. Automated tools also monitor network usage at all stages. “Student devices are more of the Wild West,” Britton noted. Cal Poly scanners pick up those devices without reading any packets or information, but there’s still an inherent risk. “Say a student pokes a hole in the firewall, and we find out, but it’s a series of violations of university policy.”

The Responsible Use Policy defines access to Cal Poly’s IT resources as a privilege for faculty, staff, and students to support studies and official duties, further outlining rules for use. “But technology is changing so fast, you don’t realize you’re breaking the rules,” Britton said. The key is communications and open discussions. “In the academic world, you have to be more flexible, but you have to be reactive.”

Indeed, the education risks are much different than those of a commercial business or government for these reasons. As Montclair State University’s O’Brien stated, “You can’t lock everything down and be a public institution.”

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“Technology is changing so fast, you don’t realize you’re breaking the rules. In the academic world, you have to be more flexible, but you have to be reactive.”

Bill Britton, Cal Poly

APPLYING BEST PRACTICES When it comes to evaluating and deploying networked AV devices, there are a number of best practices to follow. First and foremost, “Ensure you have good governance in place,” Britton advised. “Without the ruleset, [people] can do anything they want. The governance should be to review before accessing.”

Secondly, have a review group in place, so the entire university is aware of those capabilities.

Thirdly, “Audit, audit, audit, audit,” Britton said.

“Manually, technically, physically, ensure devices are doing what they’re supposed to be doing and not being misused.”

For vendors, the onus is on them to communicate what connections their devices or software make. Having great relationships with vendors is hugely beneficial. Britton cites an exceptional relationship Cal Poly has with Oblong. They directly collaborated on R&D, physically testing solutions in the university’s cyber lab, and further validating use cases in advance of deployment.

O’Brien points to vendors like Biamp and Crestron that send equipment out for testing prior to any purchase. He also extolled the exceptional service from Zoom, which has helped authenticate security protocols, among many other supporting efforts.

CONTINUOUS EDUCATION With a technical subject as dynamic as cybersecurity, ongoing education is invaluable. Trade journals and online resources are great places to start.

Britton recommends ISACA, a nonprofit global association serving information systems, as well as leading conventions and media sources like DEF CON and RSA as his top-three resources.

O’Brien relies on a wide range of resources available to the education technology community, including NJ Edge, a local nonprofit technology partner; Internet2, a member-driven technology community founded by leading higher education institutions; and the Consortium of College and University Media Centers (CCUMC). For AV industry-specific resources, he strongly encourages every young person coming into the industry to join AVIXA, the AV User Group, and the IMCCA. O’Brien said that he has benefited greatly by participating in all of these organizations.

While the networked AV world opens up endless opportunities for advanced communications, the benefits carry a host of additional responsibilities.

AV technology managers in education must continue to upgrade their skills, knowledge, and policies to meet the ever-evolving demands for data privacy.

Lindsey M. Adler is a writer, editor and journalist who produces a wide range of content about the audiovisual industry.

What’s in it for U.S.?

ISE 2020 offers a wealth of opportunities for North American AV professionals

By Mike Blackman Integrated Systems Europe has become the world’s largest professional AV and systems integration show. Since its inception in 2004, it has grown in size, scope, and influence: ISE 2019 visitors came from a total of 188 countries, with the United States, China, and Russia all in the top 10 in the attendance league table.

Our attendees are professionals from the AV channel and the end-user community who are interested in the integration of different products into a solution that meets a client’s needs. Much of the show floor is taken up by six Technology Zones: Audio and Live Events, Digital Signage and DooH, Education Technology, Residential, Smart Building, and Unified Communications.

Satisfaction rates with the show are high: 92 percent of ISE 2019 attendees rated it as giving a good, very good, or excellent return on investment of their time and money.

Another indicator of success is that the show has all but outgrown the venue that has housed it for the past dozen or so years. ISE 2020 will be our last at the RAI Amsterdam; in 2021 we will move to Barcelona, Spain.

There are many reasons to come to ISE from North America, whether as an exhibitor or an attendee. ISE is one of a global series of shows owned or co-owned by AVIXA. To keep up to speed with the latest product launches, you need to attend more than one of them. But because it is the world’s largest show in this sector, ISE has become a key date on manufacturers’ product development calendars. And, as it’s the first major professional AV exhibition of the year, many new products are shown for the first time at ISE. In fact, its timing is one of the reasons ISE continues to draw an increasing number of visitors from all over the world.

As I’ve said, many North American industry professionals already attend ISE. Combined, the United States and Canada accounted for a little

over 4 percent of the 81,000 people who came through the doors of ISE 2019. Backed by our coowners, AVIXA and CEDIA, ISE is the only show that caters to both the commercial and residential AV markets. For attendees, ISE provides the opportunity to discover new companies and meet up with familiar ones. The big international companies that you’re used to seeing at InfoComm and CEDIA are also at ISE—but so are several hundred companies that you won’t have seen before. That gives you the chance to experience and learn about new technologies and solutions to help your business that many of your competitors don’t have access to.

For exhibitors, ISE provides an ideal opportunity to reach new markets, not just in Europe, but further afield.

For many manufacturers, it’s the perfect place to catch up with their European distributors, and to find new ones. ISE’s free M2D (manufacturer to distributor) service is a simple and effective way of advertising to potential new distributors in specific territories and meeting up with them there and then.

Another important aspect of breaking into a new market is getting the industry press on board.

More than 500 industry editors from 36 countries attended ISE 2019. Holding a press event at ISE is a relatively straightforward but highly effective way to build face-to-face relationships with the European press and give your company and its offerings greater prominence in the minds of these key influencers.

ISE also has a growing roster of conferences targeted at key vertical market sectors. The best estab-

Timing is one of the reasons ISE continues to draw an increasing number of visitors from all over the world.

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Mike Blackman

lished of these are the Digital Signage Summit and the Smart Building Conference, but we also have events for digital cinema, hospitality, pro audio, higher education, enterprise, XR (virtual, augmented, and mixed reality), visitor attractions, and, planned for ISE 2020, control rooms.

There will also be a full program of other events at ISE 2020, including free thought leadership sessions on the Main Stage, professional development programs from AVIXA and CEDIA, and plenty more. We will have more details at the beginning of October, when registration opens.

I look forward to welcoming you to Amsterdam in February.

Mike Blackman is the managing director of Integrated Systems Events

info ISE 2020 takes place at the RAI Amsterdam Feb. 11-14, 2020.

To learn more, visit www.iseurope.org.

THE TECHNOLOGY MANAGER’S GUIDE TO

CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY

FANATIC STUDIO/GARY WATERS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/GETTY IMAGES

Featuring

4 THE ACTIVE LEARNING RENAISSANCE 4 THE LATEST IN DIGITAL WHITEBOARDS 4 EDUCATIONAL CASE STUDIES

sponsored by

ATLONA • HALL RESEARCH • MATROX • NETGEAR • OPTOMA • PEERLESS-AV • RGB SPECTRUM • VADDIO

from the editors of

Editor’s Note [by Cindy Davis]

HEAD OF THE CLASS Born between 1997 and 2012, the head of Generation Z class will be graduating from college this year. Incoming students were born in 2001 and well on their way to becoming the first true digital natives.

Almost any other business might be able to get away with not providing bleeding-edge technologies—but not colleges and universities.

With heightened pressure to recruit new students, classroom technologies are mission critical.

According to the EDUCAUSE Horizon Report: 2019 Education Edition, the transition to active learning classrooms and spaces in higher education has gained considerable momentum in recent years. Yet, the report cites the following significant challenges as impeding the adoption of education technology: evolving roles of faculty with educational tech strategies and rethinking the practice of teaching.

There are a number of standout colleges and universities that broke through many of the challenges and became early adopters nearly 10 years ago, serving as models from which others can learn.

Classroom technologies are rapidly advancing. In this Technology Manager’s Guide to Classroom AV, we explore the trajectory of active learning and examine how interactive display solutions are shaping the way present and future students learn.

We’re always looking to feature more colleges and universities that have embraced classroom technologies. Please drop us a line!

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(You don’t have to whisper or leave your coffee at the door.) Stroll through the electronic corridors of Avnetwork.com and stop in our library of AV Technology Manager’s Guides. Brought to you by our erudite editors and expert contributors, The Technology Manager’s Guide to... series presents an in-depth look into the most important areas affecting your bottom line.

Explore our Guides to Boardroom AV, Streaming Media, Digital Signage in Education, and many more. Our Guides are completely free to download and they are yours to keep. (And there is no late fee.)

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Table of Contents EDITOR’S NOTE...................................................................................................................................................................30

FEATURES ACTIVE LEARNING 3.0....................................................................................................................................................... 32 BEYOND THE WHITEBOARD............................................................................................................................................. 38 CASES IN STUDY.................................................................................................................................................................42

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S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 | av networ k. c om | T H E T ECHNOLOGY MANAGER’S GUID E TO CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY

CLASSROOM

Active Learning 3.0 From more responsive collaboration systems, to augmented and virtual reality, the active learning pedagogy is going through a renaissance.

By Cindy Davis According to the EDUCAUSE Horizon Report: 2019 Higher Education Edition, 73 percent of universities are planning or implementing active learning classrooms (ALCs) in 2020.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

Active Innovation The design and launch of The Idea Garden at Indiana University has brought a new type of opportunity to its students. “They now have a supportive environment where they can come to learn about some type of innovative technology that just interests or inspires them,” said Julie Johnston, director of learning spaces, UITS, IT at IU. “It may not be linked to a specific curriculum, but it encourages a mode of life-long learning.

It’s the type of learning where we continually grow and evolve based on learning new concepts because we are inspired and excited about them.”

An unexpected result of the Idea Garden has been that the space is encouraging social responsibility where students come with projects designed to solve community or world prob-

The Idea Garden is a “thinker space” for student enrichment, an innovation hub that offers Indiana University students an opportunity for collaborative cross-disciplinary experiences.

lems. “Students are experiencing a real-world

The concept of the active learning pedagogy is not new. Since the mid-1990s, foundational research from North Carolina State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and other institutions for higher education have shown that ALCs help increase student engagement and lead to positive outcomes.

During the past decade, collaborative technologies have been developed to help support and enhance the active learning experience, connecting instructors and students and enabling them to engage at an even deeper level through sharing

possibilities to solutions,” Johnston said. “One

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active content. But in the past few years, technologies have rapidly advanced, prices have come down, and more ALCs are being implemented than ever before.

PEDAGOGY FIRST A product alone cannot help students learn. In Creating the Digital Campus: Active Learning Spaces & Technology, an e-book created in collaboration with Kramer, thought-leader Duncan Peberdy states: “Developments should be pedagogic-led with technology, estates, and timetabling contrib-

connection utilizing technology tools to explore of our goals is to develop skills in our students that are highly desirable and marketable to the professional hiring force.”

uting a critical role in creating learning environments that support new pedagogic approaches.”

Peberdy also explains: “Active learning environments, such as the digital classrooms that enable higher student engagements and improved learning outcomes, [have an influential] impact on room capacities and space utilization levels.

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CLASSROOM PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

New layouts will reduce capacity, but overall space utilization dramatically improves as students use these spaces for self-directed learning outside of taught hours.” Students are learning in new and different ways than they were a decade ago, and modern classrooms should reflect the evolving needs of digital natives. For its part, Kramer is committed to developing the products and solutions that support diverse pedagogies and “enhance the educational experience for academic institutions,” said David Margolin, vice president of marketing, Kramer Electronics. “Empowering interactive learning is key to Kramer’s strategy, creating efficient, cutting-edge AV technology solutions.”

In some cases, Kramer works directly with academics and students to learn user needs and ensure interactive learning, deeper engagement, collaborative wireless operations, and support for BYOD environments.

THE INTELLIGENTLY MORPHING ALC There are more than 200 technology-enhanced, active learning classrooms at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) using Mersive Solstice wireless collaboration solution to support BYOD sharing to displays. But why stop there?

For the past three years, Crystal Ramsay has been focusing on experimenting and developing the next-gen flexible and active learning classroom. She manages the Faculty Programs Team (FPT) in Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) at Penn State, which works closely with faculty collaborators to research the impact of technology on teaching and learning.

To help imagine new learning spaces, Ramsay combines her expertise in faculty development, assessment, curriculum design, and teaching and learning in higher education, and has the added perspective of being in instructor.

The Bluebox at Penn State University is a discipline-agnostic learning space designed to discover new pedagogies, determine best practices, and contribute to the growing national discourse on effective learning spaces.

TLT’s learning spaces team created its first experimental learning space, the Bluebox, a flexible room that they continue to build upon. The Bluebox is a discipline-agnostic learning area that aims to provide tools limited in flexibility only by a faculty member’s creativity. During its first semester in use, fall 2016, the Bluebox hosted courses in biochemistry, molecular biology, astronomy, statistics, and information science technology. With each new course, there is an opportunity to not only understand the space better, but for faculty to learn new ways to teach in their discipline.

“When we first stepped into the research aspect of this, we weren’t exactly sure what we were going to find with respect to what faculty would say

about their experience,” Ramsay said. Wanting to ensure the best experience, the team offered a lot of support. “What was interesting is that they didn’t say that a space necessarily transformed the way they think about teaching and learning,” she explained. “What we found instead is that what the spaces did do was liberate the people who already think about active learning and the value that it brings, and they’re always trying new pedagogical strategies, and they’re constantly trying to improve the learning experience of students.”

The Bluebox is flexible in that there is no “front” of the room. All four walls are “share walls” that can be written on with dry-erase markers. Every piece of furniture inside the space is mobile, a feature that offers a virtually unlimited

Active Learning at PSU An example of an active learning classroom at Penn State: a Nureva HDL300 system located above the window with microphones and speakers inside the unit tied back

tabletop or pendant mics due to the flexible nature of the classroom.”

Crestron is the standard in all the PSU classrooms and is used to control all AV

to the instructor’s PC at the front of the room. “We use the Nureva in conjunction

tech inputs in the space. “It allows the instructor to switch between the local PC,

with the PTZ camera at the front of the room to provide audio in and out to people

a HDMI in (personal laptop), document camera, and Mersive Solstice pods,” Linden

who may be joining the room remotely via Zoom,” said Timothy Linden, M.Ed., learn-

said. “The user can change between ‘Instructor Mode,’ where the instructor content

ing spaces coordinator at Penn State. “The dynamic nature of the mics within the

is shown on all projectors, and ‘Group Mode,’ which has the instructor content

unit allow the room to be covered with regard to microphone pick up. We did not

displayed at the front of the room, and the individual Epson short throws have the

want to have the instructor or students worry about wearing a lapel mic, or install

individual solstice pods visible.”

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CLASSROOM array of configurations. Students and instructors can connect to an eight-panel interactive display wirelessly via iOS, Android, Mac, and PC devices. This enables all content produced during a course to be made sharable.

Despite the development push from manufacturers on large interactive flat panel displays, there will always be a desire for ordinary dry-erase boards. Having the ability to integrate multiple modes of interactivity has piqued Ramsay’s interest. “One of the things we’re really excited about is the Epson short-throw projectors that we’re using will have a feature on them so students can share their own content, or view content that the instructor is showing.” Students can annotate on the screen, which doubles as a whiteboard surface. “If they use a particular kind of marker, then those annotations can be saved, and they can use a thumb drive and save the annotated version of what they were just viewing.

“We’re trying to understand the ways that we use [various technologies] and what happens if we put this combination of features into a room,” Ramsay said. “What can faculty do with those?

Before we proliferate it across three or 400 classrooms, what can we learn about the value that it adds to the teaching and learning experience?”

EXPERIMENTING IN A NEW DIMENSION For the fall 2019 semester, the TLT team is working on developing a virtual Bluebox. “This is fundamentally about our efforts to diversify our faculty development offerings,” Ramsay said. “With campuses across the state, we’re wondering if it is possible to put a faculty member into a virtual space before they’re in an actual classroom. And what we’re doing is we’re exploring. We have these campuses across the state. We have many classrooms that faculty could be in here at our main campus university part.”

The virtual space looks just like the actual Bluebox classroom, recreated in the game development platform Unity. Using a VR headset, faculty can imagine the implications of instructional ideas before trying them in a physical classroom. “We want to give instructors an opportunity to move the

Three Tiers of Active Learning at IU Entry-level tech solution: Projection and wireless screen sharing. Student whiteboards around the perimeter and furniture layout support small group collaboration.

Mid-tech solution: Student collaboration monitors.

Switching to allow instructor to route content. Student whiteboards around the perimeter and furniture to support small group collaboration and break-out.

High-tech solution: Student collaboration monitors. Switching to allow instructor to route content.

PC and support for BYOD at each student table.

Touch-to-talk voice reinforcement at each student table. 4x4 video wall with the ability to display any source device. Student monitors can be displayed on the video wall in thumbnail or grouped selectively by the instructor. Instructor content is reinforced in a triangle pattern to support varying sightlines.

Any Device. Any Interface. Any OS.

SW-510W AirPlay® • Miracast™ • Google Cast™ USB-C™ • HDMI® • DisplayPort™ The Atlona AT-UHD-SW-510W is tailor-made for BYOD in the classroom. It’s the first AV switcher with a dedicated wireless AV input that lets you connect an IOS®, Android™, Mac® Chromebook™, T H E T EC H N O LO GY M AN AGER’S GUID E TO CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 | av ne two r k .co m or Miracast-enabled PC. Learn more at: atlona.com/510w

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CLASSROOM ZACHARY ZIDIK

furniture around without being in the refresh cycles of classroom upgrades classroom and to imagine what it’s going keep technology managers constantly to look like when they have 30 students,” on the lookout for smarter, faster, and Ramsay said. “How crowded is that going simpler classroom technologies. to look? How does it sort of prompt me Early to adopt technologies for active to think about management of the classlearning classroom technologies, the room during this activity?” design of technology-enhanced classThe intent is to use the Oculus Go rooms at Indiana University (IU) has in conjunction with an online course evolved over the past few years and conas the medium to share this faculty tinues to do so. “We have learned that development experience. This can be a wireless screen sharing solutions are prescalable option for geographically disdominately tools that solve a problem tributed institutions, as well as a means to create a more flexible way to share for connecting those faculty who may your content on a device,” said Julie not want a face-to-face, highly strucJohnston, director of learning spaces, tured program.

UITS, IT at IU. “If you want to encourage Until the virtual Bluebox is put into powerful collaboration among groups, Virtual depiction of an active learning space modeled after the Bluebox, complete practice in the fall, there are still some with all the amenities of a typical flexible classroom. there are a wide variety of software tools unknowns. “One question is, can facemerging that encourage better interaculty be in a space knowing it won’t be their space, value in a cohort approach, and I know other tions in ways not possible with more-simple screen but begin to think about the implications of active institutions do this as well.” sharing. We are continuously seeking to simplify learning in a space?” Ramsay said. “I think they “We still have faculty who haven’t seen Mersive the user interface for our users to ensure the techcan.”

Solstice, even though we have it in nearly 200 nology plays the reliable supporting role to the classrooms on campus.” From demonstrating the actual learning process and never gets in the way.”

BACK TO REALITY flexibility of the classroom furniture to the feaCrestron NVX switching over IP is used in IU’s Even the simplest change to a classroom is not tures of a projector, to the fact there is power locat- classrooms and has allowed UITS to create flexible worth doing if instructors and students aren’t ed in the floors so there’s no excuse for a laptop programming for signal routing without purchasaware of it. Ramsay used the example of an inno- not working due to a dead battery, the onboarding ing high-cost hardware switches. “Any solution vative table where the top would flip up, making event takes an exhaustive approach to bringing that provides a lower cost with higher flexibility it easy to move out of the way. “Now, we send an faculty up to speed. “It’s so funny, what seems so along with saving time is something we are excited email to faculty, and say, ‘Hey, you’re going to be small, it’s just so huge,” Ramsay said. “We give about,” Johnston said. in this space for this particular class.’ We tell them them a tech tour and then we have conversations With the price point of LEDs continuing to a little bit about the room, and then invite them about pedagogy, and how to leverage a space like drop, “We are keeping on our eye on LED disto have a consultation if they’d like. That could this to help meet instructional goals.” Sometimes plays in lieu of a video wall installation in some be around technology or instructional design.” A instructional goals change because instructors of our showcase active learning spaces,” she said. link is provided in the email where instructors can now realize they can do X, Y, or X now.

“The LED solution can increase on life cycle on express their desire to talk to someone further.” replacement, minimize downtime upon failure The experimental spaces receive a white- CONTINUED LEARNING as the [components are] easily interchanged, and glove training experience. “We have a full faculty At many colleges and universities, new buildings provides a clear picture quality of the proper pixel onboarding event, and have everyone come at are going up every year, large-scale renovations pitch selected for the space.” once,” Ramsay said. We think there’s tremendous of entire buildings are underway, and normal Whether a corporate environment or college campus, technology managers are often being asked to adopt consumer technologies. “Although ‘not ready for prime time,’ we are exploring how we can integrate some of the smart technologies already featured in today’s home environment to automate features of our classroom with voice or * On average, students taught with active learning outperformed other programmable functionalities,” Johnston those taught by lectures by 6 percent points on their exam. said. “We know that there are opportunities there * Active learning increases student performance in science, engito simplify systems for our users.” The smart neering, and mathematics. home technologies have not yet proven that they * Active learning raises average grades by a half a letter, while failcan scale to the enterprise level of a university, but Johnston feels they will factor into the future of ure rates under traditional lecturing increase by 55 percent.

IU’s classroom designs.

Source: Freeman et al, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

ALC Benefits are Proven

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CLASSROOM INDIANA UNIVERSITY

The Idea Garden at Indiana University features a 13.5-foot-wide, 7680x2160, 32-point capable touchscreen that can display multiple computer sources from around the room.

Beyond the Whiteboard This category has grown by leaps and bounds just in the past two years. It’s time to take a new look at interactive displays for higher ed classrooms.

By Cindy Davis Talk to many university AV directors and educational technologists who bought into the interactive whiteboard promise five or more years ago, and you’re met with a grumble, and oftentimes, an unwillingness to look at recent advancements that have transformed these once-power-hungry dust collectors into effective collaboration powerhouses.

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Today’s interactive flat panel (IFP) displays are smarter, faster, and offer a variety of embedded features that enhance collaboration in the classroom. “From multi-user functionalities to built-in software and cloud drives, IFPs provide an all-in-one, out-of-box experience to educators,” said Steven Na, senior manager, business planning, Optoma Technologies. With multiple brands and options available, interactive whiteboards are more accessible and more affordably priced.

“A key differentiator of modern IFPs is improved image quality and higher resolutions,” Na said. High-definition, and increasingly, ultrahigh-definition 4K TVs are now common in consumer’s homes. “Higher education students expect to see the same quality in display technologies used in the classroom,” Na said. With interactive flat panels now featuring up to 4K image quality, today’s interactive whiteboards produce strong visuals that capture students’ attention, all the way to the back of the lecture hall.”

Nearly nine in 10 college students (87 percent) said it was important to them that the institutions they applied to were technology savvy, according to a survey from education technology provider Ellucian. “As the interactive display market continues to grow, the education segment is projected to hold the largest share in the market due to high demand for interactive flat panel displays and interactive whiteboards,” said Saundra Merollo, senior sales engineer for strategic accounts, Sharp Information and Imaging Company of America.

“Applications will be for both in and outside of the classroom, from signage and job boards to kiosks and wayfinding.”

Less obtrusive form factors, sensors, and durability have become common features. “Slimmer bezels, near-field communication (NFC) readers, 7H tempered glass similar to what is used on highend cell phones with a germ-resistance coating, and even a CO2 sensor being applied to interactive panels—and that’s just the hardware,” said Tom Shih, business manager at BenQ. “Instant message and scheduled broadcasting systems, in conjunction with the traditional PA systems and a one-click collaboration whiteboard are shaping the new foundation of technology within the education sector.”

REACTION TIME AND MORE One of the knocks against interactive flat panels of even three years ago was the latency between the time when you touched the screen to when the annotation appeared. “Today the key differen-

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CLASSROOM tiators between previous interactive whiteboards and Sony’s BRAVIA’s with a touch-overlay panel is the reliable and accurate infrared touch screen technology it employs,” said Anthony Cianfarano, product manager for professional displays and projectors, Sony Electronics. “This enables the display to instantly become an interactive multitouch screen when used with your finger or a stylus.” Another benefit of the BRAVIA with a touch overlay is the anti-glare surface and anti-fingerprint coating. “These touchscreen overlays support multiple operating systems and are lightweight and easy to install,” Cianfarano added.

Leading the trend toward higher-end boards at LG are its Interactive Digital Boards (IDBs). “The IDBs have features far beyond traditional whiteboards,” said Clark Brown, vice president of digital signage, LG Business Solutions. “The IPS In-Cell Touch and Android 8.0-powered IDBs like the LG 86-inch (86TR3BF) and 75-inch (75TR3BF) models deliver vivid images, text, and video to provide a great user experience in classrooms, meeting rooms, and other collaborative spaces.” They support wireless screen sharing and touch connectivity for a cable-free experience. The 86-inch

TN3F model features an intuitive In-Cell Touch technology that employs a direct-bonding process to eliminate the gap between the LCD panel and protective glass, delivering a faster response time.

In the world of interactive projectors, the most important evolution has been that of laser projection. “Laser projection means there are no more lamps to change, ever,” said Tom Piche, product manager, projectors, Epson America. “So, no lamps to purchase and no downtime for replacing them. Additionally, the large 100-inch display provided by projection offers significantly more interactive space compared to older whiteboards and 75-inch flat panels.”

INTERACTIVE FLAT PANEL SHOPPING TIPS As with any technology, it is critical to take into consideration how the interactive displays will be used. “Who will be interacting with the display and how?” said Sharp’s Merollo. “Will it be the students who have the content mirroring on their device of choice, or simply the instructor?

Distant learning, video access, and BYOD initiatives should all be considered.”

“Create a dynamic workspace or classroom with room to expand, scale, and connect,” said Gail Haghjoo, director of marketing and CFO at Hall Research. “Whether a hardwired AV or a virtual KVM with USB over IP. Showing 4K content is doable and affordable.”

Resolutions are changing rapidly and 4K Ultra HD will soon become the standard, while 8K is close behind on the horizon. “Often an open platform display will have a greater advantage and flexibility to mix OS requirements in the future,” Merollo said. “Ask yourself what features are most important. What do you currently have in place from a hardware and software perspective?” she added. Take a step back and look at the entire solution.

A starting place when shopping for a higher ed classroom is to define the application, whether it’s connectivity and sharing, a user-friendly experience, or superior picture quality. “CIOs and leaders within higher ed institutions working with a partner like LG will find a range of solutions—not just game-changing displays, but certified solutions with integrators, content providers, and industry-leading partners such as Cisco, Crestron

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CLASSROOM Connected, and Hoylu,” said Clark Brown, vice president of digital signage, LG Business Solutions.

“Key decision points are collaboration capabilities for in-room sharing, distance sharing, and file sharing at the end of the discussion.”

“The ease of collaboration will be the key, where the student can join in from anywhere in the world from any mobile, PC, or laptop device,” said Tom Shih, business manager at BenQ. “The other main aspect will be control; think about how to manage hundreds or even thousands of boards at once, set schedules, on and off time, and even remotely adding and deleting apps.”

From an installation perspective, consider the availability of multiple size options and the ability to seamlessly integrate with a classroom’s infrastructure. “Technology managers should also consider the panel’s image resolution to ensure the highest quality content is being shown, as well as look for panel options with integrated features that encourage classroom interactivity,” said Optoma’s Na. Optoma’s Creative Touch interactive flat panels offer collaboration tools that allow for real-time interactivity, and feature a built-in

Cloud Drive and Optoma Marketplace for easy access to Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and other apps.

“Ideally, higher education installations should have a standardized platform that works across

In the world of interactive projectors, the most important evolution has been that of laser projection. all classrooms and spaces, to allow faculty and students to be comfortable while still addressing the unique needs of different users and different goals and applications with flexibility,” said Dana Corey, GM/VP of sales at Avocor. The all-in-one collaboration Avocor F-Series touchscreen displays are popular in higher education for their flexibility, ease-of-use, and ability to quickly upgrade any sized space.

Interactive display technologies have improved dramatically and have become more responsive

with multiple touch points, and include features like object recognition and robust security options. “While these features are necessary and expected, we see the trend moving toward offering a more holistic solution,” Corey said. “Avocor is strategically partnering with leaders in the Unified Communications industry, such as Zoom, Lenovo, Crestron, Microsoft, and more to create solutions that enable companies and higher ed institutions to achieve better communications and teamwork.”

Sony’s Cianfarano added: “The ideal interactive touchscreen should first and foremost be engaging to the audience, which can be achieved by using responsive technology.” Easy to install and use must be hallmarks of any classroom technology. Students come to class with up to three different mobile devices, so being able to support a number of different operating systems is also critical. “Finally, customers are always looking for a solution to be cost effective, which is why this Touch Overlay Panel series, along with Sony’s BRAVIA Professional panels, are energy efficient and require virtually no maintenance,” Cianfarano said.

On the Move Not every classroom or instructor needs an interactive display. Scheduling classes and ensuring the correct technology is in the room is one of the top challenges at a college campus. To maximize the uptime of interactive displays as well as the investment, consider a mobile cart to move the display to the room where it is needed. When considering the use of a cart, it is important to consider a variety of factors. Joseph Wentworth, senior product manager at Peerless-AV, offers the following advice: First, mobility and safety are key, with the ability to move the cart safely and efficiently throughout a facility. Not only does this ensure the safety of staff and students, but it also addresses tight budgets, allowing for solutions to be shared across schools. Second, the solution must be ADA-compliant so it can be used by everyone. As such, the cart should offer height and tilt adjustability options. Lastly, functionality and ease of use are important. Carts that come pre-assembled with storage space for additional technology are ideal for education settings.

To meet these needs, Peerless-AV offers the SmartMount Motorized Height Adjustable Tabletop Cart (SR598ML3T). The motorized cart creates an ADA-compliant solution by allowing a display to be raised to the appropriate height, based on the specific user, with just a touch of a button. A secondary actuator allows the tilt of the display to be adjusted from vertical to completely horizontal. This allows the interactive display to be used in a standard viewing position, drafting table position, or tabletop position. The rear compartment provides a secure area for a PC and power strip, while the cable management pathway protects the cables from snagging or abrasion when the display is raised or tilted. The cart’s welded base and locking casters provide a stable foundation for touch applications, and the integrated power cord wrap makes moving the solution simple.

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Peerless-AV’s SmartMount Motorized Height Adjustable Tabletop Cart (SR598ML3T) creates an ADA-compliant solution by allowing a display to be raised to the appropriate height, based on the specific user, with just a touch of a button.

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CLASSROOM

Cases in Study Take a tour of five campuses with engaging AV

By Cindy Davis

ATLONA

The new USIL Digital Learning Factory at Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola takes virtualized learning in Peru to the next level.

Recording virtual classes takes place in 11 advanced laboratories dedicated to the production of digital educational The Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola in Peru content. Ten of the 11 labo- features 11 advanced laboratories equipped with Atlona matrix switchers dedicated to the production ratories are sets for distance of digital educational content. learning production. Course materials are presented using a combination of laptops, desktop computers, and 65-inch interactive whiteboards, with AVer CAM530 cameras capturing video of the instructor. Atlona AT-HDR-H2H-44MA 4x4 HDMI-to-HDMI matrix switchers route sources to multiple in-room displays and the facility’s centralized control room.

A larger room doubles as a 30-seat auditorium and sports an 86-inch digital whiteboard and video conferencing system, with an Atlona AT-UHDPRO3-88M 8x8 HDMI-to-HDBaseT matrix switcher for signal routing. Atlona AT-UHD-EX-70C and AT-UHD-EX-100CE extenders transport HDMI, power, and control signals over HDBaseT from each production lab to the central control area.

Spanish global technology solutions distributor Crambo provided the AV system design for the USIL Digital Learning Facility, with installation by Peruvian systems integrator Rio Pacifico.

Recordings of classes are managed through Sonic Foundry’s Mediasite platform and stored in the Amazon Web Services cloud, where students can access them through the USIL Virtual Campus. Users can change the perspective of the camera; start, pause, and stop recordings; switch between their laptop and the desktop computer; or mute and unmute the microphone. All of the controls are on a single page with intuitive graphical icons. Training instructors takes just a minute.

OPENING THE GATES

With the addition of the Bill and Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science and Engineering (Gates Center), the University of Washington has positioned itself to attract a new generation of students and prepare them for the world of the future. The state-of-the-art facility opened in January of 2019 adjacent to the existing Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science and Engineering and will enable the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering (Allen School) to double its annual degree production.

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The Gates Center allows students access to leading equipment such as a 3,000-squarefoot robotics lab, workrooms for the interdisciplinary computer animation capstone, a wet lab for molecular information systems, a sophisticated fabrication research space, and more. These amenities The Tribute Wall at the Gates Center at the University are housed in a brand-new of Washington is a 25-foot-long, 8-foot-high Clarity 135,000-square-foot build- Matrix MultiTouch LCD Video Wall System in a 6x3 ing that includes a 240-seat configuration from Leyard and Planar. auditorium. The building also features a Tribute Wall—an interactive media experience that invites students to become part of the Pacific Northwest’s computing history—in the main atrium to help inspire the next generation of technological innovators. The Tribute Wall is a 25-foot-long, 8-foot-high Clarity Matrix MultiTouch LCD Video Wall System in a 6x3 configuration from Leyard and Planar, a Leyard Company. Featuring a modular, protective touch surface, the Clarity Matrix MultiTouch is an ideal solution for the Gates Center atrium environment, allowing multiple users to simultaneously interact with the video wall without affecting others.

The Tribute Wall also provides a responsive experience for the center’s visitors. As people approach the wall, sensors embedded at the base of the video wall can identify when somebody is near, triggering the wall display to nod to them using visual signals.

LEYARD AND PLANAR

VIRTUAL LEARNING IN PERU

MULTIPLE VIEWS AT IU

How do you capture lectures at the sprawling 114,000-student Indiana University? Toss out a proprietary and difficult-to-use system that was limited to large classes, and replace it with intuitive multi-source capture expandable to all of IU’s 600 classrooms.

The university now has lecture capture throughout campus and a centralized video management system that is both flexible and scalable. Students can access lectures anytime, anywhere.

Kaltura, with its Open Capture standard support and media management, was put in place as a video platform. Common PCs can use Kaltura Lecture Capture, creating a low-cost software solution for mass deployment.

Matching it with the Matrox Monarch LCS H.264 encoder allows the university to expand the number of classrooms with lecture capture appliances.

In-room camera and lecture content like PowerPoint slides are captured with the Monarch LCS in dual-isolated mode. Each classroom has up to nine video sources such as document cameras, auto-tracking PTZ cameras,

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CLASSROOM MATROX

MAKING MEDICAL HISTORY

The Quadram Institute in Norwich, England, is a medical research center focusing on food science and health. The new facility brings together more than 100 clinicians and 300 researchers from several founding partner organizations. It also includes one of the U.K.’s largest endoscopic and bowel cancer

screening suites, capable of handling more than 40,000 procedures a year.

The Institute needed an AV system to elevate the level of collaboration between clinicians, students, and researchers conducting and monitoring the procedures performed on site.

The new system provides high-quality video imaging, as well as video switching with near-zero latency to facilitate real-time viewing and interaction among medical and clinical staff. For bandwidth and electrical isolation, the system infrastructure was specified for 100-percent fiber-optic connectivity. “There was no doubt the integration of cutting-edge video and networking technology would be critical to achieving our vision of a world-class, forward-thinking institute,” said Andrew Chapple, communications manager of Quadram Institute.

Uncompressed 4K video with two-way audio for performing endoscopies is monitored by medical staff, students, and researchers onsite and in remote locations. Using NETGEAR’s M4300 switches afforded 10G connectivity capable of handling the considerable bandwidth required The Quadram Institute, a medical research center for two-way audio and uncom- focusing on food science and health, sends uncompressed 4K video throughout the site and pressed 4K video with near to remote researchers using NETGEAR’s M4300 zero latency, from four sources switches.

NETGEAR

PowerPoints, Blu-ray and DVD players—connected to a video switcher. Supporting laptop material connects directly through HDMI, and professors use a Crestron or other controller to select sources.

Kaltura transcodes the videos to different formats and resolutions, and automatically Using Kaltura Lecture Capture with the Matrox publishes them to the univer- Monarch LCS H.264 encoder, Indiana University has sity’s Canvas learning manage- expanded the number of classrooms with lecture capture appliances. ment system. Students review the lectures from Canvas, their familiar destination, where they can switch to the lecture content that interests them—a full view of the professor, the supporting material, or both with picture-in-picture and side-by-side playback.

The IU library is a favorite spot for students to view on-demand videos of lectures.

BIGGER is better Visual solutions from Optoma.

As the world’s leading brand in 4K UHD projection technology, Optoma combines cutting edge technology and innovation to deliver remarkable visual display products designed to connect audiences with engaging video and audio experiences.

Laser light source projectors

Creative Touch interactive flat panels

Direct viewing LED display

• Up to 10,000 lumens

• 4K UHD resolution

• All-in-one 130-inch solution

• 30,000 hours of maintenance-free operation

• Up to 20-point multi-touch

• 1080p native resolution

• 65, 75 and 86-inch sizes

• 1.5mm pixel pitch

• Ultra short throw and interchangeable lens options Learn more at Optoma.com

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CLASSROOM

COOKING UP CAREERS

When Shakopee High School in Shakopee, MN, expanded, a commercial kitchen and training space for the culinary arts was on the menu. The AV had to complement the overall design and help students learn by viewing clear, high-definition video.

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VADDIO

simultaneously.

“We used NETGEAR switches as we needed a modular switch that would allow us to provide maximum flexibility and expandability in the future,” said Kevin Madeja, group technical officer of U.K.-based global AV systems integrator Snelling Business Systems.

Outputs from the high-resolution endoscopy camera, as well as the suite’s PTZ cameras, were connected to ZeeVee encoders. ZeeVee’s technology enables streams from multiple sources to be seen in multiview format on a single display, all in real-time. The multiview platform enables live visual and voice interaction between clinicians performing procedures in the four interconnected endoscopy suites and those viewing from other locations in the facility and beyond its walls.

“The nice thing about this NETGEAR solution is that it is basically preconfigured to work with ZeeVee’s encoders/decoders,” Madeja said. “Multicast configuration can be tricky, and using NETGEAR switches was very simple.”

To support the required 10G Ethernet infrastructure, NETGEAR M4300 switches were selected. The system’s two-way communication required near-zero latency, and SDVoE technology provides sub-100 microseconds of latency. Built-in 10-Bit HDR support allows Quadram Institute to expand its application with the latest technology in the future.

Affinitech, the integrator for the project, specified a Vaddio DocCAM 20 HDBT camera be installed in the ceiling above the instructor station. The document camera is controlled by an Extron control system situated on the island where the instructor can choose the monitors for Shakopee High School’s commercial kitchen and display. Presets stored in the training space for the culinary arts features a Vaddio camera allow for easy framing DocCAM 20 HDBT camera in the ceiling above the instructor station. of the shot and seamless 20x zoom. The instructor uses the DocCAM’s remote control to recall camera presets. Four 43-inch monitors make it easy for students to view culinary techniques, cooking, and preparation.

“The DocCAM’s zoom feature will be extremely helpful for showing skills,” said Shawna Wilson, instructor at Shakopee High School. “For example, the students will be able to see the difference between chopping, dicing, and mincing.”

In addition, “the feature set of the DocCAM allows for future functionality such as recording or streaming classes,” said Marshall Peterson, design engineer at Affinitech.

The staff is excited to use the camera to demonstrate cooking skills and looks forward to engaging students throughout the classroom.

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 | av networ k. c om | T H E T ECHNOLOGY MANAGER’S GUID E TO CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY

THE TECHNOLOGY MANAGER’S GUIDE TO

THE EVOLUTION OF AV OVER IP

DUKAI PHOTOGRAPHER/GETTY IMAGES

Featuring

4 QSC’S JOE PHAM ON THE INDUSTRY’S TRAJECTORY 4 AV MANUFACTURERS DISCUSS THE CHANGING TIDES 4 WASHINGTON CASINO PUTS ITS AV ON THE NETWORK

sponsored by

1 BEYOND • AURORA MULTIMEDIA • BLACK BOX • DVIGEAR • NETGEAR • SDVOE

from the editors of

Editor’s Note [by Cindy Davis]

TO THE ETHERNET AND BEYOND From single buildings to university campuses, to worldwide enterprises, most AV/IT departments have implemented some level of AV over IP. To date, the convergence has been incremental, but things are speeding up as AV manufacturers evolve from hardware to software providers, and in some cases, offer cloud-based platforms. What does this evolution look like, how is it playing out, and how quickly will it happen?

As a writer covering the AV industry for nearly 20 years, I’ve been most excited by the exponentially accelerating digital transformation that has been unfolding since the analog sunset. There’s much more going on than simply running audio and video signals over IP networks. There are new opportunities to be had and new business models to be developed.

At InfoComm 2019 I had the pleasure of sitting in on a one-hour presentation delivered by QSC’s president and CEO, Joe Pham, which I felt provided the most concise, inspiring, and high-level view of the future of the AV industry.

This AV Technology Manager’s Guide to the Evolution of AV over IP and Beyond opens with some excerpts from Pham’s presentation, and then shares the viewpoints and roadmaps of folks from traditional AV manufacturing companies who are leading this monumental transformation.

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Table of Contents EDITOR’S NOTE...................................................................................................................................................................46

FEATURES A CEO’S PERSPECTIVE......................................................................................................................................................47 AN EVOLVING INDUSTRY..................................................................................................................................................50 BET ON THE NETWORK..................................................................................................................................................... 58

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AVoIP

A CEO’s Perspective QSC president and CEO Joe Pham on what the AV industry needs to do to survive

By Cindy Davis

The following are excerpts from Pham’s presentation, edited for brevity.

QSC’s president and CEO Joe Pham is a self-professed movie nut. So of course, he was in his glory when he got to attend the red-carpet event and world premiere of Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame this April at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which was temporarily transformed into a world-class movie theater seating more than 2,000 guests. “This was truly an exceptional experience,” Pham said.

The Avengers: Endgame premiere provided an even greater glory moment for Pham, as the stunning presentation of film in Dolby Vision and Atmos used a full complement of QSC technologies. The installation consisted of 102 loudspeakers, 29 subwoofers, and an estimated 800,000 watts of power with more than a half a mile of networking cable. With over 50 network

nated in Avengers: Endgame. (Take note of the first two letters of the movie title.)

Pham, who also serves as chairman of the board of AVIXA, was quick to point out that the opinions expressed during his presentation at InfoComm 2019 were his own—and he had a whole lot of them.

AV industry t and CEO Joe Pham, the According to QSC presiden

amplifiers, the Q-SYS software-based audio, video, and control ecosystem provided the distribution and processing backbone for the installation and monitored all amplifiers and audio channels.

Pham is known to weave the journey of superheroes into his presentations with great conviction. To illustrate the past, present, and future of the AV industry during InfoComm 2019, he called upon the quest for the six Infinity Stones from the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, which culmi-

’s journey aligns with the

Studios progression of the Marvel

THE EXCEPTIONAL JOURNEY Pham said that during the ride home from the premiere he reflected on the Marvel journey, and was struck by the parallels with the evolution of pro AV. “I’m thinking this is the AV journey that we’ve been on as an industry,” he said. “One of our highest callings as AV professionals is to create this exceptional experience.” With conference calls still taking 15 minutes to initiate, Pham said, “We have something so unique and special to bring to the world, but yet we’re not doing it consistently.”

INFINITY STONE 1: TALENT The first gem in our industry is talent. The innovators and the pioneers created this industry nearly a hundred years ago and created a trade. Here’s the deal: I think we have to reinvent what it is our industry represents.

Even if we at QSC can reinvent QSC, it’s not enough! There is no way just one company can deliver an exceptional experience.

Take AV consultants for example: That’s been a role in our industry for a long time. But the AV consultant of ten years ago is not the AV consultant of today and tomorrow. [Pointing to a slide listing: AV tech-

Avengers franchise.

nology manger, network architect, workspace experience manager, AV consultant, technology innovator, AV designer and programmer, managed services engineer, and customer success manager] Some of these roles need to reinvent themselves, and some of these are new roles.

I’ll use QSC as an example: People still consider QSC to be a manufacturer. If you look at what we’re introducing at InfoComm, we’re introducing a cloud-based management platform for AV systems and applications. We’re introducing Software-based Dante. Someone please tell me,

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AVoIP what are we “manufacturing?” We’re not. So even roles of manufacturers have to change. Making that transition requires that talent gem.

INFINITY STONE 2: SOFTWARE Software by its very nature is powerful. It’s flexible, it’s scalable, it grows with you. Now, I’m not saying we don’t need hardware and devices. Unless you can tell me how I can virtualize 130 loudspeakers and a million watts of amplification, we’re going to need solid hardware endpoints. But an industry that has centered itself on hardware its entire history is missing out on a huge opportunity.

Because software, when brought together with hardware—that’s where the magic happens. That’s where it becomes a living system that grows with the customer, over the customer lifetime.

INFINITY STONE 3: ECOSYSTEM A product in isolation has no life. It’s dead; it has no heartbeat.

A platform is a collection of products, integrated together in an intelligent way, coupled with software to create a living platform that grows with the end user over the lifetime of that platform.

Now we have life. The platform is where things start happening and growing.

An ecosystem is just a platform that is connected to other platforms. So now you have an ecosystem of connected platforms. This is the world that the entire AV industry needs to get to.

All of you are carrying an ecosystem in your pocket right now: your phones. It’s not just the products integrated on my phone, that’s the platform. I can get into my Oracle platform, Salesforce platform, Microsoft Business Intelligence platform. I have all my platforms connected in my personal ecosystem. That’s the world we live in.

However, this industry still somehow feels that the value of an AV professional is to take different product categories and somehow make this stuff work together. This is quickly becoming irrelevant. Even if they work together, they only work together at the time of installation. It’s not a living platform that evolves with the end user. It’s a bit backward as an industry.

Audio/video control needs to converge to a platform that talks to other technology platforms to form a broad ecosystem. Everything else has converged: PCs, telephony, storage, and you can keep going on the technology side. It’s all converged in a connected way, whether it’s wired or whether it’s the cloud connecting all of us across the planet. AV needs to get here. AV will get here.

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This is the strategy that QSC is pursuing. Q-SYS is our software-based ecosystem. Of course, I’m biased and think Q-SYS is the greatest softwarebased audio, video, and control platform in the industry. You’re never going to convince me otherwise! But if you don’t think this is it, get on board with any platform. Get on some software-enabled platform that you are confident will grow with your business and will grow with the clients you serve.

There’s lot of good ones. We have an industry full of very rich talent. Pick your favorite software-based platform to grow with. Just don’t continue to think that you add value simply by assembling disparate components. That economic value is diminishing very quickly, and quite frankly, your potential to add value is so much greater than that. I’ll tell you how.

STONE 4: DATA For the first time, we have a really solid AV management system that can deliver AV-related data.

And when you have access to data, if you put a little thinking behind it, you can turn data into information. If you put more analytics and think-

Research shows that 92 percent of companies believe their business model needs to change in order to win in the era of rapid digital disruption. ing behind information, you can turn information into knowledge at the highest level. That leads you to better understand customer needs, customer requirements, and customer problems, allowing you to turn knowledge into actionable insights and value. And if you can deliver actionable insights and value to an end user, you’ll have no trouble finding an end user to pay for it.

I do believe digital technologies are going to challenge every business model in this industry.

Research shows that 92 percent of companies believe their business model needs to change in order to win in the era of rapid digital disruption.

Fifty-four percent of them were reluctant to adopt new business models, citing “it doesn’t fit my business.” This is what is known as AV’s inconvenient truth. Right? I’m really sorry it doesn’t fit your business, but it doesn’t change the reality of what’s going to happen.

Look at the incumbents in AV today: Their business model is manufacturing hardware, and

then selling it to people who think the value of their job is to make those products work together.

The new business model is a software-based ecosystem working with partners for a new delivery model and a new consumption model, one that provides value over the lifetime of a customer.

STONE 5: THE NEW ECONOMICS OF AV We’re doing different things. We’re delivering different value. There’s going to be different ways people pay for it.

How do you even start thinking about the new economics of AV for our integration community?

The current revenue stream centers on relatively low product margins, which are quickly diminishing. When you look beyond hardware product margins, you get to project services and integration. It’s more value, but I still think it’s diminishing. You need to look toward managed services and AV-as-a-service, and there’s higher value, and it’s going up. At this point you arrive at lifecycle relationships and customer lifetime value.

Q-SYS Reflect Enterprise Manager, which is what we’ve introduced at this show, is our cloudbased remote monitoring and management platform for AV systems and connected endpoints.

It’s our entry into these latter stones. Enterprise Manager connects AV data to other IT services, effectively enabling a new economics model of AV. This is how we [QSC] responded to the perspective that we have, in terms of the future.

BECOME AN AVENGER This is part of the journey that we have as AV professionals. As we move on and get more clarity on the new economics of AV, that sixth stone will begin to surface.

Sometimes the universe just speaks to you. It is so obvious. The first two letters of Avenger are AV! They could not have written this any clearer for us. They’re telling us the story of our AV industry.

So, become an AVenger. We can do this together.

We need to get a team of consultants, technology managers, technology integrators, and end users who really believe in this, and we need to deliver the exceptional experience.

The future is so bright with what we can do as an industry, so don’t be left behind.

“An industry that has centered itself on hardware its entire history is missing out on a huge opportunity.”

“Research shows that 92 percent of companies believe their business model needs to change in order to win in the era of rapid digital disruption.”

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AVoIP

An Evolving Industry AV manufacturers discuss the changing tides in their own words IMAGE COURTESY OF SDVOE

By Cindy Davis As AV and control manufacturers evolve from hardware to software providers—and in some cases, offer cloud-based platforms—we asked thought leaders from various companies to share their insights as to what the evolution might look like, and to give us a peek into their company’s near- and long-term roadmaps.

1 BEYOND Rony Sebok, Vice President and Co-founder There’s a reason everyone is now talking about AV over IP. It’s no longer hype; it’s becoming reality. And there are many good reasons why.

Rony Sebok, 1Beyond 1. Simplicity: simplifying wiring and routing of audio and video signals.

2. Cost: reducing the cost of equipment and installation.

3. Upgradability: adding features is easier when it’s a software upgrade and not a new piece of hardware.

4. Technology advancements: emerging standards that are able to transmit high-quality audio and video over standard network cables.

It wasn’t that long ago when you needed to connect four cables to use a PTZ camera: one each for power, control, high-quality video, and low-res stream. Now this can all be done over a single Cat-5 cable. Check out our new AutoTracker 3 with NDI camera. Better, yet, the cable can be connected to the nearest network switch and any device on the network has access to the video. It’s no longer necessary to think ahead and install specialty wiring to locations that might need access to the signal. All that is needed is a standard network connection at the location.

The same has been true for a while now with Dante audio. I can’t tell you how much easier that

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Integrator North American Theatrix worked with Yale University’s IT staff to integrate a new segment into the existing network in the Sterling Law Building with multiple 100Gb links between switches.

has made life for us. We can route audio from microphones to DSP and speakers and to our Automate VX voice-activated video switcher for recording and conferencing with Dante controller software.

Cost savings come because we don’t need to design in fancy XLR plugs or SDI connections on the system. Everything comes through the network—and software upgrades provide new features.

AMX BY HARMAN Jamie Trader, Vice President, GPLM Video and Control The premise that AV and control are moving “toward software solutions” might be accurate for some manufacturers, but it’s a flawed assertion

from Harman’s perspective.

Not incorrect—just flawed.

It’s flawed because we’ve always been software driven, software defined. The best user experiences we’ve delivered to market are cultivated through software-enabled Jamie Trader, Harman experiences. Whether we’re talking about DSP management, live sound mixing/recording, IP-based video distribution, enterprise resource control and management, or collaboration technology— all of this is underpinned by software. Software derived from obsessive focus on user needs and user behaviors.

The question is really about where software

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AVoIP lives. Does it live on dedicated or general-purpose computing devices? Does it run on FPGA or SoC? Does it run on ARM or x86 processors? Does the software have a relationship between a purposebuilt device and a general computing device?

The answer to all of these questions is about application. Mission-critical applications often depend on purpose-built, solid-state reliability.

Some applications rely on dedicated processing power that is difficult—or unreliable—to predictably harness from a shared computing device. On the other hand, many applications can leverage shared resources, and require both redundancy and standard IT-administered support that dedicated devices can’t satisfy.

The point of this is that the Harman roadmap outlines a continued commitment to delivering software-defined experiences across the best computing technologies fit for each application. Cloud plays a massive part in our AVL-integrated future.

And which computing devices cloud will interact with will be both varied and meaningful.

AURORA MULTIMEDIA Paul Harris, CEO and CTO Aurora Multimedia’s nearand long-term solution is called ReAX, which is based on JavaScript and HTML. The advantage is the huge amount of resources and Paul Harris, Aurora education available for a platform based on web standards. Most everything about ReAX is open architecture and non-platform specific. Using Node.js as its core, ReAX can run on embedded platforms, computers, and virtual machines using Windows, Linux, and Android. It can run locally in a facility or in the cloud, providing ultimate flexibility.

Aurora provides tools for drag-and-drop code development and WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface creation; however, programmers can use code development software tools of their choice since ReAX is standardsbased. The ReAX organization allows multiple manufacturers to use the technology. AV products utilizing the ReAX engine can eliminate the need for standalone hardware. It also allows for a variety of hardware and software to interoperate.

Displays, media players, AV over IP, and more can run a ReAX engine. For the first time, in addition to protocols, source code, IR libraries, and macros can be shared between manufacturers. End users and integrators will no longer be held hostage by

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proprietary control system companies. ReAX is making a better and friendlier AV industry with its open-architecture technology.

BLACK BOX Jonathan McCune, Director of Product Management, AV and Infrastructure Black Box has a track record of providing reliable, longlasting AV distribution and Jonathan McCune, remote-access solutions.

Black Box Our key focus for the future is to continuously develop AV, KVM, and control platforms that are future proof. Rather than force customers to replace their entire system architecture, we will ensure that they can upgrade or enhance their existing systems with IP-based or virtual machine access-enabling components. This approach secures customers’ IT investments while providing them with a migration path to new technology.

Our current and future development roadmap includes AV-over-IP distribution systems that securely share data payload and high-resolution AV signals on the same infrastructure. These include high-speed, IP-based KVM extension and switching solutions that provide access to physical and virtual machines in data centers, as well as pioneering software-based KVM that replaces physical KVM receiver units. All of these solutions reflect a basic value: ease of use, even as technology evolves. Black Box solutions provide administrator-friendly management interfaces that keep up with the speed of changing technology by providing secure access over an IP network or even the internet, plus a high degree of system scalability and support for future system enhancements.

CRESTRON Daniel Jackson, Director, Enterprise Technology Crestron is focusing on building the complete integrated solution for our customers. If our customers ask for something, we want Daniel Jackson, to build it. Not because we Crestron want to build everything, but we want to build in areas where it makes sense, and design solutions to work together as opposed to being cobbled together after the fact.

We want to own all the pieces to provide a better experience to end users. Alternatively, if an integrator has to go to different manufacturer each time a customer asks for something, it becomes a huge hassle, not just from the end-user perspective but from the management, support, and training perspective as well. Unified communications is a great example of this, because UC has become a big part of what customers want in their rooms, so we built that into our portfolio to provide a seamlessly integrated system.

End users are starting to demand more technology in every room, as opposed to just high-end or specialty rooms. A lot of what is driving that

“End users are starting to demand more technology in every room, as opposed to just high-end or specialty rooms.”

—Daniel Jackson, Crestron demand is the fact that you can now get very inexpensive video systems. We sell a very developed Flex solution at a radically low price point. That is causing people so say, “Wow, I should probably go add video to these rooms.” And now, all of a sudden, you can get video in these rooms for peanuts.

This is also driving massive scale.

People often ask if Fusion is going away and being replaced by XiO Cloud. No, Fusion will be around for at least the next decade and we’re still doing future development.

XiO Cloud and Fusion are different solutions.

Fusion is for customers that want to do complex, custom designs—but that comes at the cost of some simplicity. XiO Cloud gives you simplicity and allows enterprises to easily scale.

XiO Cloud does certain things out of the box like zero touch. Because our devices know how to reach out to XiO Cloud, they’ll pull down all their configurations and settings and it will automatically record the analytics off the devices.

We’ve found that nobody wants to run servers in their own data centers anymore. If the customer needs a dedicated cloud, we have Fusion Cloud, which is our hosted solution. We effectively provide a dedicated virtual machine, but it’s in a cloud, so you don’t have to set up your own infrastructure. XiO Cloud is truly a cloud-native platform—it’s designed from the ground up.

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AVoIP “I think the key opportunity for embracing IT innovations for AV applications is in softwaredefined hardware.”

—Matthew Pulsipher, DVIGear DVIGEAR Matthew Pulsipher, Product Manager I think the key opportunity for embracing IT innovations for AV applications is in software-defined hardware. There are a lot Matthew Pulsipher, DVIGear of IT-based standards for streaming audio and video, many of them very good. But the software-first approach that they take comes with unacceptable compromises in the context of professional AV, where quality must be uncompromised, and latency must be absolutely minimal. That’s why we decided on SDVoE as a platform: with SDVoE, you have a standardized cross-vendor hardware platform that is entirely controllable (and expand-

able) by software.

Even though they are ultimately delivered by hardware, DisplayNet-exclusive features such as Advanced Video Wall exist entirely in software.

SDVoE hardware is standardized, with minor differentiation between vendors. Any SDVoE solution can perform basic AV routing (and even some control of advanced features) as well as any other, but the SDVoE platform is flexible enough that significant improvements can be made within the control software.

Since launching the DN-200 Series in 2017, we have been able to add a wide range of new features and functionality through continued development of DisplayNet Manager and by embracing enhancements made to the SDVoE platform. With SDVoE, the internal circuitry used for processing signals is software-defined, and firmware updates

can change the configuration of the hardware to enable improved performance and additional features. I fully expect that we will be able to deliver continued performance enhancements and new features for years to come on our existing hardware—and that any new hardware we release will serve to extend that platform.

EXTRON Joe da Silva, Director of Product Marketing The demands placed on technology in the modern workspace are constantly evolving. One example is how technology managers Joe da Silva, Extron are being asked to support flexible and scalable solutions that can deliver real-time, high-quality communication for presentations as well as collaborative interactions throughout an office, building, or campus.

Using the network for distribution of video and audio signals is garnering a lot of attention.

Using encoders and decoders, we can stream these

Flawless AV-over-IP Switching.

Ethernet Switches are the new fabric for 1G and 10G audio and video distribution.

NETGEAR M4300 Switches work seamlessly.

Installers will find that the M4300 switches are preconfigured for true AV-over-IP with zero-touch network configuration.

Call 1-866-480-2112 option 2, for a 30 day, $0 cost, 100% risk free trial of the industry’s hottest AV over IP pre-configured switch!

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AVoIP “It is now possible to leverage a common deployment workflow for small systems like you’d find in a huddle room to enterprise-wide distribution you’d encounter across a campus of buildings.”

—Joe da Silva, Extron signals across an infrastructure that is potentially used for more than one purpose. The flexibility and scalability that AV over IP affords gives technology managers a greater range of interoperable options for deploying systems of nearly any scale.

By integrating control as a native technology within the AV-over-IP ecosystem, it is now possible to leverage a common deployment workflow for small systems like you’d find in a huddle room to enterprise-wide distribution you’d encounter across a campus of buildings. Moving forward, we are excited to leverage the strength of our configurable and programmable control platform with the scalability of our AV-over-IP video distribution products. These solutions allow users to enable new features as the requirements of the applications change over time through simple software keys. This degree of flexibility ensures our customers are not limited by technology as the business needs of their organization change.

HALL RESEARCH Sathvik Gaddam, Senior Embedded Systems Engineer Distribution of video and audio over IP not only provides scalability, but also end-to-end control. AVoIP Sathvik Gaddam, Hall Research has transformed the way traditional audio and video is transmitted from point to point on a direct, wired connection such as coax or Cat-5 into distributed nodes and services utilizing IP technologies such as IGMP and Multicasting. This approach not only allows a sender to distribute content to a group of receivers, but also allows a receiver to subscribe to a given service from a sender. This flexibility allowed IP-based control systems to control and monitor AV distribution.

Moreover, AVoIP is no longer confined to just video and audio; expanding to applications in the medical and education fields, AVoIP has

evolved to provide many services such as USB 2.0 (USBoIP), IR control (IRoIP), serial control (SoIP), and IP control along with audio and video.

So far, AVoIP is confined to a Local Area Network (LAN) because of its bandwidth-intensive nature; however, control systems to manage AV are rapidly connecting to the cloud to give live status and control over the system, which is often the ideal case.

While the technology to stream AV directly to a cloud server is already available, it’s not surprising that it is not widely adopted because of its expensive infrastructure and latency issues.

While AVoIP technology itself has evolved to satisfy present and future AV needs, deploying the AVoIP solution based on customer needs has become a major challenge for integrators as they must take the customer’s IT infrastructure into consideration before designing the solution. This was not a major concern before. Deploying AVoIP to existing infrastructure is even more challenging, as in most cases, customers’ IP networks are not configured to handle AV. Because of the tradeoff between network bandwidth, image quality, latency, and infrastructure costs, manufacturers offer numerous AVoIP solutions, which can become challenging for users to select the right solution.

KRAMER ELECTRONICS Clint Hoffman, CEO Clint Hoffman: AV over IP is a great alternative to HDBaseT for bigger installations. When it comes to the AV/IT end user, this is what Clint Hoffman, Kramer they are familiar with. They’re not familiar with HDBaseT, or HDMI, EDID, and proprietary highways and matrix switchers. It’s an easy discussion because they understand managed services and the cloud.

We have three different primary solutions at Kramer. Kramer Control is a cloud-based control solution. The beauty of a cloud-based control

solution is that you don’t have to roll a truck on site and send the program route with it to go make a change to the system.

Another benefit of Kramer Control is that from the minute you have deployed it, we use smart drivers for a display or a source. Kramer Control is completely about analytics. It captures all the activity from the day you turn the system on and is available to be analyzed. How often are my rooms being used? What’s being used in my rooms? It’s all available immediately and forever, because it lives on the Amazon Web Services server farms.

You don’t need to have a coder who writes programs to get information out of your system.

Kramer VIA is a wireless collaboration and presentation solution. Then VIA Site Management allows you to do a multitude of things across your network, whether you’ve got 100 or 1,000 VIAs. You can check their status individually or push a firmware update to all of them.

Kramer Network is a tool for managing AV hardware that’s connected to a network, and it’s also a virtual matrix switcher for AV-over-IP encoders and decoders.

We have an AV over IP solution for every point in the market. We have the H.264/265, the M-JPEG, which is currently the most popular, and we also now have the SDVoE. And, we have 4K as well. No matter what the application is, we have solution for it, including traditional hardware.

Our roadmap is to take these solutions and make them all seamlessly integrated and look and feel like they’re one.

Martin Barbour, QSC

QSC Martin Barbour, Product Manager, Q-SYS Platform and Cloud Software For almost 15 years, QSC has been developing its AV&C technology in a fundamentally different way than nearly every other AV

“Control systems to manage AV are rapidly connecting to the cloud to give live status and control over the system, which is often the ideal case.”

—Sathvik Gaddam, Hall Research

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AVoIP company. In order to provide significantly greater performance and deeper integration capabilities, we chose to leverage mainstream IT stalwarts such as Intel, the IEEE, and Linux as the base technologies for Q-SYS. This approach allows us to define the product by the software we run with

“As a software provider, the next logical steps (as evidenced by the IT industry) are virtualization and cloud deployment.”

—Martin Barbour, QSC these well-known and trusted technologies. As a result, we can look at Q-SYS as an AV&C operating system.

This software-defined application layer gives us agility to offer Q-SYS on the most suitable platform for the application. Whether that’s part-

nering with an industry leader such as Dell for large-capacity, centralized deployments (with the Q-SYS Core 5200), or building our own appliance for smaller spaces ( the Q-SYS Core 110f), or moving applicable capabilities to the cloud. Q-SYS embodies the fact that ongoing software development continues to define and evolve the product.

While QSC is increasingly becoming a software developer rather than a hardware manufacturer, there is still a need to manufacturer endpoints such as amplifiers, cameras, and other physical devices that cannot be virtualized. Beyond that, we don’t need to manufacture multiple hardware processors (audio DSP, control processor, video switcher, etc.) to tie those systems together. All of those functions can live at the software layer, and therefore, coexist in the same single device or software application.

As a software provider, the next logical steps (as evidenced by the IT industry) are virtualization and cloud deployment. The jury is still out on whether real-time signal processing in the cloud makes practical sense for the majority of use cases, but the technology certainly exists. What we do

know is the convenience and improved efficiency offered by global visibility through cloud-connected devices. Q-SYS Reflect Enterprise Manager extends the Q-SYS Ecosystem by moving applicable technology pieces to the cloud for centralized, remote management and monitoring of your entire AV&C system including Q-SYS peripherals and third-party, non-QSC devices, from anywhere in the world.

RBG SPECTRUM Scott Norder, Chief Operating Officer We think about three main categories of AV content: live/capture video, timesensitive computer-generated (think video games), and Scott Norder, RGB time-insensitive recorded/ Spectrum streamed content (web pages, video content servers). Each presents unique challenges in migrating to a software/cloud-hosted platform. The main factors of cost, performance, data transmission speeds, and bottlenecks bal-

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+1 (617) 591-2200 | www.1Beyond.com

AVoIP anced against quality, reliability, and ease of use are already producing a variety of solutions. Solutions for recorded/streamed content are approaching full maturation, yet there is still room for innovation in technology and business models.

Clearly, there will continue to be edge devices for the creation/capture of AV content and for the presentation of that content back to users.

It is the area between these two functions where our opportunity exists. Whether you think of it as conversion, translation, encoding, or ethernet enablement, it is the cost-effective processing and packaging of the AV content that must happen in order to move the AV content across the network from the edges. Implementing standardsbased solutions in this area—such as H.264/ HEVC or JPEG2000—provides maximum leverage of interoperability, reliability, and cost reduction, and is clearly being favored by the marketplace.

RGB Spectrum is focused on the challenges of getting time-sensitive content distributed, processed, and displayed across wide user bases by leveraging best-in-class AV codecs, networking, and distributed control. Our solutions provide everything needed to get AV content onto your network and distribute it not just within a room, but to every room, building, campus, or facility around the world.

Frank Pellkofer

Justin Kennington, SDVoE Alliance

UTELOGY Frank Pellkofer, President As the demographics in the workplace change, many organizations need to meet the enhanced expectations of a new breed of technology users. The new AV/UC deployments are driven by a

desire to make life simple for their customers whose daily life is to maximize productivity through workplace technology. The need for efficiency and to create an environment that is attractive to recruit new staff and retain existing employees is now of paramount importance as many organizations focus more on the value of their people.

We’re seeing a proliferation of huddle spaces (small meeting rooms) that need simple, inexpensive, and easily deployed and configured solutions that provide a first-class user experience. These include intelligent soundbars with integrated microphones and cameras, intelligent cameras/displays that provide actionable intelligence (people counting etc.), wireless presentation devices, and sensor technology to automate the control of the space.

Our roadmap is focused on ensuring our solution is enterprise-grade, network-connected, secure, able to be managed and monitored, and able to provide IT/enterprise levels of service. We are seeing a change in the types and volumes of rooms that are being installed and also the way that the technology is being consumed, with the IT-style “as a service” model starting to be adopted.

ZEEVEE Steve Metzger, Co-Founder, VP, Hardware and Operations This is an exciting time for the AV industry. Within the last decade we have seen AV distribution grow from Steve Metzger, ZeeVee analog patch fields through digital HD over RF, matrix switching, HDBaseT, and now, into Ethernet and the internet for distribution. That’s probably the

fastest rate of change for any industry outside of micro-processing and silicon storage technologies.

While AV over IP and internet-based serving of video are hot areas of development—and we fully participate in it with cutting-edge products and services—it is but one answer to one type of challenge. As with any high-tech area, there is a continuum of technology and solutions best suited to each customer’s problem.

There is no single solution that is going to work for all customers universally. If you have medical operating theaters or control room applications, the requirements are stringent in terms of video quality and latency, and the price paid is bandwidth and network capacity. School sys-

“While AV over IP and internet-based serving of video are hot areas of development… it is but one answer to one type of challenge.”

—Steve Metzger, ZeeVee tems tend to be more budget focused. Sub-frame latency may not be as important, so compressed solutions fit the bill. We have leading solutions for those applications as well.

As a customer-focused vendor, our job is not to shoehorn anyone into the technology du jour.

Our job is to provide the breadth of solutions that can cover any of our partner and end-user needs—but more importantly, the knowledge, interest, and passion to learn about those needs and apply the very best-suited solution to best cover them.

SDVOE ALLIANCE Justin Kennington, President

isting infrastructure is a lie. Adding any major new service to your network requires

There is a hidden challenge to the convergence of AV and IT:

planning, design, and expansion. AV over IP is no exception. Therefore, we expect to

Networks originally designed to serve traditional IT needs

see an evolution toward new and expanded networks that break the traditional IT

are not well-suited to carry AV traffic. These networks are

design mold and account for the increased peak bandwidth demands of AV over IP.

Practically, this means that the idea of using AV-over-IP endpoints on your ex-

heavily oversubscribed. That is, their peak data-carrying ca-

A strong recent example of this evolved thinking is at Yale University’s

pacity is low compared to their aggregate traffic over time.

Sterling Law Building. Integrator North American Theatrix worked with Yale’s

This is an IT best practice, because oversubscription lowers

IT staff to integrate a new segment into their existing network with multiple

infrastructure costs and has little performance impact for

100Gb links between switches. This new network segment offers peak band-

IT users (web browsing, email, file transfers). But oversubscription is the enemy of

width capabilities far beyond that of a traditional network design. The resulting

AV over IP, because AV data must be delivered on time, every time, without delay or

network connects all AV for more than a dozen classrooms, while also providing

network retries.

IT service to the building.

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AVoIP

Bet on the Network AV over IP adds unprecedented flexibility and remote management capabilities for Tulalip Resort Casino

By Margot Douaihy The Tulalip Resort Casino (TRC) is a tourist and cultural destination located in Quil Ceda Village, WA. Operated by the Tulalip Tribes of Washington since 2004, the TRC houses an impressive 12-story hotel with 370 rooms, a 192,000-square-foot casino, seven restaurants, meeting rooms, an amphitheater, and a world-class spa.

Digital signage is a hallmark of the TRC. ANATOMY OF THE AV-OVER-IP FUTURE-PROOF, WITH IMPRESSIVE Monitors throughout the property direct guests to SYSTEM DATA FLOWS events, display sports broadcasts inside the TRC’s To move AV signals over IP throughout the Tulalip Even though the TRC’s network capacity is 10Gbps, Draft Sports Bar & Grill, and keep casino players Resort Casino, Aaron Jackson has leveraged net- the Kramer KDS-EN6/DEC6 AV-over-IP distribuupdated on the latest promotions. The sports gam- work through-put of 10Gbps with a redundant tion system is capable of supporting 4K60 4:2:0 ing area is also packed with monitors showing live 10Gb LAG. This connects to the TRC’s networks (10.2Gbps). Kopin said: “This gives the Tulalip games from across the country.

Resort Casino solid 4K signal delivery, The TRC has been steadily feeding ensuring that its digital signage system a growing network of monitors using a won’t become overloaded and obsolete cloud-based Kramer Control system. Built tomorrow.” with drag-and-drop functionality, remoteThe scalers built into the Kramer decodcontrol capabilities, and built-in system ers allow for image rotation for screens analytics, Kramer Control has made life mounted vertically or horizontally. Any easy for Aaron Jackson, who leads AV techchanges in monitor resolution (as 4K monnical and integration support for TRC. itors are added) or orientation will not “Setup is straightforward with Kramer complicate the process for TRC’s IT staff.

Control,” said Jackson, an AV pro with Everything signal-based can be deployed extensive programming experience. “That’s from the network operations center. why we gravitated toward this system.

“The fact that the Kramer encoders/ Kramer has the ‘full-stack’ more than anydecoders are 4K gives us some room to one else on the market, especially when it grow, especially since there isn’t much 4K comes to the drivers being prewritten for content available today,” Kramer Control.”

Most of the playout content in the casino is currently 1080p, but its AV-over-IP The current level of digital signage at infrastructure enables it to scale up to 4K when the time is right.

VALUE PROPOSITION this dynamic casino is beyond what many Moving to an AV-over-IP signal delivery hard-wired, switched-matrix AV systems can eas- operations center on the hotel’s admin level, system has given the Tulalip Resort Casino the ily handle. This is why the Tulalip Resort Casino which is home to various audiovisual servers, the headroom it needs to add extra monitors, expand recently migrated to an AV-over-IP signal archi- Kramer Control system, a powerful Scala digital its range of playout channels, and migrate to 4K tecture. signage management platform, and more than content when the time seems right. The strategy “When the Tulalip Resort Casino wanted to 60 Kramer KDS-EN6 4K60 4:2:0 HDCP 2.2 video adds value now and in the long term. extend digital signage throughout its property, encoders.

This is a level of flexibility that just wasn’t Kramer AV over IP was the only realistic solution,” The encoders send the signals via to 10Gbps possible with the TRC’s former hard-wired/matrixsaid Chris Kopin, VP of technology at Kramer US. network to hundreds of Kramer KDS-DEC6 4K60 based AV distribution system. In adopting AV over “Today, the TRC has a high-performance AV-over- 4:2:0 HDCP 2.2 decoders. These are connected IP, the Tulalip Resort Casino has bought itself a IP network that meets all of their digital signage to monitors throughout the TRC. According to lot of space to expand its roster of digital signage needs—and then some.”

Jackson, there are more than 300 decoders in the monitors, the variety of channels they can display, TRC—and the number keeps growing. and the resolution they use in the years to come.

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VISUAL EDUCATION

which is a critical enabler to prepare MWSBS students and distinguish them in the professional marketplace. Providing an immersive and at-scale environment was critical for students who haven’t had the opportunity to work in ot visit a construction site yet.

“Over the last decade, construction has become much more visual,” said Anoop Sattineni, associate professor, MWSBS. “We needed a large digital space so we can show our students digital Technology Staff drawings and models. Mezzanine and the Visualization Lab allows us to do that.”

The team had several key objectives. blong has contributed in transforming the classroom Understanding scale: Teaching staff wanted to show buildings at Auburn University McWhorter School of Building on a 1:1 scale to allow students to better visualize construction Science (MWSBS), where the new Visualization Lab drawings. now incorporates technologies including Mezzanine, The ability to review multiple types of information: Faculty Oblong’s flagship collaboration product. Aiming to reinvent the learndesired the ability to look at multiple content streams (drawing experience, the Visualization Lab features an immersive visual ings/videos/3D models) at the same time, to help compare collaboration environment that has had a dramatic effect on student’s data and promote a clearer understanding of the process. learning—delivering improvements by creating an invaluable and Teamwork: Staff wanted to create a collaborative teaching practical experience. environment to better engage students and create a dynamic learning experience. They wanted to connect groups of teams THE CHALLENGE debating different aspects of construction from in the room The faculty staff of MWSBS at Auburn University were looking for a and around the world, and better engage students so they solution to transform teaching at the school, to better prepare students become part of the learning process. for the fast-changing professional environment. They needed collaboMake a statement: The Visualization Lab is located in the ration technology to support and illustrate projects at scale—an essencentral part of the school, so the desire to showcase a leadingtial component in architecture and construction—and they required edge technology as an integral part of the program was also a new way to enhance and improve collaborative problem solving, important.

The school wanted to create a unique space that would significantly deliver a best-in-class education experience to MWSBS students and better prepare them for challenging work environments. To deliver this vision, they needed leading-edge technology to maximize the visualization of complex documents and to enhance collaboration. This was to be an essential component of the new Visualization Lab. Administrators wanted a multi-screen and multi-stream user experience, one that could bring in the multiple pieces of information critical to looking at a building problem in its entirety—such as construction documents and 3D building rendering. The solution also needed to facilitate the ability to easily share, move around, and reorganize information in a way that facilitates the understanding of Auburn University’s McWhorter School of Building Science installed an Oblong Mezzanine system to complex construction challenges. transform teaching and better prepare students for the fast-changing professional environment.

AUBURN UNIVERSITY OUTFITS ITS VISUALIZATION LAB WITH OBLONG MEZZANINE

By AV

O

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AV in Action

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ClickShare Desktop App THE BREAKTHROUGH Powered by Oblong’s Mezzanine technology, the Visualization Lab delivers an immersive, connected workspace where students can gain a new perspective on construction plans and share ideas in an agile and collaborative way. The dynamic workspace commands attention when viewing information. Students interact with data and construction plans, physically manipulating information and images across interconnected screens with Mezzanine’s multiple modes of control, including the gesturebased wand which is designed to command content across multiple screen surfaces.

“What Mezzanine allows us to do is to have multiple streams of visualization that we can bring up side by side, to compare and discuss,” Sattinene said. “Students can see state-of-the-art visualization,” said Richard Burt, head administrator, MWSBS. “It’s a very immersive space which is exactly what we intended it to be.”

Many freshman and sophomore students arrive at the start of the course and have never been on a construction site. So being able to show construction documents and plans along with 3D renderings of buildings enables students to visualize how buildings are constructed in a much quicker timeframe.

“The visualization lab is a tool to help train our students, utilizing a number of different media, to try to convey technical information to students who may not have exposure to something like that,” said Eric Wetzel, assistant professor MWSBS. “To take a system where I can take a 3D model and make it 6 feet tall by 10 feet wide, it’s a hugely impactful moment for them to be able to say, ‘I understand now what that mechanical system looks like because I can see it, almost at scale, as opposed to just looking at a flat 2D set of plans.’”

THE RESULT With the newly launched Visualization Lab, students work on more complex building problems and learn faster as they have a more complete view of each building and construction challenge. They are significantly more engaged in the Visualization Lab, so their learning is accelerated.

“The Visualization Lab gives us other opportunities to bring the students into the learning experience,” said Tom Leathen, assistant professor, MWSBS. “Now I can put the students into the driver’s seat.”

The students learn early in the program how to work collaboratively in a dynamic team environment, to learn and solve problems—an essential skill in the professional world. Students become experts in the type of technology that will give them a market-leading advantage when it comes to entering the competitive job market.

MWSBS students have wholeheartedly embraced this new and dynamic learning experience, recognizing the benefits of learning and using this cutting-edge technology with their peers on a daily basis.

“A tool that enables us to communicate both visually and in terms of data is naturally going to prepare us to be stronger project managers in the future,” said Emily Borge, a graduate student at MWSBS.

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NOW SEE THIS Sites Worth Watching

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The Goods

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Protean Products for Problem-Solving Tech Managers BOSE PROFESSIONAL CONTROLSPACE EX The What: Bose Professional is now shipping new ControlSpace EX processors: two designed specifically for conference rooms (EX-440C and EX-12AEC) and one dedicated for general purpose applications (EX-1280).

The What Else: With an open-architecture, all-in-one design, the ControlSpace EX-440C conferencing processor facilitates high-quality microphone integration and audio processing for small- to medium-size conference rooms. Various inputs and outputs allow for flexible configuration: four mic/line analog inputs, four analog outputs, onboard VoIP, PSTN, USB, Bose AmpLink output, eight-channel acoustic echo cancelling (AEC), and 16x16 Dante connectivity. With 12 acoustic echo cancel-

lers (AEC), and 16x16 Dante connectivity, the ControlSpace EX-12AEC conferencing processor provides a cost-effective, robust expansion for conference rooms using ControlSpace EX- conferencing processors. The ControlSpace EX-1280 processor offers 12 mic/line analog inputs, eight analog outputs, Bose AmpLink output, and 64x64 Dante connectivity, featuring high-quality audio processing and expansive digital connectivity.

The Bottom Line: Bose ControlSpace Designer software simplifies the setup process for all three processors with drag-and-drop programming, making configuration easier. These new models are compatible with the Bose Professional line of Dante endpoints and end-user controllers, including wall-mount and mobile device control using ControlSpace Remote.

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MAGEWELL ULTRA STREAM The What: Magewell has announced upgrades that expand the Ultra Stream line of encoders’ versatility into more applications.

The What Else: Headlining the new features is support for 3G and 4G USB modems, enabling users to live stream from anywhere over a mobile broadband connection. Automated connectivity management switches between mobile broadband, wired Ethernet, and Wi-Fi connectivity if the current network link is interrupted, and users can stream to different targets simultaneously over separate connection methods if desired. Meanwhile, a new Access Point (AP) mode enables Wi-Fi-based smartphone control of Ultra Stream encoders in environments that don’t have an existing accessible Wi-Fi network. Rounding out the enhancements is a new web interface, enabling users to control Ultra Stream encoders through a web browser.

The Bottom Line: Ultra Stream encoders enable users to record or stream high-quality video with one click using on-device buttons or a smartphone app. Customers can stream live to popular services such as YouTube, Facebook Live, and Twitch or to a custom-specified RTMP server, and can simultaneously record video as files to a USB drive or the associated smartphone.

HALL RESEARCH UHB-SW2 The What: Hall Research has introduced the UHB-SW2 extender, which is comprised of a two-gang wall plate transmitter together with a lowprofile receiver.

The What Else: The wall plate provides auto-switching VGA and HDMI inputs as well as a USB port for connection to a host computer. The system uses HDBaseT 2.0 technology for data integrity, and

the HDMI input supports 4K60 4:4:4 HDR with up to 18Gbps bandwidth. VGA and its associate audio inputs are converted to HDMI and scaled to be displayed on any TV or projector.

The UHB-SW2 can extend 4K60 signals over a single Cat-6 cable to a distance of 120 feet, or 1080p signals to 220 feet. USB and RS-232 control signals are also extended.

The receiver also provides power to the wall plate via the Cat-6 cable and provides two USB ports. Interactive touchscreen displays, memory devices, keyboard/mouse, even webcams can be connected to the receiver.

The Bottom Line: Auto switching video selects the last connected input (HDMI or VGA), however the wall plate includes a push-button to directly select either input. The UHB-SW2 is well suited for commercial AV and educational (K-12) installations.

phone and EasyMIC-compatible Vaddio equipment.

The Bottom Line: With full 360-degree coverage from three unidirectional condenser microphone elements, a single TableMIC microphone is designed to provide full coverage for most meeting rooms.

EXTRON DTP2 R 211 The What: Extron has announced the immediate availability of the DTP2 R 211, a twisted-pair HDMI receiver with advanced performance and innovative features.

The What Else: It supports transmission of HDMI and multichannel audio, as well as bidirectional RS-232 and IR signals up to 330 feet (100 meters) over a shielded Cat-x cable. This HDCP 2.2-compliant product accommodates the full 18Gbps data rate of HDMI 2.0b and supports video resolutions up to 4K60 at 4:4:4 color sampling. Also, the stereo output is selectable between de‑embedded or pass-through analog audio. The DTP2 R 211 receiver is designed to provide reliable, long distance transmission of video, audio, and control signals. In addition to enabling extension of higher video data rates, it supports Deep Color up to 12-bit, CEC pass-through, and embedded HD lossless audio formats. HDMI audio is made available as a balanced or unbalanced analog stereo signal, and the stereo output is selectable for de-embedded or pass-through analog audio.

The Bottom Line: The compact enclosure and features such as remote

VADDIO TABLEMIC The What: Vaddio is shipping its new TableMIC microphone, designed to deliver professional-quality audio for conferencing applications.

The What Else: Engineered to reduce distracting noises that arise in the conference room, the TableMIC’s solid metal base construction, acoustical fabric wrap, and padded rubber feet diminish table vibration noise. The top of the TableMIC features a capacitive touch control surface for silent operation. The ability to enable and disable button functionality during configuration can further simplify the end user’s videoconferencing experience. Each of the three unidirectional cardioid microphone elements in the microphone is equipped with integrated echo cancellation and digital signal processing, including equalization, filtering, and automatic gain control. The DSP in a companion product, such as the Vaddio AV Bridge Matrix Pro or EasyUSB Mixer/Amp provides an AEC reference from the far end and applies it to individual mic elements, so conference calls are clear on both ends of the conversation. With its plug-and-play design, installation is simple: just connect a standard Cat-5 cable between the TableMIC micro-

Record. Encode. Stream. Decode.

SIMULTANEOUSLY.

TASCAM

VS-R Series Answer your customers’ growing demand for external stand-alone encoders. The full 4K/UHD (VS-R265) and full HD AV (VS-R264) over IP streaming encoders and decoders simultaneously record, encode, stream and decode multiple video stream formats while utilizing High Efficiency Coding (HEVC) that delivers H.264 video quality for 4K content at half the bit rate.

Sound. Thinking.

SEPTEMBER

www.tascam.com

2 0 1 9 | av ne two r k .co m

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power capability make the DTP2 R 211 receiver well suited for discreet placement behind flat panel displays, with projectors, or wherever needed to meet application requirements.

NEUTRIK NA2-IO-DPRO The What: Neutrik USA has debuted the new two-input, two-output NA2-IO-DPRO Dante Interface. The NA2-IO-DPRO features two inputs switchable between mic, line, and AES/EBU signals plus two outputs switchable between analog line and AES/EBU. Two Dante ports provide for either redundancy or device daisy chaining.

The What Else: The NA2-IO-DPRO front panel provides two latching XLR inputs plus two XLR outputs. AES/EBU operation is independently auto detected for inputs and outputs. Using Neutrik’s free DPRO controller software for Mac or PC, +48 V phantom power can be applied; microphone preamplifier gain, pad, and high-pass filtering can be set per channel; and input channels can be linked for matched operation. Output channels can be muted or unmuted within the software.

The Bottom Line: With its small size, metal construction, and removable rubber protector, the NA2-IO-DPRO offers a rugged, reliable solution that is well suited to a wide range of applications.

AUDIO-TECHNICA UNIPOINT The What: Audio-Technica is now shipping its updated UniPoint U891 Boundary Microphone models featuring a two-state RGB LED status indicator and a touch-sensitive capacitive-type user switch that can be set to three modes, replacing the previously available models.

The What Else: All new U891 models feature a heavy die-cast case and silicon foam bottom pads to minimize coupling of surface vibration to the microphone. Threaded inserts on the bottom of the microphone

allow it to be mounted with screws for increased security. The unit’s selfcontained electronics eliminate the need for an external power module.

All models accept available interchangeable elements that permit angle of acceptance from 100 degrees to 360 degrees.

The Bottom Line: Designed to deliver flexible control in conference and boardroom installations, all versatile U891 condenser boundary microphone models are equipped with an 80Hz low-cut UniSteep filter to reduce pickup of low-frequency ambient noise.

LG LAA015FL7B1 The What: LG Business Solutions has launched its new 130-inch LED display screen. The LG 130-inch All-in-One Direct View LED Screen, first previewed at InfoComm 2019, is available now to order.

The What Else: The LAA015FL7B1 features a 1.5mm pixel pitch for 1080p resolution. The display has a brightness output of 500cd/ m2, a contrast ratio of 500:1, and a 160-degree viewing angle. Designed for serviceability, the LED screen can be easily installed and managed from the front side for easy operation.

The Bottom Line: Considered the ideal replacement for conference-room projectors, the screen features no bezel, embedded speakers, and AV connections to meet a host of business needs.

In addition to compatibility with leading partners such as Crestron, the 130-inch All-in-One screen will be supported by LG Signage365Care for real-time device monitoring and diagnostics.

adindex 1 Beyond 55 www.1Beyond.com AMX by Harman Back Cover www.pro.harman/partnerevents Altona 35 www.altona.com Audix 5 www.audixusa.com AVIXA 23 www.avixa.org/joe-mike Barco 61 www.barco.com BIAMP 25 www.biamp.com Blackbox 57 www.blackbox.com Crestron 13 www.crestron.com DVIGear 51 www.dvigear.com Hall Research Technologies 33 www.hallresearch.com Hitachi America 11 www.hitachi-america.us Liberty AV Solutions 27 www.secure.libertycable.com Netgear 37, 53 www.netgear.com Matrox 39 www.matrox.com Opticis USA 21 www.opticisusa.com Optoma Technology 9,41 www.optoma.com Peerless - AV 31 www.peerless-av.com Rose Electronics 67 www.rose.com RGB Spectrum 44 www.rgb.com Sennheiser 17 www.sennheiser.com SDVoe 49 www.sdvoe.org Sony Electronics 2, 6,7 www.sony.com TASCAM 63 www.tascam.com Vaddio 43 www.vaddio.com Visionary Solutions 19 www.vsicam.com

INTERACTIVE INSTRUCTION

How It’s Done

CHOOSING THE RIGHT INTERACTIVE DISPLAY SOLUTION FOR K-12 CLASSROOMS

By Chris Feldman n the majority of K-12 schools, instruction is moving away from a teacher-centric approach—in which the instructor stands at the front of the room and delivers information—and toward a student-centric model, where students take ownership of their learning and the teacher acts as a guide or facilitator.

To match this new model of active learning, schools need technology that will bring clear, detailed visuals into classrooms, engaging students and enhancing lessons with vivid imagery. Ed tech also should encourage a hands-on learning approach, making it easy for students to collaborate through the seamless sharing of images, videos, and ideas with peers, both in the classroom and from their homes.

These considerations for implementing interactive whiteboards, touchscreens, digital displays and projectors will help guide IT departments and AV professionals.

I

INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARDS AND TOUCHSCREENS The 21st-century version of the schoolhouse blackboard allows teachers to present information—including notes written in real time—in a much more engaging way than chalk ever could. These screens are virtually endless canvases that display images and allow participants to mark up what they see, taking notes and moving pieces around to make learning a tactile experience. These boards also have the ability to connect with other classrooms across the school district—or around the world—and share ideas in a more collaborative way.

When it comes to the software that

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runs these touchscreens, programs like FlatFrog Whiteboard are great for notetaking and other tasks, promoting discussion and idea sharing. Connectivity-enabled touchscreens take collaboration a step further; using software like Mosaic Connect, which comes preloaded in the NEC CB Series Collaboration Board and the NEC InfinityBoard, students can share content from any device wirelessly.

Software that is operating system-agnostic is often a good choice in schools with multiple types of devices and/or operating systems, as it is compatible with Mac/ iOS, Windows, Chrome OS, and Android.

This provides the simplest integration and ensures every student can connect.

DIGITAL DISPLAYS AND PROJECTORS Because the majority of students now carry a high-definition screen in their pockets, they’re used to visual quality—so bright, vivid HD displays in the classroom have become a necessity. Digital displays add a refreshing element to the learning experience, and eye-catching HD imagery creates a unique interaction that promotes discussion among the class.

HD digital displays should be able to connect to other devices, so students can share relevant content on them. Consider large-format displays or ultra-short-throw laser projectors for the most return on your investment, and to ensure the screen is big enough for the entire class to see.

HOW TO DECIDE Consider the collaboration software early in the planning process. Great hardware

Modern interactive whiteboards like NEC’s InfinityBoard are virtually endless canvases that display images and allow participants to mark up what they see, taking notes and moving pieces around to make learning a tactile experience.

requires thoughtful software to run properly, and when choosing a display technology, look for products that come preloaded with robust collaboration software that allows both teachers and students to easily share information to a display. The best solutions will also offer teachers an easy way to monitor student progress and encourage communication across a range of devices.

The importance of clear HD visuals can’t be understated, either. Whether it’s a slideshow of the Great Wall of China, a video about the ancient Egyptian history, or an interactive map of a solar system, crisp images can create an emotional response in students, leading to better lesson retention.

In modern K-12 education, technology plays a critical role in everyday learning, going beyond the lecture to make information resonate and bringing new levels of engagement to a classroom. Schools can ignite students’ passion for learning with classroom technologies—including digital whiteboards, projectors, or largeformat displays—that allow students to collaborate with each other and with their instructor.

Chris Feldman is product manager for NEC Display Solutions of America.

9000