Installation November/December 2016 Digital Edition

Issue 196 / November-December 2016

AV INTEGRATION IN A NETWORKED WORLD

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up a league p28 Moving Bigger crowds require better audio the force p34 Feel Phone trends influence pro touchscreens Sea beauty p38 Black Inside Georgia’s new fully equipped arena

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WELCOME 03

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Contributors: David Davies, Maximilian Doelle, Rob Lane, Ian McMurray, Steve Montgomery, Tim Root

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Printed by Pensord Press, Wales

Print ISSN: 2050-6104

Online ISSN: 2052-2401

Cover image: Stavanger airport, Norway – courtesy of Absen

A sister title to SCN

Harman in Samsung’s galaxy

I

don’t think I’m alone in generally leaving this editor’s note until the end of the magazine production cycle – it ensures that what you write is as up to date as possible before the issue goes to the printers. Also, just occasionally, a big story breaks and you have to cover that.

That is precisely what has happened this month – the news broke on Monday 14 November that Samsung was buying Harman International Industries for $8 billion in cash. So my almost-finished piece about 3D and 4D rides, on the back of my recent holiday in Orlando and visit to Universal Studios, segueing neatly into a discussion about the isolating nature of immersive 3D versus the potential for group interaction within mixed reality, neatly tying in a Paddy Baker, Editor plug for our opinion piece on HoloLens on page 16, has been binned. pbaker@nbmedia.com What are we to make of Samsung and Harman? I’m writing these @install8ion words the morning after the news was released: I’ve put some questions in to Harman but I don’t expect to have the answers by press time, so what follows contains a degree of speculation.

The announcement majored on Harman’s work in connected cars – the deal gives Samsung entry into a market with huge potential. The company’s existing businesses aren’t generating enormous growth – its mobile phone business was less profitable than Apple’s, even before the Galaxy Note 7 debacle, which has all but wiped out its Q3 profits – and so the car market is a good opportunity for Samsung.

‘Will Samsung simply keep the parts of Harman it wants, and sell off the rest, either whole or in pieces?’

Social media comments on the announcement from the pro audio and AV worlds had one major concern – all right, two, if you include gags about mixing consoles exploding. With the car market the main reason for the acquisition, what is going to happen on the pro AV side? Will Samsung simply keep the parts of Harman it wants, and sell off the rest, either whole or in pieces?

My guess – and my hope – is that it won’t. After all, the two companies are both major players in this space: at ISE 2017, they will have the biggest and the seventh biggest stands. Harman in recent years has expanded its range of technologies, mainly by acquisition, and moved from product sales to solutions sales – though without a major display offering. If the Professional division continues to operate as it does now, adding Samsung displays to the mix can only strengthen its position. The fact that overall CEO Dinesh Paliwal is remaining in post suggests that Harman’s change of ownership may not be bad news for our industry.

Finally, as this is our last issue of the year, I’d be interested to hear how you think the industry is shaping up for 2017. Our industry confidence survey is up and running, and will be open for a few more days. Please go to http://bit.ly/2gcuxvJ and take a couple of minutes to answer some simple questions. Here’s to a great 2017!

04 CONTENTS

November/December 2016

News & Data 06 Analysis Flat panel display spending to surge Lighting set to enable building IoT 08 Regional Voices: The Netherlands

People 10 Industry Moves 12 Opinion Rob Lane on revolutionising working environments Tim Root explains DSP for audio conferencing Maximilian Doelle on Microsoft’s HoloLens 18 Interview Gordon and Keith Dutch discuss succession planning at Peerless-AV

18

Features 22 Airports and railway stations Ian McMurray investigates the opportunities and challenges presented by these advertismentfriendly transport hubs 28 PA-VA How can sports clubs ensure their stadium audio solutions can handle promotion to a higher league?

34 Interactive displays Touchscreen innovation from the smartphone sector is starting to influence a fractured pro-AV marketplace

Solutions

22

38 Black Sea Arena, Batumi This ultra-modern Georgian venue has been designed for the largest productions of international recording artists 42 Sussex Humanities Lab Major installation equips university facility with cutting-edge pro-AV products for communications and collaboration 44 Kayseri Organised Industrial Zone Mosque, Anatolia d&b sound reinforcement system overcomes acoustic challenges in spectacular sanctuary 46 Solutions in Brief Including macom’s dual install at Porsche Museum and Christie projection mapping in New York’s Radio City Music Hall

38

Technology 49 New Products Including d&b audiotechnik, Kramer and QSC

54 Showcase Education technology

56 Demo of the Month Prysm Visual Workplace

Also inside 16 Show Preview ISE 2017

56

06 ANALYSIS

November/December 2016

Surge in flat panel display spending

By Steve Montgomery

F

lat panel display (FPD) sales are expected to attain their highest sustained three-year level in the history of the industry. FPD equipment spending will rise 89%, to $12.9 billion in 2016 and further to $13 billion in 2017, before dropping slightly to $11.8 billion in 2018.

China will account for 65% of all FPD equipment spending between 2016 and 2018.

Chinese panel makers relentlessly continue to build new FPD factories to make the country the largest producing region in the world. Generation 10.5 fabrication plants capable of processing enormous glass substrates will target efficient production of 65in and 75in panels.

South Korean and Japanese manufacturers are focusing on AMOLED manufacture to take advantage of a market shift to that technology. Chinese makers, backed by joint ventures with regional governments, are also building a large number of AMOLED factories, viewing it as an opportunity to upgrade from trailing-edge to leading-edge display manufacturing.

Global flat panel display (FPD) sales revenue forecast ($bn) 14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0 2013

2014

2015

www.ihs.com

2016*

2017* Source: IHS

2018* * = forecast

Voice speakers to be central to smart home

By Duncan Proctor

R

esearch conducted by Futuresource Consulting has revealed that voice recognition technology is becoming a central part of the smart home, with audio companies ideally placed to capitalise on this by offering voice speakers.

According to numbers from Futuresource, this year 6.3 million voice assistant speakers will be shipped globally, generating revenues of $890 million. Devices such as Amazon’s Echo can alert users if somebody rings the doorbell, turn appliances and lights on and off and control heating.

Amazon’s Alexa speakers are expected to capture 8% of worldwide wireless speaker shipments and account for 15% of the US market alone, and by the end of 2016,

voice speakers will account for 51% of WiFi speaker shipments.

The opportunity extends across the audio market, with Sonos, Denon, Bose and DTS’s Play-Fi speaker brands announcing partnerships with Amazon Echo.

$890 million revenue generated globally from voice assistant speakers

www.futuresource-consulting.com

Voice speakers will account for

6.3 million voice assistant speakers shipped globally in 2016

51%

of WiFi speaker shipments Source: Futuresource Consulting

ANALYSIS

www.installation-international.com

07

Lighting set to be building IoT’s trojan horse

By Steve Montgomery

L

Annual shipments of devices 6000

5000

Units (Millions)

ighting devices and systems are set to be the enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT) in buildings. LED lighting is already smart and has been adopted by the building sector at a far greater level than initially expected, largely by successfully demonstrating positive ROI through energy-saving capability.

Lighting is the most pervasive technology in any building. Further development of intelligent, connected light ďŹ ttings that enables them to monitor their local environment and communicate with the cloud is economic and straightforward and does not require peripheral devices. Large organisations, including Cisco and GE, are active in developing technology to create complete solutions for building analysis, management and control.

Business models that deliver ongoing revenues are being developed that turn lighting into a valueadded service rather than a simple product. There is high expectation that building lighting systems will become the gatekeeper of building IoT services, permitting other services to be integrated.

4000

Computers 3000

Smartphones

2000

Lighting

1000

0

2013

2014

2015

www.auroralighting.com

2016*

2017*

2018*

2019*

2020*

Source: Aurora Lighting

* = forecast

08 REGIONAL VOICES

November/December 2016

NETHERLANDS Our latest survey finds the Dutch installation industry facing some familiar issues, but with a strong measure of confidence

C

onfidence within the Dutch installed AV industry is running high, according to our latest survey. More than half of respondents believed general confidence levels within the sector are higher than six months ago, with the majority of the remainder reckoning they are unchanged. When it comes to their own businesses, it’s a similar picture: around half expect their revenues to increase by more than 5% over the next 12 months, with most of the others predicting a smaller increase.

0.6%

Annual GDP growth, Q2 2016 Source: Trading Economics

When it came to whether the number of players in the market was increasing or decreasing, there was a mix of views. The majority felt the number was going up, for various reasons: experienced professionals getting laid off and setting up their own companies; rental and production companies, and even building contractors, going after AV business; and because AV work is widening in scope by being used increasingly in communications.

However, some felt that the number of companies was shrinking because traditional AV companies not getting into IT are falling by the wayside.

Some of these trends were also evident when we asked respondents to the business issue that caused them the most concern. The second most popular answer was ‘poorly qualified newcomers distorting the market’. As one distributor

commented: “Many newcomers just compete at pricing, but not at knowledge. They win a bid and make a mess for someone else to clean up. This is also a result of the fact that many manufacturers or distributors have hardly any restrictions anymore to sell to anybody, as a result of the financial crisis.”

Concern over these new market entrants was a few percentage points behind what is frequently the leading concern identified by our surveys, ‘clients going for lowest price rather than best value’. “A lot of clients still think that everything is possible for a low price,” observed an integrator. “It feels like some sort of heritage from the [financial] crisis… Some clients easily turn to the internet or web-shops, but come to us for good, complete advice.”

Looking at specific market sectors, the usual triumvirate of education, corporate and digital

1.8%

Budget deficit as share of GDP, 2015 Source: Trading Economics

signage is ruling the roost, while retail and worship were felt to be the poorest performers.

We received a wide range of suggestions of things about the industry that our survey would like to change. They included better collaboration between companies on projects; making architects and IT managers more aware of the capabilities of AV integrators; making manufacturers more selective about the companies they sell to; and working on a less local or regional basis.

What will be the business trend in the following vertical markets?

INCREASE Digital signage Corporate Education Museums/visitor attractions Bars, clubs, restaurants Performing arts venues Sports venues Worship Retail DECREASE

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10 INDUSTRY MOVES

November/December 2016

Personnel changes at Peerless-AV Melinda Von Horvath joins EMEA main board while Keith Dutch is promoted to managing director for the region

CUK Audio

Rob Duerden will manage the newly created installed sound sales channel at distributor CUK Audio.

The move is part of a larger corporate restructure which sees the establishment of four distinct business sectors (MI, installed sound, live and AV/ conferencing), each headed up by an experienced professional.

www.cuk-audio.com Helvar

Hans Henrik Lund

M

elinda Von Horvath has joined the Peerless-AV EMEA main board as sales director for EMEA; she will report in to Keith Dutch, who has been promoted to managing director EMEA. Former MD Gordon Dutch stepped down from the role on 1 October, moving into a part-time non-exec director position. He will remain on the Main Global Advisory Board in the US and will be active in assisting with the long-term strategy and marketing of the business.

John Potts, global president of PeerlessAV, stated: “The EMEA business has grown explosively over the past seven years under Gordon’s leadership and we are very pleased that Gordon plans to stay on in a reduced but active role in the business. We are genuinely excited by the recent additions and announcements we have made and look forward to growing our presence here in the EMEA region exponentially.”

Gordon Dutch commented: “The addition of Melinda to our board here, along with all the hard work Keith and my whole team have put in over the past seven years, means I now feel fully comfortable stepping down as MD for the EMEA.” Von Horvath confirmed: “I am really excited to be joining the main board of Peerless-AV EMEA. Of course I know them well from my over 22 years of service in the AV Industry, as they are widely known as a strong company with excellent products, outstanding customer service and innovative AV solutions for all markets. I look forward to strengthening our presence in mainland Europe.”

Turn to page 18 for our exclusive interview with Gordon and Keith Dutch, in which the brothers discuss their careers with BBG Distribution and then Peerless-AV, and Keith reveals his plans for taking the company’s EMEA business forward.

has been named CEO at Helvar. He has worked in several leadership positions in global companies for more than 25 years, including ten years with Danfoss in the field of heating automation, and later on ten years leading mobile accessory companies Jabra and Nokia Gear.

www.helvar.com Listen Technologies

Steve Thunder has joined in the new position of hearing loop sales engineer.

Previously, Thunder was president and hearing loop engineer at Assistive Hearing Systems. He holds a BSE in acoustics from Purdue University.

www.listentech.com

Midwich

Pete Webb has joined the security sales team. He has been with Midwich since 2000 in a variety of roles across the business, including print, pro AV, custom install, retail and etail.

www.peerless-av.com

New Partners PSCo is now the sole distributor of Leyard’s LED portfolio for the UK and Ireland. PSCo will focus on several key product lines: the Leyard TWA Series, the Planar Direct Light LED Video Wall System and Leyard Carbon Light LED displays. www.leyard.com www.psco.co.uk Polymedia has been named as Atlona’s commercial products distributor in Russia. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Moscow, Polymedia has offices in 10 cities throughout the country and the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as an extensive dealer network of more than 700 partners across the Russian Federation. www.atlona.com www.polymedia.ru

Crestron and Microsoft have partnered on a new Skype for Business solution for meeting rooms. Crestron’s Skype Room System brings an HD audio video experience to small and mid-size meeting rooms and spaces, as well as conference rooms. Features include a touch controller that manages the Skype Meeting and HDMI and Crestron DigitalMedia inputs and outputs. www.crestron.com www.microsoft.com Tripleplay has appointed Prase Media Technologies as its sole distribution partner in Italy. Prase will use its experience to grow the digital media market in Italy, while also providing service to Tripleplay Authorised Partners. www.prase.it www.tripleplay-services.com

www.midwich.com

Promethean

Jim Wallis is now UK head of strategic relationships, a newly created role which aims to bolster the support provided to the education sector. He will have a focus on multi-academy trust relationships and growing the HE/FE market. Wallis joins Promethean with over 15 years of experience in public sector IT and a strong focus on service provision to education.

www.prometheanworld.com

35 Years

y

d&b is 35. Alitia is d&b.

Alitia Rathbone is Events and Communications Manager for d&b US. She’s been on board since 2011. “d&b is a supportive environment for slightly dysfunctional people – it’s full of power and passion and it will knock you out. Being part of the d&b team makes me feel like a superhero.â€? In 35 years d&b has evolved from a small garage venture to a worldwide standard in professional sound systems. It’s people like Alitia who make this VWRU\ SRVVLEOH DQG MXVW WKDW ELW GLË HUHQW IURP WKH UHVW

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12

OPINION: ON THE AGENDA

November/December 2016

Rob Lane Playful revolution All work and no play…

T

here’s a quiet, slow but sure, revolution taking place in office spaces across the globe, and the AV industry and its leading installers are integral to its success.

Videoconferencing, huddle spaces, AV over IP, LFDs, interactive multi-touch walls: our industry is at the forefront of technology installations that are changing the way people work in some of the world’s leading corporations.

This isn’t just technology for technology’s sake, a me-too culture of keeping up with the Apples, Googles, Bloombergs and AstraZenecas.

There’s much more going on here than just a race for the best front-of-house tech.

Global organisations finally understand the benefits that agile working can bring (rather than merely paying lip service to the idea). AV integrators are being tasked with creating small, VC-capable huddle-space ‘bubbles’ within openplan ‘villages’ where workers can conference with colleagues across the globe or working locally from home, before plugging in at their favourite café-side hotdesk and then exchanging ideas across a multi-touch table surrounded by soft leather sofas.

This revolutionary approach to working environments isn’t just about connectivity, however. Indeed, it’s not even really about technology. Tech may be the facilitator, but the core driver of everything in today’s new working environment model is playfulness.

something that – as proven time and time again – is good for business. (Corporations also recognise that they need more than just the old working models to attract the best millennials to work with them, of course.)

As Carl Jung said: “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” The ability to play is something that, as adults, many of us have lost and this is to the detriment to both our characters and also to business. By introducing playfulness into workplace environments, companies are tapping into this latent ability to play among employees, helping to boost both ideas and productivity.

At Google, playful working environments are overt: adult playgrounds with a surprising lack of tech (another article for another time!). Other companies might not fully subscribe to this approach, but by doing away with set seating areas and introducing ‘villages’ with café hub areas – to enable workers to hotdesk as they would when working in and near to their own homes – they are effectively adding a playful element to the daily working routine.

Whether you see this as play or not, it’s difficult to disagree that there’s something very restricting about a fixed workspace – perhaps reminiscent of a writer staring at the clichéd blank piece of paper. Being able to pop to a different workspace – whether overtly playful, only playful on a very basic level, teched-up or otherwise – clearly makes a difference.

energised working al fresco than I was boxed in between four walls. I worked smarter and faster and, crucially, it felt less like work; it was more playful. “Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father”; so said Roger von Oech, renowned American speaker, author and toy maker.

As Google – paradoxically – has shown, working in a more playful environment doesn’t have to involve technology. However, even if your playful workspace is merely under an apple tree there needs to be some sort of provision for technology – in my case a WiFi extender; many companies are coming to realise that technology can expand the playful within working environments, beyond just offering plug-in areas or open huddle spaces. This might mean more playful tech finding its way into these new corporate ‘villages’ – VR, AR, mapping et al – alongside more practical, if still comparatively playful, solutions.

Google play Many companies might not even realise it, but by signing up to the Google way of doing things – albeit in a perhaps less overt way – they have invited a playfulness into their organisations;

Apple pod I myself spent a good part of the summer hotdesking between office and the bench under my apple tree, and found that I was more

Rob Lane is a tech/business journalist and founder/owner of Bigger Boat PR. He’s forever finding playful ways of distracting his brain from work.

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14 OPINION: ON SITE

November/December 2016

Tim Root The role of a DSP in conferencing How DSP capabilities can enhance audio for a successful collaboration experience

A

udio is the bedrock of all meetings: without quality audio, the entire collaboration event can quickly begin to unravel and become frustrating and unproductive. The digital signal processor (DSP) plays a crucial role in the conference room and can transform the audio experience.

A DSP manages the audio inputs and outputs in a conferencing system, processing all the audio signals to deliver clear, intelligible speech to meeting participants. The backbone of conference audio, a DSP takes many forms. Conference phones typically have integrated DSP chips that provide the necessary processing power and other technologies to ensure a quality experience. Larger collaboration environments employ a greater number of standalone microphones and loudspeakers, and require a dedicated DSP appliance. This discrete unit has the processing horsepower needed for the numerous audio inputs and outputs in the room and across the UC network.

When meeting participants connect via audio endpoints, typically a DSP’s first job is to perform acoustic echo cancellation (AEC). When you hear your own voice echo in the local speaker, someone else’s communication device has failed to echocancel your signal. As your voice is amplified on the far end (the meeting space you’re connected to), it’s getting picked up by the far-end microphone(s) and played over your speaker. AEC hardware and software compare the microphone’s signal to your own incoming voice being played out on the far end, and subtract it from that microphone’s signal before passing it on.

Once echo is removed, a DSP provides automatic gain control (AGC). Here, the DSP should amplify each incoming microphone signal to approximately

the same level. Without AGC, users on the far end either get blasted by a loud person or strain to hear a softly spoken person. AGC adjusts the volume of voices throughout the conversation to a comfortable level.

Mixing and gating A DSP also provides mixing and gating technology.

If all the microphones have to feed to one output (such as a telephone line or a videoconference appliance), each microphone’s input has to be mixed into the output signal. The outgoing signal(s) may be routed through multiple outputs simultaneously or independently, such as the internet, a phone line or a recording system. ‘Gating’ means the system can selectively deactivate certain microphones. For example, some advanced DSP algorithms can distinguish between human speech and noises such as typing, paper crinkling, and finger tapping, and ignore signals from a noisy mic until speech is detected on it again.

Output signals require DSP definition and encoding. As a result, the DSP sends analogue signals out to speakers or an amplifier, a digital stream to a VoIP phone system, or a digital stream to USB or Ethernet ports (AVB or Dante formats, for example). Because the microphone signals might be mixed or unmixed, the DSP must provide the correct digital signal coding/decoding (using a codec) of industry-standard specific formats required by the channel and protocol. In conference audio speech for digital systems, the DSP and codec convert analogue speech signals to digital and back again.

Digital transmission of data increases the potential volume of traffic over a network. The DSP and codec can provide security by encrypting the data stream while also potentially reducing required

transmission bandwidth.

Lastly, a DSP has other functions to improve the experience. Noise reduction capability reduces ambient noise in the microphone pickup signal, preventing it from being heard on the far end. On the other hand, noise fill injects noise so a listener doesn’t think he’s been disconnected when it’s too quiet because no one’s speaking. Master mute and volume control enable further intelligence for larger, complex installations.

Whether the conferencing application is small or large, a DSP plays a vital role by fine-tuning and optimising the audio signals flowing in and out of the room. The result is clear, intelligible speech that everyone can hear for successful, productive collaboration.

Tim Root is CTO and EVP business development, Revolabs.

www.revolabs.com

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16 OPINION: ON THE HORIZON

November/December 2016

Maximilian Doelle Holograms and HoloLens: changing the AV space Why Microsoft’s mixed reality headset is a true game changer for AV

T

he best thing about working with Microsoft HoloLens is being constantly surprised about how it can be used.

It’s already making waves in finance, insurance, construction and marketing – and it only took a conversation to recognise HoloLens’s potential in the audiovisual world.

HoloLens adds an interactive layer to AV – enabling virtual meetings, remote collaboration and providing truly visual 3D data. But first, a little bit about the HoloLens and mixed reality itself. Mixed reality refers to blending the virtual with the physical world where a technology has an awareness of its environment, for instance allowing you to place a hologram snugly on a surface or a virtual ball bouncing off the floor in a physically correct way.

Microsoft HoloLens (pictured) is the most advanced mixed reality headset on the market; it’s comprised of four in-built 3D scanners, a holographic processing unit (HPU), half-tone see-through holographic lenses, 3D audio, six microphones and much more. HoloLens quickly recognises its environment and layers holograms on top of it – this is where the magic happens – and gesture control makes the experience fully interactive. In addition, HoloLens runs full Windows 10, meaning that you can run any app that is available for Windows 10 on HoloLens as well as design apps that can run all other platforms and are simply responsive for the actual device.

An amazingly versatile technology, HoloLens’s applications are endless. HoloLens has already caught the eye of corporates across the board – some of the world’s biggest insurers, banks and architects are integrating it into their digital

strategies. This year, for instance, CitiGroup announced a prototype of a virtual trading desk, built on top of HoloLens.

HoloLens is being adopted by architects to create visual experiences for their drawings. Clients can literally see and experience buildings in 3D before they have even been built.

Insurers are using HoloLens to conduct better risk assessments, and even furniture companies are getting in on the action. For a client, we designed an app that allows customers to virtually furnish rooms.

HoloLens and AV So how can HoloLens be used in AV? For companies, perhaps one of the most attractive use cases of HoloLens is facilitating virtual meetings. Put on your HoloLens and talk to your colleagues and business partners as if there were next to you, wherever they are in the world, in real size – a significant departure from tinny conference calls and muddled Skype conversations. HoloLens also aids remote working and collaboration: interact with your colleagues with no boundaries.

HoloLens also has practical on-site applications for AV installers. It can assist during AV system installations by displaying markers and annotations in spaces and properties, as well as highlighting risks. At Kazendi, we built an application for HoloLens called Spatial Explorer.

It generates rapid 3D models of rooms, which can be easily shared with colleagues or clients and used for layout and design purposes.

For the AV industry, HoloLens can also be used to create innovative applications for companies.

For instance, we might see a combination of physical screens and holographic experiences in the medium-term future. This would mean that participants are wearing HoloLenses to view specific content but could at the same time view 2D content on digital screens. The use of HoloLens allows your customers to collaborate in holographic environments and create a truly magical experience for participants.

HoloLens is moving forward day by day in its inclusion in the digital strategy of the world’s largest corporates. It goes without saying that collaboration and discovery are at the heart of HoloLens. Think about how mixed reality could change the face of your industry and test the idea – another great thing about HoloLens is that the only limit is your imagination.

Maximilian Doelle is digital strategist and chief prototyper at Kazendi, a London-based lean innovation studio that helps corporates innovate faster by prototyping any idea, regardless of technology. To help companies explore the opportunities of HoloLens, Kazendi holds half-day ideation workshops.

www.kazendi.com

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18 INTERVIEW: GORDON & KEITH DUTCH, PEERLESS-AV

November/December 2016

A second innings

As Gordon Dutch steps aside, his brother Keith is taking the helm of the recently renamed Peerless-AV Ltd. Paddy Baker discusses succession planning, moving from sport to business, and brotherly relations

W

hen the news broke that Gordon Dutch was to step down as managing director of Peerless-AV Ltd (as of 1 October) to become a part-time, non-executive director, it was a shock to many in the industry. Less of a surprise was the announcement that Keith Dutch, his younger brother, would be stepping up to the role of MD after 12 years working under Gordon.

Gordon founded what would eventually become Peerless-AV Ltd on 1 April 1993. BBG Distribution, as it was called for the next 16 years, initially specialised in car audio and accessories before moving into home audio and eventually the professional markets when Keith joined the fold in 2004.

“We moved into the professional market around 12 years ago when we started distributing a range of professional brackets,” explains Gordon. “Then, in 2009, I sold/merged the company with Peerless, joining their board

as we became Peerless AV Europe and part of the Peerless group.”

BBG continued to be namechecked while the Peerless name became established. Finally, on 1 April this year – six months ahead of Gordon stepping aside – Peerless-AV Europe was renamed Peerless-AV Ltd, and any vestiges of BBG were removed for good.

Joining the team Keith “officially” joined BBG in 2004 after a successful career as a professional cricketer. He had been assisting Gordon prior to this (from around early 2000), “on and off, around my cricket career”.

He ran the company’s key accounts in consumer retail until the 2009 merger.

“Once we’d merged with Peerless I asked Keith to move over into the pro market, as obviously we had realised that this was going to be a bigger market for us long term,” says Gordon. “I wanted someone to specialise and focus on pro. Previously, around 90% of our turnover was in retail, with 10% pro;

nowadays this is completely the other way around.”

Keith’s previous career as a pro cricketer has certainly helped him with his rise to MD of a globalfacing manufacturer and distributor.

“When you’re working in a sporting environment or the armed forces, you are taught to be disciplined – whether that’s your timekeeping or your work ethic. In any environment like that everyone is very talented, but it’s work ethic that can give you that edge and sift out the ‘succeeders’ from the relative failures.

“I’ve seen very talented cricketers not achieve their full potential as a result of their attitude to their work ethic. So when coming into what I call the real world after playing cricket, I realised that there are key attributes that you can realign into a working environment. One of these is leadership skills: when you’re talking about a team environment, taking care of your own performance commits to the team. Linked to that, it’s important that you recognise other people’s successes within your team.”

www.installation-international.com

INTERVIEW: GORDON & KEITH DUTCH, PEERLESS-AV

A brief history 1993: Gordon Dutch starts BBG Distribution, which becomes Europe’s number one car audio distributor 1993: After playing for England at schoolboy level, Keith Dutch makes his first-class cricket debut, beginning an 11-year career with Middlesex CC and then Somerset CC, winning the C & G Final in 2001 with Somerset 1996: BBG moves into home audio and accessories 2004: Keith joins BBG and works his way up the business, eventually heading up the consumer division 2008-10: The company is named in the Who’s Who of Britain’s Business Elite as one of the UK’s fastestrowing businesses 2009: BBG merges with Peerless Industries to form Peerless-AV. Gordon becomes EMEA MD and joins the global board. Keith is tasked with launching the Peerless-AV brand into the UK pro market 2009: Gordon receives a Lifetime Achievement Award – Mobile Electronics Industry 2013: Keith is promoted to EMEA sales and operations director 2016: Keith takes on role of Peerless-AV MD. Gordon becomes non-executive director on the UK board and will continue to work on the global board There’s a sizeable age difference between Keith and Gordon, who had already left home when Keith was very young, but this has probably helped rather than hindered the brothers’ working relationship, with Gordon adopting the mentoring role of proud big brother.

“It was very enjoyable to be able to watch Keith on TV as a cricketer and to enjoy his success, like when he won the C&G final,” explains Gordon. “In terms of working with him, one of the things that you see in pro sportsmen is that setting and achieving goals is very important – and indeed goal-setting is also a key part of what we do as a business, so that was always a good fit.”

Gordon worked hard to ensure that Keith experienced all the different aspects of the business before he eventually took the reins.

Assisting in various parts of the business, his first role started in retail, running all the key retail accounts and then moving into pro after the merger. More recently he has been working in operations and then export – a growing part of the business going forward, according to Gordon.

“I’d like to feel that having given him the opportunity to work in all those different areas he’s extremely well qualified to be taking over,” says Gordon. “I personally feel I’ve achieved the goals that I wanted for the business – a successful merger with Peerless and to ensure that all of our staff – many who have been with me 10, 15 and even 20 years – are working in a company that isn’t just about numbers but is about real people.”

This is key to the timing of Gordon stepping down: he wanted to be 100% happy with the position the company is in – and also to oversee a smooth and secure succession, with happy staff who continue to see a future with the firm.

“I’ve been talking to the US board and with the team over here during the last couple of years about the succession plans, and we all agreed that Keith has the skillsets to step into the MD role. The only other area where we were looking to strengthen was in the sales area outside of the UK, and the opportunity came along to bring in Melinda Von Horvath as sales director, previously VP at Milestone running their EMEA business. This – along with Keith stepping up – was the perfect fit and allowed me to feel 100% comfortable with my decision that the time was right for me to step into a different role.

‘We’ve now got the best team that we’ve ever had at the UK head office’ Gordon Dutch

“We’ve now got the best team that we’ve ever had at the UK head office. I’m very comfortable that Keith can run the day-to-day business, and Melinda will be the missing part of the jigsaw.”

Gordon is keen to reiterate that he is not retiring: he will stay as a non-executive director on the UK and EMEA board for another two to three years, and the same in the US while he helps to “steer the business”.

“Really what’s changed is that I’m not going to be involved in every day-to-day decision – that’s now down to Keith. In fact, if you ask him he’s probably been making a lot of those decisions for the last two or three years anyway!”

Exit timetable At the time of the merger, Gordon had a fiveyear timetable for staying in the business. The recession, following the banking crisis, put paid to that, making the “tremendous amount of work” of setting up a new brand in the UK and Europe even more challenging, although also entertaining.

“It has been a hoot, to be honest. Keith and I have always had our differences in opinion of course, but generally we have the same goals; it’s how we get to these goals that leads to the active discussion.”

“It’s certainly been a journey!” exclaims Keith.

“Gordon has been very good to me. He has been amazing and he’s taught me a huge amount. I think it has probably been tougher for him than me because I had everything to learn, and he

19

had the key to the information cabinet – I used to ask a lot of questions in the early days! And as I’ve moved into new areas within the business I’ve had to ask further questions of him.”

Keith admits that it can be very difficult working with a family member and that he and Gordon have often spoken “passionately” – clearly a euphemism. But the brothers have never held grudges and have always had the same goals for the business – albeit sometimes with a different route to the net.

“Even though we are brothers we obviously have different personalities,” says Keith. “I’m the quiet one; he’s a little more boisterous! Working with your bro, you have to be patient with one another; I’m sure there have been many a time he’s rolled his eyes at me and decided that the conversation shouldn’t go on any further! But you just park it up and move on. We never carry any grievances onto the next meeting; we say our piece and move on – just like in normal family life.”

Keith’s priorities are to first get Melinda settled in to the business, as her appointment is a “significant step forward for EMEA”. Then he will begin the process of “transitioning” PeerlessAV Ltd from being strong in a few key European markets to developing a complete EMEA network of AV distributors and integrators.

“I see Europe as a huge opportunity for the business, as well as APAC going forward. We want to be able to react to the market quickly with our manufacturing. I want to look at how we service our customers on local manufacturing and bespoke solutions.”

The brothers share the ultimate goal of Peerless-AV Ltd being the number one brand of choice for professional mounting systems – across every type of LFD format including narrowpitch LED and also kiosks.

“Ultimately we want to be the number one global supplier of pro-AV mounting systems and expand our offering of unique emerging technology solutions. So local manufacturing, plus a stronger base and a bigger business across the whole of EMEA – this is Keith’s main responsibility.”

The inevitable hard work that goes hand in hand with this ambitious plan doesn’t worry Keith; he’s always been highly motivated, both as a sportsman and businessman too.

“It is exciting times. One of the challenges is to maintain motivation. It’s important to keep evolving, developing and motivating – I’ve been lucky that the latter in particular hasn’t been a problem for me. I haven’t had the chance to become stale in one role and am continually excited by new opportunities; there’s always so much to achieve.”

www.peerless-av.com

20 SHOW PREVIEW: ISE 2017

November/December 2016

What?

ISE 2017 Where?

Amsterdam RAI When?

Conferences 6-9 February Exhibition 7-10 February

Events

Fourteen years, fourteen halls Here’s our first sneak preview of ISE 2017, which continues the show’s growth curve with more halls, more space, new showfloor areas and a busier education and conference programme

I

ntegrated Systems Europe 2017 will feature over 3,000sqm of additional show floor space compared to ISE 2016, making it the biggest exhibition in the event’s 14-year history.

The February 2017 event promises 135 new exhibitors making their debut at the show, as well as the largest ISE education programme so far produced by CEDIA and InfoComm International. Furthermore, the number of Show Floor Theatres has been increased to five with the addition of the Smart Building Solutions Theatre.

The creation of extra space has led to some renumbering of halls within the RAI, which visitors would be well advised to note before they arrive in Amsterdam, to avoid time-wasting delays during the show. A new Hall 9 – which will host the Smart Building exhibitors at ISE 2017 – has been built between Halls 8 and 10, and so the old Halls 9 and 11 have become Halls 11 and 12 respectively. (Unified Communications will occupy roughly half of Hall 11.) Similarly, what was previously Hall 12 (in the Elicium building) becomes Hall 13. This will be the site of a brand-new themed exhibition area dedicated to Education Technology.

Additionally, Hall 14 is to be created within Congress Square, incorporating the Diamond Lounge and connecting with the Exhibitor Foyer and Auditorium. It will provide another 1,500sqm of floor space.

Finally, the Amtrium, which will once again exclusively house Samsung, will be renamed Hall 4; the former Hall 4 has been absorbed into Hall

5, roughly doubling its area. The far end of Hall 5, plus adjacent stands in Hall 1, will once again be given over to Residential Solutions. Discovery Zone, Audio and Digital Signage will once again be located in Halls 6, 7 and 8.

A half-day Digital Signage Summit will take place at ISE 2017 between 10:00 and 14:00 on Wednesday 8 February, chaired by invidis consulting MD Florian Rotberg.

Following a similar format to successful events held in Munich, Dubai and Moscow, the summit will see experts from across the digital signage and DOOH industry gather to produce insight and expert opinion, while discussing cutting-edge projects and leading technologies. Participants will look to identify the key opportunities in the international digital signage industry.

The half-day conference will focus on Retail and Smart Cities and will feature technologies such as display, LED and electronic shelf labels.

Other conferences will be returning to ISE for its 2017 outing. The Smart Building conference, which runs all day on Monday 6 February, will take as its theme ‘How the IoT Makes Buildings

Early exhibitor news AV Stumpfl will exhibit the Wings Engine Raw 8K uncompressed media server. This is said to be the only media server of its type to offer uncompressed image quality of up to four simultaneous streams of 4K resolution for playback of native content. It can also handle 120fps content.

Biamp Systems will show its new four-channel power amplifier, the AMP-A460H, designed for use with the TesiraFORTÉ audio processing platform in small to medium-sized conference and meeting spaces.

The analogue amplifier features four channels of audio output: 60W per channel at 8 ohms. Bridged in pairs, it can provide 120W at 8 ohms or 120W with constant voltage (70V/100V) direct drive.

Daktronics will showcase its latest developments in LED technology, including controllers for UHD displays that allow for smooth HDR and 4K content transmission. Visitors will also see various architectural design elements and an array of traditional 4mm indoor products. Also on the stand will be a new rendering of ‘forced perspective’ – a technique that creates an illusion of a 3D image from a 2D canvas.

ISE 2017 will see the launch of InfinityBoard, a huddle space solution from NEC Display Solutions. This will be available in 65in and 84in versions, equipped

with Flatfrog touch technology, a single, 120º PTZ camera, a wireless presenting tool and NEC’s Reactiv software for document sharing and annotation.

Revolabs will demonstrate the latest enhancements to its flagship Executive Elite wireless microphone systems, including selectable LED behaviour to indicate microphone status, fast-connect AVB, a new web interface and over-the-air synchronisation.

The system is also the market’s first and only cloud server option — combining local and remote cloud-based capabilities to enhance system set-up, management and monitoring.

ZeeVee will be showing ZyPerHD, which allows for the easy distribution and switching of high-definition H.264 video, audio, and other data signals using ZyPerHD encoder and decoder modules and off-theshelf Gigabit Ethernet switches. ZyPerHD units can be deployed on the same IP network as ZyPer4K encoders and decoders, allowing for mixed resolutions within a single architecture.

Finally, there hasn’t been an official announcement yet, but a new industry alliance promoting AV over IP will have a presence at ISE 2017. We expect to have some more details on the Installation website in late November or early December.

SHOW PREVIEW: ISE 2017

www.installation-international.com

Best of Show Awards – and Installation drinks NewBay Media will once again be recognising the most innovative new products on show in Amsterdam with its ISE 2017 Best of Show Awards.

The awards are open to any company showing a product at ISE 2017 that is new since the 2016 event.

Awards will be given by Installation, Tech&LearningUK, PSNEurope, Audio Media International, AV Technology, Digital Signage and Residential Systems. Entrants may submit a product for consideration by one or more of these publications and may submit multiple products.

A panel of judges from across the pro-AV spectrum will vet products live on the ISE showfloor and winners will be presented with a Best of Show certificate during the event.

In addition, all entrants will be featured in a Best of Show Digital Edition sent out after the show. Entry is now open at www.newbay-awards.com.

Installation will host its ISE 2017 networking drinks on Wednesday 8 February at 18:00; this year, the event will see the presentation of special ‘Editor’s Choice’ Best of Show Awards. Watch out for more details on this on our website over the coming weeks.

Even Smarter’. Covering all kinds of buildings from conference rooms and corporate offices to smart homes and multi-dwelling units, the conference will show how the IoT will change the way we

work and the way we live, and reveal the new services now possible in today’s buildings.

Also running during Monday will be The AudioForum, presented by Italian media partner Connessioni in co-operation with ISE and the Audio Engineering Society. This year’s subject is ‘Audio from the Electronics Perspective’, covering processing, DSPs, software and firmware for design, monitoring and set-up.

As in previous years, the target audience is sound designers, system integrators, installers, consultants and anyone interested in knowing more about the latest audio technologies.

In its third year, the Sports Venue Technology Summit will explore specific technologies that are changing the look and feel of sports venues worldwide, including digital signage and virtual reality. There will also be an exploration of the new generation of more affordable broadcast platforms and solutions that are allowing an increasing number of venues to become content creators in their own right. The Summit takes place on the morning of Thursday 9 February.

On Friday 10 February, the Closing Keynote speech will be given by Daniel Lamarre, the president and CEO of Cirque du Soleil.

During more than 30 years at the cutting edge of live entertainment creation and

21

ISE Daily

Installation will once again be running the ISE Daily, the official newspaper of ISE 2017. Written by a team of journalists reporting live from the showfloor, the newspaper is put together in an office at the RAI and printed overnight for distribution at the show, as well as in major Amsterdam hotels and on shuttle buses.

The same team is also responsible for the Official ISE Newsletter, sent out before, during and after ISE 2017. production, Cirque du Soleil has consistently shown how the latest AV technologies can be used to enhance and complement a show’s key storylines.

Lamarre said: “As emerging technologies continue to grow their influence on live entertainment, it is timely for me to participate in ISE 2017. I will have an opportunity to share my vision on how new technologies will have a huge impact on artistic content.”

www.iseurope.org

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22 BUSINESS FEATURE: AIRPORTS AND RAILWAYS STATIONS

Playing for high stakes If there’s a combination that’s appealing to high-end advertisers, it’s locations with high footfall, extended dwell time – and people with money to spend. As Ian McMurray discovers: transport hubs fit the bill – but, for AV manufacturers and integrators, there are challenges

I

f you’ve been flying over the past several years, you’ve almost certainly noticed something of a transformation. It used to be that airports were places you went to catch a plane; now, they’re vast retail complexes. In the UK, for example, Heathrow boasts 39,000sqm of retail space, while Gatwick has a mere 23,000. Yes: if you can fight your way through the armies of women offering to spray something on you, or men trying to tempt you into a sip of something alcoholic, you might just find your way to an aeroplane.

Other than ‘convenience’ stores (newsagents, chemists, food and so on) the majority of brands at these locations tend to be ‘high end’, recognising, perhaps, that if we’re going on holiday, we feel more inclined to treat ourselves.

The same is true for the advertising, as those same brands capitalise on what is, in effect, a captive audience.

While airports are perhaps an extreme example, transport hubs in general have seen substantial growth in both retail and advertising. Unlike many digital signage applications, however, footfall is extremely high, dwell time is extended, ambient light is often high, operation is 24/7 – and brands

are highly sensitive to their image. This makes it an unusually demanding environment – which has implications, among other things, for the characteristics of the screens that are deployed.

November/December 2016

Key Points Transport hubs are characterised by high footfall, extended dwell time, elevated ambient light and 24/7 operation – significant challenges for digital signage

For high-end advertisers, accurate and repeatable colour reproduction is key to projecting brand value

Reliability and maintainability are essential, as dark screens will often incur financial penalties. Remote monitoring and redundancy are commonplace

Advertising in these environments is a specialist market, with unique requirements – but one that can represent an opportunity for integrators

Tough environment “It’s a very tough environment for display technology,” says Richard Wilks, aviation business development manager, NEC Display Solutions Europe. “There are two key challenges – reliability and impact. Reliability isn’t just about 99.9% uptime, although that’s key – it’s also about brand colour accuracy, which is critical. And: these screens are fighting for eyeballs against a mass of other signage – so impact is very important, either through extra bright screens, or by distinguishing them from other displays with the creative use of kiosks, motion or interactivity.”

Nacho Perez, senior director, advertising market at Absen Europe, agrees that reliability is a key requirement – and adds two more: “Ease of installation is also of critical importance as installation time is limited to a few hours a day – usually at night. Monitoring is also an important requirement: any downtime must be immediately detected and resolved as soon as possible.”

Agreeing with Wilks on the importance of the need to catch the eye and of being faithful to a brand’s rigorous colour accuracy requirements, David Wu, CTO at AOTO, notes other requirements.

“In a public area like a transportation hub, safety is, of course, important, and that has an impact on the structure and stability of the screen,” he says, pointing out also that the hub may well be outdoors, in which case the screen will need to be appropriately protected from the elements. “Displays must also be EMC-compliant to avoid interference with other equipment.”

Pete Egart, vice president Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America at Daktronics, picks up the emissions story. “EMI has become an issue of late,” he believes. “It is important that displays and components are tested both individually and as full displays/sections to ensure they meet standards, which have become increasingly strict over the last five to 10 years as airwave

www.installation-international.com

frequencies have become more congested as WiFi and cellular networks have proliferated. A display that is non-compliant to current EMI standards has the potential of interfering with both cellular signals and emergency band communications.

Interference with either system could cause issues with passenger experience and, more importantly, the ability for first responders to communicate in the event of an emergency.”

Safety considerations Brett Farley, who is director of strategic business development at NanoLumens, develops the safety theme. “Indoor advertising displays can be installed in environments which have safety considerations that far exceed outdoor displays – such as fire retardation and control,” he explains.

“Subterranean displays often have to be shown to have reduced flame spread, smoke volume, toxicity of smoke and other requirements.”

Farley is, unsurprisingly, a proponent of LED technology for these demanding applications, citing their high brightness and wide angle of view as important advantages. It is certainly the case that, with substantial reductions in pixel pitches in the recent past, LED can aspire to be deployed in environments where it would previously not have been considered.

There is, he believes, another important advantage that LED technology has. “More often than not, DOOH companies favour 16:9 or 9:16 aspect ratio displays for ease of content creation by advertisers,” he says. “There are, however, situations when a central spectacular or oneoff format is appropriate as a centrepiece in a terminal. It can attract additional attention with travellers and drive sales strategies, creating a competitive environment where advertisers are vying for possession of the unique display for a period of time.”

Another proponent of LED technology is Egart. LED lends itself readily to the creation of large displays in a videowall format – but for high-end advertisers, it’s imperative that the image is seamless.

“What’s needed are precision alignment blocks, which allow for precise and detailed alignment between modules/sections to remove gaps and edges that disrupt the smooth image on the video board,” he notes. “Precision alignment adjustment adds to the initial set-up time, but results in a significantly more attractive video board when adjusted properly.”

Not just hardware It’s not just about hardware, either. A favourite game among frequent travellers is spotting BSoDs – Windows’ infamous blue screens of death, the result of a system crash.

“Software reliability is also an important factor,” believes Lucy Meredith, UK product marketing

FEATURE: AIRPORTS AND RAILWAYS STATIONS 23 Case Study

JCDecaux brings velociraptors to Waterloo Looking to advertise the release of Jurassic World in 2015, Universal Pictures commissioned outdoor advertising company JCDecaux to recreate the movie at London’s Waterloo Station, the UK’s busiest station with annual passenger numbers of around 100 million. It is home to the UK’s largest outdoor advertising screen measuring 53.5m x 3.5m. In an industry first, the experience allowed commuters to connect to the sound content with their smartphones. They were also able to watch and listen to the Jurassic World featurettes being displayed on JCDecaux’s Transvision screens, located by the departure boards. specialist for Panasonic Visual System Solutions.

“Older Wintel set-ups suffered frequent issues because they relied on an external computer.

Today’s modern System-on-a-Chip displays, like our AF1 range, offer much greater stability as they use open source software in a completely self-contained format, with no additional cabling, mounting or use of a separate computer.”

With almost 50,000 screens installed worldwide – of which more than 75% are installed in the transportation market – outdoor advertising company JCDecaux has 15 years’ experience in the field.

“Quality of screens is our main concern and our digital department controls the entire process from the selection of the supplier – who must conform to a strict list of criteria – to the installation on site anywhere around the world,” explains the company’s Jérôme Lepage, who is marketing and business development director for its transport division. “All equipment is tested in our technical HQ in France before transportation.

“JCDecaux has developed its own Digital Management System (DMS) allowing local and corporate teams to control all the screens around the world. In addition, preventive maintenance has an essential role in the process. Basics, such as inside and outside cleaning or filter changing, must be scheduled and executed methodically.”

“Digital requires expertise, and operators performing troubleshooting and level 1 maintenance must be very well trained for maximum efficiency,” he concludes. “For instance, remote monitoring of the main operational parameters should enable the triggering of maintenance actions.”

Reliability, maintainability In any discussion of the needs of high-end advertisers in high-footfall areas such as

transportation hubs, reliability and maintainability is a recurring theme. With advertisers often imposing penalties for failure to deliver the exposure for which they have contracted (as Lepage notes: reports with screenshots, proof of play and proof of display are very frequently required) – selecting a quality product comes top of the list in ensuring 24/7 operation.

“Investing a little more up-front can save significant costs on the back end, through lower operating costs and less frequent service visits,” says Egart.

NEC’s Wilks sees things similarly. “For above head-height installations especially, landlords need to really think about the quality of the solution they are buying – the importance of their reliability cannot be overstated,” he echoes.

“The cost of servicing a single failure of an airside display at height can easily outweigh any initial cost saving they may realise in capital expenditure. In airport terminals, for instance, an above head-height replacement will involve at least three engineers, a mobile elevating work platform, security passes for all, and a cordoning off with associated re-wayfinding of an area.

Safety in public areas is key to the profile of a transport hub.”

“Monitoring is key in order to detect failures as they happen,” says Perez, “while ease of service – simple operation and few components – is critical in minimising intervention time.”

“Front service access for displays is preferred, especially where installation space is limited,” adds Wu. “And, ideally, the service centre and technical support should be local to ensure the most responsive support.”

Farley sees advantages for LED technology in this area too. “Most tier one LED display companies report 100,000 hours to halfbrightness – or nearly 11 years of continuous play

24 FEATURE: AIRPORTS AND RAILWAYS STATIONS

November/December 2016

Desirable display characteristics According to NEC’s Richard Wilks, the highly desirable features of a screen for high-end advertising in transportation hubs include:

Reliability: industrial grade, dust-proof, temperature management

Image quality: high brightness, anti-glare surface, colour accuracy

Management: remote diagnostics, integrated sensors, ease of serviceability

Consistency: colour/brightness matching between displays, standard sizing

Environment: auto-dimming, low power consumption, recyclability – only requiring periodic adjustment of brightness levels,” he says. “That’s a level of performance other display technologies struggle to match.”

“Beyond this,” he goes on, “in the event of failure, with LED, individual tiles can be removed and replaced in a matter of minutes, causing little or no disruption to the advertising being played – as opposed to the day’s downtime that would otherwise be the case.”

It would be easy to believe that high-end advertising in transport hubs is all about just two technologies – but Meredith is quick to set the record straight.

“Digital advertising doesn’t just extend to displays,” she says. “Our projector range is equally capable of use in advertising, with edge blending, short throw and curved projection providing more flexibility, particularly if the area desired for advertising is larger than the size of a display, or if displays cannot be mounted in the space.

What’s more, because our latest laser projectors are incredibly bright and can be operated maintenance-free for up to 20,000 hours, they offer an exciting, cost-effective alternative to traditional digital signage using screens.”

Redundancy Such are the high stakes when premium advertising is concerned that redundancy is a topic that frequently crops up.

“In addition to very strict selection, test and qualification of suppliers, and targeted maintenance, one of the ways to prevent a dark screen is to build a redundant infrastructure,” notes JCDecaux’s Lepage. “Redundancy can be used in both data and power infrastructure. Some of the premium LED producers provide redundant infrastructure built into their screens.

“Equally important,” he continues, “are the initial warranty of the components and

possible warranty extensions. The quality of the components and their speed of ageing will also play an important role in the quality of service.

Close-at-hand maintenance and relevant expert support will ensure the KPIs, often covered by contracts, are met – and spare parts must also be available and their stock well monitored.”

“Any loss of power at the source is going to cause the screen to go black,” adds Farley.

“Building in power redundancy to the technology in the display network can minimise potential downtime. Modular technologies such as SMD LED displays have multiple power sources within an individual display. If they are designed with built-in redundancy, one power source can bypass a non-operational power source to re-illuminate the section of the board effectively.”

“Several elements can be designed into the board to reduce the risk of ‘downtime’ or a ‘dark’ screen,” continues Egart. “At Daktronics, we often design control systems to have automatic redundant back-ups; the feed to the sign will automatically switch to the back-up system in the event of a device failure, or can be manually switched to the back-up system if service or software updates are required. Displays can also be designed with both power and signal redundancy, which ensures if there is a failure of a singular component, only the failed component will be affected. Adding redundant control, power and signal will increase the upfront cost, but is often well worth the investment to avoid penalties and unforeseen costs associated with a failed component.”

There are, of course, other strategies, as Meredith points out.

“Panasonic’s failover and failback functionality is installed on most of our professional display range,” she explains. “If the main video and audio signals are interrupted, the system immediately

switches to one of the alternative signal inputs.

“In addition,” she goes on, “we offer contracted servicing and maintenance with a temporary replacement back-up option depending on the level of service a customer decides to take out.

“For more mission-critical applications, the customer may decide that they want a hot backup on site, with an identical device to quickly swap out should any issue arise.”

Opportunity The market for advertising at transportation hubs is both a specialist one and a highly demanding one. Should that deter integrators – or is there an opportunity?

“Currently, this sector is dominated by the main DOOH players,” explains Wilks. “Some of these use audiovisual integrators to deliver projects on their behalf, but due to the fact that working in a transport hub requires high levels of security and certification, they tend to be the more specialist integrators. As digital advertising becomes more mainstream and landlords invest in their own digital media assets rather than relying on the media owners products, then the opportunity for AV integrators with that specialist knowledge will grow.”

“There is definitely an opportunity for AV integrators in the market, but it is very dependent upon how the transportation hub has decided to source their solution,” adds Egart.

“Customers seem to take varying approaches to sourcing solutions based on their size and previous experience with AV solutions. Some customers will work with an AV company, and use their expertise to help sort through the options available to them. Other customers will hire a consultant that will write an RFP (request for proposal), sometimes segmenting the integrator from the display companies. Others will choose

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26 FEATURE: AIRPORTS AND RAILWAYS STATIONS to keep it in-house with their purchasing department and will only be willing to work directly with manufacturers if they feel they have adequate in-house expertise to evaluate and implement the solutions. Our experience indicates that the best chance for success for the AV integrator would be to get in with the customer early in the purchasing journey to help them find the best solution. It will also be important for the integrator to show they have done their due diligence to help the customer in selecting the appropriate equipment providers and prove that they are partnered with quality suppliers.”

Perez is more bullish.

“Without a doubt there is an opportunity,” he says. “Audiovisual integrators have the required technological knowledge for LED products and the expertise in building great visual installations, so combining both of them can deliver extraordinary installations in demanding environments like transportation hubs.

“Many of AOTO’s international projects are installed by audiovisual integrators, under the guidance of one of our engineers,” notes Wu.

Image is everything Reliability, serviceability and uptime are key in any

November/December 2016

high-profile screen installation in which revenue and profitability are the original drivers – and that certainly applies to transportation hubs such as airports, railway stations and so on. But: while excellent image quality is a given in almost any advertising-driven digital signage deployment, the stakes are raised in transportation hubs because more people with more money see it for longer – and because those hubs are highly favoured by upmarket brands to whom image is all-important.

“The quality of an advertising display is a reflection of the quality of the brand,” says Wilks.

“Brands will expect the highest level of image quality and accuracy over the length of their contract terms.”

For integrators not already in the business, then, the opportunity may be something to think about – perhaps while they’re waiting for a plane.

Unless, of course, they get distracted…

www.absen.com www.aoto.com www.daktronics.com www.jcdecaux.com www.nanolumens.com www.nec-display-solutions.com business.panasonic.eu

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28 TECHNOLOGY FEATURE: PA-VA

November/December 2016

Key Points

Higher grounds Promotion to a higher league is the kind of news that every club wishes to hear, regardless of their chosen sport. But such progress isn’t without its challenges in terms of ensuring that home venues’ PA-VA systems are fit for purpose, writes David Davies

P

romotion to a higher league is the sort of occurrence that tends to prompt the mass uncorking of champagne or – to paraphrase the late sports presenter Sam Leitch’s legendary comment about Raith Rovers – “dancing in the streets” of the relevant town or city. For the fans it can be a long sought-after reward for years of battleweary support; for the club owners it can open the doors to lucrative new sponsorship opportunities that swell the coffers and make it possible to expand their brand not just locally, but nationally and even internationally.

But such progress is also not without its challenges. The possible influx of substantial numbers of new fans has obvious implications for the capacity and usage of home grounds, while the possible sale of new or additional

broadcast rights means that the stadium or arena must look the part too. For some clubs, this can even result in the move to a brand new facility. Meanwhile, a number of federations or leagues have specific expectations of the technical specification and general layout of a club’s home venue.

PA-VA capability is inevitably one significant area of focus when a club does move on up, so Installation decided to speak to a number of leading vendors in this space to find out more about the type of issues that tend to occur – as well as the most common pathways to ensuring that a venue remains fit for purpose.

Regulatory requirements While individual clubs and federations may have their own stipulations, there is universal need

Moving up a league often requires clubs to review the clarity and quality of their PA systems in order to ensure increased audience numbers are accommodated sufficiently

Clubs will also need to think carefully about their ability to relay sponsorship/ advertising messages as well as other content, with the onus on delivering a full entertainment ‘experience’

Combined PA-VA systems are increasingly popular due to their flexibility and capabilities in terms of optimisation and monitoring

for compliance with the mandatory fire detection and alarm systems standard EN54, which has been the subject of extensive coverage in Installation and requires no further elaboration here.

However, in many countries there are several other notable documents containing codes of practice or guidance that will inevitably be referred to by technical managers and planning staff. In Britain these include BS7827, which is a code of practice for the design, specification, maintenance and operation of emergency sound systems at sports venues. Devised in part as a response to the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, the document covers stadiums, arenas, racecourses, swimming pools and other sports venues. The subject of a further revision in 2011, the guide is also applicable to shopping malls,

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30 FEATURE: PA-VA conference centres and other large public facilities.

Also of relevance to the UK market is the

Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (often referred to as the ‘Green Guide’). Although it has no statutory force, a number of its recommendations are required by law via their inclusion in safety certificates included in the Safety of Sports Ground Act or the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act. Now in its fifth edition, the Guide provides detailed advice to ground management and technical specialists such as architects, engineers and relevant authorities to help them assess how many spectators can be safely accommodated within a venue.

Antonio Ferrari, market manager audio contractor and director of the engineering support group at RCF, confirms that “refurbishing and updating a system means complying with new regulations for voice alarm systems – for instance moving from the old EN60849 to the current EN54 that requires certified devices and installation following European or national standards.”

“The general underlying factor [informing PA-VA deployment] is for the safety reasons in the ground, per the Green Guide and BS78272011,” says Nick Baldwin, sales & marketing director at voice alarm and evacuation systems manufacturer Baldwin Boxall. “It is true that the better a club is doing and the more money it has will influence the spend and the standard of the system.”

Expanded facilities Indeed, promotion to a higher league is almost bound to inspire “the management and the owners to improve the visitor experience.

This is done by more integration [by] means of pre-, mid- and after-game entertainment.

Sponsors will be more interested in participating [as a result],” says Marc Kocks, business development manager install market at amplifier manufacturer Powersoft.

In terms of the PA, upgrades or complete system replacements are likely to be geared towards increasing power output and clarity to accommodate increased visitor numbers – and to better relay messages from advertisers and sponsors. The need to deliver a broader range of content to be shown around the match – including player interviewers, highlights from previous events and other related material – is another probable driver of change.

“A good-sounding PA with great musical performance sets the atmosphere: where there is performance, there is money to upgrade the venue and it will attract more people,” says Albert van der Hout, who is sales manager at voice evacuation systems specialist 4EVAC.

November/December 2016

Case Study

4EVAC provides PA-VA solution to Thialf ice arena Voice evacuation specialist 4EVAC has supplied a powerful PA-VA solution for the new speedskating rink at Thialf in the Netherlands. A firm fixture on the Dutch and global ice sports scene, Thialf has been in operation since 1967 and is used to host long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, ice hockey and figure skating, as well as some non-sports events.

The latest in a long line of sports venue installations for 4EVAC presented some very specific issues. “With a crowd noise-level of 112dB it is a real challenge to generate an intelligible commentary signal and dynamic music level,” says 4EVAC sales director Albert van der Hout, adding that the speed-skate rink is currently in its final phase of construction.

In providing a suitable solution for the rink, 4EVAC provided “a great combination of frontend compliant VA system with powerful compliant amplifiers and back-end compliant highperformance Community loudspeakers”.

Headquartered in the Dutch town of Berkel en Rodenrijs, 4EVAC’s latest specific solutions include Compact 500 Networked VACIE. Based on a distributed boxed-amplifiers concept, the Compact 500 offers a ‘system-in-a–box’ concept which combines the simplicity of a standalone conventional voice evacuation system with the benefits of global network topology.

“Systems have to respect higher demands in terms of SPL,” says Ferrari, “because more people implies more noise; that in turn brings the need for a more powerful system to [obtain] a correct signal-to-noise ratio. Other demands are an extended frequency response and high intelligibility that most of the time means re-studying the complete system from scratch.”

‘Flexibility of configuration and future expansion… need to be considered when designing and installing any type of stadium audio solution’ Dane Miller, Biamp Systems

Kocks also emphasises the increased output requirements as well as the entertainment angle. “System upgrades are mostly inspired by the demand for high power and full bandwidth content for entertainment purposes and to enhance the visitor experience,” he says. “In the case that the owners are extending the capacity of the venue, the system also has to be optimised for emergency paging applications.”

Additional stands are likely to mean “longer reverberation, implying the use of line array systems instead of point sources. The presence

of a large crowd creates more noise – therefore more efficient and powerful speakers will be used,” says Ferrari, who highlights the availability of a wide range of RCF solutions suitable for installation in sports venues.

In terms of upgrades in existing venues, it can be the case that the present supporting structure, “for example, hanging points, weights, cabling layout, architectural and certification constraints, do not [enable the straightforward relocation] of the existing speakers and adding new ones. In these cases the sponsorship facility plays a key role in the decision-making process and in the choice of the sound systems’ performance, especially those with an entertainment purpose,” adds Ferrari.

Flexibility focus In those venues where a complete system renewal is given the go-ahead, a decentralised architecture is likely to be prioritised in order to make future expansion and adaptation as straightforward as possible. More sophisticated processing technology may also be high on the agenda in order to address increased ambient noise levels.

Biamp Systems continues to have a significant presence in the sports venue market thanks to products including Vocia, its decentralised networked paging and voice evacuation solution that is EN54-16 certified and NFPA72 (2016) compliant. Dane Miller, Biamp’s international paging vertical market & business development

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32 FEATURE: PA-VA manager, notes: “Flexibility of configuration and future expansion are two important design criteria that need to be considered when designing and installing any type of stadium audio solution. A decentralised architecture enables expansion [that is] much easier – and less costly – than a traditional centralised model, and has been the preferred system architecture in mid- to large-sized stadium projects.

Newer technology like active ambient noise compensation which automatically adjusts the programme level of the amplified sound to the loudspeakers in response to increased crowd size is possible with solutions like Biamp’s Vocia.”

The “vast majority” of new PA systems going into stadiums will run on standard Ethernet networks “and this has easily been the case for the last ten years”, adds Miller. “Stadiums with systems older than that could potentially have PA systems that run in the older analogue domain, making them quite difficult to integrate with newer technology.”

Combined systems The need to accommodate existing and future requirements is one of the reasons why combined systems which offer both PA and VA capabilities have proven so popular

November/December 2016

during recent years. They are likely to feature prominently on the shopping list of venues seeking a more comprehensive upgrade, and Miller is among those who is sure that “the trend towards integrated, certified networked PA/VA solutions will continue. The flexibility of these types of systems, along with the life safety certified aspect, allows the end-customer to have the best of both worlds: a highly reliable VA system combined with clear intelligibility. In addition, the operational requirements driving the integration between PA/VA in stadium systems with other platforms (for example, digital signage, building management and VMS) will continue to grow.”

Kocks is among the others to agree that this trend is bound to intensify. “The integration of PA and VA functionality is the best solution to ensure a safe and quick evacuation of a building/ venue. To integrate the PA and VA system special attention has to be given to the system design including redundancy, uninterrupted power supply, fault monitoring and of course audio quality. Powersoft’s application, commissioning and engineering (ACE) department offers tools and support to ensure a design that offers full PA and VA functionality,” he says, adding that these tools include pilot tone monitoring,

redundant inputs, fault monitoring and live impedance measurement.

Some believe that this trend towards unified, multipurpose systems will also give venues greater scope to accommodate other sports and entertainment events, including concerts. There is a shift towards installations that have more of the features of “an entertainment system, [enabling use] for other events, and not just football, for example. This will make it possible to create additional revenue for the club or owner,” says Baldwin, who notes that the Baldwin Boxall range includes DSP-controlled PA-VA systems incorporating efficient Class D amplification.

A move up a higher league can occasion an exciting new chapter in a club’s history – and potentially see it reach a far wider audience in the longer term. But in terms of PA-VA capabilities, it brings with it very specific challenges – and ones that are surely best resolved with the assistance and guidance of leading vendor partners, manufacturers and integrators.

www.4evac.com www.baldwinboxall.co.uk www.biamp.com www.powersoft.com www.rcf.it

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34 TECHNOLOGY FEATURE: INTERACTIVE DISPLAYS

November/December 2016

Key Points

Get smart Over the past few years, innovation in touchscreen technology has mainly been in the smartphone arena – but as companies look to an open market for larger interactive displays, some of that functionality is starting to permeate pro AV, writes Duncan Proctor

T

he current state of the interactive displays market is one of fragmentation, a consequence of no single technology having emerged to dominate market share. However, some exciting innovations from mobile device categories are having an impact on the sector.

Touch technology manufacturers and developers have flooded the pro-AV marketplace with competing ideas and technologies, having experienced a slowing of growth in the smartphone sector where projected capacitive (PCAP) technology dominates. A key factor is plummeting touchpanel production costs, particularly for components such as sensors and cover glass.

This has led to a wave of traditional display makers also entering the market, leaving specialist touch suppliers squeezed. The end result of this market activity, according to a report by the Business Research Company, is that while unit volume will experience healthy growth, revenue is forecast to grow much more slowly in the coming years.

“There are many players in the market and the users are being overwhelmed with what is great for now and what has a futureproof potential,” says Alexander Haydari, SVP of business development at Swedish interactive software developer Touchtech.

There are currently five established touch technologies – PCAP and IR (optical), which remain the two incumbent technologies, as well as capacitive, resistive and SAW (surface acoustic wave). While PCAP outperforms the competition in mobile device categories, questions have been raised over the scalability of its standard conductive sensors above standard tablet size. Replacement sensor

‘There are many players in the market and the users are being overwhelmed with what is great for now and what has a futureproof potential’ Alexander Haydari, Touchtech

materials have been developed to support larger sizes, but these require the sensor matrix to be further divided into segments. This creates a non-scalable architecture that needs to be significantly modified to support different sizes.

IR can offer the user more clarity than resistive and capacitive, as there is no overlay or additional screen. Other advantages are its

Different manufacturers and developers have brought a number of new ideas, which has created a confused and fractured market

Smartphone technology has shifted users’ expectations for larger touchscreen solutions

Pressure detection/force sensing has the potential to make a significant impact on the interactive display market scalability to larger sizes and scratch-resistant surface; however, IR does require a bezel and a flat surface so cannot be designed as a curved solution. Other issues include sensitivity to ambient light interference and its higher cost.

An exciting and disruptive touch technology is InGlass, developed by FlatFrog. This is claimed to combine the best qualities of the other technologies, such as touch performance, bezelfree design, scalability and curve support, to ensure it is better equipped for future trends. It is a ‘frustrated total internal reflection’ (FTIR) based technology, which operates by injecting specific wavelengths into the core glass and using novel algorithms to detect touch disturbances. Frieder Hansen, CEO at Pyramid Computer, comments: “InGlass has several benefits over other touch technologies. Compared to PCAP, InGlass offers a better glass rendering which is crystal clear and virtually invisible, while allowing more brightness and larger size displays. When compared with IR technology, InGlass doesn’t create any shadows, doesn’t get as dirty with fingerprints, making it look nicer, and the touch capability will work better when the same X or Y lines are touched at the same time.”

Key trends Sorting through these technologies to define the market and draw a clear direction of travel is

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36 FEATURE: INTERACTIVE DISPLAYS no mean feat, but a number of key trends have surfaced. Some of them mirror developments in display technology in general, for example larger screen sizes becoming the norm, as are higher resolutions, and devices being designed to be more aesthetically pleasing.

“The current advancements of touch technology is about improving optics and clarity,” says Haydari. “Traditional capacitive technologies that used copper wire are now moving towards materials that are naked to the eye. Micromesh is one capacitive touch technology that has emerged and has become a game changer in the current marketplace.

“Many technologies are also incorporating active stylus response that used to be the domain for Bluetooth- or sound-enabled devices.

The touch sensors are getting much better at detecting different sizes, shapes etc to accomplish the demand for higher accuracy and response rates. With this move forward the prices have also made the market more competitive, enabling more devices to be incorporated into different projects.”

Fundamental shift While many touch specialists have sought to gain a foothold in the commercial touchscreen market as growth in the smartphone has stuttered, mobile phones and tablets have brought about a fundamental shift in users’ expectations.

“I think the ‘just like the app on my iPhone’ has created a fundamental leap in the expectations of the public and clients alike,” comments Steve Blyth, CEO of Engage Works. “Large-scale displays have not quite kept up with this, and when they do I think that will create a big shift in the market.”

Haydari adds: “Smartphones and tablets have set a standard of the type of quality a user expects for large-format touchscreens. Gone are the days of ‘good enough’. It is now about speed, accuracy and clarity. Users have become so accustomed to having things happen right away. If the touch response is not good enough then more users start to abandon touch-enabled solutions.”

An innovation from smartphones, or more specifically from the iPhone, that has the potential to make waves across larger format interactive displays, is ‘pressure detection’ or ‘force sensing’, coined as 3D Touch by Apple.

“Pressure detection is seen as an area with a long-term future,” says Blyth. This functionality is still very much in its infancy in pro-AV touchscreens, with only a few companies offering something similar, but many more are already looking at it for 2017.

Ian Crosby, Zytronic’s sales and marketing director, explains the complexities and scalability of the technology: “Extending force sensing from handheld devices to large touchscreens used in commercial applications is much more

than a matter of simply scaling up the same technology, and is based on measuring the surface area of the touch, which will increase as more pressure is applied. The feature is entirely implemented in the touch controller firmware, so existing customers could retrofit force sensing by refreshing the firmware and adapting their application software to respond appropriately using Zytronic’s proprietary application programming interface (API).”

Ahead of its time Nathan Moyal, VP marketing at FlatFrog, comments: “For too long we have accepted that we can only move objects in X and Y. But, why not in Z? In the case of pressure, we internally felt that the innovation was worthy of bringing forward even if it was ahead of its time.

“Pressure is not available on every touch technology. There are painful ways to try to add pressure. For example, you could add physical pressure sensors under the screen to complement the touch. However, in many cases these are patches and add-on options as opposed to a technology that is inherently capable of detecting multi-touch and the quality of the touch for each independent touch point. In our case, we don’t just detect pressure, but we can detect it well with 1024 pressure levels.

“In some applications such as banking or gambling, an error-proof selection is essential.

It is convenient when our touchscreens are responsive. However, for some key selection items, we require another level of safety. For example, an inadvertent touch can be replaced with a soft touch to select and a harder press to trigger.”

Haydari offers: “Pressure touch will need a software solution that makes it natural for the user to interact with the devices by pushing down harder. Software and hardware developers will be looking towards the major players such as Apple, Samsung and Microsoft to educate.”

In terms of the what this could offer AV applications, Haydari states: “Pressure touch can enable menu selection, zoom in and zoom

November/December 2016

out, and annotation features; however, this function will depend on the use case and the environment of where these displays are placed and for what purpose.”

Crosby adds: “Force sensing can be used to highlight a product or service selection initially with a light touch, and the choice only being confirmed fully with a firmer press, providing the opportunity to make the technology more accessible to partially sighted users. A practical application for this could be on an ATM, whereby an initial touch triggers an audio confirmation of the amount of cash to be withdrawn, and then increasing the force activates the choice.”

When will it hit the mainstream of the AV industry? Haydari suggests: “Right now I believe pressure touch is here and is only going to improve; however the adoption can be anytime. Technology adoptions move really fast. Just look at augmented reality: this technology has been around for quite some time, but it was not until it was properly used to push the user to better understand it that it has become widely accepted.”

The Business Research Company reports that while the market is currently in a state of flux, this could be resolved due to market forces such as falling margins and increased competition. Going forward this is expected to lead to a number of diversified companies de-prioritising the touchscreen sector to focus on core technologies.

With the advances being made in touch technology, manufacturers and developers in this space must be keenly aware that users’ expectations have been recalibrated by their dayto-day smartphone experiences, raising the bar for interactive displays going forward.

www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com http://engageldn.engageworks.com www.flatfrog.com www.pyramid-computer.com www.touchtech.com www.zytronic.co.uk

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38 SOLUTIONS: BLACK SEA ARENA, BATUMI

November/December 2016

GEORGIA

PROJECT OF THE MONTH

Georgian masterpiece One of the world’s newest concert arenas designed to host international recording artists opened this summer in Batumi. Paddy Baker reports on a very wide-ranging installation project

T

he ultra-modern Black Sea Arena is located close to the coast near the Georgian city of Batumi, with a commanding view of the beautiful landscape between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountains. Designed by German architects Drei Architekten, the venue features an open auditorium that can be covered over in a few minutes by means of a retractable membrane roof. On the façade, 168 rotating translucent lamellas can be positioned to protect the audience from sun, wind and rain, or opened completely.

The auditorium has a capacity of 10,000 seats in circular grandstands, with visitor lounges, VIP areas, four cinemas, auxiliary areas and technical rooms below. The auditorium, with a 36m-wide stage, has been designed to accommodate the largest productions of international performing artists.

Two Lithuanian companies, systems integrator TVC (Television & Communication Systems), working in co-operation with integrator and event services company STS (Scenos Techninis Servisas), were tasked with the turnkey installation of lighting, displays, sound and stage structures.

Main contractor TVC was responsible for the video and broadcast parts of the project, including the media control room, IPTV, intercom, and the supply of two OB trucks. STS was engaged as a subcontractor and provided sound, lighting and stage system installation.

The overall aim was to equip the concert hall

with everything needed to host world-class performers, so there would be no need to hire anything. In all, the project involved more than 30 tonnes of equipment.

Climatic conditions were a special consideration. The arena is situated in a subtropical climate zone that experiences erratic weather, excessive humidity and salinity. To ensure that systems run smoothly and prolong the life of the equipment, all facility controls are kept in a room equipped with an extremely powerful autonomous microclimate system.

The engineers designed and installed a mobile and highly versatile large-scale lighting set-up: 70 classic theatrical Spotlight fixtures with incandescent lamps; eight colour-changing Robert Juliat followspots with discharge lamps; 138 multifunctional programmable stage luminaires with discharge lamps, including Robe Robin BMFL, MMX and pointe models; 224 multifunctional programmable Robe LED stage luminaires; 96 calibrated ETC white light floodlights; and 42 effect lights, including Martin strobes, Robe Cyclones (with integrated turbine) with LED backlights, and Litecraft blinders.

These are also supplemented by a generous provision of smoke, fog, CO2, confetti and fire machines – 36 devices in total.

The entire system is controlled by four grandMA consoles – two full-size and two Light models – each supplemented by a grandMA Fader Wing. The consoles have been equipped with 16 touchscreens.

Installed Audio L-Acoustics K2 and KARA line source speakers L-Acoustics ARCS II and ARCS WIDE constant curvature speakers L-Acoustics K1-SB, SB18 and SB28 subwoofers L-Acoustics 115XT HiQ stage monitors L-Acoustics 112P floor monitors L-Acoustics LA8 amplifiers AVID Venue Profile audio consoles

Video SpectrumPro 0.5m x 1m 6.9mm LED displays SpectrumPro Psx4 videowall processors RGBlink VSP628 video interface scalers Kramer VM-4HDCPX DVI signal distributors coolux Pandoras Box servers Teracue DMM-220 DVB to IP gateways Teracue Aminet-140 set-top boxes

Lighting Spotlight Combi 25 ZM (profile), 25 PC (plano-convex) and 25F (fresnel) fixtures Robert Juliat Lancelot 1021TS , Cyrano 1015 followspots Robe Robin BMFL, MMX, Cyclone and Pointe moving heads Robe Robin 1000, ParFect, CycFX and CityScape Xtreme LED fixtures ETC D60XTI floodlights Martin Atomic 3000 strobes Litecraft 8-Lite blinders MA Lighting grandMA2 consoles MA Lighting grandMA2 Light consoles MA Lighting grandMA2 Fader Wings The consoles support video integration with the coolux servers used in the video system; these can be controlled from the lighting desks using Art-Net or MA-NET protocols, enabling the video and lighting systems to be operated simultaneously.

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Precise modelling The lamella wall structures, movable roof and the size of the audience area (80m x 120m) all make the architecture highly sensitive to sound, meaning that the modelling of the arena’s acoustic performance, as well as the installation of the loudspeakers, had to be precise.

Two software packages, CATT-Acoustic and L-Acoustics’ Soundvision software, were used for the acoustic modelling. The main L-Acoustics system is configured in a left-centre-right pattern: the central array comprises six K2 line source speakers; the left and right arrays each comprise 13 K2 with a K1-SB sub. Additionally, two ARCS II speakers are positioned on each side of the audience, and eight ARCS WIDE speakers cover those sitting close to the stage. LF is boosted by 16 hanging and eight groundstacked SB28 loudspeakers.

The system has four acoustic presets for the different possible arena configurations: lamellas open or closed, roof open or closed.

The speakers are driven by a total of 32 LA8 amplifiers, six of which are mobile for use on stage, while the others are installed in the environment-controlled rackroom.

The arena has two AVID Venue Profile consoles – one for front of house, one for monitoring. Stage equipment includes 40 wireless and 387 wired microphones (including

Schoeps, Sennheiser, AKG, DPA, Neumann and Earthworks), in-ear monitoring from Fischer Amps, L-Acoustics SB18 and KARA loudspeakers, and two types of L-Acoustics floor monitors: 16 115XT HiQ and eight 112P. Much of the audio equipment – including the amplifiers, consoles and microphone receivers – can be monitored and controlled on tablet devices via WiFi.

Video system The arena’s video system, installed in co-operation with Lithuanian company Prezentaciju spektras, is based around 660 SpectrumPro 6.9mm pixel pitch LED modules, each measuring 0.5m x 1m. These can be

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combined into displays of various sizes and shapes.

Video content is handled by coolux Pandoras Box servers. coolux Pandoras Box Manager handles the distribution of content between all nodes of the system and ensures frame synchronisation of all devices. It can also be used to for content creation, simulation and system pre-configuration – enabling customers to see what will be show on the screen, long before the installation.

The displays can broadcast pre-recorded visualisations or stream live video of the stage or areas of the arena. Separate screens can display different images, or a single image can be split across all the screens.

CEILING ARRAY MICROPHONES

About the installers TVC provides complete installations for digital cinema, sports, entertainment arenas and radio broadcast stations The company, which has subsidiaries in Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia and Kazakhstan, celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2016 Partners include Sony, Panasonic, Kramer, Sennheiser and Clear-Com Vilnius-based STS is active in sales, rental and integration services Partners include Funktion One, L-Acoustics, Robe, QSC and Prolyte Group Recent projects include the Latvian National Museum of Art and the Palanga Concert Hall Live footage from the stage, as well as satellite TV channels or promotional video clips before and after the show, can be shown around the stadium via a Teracue IPTV system.

Aminet set-top boxes are deployed individually on nearly 100 Samsung displays in locations such as restaurants, VIP rooms, corridors and make-up rooms.

The installation also encompassed two OB trucks, 14m and 12m long; stage flooring and platforms, and a 40m x 20m stage curtain; Prolyte trussing and hoists, with their accompanying control systems; and Prolyte crowd control barriers.

Installation and after The equipment was brought to the venue in 24 trucks, and the installation began in summer 2015. A total of 52,900m of cable was laid, and 105 electrical and other connection boxes were assembled.

Once the installation was complete, STS and TVC personnel trained arena staff in how to use all the new equipment: not just how to cable all the equipment correctly, but also how to use it to its full potential. The task was made more difficult by the staff’s limited professional experience, and also the language barrier. On completion of the training, the arena staff underwent examinations and received certificates.

After an intensive installation and testing period, the first demo was organised in June 2016. The venue’s opening concert was given by Christina Aguilera at the end of July 2016.

The end result is a system with a high degree of flexibility for visiting productions. “The stage set-up can be assembled according to event requirements, architecture and scenography,” comments Edmundas Stumbrys, regional and project manager of TVC. “Cabling and mechanical systems can be adapted to different scenarios.”

“All in all the installation of this project went pretty smoothly,” comments Dimitri Beridze, managing director of Black Sea Arena. “We knew we could rely on the supplying integrator, they’re known for their reputation in Georgia of supplying excellent products and product support, which to us is really what makes the difference for a turnkey project of this size. The build of the stage system went really well and the stage elements were built in a record time, the installed equipment are really foolproof and easy to build.”

www.avid.com www.coolux.de www.drei-architekten.de www.etcconnect.com www.kramerav.com www.l-acoustics.com www.litecraft.com www.malighting.com www.martin.com http://prezentacijos.lt www.prolyte.com www.rbglink.com www.robe.cz www.robertjuliat.com www.spotlight.it www.sts.lt www.teracue.com www.tvc.tv

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42 SOLUTIONS: SUSSEX HUMANITIES LAB, BRIGHTON UNITED KINGDOM

November/December 2016

Installed Audio

Using one’s digital faculties Computing and digital techniques aren’t the exclusive domain of the sciences – humanities subjects are making use of them too. Tom Bradbury reports from a university facility that’s well equipped with AV technology to facilitate the collaboration and communication that its research activities entail

L

ocated near Brighton on England’s south coast, the University of Sussex was the first of the new wave of UK universities founded in the 1960s. In addition to its educational achievements it is also a leading research university, with over 14,000 students.

Autograph Sales & Installations has recently completed a major installation at the University’s new £3 million Sussex Humanities Lab (SHL), a multi-disciplinary research and educational space.

As described by the university: “The goal of the Sussex Humanities Lab Research Programme is to transform humanities research in the digital age – to find new ways to explore the human condition and to critically assess the cultural and the social and material worlds we make with technology.”

The term ‘digital humanities’ emerged around the middle of the last decade. The subject encompasses both using digital techniques to consider traditional humanities questions, and applying humanistic modes of enquiry to digital media. According to one source, it “combines the methodologies from traditional humanities disciplines (such as history, philosophy, literature, art, archaeology, music, and cultural studies) and social sciences, with tools provided by computing (such as Hypertext, Hypermedia, data visualisation, information retrieval, data mining, statistics, text mining, digital mapping) and digital publishing.”

The Sussex Humanities Lab space, says the University, “has the flexibility to be adaptable for an imaginative range of collaborative research activity – fabbing, hacking, book-sprinting (collaborative writing) and for showcasing

digital humanities work – such as performances, installations and other practice-based research.”

As well as being used for day-to-day research work, the new space has hosted 73 events in 2015-16. Projects included eight SHL Open Days for Sussex, training events in digital humanities at various levels, conferences, symposiums, talks, discussion and reading groups, book sprints and bid sprints, workshops, hackathons, installations, performances, public events and launch events.

QSC Q-Sys Core 500 processor DiGiCo SD11 audio console DiGiCo D-Rack Denon DN500AV 7.1 processor Meyer Sound MM4-XP speakers Meyer Sound MM10-XP subwoofer Meyer Sound MM10-XP subwoofer Shure QLX-D wireless microphone system

Video Samsung Samsung UE75HU7500 4K display Unicol extendable mount Samsung BDJ7500 4K Blu-ray player Sony PlayStation 4

About the installer Founded in 1972, Autograph is a pioneer in theatre sound design, born out of the growing need for a modern approach to live sound reinforcement The company realised that the design principles, system engineering, technical expertise and equipment it had introduced to theatre and musical production was just as relevant to permanent installations, and set up Autograph Sales & Installations in North London in 1982 Recent projects have included the first installation of Meyer Sound’s CAL system (at St Paul’s Girls’ School in London) and a venue-wide networked data system at the Barbican Centre

Operational flexibility From a technical viewpoint, the facility is underpinned by some cutting-edge professional AV products, installed and configured by Autograph to provide as much operational flexibility as possible.

The heart of the system is a QSC Q-Sys Core 500 processor, which provides all the DSP processing power and control in the various modes. A DiGiCo SD11 console plus a DiGiCo D-Rack can be used as either an audio control surface for multi-zone playback or as the master controller for routing and mixing; matrix outputs are configured from the SD11 to a Denon DN500AV 7.1 processor, which provides the surround-sound feeds.

The loudspeaker system comprises Meyer Sound MM4-XPs and an MM10-XP subwoofer in a 7.1 surround arrangement, powered by a Meyer Sound MPS488 power supply and all customcoloured white to match the decor. Additional equipment includes a Shure QLX-D wireless microphone system, a Samsung 4K Blu-ray player, a PlayStation 4 and a Samsung 75in 4K display on an articulated Unicol mount. All system inputs and outputs are located and configured via a patchbay

custom-built for the project by Autograph.

The project was managed for Autograph by Giuseppe ‘Peppe’ Mallozzi. He comments: “We handle all sorts of projects for many different types of client, including education, but this one was a little unusual for us – not so much in terms of the specific equipment we supplied and configured, but in terms of its intended use. The university gave us a fairly detailed brief of what their desired outcome was and we worked to that. The nature of the studies and research that tales place in the lab means that the technical infrastructure had to be very flexible and it looks like we met all their needs.”

www.autograph.co.uk www.d-mpro.com www.digico.biz www.meyersound.com www.qsc.com www.samsung.com www.shure.com www.sussex.ac.uk/shl

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44 SOLUTIONS: KAYSERI ORGANISED INDUSTRIAL ZONE MOSQUE, ANATOLIA TURKEY

Immersive audio At mosques around the world, the tonal qualities of Imams’ voices help worshippers immerse themselves in the surah (prayers). To amplify prayers without losing that spiritual quality, a top-level sound reinforcement system was required for a magnificent new 3,500sqm mosque. James Christopher finds out more

I

n 2015, construction was completed on a new mosque in the Kayseri Organised Industrial Zone in Central Anatolia, Turkey. The spectacular building, with its stunning domes and minarets, is designed by architect Sinan Agha, and features marble and other traditional materials throughout.

The mosque measures around 3,500sqm and can accommodate up to 10,000 worshippers. In terms of national and international importance, its size and beauty puts it on a par with the world famous Mustafa Pasha Mosque in Istanbul.

Procurement and purchasing manager Fatih Gozel sums up the sound reinforcement requirement: “Speech intelligibility is the most important thing during prayers, but we also needed a sound system that could mirror the spiritual quality of the Imam’s voice.”

Speech intelligibility for daily prayers After evaluating a number of manufacturers, a d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker system was selected. “We know that the d&b brand is synonymous with quality and reliability,” says Gozel. “We had also heard the d&b solution implemented at the Turkish Parliament and we were hugely impressed by the sound quality, directivity control, SPL and speech intelligibility.”

Local d&b distributor Atempo designed and installed the system, using d&b ArrayCalc simulation software to create a virtual plan of the mosque interior. Tayfun Konuralt, sales manager and engineer, adds the detail: “We deployed two clusters of main line arrays in the central area of the mosque, each with eight Ti10L loudspeakers.

In addition, we deployed a total of 28 E8s on the building’s upper and lower balconies.”

Atempo’s history of delivering d&b solutions in Turkey didn’t go unnoticed. “Our experience of working with Atempo was excellent,” says Gozel.

“We saw the benefit of their experience time and time again, from the selection of system components right through to the design phase and delivery.”

As predicted, the installed system overcomes

Installed Audio d&b Ti10L and E8 loudspeakers the acoustic challenges presented by the mosque’s high ceilings and reverberant surfaces. “The system is fantastic in terms of sound quality and speech intelligibility,” adds Gozel. “The combination of the mosque’s awe-inspiring architecture and the d&b sound system make it easy for worshippers to give themselves completely to the surah.

“The d&b Special Colour option also means that our equipment matches the interior characteristics.

That means we can provide excellent sound quality without ruining the architecture of the building.” d&b was chosen, in part, for its reliability.

“We needed a system that could provide sound reinforcement for prayers five times a day, every day,” concludes Gozel. “With d&b, we know that the system will perform when we need it, and the fiveyear support and repair service offered by d&b also protects our investment long term.

“Our mosque is one of the most important in the whole country, and the d&b sound system enhances the overall prayer experience for thousands of worshippers, day in, day out. A mosque like ours deserves the very best sound system available, and that, for us, means d&b.”

www.dbaudio.com

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46 SOLUTIONS IN BRIEF

November/December 2016

UNITED STATES

Immersive LED display bands in Fifth Avenue lobby redesign ESI Design has completed an immersive lobby redesign at the former L’Oreal HQ in New York, which includes an 18sqm (192sqft) band of dynamic media that wraps around the walls and columns on LED displays.

The redesign is part of a $25 million capital improvement programme for the 40-storey building located at the corner of East 47th Street and Fifth Avenue, one of the world’s largest commercial, entertainment and media hubs.

The band of media appears as a horizontal slice taken out of the building, and features content displaying vignettes from around the city, complemented by data-driven content such as weather, trending headlines, information on local events and financial reports.

www.esidesign.com

UNITED KINGDOM

Engage Works teams with sfd on Accessorize relaunch British fashion accessory chain Accessorize has collaborated with creative agencies Engage Works and sfd to provide interactive content and LED solutions for its new flagship store in the Westfield shopping centre in White City, London.

The concept from Accessorize focuses on LED rods and panels, through which a mixture of dynamic and Instagram-friendly content is streamed. Upon entering the store, shoppers are met with 316 vertically hanging LED rods amounting to twice the height of The Shard.

The panels editorialise both the storefront and in-store walls to reflect the retailer’s seasonal

GERMANY

Porsche Museum modernises with dual AV installs The Porsche Museum in Stuttgart has added a 16sqm video touchwall and interactive audio installation to its permanent exhibition, designed by Stuttgart-based AV and engineering consultancy macom.

The focal point of the new installs is the Porsche touchwall, a 12m-wide video screen with a resolution of 41 megapixels. The wall allows visitors to swipe through over 3,000 photos, illustrations and advertising campaigns, going back as far as 1931, and automatically updated every day.

The touchwall uses a tracking system to respond to visitors’ movements, based on cameras and a touch overlay. To navigate

through the images, visitors use a touch frame, with options for swiping through content by making multi-touch hand movements. The setup encompasses 20 full HD 55in LCDs, controlled by five graphics PCs using 3D real-time software.

The other highlight at the museum is an interactive sound installation called ‘Porsche in the Mix’. This installation allows visitors to pick from seven car models on a touchscreen, with the selected car shown on a 9sqm LED display; the distinctive sound of its engine is then played.

www.macom.de

collections and draw shoppers into the store.

The work also extends to the cash desk, where shoppers are greeted with further campaignbased interactive content. They are able to choose the store’s playlist, and are encouraged to curate their own individual Trend Edits by swiping content ‘cubes’ on a bespoke iPad app, which is then published and displayed throughout the store, providing greater personalisation and facilitating brand engagement.

www.engageworks.com

SOLUTIONS IN BRIEF

www.installation-international.com

NORWAY

47

UNITED STATES

Martin Audio solves reverb issues at Aula hall

Radio City Music Hall uses Christie projectors

A Martin Audio MLA Mini Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array, integrated by Scandinavian distributor Atendi, has replaced the previous PA system in the Aula, the flagship auditorium of the University of Oslo.

The university’s ceremonial hall is well known for its festive events, concerts and art. However, it is also an acoustically difficult space with glass, marble and wooden surfaces.

The new PA design is based around eight MLA Mini and two MSX subs each side of the stage. Atendi also installed a front-fill system of four DD6 speakers, a delay system comprising a further pair of DD6, with two more DD6 as floor wedges. All amps were installed in a single rack in the attic above the Aula.

Projection mapping using the latest Christie Boxer 4K30 projectors is enhancing the world-famous Radio City Rockettes productions at New York’s Radio City Music Hall – including the 2016 engagement of the New York Spectacular and the upcoming Christmas Spectacular.

DWP Live has deployed three distinct arrays of Christie Boxer projectors – eight on each side of the theatre and six in the projection booth – to create an immersive environment with a kaleidoscope of colours and imagery onto the archway ceiling and backdrop.

The installation was completed in only five days, with the Rockettes already in full dress rehearsal, and only two weeks before the New York Spectacular opened.

www.christiedigital.com

www.martin-audio.com

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TECHNOLOGY

Kit you need to know about

PRODUCT OF NEC Display Solutions THE MONTH V and P series

It’s… the first batch of upgraded versions of NEC’s large-format displays for 2017.

What’s new? These new displays feature a slot for a Raspberry Pi computer module.

Details: P and V are two of the seven series in NEC’s LFD range, and the first to receive their upgrades for 2017. Working up from the bottom of the range, the first four series are E (entry-level), V (value), XS (specialised) and P (professional). The XS series will be end-of-lined in 2017; the V series will effectively move up a category, and a new C (commercial) series will be introduced between E and V. The new LFDs were presented for the first time in Europe at an event in London in October

by Craig McQueen (pictured), solutions sales manager at NEC Display Solutions Europe. The displays have been made thinner, with the bezel now almost flush with the display surface (and available in coloured versions). The NEC logo is relocatable (for use in portrait deployments, for instance) or can be removed completely. On the

rear of the displays, new features include fixing points for soundbars, and two screw holes near the top to mount a camera shelf. Additionally, the OPS slot has been centred.

Screen reflectivity, which McQueen stated has been an issue at larger sizes, has been addressed: a new anti-reflective coating is to be used on the V series upwards.

Turning to software and connectivity: according to McQueen, a key drawback of the system-on-chip (SoC) model used by some competitors is that the chip is not upgradeable over the lifetime of the display or replaceable in the event of failure; so NEC has always favoured slot-in PCs. The manufacturer has co-operated with Raspberry Pi to enable the integration of its computing devices within NEC displays – the first display manufacturer to do so. This platform, said McQueen, is low-cost, modular, upgradeable, open, and supported by a development body that operates in 132 countries. The new displays allow access to embedded intelligence connected to the Internet of Things for digital signage as well as presentation use.

In addition to the standard Raspberry Pi 3 compute module, NEC will also offer a customised model to meet the specific performance demands of the display industry.

“Integrating the Raspberry Pis with our displays will provide businesses with advanced technology suitable for digital signage, streaming and presenting to enhance the overall visual experience at an affordable price point,” said Stefanie Corinth, senior VP marketing and business development at NEC Display Solutions Europe.

The event also saw Adam Wilson, co-founder and director at Intevi, demonstrate an IPTV system that his company had developed for the Raspberry Pi in just four weeks. This enables users to deliver fullscreen TV, add widgets (such as travel and weather information), play stored videos and schedule content.

Available: Q1 (first six models) www.nec-display-solutions.com

50 TECHNOLOGY: NEW PRODUCTS Kramer VP-734 The VP-634 is a seven-input presentation switcher/ scaler with four HDMI, one DisplayPort and two userdefinable (universal) analogue video inputs. It up and down scales to selectable graphics or HDTV output resolutions (up to 4K UHD). The VP-734 supports analogue and embedded audio inputs and outputs and includes rich audio functionality and a stereo loudspeaker output. www.kramerav.com Lutron Finiré, Lumaris Lutron has launched Finiré LED recessed downlights (pictured) and Lumaris LED linear lighting fixtures to provide high-performance lighting, featuring smooth dimming, to the residential market. The all-in-one solutions includes fixtures, drivers and controls. www.lutron.com

November/December 2016

d&b audiotechnik 24S, 24S-D It’s… new point source speakers for permanent applications including night clubs, live performance venues, houses of worship, multipurpose centres and sports venues.

What’s new? These latest additions to the xS-Series are installation-specific point sources featuring a redesigned front grill to make them less obtrusive than previously.

Details: Differing only in horizontal dispersion, with 75° x 45° and 110° x 45° (h x v) respectively, the 24S and 24S-D house two 12in LF drivers in a dipolar arrangement and a single hornloaded 1.4in exit compression driver. This HF horn is rotatable, meaning the 24S/24S-D can be mounted either vertically or horizontally. By separating the LF drivers, they achieve constant directivity control in the same plane as the dipole down to approximately 500Hz. The result is a powerful single box solution that avoids the transmission of energy into the reverberant field, and increasing gain before feedback when

working with open microphones. Frequency response extends from 55Hz to 18kHz.

Available: Now www.dbaudio.com

QSC TouchMix-30 Pro The latest addition to QSC’s TouchMix family is a compact 32-channel digital mixer designed to offer flexibility for a variety of applications.

Its 10in multi-touch touchscreen offers more on-screen information while also providing greater hands-on control, while the Anti-Feedback and Room Tuning Wizards simplify complex equalization tasks. www.qsc.com

Vision AV VFM-C Vision has announced the new VFM-C – Vision FlatPanel Mount – Ceiling – range which includes two ceiling mounts. Both units use the same telescopic pole which has an adjustable length of 460-790mm.

The C2X2 takes VESA sizes up to 200mm x 200mm, and fits screens up to 40in. The bigger C6X4, pictured here, fixes to flat panels up to 70in, with the maximum VESA size of 600 x 400mm.

Both models are made from steel and have a safe working load of 35kg. The tilt adjustment makes them suitable for waiting rooms and retail environments. www.visionaudiovisual.com

Black Box Coalesce It’s… a new wireless presentation and collaboration system for corporations and educational institutions.

What’s new? Coalesce enables real-time wireless collaboration with an unlimited number of users and unlimited content sharing. Users can easily connect from any device (PC, Mac, or iOS and Android mobile devices) and share any kind of content (desktop, docs, images, videos and apps).

Details: Coalesce supports both wired and wireless connectivity, acting as an access point and operates in dual-network mode. This allows corporate users to connect to Coalesce through the corporate network and guest users to connect wirelessly to Coalesce. Users on both networks can share their content and collaborate with each other without compromising network security.

The system also provides multiple

collaboration modes: open (users can freely share content to the display), screen key (requires line of sight to share), password and moderated (moderators can approve or reject items particularly important in education settings).

As companies add more Coalesce units, they can configure and manage all of them from a centralised location using the enterprise management application. The intuitive dashboard is said to make remote management easy. Additional product features include touch interactivity and local screen viewing.

Available: Now www.blackbox.co.uk

From the publisher of Installation, AV Technology and SCN.

From primary through to higher education, Tech&Learning UK engages with those responsible for AV & IT technology throughout the UK education sector.

Tech&Learning UK reaches 16,000 decision makers and influencers in the UK and provides manufacturers and service providers with the perfect marketing platform for targeting this growing market.

• • • • • •

Quarterly print magazine Dedicated website Weekly newsletters Custom email campaigns Roundtables Webinars

New online platforms: • Dedicated website • Weekly digest newsletter • Theme of the Month newsletter Sign up at www.techandlearning.uk

Tech&Learning UK audience includes: • Business managers • ICT managers / technicians • Head teachers / deans • Heads of department / faculty • AV resellers and integrators

www.techandlearning.uk For further information on subscribing, advertising or submitting content for Tech&Learning UK, please contact: Sales:

Editorial:

Gurpreet Purewal +44 (0) 20 7354 6000 gpurewal@nbmedia.com

Heather McLean +44 (0) 7986 473 520 heather@mclean-media.com

52 TECHNOLOGY: NEW PRODUCTS AMX N2300 Series AMX by Harman has extended its 4K over IP product line with the N2300 Series that distributes 4K over existing Ethernet networks, using just 200mbps. Installation of the Series is simple – it benefits from support for HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2, making the line compatible with the latest 4K sources and displays; it also has Native NetLinx capabilities for fast integration into Harman solutions. Additional features include keyboard/mouse support, RJ45 and SFP network connections, support for balanced and unbalanced analogue audio, and RS-232 and IR ports for device control. www.harman.com

Extron DSC HD-HD 4K A A high-performance, HDCP 2.2-compliant HDMI to HDMI scaler, the DSC HD-HD 4K A accepts signals from 480i to 4096 x 2160, and produces a scaled output from 640 x 480 to 4096 x 2160. It features 4:4:4 processing for signals up to 4096 x 2160 @30fps. The scaler also incorporates the Extron-exclusive Vector 4K scaling engine, specifically engineered for 4K applications including full-motion video and highly detailed computer graphics. www.extron.com Panasonic PT-RZ575 Panasonic has launched the PT-RZ575, a shortthrow laser projector for control room applications that is said to offer up to 10 years of extended service life. The device features 5,200 lumens of brightness at a 20,000:1 contrast ratio and offers a constant brightness mode for long-term stable performance in mission-critical applications. business.panasonic.eu

Sommer Cable

SC-AQUA MARINEX LED CONTROL The professional RGBW LED control cable is said to offer outstanding weather durability, making it suitable for permanent outdoor installations. It has a five-wire design and is completely halogen-free and transversely waterproof. Due to its tight braiding, the cable is also suited to mobile use. www.sommercable.com

November/December 2016

PixelFlex TrueFlex It’s… a flexible LED video tile solution.

What’s new? TrueFLEX is able to curve in any direction and attach to virtually any surface while still providing a high-resolution LED video playback system.

Details: Available in 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 6mm and 10mm indoor pitch options, the TrueFLEX LED video system enhances the creative opportunities for designers compared with traditional LED displays. Designed to create seamless convex or concave curved video walls, TrueFLEX offers a wide range of pitch options for high-resolution video playback of creative LED video content. The fanless design allows for a no-noise solution that can operate in any indoor

space, and its slim and lightweight construction provides a low-profile installation that needs very little space for wiring and mounting. With its single module replacement for easy onsite service, the system uses magnetic modules and set screw ports to attach to virtually any surface, and the external sending and receiving control, paired with quality connectors, ensures safe and reliable module connections.

Available: Now www.pixelflexled.com

Gefen EXT-UHDV-KA-LANS-TX/RX It’s… a KVM sender/receiver pair.

What’s new? These latest additions to Gefen’s video over IP product range add 4K and HDR support, built-in scaler, video-wall controller, power over Ethernet and digital/ analogue audio break-out.

Details: The new models feature HDMI and VGA inputs and outputs, and can support DVI when using Gefen HDMI-to-DVI cables. They support HDMI input resolutions up to 4K 60Hz 4:2:0 and output resolutions up to 4K 30Hz 4:4:4, HDR support, HDCP 2.2 and 1.4, and 7.1 channels of HBR (High Bit Rate) lossless and LPCM digital audio up to 330ft (100m).

The sender also features a VGA output for local monitoring of the input. The VGA input and output support VESA resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz (WUXGA). This product also provides RS-232 and two-way IR routing between the sender and the receiver units, allowing the transfer of IR commands and RS-232 communications among all sources and the displays.

The cable run from a sender to a receiver can be up to 100m. The sender and receiver can be

used as KVM extenders in a one-to-one system, or as nodes in a virtual matrix environment.

Available: Now www.gefen.com

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54 TECHNOLOGY: SHOWCASE

November/December 2016

Education technology The use of technology in the classroom has grown in recent years, with collaborative tools joining more traditional AV tech such as projectors as staples of everyday student life. Installation rounds up some of the latest offerings

Lecture capture made simple with Matrox Monarch LCS Monarch LCS can share up to 20Mbps of encoding capacity across its two H.264 encoding channels.

Each independent channel has individual bitrate/ quality settings and benefits from powerful scaling, deinterlacing and noise reduction engines.

Maximum resolution for each encoder is 1080p30.

The operator can define profiles for livestreamed and recorded lectures by mixing camera and presentation material from SDI and HDMI sources. A typical set-up would mix video and audio of the presenter, plus a computer source with supporting material, into a single webcast. Operating modes include layouts such as picture-in-picture and side-by-side; the operator can dynamically change the inputs throughout the lecture.

When set to recording, an encoding channel

captures content in MOV or MP4 files. Recordings can be stored on local USB drives, SD cards or network-mapped drives.

In Isolated mode, the appliance provides two independent video files or streams. This feature, when used with a compatible third-party player, enables the viewer to select their preferred layout.

Designed for network environments, Matrox Monarch LCS can be controlled and configured via the Monarch LCS Command Centre using any web-enabled device on the network.

www.matrox.com

Panasonic’s PC-less whiteboards

The BF1 interactive Panaboard series is a range of PC-less whiteboards with an interface that allows users to make notes on any media format. Available in 80in, 65in and 50in digital Panaboard displays, it has 12-point touch control and a floating menu bar, which is said to make it easy to switch inputs, draw, and zoom in and out with a single touch. It is also equipped with an anti-glare screen for clear visibility in all conditions, and a number of wired connections including Digital Link.

business.panasonic.eu

Sony brings laser tech to education with the VPL-FHZ700L The move away from lamp-based projectors to laser models is an appealing one for schools and universities, where a failed lamp can disrupt the learning experience of a large number or people. The ‘virtually zeromaintenance’ appeal of laser promises real reductions in total cost of ownership in heavyusage environments. The technology also has the advantage of not fading over time.

The Sony VPL-FHZ700L WUXGA 3LCD B2B maintenance-free use. laser projector delivers crisp images at 7,000 The University of Bath recently installed lumens, as well as offering reliability, extended multiple VPL-FHZ700L projectors in its lecture operating life and reduced running costs. halls. The on-campus AV team has been It can switch on or off virtually impressed with laser’s efficiency and reduced instantaneously, and offers excellent zoom power consumption, even with the projectors and throw ranges coupled with a wide lens running up to ten hours a day. shift range. It is capable of www.sony.co.uk/pro/products/solutions-education over 20,000 hours of virtually

Collaboration and engagement from Kramer Via Campus Kramer Via Campus allows students and teachers to view the main display, edit documents together in real time, share any size file, turn the main display into a digital whiteboard, and more, from any laptop or mobile device. VIA Campus also lets facilitators use e-polling and e-exams to measure how much students are learning. The collaboration and engagement tool can show up to six user screens on one main display or up to 12 screens on two displays.

The BYOD solution also features full on-screen collaboration and Mac/PC and iOS/ Android mirroring.

www.kramerav.com

TECHNOLOGY: SHOWCASE 55

www.installation-international.com

InFocus combines touch tech and 4K resolution The 70in Mondopad Ultra touchscreen collaboration system is an all-in-one videoconferencing, interactive whiteboarding, presentation and data sharing display. It delivers ultra-high-definition 4K clarity with easy operation and enterprise integration right out of the box. The feature-rich Mondopad Ultra is the first to combine projected capacitive touch technology with 4K screen resolution, resulting in image clarity along with intuitive multi-touch capabilities.

Mondopad allows students and teachers in multiple locations to see and hear each other while brainstorming on a shared whiteboard and to collaboratively edit documents and draw directly onscreen, enabling real-time collaboration. Documents can be saved to the Mondopad for future access, stored to the network or emailed to anyone directly from the device.

The device runs Microsoft Windows 10 Pro and features a sixth-generation Intel Core i7-6700T processor and Q170 chipset with Intel vPro technology, along with 8GB memory

and a 256GB solid state hard drive. It is said to seamlessly and securely integrate into existing enterprise infrastructure.

www.infocus.com

HD in the classroom with RealPresence EduCart 500 Polycom’s RealPresence EduCart 500 is designed to provide a flexible HD video experience that supports the traditional functions of the classroom. This is particularly important for practical subjects such as medicine or music, which require students to see clearly what is happening.

The device is designed to be moved easily between classrooms, reducing the need for multiple dedicated video units, and is plug-andplay. It includes a Polycom EagleEye IV (12x) camera and a Polycom Microphone Array for 360º coverage on both video and audio.

The EduCart benefits from Polycom’s RealPresence Web Suite – a powerful collaboration infrastructure that caters for the complex needs of the education sector.

The teacher can control the sessions as they would in a physical classroom; documents can be shared easily with all who are present in the session. Lessons and lectures can be streamed, recorded and archived for future reference, allowing students to catch up and benefit from previous material whenever they want.

Vivitek enhances ultra-short throw projector line Vivitek says its recently launched DH759USTi and D756USTi ultra-short throw interactive projectors (full HD and WXGA respectively) offer increased ease of use, functionality and connectivity over their predecessors.

The models deliver high brightness, contrast and colour performance to create up to a 110in diagonal image – clearly readable from the back of the classroom.

To improve interactivity, the models have software can also record the user actions been upgraded from a four-finger to a tenperformed on the computer. finger touch capacity, via the optional sensor.

The NovoPRO wireless collaboration device The multi-touch capacity facilitates touch can be added to engage up to 64 participants gesture usage and supports more intuitive at the same time, allowing them to share files finger writing. and respond to voting or polling questions.

The complimentary NovoScreennote It also allows up to four students to share Interactive Whiteboard software enables content spontaneously on the split screen multiple students to work simultaneously on from their connected devices. the whiteboard; screenshots can www.vivitek.eu/products/education-projectors/ be captured for later retrieval. The

www.polycom.com

56 TECHNOLOGY: DEMO OF THE MONTH

November/December 2016

Prysm Visual Workplace Joanne Ruddock explores a workplace collaboration tool that utilises cloud storage to enhance efficiency

P

rysm Visual Workplace is a cloud-based meeting space that enables users to create, share and mark up documents across all their devices. Designed to tap into the trend for increasing collaboration in the workplace, the solution allows teams across the globe to work on projects within a tool that combines apps, content, video and the web.

As Paige O’Neill, Prysm CMO, explains: “The market around workplace collaboration is really taking off and we feel like we’re in a fantastic place because we have a solution that spans any device – so I can have it on my mobile device, I can access it at my workspace, I can share content, I can use it in a conference room on a screen, or I can be on my laptop and be able to access the same content.”

Users begin by setting up a Project. This can be populated with a wide variety of content – from Microsoft Office documents and video to images and data files. There are multiple ways to access content: it can be shared via a mobile device, a USB can be plugged into the back of any monitor and content can be downloaded – Prysm’s Visual Workplace has integrations with Box and Dropbox as well as providing secure storage of each project.

As O’Neill expands: “Any way you can get content onto your laptop you can get content from here the same way.”

It is also possible to pull up a web browser and log in to third-party applications. Participants can have as many pieces of content open at the same time on the screen as they’d like. Content can be moved around the screen, edited and annotated; if colleagues are in another conference room and they’re part of the same project they can see that content and collaborate. It is also possible to add files from a remote location and, as users can see each other from each location, content

can be analysed and edited together to ensure a productive session with editing in real time, visualisation exercises and more. Out-of-the-box integration with tools such as Microsoft Office 365, OneDrive and Skype for Business also serves to enhance productivity.

Cloud control A key feature of Prysm’s Visual Workplace is that a user’s projects and content are saved automatically in the cloud. This means never having to ask a colleague where a spreadsheet or PowerPoint deck is saved, it’s all in the shared Prysm cloud. According to O’Neill, this not only facilitates work getting done as you can quickly pick up where you left off, but it also acts as a visual recall which can aid people who weren’t in the previous meeting – they can go in and review the content ahead of time. Notes can be kept in the project so people can quickly get a sense of what needs to be actioned and in each project there are workspaces that have chapters or dates. If, for example, you have a scheduled weekly meeting you can have a workspace for each meeting and go back week to week to see what was discussed and what actions were meant to be taken. Again, in these dynamic workspaces, any element on the screen can be easily moved, duplicated, stored and emailed.

For those who are unable to attend a meeting, logging back in as their calendar permits allows them to review any new content or even screenshot each workspace and email it to someone, providing another means to share what was discussed. With a key aim of Visual Workplace being to make meetings more productive, participants can also go in and update their documents ahead of a catch-up

so all of the content is up to date and everyone can see it. In terms of content management and security, Prysm will manage set-up, hosting and troubleshooting, and all content is secured with enterprise-level encryption and backed up on multiple redundant servers. When it comes to scaleability, there’s no limit to the number of people who can join.

There are two ways to participate in Prysm Visual Workplace, as a subscribed user or as a guest. O’Neill elaborates: “There could be a screen in a conference room and I could go in as a subscribed user and log in to either an in-room display or from a browser. Most likely, I’d have my own user ID so that when I logged in, all of my content would be there. For example, when I go to any of my devices – iPhone, iPad, Mac, screen – and log in I see the same screen. On the other hand, guests who have been invited to join a project can log in to participate, but they don’t have ‘anytime’ access. Beginning soon, casual users will be able to approach a display and leverage some basic functions without logging in first. This new capability is called Quick Start.”

Consistently seeing the same screen and the same content on any device also means users become comfortable with the technology and it takes away the issues associated with having to get used to new kit. O’Neill adds: “It’s all about simplifying the process and saving time. It gives you the ability to make a decision much more quickly – I can change data in real time and see how it affects other data straight away, without having to work through spreadsheets. You can see everything at the same time.”

www.prysm.com

Daniel Lamarre, CEO and president of Cirque du Soleil, live on-stage The Closing Keynote at ISE 2017

Attendees on the final day of ISE 2017 will have the opportunity to experience first-hand one of the world’s leading international business development executives. Daniel Lamarre, the President and CEO of Cirque du Soleil, will present the show’s Closing Keynote speech on Friday 10 February 2017 at 9:00am.

Daniel Lamarre will share his vision on how new technologies will have a huge impact on artistic content.

For more information and registration, please visit www.iseurope.org

Organised by

Integra ated Sy ystems Events A joint venture partnership of

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PLANYOUR MONTH AHEAD

Our pick of what to see, do and discover in the weeks ahead, including trade shows in London, Dubai and Washington, as well as transport technology in Manchester

PICK OF THE MONTH

Bett 2017 LEARN

start-ups with big ideas that could transform the future of edtech. In addition, around 700 exhibitors will fill the showfloor. www.bettshow.com

EXPLORE

include the return of Sir Ken Robinson, whose 2015 keynote was the most attended Bett Arena Session. This time he will be discussing ‘Creative Schools’. Meanwhile, Bett Futures showcases

VISIT

The education technology show returns to ExCeL London on 25-28 January with the usual mix of entertaining talks, informative seminars and the latest kit for the sector. Highlights for 2017

InfoComm MEA

Destination Stations

Government Video Expo

More than 200 exhibitors, including manufacturers from over 30 countries, will be in Dubai for InfoComm MEA from 6 to 8 December. The region’s premier pro-AV event will once again be held at the Dubal Word Trade Centre and will showcase the latest cutting-edge business solutions.

If our feature on airports and railway stations whetted your appetite, head down to MOSI in Manchester to find out more about how stations are evolving due to changing tastes and technologies. and how station buildings have developed from the modest to the monumental.

Held at the Walter E Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC on 1-3 December, Government Video Expo features a full exhibit floor, numerous training options, free seminars, keynotes, panel discussions, networking opportunities and a new educational series of panel discussions.

www.infocomm-mea.com

www.msimanchester.org.uk

www.gvexpo.com

THE LEO FAMILY TRUE SOUND IN LINE ARRAYS.

The LEO Family provides power and clarity for nearly every application, from intimate performance spaces to the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest outdoor festivals. LEOPARD, the smallest in the family, is gaining a following for being the most lightweight and versatile line array in its class. From small to midsize to large-scale, this family of line arrays has you covered.

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