SIA February-March 2016

Vol. 15 Issue 3 ~ February - March 2016

AUDIO • VISUAL • CONTROL • COLLABORATION • UNIFIED COMMS

Image copyright © 2015 DJI. All rights reserved.

MCI (P) 014/04/2015 PPS 1669/08/2013 (022992)

• INSTALLATION Essilor Envisions Learning With A Mission

• COUNTRY ANALYSIS Thailand

• EXHIBITION PREVIEW InfoComm China

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Š 2015 Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. All rights reserved.

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CONTENTS

Vol. 15 Issue 3 ~ February - March 2016

64 26 04 FIRST WORDS 06 NEWS 18 SOLUTIONS UPDATE COUNTRY ANALYSIS 26 Thailand TECH TALK 31 Secure Hardware Solutions SPECIAL FEATURES 32 Flight Of The Future 36 The Age Of Drones 38 Despite Hurdles, Drones Are Taking Off TECH XPERIENCE 41 Meeting Room In A Box USER PERSPECTIVE 44 Keio University Integrates Shure

41

INTERVIEW 46 OMEGA Goes “All-In”

INSIGHT 48 Christie India 52 Kramer India 54 Thinking Global, Acting Local EXHIBITION PREVIEW 56 InfoComm China 2016 60 IoT Asia 2016 62 Secutech 2016 INSTALLATIONS 64 SINGAPORE: Essilor Envisions Learning With A Mission 69 CHINA: Hefei Traffic Networks Secured By Delta 70 INDIA: Shri Ram School Auditorium AV Systems Refurbished 72 TAIWAN: GAP Taiwan Attracts Walk-ins With DT Research 74 PHILIPPINES: IONTECH Steps Up LG's Display Presence in Manila

76 THAILAND: Suvarnabhumi Airport Revs Up Interactive SelfService With BenQ 78 AUSTRALIA: Serving The Growing Cruise Industry 80 PHILIPPINES: The Medical City Counts On ATEN For Full Integration 82 TURKEY: Konya Science Center's New Health Gallery Treated in AV 84 HONG KONG: Mercedes Me Lifestyle Venue Offers Digital Interaction VOICE BOX 86 Steering beyer's Fit For Future Strategically Dynamically 88 UC&C – What Is It, and Why Should I Be Bothered?

90 ON OUR WEB

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FIRST WORDS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Is The World Ready For Li-Fi?

From what used to be analog systems, many proAV developments have steered towards the digital realm in recent years. With WiFi-based features leading the way, many are advocating that such solutions are easier to comprehend and operate. The benefits of “wireless” has brought upon so many new and improved products that we often look forward excitedly to major tech shows.

PUBLISHER/ EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Thomas Richard Prakasam thomas@spinworkz.com

EDITOR, INDIA AND ME Ram Bhavanashi ram@spinworkz.com

Enter Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) – a Visible Light Communication (VLC) system that transmits data using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as a medium. Similar to Wi-Fi, Li-Fi also delivers data electromagnetically, however, while Wi-Fi uses radio waves, Li-Fi uses visible light.

Measured to be about 100 times faster than Wi-Fi, reaching speeds of 224 gigabits per second, Li-Fi depends on a photodetector to receive light signals and a signal processing element to convert data.

BRAND ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST Dennis Toh dennis@spinworkz.com

ADMIN & CIRCULATION Julie Tan admin@spinworkz.com

An interesting commercial application would be location-based services for retail. Proposed by Philips in 2014, the company introduced a VLC system that can connect in-store LED lights with consumers’ smart phones. Using a downloadable app, users will be able to locate items on their shopping list or get coupons as they pass products on the aisles. Retailers can also send targeted information to consumers based on their precise location within stores.

The possibilities are aplenty, with intelligent traffic management system, indoor communication, in-flight entertainment and underwater communication leading as key potential applications. For the proAV industry, Digital Signage could also be an area to explore.

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Jimmy Chin jimmy@spinworkz.com DIGITAL PLATFORM EDITOR (Freelance) Rosalind Tan rosalind@spinworkz.com

PRINTED BY PUBLISHED BY Stamford Press Pte Ltd Spinworkz Pte Ltd 51 Bukit Batok Crescent #06-10 Unity Centre, Singapore 658077 Tel: (65) 6316 2716 Fax: (65) 63162715 www.spinworkz.com Disclaimer Systems Integration Asia is published 6 times a year. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine is to be reproduced, whether mechanical or electronic without the prior written consent of the publisher. Views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or the publisher. Unsolicited contributions are welcome but the editor reserves the discretion to use them. Whilst every care is taken to ensure the accuracy and honesty in both editorial and advertising content at press time, the publisher will not be liable for any inaccuracies.

But of course, there is always a downside to everything. For Li-Fi, the range is shorter as light waves cannot penetrate walls.

Being a new technology, low reliability, high installation costs and privacy concerns are also potential deterring factors.

Then again, with VLC/Li-Fi market projected to reach more than $6 million by 2018*, perhaps we should let time decide if light will be next big thing.

Shireen Ho Assistant Editor shireen@spinworkz.com

*Source: "Global Visible Light Communication(VLC)/Li-Fi Technology & Free Space Optics (FSO) Market (2013-2018) - By Component, Application (Intelligent Traffic Management Systems, Indoor Networking, In-flight Entertainment, Underwater Communication, Location Based Service) & Geography" by MarketsandMarkets.

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NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Activeo Expands In Singapore, Acquires 2 Singaporean Companies

customers. It is indeed an exciting development for Kasturi.”

Equally positive about the acquisition, Ken Tan, MD of Jusfeedback quoted, “We look forward to the synergistic collaboration with Activeo and Kasturi as a group to offer a wider suite of products and services to our customers in Singapore and the region. Exciting development for us ahead!”

(L-R) Ken Tan, Jusfeedback; Véronique Godart, Activeo; Jonathan Mondon, Activeo; Moses Wong, Kasturi.

SINGAPORE: French Customer Experience Consulting & Technology company Activeo has announced that it has taken significant stakeholding in two Singapore companies, Kasturi Technology and JusFeedback – in a bid to expand its operations in Singapore.

Taking a majority stakeholding in Kasturi, the Singaporean company specialises in Unified Communications & Video. With this acquisition, Activeo consolidates its position and expertise on the Customer Collaboration market and provides businesses with the best innovative solutions to ensure a strong Customer and Employees Experience and workflow management.

In the same announcement, Activeo also stated that it will have equity participation in Jusfeedback, another Singaporean company. Specialising in Customer Feedback Management based on an efficient hosted environment, the acquisition will enable Activeo to reinforce its skills and knowhow in the Customer and Employee Engagement within the Customer Analytics market.

Joseph Kort, CEO of Activeo, said of these acquisitions, “A great step forward for Activeo. The combined skills

of Kasturi, Jusfeedback and Activeo will provide a lot of added value and successful synergies for customers in Singapore. We can now enhance the Activeo group portfolio and valuecreative expansion on both Customer Collaboration and Customer Experience markets.”

Moses Wong, MD of Kasturi Technology, also shared, “(The acquisition) helps (to) boarden and strengthen Kasturi in the field of ICT to provide a wider scope of ICT and AV services to our combined

Established in 1993 in Paris with offices in Singapore, Bangalore and Geneva, Activeo is a leading technology consultancy with integration services.

Primarily focused in customer relations technologies and customer experience management consulting, Activeo's industry speciality is in contact centers.

Some notable Activeo clients include AXA, Swiss Life, Mercedes-Benz, Ricoh, BNP Paribas, Carrefour and Volkswagen.

This announcement was made in late January at the French Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, together with the companies' staff, partners and clients. www.activeo.com www.kasturi.com.sg www.jusfeedback.com

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NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

E&E Celebrates 65th Anniversary, Opens New Warehouse & Logistics Centre

SINGAPORE: ELECTRONICS & ENGINEERING PTE LTD (E&E) celebrates its 65th Anniversary in conjunction with the opening of their new Warehouse and Logistics Centre located at No. 9 Tuas South Street 10 Singapore 636942.

Over 3,000 square metres of land space was acquired from Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) last year for the warehouse & logistics centre which was purpose-built from ground up. The twostorey building comprises four separate 7-metre high dehumidified clean-air

warehouse spaces which are served by a 5-tonne capacity goods lift. The loading bay is equipped with dock levellers and can accommodate four container trucks.

The building also houses the engineering workshop arm, Eng Kong Engineering Works, which is equipped with a 3-tonne travelling hoist. There are also two levels of office space and a multi-purpose area. “We are very pleased to be celebrating another milestone with the opening of our new Warehouse & Logistics Centre

which will facilitate our expansion plans for our business in the region,� commented Gary Goh, Deputy Managing Director, Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd. Held in January, the official opening of the warehouse and logistics centre saw the attendance of E&E's esteemed clients, staff and valued partners in the proAV industry. www.enepl.com.sg

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NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

VEGA Global Establishes Permanent Office In Manila delivering projects throughout the country. The strong client base is a mix of multi-national operations and local business, and all of them have high degrees of service level and support expectations for their AV needs. The establishment of this office solidifies the commitment Vega has to delivering these levels of service to its clients in the Philippines and throughout the APAC region.

PHILIPPINES: Vega Global Managing Director, Laurie Chow, is proud to announce the official opening of the groups permanent Manila Office located at: Unit 2603, Raffles Corporate Building, F, Ortigas Avenues, Ortigas Business Center, Pasig City.

Chow has extended his congratulations to Angelo Somera, Vega’ Philippines Country Head on the successful growth of the business over the past 2 years, which enabled the company to deliver the high level of service expected by its clients.

“It was an honour to participate in the official opening of our permanent Manila office. Congratulations to Angelo and the rest of our Philippines team on their continued success. This office opening signifies Vega’s commitment to the growth of the Audio-visual business in the APAC region and is part of our continued expansion to service our local and Multi-national clients,” said Matthew Deayton, Global Business Development Director of Vega.

The Vega group is one of the foremost global solution providers in Video Conferencing & Collaboration, Immersive TelePresence, Audiovisual Systems Integration, Network Television, Digital Signage & Digital Media Networks, Unified Communications with over 500 staff in 14 countries and 20 plus established offices. www.vega-global.com

The Philippines operation now comprises 13 skilled and qualified staff who are

BXB Microphones Shine At ILBS Auditorium INDIA: BXB FCS-3000 series was recently installed in the newly built auditorium of Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi, to provide a multifunctional venue for conference, lecture and seminar.

Developed by the Government of India, ILBS is a dedicated international centre for diagnosis and management of liver and biliary diseases. It is also an advanced training and research institution in the field of Hepato-biliary Sciences.

The project was designed and installed

by BXB's partner, Ceeco Technologies.

73 units of FCS-3000 flush mounted microphones are integrated with Barco Clickshare and projector, Crestron control system, Crestron quad view switcher, Delta video wall, LiveSize video conferencing, Audio-Technica microphones, Sony blue-ray player,

Panasonic hard disk recorder, VAL audio sound system and Mackie mixer to provide a complete solution.

In this project, BXB FCS3000 microphones are flushmounted into the armchairs in the auditorium to give it an anaesthetically-pleasing look. Moreover, the condenser gooseneck microphone equipped with speaking indicator light can avoid interference caused by nearby mobile phones. For each auditorium seat, delegates are also provided with two ports of RJ45, giving it a great flexibility in connectivity during installation with either daisy-chain, T-shape or Star-shape of CAT cable.

The ILBS auditorium project was led

by Ceeco Technologies’ Inderjit Singh, Vice President-Projects and executed by

Bhuvnesh Kumar Upadhyay, Technical Manager. According to Upadhyay, “BXB system is easy to install, understand and operate. Especially in long distance installation, it is simple and convenient with no restriction on distance. Plus, there is no interference and the size is compact and sleek.” www.bxb.tw

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NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

NEW EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS

Community TW Audio Names Appoints New Sales New General Manager for EMEA Manager For India

Powersoft Welcomes New BDM

Jamie Ward, International Sales Manager, Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)

(L-R) Krishna Pratap Singh and Bernhard Wüstner, MD of TW AUDiO

(L-R) Luca Giorgi, Powersoft Sales & Marketing Director and Marc Kocks.

MIDDLE EAST: Community Professional Loudspeakers has announced the appointment of Jamie Ward as International Sales Manager, Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

INDIA: German audio solutions developer TW AUDiO has appointed Krishna Pratap Singh as General Manager for its ensuing Indian operations. The appointment is part of a larger initiative of TW AUDiO that seeks to expand operations throughout Asia, following its recent office set up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

MIDDLE EAST: With a view to strengthening its presence in the Fixed Install market worldwide, Italian audio major Powersoft has recently appointed Marc Kocks as the company’s Business Development Manager for the Fixed Install market in the EMEA region.

Reporting to Julia Lee, Community’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Ward brings with him extensive sales and business management experience in the pro audio industry. His previous roles have included Regional Sales Manager with Allen & Heath, Sales Director UK with Stanton Group and Senior Sales Manager, HPRO EMEA Central, with Harman International.

“I‘ m really excited to be joining Community at such an important time in the company’s growth and development internationally,” said Ward. “With such a strong product offering specifically focused across the commercial and engineered installed sound verticals, there is a huge amount of potential to offer customers the right solutions and support they need.”

Steve Johnson, Community’s CEO, commented, “Jamie's substantial EMEA experience together with Community’s industry leading technical support will provide our distributors with the highest level of service.” www.communitypro.com

Singh brings with him a wide range of skills and experience in audio industry, his previous stint being with the TC Group where he contributed to the company’s growth as its Sales Manager.

Having known and interacted with Krishna at various trade forums, TW AUDiO management felt he could be the right choice for its expansion into Indian market.

“I am very excited about this new role and am looking forward to working with a dedicated team of professionals and such high-end products. There are a lot of projects lying ahead of us and it is important to provide the customers with a certain value and meet their expectations,” said Singh on his new role.

With a strong background in Pro Audio—the Fixed Install market in particular—Marc is well qualified to take on his international role. Having been involved in selling Powersoft amplifiers while running Powersoft’s Dutch distributor, he is not only familiar with the products and the team, but also with international consultants and system integrators.

“Based on my experience in recent years, Powersoft’s products, team and technologies are among the most professional and advanced in our industry,” commented Marc Kocks.

“I am delighted to be part of the team and help build the presence of Powersoft products and technologies in the international Fixed Installation market.” www.powersoft-audio.com

www.twaudio.com

NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

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Exterity & Philips MediaSuite Offer Optimum Video Experiences On Smart TVs INTERNATIONAL: Exterity, leading provider of enterprise IP video solutions and Philips, leader in the hospitality TV industry, have jointly announced that, with the launch of AvediaServer 7.3, Exterity IP video solutions now support Philips MediaSuite Hospitality SmartTVs. “Connectivity plays a significant role in enabling hoteliers to compete with new services as travellers now expect the most advanced technology while they relax in luxurious hotel rooms and lobbies,” said Colin Farquhar, CEO at Exterity. “The integration of our AvediaServer with Philips MediaSuite increases the tailoring capabilities of Philips’ Hospitality TVs to create a highly personal experience for guests, including the latest video entertainment available on the hotel VoD portal. Delivery of any

type of content combined with advanced features that can be accessed via the TV screen provides guests with unseen levels of comfort, and we’re proud that our solutions now support the leading displays on the market.”

Franck Racape, Head of Global Sales at Philips, also added: “Our strategy has always been to partner with companies that deliver added value to the user on top of our services, resulting in greater flexibility and enhanced performance.

As such, the integration with the Exterity platform will further develop in-room interactive technology by promoting advanced hotel features.”

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www.exterity.com www.philips.com

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NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS

Televic Appoints Ertebat For Iran IRAN: Televic Conference has announced that it appointed Ertebat Co., as their exclusive distributor for IRAN. Based in Tehran, Ertebat Co., is one of most experienced AV distributors in the country. With a history spanning over 23 years in the Iranian Pro Audio, Visual, and Lighting industry, Ertebat Co. has helmed numerous large and prestigious projects.

As a result, their wealth of experience makes the company a natural fit for Televic Conference’s range of innovative conference solutions. Televic Conference is convinced the partnership with Ertebat will see both companies establish a strong presence in the Iranian market.

“I am very happy and honoured that we have started our cooperation with Televic, and I am sure that we will have a

bright future with them. We both place an emphasis on swift, accurate service and innovative products and solutions.

These shared values will ensure Ertebat and Televic capture a large share of the conference market in Iran.” states Mohammad Reza, CEO of Ertebat Co. Bart Deschodt, Televic’s General Manager, also added, “The approach of Ertebat is perfectly aligned with Televic Conference’s strategy and long-term commitment to the market: developing solutions that create value and offer the best possible user experience. Televic is therefore extremely honoured to have Ertebat as their exclusive distributor for Iran. It will definitely strengthen our positioning as a global player.” www.televic-conference.com

Sennheiser Partners With Advanced Solutions in Jordan JORDAN: Sennheiser has entered into a partnership agreement with Jordanbased reseller and systems integrator Advanced Solutions. As an Authorized Partner, Advanced Solutions will now offer products from Sennheiser’s System Solutions range which includes conference and translation, tour guide, and a wide range of wired and wireless microphone systems.

Sennheiser selected Advanced Solutions as a partner on the merit of its strong technical competencies in solution selling and implementation as well as its deep penetration into the local market.

Advanced Solutions will also serve other systems integrators and solutions providers in Jordan.

Sami Janho, General Manager at Advanced Solutions quoted that the timing is now right for Sennheiser to expand its market share in Jordan.

“A reasonable portion of the market now demands reputed and reliable

products accompanied by a high level of service,” said Jahno. “We see this as the opportunity for Advanced Solutions to extend its conversations with existing clients and also penetrate into new industry verticals.”

“Advanced Solutions was a natural fit for Sennheiser,” opined Mig Cardamone, Director of Sales and Marketing at Sennheiser Middle East. “The company has demonstrated its commitment to quality and home-grown expertise, and has strong competence in the fields of system integration and AV conferencing,” he added. “We believe they will be a long term strategic partner and we are already looking at conducting additional trainings in Jordan to further extend their proficiency in our solution range.”

Advanced Solutions intends to focus on the Business Communications, Hospitality, Education, Government, Houses of Worship, Visitor Audio Solutions, and Guided Tours market segments. For these, the systems integrator believes that Sennheiser’s TeamConnect, Mobile Connect, LSP 500 PRO, and ADN and ADN-W audio conference systems will be particularly well received in Jordan. Advanced Solutions has already taken delivery of a range of demo equipment, allowing customers in the country to receive live demonstrations to aid their purchasing and implementation decisions. www.sennheiser.com www.advancedsolutions.com

NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

15

Expanding Reach in Asia & Middle East

In case you missed some of these announcements on our E-newsletter, check out our webpage now for more details!

Lightware Asia Expands With New India Office

The new India office located at East of NGEF Layout, Kasturinagar in Bangalore will work with customers to cocreate new solutions and frameworks to create differentiation in the marketplace.

Symetrix Announces New Sub-Distributor For India

Miyakawa Drives & Controls Pvt Ltd will act as sub-distributor for the Maharashtra region, working under the aegis of main distributor AWAN India Pvt Ltd.

WyreStorm Expands Into India/SAARC & Middle East

WyreStorm strengthens its position in key international markets with the addition of Rohan Tadke, Regional Sales Manager for India/SAARC, and Talha Abdul Wadood, Middle East Sales.

Zytronic Expands Distribution Network With MPU in China Zytronic Displays Limited expands its distribution network in Greater China with the addition of distributor MPU. The move reflects the huge potential of the Greater China market for Zytronic.

Powersoft Appoints Iontech For The Philippines Further expanding its international distribution activities, Powersoft joins Iontech's extensive brand portfolio.

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NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIPS

Shure Joins The Cisco Solution Partner Program Wiggins, Category Director for Networked Systems at Shure. “This distinction imparts in our customers the confidence that they can easily integrate our microphone solution, Microflex® Wireless, within their Cisco infrastructure.”

INTERNATIONAL: As a member of the Cisco Solution Partner Program, Shure is able to quickly create and deploy solutions to enhance the capabilities, performance, and management of the network to capture value in the IoE. “We are very proud to be a Cisco Solution Partner,” said Chad

“Microflex Wireless has been very beneficial for our users,” said Brian Hayes, Senior Design Engineer at IVCi. “Customers gain the benefit of Shure wireless technology with the Cisco codec. Both products are rock solid and have proven themselves in applications ranging from small conference rooms to mobile carts, divisible spaces, and multipurpose room types. The

application and versatility of Microflex Wireless and the Cisco Codec Solution seamlessly fit the needs of many customers.”

The Cisco Solution Partner Program, part of the Cisco Partner Ecosystem, unites Cisco with third-party independent hardware and software vendors to deliver integrated solutions to joint customers. As a Solution Partner, Shure offers a complementary product offering and has started to collaborate with Cisco to meet the needs of joint customers. www.shure.com/asia

eyevis Partners Unilumin For Strategic Development INTERNATIONAL: The German visualization systems manufacturer eyevis supports the cooperation with its extensive expertise knowledge and its wealth of experience while Unilumin, the Chinese manufacturer of LED displays, will be contributing its extraordinary large manufacturing capacity to the partnership.

“With our strategic partnership for development and distribution, we supplement eyevis’ vast expertise with Unilumin's high-quality manufacturing of LED modules. This is a win-win situation for everyone, particularly for our customers,” said Hartmut Weinreich, eyevis’ product manager for LED solutions. The development departments of Unilumin and eyevis have already worked together successfully in the past.

The strategic partnership has manifest itself in a new product line – the eyevis ePanels “powered by Unilumin” - which was jointly launched by the development teams of both companies.

The ePanels premium product, consisting of modules with a pixel pitch of just 0.9 mm, will celebrate its world premiere at ISE and will be presented in a 3.7 m by 2.1 m LED wall with 4K resolution. All ePanels are designed to be used indoors, where high resolution video walls with small pixel pitch are in high demand. The ePanel portfolio comprises models with different, yet always very small pixel pitches of 0.9 mm, 1.2 mm, 1.5 mm and 1.9 mm,

which can be selected in line with the respective case of application.

The “powered by Unilumin” products are manufactured exclusively for eyevis and distributed via its own retailer network. eyevis are responsible for Customer Care as well as the technical implementation of display control and signal processing whereas Unilumin produces the hardware. www.eyevis.de www.unilumin.com

NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

17

Power Technology Unveils World's First Multi-Projector Laser Light Source INTERNATIONAL: Power Technology, Inc. (PTI), laser experts in the photonics industry for 45 years, have announced the released of the world's first multi-projector laser light source. Unlike traditional projectors with lamps or lasers inside single projectors, the Illumina Light Farm allows a single source of light to be delivered via fiber optics to multiple new or retrofitted projectors.

With PTI's new Illumina Light Farm, extending the life of current projectors while spreading the laser upgrade investment across multiple projectors is now an economically viable solution for many multi-projector installations.

Initially targeted to retrofit digital cinema projectors, the Illumina Light Farm is also valuable to amusement parks, virtual reality and flight simulator applications. With the ability to deliver light dozens of meters from the source, the Illumina Light Farm is ideal for any multi-projector installations.

Laser illuminated projection (LIP) is a cutting edge projection technology that is implemented in approximately 75 theatres worldwide. LIP replaces traditional xenon lamps with more reliable laser light sources. Power Technology is one of the first companies to produce a market ready version of LIP and bring a commercially available and economically viable light farm to the world market.

"We are laser experts, not projector manufacturers so we didn't come into the market with the pre-conception that the light source had to be inside the projector... We are replacing all your bulbs with one maintenance free light source that lasts for years," said Walter Burgess, Vice President of Engineering and Sales with Power Technology.

Power Technology offers in-house projector retrofitting as well as integrator partners across the world skilled in retrofitting projectors to work with the Illumina Light Farm. Unlike traditional manufacturers attempting to wedge more lamps or underpowered lasers inside single projectors, the Illumina Light Farm allows light from a single location be delivered to multiple projectors simultaneously. www.powertechnology.com

Super Silent Robotic Head with Camera Parameter Control

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Operation noise level for KT-PN49xx series Camera Robotic was measured as low as 16.72db.

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18

SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Yamaha: SWP1 Series L2 Switches The new SWP1 Series of L2 Switches from Yamaha are advanced network switchers designed specifically for sound installation and live sound networking, with simple DIP switch Dante optimization and comprehensive graphical interfacing via a Windows application.

Key features include: • Simple switch configuration – Comes with settings for QoS, IGMP Snooping and other parameters pre-configured to optimize Dante performance.

• Allows a Dante optimized setup to be recalled by flipping a single DIP switch.

• Three VLAN presets that can be simply selected via a DIP switch.

• USER mode that allows fully customized VLAN setup • Enhanced network visibility with Yamaha Audio Network Monitor application for Windows computers.

• The app provides a comprehensive view of parameters required for Dante network management, including network traffic, switch status, and individual Dante device information.

• Ideal for audio engineers who are new to IP networking.

Yamaha SWP1-8MMF

Availability: Now www.yamahaproaudio.com

Christie: Q Series Projectors Compact and quiet, Christie Q series models deliver more brightness for greater image clarity and performance. The two models in the series – DWU1052-Q and DHD1052-Q – feature improved warping and blending for more installation freedom, performance and imagery.

Key features include: • 10,000 lumens (WU), 9500 lumens (HD).

• Small form factor.

• Super Quiet - Reduced noise levels thanks to a unique cooling design that minimizes the number of fans.

• Built-in automated dual color wheel for best colour or brightest light.

• e-Clarity image processing.

• Built-in High Dynamic Contrast Range (HDCR) eliminates 'washout' image.

• Versatile Lens Suite including 0.38:1 ultra-short throw.

• Edge blending and warping capability and instant configuration.

• Easy connectivity with 3GSDI and HDBaseT. • Built-in LCD display for status and monitoring.

• Operational in either single or dual-lamp mode.

Possible applications: Concerts, live theater, lecture halls, conventions, hotels, public spaces, and other venues where bright and precise imagery is key.

Availability: April 2016 www.christiedigital.com

SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

19

Crestron: 4K DigitalMedia™ Transmitters The all-new 4K DigitalMedia™ Transmitter 202 (DM-TX-4K-202-C) and 4K DigitalMedia Transmitter 302 (DM-TX-4K-302-C) transmit 4K and HD AV signals long distance to a room display, DM® switcher, or DigitalMedia Presentation System®. Both products function as transmitters and 2X1 and 3X1 switchers, respectively.

Key features include: • Industry’s only end-to-end support for HDCP 2.2.

• Both models provide two independent 4K HDMI® inputs to connect to mobile devices, computers, and AV sources with resolutions up to UHD and DCI 4K. • All inputs feature auto-detection for plug-and-play simplicity.

• Fully HDBaseT compatible DM output for long-distance transmission and direct connection to an HDBaseT certified display device.

• RS-232, IR and Ethernet control ports.

• Can also be used as a versatile USB keyboard/mouse extender.

• DM-TX-4K-302-C comes with additional VGA and analog audio inputs.

• Low-profile, surface-mountable design.

Availability: Now

Possible applications: Classrooms, meeting rooms etc,.

www.crestronasia.com

Crestron DM-TX-4K-302-C

Courtesy of the SECC

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20

SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Chief: Suspended Ceiling Projector System Designed to cut install time by one-third, the new pre-assembled and tool-free SYSAUB Suspended Ceiling Projector mount by Chief incorporates a new design. The new mount builds upon breakthrough successes of RPA and RPM. Key features include: • System comes out of box in the order needed with mount and column preassembled.

• Adjustable ceiling plate allows placement above or below tile and accommodates inconsistent T-grids.

• Detachable electric plate for pre-wiring.

• Tool-Free Microzone adjustment.

• Centris Technology enables effortless fingertip positioning with new tool-free lock down.

• Adjustable 0-12” (0-305 mm) column with separate inlay channels for high and low. voltage cables.

• Improved universal interface for easier lock/unlock at projector connection.

• Quick-disconnect from interface to projector and interface to mount for easy access while maintaining registration.

• Single SKU ordering and less packaging to recycle.

• Black and white finishes

Possible applications: Lecture theatres, meeting/conference rooms etc.

Availability: Now. Storage version available in February 2016 www.milestone.com/products/chief/mounts

Atlona: HDVS-200 Series Switcher and Scaler

The HDVS-200 Series consists of two new models; the three-input AT-HDVS-200-TX switcher/ transmitter and AT-HDVS-200-RX receiver/scaler. The new models expand the capabilities of Atlona’s 4K/UHD matrix switchers.

Key features include: • Auto switching for HDMI and VGA inputs.

• Automatic projector on/off control.

• Automatic display control of professional monitors and consumer TVs. • Volume control and de-embedding of analog audio.

• Remote control via TCP/IP, RS-232 and Consumer Electronics Control (CEC).

• Remote management by the Atlona Management System software.

The AT-HDVS-200-TX switcher features two HDMI inputs and a VGA input with a 3.5 mm audio connector; Extends video signals up to 4K/UHD @ 60 Hz with embedded audio to a distance of 100 m.

The AT-HDVS-200-RX Ethernet-enabled HDBaseT receiver features two HDMI inputs and a VGA input with a 3.5 mm audio connector; transmits and scales video signals up to 1080p @ 60Hz. It can be paired with AT-HDVS-200-TX, ATUHD-CLSO-824 or or AT-UHD-SW-52ED.

Atlona AT-HDVS-200-TX

Possible applications: Huddle spaces, small meeting rooms, etc.

Availability: Now http://atlona.com

SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

21

Aurora: DXW Series 4K UHD HDBaseT Wall Plates Aurora's DXW series of 4K UHD HDBaseT wall plate transmitters and receivers encompass 22 different models, providing the options and flexibility integrators need for their next project.

Key features include: • • • • • • • • • • •

4K UHD Video.

HDBaseT 230/330/600ft extension.

Available with 1, 2, or 3 inputs (VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort).

Auto-sense, buttons, and RS-232 for source select.

Inputs include line in for embedding audio.

VGA with YPbPr support.

IR and RS-232 pass-through.

Integrated IR receiver.

10/100 Ethernet.

USB 2.0 480Mbps.

Audio without video feature (AVW mode).

Availability: Now http://auroramultimedia.com

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SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

23

Middle Atlantic: UTB Series Universal TechBox™ The UTB Series Universal TechBox™ is a low-profile, unique solution for discreetly mounting AV equipment underneath a table surface within meeting spaces.

Key features include: • Available in two widths — traditional 19-inch rackmount and half-rack.

• Field-configurable with all necessary hardware and accessories for both sizes.

• Unit can be mounted horizontally or vertically.

• 3-step easy install: Mount the top to the chosen surface, integrate the equipment, and secure the bottom piece to the top — all without tools.

• The low-profile and easy-to-install design provides a clean and unobtrusive look.

• Flexibility to expand from one to two rackspaces, while also providing small device mounting.

• Patented vent patterns accomodates cable tie-down designed to optimize cooling airflows.

Possible applications: For storing all-in-one presentation and control solutions within small- to mid-sized huddle spaces, conference rooms, and other collaboration environments.

Availability: Now www.middleatlantic.com

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SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

25

RGB Spectrum: 550 MediaWall® V Wall Processor

The new 550 MediaWall V wall processor offers more inputs and outputs in high definition (HD) and 4K/ultra high definition (UHD) formats. Input capacity has been doubled to 36 direct sources plus IP inputs.

Key features include: • Input capacity has been doubled to 36 direct sources plus IP inputs.

• Increased output capacity supports wall arrays of up to 24 HD/2K displays or up to 12 4K/UHD displays.

• Expanded functionality: External matrix switcher can provide up to 18 additional outputs.

• Convenient & cost-effective to route sources to other displays, operator control stations, conference rooms, or other downstream devices such as digital video recorders.

• Enhanced RGB Spectrum’s MultiPoint® Control Room Management System (MCMS™).

• KVM control over system.

• An optional Application Processor decodes incoming IP streams.

• IP camera and other H.264 streams at resolutions up to 4K/ UHD (3840x2160/30) are decoded on a separate processor embedded in the MediaWall V chassis. www.rgb.com

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26

COUNTRY ANALYSIS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

By Thomas Richard Prakasam

THAILAND The AV Industry Adapting Accordingly

Being creative and adapting to situations keeps industry players moving along

M

y trip to Bangkok in December to get feedback from the industry about the challenges and opportunities in Thailand, can be best summed up with the popular Thai expression, “Mai Pen Rai” (pronounced My Pin Rye).

“Mai Pen Rai” can be interpreted to mean many things but generally the meaning is along the lines of “there's no use crying over spilled milk” or “life goes on”. Having faced natural disasters, financial crisis, political mayhem and coups over the past few years, the AV industry it seems, has adjusted itself accordingly as each scenario came along.

There is still much uncertainty in the market, especially with planned elections to be held in 2017, but the industry players are taking matters in their stride, keeping their chins up and adapting to the situation.

Outlook for 2016

The impression from my interviews is that growth overall for the AV business is

expected to be flat or show small growth in 2016. Having said that, it seems that it also depends on which sector the AV company is involved in. The silver lining is, that all the interviewees have expressed confidence going forward albeit with some caution.

(L-R) Sutat Kohkiat and Siri Wongkamolchun from Fuzion Far East Limited

Sutat Kohkiat and Siri Wongkamolchun from Fuzion Far East Limited highlighted that their business has actually been growing every year within the installation and conferencing sectors.

Having said that, they acknowledge that there are challenges and they will need to adapt accordingly.

Pradit Sirijindaphan, CTS, Managing Director of Green Technology Engineering Co., Limited, commented, “We are fortunate that we represent Kramer because they develop products fast which has in turn enabled us to grow. However for 2016, we see a narrow bandwidth – business will not go way up or down.”

Pradit Sirijindaphan, CTS, Managing Director of Green Technology Engineering Co., Limited

Pradit adds, “In my opinion, Healthcare, Hospitality, Events & Venue as well as Education will grow with displays and control systems being the main solutions involved.”

COUNTRY ANALYSIS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

On behalf of Vichai Trading 1983, Thitikorn Sopchokchai, Assistant Managing Director agreed with the general sentiments that growth will probably be flat for 2016. “We do, however see some growth in the Education segment, as well as in the Events & Venue segments. In the Corporate segment, the Huddle Room concept is being influenced in Thailand, so we are expecting to see some growth in this aspect too.”

When asked what are the type of solutions that would be implemented most, Thitikorn feels that collaboration tools will lead the way. “Huddle rooms and education spaces require such tools to be more effective,” added Thitikorn.

(L-R)Praphan Piamjinda, Sales Manager with Tipprap Piamginda, Director of Ten Integrated System (Thailand) Co., Ltd

Reaffirming the opinions of Green Technology and Vichai, Praphan Piamjinda, Sales Manager at Ten Integrated System (Thailand) Co., Ltd, also feels that the Education segment offers good opportunities. Having said that, Praphan also highlights that the Control Room business has been good for them, specifically for Government projects. “We are involved in a number of Government Control Room projects and Display and conferencing solutions have been at the core of what we have been involved with,” added Praphan.

Pongsakorn Kanchanachayphoom of Mahajak Development Co., Ltd, sitting in with Alan Archer, reiterated the general sentiments that flat growth is expected. However the company has seen substantial growth in the Cinema business. Once again the Education segment was brought up as one of the bright sparks for the country.

(L-R) Sugan Intrasut, Chief Operating Officer with Mario Cox, Group Technical Director of Electro Acoustic Design Group Co., Ltd

Electro Acoustic Design Group Co., Ltd (EAD) was established 19 years ago and prides itself as a design first company. “ID, technology and budget design is what we are known for,” said Sugan Intrasut, the company's Chief Operating Officer. “Thus, we are normally involved in the higher end projects. With the current economic situation, it has affected our high-end projects.”

Nevertheless, their work quality has also seen them involved in government projects revolving around the Education segment, which has kept them busy.

“We were recently brought in by the Architectural Department of the Chulalongkorn University to help them resolve issues related to submissions of plans and drawings by their students.

These were done via paper and we helped them get into the digital realm, where they are seeing instant benefits,” said Sugan.

Strategies

As part of their strategy to create businesses in niche markets, Fuzion recently took up distribution of Rode Microphones. This gives them the opportunity to target not only the Broadcast sector, but also those involved in production and studios. “In addition the Rode solutions gives us the ability to target the Prosumer market as well,” added Siri.

Just like Fuzion who are looking to create niche markets for themselves, Pradit believes that there is a need to be creative. “We need to provide clients with a solution and not just sell. This will help us sell more and maintain our business.”

27

In this aspect, Green Technology recently upgraded the Digital Signage media players for King Power's outlet in Phuket and Bangkok Airport. This enabled King Power to better manage their signages as the players installed previously comprised of mix brands that could not “talk” to each other. Having built the confidence with the King Power team, Green Technology is now discussing the possibility of implementing videowall solutions.

“We did not want to sell them a product but we saw opportunities for them to implement videowalls and thus we offered them a solution which has caught their attention for their marketing and branding strategy for their outlets,” said Pradit.

(L-R) Pongsakorn Kanchanachayphoom with Alan Archer of Mahajak

Pongsakorn Kanchanachayphoom on the other hand, highlights that Mahajak's strategy as a group is actually more inward looking. “Taking the cue from Harman's strategic changes, we too are implementing changes internally.

We will have specialists responsible for each vertical market. We are also in the midst of improving internal processes such as how we are communicating within the company – considering that we are a large company – this, we believe will help us streamline how we work in a more efficient manner. We are confident that the measures will help our productivity.”

To offer more to their clients, Mahajak has set up an internal production team to create Youtube training channel for their customers. “We believe that this will be helpful to our customers and enable them to use our solutions more effectively. It is also in a way a marketing tool for us and may bring us more jobs,” said Pongsakorn.

COUNTRY ANALYSIS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

need to understand the IT realm to better integrate our AV solutions, and with the world being connected through IT infrastructure, it is important for us as an industry to better understand IT.”

EAD, on the other hand is taking the route of expanding their solutions portfolio to including lighting and control solutions. “Further to that, we are looking to offer more value to our clients by offering AV as a service, as an example, to manage their Digital Signage and Video conferencing facilities,” said Sugan.

Challenges

Fuzion's Sutat and Siri Wongkamolchun felt that the greatest challenge here is in educating the market. “The market needs to understand the different solutions, how they can benefit their organisation or even as simple as why they are paying higher for some solutions and services,” said Sutat.

Obviously, it is not as easy as said. This is something that is actually faced across all countries in the region.

Thitikorn of Vichai Trading 1983, added, “Economic conditions for sure is a challenge. However, looking long term,

29

Thitikorn Sopchokchai, Assistant Managing Director, Vichai Trading 1983

the lack of skilled manpower will be also be a challenge too. Not many young people are coming into the industry and this will be a problem in the future.”

Interestingly Thitikorn is one of the few young people to come into the industry.

A similar sentiment on the lack of young people coming into the industry and lack of skilled manpower was highlighted by Praphan of Ten Integrated.

Additionally, Praphan of Ten Integrated also highlighted that the integration of AV into IT is another challenge. “We

Pongsakorn of Mahajak added, “The challenge for the industry is to also keep their people and to continuously upgrade their knowledge so that they are better informed and able to provide higher value to clients.”

Conclusion

It is true that Thailand has had a tough few years. It is remarkable that the AV industry has continued to evolve itself.

There also seems to be little doubt that most feel that there will be flat growth this year. The bright segment seems to be the Education sector. Digital signage too seems to have some momentum.

It is indeed a challenging time for Thailand but the ability to adapt to the situation should augur well for the industry.

TECH TALK Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

31

Using Secure Hardware Solutions to Keep Hackers Out of Your Network

T

by Keren Lipshitz

o combat increasingly complex and prevalent cyber security threats, IT managers use all the latest security software in their arsenal, limit installations of external applications, and separate the external network from the internal network. The question is, is this enough?

Secured KM switchers such as the Kramer K304 and K308 can safely switch between four to eight computers connected to one keyboard and mouse.

Secured KVM switchers such as the K202B and K204 can safely switch between audio, video, keyboard, and mouse.

For mission critical applications and command and control, the K424F secured KVM combiner along with Kramer’s KVM range extenders (e.g., TP-590RXR and TP-590TXR) is the way to go. This solution lets the user connect several isolated HD sources to one combined display.

Firewalls, antivirus software and network isolation do deal with a significant number of serious threats. But we forget that hackers can also penetrate the network through bi-directional USB or HDMI DDC lines.

Today, with the rise in popularity of high resolution video content, there is an increase in the need for high quality secured switching and extension solutions for video, keyboard and mouse setups. Kramer has a variety of solutions (by HighSecLabs) that offer maximum computer and peripheral isolation for organizations with highly sensitive security needs such as government agencies, military, and financial institutions. The solutions are built to comply with the highest security standards, including EAL4+ security requirements and the latest National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) Protection Profile PSS V3.0 requirements for peripheral sharing switch devices.

With flexible layout design and seamless keyboard and mouse switching, the user can safely enjoy simultaneous interaction with multiple sources. The K424F secured KVM combiner includes features such as multi-touch support, continuous up-and-down scaling, screen duplication, and extended view.

In work stations setups, this vulnerability happens when we connect PCs with different security levels to the same KM or KVM switchers. The solution is fairly straight forward. Secured KM and KVM switchers have a single-direction USB line. This enables a secured connection and limits the USB for use only with the keyboard and mouse. With secured KM and KVM switchers, the HDMI DDC lines are blocked, preventing malicious activity between the connected PCs. The result is a highly effective approach to protecting an organization’s network and devices.

In meeting room setups, malicious attacks on the internal network can happen via guest devices (e.g., laptop, tablet or USB memory stick) connected to a matrix switcher. An easy and effective way to prevent such attacks is by placing an isolator such as the HKS100 between the guest device and company equipment.

For organizations whose workers depend on the ease of use of a single keyboard and mouse to switch between multiple screens and different security levels, software solutions alone just don’t cut it. Secured switching components are imperative to make sure hackers are shut out even if security software can’t get the job done.

Editor's Note: Though this contributed article mentions solutions from Kramer and HighSecLabs, we published it as we felt that it is important that system integrators who are involved in high security projects, take note of how easy it is for hackers to gain access to secured locations, if precaution is not taken.

Keren Lipshitz is the Product Manager for Digital and Secured Product Line at Kramer. In a career spanning 13 years in several industries and disciplines, Keren Lipshitz has worked in software and system engineering as well as project and product management. In 2006, Ms. Lipshitz began working in AV in both management and technical roles. She has held positions at Texas Instruments, Amimon (WHDI) and N-trig and has been Kramer’s Product Manager for Digital and Secured Products since 2013. Ms. Lipshitz has led large scale tier-1 projects with customers such as Sony and HTC.

32

SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Flight Of The Future

By Shireen Ho

Image copyright © 2015 DJI. All rights reserved.

Is the Age of Drones here for the proAV industry? We spoke to key stakeholders in this emerging market.

D

rones, or more formally known as UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), are in the spotlight in recent years. From what was started out as a hobbyist’s toy, companies and organizations have also begun to realise that drones could be used in commercial applications. One such company would be Amazon, who, in late 2013, announced a plan to use drones as a mode of delivery in the near future.

In the realm of proAV, drones came into prominence at InfoComm in Orlando last year. For ISE 2016, drones are once again set to make their salient presence in Amsterdam. So just what are drones, where are the opportunities and what has triggered this drone movement?

Why Now? “The possibilities are endless. As the technology becomes more accessible (pricing-wise and retail touch points), mass adoption is inevitable. On the other hand, we also see huge commercial implications which will create positive

economic and social impacts across different industries,” said Kevin On, Associate Director of Communications, DJI. It’s true. Besides Amazon's unorthodox plan of using drones as delivery vehicles, drones have been used to benefit commercial and government bodies in the field of search and rescue, surveillance, traffic monitoring, weather monitoring, firefighting etc.

In many ways, the seemingly sudden surge of interest in drone technology is the result of improved drone hardware and software. Because drones are now more powerful, sophisticated, and useful, the public has more of a reason to be interested in them.

SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

33

Equally optimistic, Shenzhen-based drone manufacturer XIRO, also commented that affordable price points will see more and more people using drones for aerial videos and that in turn, will lead to more business queries and proAV integrators, dealers, resellers, should be prepared for that when it comes.

“For the professional audiovisual industry, we believe that this is an important step stone to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

By having possibilities in their product range, it gives your customers more freedom of choice,” said Deng Yuheng, Product Manager (Asia Pacific), XIRO. All about commercial drone services – Drone revenue for commercial is set to exceed military and prosumer between 2017 - 2019. Source: ABI Research

Quoting Kevin Kelly, President & COO of Stampede, “The increase in computing power at a smaller size improved the flight performance of small aircrafts. Also, stable flight control systems became far easier to implement.

The technology improved as the ease-ofuse increased.”

Opportunities Arise So what business opportunities will this Age of Drones bring to the proAV realm?

“Drones are a means to put AV in the sky,” said Kelly. “With an integral consultative sales approach, the ProAV industry is prime for drone integration.

Key vertical markets such government, education, corporate, and houses of worship are already benefiting from drone integration. ProAV integrators that capitalize on this category are sure to remain relevant in years to come.”

Echoing Stampede and XIRO, DJI's On also agreed that the proAV should see the rise of drones as an opportunity.

“UAVs present a real growth opportunity for the AV industry and there is already a strong link between AV and UAV – capturing compelling visual content.”

V Is For Video The rise of drones also, inevitably, brought attention to the inconspicuous action cameras (Irony huh?). Small, lightweight, wearable, mountable, portable and sometimes even waterproof, action cameras were the talk

As one of the largest AV/IT technology distributor in North and Latin America, Stampede is one of the first few companies to hop on the pro-drone wagon and has been actively involved in promoting drones for commercial use.

“The UAV industry is gaining interest and capturing headlines because people are starting to realize how capable and powerful unmanned aerial vehicles can be.”

- DJI. Image copyright © 2015 DJI. All rights reserved.

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SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

“There are definitely improvements to be sought after in Point of View cameras in the market. For example, it would be great if it comes with the ability to capture still images in full pixel format, as well as being weather-proof on its own without having an outer tight-case over it.”

Photo credit: Drone Forestry by Sam Beebe/Flickr

of the town at many consumer electronic shows.

Moreover, a drone won’t be all that special if all it does is fly. I mean, toy helicopters can do that too right? But attach a high performance action cam to it and BAM! - you call it a drone now (even the name sounds cooler).

Looking at it from this perspective, you can say that video quality is important in drone applications. After all, it is such a killjoy if you were to bring your drone up to a nice valley, hoping to capture the beautiful scenery, but end up with a grainy video. And that is speaking from a recreational point of view. For industrial applications, the implications of a bad video can be detrimental especially if it is used for surveillance or firefighting purposes.

shake and high-frequency motor vibration so users can film vibration-free aerial footages. Additionally, the ease of usage on a drone itself is also important.

“One minor shortfall of Point of View cameras in the market is that the current shape of the devices makes it slightly awkward to mount onto a drone sometimes,” remarked Ronald Yong, Singapore Hobby Supplies Pte Ltd. Furthermore, there is also the need for smooth post processing of footages.

According to Yong, software like Highlight Movie Maker, an in-built programme within Sony action cams – makes it easy to assemble a share-ready clip as it saves the trouble of editing long footages.

“Currently, some drones carry these Point of View Cameras without an outer case. As such, many of these cameras have a high chance of sustaining water and physical damages. Other drones which carry the Point of View cameras with water-tight protective cases, sacrifice some flight time due to higher payload or video quality as these protective cases cannot be mounted onto a brush-less camera stabilizer,” concludes Yong.

Safety & Security Stampede's Kelly puts this across very well, “The lack of regulations on the legal, proper and safe use of drones is one of the biggest challenges in commercial drone use today.”

With as many as one million drones predicted to have been sold last holiday season as gifts¹, government bodies around the world are scrambling to come up with regulations that will contain and regulate rogue drones. This in turn, could possibly change the game for commercial applications as more laws are written and more restrictions are placed.

So what are some factors to consider when selecting a suitable camera for drones?

Singapore Hobby Supplies shares that excellent picture quality in both videos and still images is a priority when using action cams in drone applications.

Because drones are always on the move, action cam with features like Sony's Advanced SteadyShot™ can boost image stabilisation by approximately three times. It effectively suppresses

The drone pavilion at InfoComm 2015. Photo credit: Stampede

SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Addressing public safety concerns, DJI recently updated their geofencing technology and launched a beta version of GEO (Geospatial Environment Online) feature in US and Europe. The feature will provide DJI drone users with up-todate guidance on locations which may be restricted by regulation or raise safety concerns.

It also doesn’t help that pranksters with rogue drones have made international news regularly, further contributing to anti-drone sentiments for those who fear their privacy and safety will be compromised. So what lies ahead? At first look, drone regulations for most of Asia are less comprehensive than its Western counterparts. Admittedly, the reason could be due to the fact that drone activities in Asia are not as prominent as compared to Europe or America. But with globalisation, it is only a matter of time that the drone fever will hit the region. And when that time comes, hopefully, regulatory bodies in the region would already have a concrete set of regulations for commercial drone operators.

“Law and regulations are very important and we believe more and more countries will impose regulations for users and manufacturers like us.”

- XIRO Drone Another major challenge for drones is negative public perception. A January 2015 Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 64% of respondents said they would not want their next-door neighbour to have a drone, and 71% said drones should not be allowed to operate over other people's private property². In short, people are concerned about their privacy and safety.

“Pilots will have, at the time of flight, access to live information on temporary flight restrictions due to forest fires, major stadium events, VIP travel, and other changing circumstances,” explained On. “The GEO system will also include for the first time restrictions around locations such as prisons, power plants and other sensitive areas where drone operations raise non-aviation security concerns.”

“In terms of technical challenges, the current drone itself is limited in flight duration due to battery life.

Flight durations can range from a few minutes up to almost an hour. However, few if any multicopters can fly for more than an hour while carrying a sensor payload.

Advances in batteries and alternative propulsion systems should overcome this limitation in the future.”

- Stampede Global Future of Drones For the proAV industry, drone technology appears to present a stream of interesting opportunities. Advocating that drones should become a category within the ProAV sector rather than an entirely separate commercial drone industry, Stampede has developed the Drone Video System (DVS) category to further this notion.

Within the DVS category, AV components are integrated with drones.

By pulling together drone equipment, related add-ons, command & control capabilities, and the professional training services needed, the Drone Video System (DVS) category allows ProAV Integrators to create a complete drone

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solution for their client, regardless of the application. Stampedes sees this as the future of drone integration in the ProAV industry and the opportunity offers enormous benefits for integrators in various vertical markets.

In terms of drone technology, XIRO hopes to see more 'smart' drones which can adapt to different environments and avoid obstacles intelligently, with longer battery life and better portability.

“We see great potential in industryspecific applications for UAVs including agriculture, surveying & mapping, disaster prevention, search & rescue and the possibilities are endless,” remarked DJI's On. “Our technology is also opening doors for the ecosystem, especially in the developer community, which will create new applications, use cases and jobs.”

“The next three to five years will be a very exciting period as we bring more innovation and new ideas to the UAV industry.” www.stampedeglobal.com www.dji.com www.xirodrone.com www.sony-asia.com www.singahobby.com ¹The number of drones expected to sell during the holidays is scaring the government http://fortune. com/2015/09/29/drones-holiday-sales/ ²Ipsos Poll Conducted for Reuters. Drones 01.29.15. http://www.ipsos-na.com/download/ pr.aspx?id=14209

© 2015 DJI. All rights reserved.

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SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

The Age Of Drones Here are some notable drone applications in Asia and around the world.

Your Opinion

With the advent of drone technology, do you agree that the proAV industry will be greatly influenced by it in the next 3 years?

Cast your vote now!

Photo credit: Leisure Drone Flight by Halftermeyer/Wikimedia

THAILAND

In 2014, a programme was launched to use drones to survey conserved forestland and wildlife populations in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Kui Buri National Park and Tub Lan National Park, which straddles Nakhon Ratchasima and Prachin Buri provinces.

SINGAPORE

In 2015, Infinitum Robotics, a Singaporebased robotics company, unveiled its prototype of a restaurant server drone, which is intended to combat staff shortages in Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s service industry.

INDONESIA

Drones in Indonesia have been used in various environmental protection and conservation programmes. Notably, Indonesiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Center for Research and Technology uses quadcopters for monitoring an active volcano on Mount Sinabung in the North Sumatran region of Indonesia.

PHILIPPINES

In November 2013, during Typhoon Haiyan, drones were used to provide disaster relief. Similarly, in 2014 during Typhoon Hagupit, Aeryon Labs, an Ontario-based company, lent several drones to Global Medic, in order to aid in search and rescue operations.

MALAYSIA

Similar to Indonesia, Cargill Inc announced in April 2015 that it would begin using UAVs to survey Malaysian palm oil plantations in order to fight illegal logging.

AUSTRALIA

UAVs are used to generate digital terrain models for land infrastructure companies, dramatically reducing health and safety risks for surveyors.

JAPAN

Secom, a Japanese company, has developed security drones which are designed and equipped specially to roam factories and commercial buildings and will investigate suspicious activity, sending a stream of live-video to its human counterparts.

SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

CHINA

SF Express, China's largest mail carrier, uses drones to deliver roughly 500 packages a day. The company currently delivers packages by drones in cities in southern and eastern China where demand for same-day delivery is high.

SOUTH AFRICA

UAVs are used for anti-poaching surveillance in national parks and reserves. Using the BatHawk fixed-wing UAV, the drone is the only one certified in South Africa to be used beyond line of sight and for nighttime surveillance.

NETHERLANDS

Drones integrated with video conferencing software are being used by the Fire Brigades to provide on and off-site firefighters with real time video of the situation – ultimately enhancing collaboration and communication

UNITED STATES

D.E.E.M.I., a search and rescue organization from Maine specializing in aerial and ground search missions, uses drones to locate missing people in the community.

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GERMANY

German delivery firm DHL uses an autonomous quadcopter to deliver small parcels to the German island of Juist, a sandbar island 12km into the North Sea from the German coast, inhabited by 2,000 people. Deliveries include medication and other goods that may be “urgently needed”.

FRANCE

One of the first countries to regulate commercial drone use in 2012, France now has some 1,250 registered drone businesses. From agriculture to mining and energy companies, drones are used to monitor everything from weeds to railway tracks and leaking river levees.

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SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Despite Hurdles, Drones Are Taking Off

By Andy Marken

Hot Stuff – DJI captured the world’s attention by showing the benefits of drones by flying one of their vehicles extremely close to Iceland's erupting Bárðarbunga volcano and over the Holuhraun lava field it created last year. The footage was spectacular and would have been impossible with other aerial filmmaking tools. (Photo credit: Eric Cheng)

W

ith units selling for $80 to $30,000 plus, there are a lot of drones available and a lot that fall (pun intended) between idiot toys and military armament.

This year, sales are projected to be about 4.3M units with an estimated value of about $1.7B, which represents a 167 percent sales increase in two years.

Businesses across the board are coming up with new ideas on how they can use the devices every day to save time, money and do things that keep folks out of danger.

The only problems are wading through the morass of government regulation, FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) and stupid people.

Every other day, there’s a story about drones – drones interfering with pilots or emergency personnel; drones peeping; drones causing fear and paranoia from above; drones disrupting sporting/public/family events by crashing and drone hunters (something like skeet).

The market is so big, has so much potential and so much sticky stuff that legal pros have become specialists … drone lawyers.

To help drones reach their full potential of “practical” use, organizations like the Small UAV Coalition have emerged.

The Coalition’s goal is to work with government agencies to develop reasonable legislation and governance, streamline

application permits and educate/train people for personal and professional drone usage.

Their rush to fill the gap is logical because we all know there will be a helluva’ backlash from illegal drone usage and that a major catastrophe could set the industry back years.

Since there’s no uniform global or national approach to the legal use of drones the manufacturers and professional users are doing their darnedest.

The potential – for sales and especially applications – are outta ‘ sight: • Agriculture/farming services/spraying • Mapping/topography/geospatial • First responder services – police, fire, medical • Utilities – pipeline, powerline inspection • Construction management/supervision • Scientific research • Package delivery (Yes Amazon Prime Air but DHL is already doing it.)

Drones are also increasingly being used for television, film production, covering breaking news (disasters, crimes) and sporting events from new and unique viewing angles.

What do they all have – sorta’ in common?

Right! Video.

SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

That’s probably why the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) spent more than $4M over the past two years lobbying to make it easier for filmmakers to use small drones for film-making.

And drone filmwork isn’t just for the big film, news people anymore.

High-end digital cameras and CGI (computer-generated) imagery effects have slashed the cost of film production.

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Still, according to KPCB (Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield Byer), the U.S. will represent 35 percent of the drone market, followed by Europe (30 percent) and China (15 percent). The drone market will represent more than $4.8B in hardware and software sales by 2021.

Oh Crud There are plenty of reports of in-air incidents (it was too damn close) with commercial aircraft, folks flying planes/choppers to put out wildfires and SAR (search and rescue) efforts.

It’s one of the reasons people like Jeff Foster, Co-Founder of the Drone Coalition developed strong relationships with DJI (the Chinese-based drone manufacturer that is currently the world leader with about 45 percent marketshare) and other drone manufacturers.

He also gets to test all the new compact 4K cameras that can be used with drones like GoPro’s new Hero and Blackmagic’s latest Micro Cinema.

Foster, and other serious professionals, carried out an educational/informational program at NAB (National Association of Broadcasters). They are also very involved in other industry conferences/conventions to ensure drones are used properly in the film/video industry.

As a result of their efforts and hundreds of other like-minded folks, drones are slowly gaining ground beyond the kids, and other individuals, flying them around town and peeking into windows and backyards.

The Drone Coalition, Drone Media Group and similar national/ international drone manufacturer and user organizations are developing educational activities at every major conference and gathering to keep the industry out of harm’s way (governmental overregulation).

The overwhelming challenge in the U.S., as in most countries, is that legislators only pay attention to the folks who holler the loudest; which is why privacy folks have such a big influence over lawmakers.

And they aren’t all wrong because all you need is a credit card and you too can become a proud drone pilot and the envy of all of your Google glass friends. Customer common sense and good judgment aren’t high on the retailers’ check list for a sale.

Poorly trained new media folks as well as troublemakers and pranksters are regularly involved in incidents like the drone crash during the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament. So far, such antics have only resulted in fines and aircraft confiscation; but it is inevitable that injury and fatalities will occur. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

There’s been a lot of news coverage of units crashing at soccer matches, the U.S. Open, football games and buzzing people in parks; and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

In Australia, Britain, France and Sweden, drones are allowed for commercial use if they receive permission from the government. The European Commission is working on a set of rules that allow for commercial drone operations across the Continent.

Once an individual gets his/her hands on their UAV, they can do neat stuff like spy on their neighbours, smuggle stuff into prisons and lose control over the gear.

Folks like DJI want to dodge the over-legislated bullet by adding software that limits recreational flying heights and prevents the drones from entering restricted airspace.

The global market is just lifting off for drones; and it isn’t without some serious technology barriers that have to be solved, but the potential is outta’ sight.

As humorist Will Rogers said, “You can’t legislate intelligence and common sense into people.”

Fortunately, the industry isn’t counting on Amazon and other e-commerce package delivery sales to produce brisk sales.

As a result, trial-and-error pilot training leaves too much to chance and self-discipline.

Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Parrot AR.Drone. Credit: Nicolas Halftermeyer. Source: Wikipedia 2012

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SPECIAL FEATURE

From Top Down - Aerial view from a drone

Global Growth But the mad rush for flight is just getting off the ground.

The rapid growth is not just drone sales but all of the technology that goes into them like chips that power/control them, apps that manage specific operations/activities and obviously, the capture/storage of the data.

Hobbyist, prosumer and military applications account for more than half of last year’s sales. Firms in almost every industrial segment see profitable applications and businesses are already using them in construction, farming and utility management.

They’re also testing them for logistics and delivery.

Most agree that the most interesting applications will be those we can’t even predict today.

Analysts estimate that about two million consumer (about $1.4B) drones were sold in 2015; one-third in the U.S. and in 2016 sales could increase by 50 percent.

Quoting Foster, “Responsible firms are working on some excellent technological solutions so that things like crashes and near-misses will soon be things of the past,” “But between now and then we’ll experience a lot of turbulence.”

[This article is extracted with permission from 'Content Insider']

Steady Growth – Businesses across the board and around the world envision a growing number of applications for drones, associated hardware and software for entertainment and industrial applications beyond toys and destruction. (Source: Teal Group)

For a fortnightly dose of Andy's brand of humour and wit, check out 'The Andy Marken Column' on SI Asia website here:

TECH XPERIENCE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

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Meeting Room In A Box Startup Prijector Wants To Change the Game

By Shireen Ho

W

ireless presentation is not a new concept. In fact, there are many companies in the market with at least one such product in their repertoire of solutions. The reason for its existence is understandable, as wireless presentation advocates simple and easy sharing of screens.

Headquartered at Livermore, California, Prijector is a young innovative startup with its main sales and shipping hub located in the United States. The company's R&D and engineering facility is situated in India. We spoke to Sunil Coushik, Founder & CEO of Prijector, to find out more.

Laptop and computers are a given in a presentation, but in recent years with the rise of BYOD, smart devices such as tablets and smartphone are being used as well. As these devices do not have the conventional ports like VGA, HDMI, USB (well, unless you get external adapters), wireless presentation devices solve these loathsome connectivity problems and endless amount of cabling.

The Motivation Behind

But is this all there is to it? Apparently not so for Prijector, a two-year old startup based in California. Having sold more than 10,000 devices to huge enterprises and established education institutions in more than 40 countries, the young startup has a vision for the future of meeting rooms.

“Our primary aim is get anybody to be able to share their screen instantly without cables, wirelessly,” said Sunil on the concept behind Prijector.

“We are seeing traction in three different places, one is startups; second, universities - currently we have Prijectors in the classrooms of MIT, Princeton; Third, enterprises, as well as a decent amount of government agencies too.”

According to Sunil, there are about 70 million meeting rooms globally in 2014.

With a market value worth over 40 million dollar annually, this is an attractive business for companies dabbling in displays, projectors, audio conferencing, video conferencing, collaboration tools and so forth.

“There are quite a lot of established players in the business, but there is no single company that glues all of these things together,” said Sunil.

It All Began When...

When SI Asia was approached to take a look at the solution at Sunil's office, my initial reception was lukewarm, “Okay, another wireless presentation device, probably with some video conferencing capabilities as well” - after all, that seems to be the trend nowadays.

But little did I know that what Sunil was going to show me will change my perception and make me realise what “meeting-room-in-a-box” means.

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TECH XPERIENCE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

where the devices can only communicate with its own brands of products (i.e.

The video conferencing programme on Brand X device can only 'talk' to another Brand X device, and not Brand A, B or others), Prijector differentiates itself by removing all these barriers and is able communicate with up to 14 different types of video conferencing programmes available in the market.

Direct screen mirroring from a smart phone

After a short interview and brief introduction, Sunil proceeded to showcase the functionalities of the device – after all, nothing beats witnessing what the device can do after hearing so much.

Measuring 17 x 12 x 2.4cm, Prijector is a compact little white box that doesn't have much footprint. After taking it out of its packaging box, Sunil quickly sets up the device by connecting it with a display in the office.

Also, the cool thing here is that the wireless sharing also supports a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Mac OS X, Chrome, Windows Phone and even Blackberry devices – that is a lot more than one would expect!

Sunil Coushik

“Prijector can work with projectors too,” said Sunil, reassuring me that the device can work with any brands of displays or projectors as long as there is HDMI or VGA connectivity. In less than 10 minutes, the device was ready.

The Xperience

Here are some of the capabilities and functions of Prijector that was demonstrated:

Wireless Presentation

Screen mirroring was the first function Sunil demoed. By connecting his smartphone to the Prijector's built-in WiFi network with just a click of 'Share' button, the phone contents were instantly reflected on screen. This is the homepage of the phone – a direct mirroring, instead of through an app or a screen buffer. Because of this, I can clearly see what is displayed on the phone and even when he taps on an app, the application is still running.

Video Conferencing Apps

Now this is the interesting part. Unlike most of the solutions in the market

This includes Skype, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Lync, Cisco WebEx and Jabber, Vidyo, BlueJeans, Polycom RealPresence and many more. This wide array of VC apps unlock the restrictions that people usually have with one system.

With Prijector, users can conduct digital meetings with anyone using just one device.

“Let's say when you walk into an office and need to do VC with somebody, that person might have Skype but this office uses Cisco, so it's very hard to get people on different systems to talk to each other. But Prijector eliminates this.

Our hardware supports the different types of VC systems so you can essentially call in anybody no matter their VC system.”

To activate the video conferencing, users will just need to plug a standard webcam to Prijector USB port and it's ready to go. But unfortunately we don't have a webcam during the demo, so I was unable to test out the VC connection and quality.

Ready in 2 Steps 1. Connect Prijector to Display/Projector via HDMI or VGA (wired) 2. Connect your device (laptops / smartphones / tablets) to Prijector (wireless) Viola! Prijector is set up and ready to use.

TECH XPERIENCE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

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Apps & Browser

You call a phone with apps and a “store” to buy or download the apps a smartphone, so I guess you can also call Prijector a smart all-in-one-presenter?

Just like your smartphone and tablets, Prijector is built as a platform with its own app store. The app store allows users to discover new applications like videoconferencing apps, YouTube, Browsers like Chrome etc., that make meetings and presentations more productive.

Business Opportunities

Primarily focused on the US markets for the past years, the startup now looks to Asia Pacific for more opportunities.

Although Prijector does direct selling in the United States, Sunil has a different strategy for the Asia Pacific markets.

“We do direct selling through our website in the US, but for the Asia Pacific region, we are hoping to get distributors and resellers to service the region.

We have just developed a reseller and distributor programme, so we are now going around each region to find interested agents,” said Sunil.

He continued, “We are definitely looking into the emerging markets like Thailand, Vietnam – where the regions are growing and people are building new offices and meeting rooms. They need a sophisticated tool that doesn't cost a huge amount of money, so that's where we come in. Our hardware and software are ready, so it’s more about how to play into the distributor and reseller network.”

Currently, ESCO Pte Ltd has been appointed as Prijector's distributor in Singapore. For more details or a demo session, you can get in touch with esco@ esco.com.sg.

For all other regions, interested parties can contact Sunil Coushik at Sunil@ Prijector.com. www.prijector.com

“Switching to another network may seem like a simple and trival thing to do but when you make people do that, it is still a hassle and it can cause resistance that brings down the user-rate of things.”

Meeting In A Box Guest WiFi: This is also a unique feature of Prijector. With built-in WiFi, the device can be used to provide guest WiFi connection. This is especially useful if you are expecting a lot of guests coming in and out. Instead of giving them access to internal corporate networks, you can give them a guest WiFi connection with Prijector.

Ability to coexist with Enterprise Network: Besides being able to work as an independent entity, users also have the option of integrating the device into the corporate network so that internal users don’t have to leave their current network to join another. The WiFi and Corporate Mode is flexible and can be easily switched on the home screen.

Screen Lock: Taking into consideration that Prijector can also be used in an education setting, the team behind Prijector has also developed the ability for the presenter/teacher to lock the screen so that mischievous students can’t hijack the screen and post something irrelevant.

Room Booking: Another cool feature is the room booking system. By simply sending an email to the Prijector located in the room, the user can ‘book’ the room and a message will show up when someone turns on the device. This saves the trouble of having to vacate the room without knowing if the room is booked or not.

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USER PERSPECTIVE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Keio University Integrates Shure Into Japan's Leading Campus Future-oriented Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) Makes Ample Use of ULX-D Digital Wireless System

W

ith almost 160 years of history, Keio University is one of the oldest institutes for higher learning in Japan, and with its commitment to excellence and orientation towards the future, it ranks among the World’s Top Innovative Universities today. The Keio Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) was established in 1990 with the mission to offer education and research based on an

entirely new concept, training students to resolve complex social problems by integrating technology, science, design and policy. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the campus utilizes a nationwide leading educational support structure that provides students an advanced, state-of-the-art IT environment to design and realize research projects, and to carry out hands-on lectures. The entire campus has Wi-Fi access and is outfitted with cutting-edge AV equipment, 3D printers, and similar technologies.

In the past 3 years, SFC has invested in ongoing audio system upgrades and equipped each classroom with Shure wireless technology. The campus now utilizes 68 channels of the ULX-D Digital Wireless System, and will increase this number in the near future. Isao Nagasaka, Supervisor of Multimedia Services, is in charge of all AV equipment on campus and provides insight into his decision to use ULX-D, its implementation, and actual use.

Campus-wide Implementation Isao Nagasaka, Supervisor of Multimedia Services

As the campus enjoys full Wi-Fi access at all areas, the 2.4 GHz band is limited to computer networks only, and

microphone systems operating in this frequency range were automatically ruled out at the very beginning.

"In 2012, we did a first ULX-D installation in the Ω (Omega) 11 and 21 Classrooms.

Ever since, we have chosen this system each time we carried out an audio system update," explained Mr. Nagasaka.

SFC decided on the implementation of ULX-D almost immediately after its launch in Japan in April 2012. On the initial reason for choosing ULX-D, Nagasaka stated that "Shure is used at numerous live performances, so it has an established reputation that we were well aware of. Staff members commented that it would be 'cool' if we could have Shure equipment in our classrooms [laughs]. And to be honest, after testing it, I was very impressed with the feel, design, and sound quality."

Scalability and wireless performance have greatly contributed to the system’s ongoing deployment across the whole campus. The microphones have to be able to operate flawlessly, even when utilized in adjacent classrooms. SFC is

USER PERSPECTIVE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

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significant damage and still work perfectly.

ULXD1

famed for its advanced IT environment, however all this equipment can cause significant RF interference. Nagasaka remarked, “There should be absolutely no interruption to course instruction due to signal interference, so I was looking for a solution that would address these issues.”

With the SFC continuously upgrading and expanding their AV/IT infrastructure, ongoing maintenance was also taken into account. Ethernet networkability and the central control capabilities of the ULX-D system provides an efficient solution, and allow Nagasaka’s team to better concentrate their efforts.

In addition to ULX-D’s rock solid signal stability, which has also proven unaffected by the installation of a largescale 4K LED display at the (Theta) Hall auditorium earlier this year, the system operates extremely RF efficient. It allows to even further increase the number of simultaneously used microphones by switching to High Density mode.

In Japan, active operation of up to 30 channels (in the non-licensed B-Band) is possible at the same time, and more than 60 compatible channels per frequency band in other Asian regions.

"I frequently visit other universities to check out their facilities; at many of these schools, wireless microphones are carefully locked away and one must make a formal request to use them.

However, at SFC we keep them at the teachers' desk, so that teachers or students may use the microphones as they please, whenever they need them.

This allows greater flexibility and makes it a lot easier to conduct the courses,” said Nagasaka.

By adjusting transmitter output power and re-using frequencies in different areas of the campus, SFC is able to use 68 channels of the ULX-D system today, and will continue to increase this count in the future.

Day-To-Day Use and System Management

Naturally, the main reason for Nagasaka's decision to use ULX-D was the system’s ability to cater for the practical application needs of a university facility. He explained that “faculty members and students remove wireless microphones from their original locations and bring them to other classrooms almost on a daily basis. In the past this caused a lot of chaos.” Since each ULX-D transmitter is paired with a dedicated receiver, SFC staff can now easily identify them, even if they have been moved to other venues.

Realizing however that the equipment would have to withstand the rigours of constant use by many different users, durability of the hardware was also a big consideration. Nagasaka admits to having dropped the handheld transmitters countless times, but other than a small dent on the microphone grille, the units haven’t suffered any

When ensuring that multimedia equipment is available and ready for use at all times, battery management becomes another concern. ULX-D simplifies this by utilizing lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. Fully charged, transmitters have enough power for up to 11 hours of continuous use. When not in operation, or running low on energy, the microphones can be inserted into the docking charging stations on the teachers’ desks for quick and easy charging.

Besides the daily use in classrooms, the ULX-D system is also utilized at conferences and events hosted at the SFC. Here the option to encrypt wireless audio transmission adds another layer of security when privacy is of high importance.

Lastly, Nagasaka commented on the sound quality, "I believe the faculty members are very satisfied. The sound is totally different compared to the infrared and old analogue wireless systems we used in the past. Some people might think that it would suffice for microphones to produce an audible sound, but we were very picky on this point. Clearest reproduction of the speaker’s voice adds a sense of presence and is very important in delivering a quality educational experience. Which is why we decided to choose a true, topof-the-line solution, even if we’re ‘only’ using it in a classroom setting.” www.shure.com/asia

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INTERVIEW Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

OMEGA Goes “All-In” With No Compromises OMEGA shares what it takes to service some of the toughest clients in the industry – the Oil & Gas companies.

Image source: OMEGA Integration

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n end-to-end systems integrator in harsh industries, OMEGA Integration has more than 16 years of experience catering to the challenging demands of global oil and gas industry. With a comprehensive range of system integration services from system design, consultation, configuration and engineering, OMEGA provides installation, integration, implementation – all the way to commissioning, field service and ongoing maintenance.

Known for its harsh environments and stringent requirements, the Oil & Gas companies are amongst some of the toughest clients to service in the market.

Noting OMEGA's impressive portfolio which sees 10 of its branch offices spread across 8 countries in Asia and 2 key partners in Indonesia and India – how did the Singaporean company become the multinational company it is

today? More importantly, what does it take to service the highly demanding Oil & Gas companies? To find out more, we got in touch with TL Dang, Managing Director of OMEGA Integration.

SI Asia: How did OMEGA evolve into a company that specializes in integration for the Oil & Gas industry?

TL: OMEGA started our business as a system specialist in PAGA, PPS (Page Party System) & PABX telephone systems. At initial stage, great feedback and recurring orders were given due to our on-time completion, effective project management, sucessful testing and commissioning, as well as outstanding service and support. Hence, customers invited OMEGA to undertake more system integration solutions such as CCTV, fire and gas detection, radio system etc.

Different from other sectors, Oil & Gas industry requires specific and stringent rules & regulations, ruggedness and reliability of products, which also challenged us to be fully equipped with industry knowledge and to keep up with the latest technology and innovations.

With increasing number of projects awarded and rich experience, we gradually became a system integrator specializing in Oil and Gas industry.

SI Asia: What are the types of audio visual solutions and integration that OMEGA would typically be involved in?

TL: OMEGA supplies a comprehensive range of system integration solutions, including PAGA, PPS, Smart Series and other wired and radio telecommmunication systems, GMDSS, LAN & security systems, navigation

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aid, fire & gas detection and control systems, a large part of which involves audio visual integration. Systems such as PAGA, security surveillance, PABX & video conferencing are the most typical audio vision solutions we provide.

SI Asia: What are some of the special considerations that need to be taken into account when doing audio visual integration work for the Oil & Gas industry, as compared to projects in Corporate or Government or any other sectors?

TL: Rules and regulations, safety requirements, customized solution to match end userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s specification, complying to hazardous area classification, high demand on drawing/ documentation and tight delivery schedule are some of the elements that need special considerations when we do projects for the Oil & Gas companies.

Working in Oil and Gas industry, we need more than just technical skills. Our team of experienced engineers have undergone series of product training with complete industry knowledge in order to design the safest and most reliable integrated solutions.

With combing knowledge, team diversity and effective project management capabilities, we are able to provide customized systems that adapt to requirements, thus working towards win-win solutions in achieving sustainable success.

For example, our CCTV system not only comprises traditional analog cameras and IP/network cameras, but also includes specific technology such as thermal imaging and explosion-proof cameras to meet area classification requirements for temperature and environmental extremes. Other audio related systems such as PAGA, is also certified by approved bodies for safe broadcast of voice communication and audio alarms in an explosive atmospheric workplace. All of our systems are customized and engineered to the highest standards and tested extensively

to ensure precise compatibility and optimum performance.

SI Asia: If possible, can you tell us what are some of interesting projects you have done?

TL: OMEGAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s integrated systems have been applied in numerous projects such as FPSO, FLNG, drilling ships, semi-subs, jack-up rigs, platforms and petrochemical plants.

Last year, OMEGA was once again selected to supply one-stop telecommunication systems for PETRONAS Floating LNG2 (PFLNG2).

Contract includes design, supply, assembly, testing, spare parts, special tools and preservation of a full turnkey FPLNG2 telecommunication solution.

Back in 2013, OMEGA was also awarded the integrated telecommunication systems for Petronas FLNG1. We are proud to support both PFLNG, it

demonstrates our technical capabilities and professionalism. At any stage of the project, clients can count on us to deliver professional support where it matters the most.

SI Asia: In your opinion, what kind of business opportunities do you foresee for the Oil & Gas industry in the next 3-5 years?

TL: With oil prices remaining lower-forlonger, many international and national oil companies are holding or scaling down investment, thus affecting all companies involved in Oil and Gas business, including system integrators.

However, we need to stay positive and continue to work hard to explore more business opportunities, provide more competitive solution and better services/ support to our customers. www.OMEGA-in.com

TL Dang, Managing Director of OMEGA Integration

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INSIGHT Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

by Ram Bhavanashi

Christie India Makes A New, Big, Clean Statement Massive Expansion Of Office Premises Brings Many Things To Play

Yes, visual solutions major Christie’s Indian arm is making a new statement. A statement that summarizes its approach to customers, its commitment to market, its purpose and vision- all coming to manifest on its new, massively expanded premises.

An unprecedented initiative in the region, the vastly expanded office has many things to say: a voluminous warehouse; a fullfledged Demo Room; an acoustically-treated Experience Centre; and a futuristically, if not ambitiously, visualized Clean Room, and more…

Apparently, while business dynamics in Indian market have contributed to Christie’s India strides till now, its objective now is to do a vice-versa. An SI Asia peep:

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hristie India, an aggressive player in the visual solutions domain, is apparently making its bold moves speak for it in many ways. The company’s headquarters premises at ITPL (International Tech Park) in Bengaluru is one, perhaps, summarizing all that. For, it is on a spatial growth path, with multiple business ideations.

Consider this:

• An office premises that has been expanded four-fold (over its previous scale).

• A well-defined Demo Room that presents the company's product. portfolio to their best appeal • An acoustically treated Experience Centre, with Vive Audio set-up, that offers to create the experience of systems in an installed condition.

• A Clean Room (for projectors) that remarkably reduces the turnaround time for projector service.

• A well-structured warehouse to stock voluminous inventory in an organized fashion.

The moment one steps into the office at the Lower Ground Floor in the Creator Building Concourse, inside the ITPL, a blue-lit Christie logo greets from behind Reception, while three rectangular digital signages adjacent to it play various themes, as if to hint at the ensuing experience inside, even as they serve to accentuate the interior décor that is characterized by an element of Feng Shui too.

To the right of Reception, as we step inside, we notice on the left corner

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want to experience the solution they intend to buy before they put their money on it,” he says. “We can create Control Room experiences on our cubes as well as LCDs; we can show MicroTiles, 84-inch panels, and edgeblending solutions for a range of ProAV applications.” We notice the three wall surface-finish screens showing some brilliant images and videos, substantiating the experience.

The Demo Theater – Cinematic AV The Demo Room

a special enclave ‘ICE’. “It is Inspire, Create, Experience,” comes the explanation from Rajesh even as he welcomes us inside. “You will know what it is,” he says leading us inside. Visibly, it’s not just the spread of the office space that has grown. It appeared much more.

“We have come a long way, from being just a liaison office ten years go to a multi-focal enterprise now,” Rajesh takes up the story. According to him, Christie was just about a 1500-square feet liaison office at the ITPL when it began India operations in 2006-07. In about two years’ time, growth in business, and demands made the company expand its office by more than two-fold in the adjacent building within ITPL. The following few years have been so intense and demanding, that the company felt the need for a still bigger facility. A couple of years of deep contemplation on how to address all that – without having to run too much of ground – has resulted in ‘designing the vastly expanded a13,500-square feet facility’ as seen now.

“Considering what it was when we began, it’s nine-fold increase in area in as many years,” recalls Rajesh. “This facility now caters to all our requirements in the present and future too,” he explains.

“The initiative is certainly futuristic.”

It does appear to be one.

Having got warmed up with the niceties, we move- into the ‘ICE.’

The Demo Room – ‘show’ing it all

Taking our attention first is a seemingly structured display of Christie’s range of products all around- Christie MicroTiles; Christie Entero HB 67-inch display cubes; Christie Phoenix video wall controllers; Christie FHD552-X HD LCD panels; Christie QuadHD-84 LCD panels and the Christie HD14K-M 3DLP projectors that are driven by Christie Spyder X20 video processor.

As we begin from left, we gaze at the MicroTiles; LCD panels; video wall cubes and controllers in a full circle- but in between, we also notice three sizably big wall surface-finish-turned-screens, made out of Screen Goo paint. Two screens made in matt white measure 6.2 x 2.7 meters, and 6.3 x 1.8 meters respectively, and the third one in high contrast measures 4.3 x 1.4 meters.

There are DLP projectors suspended from the ceiling facing the screens, meant for beaming content.

The space is tidy with concealed wiring, and is dark to provide right ambience for better experience of visual products around. “It is essentially aimed at supporting our partners who bring in their customers to ‘experience’ the chosen solution,” Rajesh explains.

“Our partners book time slots; bring their customers and demo the chosen solution.”

According to him, customers today are well informed and turn very discerning while investing in solutions. “People

The Demo Room opens internally into a dedicated Demo Theater meant for cinematic demos. Done in a unique décor and technology design, the Demo Theater is also unique for its ‘first-inthe-country’ install of Vive Audio in full cinematic set-up, besides Christie’s 3-chip DLP projection system, and a perforated screen. “We can show to the customers the practical cinematic sound and projection set-up with Christie solution,” details Rajesh. “In essence, we created a set-up where we demonstrate what all Christie has to offer; we even have our Spyder processor, and customers can experience all that like in a typical field installation.”

The Demo Room, and the Demo Theater combine to make what Christie India has christened as the I.C.E. “That’s what we call ‘Inspire, Create, Experience,’” explains the Deputy GM. “We intend it is ‘inspirational, creative, and experiential’ for our customers.”

The Clean Room – A Futuristic Move

Even as we are guided towards the back of the office premises, to yet another expansive component, we are stopped at a place meant to be the ‘Clean Room.’ According to the Christie Exec, there are two components to it- One is the standard service where they would change the PCB (printed circuit board), check the power connectivity, brightness etc.; the second is the Clean Room which allows the company to go one big step further. It allows them to clean and refurbish the light engines of projectors.“ The industry has been asking us for this for long time,” Rajesh picks up

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INSIGHT Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Summing it all up, the logistics, service, Demo, and Clean Room facilities all coming up simultaneously are aimed at reaching out to the industry in a much more efficient manner. They all combine to drive growth for the company, and the industry, even as they benefit the customer to a significant extent in terms both cost savings and better business proposition.

“The initiative is a statement of our commitment to Indian market which has been growing exponentially, and giving us exciting growth figures,” sums up Rajesh.

The Demo Theater

his take again. “They ask us why they have to send projectors to Kitchener in Ontario ( Canada), or Shenzhen (China), bearing high costs of shipment and treatment, and why can’t there be a cheaper alternative...Our answer, a deeply contemplated one, is this,” he elaborates. “Setting up a Clean Room.”

The Clean Room is still in the making, and is expected to be up and running by the end of this fiscal- March 2016. “We have already ordered for equipment, and associated components required for aligning projection system postcleaning,” said Rajesh. According to him, they would get two of their local engineers trained by the company in their factory on the processes required for cleaning light engines; the company representatives would monitor the initial processes. “That will effectively set in motion our efforts to better serve our customers, and reduce the turnaround times of their system repairs.”

An important aspect this cost-intensive initiative is that it is a total dust-free environment with special attire, and therefore, customers wanting to see their projectors being cleaned, cannot do that straight away. Instead, they will be shown how the process is being done by means of a live video- should they be willing.

The facility is equipped with two CCTV cameras for the purpose, and the feed would be beamed in conferencing and meeting rooms.

Once it is done, Christie India doesn’t have to ship the customers’ projectors to & fro Kitchener facility for cleaning light engines; it can rather do to it locally in Bengaluru.

“This will straight away give two benefits,” Rajesh reasons. “It significantly saves costs for customers simply because we do not have to ship projectors to & fro Canada; two- that they are cleaned locally (in Bengaluru), the turnaround time is much lesser.”

This is essentially a measure keeping the cinema industry in view, for the simple fact that the projection major has a huge stake with the cinema exhibition industry in India, and faster turnaround time is very vital for the cinema business. Any little delay in service will practically halt their show business.

We move onto another important aspect of the initiative- the massively expanded warehousing facility that is not only spacious and methodically organized with clear demarcation of units meant for different purposes, it is also administered in a very sophisticated fashion. Access to the place, and movement of inventories are all digitally controlled. “We can now stock parts, components, and other accessories in large quantities that allow us to service customers much faster,” explains Rajesh. “We have been contemplating this for the last two years; so what you see today is an effort of two years.”

Lin Yu, vice president, Christie Asia Pacific, had this to say when the facility was inaugurated recently: “India is one of our key markets in Asia and the new office will help to expand our presence and deepen our synergistic relationships with our local partners and customers.”

Michael Bosworth, General Manager, Christie India, added, “the opening of our new facility marks a new milestone for Christie in India. …. With the bigger and better facilities for sales, servicing and warehousing, I’m confident that we can provide better response and assistance to customers.” www.christiedigital.com

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All About The Big In Thing SI Asia had a tete-a-tete with Rajesh Patkar, Christie India’s Deputy General Manager on some vital aspects of the mega initiative.

Excerpts:

SI Asia: The initiative looks like a cinema industry focused one, how about the ProAV industry?

RAJESH: This is for the whole of the industry spectrum; it not restricted to just cinema. Just that the usage of the systems is so high in the cinema industry, we expect that industry to majorly contribute to our ROI. However, I have to say the facility is for both entertainment and ProAV segments.

SI Asia: When would the centre be up and running commercially?

RAJESH: The Demo Room is done.

However, we are hoping to go on stream fully ready, especially the Clean Room by the end of this fiscal year.

SI Asia: We hear that the Clean Room facility is first such centre outside Christie’s headquarters…

RAJESH: Yes, none of Christie’s standalone offices in the world has this Clean Room set-up. It is there in Kitchener, Christie’s factory; it’s there in Cypress which is Christie’s HQ; and it’s there in Shenzhen factory. So, the

Bengaluru facility is the first time that the Clean Room has moved out of factory premises.

SI ASIA: What particular reason for this move?

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RAJESH: One is certainly the demand. All positives said about the potential in India, it is also considered very challenging to do business here. We have lots of taxes, duties, documentation etc. The amount of time, money, and efforts required to be put in, it is all a much higher non-technical and forced investment which no one is happy with. It may be in the light of this situation, Christie management thought it is better to invest in a local facility to meet the local demands.

In the event of continuing the shipment of projectors to & fro overseas cleaning, there is always a risk of the unit getting damaged due to several reasons. That results in manifold losses and complications.

One, if the light engine is damaged, we cannot refurbish that; it has to be produced again and configured.

We cannot pass on this cost to the customer. More, since it is a new machine, we need to pay import duty, and customs documentation etc. which is again a cost and time element. It’s an unending tussle. www.christiedigital.com

Or Visit www.systemsintegrationasia.com

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INSIGHT Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

by Ram Bhavanashi

Kramer India: Redefining Activism, Bracing For The Future Massive Expansion, Drive Of New Recruits, Setting Up Regional Support Offices, Reaching Out To Tier-II & III Cities

Kramer's expanded office in Bengaluru

Yes, Kramer Electronics (India) is redefining its activism, so much known to Indian audio-visual industry circles for long. Showing a new high of their predetermination, the AV gear major – whose Israeli parent enterprise is already treading new horizons – has initiated a massive expansion drive of reaching out to Tier-II and III cities in the country through direct foot print of regional offices and support recruits.

Billed as a ‘first-of-its-kind’ measure in Indian AV, Kramer India is apparently breaking new grounds, on a massive scale. An SIA exclusive:

• The company has taken onboard as many as 18 skilled professionals, to be placed across the country • It will set up direct foot print through regional offices in as many as seven Tier-II cities to begin with, while exploring Tier-III cities • It will conduct as many as 30 training/ certification programs through the year 2016 • It will also explore opportunities in SAARC and Middle East more proactively through dedicated personnel

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There are more in the offing.

ramer Electronics (India) – known for product dynamism, marketing aggression, and proactive support to industry initiatives, is on a new high.

The AV gear major has embarked upon a massive expansion drive- both vertically and horizontally, across the Indian ‘countryside.’ In what is claimed to be a ‘first-of-its-kind measure’ in Indian AV, the company has initiated a very ambitious growth plan. Simply put,

Predetermined to have their scheme of things in place to ride the wave of opportunities that the emerging potential across the Indian countryside is expected to present it with, Kramer India has decided to set up regional offices in seven Tier-II cities in the country. The cities on its roadmap include Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kochi, Chennai, and Hyderabad (it does have a

plan for Kolkata too but in later stages).

In line with the ambitious plan, the AV gear major has appointed as many as 18 skilled personnel to represent the company from these regions. Three professionals have already taken their position in the Northern region followed by three more in Western region, and four in South India.

“Indian market is on the cusp of new era of growth; the countryside regions, particularly the Tier-II and III city regions, are showing up their hidden potential,” says Bharat Kumar, Kramer Electronics’ Country Manager for SAARC and Middle East. “We see a new level opportunities from Tier-II city regions,” he explains, “we see an entirely new environment of prospects and potential, new sense of infrastructural requirement that is fueled by a proactive government and changing policy regimes as also the growing requirement for AV, IT, Digital Signage and Consumer Electronics solutions where Kramer has its stake very big.”

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According to him, internationally too, the next few years are going to be very exciting with newer technologies taking shape where Kramer has big stakes with some exciting products and solutions to be rolled out. That the AV gear major has undergone significant changes in recent times, and is actively moving into the high-tech domains of audio, cloud based control systems and security, ‘there is going to be a new spurt and spirit of technology play over the next three years or so.’

“Kramer has always believed in acting local while thinking global,” asserts Bharat. “On one side we have a spurt of technologies; on the other, there is an emerging potential and requirement for these technologies in Tier-II and III cities,” he explains, “we want to connect these two trends and capture the business opportunity through our solutions by getting as local as we can.”

The ideation is that the AV gear major will have in the designated cities its representatives who will interact with local stakeholders of various verticals towards understanding their requirements, educating them on the technologies available, and offering them the ‘Kramer advantages.’ An important aspect of the task is to build relationships with End Customers of potential verticals, besides consulting and SI professionals.

Servicing of equipment has been localised for quick turn around

“It is possible that we may not gain instant successes,” admits the Kramer India chief about the inherent challenges. “We strongly believe we are preparing ground for the ensuing growth which we see in the near future. When it happens, we will be the first ones to take it.”

According to him, there is a big hype over Ultra HD and more today, but for most it may be quaint. Their effort is to take such quaint things down to the local levels, explain to the local professionals who are just coming up, so that they are not lost in confusion or incomplete information. Helping them gain proper understanding will have its own way of positive growth. “We are aiming at that,” he maintains. “That we see the strong

positive winds of growth, and when they arrive, we want to be in the fore front.”

Part of the Kramer initiative is to align with IT/Collaboration and security domain entities who are more adaptable to emerging technologies and eventual AVIT Convergence. Bharat bets on the Secured KVM solutions from Kramer for Medical, Defense & Banking sectors which no one offers currently.

Powered by their solution strengths, global expertise, local competencies, and with the thrust of the future programming, Kramer India chief believes they are bracing up for an exciting future. www.kramerindia.com

The office in Bengaluru has a large warehouse fully stocked to ensure clients get their orders on time

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INSIGHT Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Thinking Global, Acting Local SI Asia: It’s been roughly ten years for you both. How does it feel?

BHARAT: I’m eight months short of completing 10 years in Kramer, but feel still it’s day one! And I have a lot more to do and explore. At this moment in time, I honestly feel privileged to be in the right groove- at right moment of growth momentum in the country and industry, with right product portfolio, right partner community, and right resources.

The most righteous thing for us is to just ensure that we hold onto this right combination as we move ahead.

Bharat Kumar, Country Manager, Kramer India

Ten years is a considerably long time, and can be a defining period for any aspiring individual or institution. It’s just the same with Kramer India and its Country Manage Bharat Kumar. That the company is making some very ambitious strides into the future, SI Asia does a tete-a-tete to know how he looks at himself and the company. Excerpts:

When I first joined Kramer in 2006, it was like a one-man operation in the country. The objective was simple; to visualize where do we position ourselves in five, ten, fifteen, and twenty years’ time. We always believed in having local office, local service, local warehouse, and local support, and we began consolidating our operations. We didn’t have a dedicated space for the training center, and we conducted our trainings from business hotel. The point was simple: make our business stand on strong footing to be able to contribute to genuine growth of the industry even as we seek growth from it. So, I have to say the first five years, i.e. 2006-10, went into consolidation.

We had a milestone year in 2010 as we began expanding to Mumbai and National Capital Region circuits, hiring technical and sales professionals, as well was setting up offices. The idea was again simple- to serve local AV eco-system. It did take time, and we persevered towards meeting our goals.

We set up office in Delhi in early 2015, charting newer market zones directly.

SI Asia: How about successes and challenges etc.?

BHARAT: It’s been a roller coaster journey. We were the first company in AV signal management domain to set up a fully-owned subsidiary in the country. It took almost a year – clearing one hurdle

after the other, even as we strived to sell our products. Then building our teams and competencies, and still counting.

SI Asia: What have been the most prideful and or challenging times thus far..

BHARAT: Global economic crisis of 2009 was the most testing time; it did impact our ambitions and plans. However, we added many verticals that have in deed contributed to some significant growth.

One of our prideful times has been our supply and install of AV gear for the very first IPL. The other one was Mahatma Mandir at Gandhinagar. IISER Pune, and Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in Delhi were some other prideful achievements. We also had some prestigious installs in Corporates and Enterprise segments that gave us a strong foothold in the industry.

Apart from installs like these, Kramer has also been a strong supporter of educating the industry. We have been actively promoting training programs mainly for the IT segment. Our verticalspecific training programs have been a huge draw as there was none before.

That gave us an impression that we have been bringing a credible value add to the industry.

SI Asia: How about the notion that Indian industry is opaque to most technologies; wouldn’t accept anything upfront….

BHARAT: I differ. India has always been an active and exciting market. It might have given an opaque impression during the initial days, but for long time now, it’s been playing as dynamic as any other developed market. Probably Indian industry is moving ahead of the times.

SI Asia: What industry segment/vertical has been most promising and /or challenging?

BHARAT: Enterprise vertical has been most promising while the government vertical has been the most challenging.

INSIGHT Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

SI Asia: What kind of transformation, or value add does Kramer believe it brought to Industry?

BHARAT: Like I said a few times now, educating the market has been one of our biggest priorities. Imparting training in diverse aspects of AVSI processes through authoritative bodies has been our hallmark. A biggest example is our initiative of bringing trainers from InfoComm to train aspiring installation & design professionals on a regular basis.

We also conduct training programs on our own, bringing experts from our regional, global offices. While results cannot be quantified, they are certainly felt in that there has been a remarkable improvement in the understanding of AV among professionals.

Having said that, we also maintain that transformation cannot be brought by one single company; it has to be an industry initiative and a long time effort.

We have been playing our bit. The whole of last year, we conducted training in AV installation skills for Collaboration environments. We are committed to our belief in knowledge transfer to the partner community as well as aspiring professionals.

SI Asia: Does Kramer believe it has a solution for every requirement of client in its line of business

requirement for what had essentially been a metro cities’ take till now.

Government and Enterprise segments, cultural and sporting facilities, and academia are all either making new builds or modernizing existing ones. This opened up huge growth opportunities.

Being both futuristic and closer to the market, we simply want to tap into this opportunity.

Kramer India does not cater to just India alone; we address the whole of SAARC and Middle East from here. Our stakes, therefore, are pretty high and wide.

So, while thinking global, we also act regional and local so that we address the whole chain of the market.

Globally, people have long held Kramer as only a signal management and cabling company. However, Kramer underwent lot of changes in recent times. We wanted to get into audio, controls, collaboration and so on, and the best way to foray into these domains was to make strategic investments and collaborations in addition to ramping up of our R&D Team. One important step in the direction was investment in WOW Vision, and rolling out VIA product line which not only gave us a head start in the domain of collaboration, but also put us right in the forefront of the domain.

In continuation of the same spirit, we are looking at a huge growth chart in the next three to five years. Having successfully introduced VIA ConnectPro and VIA Collage, our next big launch is VIA Campus, and our immediate focus.

It will be essentially for the education segment and enterprise training rooms; we believe it will change the way learning environment is handled, with a bundle of features coming to perform a vast array of functions like polling, presenting content wirelessly amongst different devices, and sharing data across multiple spaces within the campus etc.- something that is not there on the entire market spectrum right now.

SI Asia: What’s the next big move?

BHARAT: We do have a roadmap. It is to have offices in all the metros- Mumbai being the next destination, followed by Chennai in 2016, and then expand our direct footprint to regional centers as I mentioned earlier. We are also pushing our efforts to SAARC regions, particularly Sri Lanka. We are active in Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. We have been conducting some focused programming in those markets and are very positive about creating strong business cases. www.kramerindia.com

BHARAT: I cannot say we have end-toend solution, or any manufacturer for that matter. We do not have display, video-conferencing, microphone products; we do not intend to either.

But I can say we are actively working on to cover a majority of domains in our line. We are in AV Signal Management, Control, Collaboration and Installer Solutions and we are moving aggressively in audio. In near future, industry will see Kramer having a very credible line of products and technologies in these new forays.

SI Asia: What’s Kramer India up to right now?

BHARAT: We are expanding on a very ambitious scale. Right now, India is showing up its hidden potential; several Tier-II and –III cities are coming up with

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Educating the market has become a cornerstone of Kramer India's objectives

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EXHIBITION PREVIEW Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

2016

AV Communications in a Hyperconnected World

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he Internet of Audiovisual (AV) Things is here. Over 23,400 AV professionals and vertical market technology managers from Asia Pacific will be in Beijing from 13 to 15 April 2016, to experience this phenomenon.

They are here for InfoComm China 2016, Asia’s largest pro-AV and information communications technology (ICT) show.

Exciting Exhibitor Line-up

Into its 11th installment, InfoComm China continues to invigorate the show format by rallying industry titans and forward-thinking companies to lend their muscles. A slate of 277 exhibitors from 40 countries and regions is set to attend.

More than 50 of these will be firsttimers, including digital conference and public address system specialist Zhuhai Restmoment Digital Audio Device; and innovator of global optical network devices Gigalight.

The Future of the AV Industry is Here InfoComm China is the choice launch pad of the latest technologies impacting Asia. It is also the world’s only exhibition that showcases the best of Chinese innovations in AV technologies. Replete with eye-opening moments, the show floor is where you can explore these solutions and over 75 new-to-Asia and at least 25 new-to-China products that have cut a swath globally.

Asia’s Biggest Pro-AV & ICT Classroom

Important and stimulating think tanks abound at InfoComm China Summit.

The educational programs, comprising both English and Chinese sessions, will prepare you for the challenges and trends sweeping your clients’ industries.

For the first time ever, China’s trade associations will also lend a voice of authority at select panel discussions.

EXHIBITION PREVIEW Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

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Your Edge in Asia Pacific’s $42-billion Pro-AV Industry

Monumental projects unfolding in Asia herald a new world steeped in hyperconnectivity. An urbanized China will operate with clockwork precision: digital signage inform bus arrivals; medical appointments are made using smartphones. Korea’s Hyper-connectivity Intelligent Network will see the proliferation of 1gbps wireless speeds, holograms and access to Big Data.

Driverless vehicles and in-home rehabilitative therapy – all a way of life when Singapore completes her Smart Nation vision. Another country turning to smart technologies is India. Buildings in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, one of India’s smart cities, will boast district cooling, water filtering and municipal waste collection.

These developments, moving with great traction, call to one truth. Audiovisual (AV) no longer operates in silo and is now integral to the network. Increasingly AV professionals have to understand how AV solutions communicate with routers, switchers, firewalls, user interfaces, and more.

This Internet of AV Things phenomenon will be the focal point of InfoComm China 2016. See technologies ahead of its time right here. Meet and network with the brilliant minds behind the industry’s most sought-after solutions.

Groundbreaking products make Asian debut

get display anywhere – even on video walls – easily.

Over 75 products will make their way into Asia via InfoComm China 2016. LG Electronics, WolfVision and Panasonic Corporation of China are among the exhibitors showcasing their lauded products.

Taking center stage also are solutions that push the status quos. One such solution is Martin Audio’s CDD series, brought in by Beijing Pacific Budee Technology Development. The coaxial devices are integrated with a static waveguide that merges perfectly with their unique cone shape. In turn, the dispersion pattern can be maintained even at very high frequencies.

Hyperconnectivity will be a main highlight at the show. See the new Poseidon™ cloud service, which unifies all the signal management in the network. Achieve an AV cloud setup, and

Boasting DVI, DP and HDMI digital inputs, MicsView Network Technology’s 4K UHD Input Cloud Node collects and processes 4K video signals via network.

Set to transform capabilities across airports, space monitoring centers, dispatch centers and more is Unilumin Group’s Ultra HD LED Display. With 3000:1 contrast ratio, 16-bit grayscale, 3840Hz refresh rate, it promises superb clarity for eagle-eyed vigilance.

Step into the future Be the first to see the next wave of solutions that will heighten hyperconnectivity. Companies such as Crestron Asia Limited and 3M will debut their cutting-edge solutions at World Premiere.

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EXHIBITION PREVIEW Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Meet a new crop of industry players

Over 50 companies will join the exhibitor roster for the first time. Connect with Shenzhen BAKO Optoelectronics, whose array of LED screens can be utilized for outdoor, event and even mobile purposes. Hailing from Korea, Sang Wha is a digital agency that specializes in robotics as well as interactive applications. A brand synonymous with reliability, E-C-TONG Electronics purveys conference systems and peripheral equipment. This addition of exhibitors spells new networking opportunities.

Enhance product portfolios Also attending InfoComm China 2016 is a multitude of regional and international brands seeking representation channels across the region.

Gear up for the future InfoComm China 2016 Summit is a must-attend staple for audiovisual (AV) professionals. At the sessions – which are available in both English and Chinese languages – you will be privy to emerging and current trends in your clients’ industries. Helming the panel discussions are China’s trade associations such as Guangdong Wise City Industry Innovation Alliance and Digital Signage Multimedia Alliance Taiwan. Understand from them the

growing pains that respective industries face, and how technology has impelled their business milieus to change. These free learning opportunities will aid you in the development of effective project blueprints.

Unprecedented collaboration, immense value InfoComm China has joined hands with stalwart China Hospitality Technology Alliance to present Hospitality Technology Expo® (HTx). This is

China’s first-ever exhibition dedicated to showcasing the entire spectrum of technologies impacting the hospitality industry.

Expand your horizon and meet with manufacturers outside of the AV industry. See how hyperconnectivity has engendered new hospitality trends such as keyless mobile check-ins and interactive in-room entertainment.

Translate your experience into inspiration for your next project.

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At the Forefront of Advancements Be at InfoComm China 2016 and meet with the movers and shakers of the audiovisual (pro-AV) and information communications technology (ICT) industries. Discover innovations of the future and build new business connections that will elevate your caliber.

Develop the know-how to take embrace hyperconnectivity and take it to the next level.

2016

13 – 15 April 2016 China National Convention Center Beijing, China

www.infocomm-china.com www.ifcshow.com

Dates

Opening Hours

Registration Hours

13 April 2016 (Wednesday)

9:30am – 5:00pm

9:00am – 4:30pm

14 April 2016 (Thursday)

9:00am – 5:00pm

8:30am – 4:30pm

15 April 2016 (Friday)

9:00am – 4:00pm

8:30am – 3:00pm

Get here with directions available at www.infocomm-china.com/en/travel-plans.php

Show Statistics • • • • • • • •

50,000sqm show floor Sprawled across 8 halls 277 exhibitors from 40 countries & regions More than 50 new exhibitors Over 75 new-to-Asia products At least 25 new-to-China products Over 20 global launch of new products More than 40 learning sessions at the Summit

Show Highlights

• World Premiere • Co-located with Hospitality Technology Expo® Your passcode for FREE admission

MA001

*To qualify, simply register your visit by using this passcode.

Register now at www.infocomm-china.com / www.ifcshow.com

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EXHIBITION PREVIEW Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

IoT Asia Closes The Gap Between Vision & Reality IoT Asia 2016

Closing the gap: From vision to reality.

Date: 30-31 March 2016 Venue: Singapore EXPO Convention & Exhibition Centre

I

nternet of Things Asia (IoT Asia 2016) returns with its third edition in 2016 with the theme of Closing the gap: From vision to reality. Jointly organised by the Singapore Industrial Automation Association (SIAA) and SingEx Exhibitions (SingEx), the IoT Asia 2016 conference and exhibition aims to go beyond addressing the benefits and promises of IoT in Asia and making it a reality. The event will be held from 3031 March 2016 at the Singapore EXPO Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Delegates to IoT Asia 2016 will see the introduction of a new conference structure featuring five dedicated tracks to address the latest industry needs, and six thematic zones on the exhibition floor. There will also be new elements which will explore real and relevant technological developments and capabilities that businesses, governments and communities can tap on to make IoT a reality. The event serves as a platform for participants from

a wide range of verticals – including healthcare, manufacturing, retail and transportation – to discuss key issues faced by the IoT industry and seek effective solutions.

Adrian Sng, Director (Projects Management), SingEx Exhibitions, said: “IoT has long been a conceptual answer to many of the challenges that governments, companies and communities in Asia are facing today.

Leading the change to progress, the focus of IoT Asia 2016 is on creating real outcomes with smart technology-centric solutions. This year’s edition will not only embrace successes in the region, it will also analyse past barriers, in order to uncover actionable steps. Ultimately, it’s about building a cohesive and smart IoT ecosystem in Asia.”

Bridging the gap from vision to reality According to International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide spending

on IoT will grow from USD655.8 billion in 2014 to USD1.7 trillion in 2020. The analyst group also confirmed that Asia Pacific emerged as the leader in IoT spending in 2015, contributing more than 40 per cent of the worldwide total¹.

Keynote speaker Louisa Heinrich, Founder of Superhuman Inc, explained, “Asia, as a key market for the development of IoT, needs to gain a deeper understanding of the potential impact of IoT on people as well as objective systems, in order to create smarter and more sustainable solutions that meet our needs today and build a future we want to live in.”

Heinrich's presentation will feature the importance of human, communal and social dimensions that are instrumental to ensure growth and dynamism in the world of IoT by exploring the value of applying design perspectives in IoT deployments.

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At the two-day conference, IoT Asia 2016 will deliver critical industry-driven insights featuring over 80 international speakers and industry experts from 17 countries. The main focus this year is to provide a platform for participants to address the real nuts and bolts, issues and challenges of IoT implementation, and propel the industry forward. The revamped and expanded conference structure will present an array of forwardthinking keynotes and panel discussions across five focused tracks: Smart Cities, IoT Data Analytics, Design Applications, Wearables and Industrial IoT (IIoT).

Fresher and more critical ideas for all

Alongside the conference is the IoT Asia 2016 exhibition covering an area of over 3,500sqm, featuring more than 80 sponsors and exhibitors from across the technology spectrum of IoT solutions and services. To offer attendees a more focused and guided experience, the exhibition floor is divided into six new and complementary thematic zones where exhibitors will be showcasing their key technologies based on their area of specialisation: Design Applications – A new thematic zone featuring some of the best-inclass vendors and IoT technologies demonstrating product and service design concepts including user interaction, ease of deployment and integration, scalability and business models.

Smart Cities – Features energy-efficient and smart technologies and solutions to increase efficiency and improve productivity for the smart cities industry.

Wearables – A showcase of cuttingedge wearable technologies for both consumer and the enterprise.

Enablers – The latest and most advanced solution providers and component makers that develop and implement innovative solutions to drive the IoT ecosystem to unlock consumer and business benefits.

Industrial IoT – A dedicated zone for stakeholders in the logistics, manufacturing and transportation industries on IIoT strategy implementations.

IoT Data Analytics – A showcase of how different organisations are deploying data analytics to derive value and business insights from the front-lines.

The third edition of IoT Asia will enable forward-thinking organisations in Asia to tap into the latest global developments in IoT to create life-changing initiatives for the communities across the region. For more information and registration, check out IoT Asia website here:

Wanna to check out IoT Asia conference?

SI Asia readers get to enjoy 10% off delegates passes. Enter promo code 10SIA and Register now!

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EXHIBITION PREVIEW Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Secutech 2016 Highlights Next-Gen Intelligent Solutions Secutech Expo 2016 International Exhibition and Conference for Electronic Security, Home Security, Fire and Safety Date: 19 – 21 April 2016 Venue: Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Taipei, Taiwan

S

ecutech, the leading international security and safety exhibition and conference will return from 19 – 21 April 2016 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center in Taiwan. Organised

by Messe Frankfurt New Era Media Business Ltd, the fair is renowned for being a pivotal platform to unveil the full spectrum of top-notch products, as well as future industry trends in Asia.

Entering its 19th edition, the fair will span 35,873 sqm of exhibition space and house around 560 exhibitors. Commenting on the show’s development, Ms Regina Tsai, Deputy General Manager of the organiser said: “Home security is expected to remain one of the strongest sectors within the entire security industry in the coming years. Understanding the growing demand for connected home systems and devices across the region, we are organising SMAhome Expo – a dedicated zone for the smart home industry – again at Secutech 2016 to assist buyers in sourcing from suppliers of key components and advanced technologies, such as IoT (Internet of Things), cloud services and HEM (Home Energy Management) systems.”

To date, over 150 leading manufacturers from China, Korea and Taiwan have already signed up for SMAhome Expo.

Noteworthy brands include ASUS, Amroad, GKB, Heiman, SecuFirst, Sunmore, TrendMicro, StarCam and Unitech. Ms Tsai added: “We are anticipating over 26,000 system integrators, dealers, distributers and industry professionals to visit the fair.

With the range and high quality of participating exhibitors on offer, I am confident visitors will not only discover a wealth of solutions and products but will also find ample opportunities to establish new and invaluable industry partnerships.”

Concurrent events facilitate information exchange and offer ample networking opportunities Held alongside Secutech 2016, a series of complementary activities will play a crucial role in unveiling the latest trends, while also enriching

participants’ experiences at the fair.

Amid this programme, the Smart Home M2M (machine-to-machine) Platform & Software Summit will be held for the first time to foster knowledge flow and promote cooperation between smart home software/platform designers and hardware manufacturers. The speaker line up is comprised of open source IoT projects specialists, connected device platform suppliers, smart home software stacks developers, cloud-based video solution providers as well as other application software designers. They will present and discuss industry hot topics such as connectivity, interoperability, data protection and business models.

Other event highlights include Smart Home Protocol Gallery. Collectively they showcase the newest applications of Z-wave and ZigBee international standards on home automation, collaborating with premium manufacturers offering distinctive product design and comprehensive technical support.

For more details about Secutech, please call Ms Sandra Chen at +886 2 8729 1015, or send an email to sandra.chen@ newera.messefrankfurt.com www.secutech.com/16/en/visitor_reg. aspx

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SINGAPORE

Learning With A Mission Delivering D elivering w world-class orlld-cllass ccorporate orporate ttraining ra aining

W

hen we talk about learning, classrooms solutions such as collaborative tools, interactive displays often come to mind. With the advent of technology and its availability, these solutions have been rapidly adopted in many education institutions, from primary levels up to university levels. But what is the learning environment like in an academy operated by a corporate organization that conducts specialised courses for its industry?

To find out more, we took a trip down to the Essilor office in Singapore, where they had recently finished a state-of-the-art AV project for their training facility in Singapore.

About Essilor

Founded in 1972, Essilor is a manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses, lens coatings and dispensary technologies. An industry leader in its field, the french company has revolutionized the vision correction industry in 1959 with the invention of the world’s first progressive lens. Some lens brands under Essilor include Crizal®, Transitions®, Nikon, VARILUX® and more.

With subsidiaries in more than 30 countries, Essilor is represented in more than 100 countries with major production centres in Europe, North and Central America and Asia.

Besides manufacturing lens, Essilor is also an advocate of optometry-related education and has been supporting their clients with high quality trainings and seminars. Industry professionals are often engaged as guest lecturers and Essilor

would invite their partners and clients to attend these sessions at their premises.

Essilor has several training facilities, including Europe and USA. The Singapore facility is one of their largest set-ups, and serves the Asia Pacific, Russia and Africa.

What Essilor Wanted

Located on the 4th floor of the Essilor building, the training academy consist of several different areas that occupies the entire floor. Some of the key areas are: lecture theatre, collaborative hub, simulation rooms, waiting room and common areas.

“The concept for the project started 4 years ago,” said John Bartlett, Executive Director, AMERA Education & Professional Services, Essilor AMERA Pte Ltd. “The objective of the project was to build a world-class training facility so that Essilor can provide high quality training for its customers. Additionally, we also wanted to use the facilities for internal training to maximise the use of space.”

Right at the start of the actual design phase, Essilor engaged architects that specialised in adult learning and got their advice on how the place should be laid out.

“One of the key points they made was that, it needed to be a total sensory approach so that the learning experience is

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By Shireen Ho “As a company that advocates clear vision, we took note of the Essilor’s requirements for clear audio and visual solutions. That was the foundation of this AV solution.”

– Mediatechnic Solutions

John continued, “At the same time, we also wanted a facility that has the capacity to handle complicated set-ups when required. We will be outsourcing AV technicians to handle those sessions and when we do, we want them to have all the right tools at their disposal. But I would say that a majority of our events are pretty straight forward, and we want to be able to manage all of these smaller events.”

maximised,” said John. “But besides the physical aspect of the facility, we also needed fantastic visuals and sound to really push the whole learning experience.”

Training For The Pros...

To get a better perspective on AV requirements, Essilor went through a competitive tender, where Mediatechnic Solutions Pte Ltd emerged as a winning bidder. Though the lens company had a fair idea of what they wanted to do, it was through the tender process that they learned more about the availability of AV solutions in the market. With no AV consultant involved, the project was managed by Mediatechnic who did the planning, design and integration.

“When they come to our facility to receive training, we want them to have a great, professional learning experience. Hence high quality video and clear audio is essential and is our key expectation for this project,” said John.

Alex Boh, Sales Director of Mediatechnic Solutions recalled what was in Essilor's brief when they got the tender. “A fully redundancy system with reliable and scalable hardware. That was the first criteria. Second, Essilor also requested for AV solutions that can cater to various signal formats and hybrid connectivity, including analogue, digital and wireless and meets the BYOD concept. Last but not least, the third criterion was simplicity in User operation. Knowing that there is no dedicated AV team to run the facility, we needed to design a system that is user-friendly and simple to operate.”

A key personnel of Essilor's Education and Professional Services division, John's role is to deliver quality education to their customers, who are mainly opticians, optometrists, ophthalmologists and optical shop owners.

To achieve Essilor's AV requirements, Kumar V., Project Director of Mediatechnic commented, “We sat with John to explore all possible learning scenarios that’s required at the Academy and review the solution based on current technology, keeping in mind of redundancy and future scalability of the system. The solution approach was to harness today’s technology to keep the entire system in digital domain, given the spread-out routing, distribution and streaming of AV signals across the academy facilities.”

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“Specifically on this project, we moved away from the old school of signal distribution and routing. The entire routing and seamless multi-format signal switching in this academy is done digitally via Creston 4K backbone system.

Detailed effort was put into programming and touchpanel design to automate various tasks and for ease of day to day operation of this AV system. Having said that, of having arsenal of good quality product inventory at our disposal, it still takes high level of knowledge and technical skills to design, program and implement a reliable and scalable solution that maximise the full potential of each product or technology ” – Kumar V., Projector Director, Mediatechnic.

1

Common Areas

transmission of light in order for audience to see the full onscreen contrast and colour of digital projection.

Sound propagation in the Lecture Theatre with total of 26 open mics were carefully tuned and managed to ensure optimum gain before feedback, with Rostrum Mics being placed just 2 meters away from the main loudspeakers.

3

Main Control Room

Purpose: Welcome area; where guests and visitors mingle during breaks.

Solution: Digital Signage is used to play corporate videos, and display welcome messages etc. Content is easily managed and scheduled by client and uploaded via SpinetiX web browser, hosted in PC located in Main Control Room. For BGM, EAW CIS300 Ceiling speakers provide pipe-in music throughout the common areas, routed from a Symetrix Edge located in the Main Control Room. Control is done by Client via Crestron Touchpanel.

2

Lecture Theatre

Purpose: To hold seminars and presentations by guest lecturers and invited guests.

Solution: Presenter can present their content on their smart devices and laptop wirelessly using Barco Clickshare, or via the multiple AV connectivity points located at Rostrum. Panasonic Projector projects high quality image with clear audible speech enabled by Shure, Clockaudio Microphones and JBL Loudspeakers. Conference mic units from ClockAudio enables participants to engage with presenter for Q&A session.

Key challenge: The Projector was placed in Main Control Room at the back of Lecture Theatre to insulate the guest from projector’s fan noise. High performance opticlear anti-reflective coated glass window port was installed to ensure maximum

Purpose: The 'brain' of the entire level 4 AV systems where the processors, digital routing, switching, monitoring systems etc. are placed. A centralized location where User manages the entire Academy AV system.

Solution: Users can manage and control the entire facility AV digital signal routing; HD Cam feed transmission, recording and streaming, and monitoring of each facility audio and video feed. All the routing is done digitally via Crestron Digital Media 4K system and controlled via Crestron AV3. Symetrix Edge DSP handles all audio management and routing of audio via Dante network. Epihan VGA Grid captures all the HD video feeds for recording and streaming to enterprise server for Essilor overseas offices.

4

Collaborative Hub

Purpose: Team-building. For more hands-on group learning activities where learners can work with each other.

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achieve clearer audibility, Revolab HD wireless lanyard cardiod and omnidirection meeting table mics were implemented to capture more directional sound and provide the Trainer with flexibility in capturing audio in divisible rooms configuration.

Other Challenges Faced

Another key challenge for the team here was wireless network interference. As the Essilor building runs on a huge server with more than a dozen WiFi networks including from adjacent buildings, the team encountered issues of wifi connectivity between the control system and wireless touchpanels.

Solution: Presenter can present activity work onto the Samsung touch panels and encourage learners to get interactive with it. Everyone in the hub can use the tools to help them complete assigned tasks.

“The wifi interference was a big challenge for us. We did a complete study on the wifi coverage and deployed a 5Ghz wifi topology network specifically for AV system to ensure the stability in wireless connectivity for the system,” said Alex.

Key challenge: As the room layout are meant to be configurable to suit different collaborative settings, the AV and control connectivity strategically located to accommodate various collaboration setting and the setup is automatically updated for signal routing and distribution.

All audio/video feeds go back to the control room which is located inside the LT. The HD video backbone runs on Crestron DM3.0 while the audio sits on Dante network using Symetrix.

Control wise, it all goes back to Crestron.

5

Simulation Room – Consultation / Retail

According to Mohammad Zain, Systems Programmer of Mediatechnic, the design of the user interface and controls had to take into account the AV system’s capability to be set up into various configurations. Both the AV technician and the user have different requirements on how the user interface should present the layouts and functions.

“We understood the client’s vision. But without the details, we had to draw from our experience to create a user interface and controls that realise the vision. The focus was on making it simple for the user and yet flexible for the technician to harness the state-of-the-art AV technology for the delivery of their events. We are pleased to have achieved those objectives,” said Zain.

Purpose: For more hands-on learning tasks, practicing theories. The consultation rooms are designed to look like an eye clinic where opticians and optometrists will be working in to practice their craft. The Retail room simulates an optical retail environment to train trainers and optical shop professionals in various aspect of lens.

Solution: The Panasonic HD camera installed in the ceiling allows live streaming and recording of the happenings in the rooms. The trainer in the room can conduct their practical session accordingly and have it stream live back to the LT or collaborative hub or have it recorded for later purposes.

Multiway live broadcast of audio and video to other facilities accommodates various training scenarios.

Key challenge: Initial installed ceiling mics captured air-con and adjacent rooms audio. To

Architecture Plays A Part Too

Other than the key challenges mentioned earlier in the different areas, John also added the building process has influenced the AV structure too.

“The building process was through a rather large architecture and building firm, but my observation is that they don’t really fully understand the complexity of AV and that has created some challenges for us at first to get them to understand the importance of routing things and other complexities to help us to achieve the absolutes – which are essential.”

“One good example will be the lecture theatre, where the initial brief to the architect was ‘state-of-the-art’ lecture theatre and to me, I was clear in my mind what that meant, and I think you don’t have to drill down too far in terms of descriptors to be clear about what that means. And yet, they didn't seem to think through about acoustics and there were a lot of challenges for the AV team to address because of the actual physical build. The architects, in my mind, should have had a better grasp of those."

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(L-R): Kumar V., Mediatechnic; Tony Ang, Crestron; Vivien Chiang and John Bartlett, Essilor; Bala Krishnan, Alex Boh and Mohd Zain, Mediatechnic.

Making It Possible

Besides a supportive AV team and understanding client, the principals also played an important role in ensuring all their solutions are able to meet client's needs. When choosing products and solutions, what are some key criteria for Mediatechnic?

“Obviously, as a solution provider, our focus and goal is always finding the right solution to meet our clients needs. Having access to products and technology, having good after sales technical support and quick turn around time for spares are the key criteria that we emphasise in every of our design solution.

It was the same approach in this project, ” said Balakrishnan, Managing Director, Mediatechnic.

Adding on, Alex commented, “We had excellent support from all the principals and distributors, whom we have worked with for many years. We always believe successful project collaboration comes from the commitment and teamwork from everyone, and that’s was reflected in every process of this

project. I’ll take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them.”

Client Satisfaction

On the ease of use of the AV system, John further commented, “That's the plus point as design of the touchpanel is very userfriendly. We just got a new staff to head up the training facility here and we are training her now. She’s overwhelmed, but I am confident that within a couple of days she will get it because the system in place is very intuitive.”

When asked if he is happy with the results of the project, John remarked, “Yes, the project is exceptional. To me, it’s been a progressive process over the past 12 months, but now, I think it’s at a 100% and it has been a great partnership process to get to the end point.” www.mediatechnic-solutions.com www.essilor.com

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CHINA

Hefei Traffic Networks Secured By Delta The Case Of An Intelligent Traffic Command Centre

PROJECT FACTFILE

• Client: Hefei Municipal Government • Project venue: Hefei Intelligent Command Center • Segment: Transportation • Location: Hefei, China • Task: To build an intelligent traffic command center for city of Hefei • Solutions Highlights: Delta Displays and UPS

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ith the development of the automobile industry and living standards in China, the city of Hefei has experienced rapid growth in modernization. With over 7 million population residing in this region, it is no wonder that the city government wanted to streamline their traffic control processes as much as possible. In a bid to make this come true, the municipal government has pushed for an intelligent traffic command centre to be built.

projection screen and monitor, enabling a highly centralized and integrated traffic command centre.

To carry out this “smartification”, a large Delta display system was installed during the 2nd phase of the Hefei Intelligent Command Centre. The display system consists of the latest DLP monitoring display system measuring 67 inches comprising of 5 rows × 11 columns for the Hefei traffic command system.

At the same time, the upgraded command system could also better monitor traffic lights, enabling operators to monitor and control signals at junctions, as well as send commands to the traffic signal control system. Should the traffic lights experiences a failure, the corresponding coordinates can be displayed immediately along with the fault conditions, which is convenient for the traffic control department to pinpoint and repair the issue.

Using Delta's display monitoring system, the solution integrated Delta Distributive Vision Control Systems (DVSC), which gives the administrator remote access to control surveillance cameras, signal invocation, alarm trigger signals. Under the same operating interface, users are also able to view monitoring signals on

After upgrading the displays, the 2nd phase of Hefei Intelligent Command Center integrated original video equipment with the new video surveillance equipment in order to achieve a full range of real-time road intersection and road section monitoring within the Second Ring of the city.

Coincidentally, in Line 1 project of Hefei rail transit, Delta UPS also won the bid by providing a reliable and economical UPS solution for the public security subsystem.

In this project, the Delta UPS was utilized to provide the 1+1 redundancy between main engines. Single stand could automatically realize N+X redundancy according to actual load, so as to ensure the high reliability of power supply for the whole system. At the same time, compared with traditional models, whose MTTR usually exceed 2 hours, HIFT modular UPS only needs 30 minutes, which could, to the largest degree, meet the normal requirement from users on public security system.

The innovative design of Delta HPH series UPS matches the latest generation of IT equipment and enjoys a higher power capacity in small space while featuring the best efficacy, efficiency, reliability, flexibility, and simplicity among the products of the same level. The overall solution helps users lower their pressure on energy cost brought about by business growth and becomes the protector for public security subsystem on rail transit. www.deltaww.com

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INDIA

Shri Ram School Auditorium AV Systems Refurbished PROJECT FACTFILE • Client: The Shri Ram School • Segment: Education • Location: Gurgaon, New Delhi, India • System Integrator: AV Science Technology • Task: To replace the AVsystem in the auditorium and to ensure its flexible use for different types of events.

• Solutions: Tannoy speakers, Lab.Gruppen amplifiers, Christie projector, beyerdynamic microphones, Soundcraft Mixer, Lexicon Effects processor, Kramer and Extron solutions

The Shri Ram School (TSRS), Gurgaon – one of the reputed academic institutions in the National Capital Region – recently refurbished the audio-visual system at its auditorium, towards meeting its growing requirements. New Delhi-based AV Science Technology took the honours, along with Tannoy, and others. An SI Asia snapshot:

T

he Shri Ram School (TSRS) in Gurgaon, having come into being 28 years ago on some august foundations, has built many a credential as it journeyed through years of achieving people’s respect. While the school has been able to create a welldefined infrastructure from time to time, its growing requirements demanded more, as the institution spread its size and scale.

One of the requirements was upgrading the old audio-visual system at its auditorium that was done over a decade ago. The management’s scouting for a suitable partner to do the needful met with a matching solution provider in the locally-based AV Science Technologies (AVST) who has already built many credentials in the domain.

“We were invited by the school to carry out a site survey, and put together an integrated A/V solution for this auditorium. The school briefed us about their requirement for live sound, presentations, seminars, lectures, competitions and annual functions,” explained Gopi Ram Malik, the AVST Managing Director. “It was an existing structure with fine acoustics, and only the A/V needed to be revamped,” he elaborated. “The Shri Ram School is one of the most popular schools in the NCR (National Capital Region) and is very busy with events, so we were given a very short time frame to design and execute the installation well without disturbing the planned events.”

Being a strong believer and user of TC Group’s Tannoy and Lab.gruppen audio systems, Malik contacted the Group

to specify a matching system for the project. “We have worked together on many projects,” he explained. “So, when it came to executing a solution for a school which has a very high reputation, I could think only of involving these brands,” he explains his discretion. “It was extremely important we proposed the best and delivered when it came to their expectations and requirements.

We carried out an initial site survey with them, and they put together a solution which included Tannoy speakers and Lab. gruppen amplifiers.”

According to the AVST chief, the solutions provider did some EASE simulations and presented the solution to the school management. The TSRS management liked and decided to go with what the SI had proposed.

INSTALLATIONS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

The applications and support manager for Tannoy and Lab.gruppen, Binny Sharma, takes up the story. “The problem wasn’t so much with the acoustics of the room, but the fact that the old system was out-dated.”

According to him, the auditorium is used for multipurpose activities such as day-to-day lectures and dramas, and the sound system was giving them some problems as it didn’t have good intelligibility. Secondly, they had a problem with uniformity of coverage.

The sound wasn’t the same at the front as at the back. There was an additional challenge here because the room is used in several different configurations.

The stage can expand for certain applications, and the seating on the ground floor level isn’t fixed.

“So the new sound system needed to cater for the different scenarios the hall can offer,” explained Sharma. “We had to work around to get that done in a decent fashion.”

While Sharma and team worked out a system design using EASE acoustic simulation software, their challenge was the timeline which was a very short one. “The school’s annual function was due to happen in a month, and they needed a complete revamp of their audio and video systems in that time,” he continued. “So, we did some demos, and the TSRS management was convinced by the parameters that we showed them and decided to go ahead with us.”

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The system comprises a left and right cluster, each comprising two Tannoy VX15HP dual concentric loudspeakers and a VSX18DR 18-inch subwoofer.

Front-fill is provided by four Tannoy VX8 dual concentric speakers, with two VX12s used for the balcony area and two further VX12s used as stage monitors.

The system is driven by a combination of Lab.gruppen C48:4, C16:4, C28:4 and IPD1200 amplifiers, and system control is via two Tannoy VNET SC1 digital system controllers.

A control room, designed and installed

by AVST consisted of a Soundcraft XL7ii 32-channel mixer and a Lexicon MX300 effects processor, in combination with two Tannoy DVS 4t speakers powered by a Lab.gruppen E4:2 amplifier. Further, the Greenroom has been installed with two DVS 4ts.

The AV solutions provider also provided beyerdynamic Opus 669 and Opus 654 handheld and lapel/headworn radio mic systems, plus a selection of beyerdynamic wired microphones. The video solution comprised a combination of a Christie DWU600-G projector, and Kramer VGA with audio and HDMI plate, besides Extron switchers, transmitters, receivers and distribution units.

Binny Sharma was in attendance during the school’s three-day annual event to ensure the new system functioned smoothly. “The fete is one of the most prestigious events they have during their school year, and is a mixed programme

encompassing lectures, drama and an annual meeting,” he explained.

According to the TC Group rep, previously, the school used to rent sound systems. That the new system they installed putting in their investment was able to perform so well, and stand up to all their requirements of community gatherings, they were very happy with the solution given. www.avscience.in www.tannoy.com

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PROJECT FACTFILE • • • • •

Client: GAP Taiwan Segment: Retail Location: Taipei, Taiwan System Integrator: SFY Tech Task: To install a Digital Signage system connected between the different stores in Taipei • Solutions Highlights: DT Research MS1600S, WebDT Content Manager 6 Pro • Project Completion: 2015

TAIWAN

GAP Taiwan Attracts Walk-ins With DT Research Empowering A Flashy Multi-Screen Signage System

About GAP Stores (Taiwan) Located in the prime shopping area of the Xin Yi District in Taipei City and in the Mega City Mall in New Taipei City, GAP is an American multinational clothing and accessories retailer. In order to showcase some of its the latest product information and store activities, as well as to promote the brand image, GAP needed a powerful yet easy-to-manage digital signage system to present their variety of offerings.

A

s the international retail scene grows, many international brands are ousting their competition with unique concepts and offerings. For retailers with a physical shopfront, what is even more common nowadays was the implementation of flashy digital signages in order to attract the attention of more walk-in customers.

Hence, when GAP started in Taiwan, it is no wonder that the popular clothing retailer sought to make their local stores stand out from the rest with an attractive 2 x 4 video wall.

The Challenge

Taking into consideration of the long opening hours and busy foot traffic inside the stores, one key brief by the client required a stable and secure digital signage system that is robust enough to deliver a reliable performance for at least 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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Additionally, the proposed digital signage system needs to be fully compatible with multiple screens used in the pavilion and is able to support high resolution video files in order to bring the best presentation outputs to customers.

to schedule the on/off power source for MS1600S Multi Screen Appliance as well as the downloading of content for optimal resource management.

The Solution

With a fully-integrated digital signage system, GAP can now efficiently deliver stunning visual experience to customers while the system integrator’s IT staff can also easily create, manage, publish via Internet playlists with dynamic content from any location and at any time.

Noting client's brief, the commissioned system integrator SFY Tech, Inc., proposed using DT Research player hardware and management software solutions for this project.

The GAP stores in Xin Yi and Mega City Mall set up a total of eight 46-inch and 55-inch LCD’s in a 2×4 alignment respectively. The displays are connected to DT Research’s MS1600S Multi Screen Signage Appliance (8 outputs) that is installed in the store and the devices are managed by WebDT Content Manger (WCM) 6 Pro software via internet. What is also interesting here is that, the digital signage content is fully remote-managed by the system integrator’s IT staff, who is also responsible for publishing dynamic advertisement content for the client.

Featuring a powerful and energy-efficient Intel Core i7 processor and individual graphic cards, the MS1600S Multi Screen Appliance drives the display screens with various high resolution video files. To remotely manage and publish the content playlists, the WCM 6 Pro software provides inclusive tools to schedule content files and create design layouts for playlists displayed on the LCD’s. The software can also be used

The Result

“With the latest technology, we designed and created a powerful digital signage appliance,” said Dr. Daw Tsai, president of DT Research. “The ability to run multiple displays from a single signage appliance allows customers who require this configuration to deploy digital signage networks with the highest quality video experience efficiently and costeffectively.”

Kevin Liaw, manager of SFY Tech Inc., also commented, “With DT Research’s web-based, intuitive WebDT Content Manager 6 Pro, we can now remotely diagnose and update the firmware, operating system of the player hardware – and this saves us a lot of time and personnel deployment to the site for maintenance.” www.signage.dtri.com

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PHILIPPINES

IONTECH Steps Up LG's Display Presence In Manila LG Displays installed in different environments LG Display's Philippines distributor, IONTECH, has been busy supplying and at times helping with the installation of the displays in different environments. CHIEF mounts were also extensively supplied by IONTECH to complement the displays. We take a look at some of the installations.

Resorts World Manila

IONTECH proposed the installation of 16 units of LG displays in a 4x4 format using LSMVU Chief Brackets to mount the displays. The displays are all daisychained via DVI-D cables. A mini PC installed at the lower floor is connected via HDMI cable to the display input.

Access to the PC is hidden but is easily accessible by operations and service staff.

Kidzania Manila

Resorts World Manila (RWM) is an integrated resort in the Philippines, located in Newport City, opposite the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, in Pasay Metro Manila. It is a one-stop, non-stop entertainment and leisure destination that includes a casino, hotels, shopping mall, cinema, theatre and world-class entertainment and food and beverage outlets.

The RWM management had decided that there was no need to create different configurations for the display but rather use the displays to project just one image. Thus from that perspective it was a straight forward input.

The Kidzania ticketing counter designed to resemble an Airport check-in area.

Client's Objective Resorts World Manila decided to use the connecting escalators space between its floors within the casino, to deliver marketing, promotional and branding messages to its patrons, with the hope of getting them to take action on the impulse.

The Challenge Though on first look the installation seems straight forward, it was anything but. The installation had to be carried out whilst the escalators were operational except for one, as the Casino is operational 24 hours and the management did not want to inconvenience its patrons. The space itself was limited which made the installation a little harder. The biggest issue that faced IONTECH was the alignment of the displays to ensure that the bezels looked seamless. The Chief mounts certainly helped ease the alignment process but nevertheless it took almost a full day to get the displays aligned correctly. The tight space and the continued operations of the escalators made it challenging.

To do this, they had to ensure that the medium used would be attractive and allow for quick change in messages if necessary. After much internal discussion as well as sourcing for the right partners to handle the project, they decided that their best option was to work with the proposal by IONTECH. The Solution A videowall was envisaged to occupy the space. It had to be big enough to attract attention and also had to be viewer-friendly with the ability to change messages easily.

To fit into the space IONTECH proposed the 47â&#x20AC;? LG displays and to ensure high quality the displays offer HD resolution.

At the end, IONTECH was able to fulfill the objectives of RWM with the system operating smoothly.

Security survelliance videowall

Kidzania Manila is designed especially for children aged 4 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 14 years. The venue is an interactive, educational entertainment theme park where children can role play different occupations and understand better about the occupation and what are some of the work involved.

Client's Objective The client required displays to complement its space for different purposes.

From the check-in (ticketing space) to many of the different occupation spaces, it was necessary to have displays installed to provide information as well as complement some of the occupation spaces as part of its natural setting or another words to create a simulated experience. An example is the Driver school that had displays to highlight the driving skills of the children.

INSTALLATIONS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

There is also a Parents only lounge area with a VIP room that was complemented with displays for the parents' enjoyment.

On a more serious note displays were required for security purposes as well.

The Solution Working through system integrator Advanced Micro Systems, IONTECH provided over 80 units of LG displays ranging from 32”, 42” and 55” with Chief mounts to ensure ease of installation.

The Challenge In this instance there was no real challenge other than the normal tight schedules and working with the different contractors involved in the project.

Since its opening in June 2015, Kidzania has seen a steady stream of happy children enjoying their “adulthood” experience. Not surprisingly, occupations such as fireman, policeman and airline pilots were top draws.

RAZER Retail Store

Razer is a renowned brand especially amongst gamers for its cutting-edge high quality products that are designed to meet the demands of gamers. Over the years, Razer, established in San Deigo, USA, since 2005, has evolved into the gaming lifestyle brand that connects with all gamers, regardless of age, gaming genre, and console.

Razer's first official concept store in Manila was opened in June 2015 at SM North Edsa Annex Cyberzone.

Client's Objective Being a store targeted at gamers, it is not surprising that the space was void of normal lighting. However there was a need to ensure that there was sufficient light for the business to operate as well as for customers to see the solutions.

Keeping in tandem with the rest of Razer's outlets in the world, the client wanted displays to provide the lighting for the retail outlet and at the same time double-up to provide information and hands-on visual images for customers.

The Solution For this project IONTECH provided 10 units of LG displays. 4 units of LG 43” displays are lined up on the left and right of the store's entrance with another two 55” LG displays installed at the back of the store. Again IONTECH opted to complement the displays with CHIEF RLT1 mounts.

For this project there was a need to also provide media players as information was interactive based. IONTECH installed a total of 3 units of LG MP700 Digital Signage players which was sufficient to handle all 10 displays as each player features one input and four outputs. In addition the LG Super Sign software that came as part of the package enabled the store to easily manipulate the content.

This allowed for images to either fill individual screens or cut across two, three or all the screens for effect.

The Challenge As part of its corporate practice, Razer stores worldwide showcase the same information to ensure uniformity. In this instance, the images and information at the Manila store was coming through from the Singapore Razer office. Not truly a challenge but it was important to ensure that the signals through the IP address were stable and that the media players would be able to seamlessly display the information.

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KPUB BBQ Restaurant

Not surprisingly Korean fever has also hit Manila. KPUB BBQ is a “meat-allyou-can” concept restaurant infused with a Korean Pop Music theme. The smokeless-grill venue is located at The Fort Entertainment Complex at Bonifacio Global City.

Client's Objective In keeping to the lively environment within the venue, the owners decided that they wanted to enhance the performance stage with displays. Other than providing a visual backdrop for the performers, the displays also showcase videos during the non-performance period, thus offering something extra for the dining patrons.

The Solution IONTECH specified and provided a 4x4 videowall comprising of 16 units of LG LV35A displays that feature super narrow bezels. Offering full HD resolution it just required one source input. System Integrator Cube Technologies was responsible for the installation as well as the customised bracket.

The Challenge There was no real challenge in installing the displays. The only aspect was the displays were in a curved configuration so the brackets had to be customised and the alignment of the bezels had to be spot-on.

The videowall takes pride as the centrestage on the ground floor of the KPUB offering visual entertainment for the restaurant's patrons. www.iontech-enterprise.com

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PROJECT FACTFILE • • • • •

Client: Suvarnabhumi Airport Segment: Transportation Location: Bangkok, Thailand System Integrator: CGKD Task: To install multi-purpose information kiosks throughout its passenger terminal.

• Solutions Highlights: BenQ RP551+ Interactive Flat Panel Display • Project Completion: September 2015

THAILAND

Suvarnabhumi Airport Revs Up Interactive Self-Service with BenQ

Enhancing The Bangkok Airport Experience

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n recent years, the exotic culture and mesmerizing whitesand beaches have attracted hordes of tourists to tropical Thailand. Being the capital of country, Bangkok sees some of the highest visitors numbers in the region. As an important connecting point for visitors to Bangkok, information counters at the Suvarnabhumi Airport are often flooded with queries and long queues. To enhance passenger experience, Suvarnabhumi Airport recently embarked on a project to install information kiosks in its main terminal hall to meet increasing demands.

About Suvarnabhumi Airport

Ranked as the world's 10th busiest airport and busiest in the country, Suvarnabhumi Airport is one of the two international airports serving Bangkok, Thailand. Opened officially in 2006, the airport is the main hub for Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways and Orient Thai Airlines. Serving over 46 million passengers annually, the airport is also the regional gateway and connecting point for various international carriers.

The Objective

The goal of the project was to enable passengers to access the information and services they need within seconds, whether it's checking their flight schedule, locating gate number, shops, facilities within the airport, or learning about local tourists attractions. The self-service kiosks are meant to streamline and boost the overall travel experience with higher efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The Challenge

The project called for 57 displays with a large-format touchcapable screen for easy visibility and cost-effective operation.

An essential feature of the selected display was that it needs to be durable and reliable enough for 24/7 operation so that passengers can access to updated information at any time.

The Solution

The airport sought competing bids for the project, with the winning bid submitted by a local systems integrator, CGKD – beating all other competition with its BenQ-centred solution.

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The proposed solution by CGKD was built around BenQ's RP551+ Interactive Flat Panel as the display component of the whole information kiosk solution. The strengths of the RP551+ played a major factor in the airportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evaluation process, as it not only met all of the requirements set by the client but its sleek and modern outlook also added new focal points to the busy passenger terminal.

Despite a tight work schedule, CGKD managed to complete the project within the given time frame. Taking full advantage of the RP551+'s comprehensive connection interfaces, the team was able to quickly integrate the displays into the airport's existing infastructure as well as other key components.

The Results

The information kiosks were unveiled in September 2015.

Once they were placed on the grounds of the terminal, the RP551+ attracted its first users almost immediately. With the help of RP551+, Suvarnabhumi Airport was able to put travel information and services at passengers' fingertips through automated processes, allowing them to quickly navigate and obtain the information they need at convenient spots located throughout the terminal. Whether you are a passenger passing through the airport or transiting to a connecting flight, everything has become much more efficient, even during holidays and travel seasons.

For CGKD, their deliverance of integration services and BenQ products made a difference in helping the client secure a total customer satisfaction. As a result, Suvarnabhumi Airport earned a new reputation as a tech-savvy, state-of-the-art global aviation hub. http://ap.benq.com.sg

BenQ RP551+ Interactive Flat Panel Display

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INSTALLATIONS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

AUSTRALIA

Serving The Growing Cruise Industry

Bosch Praesideo System Takes Stage At Sydney's OPT

PROJECT FACTFILE

• Client: Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal (OPT) • Segment: Transportation • Location: Sydney, Australia • System Integrator: CNG Systems • Consultant: Umow Lai • Task: To install and design a public address solution that would help to process larger numbers of passengers more efficiently.

• Solutions Highlights: Bosch Praesideo system • Project Completion: October 2015

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ocated almost directly across the water from the Sydney Opera House, it is no wonder that the venue at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal (OPT) is often rented out for corporate functions and events, when the ships are not at berth. The city and the habour views from its premises are simply spectacular.

To meet the demands of the booming cruise industry, and the increasing number and size of ships visiting one of the most stunning ports in the world, the OPT received a multi-million dollar upgrade in 2015.

Over 40 million was spent on extensions, renovations and equipment upgrades. The latter of which included a Bosch Praesideo Digital Public Address and Emergency Sound System.

The Solution

Engineering consultants Umow Lai were asked to design a public address solution that would help to process larger numbers of passengers more efficiently. Systems integrator CNG Systems installed a five-zone Praesideo system where the resultant loudspeakers optimise the ceiling heights and room spaces.

Each level of the OPT features an announcement desk that combines Bosch PRS-CSR control stations, PRS-CSI call station interfaces and LBB-4432/00 keypads. Programmed and live announcements are amplified via PRS-1P500 1-ch, PRS2P250 2-ch and PRS 4P125 4-ch amplifiers to the loudspeaker network.

About Sydney's OPT Nestled in Circular Quay, between the historic Rocks precinct and the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal (OPT) is a public cruise ship and ocean liner transport hub. As the only major passenger terminal east of Sydney Harbour Bridge, the OPT plays a significant public role in the city.

INSTALLATIONS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Mal Barner (Left) from Umow lai, and Paul Corbett (right) from CNG Systems

Bosch LH1-UC30E 30W two-way all-weather ABS horns greet incoming visitors walking down the “gangplanks” to the OPT. ‘These models provide much higher intelligibility than standard horns,’ stated CNG Systems manager Paul Corbett.

‘This particular application required an extended frequency range and high sensitivity speaker solution to alert passengers to get their documents in order and join the correct queue.’

The 4.0 m ceilings in levels one and two are reinforced with equally spaced EV EViD C4.2 ceiling speakers, whilst the escalators are served by C8.2HC models. Bosch LBC3099 speakers have been added to back of house areas.

A back of house ELV room combines a Bosch PRS NCO3 network controller and the Praesideo amplifiers, which creates the de-centralised network facilitating the five-zone daisy chain configurations. Fully programmed, the redundant network is also served by three channels of wireless mic systems and a CD player.

The Challenge

‘Testing and commissioning the system was challenging,’ confirmed Mr Corbett. ‘We had to remain on site until after 3 am on some evenings performing STI tests as there was continual construction taking place in this reverberant building.

Once we had completed the tests, we were delighted with the results and the performance of the system. With the added functionality we have installed in the OPT, the building can now be used as a multi functional space should the need arise.’ www.boschsecurity.asia

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PHILIPPINES

The Medical City Counts on ATEN for Full Integration Delivering a Total Solution for Healthcare Training

PROJECT FACTFILE

• Client: The Medical City • Segment: Healthcare • Location: Manila, Philippines • Distributor: Fil-Nippon Technology Supply, Inc., • System Integrator: NeoTech Asia Distribution Inc. • Task: To install a flexible video switching system with user-friendly control • Solution Highlights: ATEN VM1600, VM7604, VM7804, VM8804, VE810, VE600A

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ocated in Metro Manila, The Medical City (TMC) is a tertiary care hospital with over forty years experience in hospital operation and administration. Its world-class healthcare complex serves some 40,000 in-patients and 400,000 out-patients annually. TMC also offers a full range of specialist medical services including the Liver Center and Orthopedic Center.

In line with the hospital’s mission to provide high quality healthcare services, TMC embarked on a project to set up a simulation training centre for laparoscopy surgeries. Named CASSTI (Center for Advanced Skills, Simulation and Training Innovation), the centre houses actual units of the laparoscopic machines in the simulation rooms, a lecture theatre, a lounge area, a lobby area, a control room and conference rooms. The layout in the simulation rooms are modelled from real clinics so as to facilitate true-to-life training experience.

Seamless Video Switching

With all these avant-garde medical equipment in place, it is only logical that the hospital also wanted a robust, reliable and flexible video display technology to complement the overall training experience. Hence, the client’s initial brief to system integrator was a flexible video switching system that has the ability to interoperate between HDMI displays and DVI sources, plus, the hospital also wanted full 1080p HD quality.

Striving for the best-in-class yet affordable technology, TMC selected Fil-Nippon Technology Supply, Inc., to supply the

necessary ATEN solutions for this project. A key solution will be the ATEN VM1600, a 16×16 Modular matrix switch with seamless switching.

Combining two VM7604 (4-port DVI input boards) and two VM7804 (4-port HDMI input boards) with two VM8804 (4-port HDMI output boards), the matrix is used together with eleven VE810 (HDMI Extenders over Dual CAT5e with IR) and six VE600A (DVI Extenders over Dual CAT5e) to support Full HD video over long distances.

With the ATEN solution, users can live stream videos with no distortion in video quality. Last but not least, the solution also

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met the client’s requirement for an interoperability between HDMI and DVI sources with seamless switching support.

orientated communication facility using virtual terminal connections.

User-friendly Control

With Telnet, TMC's need for a wireless switching solution are met and users can easily connect their smart devices to the matrix without any additional hardware and do video switching anywhere inside the training centre, be it in the conference hall, audience area, stage area, meeting area etc. The ease of use and quick access is a great advantage for the client and its users.

To make things simple for the users, TMC also wanted a user-friendly control interface where they can easily switch the matrix via a smartphone or tablet on an iOS or Android platform. The client wanted a solution where existing infrastructure as such WiFi Access can be used without additional hardware.

Fully committed to satisfying all of their client’s requirements, ATEN products also have embedded Telnet support, which allows TMC to use Telnet apps with the solution (available in both the Apple and Google Play stores). Telnet is an application protocol used on the Internet and local area networks to provide a bi-directional, interactive, text-

“The TMC project highlights the flexibility of ATEN solutions and technology, such as Seamless Switch™, making them a perfect fit for close-to-zero second switching scenarios, like medical centers and live broadcasting,” said Frank Chang, Assistant Vice President, ATEN International. www.aten.com

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TURKEY

Konya Science Center’s New Health Gallery Treated In AV Konya Science Center – Turkey’s first and large interactive institution, which is also claimed to be the world’s third largest – dedicated to informal learning about science and technology – has recently added a gallery on human health with a fair level of audio-visual systems. Multinational AV systems integrator Electrosonic took the honours of deploying and programming the AV systems at the prestigious project. An SIA snapshot: Project Factfile: • Project: Konya Science Center • Location: Konya Municipality, Turkey • Project Owner: Konya Metropolitan Municipality • Project Management: Icosa Systems • Museum (Project) Design Expertise: Maltbie; Alchemy • Architects: A Proje • Engineers: Endeco Mühendislik Proje Müsavirlik • AV Design, Integration/Installation: Electrosonic • Systems deployed: Panasonic projectors, Elo Touchscreen kiosks, BrightSign HD media players, AMX Control System GUITannoy Speakers

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he Metropolitan Municipality of Konya – Turkey’s third largest city – decided to add a new gallery on human health to its already famous Konya Science Center, which meant further qualifying the prestigiously created interactive learning institution with modern audio-visual systems.

The Science Center which made Turkey’s first statement of truly large-scale interactive learning was modeled to reflect not only its local community in Konya but also attract other regions in the country to draw from its example.

The overall design therefore had to have local community in focus while aiming at national outcome.

That being its central theme, the new health gallery had to factor all that while being sophisticated and inspiring. It

needed an expertise that understood the requirement and delivered accordingly.

The gallery joins exhibits on basic science, new technology, earth and biosystems, space, and the history and culture of the region. Exhibition work and funding for the Science Center was overseen by the Turkish Scientific and Technical Researches Institution (TUBITAK).

Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based Maltbie, which creates experiences for museums, visitor centers and specialty projects, hired Electrosonic to provide AV support for the Science Center’s latest gallery. Electrosonic built all the racks and configured the equipment in the US and sent it to Maltbie’s headquarters, which shipped the units to Turkey.

INSTALLATIONS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Electrosonic spent about one month at the Science Center where Levent Komurcu, the exhibit production and maintenance manager, proved to be “of great assistance during the on-site installation portion of the project,” said Electrosonic project manager Tim Wilson. “He assisted us with everything from finding local suppliers to helping with translations” – a must support factor when working on international jobs.

The new gallery offers a wide range of exhibits designed to inform and engage visitors. Three exhibits, ‘Cells of Your Body/,’ ‘Immune Cell Army,’ and ‘Reduce Your Risk,’ have game formats played out on Ideum Pro 55 55-inc/lh touch tables, customized by Maltbie and connected by Electrosonic to network control. ‘Immune Cell Army,’ for instance, begins with a slide show about the body’s cells and what they fight, and then offers advice to the player about how to use the cells in his or her arsenal. The touch table launches the game, pitting good cells against harmful cells and keeping score for the player.

‘The Anatomical Family’ features flat cutouts of a man, woman and child.

Three Panasonic short-throw projectors

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display the skeletal system, nervous system, digestive systems and other internal views onto the body shapes.

Visitors use Elo Touch Solutions touchscreen kiosks in front of the exhibit to learn more about the various anatomical systems.

‘Our Basic Needs’ takes visitors through an interactive aging process. A Microsoft Kinect camera for Windows captures visitors when they walk into the field of view triggering a representation of themselves at various stages of life: a crying baby, a child jumping rope, an adult playing soccer, and an elderly person walking with a cane. A Panasonic short-throw projector displays the successive images on a wall as the visitor passes through the camera’s field of view.

BrightSign HD media players drive eight exhibits, including ‘Blood Vessel Voyager.’ A Panasonic short-throw projector displays animations of red blood cells coursing through the arteries onto a screen with a reflective coating on the back. Tannoy speakers playing a heartbeat audio track enhance the sensation of the blood vessels pulsating with life.

Panasonic rear projection also plays a role in ‘Embryonic Fetal Development,’ an exhibit whose hemispheric display surface mimics a womb. Visitors turn a wall-mounted dial to see how images of the embryo grow and change during the gestation process.

The lab area boasts a number of fun, hands-on mechanical exhibits by Maltbie – such as testing reaction time and exploring microscopes – which feature touchscreen instructions supplied by Electrosonic.

Seventeen Dell PCs supply PC-driven content throughout the gallery. One Dell PC powers the final ‘Healthy Habits Survey’ that visitors are invited to take. It stores information and shows visitors how they stack up against other participants; it also enables visitors to receive health-based emails and literature once they get home.

Electrosonic’s Elliot Nyfield, who served as programmer and commissioning engineer on the project, created the custom AMX control system GUI. This programming allows blanket and individual control of all the exhibits in the new gallery.

Blue Telescope created the content for the Human Health gallery. www.electrosonic.com

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INSTALLATIONS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

HONG KONG

Mercedes Me Lifestyle Venue

Offers Digital Interaction Lightware video matrix plays central role

The Eyevis 4K60 touchtable, where users can customise models or browse the German manufacturer's latest additions

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ercedes-Benz opened its new “Mercedes Me” concept store in Hong Kong, in September 2015, which follows the trend set by similar stores in Germany and Milan.

But whereas the other locations were temporary and aimed to host events and experience the Mercedes way of life, the Hong Kong venue is designed to last and sets a new milestone in the “Me” brand.

Maximal Concept, a Hong Kong restaurant group, operates the venue and has been involved since the project’s conception, bringing their expertise to the Lan Kwai Fong entertainment scene. Keeping in line with the car manufacturer's philosophy, technology was used to catch the attention of patrons as well as to allow multipurpose activity within the venue such as fashion shows, Formula 1 events, car launches or other clubbing night themes.

One of the signature elements of Mercedes Me stores is the Eyevis 4K60 touchtable, where users can

customise models or browse the German manufacturer's latest additions.

The whole venue was designed around a central video matrix from Lightware that can turn the interactive touchscreens running SCALA into more versatile displays for car launches or sporting events.

Several projectors are located around the venue with different purposes. Some are for speaker presentations, corporate events and fashion shows, while others are used for night-time attractions, such as the mesh screen projection in front of the car pen.

The car showcase area itself has its own small theme park-grade attraction with a unique circular LED screen. Composed with 512 Martin LED strips, it acts as a low resolution screen that can be fed by the Lightware matrix. A big Me logo can rotate around the car, but any video clip can also be sent to this screen for VJaying.

Using a direct HDBaseT connection between the Lightware MX-FR17 and the Panasonic DIGITAL LINK or the Epson Pro-G projectors eased the installation and the control of devices. A single CAT7 cable connects the displays, while also allowing simultaneous control over the same cable.

The same applies to the Panasonic PTZ cameras located in the restaurant and DJ area that can be controlled thru the HDBaseT links with the HDBaseT extender.

As a guest box, system integrator, LSI Services Ltd used the new Lightware UMX-TPS-TX140 that allows almost anything (from VGA, DVI, HDMI & DisplayPort) to be plugged into the system. Again, the single CAT cable flexibility of HDBaseT helps the user to operate technology easily: simply plug it, select the source on the iPad AMX TPC Control, select destination, and voilà!

INSTALLATIONS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

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AMX TPC control 2 x 55” touchscreens 1 x 37” touchscreen Lightware UMX-TPS-TX140 Guest sources ces

VGA HDMI DP DVI-D VIDEO VGA IN

AUDIO1 IN

HDMI IN

DP IN

Audio1 HDMI DP DVI-D AUDIO

INPUT STATUS

HDCP Autoselect DVI-A Video Audio2

Receiver

VIDEO SELECT

AUDIO SELECT

SHOW ME

3 x Lightware RXs

Receiver

2 x Cameras

DMX Led strips Receiver

RS-232

Local IPTV player

Normal

Prog

IR IN

IR OU OUT

2 x Lightwa Lightware TXs

System controller CONTROL LOCK

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OUTPUT LOCK

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TAKE AUTO

LOAD AUTO

EDID

SIGNAL AUTO

SAVE AUTO

SOURCES

8

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Preview

DESTINATIONS

Airplay source

CPU LIVE

ESC

TEST INPUT

PREVIOUS OUTPUT

POWER

ENTER

MX-FR17

Lightware MX-FR17 Bluray player

2x Panasonic DigitalLink projectors 2x Epson Pro-G projectors

4 x Scala players

Background music is accomplished using a combination of Tannoy OCV8 pendants, CMS 803DC ceiling speakers with a few subs installed within the restaurant ceiling, all powered by Lab. gruppen C10:4X with digital signal processing handled by a Biamp Nexia PM. From the iPad AMX interface, the shop manager is able to control video sources, audio, signage and Lutron lighting.

Next up for the Mercedes Me brand is a store in mainland China, which will play off of the Hong Kong theme and take it to a larger scale. www.lightware.eu

Sources:

• LG Network Bluray Player (SmartTV app: YouTube, Vimeo, etc) • NowTV IPTV Player • 2 x PTZ Full HD Panasonic AW-HE40 cameras • 4 x SCALA Digital Signage players with Mercedes Interactive application • AppleTV for Airplay sources (Sales iPad)

Project Factfile:

The car showcase area features a unique circular LED screen, composed with 512 Martin LED strips. The low resolution screen can be fed by the Lightware matrix. A big Me logo can rotate around the car, but any video clip can also be sent to this screen for Vjaying.

• Guest sources thru Lightware UMX-TPS-TX140 (VGA, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort) • Corporate Radio player

• 1 x Circular Videowall made of vertical RGBW LED strips (Martin VC Strip & P3-100 controller)

Displays:

• AV Matrix by Lightware MX-FR17 with HDBaseT direct output • Sound by BiAmp Nexia, Lab. gruppen Amp, Tannoy speakers (pendant & inceiling).

• Lighting control by Lutron • Automation by AMX

• 2 x Panasonic PT-RZ670WU Solid State projectors connected thru DigitalLink • 2 x Epson Pro-G6900 projectors connected in HDBaseT • 2 x Samsung 55” Touchscreen for Scala or video content • 1 x Samsung 37” Touchscreen for Scala or video content

Core System:

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VOICE BOX Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

Steering beyer’s Fit For The Future Strategy Dynamically German audio solutions major beyerdynamic, with a view to driving the company’s business stronger and more focused into the future, has recently initiated a series of measures that have significant bearing on the brand. One of those moves was the appointment of Robert Winterhoff as Managing Director for Global Sales & Marketing.

Bringing along with him, over 20 years of thorough industry exposure – the last being with the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) bloc – Winterhoff forms beyerdynamic’s topmanagement, together with the company’s long standing Managing Director Wolfgang Luckhardt.

Understandably, choosing India as his first overseas assignment in the new role, the high-profile executive was in Bengaluru recently, though preceded by his industry interactions in Delhi and Mumbai. SI Asia caught up with Winterhoff, to know more about his plans for beyer...Excerpts:

SI Asia: Congratulations on your coming onboard beyerdynamic- to the highest hot seat. Upfront, what does it mean to youprofessionally, and personally?

WINTERHOFF: Thank you for the compliments. Working on an organization’s global footprint has always given me a lot of satisfaction. Being able to leverage my experiences managing business overseas particularly here in Asia paired with our excellent growth opportunities excites me.

SI Asia: What does it mean to beyerdynamic?

WINTERHOFF: I love what I do, and beyerdynamic will benefit from it. I will bring leadership and energy to lift the company to the next level.

SI Asia: Your coming onboard beyer itself is said to be part of the ‘Fit for the Future’ strategy. What exactly does it mean to the company and the market?

WINTERHOFF: The execution of the strategy essentially means getting closer to the consumer and the partners. We will focus on both- regional growth and expansion of our current product portfolio. The strategy aims at helping the company gauge the future market needs, unlock the potential of new markets and develop product-solutions that meet the customer needs by getting even closer to the community. The ‘Fit for the Future strategy,’ therefore, can be taken as meaning sustainable growth.

SI Asia: Having taken the hot high seat, what is your immediate priority?

WINTERHOFF: I‘ll need to understand beyerdynamic environment, customers and partners. What works and what doesn’t “culturally,” and what needs to be fine-tuned. I will form strategic partnerships, using ethical practices, and work on profitability business.

VOICE BOX Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

My obvious focus first will be to build a global international sales organization and make our product/solution portfolio more attractive for the customers.

SI Asia: beyer has also recently restructured its business focus and units. What is the vision and purpose of the initiative? How does it benefit the company’s cause?

WINTERHOFF: As I mentioned before when we talked about the ‘Fit for Future’ strategy, one of our goals is to get closer to the customer. And that’s one of the most important reasons why we decided for the two new business units. We restructured the organization to have the chance to work more focused on different target groups, and we bundled competencies in the teams by doing that.

SI Asia: beyerdynamic has been one of the best known audio innovators. What do you think is the most impactful innovation thus far?

WINTERHOFF: If I understand “thus far” as the timeline since the time the company has been in existence it is definitely the invention of dynamic headphones for series production which came with our first headphone DT 48. As you know this is still our business today and the outcome of this first innovation led to several others, and to microphones and conference systems.

In recent times, we perfected the dynamic headphones.

For example, the Tesla Technology is one of our younger innovations that we are proud of, but which is still based on the dynamic principle.

SI Asia: While conferencing system solutions are one of beyer’s strengths, we do not hear much about the Tour Guide Systems- your take on this?

WINTERHOFF: You will. I am very confident that we will have a marketing campaign by the 3rd quarter of 2016 in your part of the world to give you access to these exciting products.

SI Asia: The visit to India is your first overseas trip after taking the global sales & mktg reigns at beyerdynamic. What made you prefer it that way?

WINTERHOFF: This was a very conscious decision. In my view paired with my previous experience in the region, India has for beyerdynamic fantastic growth opportunities. In my previous stint, I was responsible for the BRIC – Brazil, Russia, India and China – markets, and India at the moment appears more rapidly growing than the rest in the bloc. The country has so much to ask for in terms of potential government business, academia, and others. On the other hand, our growth areas are close to regional growth areas which I think we haven’t captured yet enough, which is exactly why I made India as my first overseas assignment in my new role.

SI Asia: With your thorough exposure to the BRIC markets, how would you compare India against the rest of the bloc in terms of strengths, and weaknesses?

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WINTERHOFF: Let me focus on the strengths - India is on the forefront of information technology advancement from the region, and that stands the country a huge advantage. We, beyerdynamic, as a German audio engineering company, are investing with our local office in Bangalore to participate in the country´s march of progress. That we see no weaknesses as in earlier years, and infrastructure situation is very much improved, we see the country presenting exciting opportunities for growth.

SI Asia: One of the challenges in the region is said to be counterfeit products. Does beyer suffer from the challenge?

WINTERHOFF: We are very much aware of the problem.

However, we are very fortunate that it is not a problem for us at the moment.

SI Asia: beyer does have competition from major players. What makes the brand stand out from the competition?

WINTERHOFF: beyerdynamic drives on values. We have kept our authenticity since 1924 through outstanding sound performance, pioneering spirit, innovative strength, premium quality made in Germany and more than 90 years of brand success. A huge amount of passion is put into each of our products for nearly one century. Audio expertise of many generations of engineers and users run into our products. In summary - We are the Generation Audio.

SI Asia: Would please elaborate on beyer’s Agenda 2024? What all does it intend to bring to ‘brand beyer’?

WINTERHOFF: Agenda 2024 is our internal project which is known to the outside world as our “Fit for the Future” strategy. As already stated our intention is get closer to the customer and leverage our technological advantage in the defined market segments. Generically said, Agenda 2024 is a performance timeline when the company completes 100 years of existence in audio business, and celebrates its centenary.

SI Asia: What does it have for the APAC region in particular?

WINTERHOFF: We are going to increase our global footprint in the first step. We will orientate our sales offices throughout the region to reinforce our sales and marketing activities.

SI Asia: How do you view the audio industry in APAC vis-à-vis other regions of the worldin terms of adopting technology?

WINTERHOFF: APAC region has made amazing progress over the recent years adopting state of the art technologies compared to other parts of the world. That's one of reasons we will focus in the APAC region and in particular on development of beyerdynamic India infrastructure. To reflect this vibrant market we will hold some of the new product launch first in the region. www.beyerdynamic.com

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VOICE BOX Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

UC&C – What Is It, and Why Should I Be Bothered?

Martin Bonsoir is based in the UK and is the EMEIA application engineering manager for Biamp Systems. With more than 10 years of pro-AV experience, Martin’s passion for all things audio dominates his professional life and is a welcome addition to his personal endeavours.

Like Christmas decorations at a shopping mall in December, the acronym UC&C could have only gone unnoticed if one ignores their surroundings like that of a teenager with a new smart phone and unlimited data. Magazines are writing about it, AV people are talking about it, IT people are referencing it, and even my local gym has put up a poster on the wall in front of the treadmill stating “No UC&C, no gain” (well, the last example may have been an exaggeration, but I’m sure you agree with the general point.)

But if you join me in enjoying a generous portion of cynicism for a moment, I’m sure you have wondered what all the fuzz is about. What does UC&C mean anyway?

Just as there’s no agreed consensus of what makes a good cup of coffee (although, of course, my judgement is correct and those in disagreement are still victims of poor taste), there are also variations and even confusion in the understanding of what the term UC&C actually means. So, for the sake of clarity, I shall offer my definition: UC stands for “Unified Communications,” which is a term that came to define the related technologies, tools, and applications that enable communication. & is simply a lazy way (or maybe more stylish way...?) of writing “and.” And the last C, boringly enough, doesn’t stand for Campanology or Chromatoptometer, but instead it’s C for “Collaboration.” That’s rather important, and gives real meaning to the acronym.

Collaboration is defined by the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge

University Press as “the act of working with another person or group of people to create or produce something” and my mother taught me better than to argue with Mr Cambridge University. So if we put it all together, UC&C can be described as “the tools and technologies that enable us to be more productive and make our boss look better.” And name me a boss that doesn’t like that.

Of course, the ability to collaborate always existed. Batman would have been rather less dynamic without Robin and Alfred, and I’m certain two separate solo projects would have yielded fewer hits for Lennon and McCartney.

But up until rather recently, available technologies meant that productive, realtime collaboration could only happen between people in the same physical space; and even then, there were practical obstacles to overcome.

More recently, the staggering space of technology has produced better and nicer tools to work with (plus the connectivity bandwidth to use them), while at the same time we are afforded to do so when located physically apart from one another. Multi-way telephone conference calls, audio conferencing, video conferencing, moving cameras, better displays, and increased integration of these solutions are but a few examples of the technological advances in AV that helped make the distant communication experience more fluent. Technologies have not only evolved in the BECCR (big expensive and complicated corporate room) space. Rather, the evolution in the consumer, desktop, mobile, and IT realms has been relentless: soft clients like Skype, the-app-formerly-knownas-Lync, and GoToMeeting are now

VOICE BOX Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

essentials in our laptops, tablets, and phones.

Additionally, applications that were once e designed for individual work have firmlyy and steadily been including collaboration on features and mechanisms. Think of toolss like word processors, CAD software or project management solutions. All those e developments add up and can now be combined into extremely powerful communication solutions.

I distinctly remember printing work-inprogress schematics on a forest worth of large-size paper so that the team could review a design; an activity we were forced to undertake huddled around a table big enough to hold the prints and stretching our necks in unhealthy angles. s.

We then got a projector, and I could achieve the same goal faster and without massive deforestation. That wass perhaps the first step in a journey that in a relatively short period of time, has taken us to a point where I can share the files Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m working on with minimum effort, have productive discussions with those in remote locations, and make amendments directly on the master document. How about that for an improvement?

I, for one, canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get enough of that, and thus see the raise of UC&C in our industry as logical, and expect its development to continue.

At the same time, the fact that UC&C includes and relies on a variety of technologies that may not have historically belonged in the skillset of AV V or IT professionals, does present unique e technical challenges and opportunities.

Knowledge in telephony, control, audio,, video, IT, architecture, and acoustics are e all required to successfully design and deploy effective solutions. Sometimes itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s necessary to be an expert in all of those fields, sometimes in a few of them, m, sometimes in even more.

Achieving that expertise is vital if businesses desire to achieve the additional revenue stream this segment can provide. As hardware becomes more e readily available, technical competence

provides a major differentiator in the marketplace. Not to mention that a technically savvy workforce delivers on time and on budget budget, t, and is capable of determining whether the new product or technology on of offer ffe fer is a useful addition to the arsenal, or o just a me-too device that provides no n real improvement. It all assists the bo bottom b tttom line, but also helps tremendously with morale and employee retention.

Education Ed and information are therefore undoubtedly key to understanding and participating in the UC&C activity. Keeping abreast of developments and building a solid solild understanding of the requirements requirem e ents and possibilities of each eac a h technology is vital for system em integrators and designers to effectively identify products produccts and technologies that will create the best results, to develop solutions that meet the increasing e expectation xpectation from users and business busine ess s owners, and to deliver th them hem m effectively.

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The fact you are reading this article is testament to your interest, and I will humbly encourage you to continue in your quest for knowledge. By reading relevant press, enlisting in seminars, attending courses, and taking time to learn something new at every opportunity will unquestionably help develop the greatest business opportunities.

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ON OUR WEB Systems Integration Asia February - March 2016

WWW.SYSTEMSINTEGRATIONASIA.COM

Planning to visit ISE 2016 in Amsterdam? Here's our quick guide to some interesting exhibitors...

Fohhn

ZeeVee

OCA Alliance

Analog Way

German Manufacturer Fohhn To Present Latest Audio Solutions With New Look

ZeeVee To Demo Next-Gen Video Distribution Solutions

First-time Exhibitor OCA Alliance To Demo Remote Control Standardization Solutions

Analog Way To Exhibit Latest VIO 4K – A Powerful Multiformat Converter

Hall 7, D177

Hall 10, N151

Hall 7, F221

Hall 1, N32

DigiBird

Pro Display

Digital Projection

Martin Audio

DigiBird To Showcase An Industry’s First – Video Wall Controller That Supports 45° Rotation Of Displays

Visualization specialist Pro Display To Flash Out New Screen Innovations

Digital Projection To Release 2nd Gen HIGHlite Laser

Martin Audio To Unveil New Installation Speakers

Hall 8, N190

Hall 1, M6

Hall 1, F42

Hall 7, K175

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