Systems Integration Asia Feb-Mar 2015

Vol. 14 Issue 3 ~ February - March 2015

AUDIO • VISUAL • LIGHT • CONTROL SYSTEMS • UNIFIED COMMS MCI (P) 035/04/2014 PPS 1669/08/2013 (022992)

Special Feature: The Simulation Era

PHILIPPINES

• The World's First Hajj Simulator

• Country Analysis

w w w . s y s t e m s i n t e g r a t i o n a s i a . c o m

Christie Solutions Deliver Spectacular Visuals at Marina Bay Countdown Party in Singapore

* Ì V ÕÀÌiÃÞ v iÝ } - ÕÌ *Ìi Ì`

Almost 60 Christie Roadster Series projectors create a stunning projection mapping show on the façade of Fullerton Hotel and Merlion Statue on New Year’s Eve in Singapore.

Christie’s rental staging partner Hexogon Solution Pte Ltd installed almost 60 Christie® Roadster HD20K-J 3-chip DLP® projectors to create a spectacular lighting show on the enormous façade of Ì i v> ÕÃ Õ iÀÌ Ìi > ` Ì i V V iÀ ÃÌ>ÌÕi Ì À } Ì i iÜ 9i>À > ` vwV > Þ V vv celebrations to commemorate Singapore’s golden jubilee. The performance culminated in a countdown ÃiµÕi Vi Ì ` } Ì] v Üi` i` >Ìi Þ LÞ > i } Ì ÕÌi wÀiÜ À ` ë >Þ° / Ã Ã Ì i >À}iÃÌ Õ LiÀ v À ÃÌ i «À iVÌ Àà iÛiÀ `i« Þi` v À > iÛi Ì ÃÌ>}i` - }>« Ài Ì `>Ìi° 7 i Þ Õ >Ài Ì i i>`iÀ Û ÃÕ> «À iVÌ ] Þ Õ >Ûi Ì i à ÕÌ Ã Ì iiÌ Ì i ÃÌ V > i } } ÃiÌÌ }° À Ì i à > iÃÌ v iiÌ } À Ã Ì Ì i ÃÌ Ã « ÃÌ V>Ìi` Û ÀÌÕ> Ài> ÌÞ > ` Ã Õ >Ì ÃÞÃÌi Ã] À ÃÌ i `i ÛiÀÃ Ì i À } Ì Û ÃÕ> à ÕÌ Ã L>V i` LÞ Ì i LiÃÌ VÕÃÌ iÀ ÃiÀÛ Vi° - ` ½Ì ` L>V Þ ÕÀ Û Ã ° À ÃÌ i Ü i « Þ Õ w ` Ì i À } Ì Û ÃÕ> à ÕÌ v À iÛiÀÞ « Ãà L i > ` Ãii } Þ « Ãà L i V>Ì > ` >«« V>Ì ii`° www.christiedigital.com

USA ph: +1 714 236 8610 sales-us@christiedigital.com

CHINA-SHANGHAI ph: +86 21 6278 7708 ask-china@christiedigital.com

INDIA ph: +91 80 6708 9999 ask-india@christiedigital.com

KOREA ph: +82 2 702 1601 ask-korea@christiedigital.com

AUSTRALIA ph: +61 (0) 7 3624 4888 ask-australia@christiedigital.com

CHINA-BEIJING ph: +86 10 6561 0240 ask-china@christiedigital.com

JAPAN ph: +81 3 3599 7481 ask-japan@christiedigital.com

SINGAPORE ph: +65 6877 8737 ask-singapore@christiedigital.com

CONTENTS

Vol. 14 Issue 3 ~ February - March 2015

88 82

04 FIRST WORDS

66 World's First Hajj Simulator 70 Visualizing Reality

06 NEWS 74 Mohammad Masoud Janahi, Director Of Dubai's Drivers 44 COUNTRY ANALYSIS

Affairs Department

PHILIPPINES

48 Common Cathode Technology

India

78 Australia: Melbourne University Goes Digital With Soundcorp 80 Singapore: Technology

SPECIAL FEATURE: SIMULATION ERA 57 See, Hear, Touch & Get Real 62 Trained To Fly

Work Space Environment 90 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: The Desert VOICE BOX 92 Investing In Closer-Connect

INSTALLATIONS 54 InfoComm China 2015

88 Hong Kong: Tricor Enhances Its

76 First-of-its-kind ICT Initiative In

52 Audio Processing Principles EXHIBITION PREVIEW

Moves Ahead With Tannoy

Connecting A Steely Future In COMMENTARY

TECH TALK

Asia's Diagnostic Displays 86 Australia: Canberra Airport

FROM THE OTHER SIDE 32 SOLUTIONS UPDATE

74

85 India: Barco Powers Columbia

Embraced To Lure Shoppers 82 India: CSIR-NGRI Creates A Collaborative Digital Classroom

With Customers 94 Lucep: Making Queueing Systems Sexy 97 Visual Asia Expo: Not Just Another Tech Show

04

FIRST WORDS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

INDIA AND MIDDLE EAST EDITOR Ram Bhavanashi ram@spinworkz.com

ASSISTANT EDITOR Shireen Ho shireen@spinworkz.com

T

ASSISTANT EDITOR Elissa Nadine elissa@spinworkz.com

ADMIN & CIRCULATION Julie Tan admin@spinworkz.com

DIGITAL PLATFORM EDITOR Rosalind Tan rosalind@spinworkz.com

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Jimmy Chin jimmy@spinworkz.com

MEDIA REP IN NORTH AMERICA Broadcast Media International Michael J. Mitchell Tel: +1 631 673 0072 mjmitchell@broadcast-media.tv 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.

he first half of the year generally seems to move a little faster. I am guessing this is simply because of the many exhibitions that happens from January to June.

We expect ISE that is being held from 10 to 12 February to continue its momentum of growing every year in terms of visitors. The show itself has also grown so much in recent years that in 2016, the exhibition will be held over four days instead of three. For those of us travelling from Asia, the current lower valuation of the Euro should help ease our expenditure.

Visitors to the exhibition can expect more 4K solutions brought to the fore, more instantaneous interactivity being displayed and of course, even better collaboration tools. We look forward and hope to be dazzled by some of the solutions on exhibit.

Staying with exhibitions, InfoComm China will be upon us in April. This year will be its largest showing with more than 400 exhibiting companies occupying 7 Halls at the China National Convention Center, Beijing. InfoComm China has been increasingly seen as THE AV SHOW not just for the China market, but for the Asia Pacific market as well. This is perhaps due to the fact that it is after all the largest gathering of AV manufacturers and suppliers in the region by far and has been growing each year since 2006 without interruption. With the Asia Pacific AV market poised to become the largest in the world next year, we expect InfoComm China to also grow in tandem with the region and become the fulcrum of technology change for the world. It is for this reason that the organisers are introducing English language sessions in the InfoComm China Summit this year and promoting the show to AV Channels in all the other Asian countries in the region.

Speaking of AV business in Asia Pacific, our recent survey of the Philippines market indicates high optimism amongst the Philippines AV industry that 2015 should be a good year for them. Enjoy our graphic presentation about the industry, in the inside pages.

We were also privileged to be invited to the showcasing of the World's First Hajj Simulator in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is indeed an interesting proposition. Axon 313, the company responsible for the simulator, saw the issues being faced first hand, had gone through the seminars that one had to attend before going to the Hajj, and then devised a solution that they feel will enhance the learning as well as the experience of those going to the Hajj. The Simulator is still continuously evolving and considering that millions attend the Hajj every year, we think it could become an essential tool.

Enjoy the read.

Thomas Richard Prakasam Publisher/Editorial Director

thomas@spinworkz.com

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NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Leyard Fills Gap With Acquisition Of Glux Glux, focusing on LED equipment rental and LED stage visual effect services, had previously collaborated with Leyard early in 2008 on the LED scroll for the Beijing Olympic Games. This project turned out to be a classic masterpiece in LED application and is still referenced around the globe today. In addition, this merging between the two powerful LED players fills Leyard’s void in LED rental products.

CHINA: Early January 2015, saw Leyard announced the acquisition of a 100% stake of Glux via issuing shares and cash.

With this, Leyard takes over an industry leader in the LED display rental market in China. With this move, Leyard is now equipped to provide quality LED display solutions in all of the four major sections of the LED industry: small pixel pitch LED display, digital signage, sports venue solutions and rental solutions.

An integrated service provider registered in Beijing, Glux offers creative ideas, designs, equipment and technologies for visual effects. Besides project staples such as LED-based stage visual effect projects for artistic performances, TV shows, exhibitions and other stage activities, Glux is also capable of conducting R&D, production, and sales of related products as well as providing general solutions. With its patented

technologies, distinctive carbon fiber materials and concept of light, thin, quick, and transparent rental design, the company has established a reputation of high quality performance amongst the biggest and most reputable leaders in the LED industry with applications in the entertainment and sports industries.

As Leyard’s international market is greatly bolstered by this acquisition, Leyard will act on the benefits of this merger by: integrating its production lines, adopting uniform and strict quality management and control standards, and promoting global localization sales strategy and after-sales services to continue to raise clients’ satisfaction level by ensuring the most professional presales and after-sales support. www.leyard.com

HARMAN Promotes David McKinney And Recruits Frank Xiao INTERNATIONAL: HARMAN Professional today announced the appointment of David McKinney as Vice President and GM of HARMAN’s Mixer Business Unit, where he will lead the global operations of the Soundcraft and Studer brands.

Filling McKinney’s previous position of Senior Director and General Manager of China Operations for HARMAN Professional will be Frank Xiao, who brings more than 15 years experience in the professional AV industry to his new role.

Based in Potters Bar, McKinney will report to HARMAN Professional President Blake Augsburger. McKinney has held the position of Senior Director and General Manager, China Operations for HARMAN Professional since July 2013, prior to which he held the position of Senior Director, India Operations for HARMAN Professional. In total, McKinney has worked for HARMAN Professional for 11 years in four different country offices, building an impressive sales record and contributing greatly to HARMAN’s growth.

“Soundcraft and Studer are both innovation leaders in audio mixing technology and we are committed to backing up our world-class products with dedicated, steadfast customer support and engineering excellence,” McKinney said.

“We have some very exciting products to launch this month and plans for many more in the near future. Our success has been built on close customer relationships, engineering quality and innovative new products; these are the key pillars we will continue to focus on for the future as we grow these two great businesses.”

Frank Xiao has a wealth of experience in the AV industry, with over 16 years experience in high-end projection and display systems, and cinema solutions.

He has numerous strong relationships with channel partners throughout China.

He joins HARMAN Professional from Christie Digital Systems, where he spent 13 years, serving as General Manager of Christie China since March 2007. In this

position, Xiao was responsible for sales, marketing, service, HR, finance and operations. He successfully built David McKinney and managed the Christie China team and achieved an increase in overall sales performance of 600 percent within seven years.

“HARMAN Professional has a strong presence in China and I am looking forward to growing this presence through our delivery of integrated, specialized systems for a variety of the vertical markets that we serve,” Xiao said. “The Chinese market represents a unique set of opportunities and challenges, and we are strongly positioned to capitalize on these opportunities while meeting the challenges of the market.” www.harman.com

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NEWS SSystems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Epson India Brightens Corporate Sector With New Range of Projectors

A K Harish, Business Head-Visual Instruments at Epson India

INDIA: Japanese 3LCD pioneer Epson reinforced its commitment and focus on Indian corporate segment through its latest range of ‘true-to-life’ business projectors. At a grand event organized in Bengaluru recently, the company introduced a new range of the projection systems to the system integrators, and end user community.

participants can use a finger to conveniently draw and annotate on projected content on the screen to show new ideas or emphasise key concepts. They can also enjoy improved navigational experience by using finger gestures such as swipe, flick, press and tap and pinch zoom to control the onscreen content.

The new launches are significant in that they include the new version of full HD 3D Home Cinema projector – said to be the world’s brightest 3D projector for Home – and a large venue projector, said to be Epson’s brightest system to date, and a Miracast technology-powered projector that takes the experience beyond full HD.

The system seeks to elevate the interoffice/multi-campus collaboration to new highs with its multi-location interactive capabilities. Users in distant offices can connect via Internet and share annotations made on their respective screens.

The systems launched included the ultrashort throw finger-touch EB-1400 Series; the Miracast-powered EB-1970/80 Series, EB-Z9000/11000 Series for large venues, and EH-TW6600 Full HD 2D&3D system for Home Entertainment.

The EB-1400 series, by virtue of the finger-touch interactivity, seek to redefine the boundaries of possibilities in a workplace collaboration. Meeting

The Whiteboard Share function provides even more engagement and participation, as content from one whiteboard can be shared with distant participants via a URL which can be accessed by a PC or even a Smart device. Thus participants can stay connected and share even while they are on the move. More, that the system allows as many as 15 devices to be connected at one time, as many people can collaborate to share content.

N Sambamoorthy, Epson India VicePresident, Sales & Marketing

“The entire software required for the solution has been devised by Epson,” said A K Harish, Business Head-Visual Instruments at Epson India. “The system is sold as a complete package,” he remarked, “the user doesn’t have to do anything independently. All that is required is to interact with it by mere moving of the fingers in the required fashion, and experience the richness of the solution while controlling the function.”

According to him, the system suits best for not only multi-campus academic institutions but also the modern corporate offices with multiple offices in distant locations. The UST projector is said to give equally high white and colour brightness of 3300-lumens.

The EB-1970/80 series with WXGA/ WUXGA resolution variants seek to add a new dimension to the ‘beyond full HD’ projection in that it brings wireless operation without the need for additional software. That it is a multi-PC projector – meaning it offers greater flexibility of connecting multiple devices – with moderator function seek to widen collaboration options.

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NEWS SSystems Integration Asia February - March 2015 at the event venue to drive ‘home’ its message of the latest offering.

All the systems are powered by Epson’s 3LCD technology that produces images that are three times brighter than the comparable technologies. The 3LCD engine ensures that users get the highest possible colour light output from the light source, thereby enabling Epson projectors to deliver colour brightness as high as white brightness. This results in bright and colour-accurate images, and smooth projections of movies without colour breakup.

Toshiyuki Kasai, Epson India President and CEO

“The moderator can display four screens at one time while toggling between as many as 50 PCs,” explained Harish. “This gives the widest flexibility in a businessintense corporate environment where business decisions require data from multiple sources to be seen at the same time.” That the system is powered by Miracast technology the system comes with in-built software enabling smooth and wider toggling amongst multiple devices. With almost equal colour and white brightness, the EB 1900 series offers 10000:1 contrast.

Gauging the emerging market need to take projection beyond boardroom, in venues of large size, Epson has brought its brightest projector yet.

With a matching white and colour brightness of 11,000 lumens the Epson EB-Z9000/11000 Series offers superior image quality and geometric capabilities enabling users project on practically anywhere, including curved surfaces or corner walls. Users no longer are restricted to project in landscape format, as the new EB-Z9000/11000 series can project in portrait mode with as many as seven interchangeable lenses, including one short throw lens- thereby increasing install options.

As one of the most fascinating offerings, Epson has also brought the latest variant of its Home Cinema projector, the EHTW6600 full HD 1080p, said to be the

world’s brightest full HD 3D projector.

The feature-rich system with 2500 Lumen brightness, 70,000:1 contrast, and 2D & 3D Full HD 1080p competence, is rendered unique by means of its characteristic lens shift option. This option, enabling the projector lens move + 60 per cent on vertical axis, and + 24 per cent on horizontal axis, brings in incredible flexibility to installers and discerning users in that it can be fitted to any designer corner of the room as well as help move the screen in any desired angle depending upon the room design and choice of the user.

“Bringing the TW6600 system is a reinforcement of our focus and commitment on the emerging Home Cinema market in India,” explained Epson India Vice-President, Sales & Marketing N Sambamoorthy. “Home Cinema is one we felt an unexplored market; and one we needed to ‘create',” he continued, “having taken some very active strides in the direction over the last couple of years, we wanted to further bolster our offerings which is what the revolutionary TW600.”

According to the VP, Epson has created over 50 ‘Experience Centres’ of Home Cinema demos across the country towards promoting the market as well as Epson’s offerings. Epson has created a makeshift demo room

A specific chunk of End Users and resellers were presented with the demos of the projection solutions in the afternoon, following which, Harish took the SI community in the evening through a detailed demo of 3LCD technology, and products, as well as the company’s market focus and perspective.

While emphasizing on Epson’s global pole position, Epson India President Toshiyuki Kasai underscored the need for increasing the penetration level in Indian market. He exhorted the SI community to participate more actively in the company’s initiatives towards better growth figures.

“We have been growing around 25 per cent every year; we would want to double that figure up,” Sambamoorthy summed up. “Projectors business is clearly central to our market approach now; we have plans to come up with projection ranges upwards of 11,000 lumens in the coming 18 months or so,” he explains, “we believe initiatives like that will take us to the desired growth levels.” www.epson.co.in

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NEWS SSystems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Chief Introduces New Certification Course For Office Environments most to their market segments, differentiate their business, and earn rewards, all on their schedule and at their pace.

HONG KONG: Chief, AV mounting solutions specialist, launched a new training course through the Chief Certified Partner Program. The module focuses on office environment solutions in various commercial spaces.

The course is designed to help create sleek, ergonomic office environments with special focus on control room, server room and cubical applications.

The training also provides free industry

credits - 2 InfoComm CTS RUs and 1 CEDIA CEU for both the product and install tracks.

"In addition to our recent Education and Digital Signage courses, this Office course continues our series of training focused on specific vertical markets," said Mike Moon, Training and Installation Manager. "We're excited to add these applications to our training mix."

Users can focus on training that applies

More than 5,000 users have taken advantage of Chief's Certification Program to differentiate their business through free online training. In total, the program is now worth up to 15.5 CTS RUs, 11.5 CEDIA CEUs and 6 DSEG Credits. Users also earn great rewards (which vary by region) throughout their training as they reach certain Chief point levels.

Users can start training at chiefmfg.com/Certification

IEEE Adopts HDBaseT Standard For Ultra-HD Digital Connectivity INTERNATIONAL: HDBaseT Alliance, the cross-industry group tasked with promoting and advancing HDBaseT standard; and IEEE, the world’s largest professional organization advancing technology for humanity, have announced that the HDBaseT standard has been approved by the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Board for adoption as part of the organization’s standard portfolio.

HDBaseT is a successful technology for long-distance ultra-high definition distribution of digital media today, with hundreds of HDBaseT-certified products currently commercialized. It will complement IEEE-SA’s portfolio of marketproven communications and technology standards. The HDBaseT standard is joining the IEEE P1911 family of standards.

HDBaseT enables all-in-one transmission of ultra-high-definition video through a single 100m/328ft Cat6 cable, delivering uncompressed 4K video, audio, USB, Ethernet, control signals, and up to 100

watts of power. HDBaseT simplifies cabling, enhances ease-of-use, and accelerates deployment of ultra-high-definition connectivity solutions. The cost-effective LAN infrastructure and power transmission support also help reduce and simplify installation and electrical costs.

“IEEE is dedicated to delivering robust open standards that serve as a catalyst for continued technology and market innovation. IEEE’s adoption of the HDBaseT technology through its consensusdriven process will help advance the move to ultra-high-definition connectivity,” said Konstantinos Karachalios, Managing Director, IEEE-SA. “We are very pleased to be working with the HDBaseT Alliance and look forward to a long and productive relationship.”

“This collaboration with the IEEE is a major milestone for HDBaseT and for the Alliance, as the IEEE is one of the leading standards organizations in the world,” said Ariel Sobelman, President, HDBaseT Alliance. “The adoption by IEEE will help

enhance HDBaseT’s impact and influence in today’s connected world. We will be working together to further develop the HDBaseT technology for the benefit of HDBaseT’s and IEEE’s enormous constituency.”

The HDBaseT Alliance will continue to offer its members the HDBaseT branding and certification necessary for commercialization of the technology.

The IEEE Standards Association, a globally recognized standards-setting body within IEEE, develops consensus standards through an open process that engages industry and brings together a broad stakeholder community. IEEE standards set specifications and best practices based on current scientific and technological knowledge. The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of over 900 active standards and more than 500 standards under development. www.hdbaset.org www.standards.ieee.org

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NEWS SSystems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Powersoft Starts The New Year With Indian Continent Initiative ITALY: Powersoft S.p.A has announced that a new sales and support organization has been introduced into the company’s distribution network for the Indian subcontinent. The territories to be covered include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal and it was officially launched January 1, 2015.

With numerous current users already present in the region, and with the new generation of pro-audio power amplifiers in the Powersoft X-Series and the Powersoft Ottocanali DSP + DANTE series, the need to restructure for increased activity is imminent. The Indian subcontinent is a rapidly growing market where the price / performance-ratio of Powersoft products is in perfect harmony with market expectations.

The entire process is headed by Executive Director - India, Karl Kahlau, where a significant part of Karl’s work will, together with the dynamic sales team at Powersoft, comprise of building sales- channels and a dealer / distribution network.

Important tasks will also include continuing the successful course of

Powersoft Sound School educational sessions as well as, throughout the territory, build a solid service-network together with Powersoft Service Care Manager Marco Mannucci.

Karl brings over 2 decades of experience within the export industry where he, before joining Powersoft in October 2013, for more than 12 years was responsible for sales and marketing holding a position as Export Sales Manager EMEA at Renkus-Heinz Inc, California, USA. During his tenure at Renkus-Heinz Inc., he pioneered sales in Europe and Middle East on electronically steerable selfpowered and networked loudspeakers systems.

Karl has proficiently furthered the course for, and been an evangelist of, promoting high quality, premium performance installations with numerous noteworthy references to exhibit.

Powersoft Director of Sales, Luca Giorgi commented, "The region of India, Pakistan and other adjacent countries targeted for this expansion is extremely important to us and we foresee a rapidly

growing demand throughout our product portfolio."

He continued, "Our sophisticated proprietary amplifier products go hand-in-hand with our philosophy to deliver advanced solutions to users of loudspeaker systems as well as demanding loudspeaker installations."

Adding on, Luca commented, "Karl's experience and professional market and product knowledge fits perfectly with both our portfolio as well as our corporate culture here at Powersoft. We are confident Karl will be able to greatly contribute to our development-progress in the area.”

Noteworthy is, that there are already a vast number of Powersoft product users on the Indian sub- continent and Powersoft invites any of these companies to contact Karl at Karl@powersoft. it and the sales team at Powersoft for details on promotion and distribution of Powersoft products in the territory. www.powersoft-audio.com

HARMAN Acquires SM Pro Audio And Bolsters Technology Portfolio

AUSTRALIA: HARMAN has announced the acquisition of Melbourne, Australiabased SM Pro Audio and its incorporation into the HARMAN Professional Division as an innovation hub for a wide range of pro audio and musical instrument (MI) technologies across HARMAN’s professional product brands.

According to Blake Augsburger, President, HARMAN Professional Division, the depth of innovation and quality of engineering talent at SM Pro Audio provides HARMAN Professional with a strong internal technology partner for a broad range of products “I am very pleased to welcome the SM Pro Audio team to the HARMAN fold.

Together, we look forward to bringing a new depth of innovation to the broadest array of customers around the world,” Augsburger said today. “To that point, we have already envisioned ideas and

concepts where SM Pro Audio products and technologies could benefit Soundcraft and Studer mixers, dbx signal processing, AKG transducers, and more. We expect to introduce HARMAN products that feature SM Pro Audio technology in early 2015, including previews of two groundbreaking Soundcraft mixing products at NAMM 2015.”

SM Pro Audio was a privately held business. Additional details of the transaction are not being disclosed at this time. www.harman.com

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Big IDEAs that Stick The new line of IDEA Screens feature upgraded surface uniformity and rigidity making them the best writable screens on the market for interactive projection. All IDEAs are now thin frame, magnetic, and with hotspot-free and erasable surface. Large sizes are also available up to 60” tall and 16’ wide – that’s a good IDEA

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NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Lightware Appoints Murugan Paramasivam as Director of India & SAARC

Murugan with the Lightware Visual Asia team

INDIA: In what is seen in the industry as a coup of sorts, Lightware Visual Engineering Ltd has appointed Murugan Paramasivam as Director of India & SAARC. Murugan is no stranger to the AV industry and is a well-known figure not only within the industry but at the end-user level as well.

Lightware Visual Engineering is one of the leading manufacturer of DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort matrix switchers, signal extenders and accessories for the professional AV market.

Gergely Vida, Lightware CEO commented, “Murugan’s skills and experience will be key to our commitment of outstanding customer service as we continually strive to be world leaders in the area of Digital Signal Management for the professional AV market. We look forward to the new ideas and inspiration he will bring to our company and wish him every success in his future with Lightware.”

Aaron Lange, Sales Director (Asia) is also very enthused with the appointment, “During this time of Digital transformation, there is no better person to lead Lightware India than Murugan.

Murugan is a proven leader with hardcore engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together.

His vision for how technology will be used and experienced around the world is exactly what Lightware needs

as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth.”

“I am honoured to lead Lightware India, an ideal company built by pioneers in the AV industry. I look forward to working with and learning from talented people around the world. Digital technology is reshaping every industry across every walk of life. We, at Lightware, have a unique opportunity to deliver breakthrough solutions that will bring greater value to our clients, Integrators, Consultants, employees, investors and other stakeholders. I am grateful to the Lightware Board for this opportunity,” said Murugan.

Murugan can be contacted at murugan. paramasivam@lightware.asia www.lightware.asia

RGB Integration Changes Its Name To Extron Australia AUSTRALIA: Extron's long term exclusive Australia distributor RGB Integration has changed its name to Extron Australia. Though the name has changed, there is no change in ownership. Extron Australia will continue to be the sole distributor of Extron in Australia, providing sales, support, training, and certification for pro AV dealers all across the country.

The two companies have always had tightly integrated operations, so customers in Australia will continue to receive exceptional service and support. The company will continue to be headquartered in Adelaide, with additional product demonstration and training facilities in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.

"As the sole authorised distributor for Extron in Australia, we remain determined to emulate Extron standards in everything we do," said Ron Boyes, Managing Director of RGB Integration.

"By taking on the Extron Australia name, we are better able to communicate the benefits that our direct involvement with Extron provides for our customers."

"We have had an exclusive relationship with Ron Boyes and RGB Integration for more than 25 years and they have a proven track record of understanding the Extron way of doing things," said Andrew Edwards, President and CEO of Extron. "The new company name reflects the fact that Ron and his team are delivering the high level of service, support, and solutions that Extron is known for around the world.”

service and support to the industry and maintaining sound relationships with industry professionals. Under their new name, they will continue to make Extron product demonstration and training accessible and available to customers in Australia. Offices in Sydney and Melbourne include state-of-the-art training rooms, fully equipped to showcase and demonstrate the latest in Extron technologies and solutions. Staffed by Extron S3 Institute experts, these facilities feature a familiar variety of Extron training choices, including courses to pursue various Extron Certifications. www.extron.com.au

Since 1988, RGB Integration has been providing an unsurpassed level of

ConnexSys™

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Recessed video walls can be a pain. We hear that, which is why we created the ConnexSys® Video Wall Mounting System with features that accommodate the particular needs of recessed applications. To help navigate these features, we got Mike Moon, Chief Training and Installation Manager, to put together a video series. He even broke them up so you can skip right to the video tip you want. Check it out at www.chiefmfg.com/connexsys-tips

©2015 Chief is a division of Milestone. SIA_February 2015.

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18

NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Shuttle Partners With Navori

Shuttle's XH97V

TAIWAN: Shuttle Inc. has come into a new partnership with Navori, a wellknown specialist in content management software for digital signage, to have Navori-certified media players. Navori has over fifteen years of industry expertise and offers player and server software that is robust and easy-to-use.

Shuttle specializes in small form factor barebones PC hardware for digital signage, interactive kiosk, and vending machine applications in the retail, restaurant, food service, corporate, healthcare, and hospitality industries.

Two of Shuttle’s media players have undergone a series of tests to ensure compatibility and performance, the DS81 and the XH97V. Since the devices are fully capable of running Navori QL player software, they’re easy to install and use in any Navori-based digital signage application. “Attaining Navori certification allows Shuttle to continue in our endeavor to add value

to our customers,” said Kathleen Chen, International Sales Director, Shuttle. “The combination of Navori’s low-operation cost and high-efficiency software with Shuttle’s strong processing performance systems makes for a highly valuable offering.”

Jerome Moeri, CEO, Navori stated, “The DS81’s and XH97V’s exceptionally high processing power, connectivity, and ability to deliver 4K video content make this a strong option for Navori users. We’re excited to add the DS81 and XH97V to our list of certified media players and look forward to testing more in the future.” The Shuttle devices are barebones media players made to drive 4th Generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processors and are capable of delivering either 4K video on one display or Full HD video on up to two or three displays (DS81 and XH97V, respectively).

Compact, the 43mm thick media player is VESA mountable and runs quiet and cool in 0-50 C environments.

Whether for restaurant, hotel, retail, transportation, or hospital environments, the DS81 is designed to fit inconspicuously into a variety of digital signage applications so as to not interfere with viewer experience.

The XH97V is a triple-display media player, designed to eliminate the cost of additional hardware for digital signage applications using two or three displays.

It’s capable of pushing Full HD video content on three independent displays or 4K Ultra HD on one display. The XH97V is built on Intel’s H97 chipset with support for 4th Generation Core i3/i5/i7 processors and features enough space to support three 2.5” HDD/SSD or one 3.5” HDD/SSD. “Navori certification ensures a seamless digital signage experience for installers and integrators. Simply install Navori QL Player software, connect to the internet or LAN and the system is ready to begin pushing signage content,” added Kathleen Chen.

Shuttle and Navori have already had some public exposure together at this year’s InfoComm MEA in Dubai, where Shuttle digital signage content was powered by Navori software. Throughout next year, customers and partners of Shuttle and Navori can be on the lookout for future collaboration at roadshows around the world. http://global.shuttle.com

Apart Audio Launches All New Microphone Discussion System (MDS) In India INDIA: Apart Audio, recently announced the launch of its Microphone Discussion System (MDS) in India. The Microphone Discussion System is a highly flexible small to medium size table top discussion system which is an easy to set up and easy to use audio system for meeting rooms, board rooms and medium conference rooms.

Uniquely designed with ease of setting up the cables for linking up to 20 units in a chain which ensures that every microphone and switching adaptor can be located anywhere in the loop. The Micro-

phone Discussion System easily connects to any of the pre-amplifiers, matrixes, integrated or mixing amplifiers, allowing you to control the volume and/or use the record output for recording the meeting.

audio communication solution as it is easy to set up, compact and flexible and perfect for meeting rooms. ”

“The demand for integrated and seamless communication solutions is on the rise in the Indian market with corporates and institutes focusing on implementation of cutting edge technology,” said Mridul Jain, National Business Manager - Integrated Systems, Sennheiser India.

“The Microphone Discussion System addresses the need for a hassle-free

Sennheiser is the official distributor of Apart audio solutions in India. www.sennheiser.com

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The Yamaha Difference Ever since Yamaha's inception, the craftsmen, engineers, and creative minds that help define the Yamaha brand have adopted a singular philosophy in their pursuit to meet, and exceed, the demands of each new challenge. The scope of Yamaha’s influence and experience in numerous markets is without parallel, offering an unrivaled variety of product lines from grand pianos to Hi-Fi components to a range of complete sound solutions for various professional and commercial applications. Through an exhaustive process of studying, refining, testing and introducing new technologies and innovations to each market, Yamaha has developed a truly unique perspective that draws from the vast base of knowledge accumulated through years of designing and manufacturing such a wide array of music and sound related creations.

Distilled into “6 Key Values”, this depth of accrued knowledge and experience served as the foundation behind the development of our Commercial Installation Solutions product lineup. By combining a unique, streamlined overall approach to installed sound, with acclaimed Yamaha product reliability and thorough customer care, this flexible lineup promises to benefit everyone at each stage of the installation process—from installers and contractors, to investors and owners. Most importantly, however, it is the patrons, clients, and customers of each commercial installation that will ultimately benefit from the clarity, tonal quality and musicality of these unique installed solutions that exude the decorated history of the sound specialists of Yamaha.

www.yamahaproaudio.com

6 Key Values

20

NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

InfoComm Breaks New Ground In India billion in 2012 to $3.7 billion in 2014, and it is projected to reach $5.4 billion by 2016. In order to encourage the collaboration of advanced technology and development of skills in India, it is imperative to identify the opportunities as well as the constraints so that the stakeholders, i.e. the government functionaries and industry executives leading the country’s technology march can devise strategies to effectively handle the transformation process.

The industry gathering at the FICCI-InfoComm India programme in Delhi

INDIA: Breaking a new ground towards furthering the growing adoption of audio visual and systems integration technologies in the rapidly expanding market of India, InfoComm International for the first time collaborated with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to organize interactive discussion with Indian corporates and Government of India agencies on future of AV industry in the country.

who gave a perspective of 'Trends in Global Audio Visual Communications', highlighted the role of InfoComm in developing the Indian AV market through skill development, partnership and focussed networking events.

As per the recent InfoComm AV Market Definition & Strategy Study for India, the pro-AV market in the Indian Subcontinent has grown from $2.6

It is with this realization, InfoComm embarked upon sensitizing the stakeholders towards the call of the technology adoption and propagation.

Shefali Sushil Dash, Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre (NIC), presented Government of India’s plan on Digitalization. NIC is a premier organization under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT, Government of India.

A panel discussion on “Leveraging Pro AV Communications Technology in Building India’s Digital Future” was organized as part of the one-day programme. Moderated by Bhatia, the discussion was attended by George

The event was organized on November 21, 2014, at the FICCI auditorium in the Indian national capital of New Delhi. Welcoming the corporate India gathering, Virat Bhatia, ChairmanCommunications & Digital Economy Committee at FICCI, underscored the critical role to be played by Pro-AV technology in India’s digitalization plan.

Director of Development (Asia/Pacific), InfoComm International Jonathan Seller,

The panel discussion in Delhi

The AV Community gathering for the Bengaluru Roundtable

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22

NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015 Bengaluru arm of the networking giant has been proving very effective, the presentation demonstrated, the vast range of ICT solutions from the major can redefine the ‘smart urban living’ in the country.

Kirti Shetty of Kramer Electronics presented a visualization of AV-enabled classrooms in 2015. The presentation took the audience through the future, to visualize the ‘learning environment in 2020’ that is characterized by innovative, creative, and collaborative technology mechanisms. www.infocomm.org

T S Gopalakrishnan, Volunteer-Instructor addressing the gathering in Bengaluru

Kuruvilla, Director-Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (Ministry of Information & Broadcasting), Rajan Mathews, Director General-Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), and Rajesh Patkar-General Manager, Christie India, besides Jonathan Seller, Director of Development (Asia/Pacific), InfoComm International.

The programme was well attended by an audience of over 120 delegates comprising members of FICCI and InfoComm international as well as representatives of various Government of India agencies.

communicated, therefore, was apparent.

Need for increased sensitization towards adopting such technology means.

Speaking on the emerging technology demand of the country, Ravi Koulagi, Solutions Architect, Cisco Systems, presented an exhaustive view of the networking major’s contribution to the ‘Role of ICT in Transforming City into SmartCity.’ While some of the contributions already made by the

Kirti Shetty, Kramer India Exec addressing the gathering in Bengaluru

Networking in Bengaluru: The New Delhi campaign was immediately followed by an Industry networking session in Bengaluru on 22 November which was again well attended by the members of industry. Seller briefed the gathering with the InfoComm findings about the Indian industry’s opportunities and challenges, underscoring its active participation in the big dynamic activity.

InfoComm’s Volunteer-Instructor T S Gopalakrishnan presented the various advantages that the audiovisual technology adoption as a whole can bring to the industry and user communities. The message

Ravi Koulagi, Cisco Exec addressing the gathering in Bengaluru

Visual unobtrusiveness Large and high ceilings

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The challenges remain consistent, but seldom appear independently. The d&b columns, however, are new and corrective; a unique combination of waveguides and damped ports create a cardioid pattern with a constant horizontal directivity of 90째, whilst the tight vertical dispersion tilts downwards in the low to mid range and is adjustable in the high frequencies. Handy for those who like to comprehend word for word in long, large, high, reverberant spaces with impediments to intelligibility. The d&b xC-Series: positions text clearly.

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24

NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Sennheiser Certifies Newly Minted RF Experts

The new Sennheiser RF experts with their mentors

INTERNATIONAL: Nine months of hard work have paid off: a total of 19 wireless professionals from the worldwide Sennheiser organisation have been awarded the coveted RF Expert certificate. The last of three on-site training sessions took place in Delhi, and in the meantime the new RF experts have been in action all over the world to provide support for Sennheiser customers and partners in their projects.

“The system of extensive online training and close supervision by mentors combined with several weeks of on-site training has proven itself,” said Kirsten Wessendorf, Manager Sennheiser Sound Academy, summarising the training course. Meanwhile, some of the new RF experts have already completed their first major projects.

Ryan Burr from Sennheiser Middle East provided support for his client Doummar – Q2 Advanced Technology in planning the conference and entertainment facilities for the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Centre in Doha (Qatar).

This included carrying out a thorough analysis of the wireless conditions at the location, planning the conference/ interpreting systems and the wireless

microphone channels, coordinating all wireless frequencies and programming and testing the systems on site.

Ryan Burr: “This project is simply gigantic. Five conference rooms are equipped with ADN-W wireless conference systems with a total of 380 delegate units, while a further six have SR2020/HDE2020 interpreting systems with a total of 4,000 receivers. 150 channels of wireless microphones, mostly 5000/3000 systems, are used in the event venues. One room alone has 72 channels! It’s the largest single project that Sennheiser Middle East has ever worked on, and my further training as an RF expert came just at the right time for me.”

Vincent Tilgenkamp from Sennheiser Benelux has also earned the right to call himself an RF expert. In fact, he even achieved top results in all tasks and was presented with an Outstanding Achievement Award. He can also look back on a number of successful projects, including the hit TV show “Utopia”, devised by John de Mol and produced

by Talpa, in which he supported the multimedia company Dutchview by providing a special wireless solution.

Dutchview was faced with the daunting challenge of picking up the wireless microphone signals from the reality show participants over an area of 12,500 square metres. Vincent Tilgenkamp and his team succeeded in covering this vast area with a single rack of receivers and a number of antenna distribution combiners that were custom-built for Utopia (For more information on Utopia scan QR code): Tilgenkamp too is delighted with the RF expert course: “I particularly liked the on-site training sessions where we had to solve tricky problems. Our mentors made a lot of effort to manipulate the equipment, introduce all sorts of RF interference and additionally put us under time pressure.

For example, they would invite a big audience to a concert and ask us to get the band miked and the RF wireless systems running in virtually no time at all!

In the end, of course, the audience was let in on time and enjoyed a top-quality gig.” www.sennheiser.com

NEC Display Wireless Presentation Tools

WIU (Wireless Image Utility) can send images wirelessly from your iOS and Android mobilde devices and touch pads.

It is a FREE Download from the iTunes Store and for a small fee available on Google Play.

Control, monitor and manage your display and projector settings in an all in one support system with NaViSet Administrator 2â&#x201E;˘. This software package provides unified control and asset management across product lines through an intuitive graphical user interface and allows for settings to be updated, tasks to be queried and reports to be generated for NEC products.

Image Express Utility Lite is software that projects a PC's display on a projector.

It allows the PC's display to be transferred to a projector using the network with high quality and at high speed.

Singapore NEC Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (APAC Regional Headquarters) sg.nec.com

Australia NEC Australia Pty Ltd. au.nec.com

India NEC India Pvt. Ltd. in.nec.com

Indonesia PT. NEC Indonesia id.nec.com

Malaysia NEC Corporation of Malaysia Sdn. Bhd my.nec.com

New Zealand NEC New Zealand Ltd. nz.nec.com

Phillippines NEC Phillippines, Inc. ph.nec.com

Thailand NEC Corporation (Thailand) Ltd. th.nec.com

Vietnam NEC Vietnam Co., Ltd. vn.nec.com

26

NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Pro Display Launches intouch Division • Flagship large-format multi-touch digital glass in sizes up to 6x2 metres - designed for ultra-short throw rear projection and offering a truly seamless alternative to video walls.

Interest in these new products is high, with early customers including household names such as Sky Sports News, Hugo Boss and the Tower of London.

intouch 65” interactive touch LCD monitor

INTERNATIONAL: In anticipation of increased future demand from education and business for interactive multi-touch technology, on an ever greater range of screen formats, Pro Display has launched its new intouch division. intouch from Pro Display offers new levels of touchscreen performance and flexibility with its range of multi-touch display solutions.

Using both infrared and projected capacitive multi-point touch technologies, the intouch launch range caters for a wide variety of screen

formats, and already includes standout products such as: • Multi-touch frame kits that retro-fit to older non-touch monitors in sizes from 32" to 98" - to extend the usefulness of older screens; • An interactive 65" multi-touch monitor - offering outstanding performance and affordability; • Capacitive multi-touch projection foils that turn glass into a touchscreen display, in diagonal sizes from 10" to 85" - to create new interactive applications using existing clear surfaces;

Ben Kershaw, Sales Manager at Pro Display, says: "With the growth of touchscreen phones and tablets, we all expect to interact more with the images we see. Our new intouch range realises that vision of fully immersive, multi-touch screens, even on large scales."

"The applications for intouch are limited only by creativity, with interest coming from all corners, including education, corporate offices, retail outlets, public attractions, TV production and broadcast, exhibitions and performance events." www.prodisplay.com

Marco Landi Joins Polycom As President-EMEA EMEA: Polycom announced that Marco Landi has joined the company as President, Polycom EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). In this role, Marco is responsible for leading the company’s regional sales strategy and execution to drive customer success, brand affinity and profitable growth.

tunities as more organizations discover the benefits of Polycom’s video, voice and content collaboration solutions. Marco will focus on providing our customers with the industry’s best experience, while also strengthening our go-to-market with our strategic partners and our channel partners.”

Marco joins Polycom from Zebra Technologies (formerly Motorola Solutions), where he was Vice-President and General Manager EMEA. He has a long career history with Motorola Enterprise, where he served in several sales leadership roles, which included Motorola’s acquisitions of Symbol and PSION during his tenure.

A dynamic sales and business leader, Marco has successfully led large and small teams through tough economic climates. His expertise lies in driving growth through challenging market conditions, enterprise sales, channels, marketing and go-to-market strategy across multiple markets.

“Marco’s leadership and strong background in sales and business management will continue to drive Polycom’s success and leadership in this critical region,” said Peter Leav, President and Chief Executive Officer, Polycom. “Every market in this region has unique oppor-

“I am delighted to join Polycom and lead the EMEA team,” said Marco. “Polycom’s solutions help businesses of all sizes, in virtually every industry, improve productivity through collaboration experiences. The opportunity is significant, and I look forward to working closely with our partners to deliver the industry’s

best solutions to our customers and driving their success.”

At Motorola Enterprise, Marco led the company’s enterprise business across all markets in the EMEA, holding leaderMarco Landi ship positions in PSION and Symbol (prior to acquisition). He was also part of the leadership team responsible for the acquisition and sales integration of PSION into Motorola in 2012. More recently, at Zebra Technologies, he led the 1,000-staff strong team responsible for $1.3 billion revenue across EMEA. www.polycom.co.uk

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28

NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Westcon, Tely Labs Announce EMEA Distribution Agreement EMEA: Westcon Group, the value-added distributor of security, unified communications, network infrastructure, and data center solutions, announced the signing of an EMEA distribution agreement with Tely Labs. A well-known specialist for simple, secure and affordable video conferencing, Tely Labs delivers plugand-play video conferencing solutions for meeting rooms in a wide range of both horizontal and vertical market segments – including SMB, Enterprise, healthcare, education and service providers.

“Video conferencing is fast-becoming a business-critical necessity for enhancing workplace collaboration and productivity.

In parallel, adoption is growing exponentially as both unit costs and deployment complexities are significantly reduced.

Tely Labs currently leads the market in terms of capitalizing on these trends,” said Guy Koster, Director of Product Management and Product Marketing for EMEA at Westcon Group. “The market opportunity for this class of product is

huge; of the 60-70 million physical conference rooms worldwide only about 5 per cet are equipped with video conferencing capability. Westcon is dedicated to helping their partners grow their business with solutions that address market trends and customer business needs – and adding Tely Labs in this high-growth segment serves to further demonstrate this commitment.”

“We’re energized by the market response we’ve seen wherever we’ve established presence with key partners,” said Sreekanth Ravi, Founder and CEO of Tely Labs. “A strong focus on Europe and the Middle East is the next logical step for Tely. We’re pleased to be working with Westcon, a leader in value-added distribution with established expertise in unified communications and collaboration and a strong global presence.”

By virtue of this agreement, Tely Labs video conferencing solutions have come to be directly available immediately

through Westcon Group which goes to market under the Comstor and Westcon brands.

Located in over 70 countries worldwide, Westcon Group’s teams create unique programmes and provide exceptional support to accelerate the business of its global partners. Strong relationships at every level of the Group organization enable partners to receive support tailored to their needs. From global logistics and flexible customized financing solutions to pre-sales, technical and engineering assistance, the company works with partners to respond with agility and speed to changing market conditions so they can achieve the fastest time to revenue.

Westcon Group’s portfolio of marketleading vendors includes Cisco, Avaya, Polycom, Check Point, F5, Palo Alto and Blue Coat, among others. www.westcongroup.com www.tely.com

Meyer Sound CAL Becomes First AVnu-Certified AVB Loudspeaker INTERNATIONAL: Meyer Sound's CAL™ column array loudspeakers are the first loudspeaker products to receive the AVnu certification

by AVnu Alliance, the industry consortium that certifies Audio Video Bridging (AVB) devices for interoperability.

This certification is the global seal given to devices that have implemented the IEEE AVB standards and passed AVnu Alliance’s rigorous testing for interoperability and compliance.

CAL is widely recognized for setting a new standard for coverage control and sonic precision in steerable column arrays. Now with the AVnu certification, CAL provides seamless interoperability with AVnu-certified AVB devices from other vendors to simplify network implementation for the user, while offering numerous advantages of the open IEEE AVB standards.

For specifiers and integrators, CAL with AVnu-certified AVB streamlines the network infrastructure by combining audio signal transmission with system control and monitoring using industry-standard structured cabling such as CAT5e and CAT6. This introduces unprecedented time and cost savings compared to traditional analog and digital signal distribution, while significantly simplify-

ing network implementation and future reconfiguration. In addition, AVB eliminates shortcomings in legacy proprietary networking solutions and provides precise timing synchronization with guaranteed bandwidth.

“Meyer Sound embraces technology that yields superior audio performance and operating simplicity for our customers,” said Luke Jenks, director of product management at the company.

“By aggressively addressing the issue of interoperability through AVnu certification, we have taken an important step to help customers create end-to-end AV networks that are easier to plan and less costly to install.” www.meyersound.com

30

NEWS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Five Of Aver’s Internet Of Things-Enabled Products Honoured TAIWAN: Five cutting-edge AVer products were granted the Taiwan Excellence award for 2015, capping another year of innovation and creativity. These products represent the full range of AVer’s offerings, covering AVer's classroom, smart office and intelligent retail solutions.

Moreover, among these five, AVer’s EVC900 10-point HD video conferencing system was nominated for the Taiwan Excellence Gold Standard award.

The EVC900 makes affordable, high definition, multipoint video conferencing possible even for budget-conscious businesses and institutions. Capable of up to 10 point communication, the EVC900 features crisp, clear full HD1080p video and content sharing at 30 fps and a Pan Tilt Zoom camera capable of up to 16 X optical zoom. Furthermore, users can take advantage of AVer’s EZMeetup video conferencing software to join in meetings from practically any location.

Two of AVer’s educational products were also among the Taiwan Excellence winners: the F70W visualizer and ClassSend and Sphere2 software. The F70W combines the best of AVer’s pathbreaking TabCam and market-leading visualizers, providing teachers with the choice of streaming images via 5 GHz wireless, HDMI or VGA. The Sphere2 and ClassSend software introduce the Internet of Things to the classroom by permitting teachers and students to send visualizer images to each other’s devices via a wireless internet connection.

AVer’s winning surveillance products included the ED5000 fisheye IP camera and the P5036-16-R hybrid NVR. The 5-megapixel ED5000 features local dewarp and five separate streams, providing a clear view of all directions. Not just an excellent tool for surveillance, the ED5000 permits retailers to integrate Internet of Things capabilities into their

David Baker Joins Arrive as Chief Collaboration Officer

INTERNATIONAL: Arrive Systems, Inc. the edgeless media company, has appointed David Baker as Chief Collaboration Officer. With over 25 years of experience in digital media much of which is focused on wireless video delivery, unified messaging and cloud computing technology, David comes to Arrive with a unique background in executive management, technology development and international marketing.

David began his executive career as President of Electronic Integration Systems, Incorporated (EISI). His responsibilities included design, development and execution of multimillion dollar professional audio-video systems and commercial building automation projects.

He then joined Network Event Theater (NET) as Senior Vice-President of Technical Operations. NET operated

a satellite delivered Digital Cinema network comprised of wireless AV distribution, providing pre-theatrical motion pictures and specialized entertainment.

Leveraging his experience in digital content delivery, David subsequently managed the Digital Cinema and Convergent Media efforts for CyberStar (a Loral Company). CyberStar developed and operated an IPTV delivery platform over satellite. He then led the Boeing Satellite Systems Digital Cinema Division as its founding Executive Director. A significant result of his leadership and direction at Boeing was evident in the collaboration between Miramax and Boeing on the first ever satellite and fiber (hybrid) transport of feature films. In recent years David served with Message Broadcast and Broad Cloud, a leading cloud computing and storage network provider.

operations by providing high definition video feed that can be analyzed for people counting, face recognition or other functions. AVer’s P5036-16-R hybrid NVR supports up to 36 channels, of which up to 16 can be analog, making it perfect for environments with a large number of cameras that are still transitioning to IP. Of the 1155 products competing in the Taiwan Excellence awards this year, only 489 won and only 28 will be considered for the Gold Standard award. Taiwan Excellence was established in 1992 to encourage Taiwanese businesses to produce outstanding products. According to Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade, which organizes this competition, the awards are granted to products that are both creative and of high quality, and take into account each product’s development, design and marketing. www.aver.com

“David transitioned from analog to digital wireless video delivery at a very early stage in his career and has since been on the cutting-edge of cloud media and services. He is a natural fit for managing Arrive’s transformational and extreme collaboration market opportunities,” said Aseem Gupta, CEO and Founder of Arrive. “He has a proven ability to drive innovation and create Arrive’s disruptive voice”, he added.

“Arrive presents unique open systems and scalable opportunity for our customers to adopt and benefit from extreme collaboration for mass deployment in each and every collaboration space,” said Baker. www.arrivesys.com

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SOUTH KOREA (+82) 02 862 3165 info@btechavmounts.kr

JAPAN (+81) 02 6612 2008 info@btechavmounts.jp

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SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Biamp Systems Releases Tesira® 2.3 customization options for networked audio installations. Accordingly, it will undergo testing at University of New Hampshire’s interoperability lab for independent third-party testing and AVnu certification.

As part of Biamp's award-winning line of digital signal processing (DSP)-based products, Tesira® 2.3 is the platform’s newest release. Introducing IEEE 1722.1 AVB support, Tesira 2.3 includes greater reporting capabilities for expanders, a new dedicated software block for AudioTechnica’s Dante™ microphones, and increased telephony support.

Tesira 2.3 implements IEEE 1722.1 support for AVB, enabling standardsbased interoperability with other devices supporting IEEE 1722.1 — giving customers greater expandability and

Tesira’s increased reporting capabilities include status and fault reporting for the series’ expander devices — making it simpler for large setups to rapidly identify and troubleshoot systems. If an expander is not operating as expected, that device can be easily identified along with the status or condition of the expander.

For systems incorporating AudioTechnica microphones, Tesira 2.3 provides explicit input blocks in Tesira software for the ATND971 and ATND8677 Dante units. With a DAN-1 card, Tesira not only receives

networked Dante audio from the A-T microphones, but through the new blocks, system designers can design the exact button and LED controls desired.

Tesira configures the microphone with the settings and also triggers button and LED events, as well as controlling filters and related parameters. The new block can also accommodate up to 32 microphones with identical settings — facilitating fast and easy design.

For customers in Switzerland and India, Tesira 2.3 also enhances telephony support, enabling Biamp® telephony cards and devices to ensure all call progress tone support. The Tesira 2.3 firmware package and product release notes are available now on the Biamp website. www.biamp.com

ATEN Unveils First Modular Matrix Solution Featuring the revolutionary Seamless Switch™ technology that provides realtime control and switching between 16 video sources and 16 video displays, new 16x16 modular matrix switcher VM1600 boasts a close to 0-second video switching and playback of Full HD content in real-time with no latency.

The VM1600 is perfect for monitoring or broadcasting time critical activities, such as live event broadcasting, security surveillance and transport management.

“With Video Wall applications becoming more and more diversified while proA/V products getting more and more competitive, we saw a need to create an intuitive and cost effective solution.

Unlike our competitors, the VM1600 not only has expandable capabilities but also combines the signal processing and distribution function in a single chassis. This allows for easy video wall integration without using extra video wall processors, which simplifies the installation process and reduces costs”, said Kevin Chen, President of ATEN International.

The VM1600 also has a built-in scaler function that helps unify different video source formats to render best output resolutions, ranging from 720p to 1080p (Full HD). Empowered by the unique Scaler flexibility, it integrates perfectly with large-scale video wall systems where collaborative screen displays are required for real-time video distribution.

Through its intuitive GUI design, up to 32 screen layout profiles can be saved. In addition, the VM1600 also features selectable EDID settings for optimum display quality throughout the

installation that carries out smoother power-up and faster switching between displays.

The device has a hot-swappable modular design which allows quick insertion and removal of hot pluggable components such as a Modular I/O Board, Power Supply and Cooling Fan. It also comes with a redundant power module, which can be used as a backup component in case of power outage. www.aten.com

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SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Panasonic 4K LED LCD Displays Now Available connection is also possible using an optional 3G-SDI terminal board.

With Adaptive Enhancement technology, the LQ70 Series displays can upconvert non-4K sources to a higher level of picture quality. It also maximises installation flexibility by having the same screw holes as the rest of Panasonic's large format plasma displays, enabling the use of existing peripheral accessories.

Durable and professional, Panasonic's 4K UHD LCD displays, the LQ70 Series, is now available for indent orders. In this product line, there are currently two LED LCD models: the 98” and 84”.

Designed with rugged professional use, the LQ70 Series come with protective glass with 3.5-J impact resistance on the front of the display, making it an ideal product for installations where many

people walk by such as train stations, airports and shopping malls. The special frame construction also resists twisting to boost reliability during installation.

The LQ70 Series includes interface for 4K60p video input as standard equipment. In addition to HDMI video input, it is equipped with DisplayPort that supports 4K60p video, enabling input from a variety of 4K devices. SDI

Last but not least, the LQ70 Series also features a 4-Input Multi Display function which requires no external processor. This means that the image can be switched from a full-screen display to a 4-Input Multi Display using the remote control, making it a choice solution for various applications such as videoconferencing, digital signage, surveillance monitoring etc. http://panasonic.net/prodisplays/

Adamson Launches Blueprint AV Software Suite Blueprint AV™ is a multi-use predictive software suite from Adamson that operates both in the 2D and 3D realm.

Designed to provide Adamson clients with a user-defined level of detail, the software delivers extreme precision in any operating mode.

After extensive beta testing with key network partners, Adamson is releasing Blueprint AV™ via a licensing system that will allow end users to distribute a pre-determined number of copies to their team of technicians.

Expanding on the simple and effective Adamson Shooter software, Blueprint AV™ allows users to easily plan their system design. System designers and technicians can build a simple or very complex listening area, hang multiple arrays, simulate response with a variety of acoustic predictive tools, and provide a detailed and accurate rigging plot that

can be exported to DXF files for easy transfer to the rigging team.

Users can choose the quick and effective 2D mode to easily determine optimal display settings for their arrays within their space, or they can opt for the highly detailed 3D mode, which allows for a wide variety of polygonal shapes to easily and accurately build complex spaces. The software also provides a large variety of simulation options.

Multiple simulation options exist including SPL measurements, which can be measured using standard and proprietary weighting curves, as well as standard 1/3 octave frequencies or a full range average. Delay, directivity and virtual

microphone responses can also be easily calculated. A vertical SPL option allows the user to see an array’s vertical SPL response, accurately measuring the initial coverage, to the amount of coverage delivered to the extreme back of the intended listening area. www.adamsonsystems.com

SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

35

Audinate Announces New Capabilities for Danteâ&#x201E;˘ Ultimo Chipsets The new revision of Dante Ultimo by Audinate incorporates support for Marvell 88E6320 gigabit switch, enabling robust daisy chaining of Dante devices with multicast filtering capability.

Audinate has also released new Ultimo 2.1 firmware, adding several new features for Audio Video (AV) equipment manufacturers building low channelcount products with Dante Ultimo.

The new Release 2.1 firmware adds device control capabilities enabled by the Dante Device Protocol (DDP). DDP allows Ultimo messages and commands to be sent via SPI/UART from the host processor, accessing parameters such as channel subscriptions, clock status and more. DDP is ideal for integration of routing pre-sets and front panel displays in Ultimo products. Additionally, Ultimo now supports 16-, 24- and 32-bit PCM

audio, selected globally or per-channel as needed.

As part of Audinateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portfolio of high performance Dante devices, Ultimo is a family of complete, fully featured, ready-to-use, single-chip Dante solutions for low channel-count networked audio products. The Ultimo family incorporates all the differentiated Dante features such as automatic device discovery, plug-andplay networking, custom device names and channel labels, and network-based firmware updates.

Ultimo is suitable for networking powered speakers, microphones, AV wall plates, speakerphones, amplifiers, paging stations, personal monitoring systems, recording interfaces, intercoms, and analog/digital break-in/break out interfaces.

The Ultimo chips and Release 2.1 firmware are available immediately for AV equipment manufacturers. The new parts are fully backwards compatible with existing Ultimo products. Ultimo is available in 2x2 channel (ULT-01-002) and 4x4 channel (ULT-01-004) configurations. www.audinate.com

SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

37

Symetrix Presents New SymNet Radius 12x8 EX DSP The SymNet Radius 12x8 DSP featuring support for Audinate’s Dante™ media networking technology is set to appeal to even more integrators and endusers with the incorporation of an I/O expansion slot in its latest incarnation, SymNet Radius 12x8 EX.

VoIP and telephone. This flexibility paves the way for multiple system configurations: for example, a SymNet 4 Channel Analog Input card yields a 16-in, 8-out processor, whilst a SymNet 4 Channel Analog Output card facilitates a 12-in, 12-out set-up.

This new ‘EX’ addition makes it possible for the scope of an existing installation to be expanded quickly and easily as requirements change. Building upon the 12-input, 8-output format of the Radius 12x8, SymNet Radius 12x8 EX makes it possible to take the total audio input/ output count to 24 – all within the same, compact 1U format.

Like the Radius 12x8 unit it directly replaces, SymNet Radius 12x8 EX delivers a feature-intensive specification that includes a 64x64 channel Dante network audio bus and built-in GPIO, RS-232 and ARC wall panel support offerings for control, alongside free access to Symetrix’ ARC-WEB browserbased user-interface.

The I/O expansion slot supports all standard optional SymNet audio I/O cards, including analog, digital, AEC,

For existing users wishing to benefit from an upgrade to the new version, a dedicated Migration Tool enables

those with previous designs or work-inprogress using the Radius 12x8 hardware to easily convert their files to deploy SymNet Radius 12x8 EX hardware without any further modifications or extra work. www.symetrix.co

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SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Extron Introduces New DTP CrossPoint 84 Presentation Matrix Switcher Model Extron Electronics has recently introduced the DTP CrossPoint 84, a new model to the company’s growing family of DTP CrossPoint matrix switchers.

The highly versatile, compact 2U DTP CrossPoint 84 include an 8x4 matrix switcher with 4K inputs and outputs, two built-in independent scalers, integrated DTP and XTP transmitters and receivers, and comprehensive audio DSP capabilities.

For integration with all of the latest 4K capable graphics cards, 4K cameras, and the ever-growing number of displays with 4K and UHD native resolutions, the DTP twisted pair inputs and outputs provide extraordinary flexibility in how and where AV and control signals can be distributed.

The twisted pair inputs and outputs can also be used to connect to any display with an HDBaseT input or tie into a

centralized, facility-wide XTP System to add local room-based AV systems. A high performance scaler is also paired to each of the two DTP outputs, so that incoming source signals can be optimized and converted to deliver the highest quality image content for display.

Featuring the same Extron 64-bit ProDSP technology in the highly regarded, award-winning DMP 128 digital matrix processors, The DTP CrossPoint 84 comes with integrated professionalgrade DSP where integrators can customize system designs and mixes any way desired, with fully configurable EQ,

filters, dynamics, extensive matrix mixing options, and so much more.

If a large number of microphones or speaker destinations are needed, the DTP CrossPoint 84 offers a unique digital audio expansion port that links the internal DSP to a DMP 128 for additional inputs and outputs, or to add AEC to a conferencing system. For even greater scalability, the DTP CrossPoint 84 can be linked into a DMP 128 on a Dante™ network for system expansion possibilities. www.extron.com

Calibre Rolls Out Videowall Scaler For Digital Signage of functions typically found on premium live events models, which are now available without the cost associated with a live events scaler.

Calibre has announced the release of the latest model in the highly successful LEDView range of LED videowall optimised image scalers, the LEDView325DS.

per-edge image re-sizing algorithm which allows each edge of the picture content to be independently dragged to the correct position on the LED videowall.

Designed specifically for cost conscious digital signage projects where quality is required but without breaking the bank, the LEDView325DS is a cost effective yet high quality image scaler which provides Calibre’s market-leading pixel-accurate

There is also per input colour calibration capability to ensure client content looks how the client wants, with control of RGB gains and blacks as well as saturation and hue even on digital computeroriginated content. These are the kinds

LEDView325DS gives outstanding image quality with fast simple set-up of picture size, colour calibration and networkbased back-up and restore of settings for fast disaster recovery. Control and configuration is by internet browser, using the inbuilt webserver so when connected to a suitable network ,remote control and status monitoring is also possible.

Calibre UK will exhibit LEDView325DS on stand 4U64 at ISE 2015 taking place from 10-12 February 2015 at the Amsterdam RAI. www.calibreuk.com

SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

39

Gefen Offers Two New 4K Ultra HD Extenders

Digital connectivity solutions provider Gefen has introduced two new extension solutions to its product line. Using HDBaseTâ&#x201E;˘ to deliver resolutions up to 4K with various control methods, the two products deliver signals up to 100 to 150 meters in distance.

The 4K Ultra HD ELR-POL Extender w/RS-232, Ethernet and IR (EXT-UHDCAT5-ELRPOL) delivers HDMI at 1080p full HD up to 150 meters over a single CAT-5 cable, an improvement of 50 meters over previous solutions.

4K UHD content is delivered up to 70 meters over a CAT-5 cable, or up to 100 meters over a CAT-6 cable. A 10/100BaseT Ethernet connection is provided on the receiver unit at the display side, allowing IP connectivity without additional hardware or cabling required.

Gefenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ELR (Extra Long Range) implementation of HDBaseT extends up to 7.1 channels of high bit rate, lossless digital audio formats with zero delay. RS-232 and bi-directional IR are transmitted along the same cable, offering convenient options to control source and display from both local and remote locations. POL (Power over Line) technology is employed to allow the installer to power either the

sender or the receiver, streamlining cabling and hardware in the viewing environment. Advanced EDID management tools make for a simple installation and non-stop performance.

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The Gefen ToolBox 4K Ultra HD ELR-POL Extender w/RS-232 and IR (GTB-UHD2IRS-ELRPOL-BLK) is a streamlined solution that delivers HDMI at 1080p full HD for an extended range of up to 150 meters over one CAT-5 cable. 4K UHD content can be sent up to 70 meters over a CAT-5 cable or up to 100 meters over a CAT-6 cable. In each instance, lossless digital audio formats, RS-232 and bi-directional IR are extended over the same cable. This solution also offers POL technology, eliminating the need for power at the viewing location.

Both extenders support 4K resolutions up to 3840x2160 @60Hz, 4:2:0 color space and 4096x2160 @24Hz with HDCP compliance and 3D pass-through. Locking power supplies ensure a snug connection for an unfailing performance.

Surface mountable enclosures with small footprints allow for an easy installation. www.gefen.com

Or Visit www.systemsintegrationasia.com

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SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

ClearOne Releases New UNITE PTZ Camera The UNITE PTZ Camera transforms any meeting room into a professional video collaboration environment. Full-HD video in resolutions up to 1080p60 ensures that remote sites can accurately see every fine detail, even when displayed on a large screen.

ClearOne has released its new UNITE™ PTZ Camera, an affordable, professionalgrade, high-resolution 1080p60 camera that can connect directly to any standard PC or laptop through USB 3.0, eliminating the need for adapters or converters. The camera can also connect to traditional video devices through its built-in DVI interface.

“The UNITE PTZ Camera’s versatility with USB 3.0 and DVI interface and plugand-play simplicity makes it unique in its class,” said Bala Krishnamoorthy, Senior Director, Product Line Management for Unified Communications and Media Collaboration at ClearOne. “It is ideally suited for business-grade UC applications and video conferencing, as well as multimedia capture and streaming.”

The UNITE PTZ camera works with all of ClearOne’s media collaboration solutions. The 1080p60 video combined with wide angle lens provides all participants a super smooth and sharp, life-like video experience. Other salient

features include a 12x optical zoom, plus full pan, tilt, and zoom. The fast and stable auto focus ensures that all participants in the room can be clearly seen in the video stream. A choice of standard, soft, or vivid picture modes, and multiple white balance modes, makes it fast and easy for the UNITE Camera to accommodate different users in changing environments.

The ClearOne UNITE Camera’s 128 presets allow it to be easily moved from speaker to speaker, or to quickly transition from people to other presentation tools in the room, such as flip charts and whiteboards. Flexible installation options offer multiple perspectives for the user, such as being mounted upside-down directly above a display to maximize eye contact with farend participants, or from the ceiling to capture content throughout the room. www.clearone.com

Intelligent Glass Reveals Battery Powered Switchable Vision Panels As switchable smart glass continues to grow in popularity, especially used as a privacy window, its application have mostly been limited by its need to be tethered to mains power supply. The need for mains electricity meant that installing switchable vision panels in doors, in places without a nearby power supply, or even on the move, can be complicated and expensive.

Intelligent Glass tackled this issue head on and developed a new, patentpending battery powered Switchable Vision Panels. Designed as a real alternative to sealed glazed units with integral blinds, Vision Panels offer the added benefit of no motors or moving mechanical parts. Removing the need for mains electricity means no extra cabling work, reducing both cost and installation time as a result. It also means that switchable glass becomes mobile,

with applications in vehicles, boats and aircraft.

Intelligent Glass's Switchable Vision Panels are fully integrated into the door itself, with a stainless steel battery compartment concealed within the door structure. The replaceable battery is designed to last at least 18 months in normal use, and replacement is a straightforward task, requiring just an Allen key.

The skills and techniques needed to add a Vision Panel to a door are comparable to installing a mortise lock and a standard glass window, with the addition of a few simple electrical connections.

For door manufacturers, this removes the need for any significant retraining or retooling in order to add Vision Panels to their range.

Available in a range of standard shapes, plus custom sizes on request, the applications for battery-powered switchable Vision Panels can be in hospital wards and operating theatres; meeting rooms and board rooms; homes, caravans, boats, vehicles and aircraft; prisons and detention rooms; financial institutions; schools and nurseries; retail displays and product reveals; and transport.

Intelligent Glass is a division of Pro Display™ Ltd www.intelligentglass.net

SOLUTIONS UPDATE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

41

Planar Introduces Industry-First 98” 4K Touch Display

Expanding its award-winning Planar UltraRes Series family, Planar announced the breakthrough Planar® UltraRes™ 98” Touch Display, currently the largest 4K touch display in the industry.

The Planar UltraRes 98” Touch combines a multi-touch, multi-user experience with native Ultra HD resolution, making it possible to interact across a large screen area with crystalclear detail and precision. With 32 simultaneous touch points, the display is designed for a wide variety of resolution-rich, collaborative applications including meeting rooms, training facilities and command and control centers. It is also ideal for eye-catching interactive digital signage that engages viewers and is rugged for public space reliability.

“Planar has been first to market with a variety of new 4K display solutions, and the Planar UltraRes 98” Touch represents another industry milestone,” said Becky Connors, product marketing manager at Planar Systems. “With its multi-touch support, enhanced durability and sleek design, the display sets the bar for interactive commercial experiences, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to offering the best in 4K technology.”

Planar’s ERO™ (Extended Ruggedness and Optics™) optical bonding technology offers added protection for safeguarding the Planar UltraRes 98” Touch in high-traffic and long-term use applications. The bonded glass screen also improves optical performance and touch accuracy by eliminating the air gap between the protective glass and LCD screen.

Comes in a sleek design, the Planar UltraRes 98” Touch offers an attractive, logo-free, narrow bezel. Using the Planar Profile™ Mounting System, it installs just 4” from the wall.

www.planar.com/UltraResTouch

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42

ADVERTORIAL Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Crestron DM® 3.0 Sets New Standard with NextGeneration Digital AV Presentation Control and Switching System Now shipping, new DMPS3-4K-150-C delivers 4K switching and scaling with simple setup powered by the new Crestron .AV Framework™ The installer can also set up volume control and choose icons and text labels for sources to get a presentation system up and running in no time.

Crestron Asia Limited (“Crestron Asia”), the Asia headquarters of Crestron Electronics, Inc. (“Crestron”) being one of the world's leading manufacturers of advanced control and automation systems, is now shipping the new Crestron 3-Series® 4K DigitalMedia™ Presentation System (DMPS3-4K-150-C), which combines DigitalMedia technology with a built-in IP-based 3-Series Control System®, 10X1 4K multimedia switcher, mic mixer, and audio DSP. The exclusive built-in 4K scaler can transmit any resolution source to any resolution display. It provides everything needed to deliver the highest-performing presentation experience possible.

The birth of DigitalMedia a decade ago has transformed the industry. Today, the DMPS3-4K-150-C does it again. Crestron has packed ten years of innovation, the expertise gained from an installed base of more than three million HDMI® and HDBaseT® ports, and their awardwinning support, all into one amazingly powerful system. Together with the DMPS3-200-C and DMPS3-300-C, this giant leap forward represents DM 3.0.

The new standard for every room The all-new DMPS is ideal for classrooms, small and medium conference rooms, and huddle spaces.

Because it’s built on the Crestron .AV Framework, it’s ready to go right out of the box. Integrators simply connect their cables, specify the sources and displays, and the system is up and running without custom programming.

Integrators can create an instant switching system by connecting up to four Crestron Connect It™ (TT-100) cable caddies. The source selection buttons and feedback work as soon as the USB cables are connected. Meeting or class participants simply connect their laptops with the Connect It device at the table or lectern, and then just tap the “Show Me” button to immediately display their content. Crestron even includes a free TT-110 presentation interface with each DMPS3-4K-150-C so integrators and customers can view the content for themselves.

Setting up display control is easy. Using an iPad®, computer, or pre-loaded touch screen (TSW-752-B-DMPS3_PAK), the installer selects the display and .AV Framework does the rest. The DMPS can control: • Any Crestron Connected® display or projector via Ethernet • Any flat panel with HDMI CEC • Many popular displays via RS-232

Wireless BYOD presentation capability can easily be added by connecting Crestron AirMedia™ (AM-100) to the HDMI port. DMPS3-4K-150-C has all the ports needed at a price that fits in any budget: • • • •

Four VGA inputs (with analog audio) Four HDMI 4K inputs Two DM 4K inputs for transmitters Two mirrored 4K outputs - HDBaseT (to send to a DM receiver or to a display with an HDBaseT input) - HDMI (for direct connection to a display) • Mic input for mixing with program audio and outputting at line level

Centralized Monitoring and Control With its built-in 3-Series Control System, the DMPS3-4K-150-C is a network-grade appliance with high-speed Ethernet connectivity and enterprise-level security. .AV Framework enables the DMPS34K-150-C to directly communicate with Crestron Fusion® enterprise management software, right out of the box. So, all connected rooms across the organization can be centrally monitored and controlled from a single dashboard – all without any custom programming. www.crestronasia.com

SPECIAL PROMO

Crestron Asia will include a FREE Crestron Connect It™ with each purchase of DMPS3-4K-150-C * This is a limited time offer, which cannot be combined with other offers and while stocks last.

Get in touch with your nearest Crestron office for more information.

44

COUNTRY ANALYSIS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

PHILIPPINES According to a report in the Singapore newspaper, The Straits Times, nine in 10 Filipinos are upbeat about 2015.

This seems to transcend how the AV industry in the Philippines feels as well. All those who responded to the survey felt that the AV industry would do well this year.

Though the Philippines economy grew slower in the third quarter of last year, it is expected to pick up pace. In fact, Credit Agricole said it expects the Philippines to get its groove back with a growth of up to 7.3 percent for this year.

The country of course, was in a frenzy in January when Pope Francis visited. In fact that generated five days of Public

GROWTH PROSPECTS

Holiday but somewhere in there some Rental & Staging companies were busy preparing for the visit. In fact this segment of the industry expects to see continued growth.

Another big event that will take place in the Philippines this year is the APEC summit in November, which should augur well for the AV business.

SI Asia did a survey with the AV industry in the Philippines and here are some of the findings that we hope you will find interesting. Please note that the percentages indicated is related to the respondents' expectations for each option provided and would not add up to 100% for some questions.

Every single respondent to the survey agreed that there will be growth in the AV business this year, with a higher majority strongly agreeing to our statement.

There will be growth in the AV Business for the Philippines in the year 2015.

COUNTRY ANALYSIS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

45

HOSPITALITY EXPECTED TO SEE THE STRONGEST GROWTH Which segment do you foresee will have the strongest growth?

50%

22% 11% 6% 3%

Corporate

Retail

Venues/Events

2%

2%

Houses of Worship

Hospitality

Education

Rental & Staging

Government

2%

2%

Healthcare

It should not come as a surprise that the industry expects the strongest growth from the Hospitality sector. 50% of our correspondents voted that this sector would be the strongest. Apart from new casinos, there are a number of hotels springing up as well. The Houses of Worship (HOW) segment came in a strong second in terms of growth prospect. The HOW segment has actually been building up for some time. Last year, Iglesia Ni Cristo built the largest indoor stadium in Asia and the church is also planning to build a new convention centre soon. This is just one example of the growing HOW segment.

SOUND REINFORCEMENT SOLUTIONS TO LEAD THE PACK Which type of solutions do you think will see the strongest growth?

Sound Reinforcement

Respondents felt that Sound Reinforcement would see the strongest growth in terms of solutions, followed

by Video/Audio conferencing solution and control systems.

33% 25%

Control Systems

17%

Video/Audio Conferencing Equipment

Lighting Projectors

8% Displays

8%

8% 1%

AV Acquisition and Delivery Equipment

46

COUNTRY ANALYSIS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

AFTER-SALES AND MAINTENANCE SERVICE Asia lags far behind USA and Europe when it comes to creating a service package as a stand alone revenue generator. Many a time System Integrators throw it in as a value-add service due to pressure from clients.

However, this practice is slowly changing.

75% of our respondents indicated that they do provide after-sales and maintenance service with the remaining respondents indicating that they do intend to pursue this as a revenue generating option. It will be interesting to know what percentage would this constitute of their overall revenue.

With the exception of one respondent who indicated that this would constitute a healthy 25% of their total revenue,

75% YES

D

oes your company provide after-sales/ maintenance service?

I

NO

f , do you intend to pursue that option as part of your revenue growth?

100%YES

the majority fell between a mere 4% to 15%. This just reaffirms that the AV industry needs to push after sales and maintenance as a service and not a value-added bonus.

IT-AV CONNECTION

100%

Of course this should not come as a surprise any more but we just wanted a reaffirmation. Almost every installation that we now cover, has an element of IT involved. In fact for some our respondents this affects 80% of their integration work.

said YES EDUCATING CUSTOMERS AND THE INDUSTRY Our respondents indicated that their greatest business challenge is that customers are only concerned with pricing. Tackling this will require the whole AV industry to be in sync. It is not surprising that many AV companies try to win a contract by offering quotations with low margins. This is compounded by clients who are not looking at the whole solution holistically. It generally ends with a dis-satisfied customer. It is not to say that quotations should be high but AV companies should definitely take into consideration the value and expertise provided by them.

What is the greatest challenge for your business?

50%

Customers only concerned with pricing

Customers not understanding the value provided by your organisation

25%

17% Existing relationships that do not able your organisation to penetrate potential clients.

Challenge from those outside the AV Realm

4%

4%

ANNOUNCEMENT

dnp seeks new partners/resellers in Asia Paci¿c

dnp denmark is looking to extend its market outreach, by making a number of new strategic partner appointments.

Parwaiz. “This will provide them with a great competitive advantage, which in turn will lead to large profitability.”

The company is seeking AV companies specializing in a number of key segments, including: House of Worship; Broadcast/TV studio; Command and Control rooms; Home Theatre; Conference/meeting rooms and Education, specifically in the Pacific Asia region.

He added that he was looking for individual specialists within their respective areas of expertise rather than general AV suppliers. “We want to attract resellers serving many customers within any of these focused segments,” he confirmed. “Companies should have good references, be good at networking — and most importantly have good access to end-users and consultants.”

“We are interested in engaging with resellers who want to be early adopters and first movers in offering a new state-of-the-art, patented and well proven technology for these segments,” said dnp Area Sales Manager, Anjum

Interested parties in the region should contact Anjum Parwaiz at +45 2167 4059 or ap@dnp.dk

www.dnp-screens.com

48

TECH TALK SSystems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Common Cathode Technology: Giving More With Less Take

By Ram Bhavanashi

The Display technology domain, while it seeks to show the world in all its vibrancy of colour and contrast richness, continually grapples with the concerns of heat, energy consumption, life-span, operational ease and, of course, costs. The Common Cathode technology promised to address the technology issues, though with costs. SI Asia interacted with Steve Scorse, Senior VicePresident (EMEA) of the SiliconCore, to know what it does and how! Read on… red, green and blue having a common output, and found it worked, and what’s more, it worked with only one-third of the current supplied to the anode. This is Common Cathode LED. Now the question was what to do with the finding since there were no LEDs to be addressed this way, and all industry driver chips worked only in Common Anode. First, we had to complete the design of our own Common Cathode Driver Chip, but we also had to get the LED Diodes manufactured and tested to our common cathode standard. That was a deciding point for the company.

We were a chip company; we have developed the new chip that was focused towards very high resolution LEDs, but no one made them.

SI Asia: Tell us how did it all begin…

STEVE: The company was founded in 1997 by Chief Executive Officer Eric Li as an R&D company doing chip design.

Eventually, Eric decided to design his own chips and get them fabricated.

Initially, they were for laser drivers, and were so successful that they managed to capture almost 80 per cent of the world market for the BluRay players.

Having developed and made good with laser drivers, Eric looked at developing LED driver chips which led to the invention of common cathode LEDs that allow us to more efficiently address the issues of higher resolution.

SI Asia: What specific inspiration or drive led to that research?

STEVE: As LEDs get smaller, you get very small high resolution ones; but you

can no longer have six legs- meaning you can’t get an input and output for red, green and blue; you would only have a common input or a common output. So, traditionally common anode LED means you will have a single loop which goes in, and you address the red, blue and green in the same voltage, and then the three separate modified signals come out. Because the Red LED is very efficient and the Green and Blue LEDs are not, the Diodes will be overdriven in Red. Therefore, all manufacturers added a balancing resistor in the Red LED. This Increases the overall drive current and produces a lot of heat, which causes premature LED ageing.

Now, what Eric and team realizes was that if they switched the input and output to the LED Diodes, they would be fully balanced without the use of Red Resistor. They tried testing these LEDs by sending three separate voltages for

SI Asia: So you had to turn manufacturer or outsource the process ….

STEVE: There were few companies in China looking at this but Eric did not want to limit the market just to Chinese companies; he decided to build the whole product. He built the whole set-up in Silicon Valley, and began vertically integrating the business- the whole technology stream, working with LED packaging manufacturers for high performance diodes.

The higher the resolution, the bigger the benefit; but it requires us to put much more data through the channel, and to put more data through the channel efficiently, you need to get it highly integrated in the driver chip. By doing this, we can address 10 times the number of LEDs with one driver chip compared to a common anode driver.

We just launched the 1.2 mm display which uses an 0.8mm LED. Common

TECH TALK Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015 anode drivers today only address 64 LED diodes which means you need 1 driver chip for each 8x8 LED area. i.e. 8x 1.2mm.

So, in a common anode device, you would need a driver chip in every square cm. Where are you going to put them all in? In theory, you can do it- squeeze them all into one board, but the board itself gets so packed that it’s going to be incredibly hot; you’re never going to get a data through in the rate performance; it’s going to be totally inefficient.

In contrast, in a common cathode device, because of the far-more efficient driver chip, we can address as many as 640 LEDs; it doesn’t generate so much heat, and therefore, far more long-lasting, and reliable. It gives much more flexible layout options- meaning less layers in circuit boards, simple wiring, less emissions, and overall, a lot more freedom of design. That’s the key thing from which this whole concept of common cathode technology is derived.

49

SI Asia: So, do you mean to say that this technology is an alternative to conventional LEDs?

produce same or higher brightness. Not just LEDs, but also LCD or anything else.

At IFMEA 2014, we ran a 20 sqm wall with 1200 nits which is 200 Watt a square meter or 4 Kilowatt. Arguably, that is much brighter than most of the same sizes showing on the show floor.

In a typical auditorium setting, we may run the LED wall with about 800 nits, which may be 130-140 watt per square meter, and that would cover the whole wall with less than 3 kilowatt.

Comparably, that’s a significant saving on energy in LEAD buildings; money and maintenance too.

SI Asia: By what measurable parameter does it reduce the heat/consumption?

SI Asia: In which market segments do you see SiliconCore's innovative technology making an impact?

STEVE: Yes. The biggest challenge for an LED is heat, simply because it’s the amount of heat that ages the LED; it causes degradation of colour pattern.

The less the heat generation, the better is the LED’s performance and life span.

You wouldn’t need a big air-conditioning system. That brings many more tangible and intangible benefits- energy saving, eco-friendliness, maintenance-freedom and more.

STEVE: We can reduce roughly twothirds of the heat generated otherwise.

It actually depends on the number of diodes and the size and brightness level chosen. Roughly speaking, with 25-30 per cent of the energy commonly taken by a comparing technology, we can

STEVE: Well, LEDs started off with digital signage in sports, and expanded to some other things. But what we see as the future is LEDs replacing LCDs, and the reason is the size. There is

50

TECH TALK SSystems Integration Asia February - March 2015

nothing wrong with the LCDs but as people want bigger and bigger LCD screens, they come to a point where it becomes impractical to move them to place due to their sheer size. So, if you get to a situation where you can have a completely modular display, it can get to any size you want; then you start matching the resolution with no seems, no aging, energy saving, and there can be so many potential benefits.

We start off with the easier option, i.e. the auditorium spaces where a 1.90 pixel pitch would be perfect spec. Then we move into boardrooms where 1.50 mm pixel pitch would a nicer spec. Then we explore the areas that have LCDs and rear projection mechanism, the answer is Control Rooms where applications are very critical, often demanding building smaller circuit boards, and we could go to 1.2mm pixel pitch driver chips.

This actually opens a vast spectrum.

Visualization screens that are made of 210º, multiple projections and nice curves and more; we could as well go to simulation market with tiny pixel pitch design. There is practically no limitation.

In a year’s time we may probably speak about less than 1mm pixel pitch, and in some three years’ time, we may as well speak about 0.5 mm pixel resolution.

SI Asia: What do these specs like 1.9, 1.5, 1.2, <1mm and 0.5 mm pixel resolution mean to the End User? How does it benefit them?

STEVE: It matters most with the screen size. If we take a 4K screen measuring 260 inches with 1.5 mm pixel pitch resolution, the same resolution on a 1.9 mm pixel pitch screen would take a screen measuring 330-inch. With a 1.2mm pixel pitch screen, it would take only 220-inch size.

In a real world application, one could get higher resolution displays in lesser size and smaller spaces. This would drive a huge benefit of space recuperation in cost-intensive realty terms, besides the other potential savings. In a typical control room setting with rear projection, mirror systems and LCD displays, it could be of great advantage.

SI Asia: Considering the promises, can this technology be a game-changer in the times to come?

STEVE: Oh, yeah, it will be. It’s going to replace the LCD videowall because people are no longer accepting bezels, joints and seams. Replacing projection is really a matter of choice. You can get a perfectly good image with projection, but people today seem to be replacing projection since it is cumbersome and space taking; people want maintenancefree and rich solutions.

In my view, projection is always a compromise. Front projection is always a compromise in terms of contrast, sight lines and décor perspective. Rearprojection, though of better quality, is again a compromise as it takes lot of space and infrastructure. If space is cheap, that may not be a concern; but again, as people find larger spaces they may want bigger screens, and particularly the optical screens, instead of fabric. So, getting a big optical screen into a building is a major task. In situations wanting a six- meter optical screen, one may have to bring down few walls to install the screen and mirror systems. So, projection is cheaper, but comes with multiple challenges and operational risks. Common cathode technology-powered LED displays are at the moment expensive but much richer. Therefore, the only thing that is stopping this technology from becoming “the” technology of the industry is cost.

We are working on ways to reduce the costs so that it can become a compelling technology.

SI Asia: Given all the pros and cons, how has the technology helped SiliconCore as a business?

STEVE: Well, I think it has helped us build the brand recognition; helped people understand the importance of low-heat, less energy etc. aspects. In fact, one of the major challenges of the AV industry in general has been the lack of real understanding on how to differentiate between LEDs. People normally look into spec sheets of LEDs and try to match the specs with what

they see on demo. We are trying to educate people on what differentiates one from the other. We tell them not to look at the pixel pitch spec only, but rather look at the efficiency and power consumption, how many watts, nits, pixels or lumens are required on a particular system. That is more important than just the brightness and pixel pitch alone. This has really helped people understand the critical aspects before they scan spec sheet data. This understanding has been missing all these years in the LED market.

SI Asia: What specific measures have you initiated to educate people?

STEVE: We actively participate in tradeshows; we do open-house events with consultants and integrators; oneto-one technology demos; product evaluations with key accounts and stuff like that. We also do whitepapers on diverse topics of the technology. We share our expertise in project design and other essentials. All these programmes contribute to the understanding.

SI Asia: How is SiliconCore positioned globally, or EMEA markets in particular?

STEVE: I think UK has been offering us the biggest market. We have sort of decided to focus on the UK market where we have got significant numbers, and gradually expand into rest of Europe; we have some big projects in Scandinavia and Russia. Middle East is next key geography for us, and the UAE is like a stepping stone. We have got two major projects in the UAE, and one in Qatar. We are talking to a lot of consultants. We understand our technology has been specified for many large projects and we hope we will make head way. www.silicon-core.com

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52

TECH TALK SSystems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Audio Processing Principles

by Martin Bonsoir For the purpose of this article, we will define sound as ‘the propagation of a vibration through a medium.’

Sound has a number of properties and depending which field of science or industry you approach the subject from, some of these properties may seem more relevant than others. For AV professionals, I would argue the two we care most are frequency (typically associated with pitch) and amplitude (which helps define loudness).

“But what about phase!?” I hear you ask.

Well, that too, but since few professional audio processing units include dedicated tools to deal with phase alone, we will leave that for another day.

Martin Bonsoir, EMEA Applications Engineering Manager, Biamp Systems

In the 1980's a slighter younger (and hairier) me walked into a recording studio. It was a very simple setup even for those days, but I was immediately marvelled by all the flashing lights, faders, and buttons. To me, they were the embodiment of cool and I had the urge to learn how to operate them and thus, look cool by proxy. I was a teenager after all.

Most of the machines I was staring at were audio signal processors, and that day marked the beginning of my journey learning what they do, how they do it, and why we need them. The following are brief answers to these questions.

Of course, volumes of educational multimedia have been created on the subject, and I strongly encourage you to seek out this information. It is beyond the scope of this article to describe in detail every technique and method out there; the emphasis being instead on providing a brief account of the basic principles.

But first, we must agree on what audio is, and how can we process it.

A Dynamic Approach

One of the ways in which we can process sound is by altering its amplitude. We can do so in a “static” way, by increasing or decreasing its level by a fixed amount, or we can get more creative and apply the changes in a dynamic way. This is where the term “dynamic processors” comes from, and this approach can offer a wide range of solutions.

All dynamic processors apply the same principles, automatically adjusting the gain of an audio signal as a function of a detection circuit, often referred to as the “side-chain.” This side-chain detection samples the signal and uses the ensuing result to control the gain applied. There are multiple settings and fancy ways in which we can fine-tune the way dynamic processors operate, but the essence remains the same.

The most common dynamic processors are called Compressors, Limiters, and Gates, with more specialist versions like Duckers and Automatic Gain Control (AGC) also being widely available. Let’s have a brief look on what they offer.

Gates apply attenuation to a signal until it reaches a predetermined level, as sensed by the side-chain. One typical

example of its use is to ensure that a microphone will be ‘open’ only when someone speaks directly into it.

Compressors and Limiters, which are really Compressors operating in a more severe manner, restrict the audio signal’s dynamic range* by reducing the loud parts and leaving the quieter ones unaffected. This helps achieve a more consistent sound, which is easier to manage, and if applied correctly it can have the perceived effect of making an audio signal seem louder and more stable.

Limiting helps protect a sound system from distortion and even damage, with Peak Limiters usually applied to shelter amplification stages from blowing up and speakers from turning into confetti.

The beautifully named Duckers offer a twist on the concept above. By making the controlling side-chain signal different to the signal having its level attenuated, Duckers can provide a simple method of achieving priority between two signals.

Ideal when we want the background music level to automatically lower (duck) whenever an announcement is made.

The AGC process regulates the level of an audio signal by adding or subtracting gain, as required, in order to bring the level of the input signal closer to a target level. This helps maintain a relatively constant output level, even if the input level fluctuates. This process can be of immense help when trying to ensure that background music levels remain constant from one song to the next, or that a person’s voice is heard at a consistent level even if he or she changes position or has a noticeable variation in their speech volume.

AGC can excel as a tool when the device implementing it is sophisticated enough to distinguish if the audio signal about to be modified is indeed the true signal desired, or just noise picked up by the

TECH TALK Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

53

significant gain, while the unused ones are turned down or gated.

microphone. For example, the last thing we would want is for an AGC-controlled microphone in a conference room to suddenly receive a huge boost just because someone flicked through pages of paper nearby. Specialist algorithms like Tesira’s SpeechSense™ help prevent this kind of unwanted side-effects. * The ratio of the quietest to the loudest bits of that sound.

Some Are More Equal Than Others

Filtering is an audio processing technique that aims to alter the frequency content of an audio signal.

Filters are used to adjust the amplitude of a specific band of frequencies, and can be employed for a number of very useful purposes. With filters and equalisers we can remove unwanted sounds, combat feedback, enhance certain properties of a sound, and compensate for deficiencies in the sound reproduction equipment or the acoustic environment. While looking impeccably cool and effortless.

There are many ways of implementing audio filters, with Low Pass, High Pass, and Shelving filters arguably being the most commonly offered in modern audio equipment. Low/High Pass filters allow us to gradually reduce the level of audio frequencies below or above a user-defined one, called the “cutoff” frequency.

Shelving filters not only allow us to reduce the level above or below the cutoff frequency, but they also permit increasing it. Unlike the Low/High Pass filters, which apply gain or attenuation progressively, Shelving filters aim to apply an equal amount of gain or attenuation to the selected frequencies.

Filters can, and commonly are, combined into a single tool, and graphic and parametric equalisers are amongst the most common ways of delivering this capability. Having several filters in one processor has the advantage of facilitating multiple changes to a sound signal in an efficient manner (for example: Tesira’s uber-filter processing object expands on this concept by offering the user not only the chance of operating multiple filters of one kind through a single interface, but also allowing the selection of filters of different types within the same processor).

It is worth mentioning that while filters are wonderful tools to employ in our efforts to provide natural sounding audio solutions, when they change the level of frequency ranges they may also alter the relative phase of those frequencies.

This can have a detrimental effect in the perceived sound quality, so moderation is always recommended when equalising an audio signal. Attenuating, rather than boosting, usually helps achieve a better result. Lastly, should you find yourself having to apply extreme settings it is usually because there is another problem further up the audio chain. The effect of extreme equalisation can often be more destructive than constructive and so the problem would be better resolved at its source.

Automatic Transmission

Combining multiple microphones brings a series of challenges, chiefly amongst them is the increase of ambient noise or “room sound” and the reduction of both gain before feedback and intelligibility.

Fortunately automatic mixers come to our rescue by providing the means of ensuring that only those microphones that are being used are receiving

As with the dynamic processors discussed above, there are multiple ways in which automixers can be tuned to perform more efficiently in a given set of circumstances, as indeed there are different philosophies by which automatic mixing can be implemented.

But the essence is the same: only those microphones being used are heard, while the rest are attenuated until they are needed and active. All of this is done automatically, without the need of a live operator. Talk about automation stealing our jobs!

But wait, there’s more

There are quite a number of audio processing techniques which I haven’t covered in this article: not least adaptive filtering techniques like Acoustic Echo Cancelling, or Noise Suppression; automatic adjustment of level based on ambient noise, cross-overs, and yes, FIR and All Pass filters (happy, phase freaks?). And we haven’t even talked about delay. Let’s not go there.

But that only goes to show how a seemingly simple occurrence like the transmission of a vibration through the air can become something so cool as to besot an impressionable teenager, and remain his passion well into (semi) responsible adulthood. Let alone be the reason why projects succeed or fail, why businesses are done or missed, and of enjoyment or frustration.

Because the answer to why we need audio processing was the most difficult one for me to find out, and one I believe we often fail to understand for no other reason than it is so obvious and powerful we can easily miss it.

Audio signal processors improve the way we communicate.

And, I will argue that our ability to do so defines who we are, and directly affects our capacity to realise our potential. How cool is that? www.biamp.com

54

EXHIBITION PREVIEW Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Harness The Power Of Digital Interconnect 8 – 10 April 2015 China National Convention Center Beijing, China www.infocomm-china.com www.ifcshow.com

I

nfoComm China, Asia Pacific’s largest pro-AV and Info-Comm show, is back. Slated to take place from 8 to 10 April 2015, it is the show’s biggest edition yet. 400 exhibiting companies and over 20,000 decision-makers across all industries are set to attend. It will see the introduction of brand new features such as World Premiere, new-to-Asia products, exhibitors seeking distributors, Summit sessions in English, Audio Forum and more.

In today’s digital world, technology is a fulcrum that constantly reshapes business models. To gain a competitive edge and ensure sustainable growth, businesses must tap on advanced technologies to help them operate as if the future is now. In turn, pro-AV and Info-Comm solution purveyors must become agents of change driven by one collective goal – to help their clients future-proof their businesses.

Come 2016, Asia Pacific’s pro-AV market will surpass North America’s to become the largest in the world. It will account for 36.5% of the global market share – that’s $41.7 billion. Part of its meteoric rise is buoyed by China’s pro-AV market, which is poised to generate $16.8 billion in 2016. This boost is underpinned by

China’s advancement plans, which are spurring a fevered demand for pro-AV and Info-Comm solutions.

Where there is demand, there are players. China’s pro-AV and Info-Comm market is teeming with domestic brands and its magnetic pull has regional and international companies flocking to the country. This influx of companies – and their suite of products – is welcoming news for solution seekers and industry players alike. For solution seekers, more trailblazing products that can propel

their respective sectors are now within reach. Industry players will also relish the opportunities to touch base with luminaries who can expand their own product offerings. And InfoComm China is where these stakeholders meet.

2015 marks the show’s 10th instalment – and a decade of bringing solution providers and end users together with the objective of advancing the collective expertise. Figures are expected to hit a record high. More than 400 exhibiting companies will showcase their

EXHIBITION PREVIEW Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

55

More than 400 exhibiting companies will showcase their innovations over a 50,000 sqm floor space occupying 7 halls at the China National Convention Center.

innovations over a 50,000 sqm floor space occupying 7 halls at the China National Convention Center. With brand new show features, opportunities for growth will reveal themselves at every turn for all industry players and solution seekers.

Experience the Revolution

The World Premiere is an InfoComm China first. This platform will see the exclusive unveiling of innovations by companies such as Bosch, Mt. Titlis, Bright AV Solutions and BXB Electronics.

Their solutions will change the way businesses operate.

Bosch is no stranger to groundbreaking developments and its product will give new meaning to smart offices.

“We are adding a new system to the DCN multimedia family,” says Fu Yun Ping, General Manager (China), Bosch (Shanghai) Security Systems Ltd. “It is one that can keep pace with the latest wireless technologies.”

Another product to watch is Mt. Titlis’s one-of-a-kind console, a boon to industries where operational efficiency is a requisite. Physical constraints will be a thing of the past as the console will cater to one’s ergonomic requirements.

This solution will herald the era of a truly seamless workflow.

The World’s Cutting-edge Solutions in Action

InfoComm China continues to pulsate with excitement as it shines a spotlight on new-to-Asia products. Companies like Xilica and Gefen share the sentiment that Asia Pacific is a springboard for global success, and are tapping InfoComm China to introduce their highly-lauded solutions into regional markets.

Xilica’s new digital processor packs superb audio delivery and DSP flexibility in one nifty product while Gefen has made the delivery of 4K Ultra HD

content flawless with its ToolBox line.

The entry of these and other solutions marks a new era for all in Asia Pacific.

Connecting & Transforming Businesses

The show’s swelling reputation has made it a must-attend event. This year, many local and international brands will be exhibiting at the show for the very first time. This addition has augmented InfoComm China’s showcase of products and solutions, offering more to see and discover for businesses that want to enhance their capabilities. Visitors can

56

EXHIBITION PREVIEW Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015 Seminars, Industry Forums and Manufacturers’ Presentations. While sessions in Chinese continue to be wellsubscribed, the Summit will now feature sessions in English to cater to InfoComm China’s increasing global visitorship.

expect big names like Beijing Bright Technology, which supplies Barco projectors, and Datapath, an established name in computer graphics and wall display technology.

The show will also be a playground for pro-AV and Info-Comm channels.

Sourcing for the next trendsetting product is now a cinch. They can enjoy face time with international brands such as Blackmagic Design and dnp denmark, which are planning to take their products farther into China; or local brands such as Digibird and Creator, which are looking to break into the international arena. Conversely, distribution companies like COMM-TEC, which has presence throughout Europe and Asia, can bring companies onto the world stage.

Stay Current with Learning Opportunities

Another marquee highlight of InfoComm China is the Summit. It comprises three programmes: InfoComm University

Speaking at this year’s Summit are experts from Sony, Extron Electronics, Pacific Audio Consulting and many more. Topics will span from exploring networked audio protocols to the use of Info-Comm technologies as disaster management tools. Through market insights and case studies, the Industry Forums will raise the calibre of professionals in various sectors, including

hospitality, entertainment, education, building, corporate IT and others.

With the launch of Audio Forum, learning opportunities at the Summit will increase manifold. This platform is where audio professionals will come together to share and learn the latest audio technologies and trends.

The continual evolution of InfoComm China to pre-empt the needs of pro-AV and Info-Comm providers and solution seekers contributes to the show’s winning formula. Be at the show to witness the rippling benefits of pro-AV and Info-Comm technologies combined.

Win an *iPhone 6!

Admission to InfoComm China 2015 is FREE Beat the crowd and enjoy convenient entry.

Pre-register your visit online and stand a chance at winning the most coveted iPhone in the market. www.infocomm-china.com www.ifcshow.com *The organiser reserves the right to replace lucky draw prizes with items of similar or equal value without prior notice.

InfoComm China 2015 Summit - English sessions 8 April 2015 | Room 2 (403) 1100-1150 Trends & Challenges in Conference Systems Bart Deschodt, General Manager, TELEVIC Conference 1400-1450 Addressing Common AV Installation Challenges with HDBaseT Udi Delgoshen, Sales & Business Development Director APAC, Valens 1500-1550 Math for Audio and Acoustics Rob Baum, Owner, Pacific Audio Consulting 9 April 2015 | Room 2 (403) 1500-1550 The Exploration of Networked Audio Protocols: AVB, CobraNet & Dante Kane Zhang, Asia Pacific Senior Applications Engineer, Biamp Systems 1600-1650 Technologies and Methods to Seamlessly Mix Live Video, Stock Footage and Imagery During Events Fredrik Svahnberg, General Manager, Project Sales, Dataton AB

58

SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

See, Hear, Tou The advancement in audio visual technology has made simulation applications much more realistic.

US Coast Guard HC-144A operational flight trainer simulator using Christie Matrix StIM WQ projection system

T

he possibilities are endless. From simulating flight experiences to surgical procedures, cargo handling to F1 racing and even religious rituals(!), the use of simulators are so common nowadays that almost any vertical industry would be able to find a good use for it.

With the 4K boom and 3D projection mapping trending in recent years, the simulation market has never been more exciting with images now made sharper and resemble closer to life.

In this special feature, SI Asia explored the types of audiovisual technology used in different simulation systems.

Bringing you the perspectives of various end-users and an exclusive interview with one of the leading simulation projector manufacturers, we learned how audiovisual is used in simulation, what are the concerns using AV tools, and overall market potential of simulation.

But before we go into that, let's begin with a little crash course on simulation systems.

What Is Simulation?

A technique for practice and learning, simulation can be applied to across different disciplines to train operators and/or trainees. Serving as a bridge between traditional classroom learning and real-life execution, simulation allows users to apply their knowledge in a trueto-life settings.

Used as a set of techniques, simulation is mostly used to replace and amplify real experiences with guided, 'immersive' ones. Simulation evokes or replicates - to a certain degree - substantial aspects of the real world in an interactive fashion.

Why Use Simulation?

Simulation-based training has been largely successfully across various industries such as aviation, maritime,

and military, where high risk and high costs have made it impractical for live training all the time. Furthermore, simulation training has also been proven to dramatically reduce risk, cost, unscheduled maintenance, increase operators/trainees skills and efficiency while maximizing productivity.

Simulations provide trainees and operators a safe environment to learn, practice their skills, and test their response to emergency situations where operators can be shown and assessed for the proper operating technique much more quickly and accurately.

Recently, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has reported that they will be building a $1.3 million training simulator to improve the road-accident rescue skills of its officers. Using 3D goggles, the simulator in discussion will allow officers to interact physically with the 3D models of prop vehicles such

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59

ch & Get Real

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

By Shireen Ho

as cars and trucks, in a road-accident scenario.

market revenue comes from the military training.

Market Potential

According to Frost & Sullivan's 20122021 market insight report on Military Training and Simulation, it is predicted that the global demand for training

Although simulation is widely used across various industries for training and learning purposes, bulk of the simulation

and simulation (T&S) is expected to steadily grow at a CAGR of 2.51 per cent between 2012 to 2021. This presents a revenue opportunity of up to $411.06 billion available to the industry.

In the same report, the Market Attractiveness Map has shown the AsiaPacific region with highest potential growth, at CAGR at 4.36 per cent, followed by Middle East region at 3.92 per cent – making these two regions highly attractive for simulation and simulation-related manufacturers to invest in.

Simulation Modalities

Simulation may use various modalities – with or without different kinds of technologies – to replicate key aspects of the real world. Unlike constructive simulations, which requires no fancy visualization or interaction technologies, immersive simulations require replication of at least three senses: audio,

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visual, and touch. Also called virtual simulation, this simulation typically involve humans and/or equipment in a computer-controlled setting. Time can be continuous or discreet (depending on the unit). Since it uses computer to generate graphics and sound, audiovisual hardware are often used here to create a synthetic, interactive environment where representation of the scenario is fed to the eyes and ears.

Creating An Immersive Simulation

According to Lin Yu, Vice-President, Christie Asia Pacific, “Simulation environments come in many different forms, shapes, and sizes, and use a wide range of technologies. The two major components are the visual display system and the actual, physical components that duplicate the type of machinery the user is being trained on.”

Firstly, using a computer model of the simulation, installers/integrators will need to decide on the means of tracking visual, audio and touch fields of the user so as to determine what is to be displayed and to identify what physical action are being performed for each simulated scenario.

Next, it is important to source for appropriate display hardware for every sensory modality and appropriate input hardware for each action pathway (e.g., touch, speech) so that the user's interaction with the machinery is interpreted correctly by the system. Last but not least, the hardware to compute scenarios, conduct tracking, and produce resulting audiovisual outputs in real time is equally important as well.

Role Of Audiovisual

To deliver realistic sensory stimuli, the audiovisual equipment play an essential role.

For visual display of the scenarios/ images, simulation projectors or largeformat displays are often used to provide the visual stimulus to the user. Ranging from wide-angle 3D projections to 4K curved displays, the choice of visual

The NUSI Offshore Training Institute (NOTI) has one of the world’s largest visual 360-degree dedicated offshore vessel bridge simulator. It is also India’s first Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) simulator. Photo Credit: ARI Simulation

hardware depends on the type and objective of the simulation. For example, the mobile version of the F1 Racing Simulator by RAVE Productions has used displays for the visual presentation of the race track, while for a fixed residential installation, projectors were used instead to create a more immersive, realistic racing experience.

So what are some other important factors to look out for when installing visual display? NEC Asia Pacific’s Display Solution Architect, Ranjit Singh, explained,

“The factors would differ for different applications. The projection area, distance of the viewer from the image would drive the resolution required and ambience light needed will drive what technology is required.”

To fool the human senses, audio is another area that is important in a immersive simulation. Using surround acoustics, simulating the sounds/audio aspects of the scenario creates another level of realism. While the sound quality is just as important as in any AV projects, aesthetics of the speakers are usually less of a concern as they are usually

concealed in most simulation units.

Enhanced Simulation Experience

To conclude, immersive simulation is a rapidly developing field. With the advancement of audiovisual technology, more realistic visuals are made possible, upgrading the experience of simulation.

For instance, the proliferation of largeformat displays, 3D projections, 4K projectors and curved displays have provided more visual options for simulators.

Due to new technology breakthrough, many end-users have had the intention to upgrade their current visual hardware to provide a better simulation experience. One such client would be end-users like RAVE Productions who owned the F1 simulators.

“We have intentions to upgrade the displays of our mobile units to curved screens, so as to give a more immersive feeling.” said Prem Lulla, Event Director of RAVE Productions.

There is intense interest in virtual reality in a number of domains, particularly in the training, education and entertainment industry, making it a very exciting market to look out for.

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SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Trained To Fly

For this special feature, our Assistant Editor Shireen Ho, was send on a mission to experience virtual flying in a flight simulator!

L

ocated just five minutes from Changi International Airport, the Simulation Centre Changi (SCC) targets trainee and professional pilots alike who are looking for a place to practice their skills.

in advance, I met up with Frans Mosmans, Executive Director of SG Flight Simulations, who gave me a demonstration of their flight simulator.

“It really feels like we are flying!” I exclaimed. The visuals are moving, like in real-time, although it still looks closer to 3D computer graphics than real life images, the vividness is there.

Operated since 2014, the SCC is the latest flight simulator facility of SG Flight Simulation, with the Orchard Central simulation facility being its first. However, unlike the entertainment simulator at Orchard Central, the unit at SCC is a fullmotion A320 cockpit.

The main objective of SCC is to provide training and learning for the semiadvanced and professional aviation market with tools that helps the trainees to prepare for Airline Simulator Recruitment Test, A320 Jet Intro, A320 Familiarization Training and Multi Crew Co-operation (MCC) courses.

As it was my first time trying out a fullmotion simulator (theme park rides not included), I was really looking forward to it. Having made an appointment

where I was standing, at the entrance of the simulator, the visuals covered a surrounding 180-degree view of the cockpit, making it seemed as if I am really looking out at the sky from above.

Into The Pod

The simulator is placed in a high-ceiling room within the facility. Using 6 axis motion system, the unit is not placed on the ground but elevated at about 80cm in park position. I took the steps up the staircase to the simulator, and what awaited me was a full-sized enclosed cockpit.

Upon entering the pod, I noticed that the visuals were already on. From

“Yes, the visuals are there to give you the feeling of flying. In addition, we can also simulate certain weather types, turbulence (motion) - deceiving your senses and trick you into thinking you're really moving,” remarked Frans.

The unit operates using the Microsoft Flight Simulator software, which is responsible for the visuals, audio and flight programme. I was keen to learn about the projectors and asked Frans where were they placed.

“Oh, the projectors are above us. You will have to reach out from the cockpit,” he said.

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But Frans agreed that it might be time for an upgrade. After all, higher definition images will definitely give a boost to the visuals. Given that there are many projectors now offering ultra-short throw options with better resolutions, Frans has been actively seeking them out.

In summary, the selected projector has to meet these requirements at least: able to project at short distances (ultrashort throw), able to do edge-blending flawlessly (even on a curved screen), compact in size, lightweight, and if it can project HD or UHD resolutions, even better.

Any projector manufacturers listening in?

I reached out of the cockpit window to look for the projectors responsible for the visuals in front of me. Over here, I found a 3-projector visual system in a cylindrical setup. As the space within pod was rather small, the projectors were actually rather compact in size – quite different from what I had thought.

“Because this is a full-motion simulator, everything is enclosed, so the space we are allowed to work for the projectors is just that confined area over there,” explained Frans.

Indeed, the space for the projectors was rather cramped and given that this is a full-motion simulator, the small space within the pod is all they can work with.

Looking For The Right Projector Due to space constraint and the short distance between the projectors and the curved screen, the simulator uses an ultra short-throw projector as normal projectors are unable to project the required image size.

When asked how did they end up with their current BenQ projectors, Frans explained that because they have a few concerns and specifications, it was not easy to find something that met all their requirements.

“At that point of time, it was hard to find good projectors with ultra short-throw capabilities; of compact size; that can do edge blending and is light weight too.

When we were building this simulator, BenQ was one of the few companies that made those short-throw projectors and it happens that the projector’s specifications also met our other requirements,” commented Frans.

But why is the projector weight a concern as well? I asked.

“Because this is a full-motion simulator, we have to consider the weight of the equipments used so that it won't affect the motion. This is why the weight of the projectors was taken into consideration,” he explained.

Moving on, I also happened to notice that the edge-blending was not done very well at both sides. The front view projection was bright and vivid, but the projections on the sides; left and right; was dimmer, making the edge blending obvious.

“Ah yes, we did notice the edge blending was not very well done.

Until now we are still trying to get the edge-blending 100%, but because of space constraint and curved screen, it is probably the reason why,” he lamented.

Real-time Audio And Visualization Speaking of 'listening', I can't help but notice the engine sound in the cockpit.

Curious, I asked Frans if the audio of the flight engine was integrated into the system as well.

“Yes,” he said, pointing to the small speakers concealed behind our seats.

“The right and left speakers imitates the sound of the Left and Right engine.”

Beside engine sound, the simulator also has a separate sound system that profile all the sounds you hear during a flight, e.g. the seat belt alarm, the non-smoking alert etc. In addition, there is also a basic sound system that simulates the audio related to the environment, i.e. thunderstorm, which I had asked Frans to demonstrate for me.

Flashes of lightning was seen and roar of the thunder was heard almost simultaneously, and to top if off, there were even ‘rain drops’ on the screen, further adding to the realism of the simulation. I was very impressed.

Although the unit wasn’t moving when I was conducting the interview, I was already starting to feel a little dizzy because of the moving visuals.

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SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

Putting It Together Estimated to cost around half a million, the simulator is a pet project for Frans, who started off as a flight hobbyist.

While most of the machinery used for the simulator were actual parts of the A320 Airbus aircraft, some of the components were actually custom-made, and this includes the curved projector screen which is made of carbon fibre.

Although building a flight simulator does not require licensing, getting the flight simulator certified is another matter. Continuing, Frans explained that flight simulators have different levels of certification, depending on the components used.

Currently, the flight simulator in SCC is not yet certified, so clocking in hours for record is not possible. But because of that, the unit is open to both public and semi-advanced trainees for a memorable flight experience.

From The Ground By now, I am all anxious to try flying on the simulator. With the help of Frans, I managed to do a rather bumpy landing at Singapore Changi International Airport. Although this is a simulation, it is by no means easy! Looking out of the cockpit, I realised that I had landed the aircraft on a grass field, miles away from the runway!

For the safety of every flight passenger, Frans must be glad that I chose to be a journalist, not a pilot. But for a real pilot trainee or professional pilot, how does the simulator help?

Speaking with Garret Yeow, a chartered flight pilot, he gave his view on training on a simulator.

“In terms of professional flying, there are procedures to follow. The simulator preps you to fly and trains you on the psychomotor skills as well. Although as

a pilot you are taught that you should be able to fly even without visuals, being able to see what is outside does help a lot in decision making,” said Garret.

When asked to compared how similar are the simulated visuals from real life, Garret commented that the realism is about 80% close.

“I say 80% because in real-life flying, you get sunlight glare, and you can't really simulate that in the unit. There are also things that don't turn out the same in real life as what was shown on the projector as well. But 80% similar to reallife flying is well enough to prepare you to fly,” he explained.

So in order to improve the flight experience, what are some of the things that he, as a professional pilot thinks will be most helpful?

“Making it even more high definition, more details on the airport, runways, lighting, will definitely help. Smoothing out the 3D graphics to make it resemble closer to life will give more realism as well.” www.sgflightsimulations.com.sg

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SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

By Thomas Richard Prakasam

World's First Hajj Simulator Axon 313 offers an interesting proposition

I

t has taken Axon 313, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, four years to design and present the first version of the Hajj Simulator. The concept is indeed unique. For those not in the know, the Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, and a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and can support their family during their absence. The Hajj gathering is considered as one of the largest religious annual gathering of people in the world.

It is estimated that about 3.2 million Muslims perform the Hajj every year.

These numbers are projected to grow to 10 million when further infrastructure expansion in Mecca is completed in the coming years.

Pilgrims can also go to Mecca to perform the rituals at other times of the year. This is sometimes called the "lesser pilgrim-

"This simulator will not be a luxury but a necessity"

H.E. Dr. Osama Bin Fadl Al Bar, Honourable Mayor of Makkah

age", or Umrah. However, even if they choose to perform the Umrah, they are still obligated to perform the Hajj at some other point in their lifetime if they have the means to do so.

Why the Simulator?

As a religious ritual that is taken very seriously by Muslims, those going to the Hajj need to attend training courses prior to the actual pilgrimage. The reason is due to a series of rituals that need to be performed in order to be considered to have successfully completed the Hajj.

The training is to help those going to the Hajj to better prepare themselves not only spiritually but also psychologically as to what to expect and how to go about the series of rituals. “For many this would be the first time that they would have stepped into Mecca. It can

simply overwhelm them. Thus the training is essential to ensure that they get to perform the rites proper,” said Nasir Hashmi, Managing Partner at Axon 313.

Thus far the trainings have been traditional in nature as it generally entails the use of Powerpoint presentations. Nasir and his partner Faisal Khawaja, who have both already performed the Hajj, felt that there could be a better way to train those going to the Hajj. “We felt that if they could actually visualise the space and the rituals, it might help them to be better prepared,” continued Nasir.

Most importantly, what Axon 313 wanted to create is a total immersive experience.

“We literally wanted to recreate the whole space and process into a simulated environment. This would allow us to

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”We train Hajis for months and still they come back with blank faces. We need something like this where our words can be given the visual backing while teaching them”

Chief Imam Ustaz Hj Hazarudin Bin Hj Baharudin, Tanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque in Putrajaya, KL, Malaysia

project much larger and detailed images that would offer a 360 degree view. In effect, it would be a realistic presentation of what those going to Hajj would see.

With the simulation software, the trainers could then manipulate the “Avatar” character so that the audience can better understand where they need to go and what they need to perform at each stage of their Hajj pilgrimage.” Thus began the quest to create the simulator.

Faisal who is responsible for the technical aspect of the project highlights, “The way we designed the set-up is to make it modular so that we can expand on the screen size according to space availability.” He added that the system is configured so that it can easily adapt more projectors if needed. “What is key is that the system is built around high performance projectors.”

Named as the Axon Hajj Training Simulator (AHTS), it is a training tool for those going to perform the Hajj and even the Umrah. Beyond that the partners felt that it would also be an edutainment medium for Muslims who cannot afford to go for Hajj or Umrah and also for non-Muslims who want to get the feel of Hajj – one of the largest holy gathering in the world.

The content is the heart of the entire project. Engaging the services of celebrated photographer Omar Faruk Aksoy, the simulator features seemingly realistic visuals. Omar is renowned for his many documentaries on Hajj which he had filmed and photographed for the National Geography Channel, BBC, Discovery Channel and IMAX to name a few. Omar together with Nasir and Faisal took many trips to Mecca to take photos of all the buildings as well as the textures, “Interestingly we had the buildings up even before they were physically up,” adds a smiling Faisal, referring to the fact that some of the buildings are still undergoing construction.

Technology Involved

AHTS is based on multi-projection technology with 3D imagery projected on a curved screen. The curvature of the screen is intended to create a virtual immersive reality environment thus creating an experience for the audience as if they are actually at the location itself.

Axon 313 also created what they call an Axon Image Generator Rack that comprises high-end CPU and GPU based workstation, custom rigged to handle 4K multichannel simulation data, as well as the interactive simulation software, with the DVI signals connected to the projectors. Blending and geometric algorithm equipment for the projectors are all within the rack with an audio mixer and wireless microphone transmitter completing the set-up.

For demonstration purposes, Axon 313 has a customised screen measuring 18ft. by 6.2ft. The screen is portable and can be set up within 36 minutes. For a two projector set-up, Axon 313 expects that it would take about an hour to get the systems fully set-up with edge-blending and the geometric algorithm of the image projection taken into account.

The Content

With so many photos and textures which were then translated into the animation software, it was important that the system was fully optimised. “We had to pay careful attention to this aspect as we needed the entire graphics to be optimised or it would have taken up too much space and would probably not work effectively. We also had to ensure that we did not compromise on the quality at the same time. Our graphics team had to work overtime to help us

achieve what we needed and they did an admirable job.”

The end result was the ability to show the animation in full 4K resolution with smooth flicker-less interactivity.

Looking ahead, Axon 313 realised the potential for the simulator to attract attention from different parts of the world. Thus from the beginning they also ensured that the content in terms of the words in the graphics as well as the voice over could easily be adapted to different languages, different school of thoughts, without much hassle. “We even have the ability to change the movement and if necessary the dressing of the characters within the animation to accommodate the practices of people from different parts of the world,” said Faisal. This would take not more than a month depending on the complexity to accomplish.

Currently trainers can use the keyboard keys to manipulate the Avatar character in relation to the interactivity aspect of the simulator. However Axon 313 is already working on a Joystick for easier manipulation.

The Business Aspect

Axon 313 has two options for potential users to consider. The Axon Hajj Training Simulator could be based as a mobile rental or as a fixed installation. The company makes it a point to supply the simulator as a total solution. Thus Axon 313 would supply the following components:

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SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015 port both in terms of funding, technical support (through networking) and trust in our ability to develop this simulator was a real force behind us in making of this simulator. Of course Omar Faruk's keen eye for details and his photography enabled us to create an almost life-like replica of the space and we also want to acknowledge the Axon 313 Sdn Bhd team.”

The Axon Image Generator Rack

• The Axon Engine which comprises of the Image Generator and Simulation system.

• 4K/8K WUXGA projectors with dual lamp with 300 feet long fiber optics DVI cables for two units of projectors.

• Complete 1000 watts per channel sound system with 2 Shure cordless microphones, a Mixer and two speakers with stand.

• Portable Curved Screen (Optional) and • AHTS Software.

The above components can manage a maximum screen size of 40ft wide and 16ft high screen with the minimum screen size being 18ft by 6.2ft.

If necessary the system components can be easily upgraded to manage an 120ft wide and 48 ft. high screen.

Philip Hay who has been following the project for the past few years has been roped in by Axon 313 to help develop the business. Philip had spent many years as the regional representative for projectiondesign and is familiar with both Nasir and Faisal. “The simulator is a novel idea as it will help those who want to perform the Hajj to be well prepared.

But more than that I also think the simulator could be a tool to help interreligious understanding. Nasir and Faisal have known me from my projectiondesign days and I am happy to be involved in this project,” remarked Philip.

Key Contributors

Helping Axon 313 realise their vision were a number of key personnel. These included H.E. Dr. Osama Bin Fadl Al Bar, Honourable Mayor of Makkah. “His assistance in getting the accurate data, approvals to take textures, visas to Saudi Arabia, etc., is nothing less than a treasure for us,” said Nasir. “Also Saleem Bukhari’s contribution in getting the historically factual demography of Makkah helped us tremendously because our Hajj Simulator is all about accuracy both in terms of dimensions as well as historical facts,” said Nasir. Saleem is an architect living in Makkah who recently wrote a book on Makkah which was published by the Mayor's office.

“In addition Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) of Malaysia's sup-

During our first demonstration of the Hajj simulator at Tanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque in Putrajaya, the words of Chief Imam Ustaz Hj Hazarudin Bin Hj Baharudin was like a dream come true.

“He said, we train Hajis for months and still they come back with blank faces.

We need something like this where our words can be given the visual backing while teaching them” said Nasir with great pride.

“This is a 100% made in Malaysia product and we are proud of it and we hope that this simulator will be of immense help to all those going for Hajj.”

The Simulator is indeed an interesting concept that has been turned into reality. Axon 313 expects that there will be interest and in fact has started to demonstrate the product to Mosque leaders as well as System Integrators. For System Integrators who see the business potential of the simulator, they can get in touch with Philip Hay at philip@a313s. com www.a313s.com

“This is a 100% made in Malaysia product and we are proud of it and we hope that this simulator will be of immense help to all those going for Hajj”

Nasir Rizwan Hashmi, Managing Partner, Axon 313

Faisal Khawaja and Nasir Hashmi, Managing Partners of AXON 313 with Philip Hay

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SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

By Shireen Ho

Visualizing Reality

In this exclusive interview, SI Asia interacts with Ms Lin Yu, Vice-President of Christie Asia Pacific, to learn more about simulation display solutions. interaction is to train the user to accomplish some real world task. Therefore, users are keenly interested in systems that provide, as faithful as possible, a recreation of the real world in a virtual way.

As solution experts and innovators in visual simulation technology, Christie® has developed two lines of DLP® projectors – the Christie Matrix Series for 2D simulation and the Mirage Series for 3D visualization or simulation applications.

We have also developed Christie AutoCal™, Christie MotoBlend™, Christie AccuFrame™, and Christie Twist™ to accurately map and display any image to any projection surface with proper geometry and perfect pixel-to-pixel alignment.

Lin Yu, Vice-President, Christie Asia Pacific

A

s a leading visual solutions provider of some of the best simulation projectors in the market, Christie is a familiar name in the simulation industry. Whether you are an integrator looking for a visual display partner or an end-user with a project with demanding specifications, Christie has been known for delivering application-specific solutions.

SI Asia: How important is the visual element in a simulation environment?

LIN YU: The visual display systems enable the user to view digital data in a

large screen format by using projectors as the primary display device. They incorporate database content, such as terrain and other relevant visual elements; an image generator to create the video signal; a high resolution projector to display the signal; and the screen upon which the image is shown. This system is integrated into a physical environment that replicate the actual trainer it is designed for, such as a fighter jet or helicopter cockpit, a vehicle interior, a ship bridge, or a medical device, among many others.

SI Asia: What are some of the important factors to look out for in visual simulation?

LIN YU: The complex nature of today’s simulation systems requires them to meet a variety of challenges. Simulation systems must (1), offer “eye limiting” resolution for ultimate realism, (2) provide geometric accuracy and 3D perceptual cues, (3), ensure that images are solidly

To understand what visual simulation entails, SI Asia got in touch with Ms Lin Yu, Vice-President of Christie Asia Pacific to learn more.

SI Asia: In brief, can you tell us what is visual simulation and what kind of visualization solutions does Christie provide?

LIN YU: Visual simulation encompasses applications where a user or trainee recreates real-world experiences by interacting with and influencing a virtual world. Most often, the purpose of this

VISSIM, the UK’s leading military air traffic control training facility at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire has undergone several upgrades with Christie since the virtual ATC Tower was set up in 1991.

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Christie DS+6K-M powers impressive ship simulators at the U.S. Naval Academy. © 2015 Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. All rights reserved.

aligned and stable and provide a true-tolife field of view, and (4), include packaging/transportation ease of the entire simulator. With the growing use of night training scenarios, many systems are also incorporating Night Vision Goggle (NVG) stimulation capabilities. This is a capability offered by the Christie Matrix StIM and Matrix StIM WQ projection systems.

SI Asia: Are there different types of visual simulation?

If so, how different are they from each other?

LIN YU: There are two major types of visual display systems, each built specifically to the type of training they need to offer. One uses a curved screen, while the other uses overlapping channel displays. A curved screen typically includes a spherical screen, designed to wrap the projected image around the user and immerse the user in the content.

Overlapping channel displays typically involve a configuration in which the channels slightly overlap each other. This feature of overlapping the images facilitates the blending of the images together to create one seamless image. It can either be taken into account by the Image Generator’s hardware (normally graphics card/pipe) or by the software running the application. The overlap region is usually specified in a number of pixels, but can also be defined by the generation of the individual channel information.

SI Asia: Do integrators/ installers need to get special training/education to install a visual simulation system?

LIN YU: Absolutely. Simulation display systems can be very complex and require specialized knowledge and skills for successful project completion. Christie’s project management practices are ISO certified, and our expert teams draw

upon decades of experience to help see customers through the design, installation, integration, and complete training and support of their projects, as well as provide ongoing support for them.

SI Asia: If so, how important is it to get certified?

LIN YU: In addition to integration expertise, certification is essential, not just to ensure credibility in the market, but also to ensure compliance with numerous industry standards.

SI Asia: Does the certification only apply to certain brands?

Does Christie have such requirements?

LIN YU: The certification offered by Christie is for Christie visual systems only, if certification is requested or required for other devices then separate certification would be required by the various manufacturers.

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SPECIAL FEATURE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

SI Asia: What are some of the vertical markets that rely heavily on simulation? Do you see a change or shift in near future?

LIN YU: Among the markets that rely heavily on simulation are aerospace, defense, energy, higher education, transportation, and government. Christie is seeing an increased use in the education field, including the medical field, where simulated environments help bring a “new dimension” to teaching students in more dynamic environments.

In the medical field, simulation plays an increasingly important role in research and practical applications.

SI Asia: For Christie, where does the bulk of the simulation business come from?

LIN YU: Government, defense and homeland security are major markets for Christie, where our simulation-specific visual display systems have a strong reputation. Meanwhile, we continue to grow our presence in many other industries,

because we can leverage our exceptional range of products, knowledge and team experience to provide complete integrated solutions that are reliable, effective and sustainable, and that accurately addresses our clients’ requirements for high performance, high resolution visual display systems.

SI Asia: How is the simulation market for Christie like in the Asia Pacific region?

LIN YU: The continued growth of civil and defense aviation markets in the Asia Pacific region is expected to drive the demand for flight and technical training simulators. Not only can we foresee more orders for aviation simulators, we also expect a strong demand for transportation simulators such as ship-bridges and those intended for land vehicle operations.

Christie has a strong market share in various vertical simulation markets in the Asia Pacific region and we expect to see healthy growth in the coming years. We offer not only products, but also full solutions comprising leading edge display technology, the world’s best simulation

integration expertise, professional services such as system design and project management, as well as system sustainment service.

SI Asia: What do you foresee will be the future trends for simulation?

LIN YU: Christie foresees increasingly realistic visual display systems becoming the norm with higher resolution, higher contrast ratio and higher frame rates.

We also see increasing use of Night Vision Training scenarios, where the Near Infrared capability of the Christie Matrix StIM and Matrix StIM WQ projectors will play an important role. Simulation trainers will also become more portable, especially in the military arena, where the increasing use of urban combat will require more on-location training to help quickly familiarize soldiers with the terrain and minimize the enemy’s “home field advantage”.

For more information on Christie's simulation projectors, visit: www.christiedigital.com

Apache Helicopter pilot training simulator for The Boeing Company using Christie Matrix StiM projection system © 2015 Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. All rights reserved.

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FROM THE OTHER SIDE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

RTA: Riding on Technology Adaptation • A session monitoring system- aimed at monitoring the delivery of sessions by trainers and their interactions with trainees during the sessions;

The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai is an organ of the Emirate’s government that regulates the surface transport affairs in the city-State. Tasked with implementing the vision for a safe and smooth travel for all in the Emirate, it formulates policies and executes action plans for integrated and sustainable transport system.

An important part of the RTA is the Drivers Affairs Department (DAD) that has taken up training the Franchisee Taxi, Limousine, and Bus drivers through sophisticated technology towards enabling them part of the Brand Dubai transport. While the DAD has already deployed significant AV systems at its Al Ruwayyah Training Centre, it is planning for another one at Jabel Ali. SI Asia was privileged to interact with Mohammad Masoud Janahi, Director of DAD to gain an insight into the RTA’s AV exploits. We present to you this rare fare:

SI Asia: What kind of AV deployment do you have at your facility? For what precise functionality has this been implemented for?

JANAHI: The AV deployment at our facility comprises four diverse, yet, interlinked activities. They include:

• A SMART classroom solution that includes a touch screen, and an A/V system- these systems are used for training the Taxi, Limousine and Bus drivers;

• A video conferencing system- for communicating and interacting with the instructor and participants during the live sessions; it is also meant for the management to have video conferencing with external parties; and • A mapping system- which is computerbased map learning system for the drivers.

All these systems are intended to combine to weave in a sophistication of AV network where communications between the learners, trainers and the administration take place in a very seamless and interactive fashion.

SI ASIA: What exactly was the vision for such a deployment?

JANAHI: The holistic vision of RTA – being the regulatory body of road transport in the Emirate of Dubai – is to ensure safe and smooth transport for all travelling across the Emirate. Its mission is to develop integrated and sustainable transportation systems and provide distinguished services to all stakeholders to support Dubai's comprehensive growth plans (through preparing policies and legislations), adapting technologies and innovative approaches, and implementing world-class practices and standards.

In tune with this vision and mission, we have taken over the task of training and development of Franchise Taxi, Limousine and bus drivers. As part of the same, we have been contemplating to train the tourist and passenger carrying drivers in Dubai, with an objective

of making the roads safer for all to travel/ improve the image of Dubai with excellence in passenger/customer service. It is with this vision, and mission, we wanted to implement sophisticated means and methodologies in our action plans.

SI ASIA: How has the deployment facilitated your business communications?

JANAHI: The AV systems deployment has helped us in many ways. We have been able use latest SMART learning solution which is compatible with international standards and complement the externally acquired training methodologies; we have been able to enhance the faculty performance by means of this technology; it has made the interaction easy and understandable between the participants and the trainers for better efficiency and output.

More, we can record the training sessions for future use towards bettering performances.

The deployment has also enabled us hold video conferencing for monitoring the performance of staff, and faculty.

By means of all this, we have been able to enhance the satisfaction of our Stakeholders/ Franchisees. It’s been an overall improvement of performances while reducing costs which we could have incurred otherwise.

SI ASIA: As an End User, what is your biggest challenge with AV technology deployment?

JANAHI: Going through the IT department is the biggest challenge as we do not have the decision making powers and the vendors do not take direct instruction from us. There is also the delay involved in transfer of budget from us to the IT department. One of the best cases to illustrate this was the project for equipping one single room at Aweer with AV system that has not yet been closed.

FROM THE OTHER SIDE Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

That apart, there are other challenges like finding right technology, prompt services etc. Finding the right technology should be done by the IT department.

However, the IT asks the end users to build the specifications, and recommend the vendors- for which we do not have specialization and this has been another biggest challenge. When a new system is procured, the after-sales service is not prompt; the vendors often delay in training the end users on the systems.

It has been observed that the best cost effective and advanced technology can be procured from the vendors who are not registered with RTA.

SI ASIA: As a technology user, what is the best part of the deployment in your facility?

JANAHI: The most impacting part may be the mapping system for the drivers; it has helped them learn and reinforce their route knowledge in a classroom situation without physically going onto the road.

This has also reduced our training time as well as our cost owing to non-usage of buses for route familiarization.

Besides that, the interactive LEDs are very user-friendly and the interaction facilitates better learning. More, session monitoring, video conferencing and the training room booking systems are the best solutions that are obtained for the Drivers Affairs Department

SI ASIA: As a technology user- do you always explore the domain for a latest tech take? Or depend on the consultant/SI to suggest to you the latest?

JANAHI: The Drivers Affairs Department will exercise several options to obtain the latest technology. The most important include visiting external training organizations in the UAE and exchange knowledge with Universities, Etisalat Academy, Transport academies and other external training institutions. We also do it through the external training providers who have been awarded with

the Training & Development project for DA for their input. We ensure that the best practices the world over in “Transit Education” were studied before deciding the suitable system in Drivers Affairs Department.

SI ASIA: Do your Task Teams demarcate between the “best” and “latest”?

JANAHI: Yes, having studied the training technology used elsewhere, the task team determines the best and latest technology, to be a leader in this part of the world. Having said that, we also want to justify the training fees that we collect from the Franchisees Taxi & Limousine participants by providing them with advanced and latest result-oriented technologies- towards making them best practitioners of their profession.

SIASIA: For a Technology User like you- what’s the most impressive technology today?

JANAHI: In our line, it appears the SMART Board interactive whiteboard.

This has brought interactive technology to classrooms, meeting rooms and boardrooms. We feel this particular solution needs to be installed in each and every training hall in Drivers Affairs Department.

SI ASIA: As a member of the User Community- would you please tell us both the good and bad about today’s AV technology domain?

JANAHI: It may be unfair for us to generalize our opinion. Leaving that aside, and looked at the solution we have implemented, a discerning technology observer may see both positive and negative sides of the solution. If we have to detail what feels good and what bad:

Point-1: Good is that it gives us a wider range of teaching options. It also enables students to learn at their own pace, which it easier for the individual. On the other hand, it is a reckonable fact that

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technology cannot take the place of a caring teacher; it therefore tends to become less personal.

Point-2: Use of this technology helped us improve the quality of drivers; it also stood the RTA in limelight as a sophisticated training provider. However, it has increased the investment in drivers’ training. Also, the semi-literate drivers find it difficult adapt to it quickly and adhere to changes.

Point-3: The technology enables us set standard KPIs and benchmark the performance evaluation. We also stand to achieve the Stakeholders’ satisfaction.

On the tangent, the Stakeholders do not often want changes and face difficulty in sparing drivers for training. Drivers too complain about training fee hike due to the introduction of SMART technology.

Point-4: Accountability becomes much easier through the PMC system as it brings in checks and balances. At the same time, applying for new projects in PMP becomes sophisticated, and provides for enough time for the processes to take place. However, both the PMP and the PMC give us a feel of tediousness; PMC has a complicated process since it needs a lot of inputs while going through PMP needs a lot of follow-ups.

Having said all that, we cannot say ‘no’ to technology just because it comes with some difficulties. We do it looking at the advantages and savings on time and money as well as brand identity it gives to the users. www.rta.ae (SI Asia sincerely thanks Mr. Mohammad Masoud Janahi for his consummate and insightful views and the excellent support for making this possible. The "From The Other Side" column is meant to be a platform for End-Users to share their take on the AV deployment done at their facilities)

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COMMENTARY Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

‘New’ Mode of Smart Classroom Launched in Karnataka

First-of-its-kind ICT initiative in India n what is being prided to be the first of its kind ICT initiative in India, the Government of Karnataka recently launched smart and virtual classrooms across the State.

The initiative is significant in that it seeks to overcome the ‘bandwidth’ challenges even as it works out to take ICT-enabled education to the larger sections of student communities in rural areas who deserve better education but cannot afford the costs, and suffer from telecom bottlenecks.

This is not the fancied ‘Internet of Things’ of sort though! This is, in fact, a thing outside the Internet, overcoming the challenge that cripples the Internet.

It is rather ‘Intranet of Things!’

Yes! A government college student in rural Karnataka, where Internet is a luxury of sorts, can just sport an Android smartphone – which is anyway common these days, thanks to the mobile phone revolution in the country – and download and install a dongle-induced app on to his/her handset, and straightaway have a smart reading/watching of lectures, other study materials and relevant notes- on

the screen of his/her handset! It doesn’t require Internet- like the music or movie clip downloads, and doesn’t eat away the student’s ‘card!’ Cool!

It need not be a mobile phone; it can as well be a tablet, or a laptop. All the student needs to do is to stay within some 60 meters range from the server room of the college that weaves a LAN/WAN and Wi-Fi network on the premises. Eh! He or she is not the lone student given the ‘smart’ privilege.

While a total of 80 students can access smart education from one unit setup point, students of as many as 100 government colleges in rural Karnataka have the same ICT privilege- and all of them can do it simultaneously, from their respective college premises.

Those who cannot afford the Android smartphone and other gizmos need not get dejected. For, they can as well go to the college computer lab and access the same academics on the desktop.

That’s not all! Irrespective of learning through smart gadget or not, the students as a community also have the conventional Smart Classroom with projection system and smartboard aligned with the server. A smart education is imparted by means of both documents of type and videos of lectures, and other study material.

By Ram Bhavanashi

Pongal, the festival of harvest for much of rural South India, brought this technology harvest this time as the initiative was launched on 16 Jan by Dr. Kasturirangan, Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University and Chairman of Karnataka Knowledge Commission by inaugurating the ‘smart’ and ‘virtual’ classroom at the Government Science College (GSC) in Bengaluru.

Said to be the first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, the measure envisages spreading the smart and virtual classrooms to the whole of the State, though in a phased manner. There are approximately 411 government under graduate colleges in the State.

The Concept…

“This is actually the ideation of B G Nanda Kumar, Commissioner at Department of Collegiate Education (DCE),” informs Dr. Ramakrishna Reddy, Principal of GSC. “Under the Dr. Ramakrishna stewardship of the Reddy, Principal of GSC Commissioner, the Informatics Centre of the DCE, devised this scheme.”

According to the principal, this initiative has been shaping up for a few months now, and lot of groundwork has been done before launching it.

Dr. Kasturirangan, Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University and Chairman of Karnataka Knowledge Commission inaugurating the ‘smart’ and ‘virtual’ classroom at the Government Science College (GSC) in Bengaluru.

“There has been some serious thinking in the DCE how to spread the spirit of education in an effectively faster and smarter way,” informs Dr. N Ramesha Reddy, Informatics Officer at the DCE. “That we have been associated with the EduSat programme of ISRO (a satelliteenabled technology solution aimed at spreading the cause of education in costeffective fashion) for some time now, the Commissioner asked us if we can bring some value to their thoughts,” he explained. “It was then we deliberated on the initiative, and with some experts

COMMENTARY Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015 in the field of collegiate education have devised the programme.”

According to Reddy, he provided ‘technical design’ for the project. As per the design, the programme envisaged: • Developing e-content in both text and audio-video on eight subjects that included mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, history and others • Storing the e-content into hard disks and distributing them to the designated (government) colleges; the distribution to be carried out from the offices of Joint Director, DCE • The study material to comprise the same academic material as in the syllabus and taught in the colleges directly, plus some extra material like soft skills, spoken English, and personality development • The hard disk will be part of the Media-Server in the colleges; the server will be configured to a LAN/ WAN/Wi-Fi zone • This content can be accessed by WiFi-enabled Android smartphones or devices by means of downloading and installing two apps from a dongle; the dongle to be supplied free of cost to the students “The important point to be noted here is that the students have to download and install two apps from two dongles to get the content on their smart device,” clarifies Nanditha Harsha, Faculty of Nanditha Harsha, Computer Lab, from Faculty of Computer Lab, GSC the GSC. “One dongle app PCOFI will give access to the text, and the other dongle app MS-MAX will give access to the video content.”

According to her, the length of each class/lecture will vary from 20 minutes to one hour depending upon the subject.

The DCE has formulated committees of 7-8 expert academicians each, drawn from government colleges for

developing e-content for each subject/ stream. A studio has been set up at the Council of Higher Education in Bengaluru for recording the lectures of different faculties. The content will not be static; it will revised periodically depending upon the need.

More, whenever an eminent scholar or important personality relating to education, or on matters relating to students skill sets and training comes accessible, the DCE would develop video lectures out of their views, and distribute the same to the colleges to be seen and utilized by the students.

"Already 500 hours of video content has been recorded and about 1,000 hours of video contents downloaded,” the DCE Commissioner Nanda Kumar revealed during the inauguration of the programme at the GSC.

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The Smart Classroom…

Even as the ‘Virtual Classroom’ is sought to be promoted, the government is equally keen on promoting education through Smart Classrooms. While some of the top colleges in the state already have theses classrooms, the government has decided to equip as many as 50 A-grade government science colleges have been equipped with the smart classrooms, while another 50 have been shortlisted to be done in the next phase.

“As per the government plan, all the 411 colleges would be equipped in phased manner with the smart classrooms,” says the GSC Principal. “The government has sanctioned an amount of INR 1 lakh (US$ 2500) for each college towards purchasing accessories; this is in addition to the existing infrastructure,” he said, adding, “they would be further supported as they move ahead.”

The Purpose And Benefit…

“It’s been the explosive age of information technology and smart communication practices, but largely for the urban places and the affordable,” explains Rameesha Reddy. “The larger sections of student communities who live in rural areas have not been able to leverage the benefits of ICT, the main reason being the bandwidth bottlenecks and costs of affording on individual capacities,” he elaborates. “It was looking at this situation, the DCE top management contemplated devising a programme that doesn’t depend on the bandwidth and Internet. That was the point from which this concept of ‘education without Internet’ evolved.”

With sophisticated and affordable smart devices coming like windfall these days, and catching up with the young adults like anything, it was thought to exploit this medium to better effect.

It may take years before the rural areas get the same Internet infrastructure as those in urban places; waiting till that time may deprive millions of deserving students of their right to ‘smart’ education and opportunities to excel.

Providing them nearer, if not similar opportunities would be one way to bring about a better change faster.

GSC Bengaluru Pursuing ICT

The government’s choosing the GSC in Bengaluru as launchpad of its ‘smart education’ initiative is seen as an apparent justification of the elite academic status the institution enjoys. The premier seat of under graduate education has many laurels to pride in. The college has successfully implemented an ICT plan with INR 1 crore (US$ 163,000) funds sanctioned by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) under the College with Potential for Excellence (CPE) Phase-I programme that lasted from 2009-14. The college has not only set up the Smart Classroom but also established a well-defined computer lab and digital library, besides some social responsibility programmes.

Judging by that success, the NAAC selected the GSC for Phase-II if CPE to begin from May 2015-April-2020 wherein the college is given INR 1.5 crore (US$244,000 approx) for further pursuits. Interestingly out of nine colleges that competed for CPE-II from Bengaluru, only three qualified and GSC topped the three.

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INSTALLATIONS SSystems Integration Asia February - March 2015

AUSTRALIA

University Goes Digital With Soundcorp 'The Spot' at University of Melbourne's Faculty of Business just got sweeter.

The functionality of the new system is similar to the old one; each of the pods have two PCs the students can use. The option now is to share either of those PCs to the local monitor, flat panels or projection screens, or to have the teaching material presented on the flat panels and other devices at the teacher’s discretion.”

Powering the powerful video and audio switching needed for such a large system are Extron XTP Crosspoint Modular Digital Matrix Switchers. Crosspoint 3200s are installed in the larger rooms, with a Crosspoint 1600 in the smaller space.

R

ising 12 storeys above Melbourne’s busy Haymarket intersection, the University of Melbourne’s Business and Economics Building earned the nickname ‘The Spot’ soon after its completion in 2009 due to its striking façade. The distinctive grey ink spot patterning isn’t just an aesthetic whim; it’s part of a double glazing system that increases the amount of natural light inside the building while minimising glare and keeping the temperature down.

The Spot is the first educational building in Australia to achieve a 5 Star Green Star rating, and reflects the University of Melbourne’s commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030. Designed by architect Metier 3, the building is packed with design innovations that see it consuming up to 46% less power than equivalent older buildings elsewhere on campus.

In keeping with the University of Melbourne’s goal to provide the best possible educational infrastructure for its staff and students, it recently embarked on a project to refurbish and expand three of The Spot’s collaborative learning spaces, merging single to double rooms and updating the AV backbone from analogue to digital.

The Spot now boasts two spaces that can accommodate up to 100 students and one space capable of hosting 50. Built around a system of pods designed for 10, audio visual content can be shared across PC screens, wall-mounted flat panels or projection screens around the room, providing a huge amount of flexibility in classroom delivery and participation. Chosen to assist the University on the project were integrators Soundcorp and audio visual consultant WSP Group.

Upgrade Path

Duncan Johnston, Audio Visual Engineer with consultants WSP Group, had worked with the University closely before, helping deliver analogue-todigital upgrades across the campus.

In addition to rolling out a new system backbone for The Spot spaces, recycling also became part of the brief.

“Part of the project was looking at the existing equipment and working out with the University what could be retained and what could be upgraded,” Duncan explained. “Fundamentally, the project was to update to digital video and audio transport systems to replace the originally installed analogue equipment.

Michael D’Aprano, Senior Technical Specialist in the Learning Space Support Team at the University of Melbourne, worked with Duncan on the AV specifications to ensure the University was getting what it needed.

“We go through the tender documentation, make sure it aligns with our standards, and make recommendations,” said Michael. “We want to make sure the university gets value for money and we get a system we can work with going forward. This is the first time we’d used Extron XTP in a collaborative space as opposed to a lecture theatre.”

Sam Moore, Sales Manager at Soundcorp, knew they’d made the right decision, “Extron XTP ticks all the boxes,” he agreed. “It’s simple to install, simple to use, and very versatile.”

INSTALLATIONS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015 “Traditional discharge projectors run for a minute or so after shutdown so the lamp can cool down, and if the power gets cut, the lamps can be damaged.

Laser can be turned straight off. This is important in Universities as one teacher will switch off the system, but another teacher will walk in straight away and have to wait for the cool-down period before they can switch back on.”

Agreeing with Duncan, Michael continued, “We’ve been installing laser projectors for the last 12 months.

They really suit our needs, as we don’t have to get a ladder out and change a globe every 3000 hours. The laser projectors are rated for 20,000 hours.

Our replacement cycle for lamped projectors is three years, but installing laser projectors allows us to extend that out to probably six or seven years.”

Collaborative Connectivity

While the University responsibly repurposed some existing equipment including power amplifiers, ceiling speakers, and document cameras, the upgrade required new audio processing from Biamp, tabletop microphones from Shure, wireless microphones from Sennheiser, flat panel displays and projectors from Sony and AV control processing from AMX. Each room now includes a teacher’s lectern with touch panel AV system control, local inputs, document camera and a combo DVD/VCR, plus wired and wireless microphone options. The student pods, in addition to two PCs, each have HDMI, DVI and VGA laptop connectivity and a simple AV system control keypad. Each room includes four large projection screens, custom powder coated through Soundcorp. All AV equipment is monitored, logged and maintained remotely through AMX’s Resource Management Suite.

The 10 new Sony VPL-FHZ55 data projectors installed in The Spot are part of an ongoing upgrade process at the University to replace traditional discharge lamp projectors with laser models. “When projectors are workhorses, laser offers significant advantages,” remarked Duncan.

The Challenge

As with all Universities, the biggest challenge to installing a successful digital collaboration system wasn’t technology, but time. Peter Nanscawen, who works in Project Management for the University of Melbourne and in charge of overseeing seasonal works for AV installations, explained the challenges.

“These projects have big dependencies and tight constraints,” said Peter. “These sorts of works need to get done over semester breaks, often working nights to get them done. This is why the University turned to Soundcorp to deliver the project. I’ve dealt with Soundcorp a number of times over a number of installations and I was confident they can make sure a project is delivered on time, to quality and on budget.”

“We’d done a similar project for the University of Melbourne earlier in the year,” added Soundcorp’s Sam Moore.

“It was stressed to us that we needed to get this project turned around in a tight timeframe due to teaching times and the availability of the spaces. We did two weeks’ worth of night works between 8 PM and 6 AM, roughing in, going into ceilings and under floors. We worked closely with the University’s Information and Technology Services staff to make sure they imaged the PCs correctly to

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feed the right video resolution and audio output into the Extron systems. Our project manager Nash Summers and AMX programmer Martin Smith spent a lot of time as liasons.”

Hitting The Spot

“Soundcorp did a great job delivering the project,” remarked WSP's Duncan.

“It was a good collaborative process between the University, Soundcorp and ourselves. All in all there’s been a lot of different stakeholders involved and it’s been a good project. In trying to meet a tight deadline, even the manufacturers involved were proactive in procuring equipment early for us.”

“Soundcorp are always willing to work to our guidelines,” said Michael. “They keep the communication constant and are easy to work with. If we’ve got things we want changed, they really collaborate with us. Now that the spaces have been up and running and people have been teaching, we’ve had some feedback on the layout and user interface. With Soundcorp’s help, we’ll be going back over the summer period and making it even better.” www.soundcorp.com.au www.wspgroup.com www.unimelb.edu.au

PROJECT FACTFILE • Client: University of Melbourne, Faculty of Business and Economics • Location: Melbourne, Australia • Segment: Education • Value: AUD $500,000+ • Task: To update the university's digital video and audio transport systems to replace the originally installed analogue equipment • System Integrator: Soundcorp • AV consultant: WSP Group • Solutions Installed: - Extron Crosspoint Modular Digital Matrix Switchers, Biamp, Shure, Sennheiser, Sony VPL-FHZ55 data projectors, AMX Resource Management Suite.

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INSTALLATIONS SSystems Integration Asia February - March 2015

SINGAPORE

Technology Embraced To Lure Shoppers

By Thomas Richard Prakasam

Pro Display self-adhesive Switchable Smart Film screen helps create focal point World explained, “This was a completed shopping centre and thus we did not have the opportunity to provide prior recommendations. Luckily for us, there was an area that was enclosed, which actually led to an escalator. The location which belonged to JEM, faced JEM as well as the other shopping centre.

On top of that it was outside of the shopping centre which is important as the objective was to capture the attention of passers-by.”

Finding a focal point was just the first step. Tan had to figure out how the location can be used effectively and the solutions that will enable him to do so.

The Solution Images projected onto the Pro Display self-adhesive Smart Film screen

The western side of Singapore has normally been associated with industrial parks. But that image is undergoing a transformation as the Singapore government's new blueprint for the area is now shaping up the area into a lifestyle hub, with a new hospital, even a hotel and other developments springing up.

In tandem there has been an increase in the number of shopping centres serving the residents in the West. The last two years have seen old shopping centres being refurbished to keep up with the times and new shopping centres being developed.

across the road, having undergone a major refurbishment also fighting for the attention of the shoppers.

The Jurong East Mass Rapid Transit station being the main transport thoroughfare in the West, has naturally attracted a number of new Shopping Centres to be developed near its vicinity.

Amongst this is the JEM Shopping Centre which is owned and operated by one of the world's leading fully integrated property and infrastructure solutions providers, Australia's Lend Lease.

The Concept

JEM offers over 108,000 square metres of retail and commercial space.

Another new shopping centre that was launched in 2014 directly faces JEM with a third shopping centre, which is

Facing a competitive environment, the JEM management wanted to ensure that their tenants will have an edge over the other shopping centres. Real World Connection Pte Ltd offered an intriguing solution to the JEM management that not only offered to capture the attention of passers-by but which could also be alternatively used for events such as fashion shows, thus creating a focal point for the shopping centre.

Understanding the needs of the client, Real World did a walkabout outside the shopping centre to identify a focal point as well as recommend the best solution. C.E. Tan, Director of Real-

“There were a number of factors to consider,” said Tan. “First, the location was made up of glass panels. And another it was outdoors. The intention was to use the location to put across messages to attract passers-by to visit the shopping centre.”

After some careful consideration, Tan recommended to the JEM management that images and messages be projected onto the glass panels to attract the attention of the passers-by. The glass panels covering the escalator were four-sided so it gave the opportunity for messages to encompass the whole glass panel thereby creating something unique. As one of the glass panel areas was facing JEM and there was a small covered walkway, it also provided the management with the opportunity to use it to maximum effect for events such as outdoor fashion shows, thus adding extra dynamism to the whole feel.

Front projection projectors help in encompassing the glass panel.

INSTALLATIONS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

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Pro Display's SoundPOD audio transducers that are attached to the glass panel to provide audio

In order to accomplish this, the key aspect was to transform the glass panels to enable projection. For this, Tan turned to UK's Pro Display systems. Their self-adhesive Switchable Smart Film screen provided the perfection solution.

It is manufactured with a self adhesive cling layer on one side which makes it easy to apply. A simple ON-OFF mode switches the film from clear (transparent) to frosted (opaque). In its frosted state this unique film technology transforms any glass into a high definition rear projection screen. In this particular installation some areas of the glass also features front projection film screens from Pro Display. This was due to space constraints and also to convey a seamless projection.

“The Pro Display screens can turn any surface into a projection screen. With its ability to switch from transparent to opaque we could create a different scenario should there be a need,” said Tan. In addition to the screen, Rear World also installed 8 units of Pro Displays SoundPOD audio transducers across the glass panels. The audio transducers are really small and are simply stuck onto the glass panels and have the ability to project audio through the glass panels.

“This enabled us to provide audio messages to complement the visuals.

It is not meant to be loud but enough for passers-by to hear the messages.

We had to ensure that the sound did not travel to the other shopping centre due to its close proximity and invite complaints,” said Tan. Altogether 7 projectors were employed for the project. 2 projectors were installed for front projection with the

remaining 5 projectors placed inside the enclosed area for rear projection.

The projectors were made up of four units of LCD projectors featuring 10,000 lumens and three units of 20,000 lumens projectors with short throw lens.

solutions are used to save on water and electricity use. The Film screen also adheres to this concept as when it is in frost mode, it actually lowers energy consumption. In addition the projectors are also eco-friendly.

Bringing everything together is the Wings AV Suite including Wings VIOSO. Wings AV is a timeline based media server solution featuring unlimited layers for images and videos as well as for texts, audio and various control elements. Visual objects are manipulated very flexibly by position, movement, transitions and synchronization.

Animations and real-time effects can be applied to any content.

“What we also like about Pro Display's Film screen is that if we wanted to create an interactive environment we just need to add on another screen to achieve that objective, which is unlike other screens where you will need to replace the film screen. This is helpful as it reduces waste and keeps to JEM's green philosophy,” said Tan.

The patented smartprojecting technology turns Wings AV into the best tool for multiple projections: Using a camera all projector images are aligned automatically.

Softedge methods and surface corrections are applied without any additional effort in outstanding visual quality.

Alvin Chong, Manager at AV Land Pte Ltd, the company responsible for the installation and integration work for the project commented, “This saved us a lot of time. The installation was unique in that we had rear as well as front projection.

On top of that we had to ensure that the projectors were aligned properly as they were placed in different areas to help create the 360 degree projection. It was incredible how the VIOSO Wings enabled us to align the projectors for a seamless projection in an efficient manner.”

Keeping it Green

The JEM building is considered a green concept building where ingenious

“Our solution helps create experiences for the shoppers. It has a dual purpose of projecting messages and being able to be used as a backdrop for events.

With all four sides of the covered glass panel being used, it does create a unique experience that we hope will help the JEM management achieve their objectives.” www.realworld-plc.com www.avlandsg.com www.prodisplay.com www.vioso.com

PROJECT FACTFILE • • • •

Client: Lend Lease Location: Jurong East, Singapore Segment: Retail Consultant: Real-World Connection Pte Ltd • System Integrator: AV Land Pte Ltd • Task: To create a focal point to attract attention of passer-by • Key Solutions Installed: Pro Display Film screen and Wings AV Suite

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INDIA

CSIR-NGRI Creates A Collaborative Digital Classroom State-owned consultancy agency BECIL and Unify take the honours

by Ram Bhavanashi

to CSIR-NGRI as well, and there took the foundation for creation of a new facility that not only matches the status of the institution but also matters for its journey into the future. It was thus conceptualized to set-up a world-class interactive learning facility that could connect universities and research institutions from across the country and world in the field of earth sciences.

While E-Classrooms have become a commonality across the learning institutions in both public and private sectors, Hyderabad-headquartered National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), took it to a new high with what it calls ‘first of its kind’ audio-visual deployment in the public sector R&D domain. A constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR), NGRI also took its R&D competence to a new high with its latest sophistication. An SI Asia exclusive:

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ational Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) – ‘a premier research institute in solid earth,’ as its website calls it – was established as a constituent Laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) by Government of India in 1961 with the mission to carry out research in multidisciplinary areas of Earth Sciences.

The Institute plays a pivotal role in the exploration of hydrocarbons, mineral and groundwater resources in addition to studies in engineering geophysics, seismology, geo dynamics and geo environment.

The institute is characterized by continuous, extensive researches in

its field by about 150 highly qualified scientists, assisted by an equal number of skilled technical staff for data acquisition, processing and investigations. This is often by interactions with other R&D institutions from inside and outside the country. The institution’s credentials are manifested in numerous Awards and honours as well as patents, indicating its premier role in R&D.

The Foundation…

While the institution had been continuing its pursuits, the joining of Prof. Mrinal Kanti Sen in early 2012 as its Director – straight from Austin Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas – opened a new chapter in the research body’s march unto modernity.

Kalyan Netti, Senior Scientist, and HeadKnowledge Network Division, CSIR-NGRI

Having seen the technological sophistication that R&D bodies in the West have been operating with, Prof. Sen decided to bring similar competence

“The objective was to create a digital classroom leveraging state-of-the-art audio-visual systems that could facilitate a technology-powered interaction among national and international researchers and scientists,” said Kalyan Netti, Senior Scientist, and HeadKnowledge Network Division, and also In-Charge of e-Classroom at CSIR-NGRI. “It was ideated to provide an immersive experience to the researchers,” he explained, “so that they understand the power of technology and leverage its potential towards bettering their work and contribution.”

According to him, Prof. Sen initiated the project giving it a shape and scale, and after he retired from the chair, his successor and present Director Dr. Y J Bhaskar Rao stood behind the initiative with full commitment and support. “It was due to the enthusiasm pumped in

by Prof. Sen, and encouraging support given by Dr. Rao this project has come out as it was intended,” explained Kalyan.

The Project Team…

Being a premier R&D entity, Prof. Sen and his team of scientists scanned the market to see if they could find a solution provider from the Public Sector.

The result was the coming onboard of Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL) as consultants.

The BECIL team led by then Bengaluru based, General Manager, R Narasimha Swamy, after detailed discussions with the CSIR-NGRI management, provided the design and system set-up specs.

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degree of customization, and everything done on site, nothing fabricated and moved in.

According to Kalyan, it was acoustics that accounted for much time and job task, and once it was set right, installing the ProAV systems was an easy go.

AMX MVP-900i touchpanel and the19-inch AHA192w interactive panel

“It was envisaged to set up a 60-seater e-Classroom with a provision for about 10 more seats to meet any exigency situation,” explained Kalyan. “It should facilitate a state-of-the-art yet easy to use and within-budget technology interaction,” he elaborated. “It should also satisfy the evaluation criteria of our ‘standards committee.”

Post the finalization of design, the management called for Open Tenders which, after due diligence, brought onboard Unify Enterprises Communications Pvt. Ltd. as systems integrator, based on the lowest-budget bid. “The system procurement too had to comply with our purchase procedures and standards,” Kalyan informed, “our Senior Purchase Officer Gnanaprakasam had contributed his competence to make it a meticulous process.”

The project team, therefore essentially comprised, besides Kalyan monitoring from front, Narasimha Swamy, Sreeram, and Janardhan Reddy from BECIL; Ajay Veluri and Rajesh from Unify. The project was awarded to Unify as a ‘turnkey project’ which meant install, test, commission, and maintain with a fiveyear warranty for support with a resident engineer.

“Creation of e-Classroom for prestigious institution like CSIR-NGRI was a wonderful experience for the BECIL team,” said Narasimha Swamy. “BECIL was involved right from design of the site, its preparation, ProAV specs, RFP documentation, tendering process, and finally implementation of design as per specifications.”

The Making of the E-Classroom…

It was to be made from the ground up.

That it was a bare shell with potential acoustic challenges – due to heavy public movement near its entrance, and positioning of A/C compression system – one of the primary jobs was to set its ambient acoustics right. BECIL team worked on it and proposed an acoustic treatment solution which meant that the entire interior had to be treated with paneling. While the floor was treated with wooden deck, the ceiling was treated with Armstrong panels; walls and doors were treated with glasswool.

“Even windows had to be treated so that the ambient acoustics came to bare minimum,”Kalyan explained, “BECIL tested the RT to around 0.3, which was perfectly alright.”

It was then the seating fitment. That the In-Charge wanted an oval shaped seating pattern, it was ideated to use 18mm wood but such a wood doesn’t bend to shape. After a series of brainstorming sessions, it was concluded to use three units of 6mm in combinations to make up for 18mm. The model worked. All that meant a high

“The real challenge was to create the facility to match the precise requirement and rigorous standards of CSIR labs,” said Swamy. “We came good with it, thanks to our team and support by NGRI too.”

The A-V Set-up…

Roughly squarish in shape the E-Classroom appears neatly decked in a pleasant combination of wood and fabric paneling all over. The seating, with a gangway in between and on either side, comprises five rows in oval pattern, and equipped with 31 units of AKG CGN321 STS heavy-duty professional tabletop microphone set, including the CGN351 condenser gooseneck microphone coming with a cardioid polar pattern, and an ON/OFF button for the participants to press before and after speaking.

The microphone system presets are programmed to align with three Vaddio ClearVIEW HD-18 robotic PTZ camerasone mounted on the centre of the back wall facing the speaker, and two mounted on centre of the facing wall right above the huge writing board.

These cameras are augmented by an even number of Vaddio AutoVIEW IR sensors, and a Vaddio ControlVIEW XHD video switcher. The beauty of the preset programming is that the moment a participant presses the ON button of his gooseneck to speak, the camera from the dais automatically focuses on the person.

While the AKGs capture the audio, the same is reproduced by six units of JBL wall-mounted speakers. The audio is processed by two each numbers of Biamp Nexa TC/VC, and powered by Crown CTs600 amplifiers.

The 123” diagonal Da-Lite screens on the left and right of the writing board

Vaddio PTZ cameras apart, the video set-up essentially comprises two units

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of Panasonic PT-DZ570 WUXGA DLP projectors, mounted in the middle of ceiling, facing two 123-inch diagonal Da-Lite screens mounted on the facing wall, on either side of the writing board.

Augmenting the video/display job is one Smart Technologies SDC-450 document camera fitted on the stage.

In addition, the video component is chacterized by a Polycom HDX8000 video-conferencing system meant to perform high definition AV conferencing.

Controlling the multiple functions of audio and video are tasked to one AMX MVP-900i touchpanel to control and automate both wired and wireless functions with multiple user interfaces. Performing a much bigger and complex task of handling multiple inputs of analog and digital audio-video processing, switching and presenting is the AMX Enova DVX-3150 HD system topping the control room electronics.

Decking the speaker’s table as a special feature is a 19-inch AHA192w interactive panel that is meant to facilitate easy interaction amongst A/V devices. The beauty of this system is that one can annotate any input by scribbling on the monitor with digital pen, and get the same projected on the large screen on stage. Documents or images of different types can be annotated on the screen with ease and saved for later references.

More, proceedings of the class, recorded as .wmv files are posted on the web, and can be accessed by authorized students anytime anywhere. Playing its fiddle, among all, is a Sony 3D BluRay playermeant for playing videos or movies.

Pick of the E-Classroom…

The highlight of the whole set-up though is WOW Vision’s wireless presentation system. The system comprises a ProVEOS network-based, wireless presentation system, and WOW Ripple AV content capturing and streaming solution. The ProVEOS enables the participants to wirelessly present their works, ideations and interact with other members at the comfort of their wireless devices- laptop, iPad, or even smartphone. It only requires the participant to be in the wireless range.

The WOW Ripple, on the other hand,

transforms AV content into interactive media-rich presentations that can be streamed either live over web or provided/accessed on requirement.

Advantage NGRI…

“We have done it all with perfect ideation and purpose; there are many benefits with the system we deployed,” Kalyan exudes excitement. “We wanted to create the best interactive technology environment that can connect national, international research/ scientific communities in a very easy, immersive fashion,” he remarked “while we were conscious about budgets, we didn’t (want to) compromise on any aspect; we had it as per our specs and visualization.”

According to the E-Classroom In-Charge, the facility came up so well that it is playing a perfect hosting platform for

the institution’s ‘connect-collaborate’ initiatives in furthering research. It recently hosted the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) conference much to the admiration of the event’s international delegates. When the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing-Dehradun wanted to conduct online classes for researchers from different universities and R&D bodies, NGRI chose this facility to host the event.

“It’s a great achievement; and it has come true with the vision of Prof. Sen, and energizing support from our current Director Dr. Rao,” Kalyan Netti concluded, “it wouldn’t have been possible without their initiative and support.” www.ngri.org.in www.becil.com www.unify.com/in

PROJECT FACTFILE • Project Name: CSIR-NGRI e-classroom • Project Site: NGRI campus, Hyderabad • Project Owner: CSIR-NGRI • Project Segment: Government R&D • Project Task: Install, test, commission, maintain A/V conferencing; wireless presentation; live streaming; archiving; touchcontrol operations- turnkey project • Consultant: Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL) • Systems Integrator: Unify Enterprise Communications Pvt. Ltd. • Project Commencement: October 2013 • Project Commission: June 2014 • Project Highlight(s): Wireless presentation; Live streaming • Sound reinforcement system: - AKG CGN321 STS heavy-duty professional tabletop microphone set, including the CGN351 condenser gooseneck microphone - JBL wall-mount and ceiling speakers - Crown CTs-600 amplifier - Biamp Nexia TC & VC digital signal processors with 8 wideband AEC mic/line inputs

• Video Processing system: - AMX Enova DVX 3150HD integrated multi-format AV presentation switcher - Polycom HDX 8000 for HD audio and video communication - WOW Vision – ProVEOS wireless presentation - WOW Ripple – wireless AV streaming - Sony 3D Blu-Ray player • Presentation System: - Panasonic PT-DZ570 DLP projectors - Da-Lite 123-inch (diagonal) motorized screen with LVC provision for moving up& down - AHA-192w Interactive panel- for interacting with data and video • Camera Control System: - Vaddio ControlView XHD seamless video switcher - ClearView HD-18 robotic PTZ camera- 3 numbers - AutoVIEW IR sensor kit • Control System: - AMX Enova DVX 3150HD integrated control system processor - AMX MVP-9000i Modeo Viewpoint touch panel - Lutron GXI-3000 Lighting controls

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INDIA

Barco Powers Columbia Asia’s Diagnostic Displays

Columbia Asia Bengaluru – one of the prideful concerns of the Malaysian healthcare group – having redefined medical services in the Garden City, has furthered its strengths recently when it expanded its diagnostic display systems with latest technology solutions. Visual solutions major Barco, having made its credentials with the Healthcare chain earlier, came to exemplify its solutions once again with new, patented display system solutions. A snapshot.

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olumbia Asia - the Kuala Lumpurheadquartered Healthcare multinational with over 25 modern medical facilities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and India - is the first healthcare MNC coming to India with 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI). The medical services giant brought its genre of sophistication to Indian healthcare, which is exemplified in many ways.

Towards meeting its self-imposed highquality standards, the hospital chain decided to expand its diagnostic display systems at its flagship location in Bengaluru. Having earlier experienced Barco’s Nio and Eionis clinical display systems to satisfying results, the hospital this time incorporated Nio Color 2MP diagnostic display systems as the best strategic fit for its radiology service.

The new Nio Color 2MP systems, equipped with Barco’s patented Uniform

Luminance Technology for LED displays (ULT-LED), are attuned to their highbright LED backlight, and a Nio frontof-screen sensor. Both the new features further enhance image quality and diagnostic accuracy, and help reduce the total cost of ownership.

The current collaboration with Barco isn’t new for the staff at Bangalore. “We have been working with Barco medical display systems since 2009,” said Dr. Harsha Chadaga, Head of Clinical Operations.

“We have a fleet of medical displays ranging from the Nio 2MP, Nio 5MP and Eonis clinical displays. Never once have they let us down, so the decision to extend our collaboration with Barco was quite an obvious one.”

Reading productivity and diagnostic confidence: The Nio Color 2MP diagnostic display system, by virtue of its high-bright LED backlights, delivers industry-leading brightness and more shades of grey to detect subtle details more quickly. The front-of-screen sensor which characterizes the system, guarantees consistent and precise images at all times, enabling confident diagnoses.

Furthermore, the front-of-screen sensor works seamlessly with Barco's online MediCal QAWeb solution for automated Quality Assurance and on-demand calibration.

With these features, the Nio Color 2MP diagnostic displays fit perfectly with

Columbia Asia’s strategy to increase productivity and quality of care while keeping costs as low as possible.

Says Dr. Shalni Govil, Chief Radiologist and Quality Controller: “Barco showed tremendous engagement at all levels within the hospital. After witnessing a demo of the latest Nio Color 2MP diagnostic display, we immediately understood that Barco was the clear choice for us again.”

Columbia Asia-Bengaluru Vice-President, Dr Harsha Rajaram expressed his happiness over the install. “The very first display system we bought from Barco impressed us so much. Barco has done this again with the new Nio Color 2MP. In addition to performance, reliability and a low total cost of ownership, Barco meets all the regulatory requirements we need, which provides us with complete diagnostic confidence in the product and Barco.” www.barco.com

PROJECT FACTFILE • • • •

Client: Columbia Asia Bengaluru Location: Bengalaru, India Segment: Healthcare Key Solutions Installed: Barco Nio Color 2MP diagnostic displays

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AUSTRALIA

Canberra Airport Moves Ahead With Tannoy Integrator Rutledge AV chooses Tannoy’s QFlex and CMS Series for the project. model a given environment and create customised ‘steering files’ for each QFlex array, ensuring that audio is distributed in a highly controlled and co-ordinated manner between QFlex units, minimising acoustic reflections and targeting the audio exactly on the areas required.

Known for its expertise in the use of computer modelling to achieve optimal sound quality in challenging environments, Rutledge AV sought the aid of complex simulations to recreate the spaces to assess speakers, positions and angles and ultimately come up with the ideal design.

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ecently, Canberra Airport invested a total of $480 million on a complete redevelopment of its terminal precinct. This redevelopment, termed ‘AirVolution’, is the largest private sector investment in Canberra’s history and has delivered a world-class terminal in Australia’s capital that covers 55,000sqm. The environmentally friendly building has been recently honoured by a number of industry awards, including twice being named Australia’s Airport of the Year.

complex space given the volume of glass used. The large glass atrium which overlooks aircraft as they dock, active runways and the region beyond is a three storey (16 metre high) structure that uses 279 glazed panels and covers an area of 1,500sqm.

Rutledge AV, a renowned Australian integrator for public venues and facilities - was commissioned to design, install and deliver the Western Concourse Public Address and Emergency Warning and Intercommunication System (EWIS) for Stage 2 of Canberra Airport. This system would also need to integrate seamlessly into the existing airport’s systems to ensure airport wide communication from a centralised control point.

This area required detailed EASE modelling to ensure optimal placement of speakers. As a result of the initial assessment of the project requirements and, based on the assumption of an ambient noise level of 85dB, Rutledge AV understood the Atrium would be a difficult acoustic space as its highly reverberant area would present challenge for any loudspeaker. The combination of the physical space and surfaces, ambient noise levels, speaker selection, quantity and placement would all affect the overall sound pressure level (SPL) and speech transmission index (STI) performance relevant to the Australian Standard AS1670.4.

Being such a modern structure meant Canberra Airport presented some complex AV challenges given the expansive spaces. For example, the airport’s stunning atrium is a particularly

In such a challenging space, Rutledge AV turned to Tannoy’s digital beam steering column array, Qflex for solution. Using the highly intuitive Qflex BeamEngine, system designers are able to quickly

To achieve sufficient coverage for the atrium, Rutledge AV underwent EASE modelling and worked in collaboration with Tannoy’s regional distributor APG to model varying scenarios for the airport to ensure the best speech intelligibility and compliance with regulations, as well as being considerate to architectural challenges.

At long last, Rutledge AV was able to provide even coverage to every area,

INSTALLATIONS Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015

using just two QFlex 32 devices mounted either-side of the entrance hall and two QFlex 32s airside, along with another QFlex 40.

The aesthetics of the speakers was a major consideration in the equipment selection to ensure they would work in harmony with the built environment.

Several iterations of the design and model were required to conform with the architectural requirements. In some cases these steered array speakers were concealed behind ‘dummy’ mechanical grilles to appease the building design.

Elsewhere, 300 of Tannoy’s CMS 601BM were also deployed on the concourse, restaurant and departure gates to provide even coverage throughout the terminal. A full bandwidth; high power and high sensitivity ceiling monitor system, the CMS 601 is a mid-sized unit that is specifically designed for applications requiring the combination of higher quality sonic performance for music and speech reinforcement.

Being the world's busiest activity centres with communications being fundamental to their operational success, it is hence important for airports to maintain a safe environment. To achieve this, Rutledge AV installed an effective audio digital signal processing (DSP) system that is unobtrusive and meets all relevant Australian standards but one that assists to provide an efficient and safe airport environment. One of the biggest challenges was the cutover of the system in a public facility that operates for the most of the day.

The Rutledge AV commissioning team worked overnight to have the new Biamp

VOCIA headend system operational by morning, cutover to the existing Klotz system. The night work was also necessary to undertake the required EVAC testing of the system and the cutover required precise coordination to ensure that the other trades and stakeholders were on line at the same time (such as the fire service contractor).

The fire services needed to be onsite to program the fire panel that integrates with the Rutledge AV paging system to trigger the EWIS at times of emergency.

The company had to ensure the EWIS system adhered to the applicable standards and the integration of the system would evacuate different set zones in a systematic and controlled evacuation to minimise any disruptions.

"A project of this size that operates for most of the day in a public environment meant that the Rutledge AV commissioning team worked overnight to have the new system operational by morning. The night work was also necessary to undertake the required EVAC testing of the system and the cutover required precise coordination with the client to ensure that all stakeholders were on line at the same time.” said Andrew Morrice, CEO of Rutledge AV. New advancements in QFlex technology have only made it even better for these PA/VA environments, including Sentinel for fault monitoring and reporting, and an Ethernet bridge to allow for distributed rack systems.

Stuart Archibald, Product Manager for Tannoy, commented: “Tannoy have firmly established QFlex as the solution

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of choice in major transportation hubs in the UK and abroad, and forthcoming innovations will only add to an already extensive feature set and underline Tannoy’s ongoing commitment to be at the forefront of the steerable and architectural audio market. This superior innovation, unbeatable sonic clarity and overall user experience make QFlex the most compelling choice for any application where intelligibility in a reverberant space is a paramount concern.”

Audio visual is art and science.

Rutledge AV had worked in harmony with a variety of environments and challenges to ensure that the existing built environments are enhanced with world class audio visual, which is - of the most part – concealed, and manages to effortlessly meet all relevant standards and maintain STI and SPL. www.rutledge.com.au www.audioproducts.com.au www.tannoypro.com

PROJECT FACTFILE • • • •

Client: Canberra Airport Location: Canberra, Australia Segment: Aviation Task: To design, install and deliver the Western Concourse Public Address and Emergency Warning and Intercommunication System (EWIS) for the Airport.

• System Integrator: Rutledge AV • Solutions Installed: - 4 x Tannoy QFlex 32 - 1 x Tannoy QFlex 40 - 330 x Tannoy CMS 601BM - Biamp VOCIA Master System

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HONG KONG

Tricor Enhances Its Work Space Environment BAP Technology integrates seamless efficient solution digital signals. To fulfill this objective BAP adopted the latest XTP System

by Extron to fulfill Tricor’s request for a hybrid transmission system - a system that is compatible with analog signals, such as VGA, while being able to handle HDMI or DVI signals from new devices like Apple TV, tablets and the latest notebooks. This ensured that whatever device brought in by users would work seamlessly and thus improve efficiency as well as productivity.

Extron's XTP Systems deliver extremely high switching and transmission performance to support a wide range of video formats, including the highest resolution HDMI and DVI signals.

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ricor, a member of The Bank of East Asia Group, is a global provider of integrated business, corporate and investor services. The company has built its reputation and professional expertise through the acquisition of certain practices from major international accounting and professional firms as well as through organic growth and development. Tricor has offices spread around the globe with its Head office being located in Hong Kong.

Modern workplaces with a strong culture now provide advanced tools, systems and resources that enable staff to get their jobs done wherever and whenever they choose. Thus it is with this in mind that Tricor engaged the services of BAP Technology Consultants Limited. BAP offers audiovisual and light dimming technology to empower organisations so that team members can work effectively.

Job Scope

The solutions installed by BAP within the Tricor HQ at Hopewell Centre in Wanchai included Audiovisual system, dimming and blind control system, display systems, projection systems, touch panel control systems, signal matrix system

and wireless microphone systems. These were specifically tailored for the training rooms, boardroom, conference room, dining room, corridors and the reception area.

Ensuring Efficiency With Analog Digital Signal Compatibility

With BYOD becoming a common phenomenon in the workplace, it was critical to have an integrated switching and distribution solution that would be able to handle multiple analog and

Marco Tang, Director of Sales from BAP also adds, “We had to ensure that we also catered to the needs of the system operator. The XTP is designed for optimum performance and 24/7 reliability. Modular components are hot-swappable so that the processor can be serviced or reconfigured without powering down the entire unit.

It also features available redundant power supplies to ensure continuous, uninterrupted power. These are key features that provide peace of mind to the client.”

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HWI system helps users create different ambience for different activities at the touch of a button, e.g., meeting mode, VC mode and movie mode. Users can also control the lights from the main control unit or keypad or even from the central control system.

Training rooms

A single iPad can control each venue remotely

iPad to control each venue remotely, and its interface is made to look just like the touch panel control, making it userfriendly.

Lighting Control

Boardroom

The Major Challenge

A major challenge was the control of lighting and audiovisual devices in Tricor’s boardroom and training rooms.

As Tricor wanted maximum flexibility as to the use of the space, BAP had to configure a system that could control the equipment in each space individually or in specific combined modes. To this end, a matrix system had to be built.

As can be expected a Matrix system is complex and it required an experienced AV specialist to build and programme the system. However, the matrix of signaling was the most complex part of this project. BAP had to make sure that the third party provided cable conduits, wiring, and lighting circuits could accommodate the matrix design.

This involved a lot of checking and coordination work.

It was also important that though the system itself is complex it needed to be extremely user-friendly for the client to use and this BAP was able to achieve admirably. Their professional AV designers built a user-friendly control that could be managed with ease. “The client was totally satisfied with our control layout,” said Marco.

Additionally, the new system is operable via iPad, providing users mobility, flexibility and strengthening operation support. BAP’s design allows a single

Another area of challenge was with regards to the control of the shades and blinds. As the shades and blinds were not supplied by BAP, the team had to integrate 3rd parties mechanics and design compatible interface to manage all aspects of shade/blind set-up to enhance the internal ambience of the venues. After overcoming the technical difficulty with 3rd parties devices, BAP had to integrate the lighting control to the AV touch panel control so as to allow a single, simple and user-friendly total control solution to client.

Another area of concern was with regards to the LED lamps that are heavily employed in the office for energy saving purpose. Integration of LED lamps to the lighting control system is a skilful technique, because compatibility of transformer and driver for the lighting fixture is crucial for integration and lighting effects. This took the BAP team a lot of patience to get it correct.

The end result is that users are able to turn on individual or groups of lights through a central control unit. The Lutron

The Extron control panel aesthetically matches the colour of the wall

Total management of light dimming and blind control is becoming popular for commercial projects, especially for international companies, because of its ability to save energy and to double the life of lamps. While enhancing the aesthetics of different rooms, dimming can allow the office to reduce energy consumption without sacrificing any comfort for the users.

Going That Extra Mile

BAP stands out because its work focuses not just on technology, but also aesthetics. In fact, aesthetics is involved in everything that they do. All input panels, wall-mounted controls, tabletop controls match the office design – a service that helps to differentiate them among competitors.

Traditional work environments are becoming increasingly unproductive and will soon be outmoded, if they aren’t already. The tech-driven workplace is the future and will be essential for businesses looking to stay ahead. www.bap.com.hk

PROJECT FACTFILE • Client: Tricor Serviced Limited • Location: Hopewell Centre, Hong Kong • Segment: Finance • Interior Designer: AJM • Project Manager: CBRE • E&M Consultant: CCL • Main Contractor: Ocean Contracting Limited • System Integrator: BAP Technology Consultants Ltd • Task: To install and integrate a flexible AV and lighting control system • Key Solution Installed: Extron XTP & Lutron HWI system

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KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Connecting A Steely Future In The Desert

Polycom Powers Communications at Saudi Steel Major

When Saudi Arabian steel major SOLB STEEL, decided to set up its manufacturing plant in the Jazan Economic City – the tiny southwest part of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is part of an ambitious Master Plan – it was like walking into an all-advantageous place but one. Lack of telecom infrastructure! The steel major, however, went ahead with its plans undeterred, and made a business case. The key to its success has been the communication mechanism it set-up between its plant and headquarters, thanks to technology solution provider- Polycom.

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t was a sort of too early a time for Saudi Arabia’s Jazan Economic City (JEC) when Riyad-headquartered steel fame SOLB STEEL began building its manufacturing facilities there in 2009.

Intended for development under an ambitious Master Plan, the JEC did have several advantages: easy access to the kingdom’s third-largest port Jizan; a strategic location being very close to the main east and west sea trade routes to Europe; as much as 300 km of potential coastline; vital link to the country’s fast-

growing southern region; and, above all, substantial government and industry backing.

rolling mills, besides 500,000 tons of rebars production.

Despite all that, it suffered from one big hindrance- lack of telecom infrastructure.

Its communication facilities were years behind those available in Riyadh and other developed areas in the country.

Being in a patch of undeveloped desert of around 1,000 kilometers from the country’s largest commercial center, one’s ability there to communicate and collaborate would determine how quickly and efficiently plants, offices and other facilities could rise out of the sand.

Having committed to such a massive initiative it was essential for the company to have regular interaction with the field staff to monitor the plant progress. However, that it was so far from the headquarters, establishing a telecommunication channel with the plant site was imperative. Ironically, the JEC region had dismally poor communications infrastructure – a bandwidth of a meager 64k – thus the company had to explore other avenues of ‘conferencing.’

Though created from humble beginnings, SOLB STEEL quickly emerged into a dynamic giant in Saudi steel industry. Today, it is acclaimed as one of the major manufacturers of billets, re-bars and wire rods in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Looking into the future, government thrust on developing the JEC, SOLB STEEL had committed itself for a multi-billion dollar investment to set up the steel plant with a reported capacity of one million ton billets and

The poor telecom bandwidth at JEC meant that SOLB plant had to use a Microwave for Internet access. They were forced to use Microwave P2P connection over 23 LOS with multiples of poor copper line connections. While that didn't meet their requirement by any count, their communication concerns only got compounded with their work load weighing up, and no other alternative of fiber optic or copper cabling network. That the

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travels and calls between SOLB branches for meetings.

Now that a new infrastructure is in place, the possibility of communicating outside the company’s network is also possible. SOLB STEEL could establish visual communications with its partners that are using similar conference devices.

As the company keeps growing, they would keep expanding their Universal Collaboration project.

company had an office in Jeddah, and the management wanted to sync all the offices and their IT functions such as ERP/SAP into unified communications, it had become far more critical to have in place an effective connectivity tool or mechanism.

The main question, therefore, before Dr. Faisal Al Nasser, Manager-IT and Production, Planning Departments, at the SOLB STEEL was how to deliver good quality video- conferencing on such a low bandwidth.

He explored the market and the several solutions available, and following an in-depth evaluation, he came to the conclusion that Polycom could be his choice. “In our opinion, Polycom was the only solution capable of delivering a great quality audio and video over very low bandwidth,” Nasser explained. “The codec is extremely powerful.”

Understandably, SOLB STEEL approached Polycom, who eventually roped in their Platinum Partner in Saudi Arabia- FVC, who in turn brought in line their partners ACS and ANMAT Tech.

SOLB STEEL’s IT team found Polycom’s HDX 6000 and HDX 7000 systems capable of delivering flexible, highdefinition communications over the given low bandwidths using standardsbased technology. They decided to install Polycom and Microsoft Unified Collaboration solution. “Polycom had already impressed us with the great quality of their video solutions. When we heard the HD audio on the phone

between offices over VPN, it was amazing!” The first connection, thus, was established between the plant in JEC and the Head Office in Riyadh with the same 64K bandwidth. “No one could believe calls were using so little bandwidth as the quality was great,” felt Nasser.

In two phases, they first rolled out Microsoft Lync and Exchange 2010, with a total of 45 Polycom CX 600 phones, six VVX 1500, two CX3000 and two SoundIPPoint 550 units. The second phase started about eight month later, with a Lync and Exchange upgrade to 2013, and an addition of as many as 95 Polycom CX 600, 15 VVX600, 3 SoundIPPoint 550 with expansion modules and several CX3000 also brought into deployment.

The communications project was implemented at SOLB’s three offices in Riyadh, Jeddah and Jazan.

“As IT Manager, it feels great to be able to deliver solutions of such high quality, which allow people to work and communicate so efficiently,” Dr. Al Nasser expresses his happiness.

“The Polycom Eagle Eye camera has an incredible zoom; the audio on video conference devices and the phones is of the highest quality. We are very happy with the solution.”

While the implementation of the video conferencing solutions is still relatively new at SOLB, the results have already begun to show. There has been a noticeable reduction in the number of

Dr. Al-Nasser concludes: “the project is ambitious, and we had some struggles along the way, mainly due to the infrastructure! Polycom and FVC have been great partners throughout our journey, helping us find solutions to each barrier. We look forward to experiencing continued success with them.” www.polycom.co.uk www.fvc.com

PROJECT FACTFILE • • • • •

Project Name: SOLB STEEL Project Site: Jazan Economic City Project Owner: SOLB STEEL Project Type: Manufacturing Project Task: Install, test and commission video-conferencing system to connect three sites- JEC, Jeddah and Riyadh • Systems Integrator: FVC (in association with ACS and ANMAT) • Project Highlights: Impressive video communications in low bandwidth • Solutions Installed: - Polycom HDX 7000 & HDX 6000 telepresence solutions Voice Solutions - Polycom CX700 Desktop Phone - Polycom CX600 Desktop Phone - Polycom VVX600 Desktop Phone - Polycom VVX1500 Desktop Phone - SoundIPPoint 550 desktop phones - CX3000 HD Unified Conference Station (RoundTable) - Microsoft Lync Server 2013

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Investing In Closer-Connect With Customers SI Asia: Tell us about Sennheiser EMEA, particularly the Middle East in relation to the last few years?

CARDAMONE: There has been consistent, double-digit growth since the Middle East office was established in the Dubai Airport Free-Zone (DAFZA) in 2009. We saw an excellent year in 2014 with an approximate 40 per cent growth over that in 2013, and a near six-fold increase since 2009. This is a direct result of the company’s significant investments in personnel and fixed costs over this period, with a move to a larger office in 2012 and significant stock-holding in Jebel Ali Free Zone marking our commitment to establishing a long-term business in the MENA region.

SI Asia: Investment apart, what specific reasons do you see for this success?

Mig Cardamone, Director of Sales and Marketing at Sennheiser Middle East

Audio solutions major Sennheiser, since setting up its direct presence in the Middle East six years ago – through a dedicated office at Jabel Ali in Dubai Airport Free Zone – has grown commendably, and often defying the oddities that the region presents. While team Sennheiser ME, and its Partners have invested their energies towards the cause of the audio enterprise, it all has one man being instrumental in all the efforts- Mig Cardamone, Director of Sales and Marketing-ME who rose rapidly in the company echelons.

Credited with establishing Sennheiser’s business and fortunes in the region, Cardamone is spearheading its regional initiatives.

SI Asia interacted with Cardamone to know more about Sennheiser’s Middle East success…

CARDAMONE: Apart from the obvious benefit of investing in skilled personnel, one of the keys to our success has been the expansion of our customer network, working more closely with re-sellers and system integrators across the various verticals, whilst continuing to support our distribution partners where they exist to deliver better value to our customers.

The motivating factor in setting up a regional office was to establish closer ties with our customers for better understanding the market needs and to react quickly to those market demands.

From a project perspective, we’ve worked on many significant projects throughout the region, some that came to fruition last year and others that will do so in 2015. We continue to have strong penetration in Saudi education market, for instance. Also, our Conference and Translation Systems continue to be in high demand with a number of large-scale projects completed across the region in 2014.

We, of course, remain at the forefront of the music Industry, quite literally, with many of the leading artists around the world choosing Sennheiser for their front-line and back-line microphones and in-ear monitors. The UAE, in particular, has become a regular destination for many artists, as part of their worldwide tours, as well as having its own burgeoning festival scene with events such as RedFest and the Jazz Festival becoming fixtures in the calendar.

On a technology front, our Digital 9000 wireless microphone system has been making waves in the region. We see this developing into a ‘must have’ piece of technology, particularly in the broadcast industry. The technology that allows transmission of HD sound without compression has taken over 10 years to perfect, and we are the only company to have achieved this; it’s the pinnacle of wireless digital technology for the industry and demonstrates our continued commitment to innovation and audio excellence.

SI Asia: What particular achievements marked Sennheiser's success in the region in the last one year or so?

CARDAMONE: On the Pro AV side of our business, we had three significant sales for projects in Qatar, Kuwait and Turkmenistan. All the three featured large conference systems, with the former two marking a significant achievement for our newly-launched ADN-W Wireless Conference System, with several hundred units involved in both projects. In addition, our Digital RF 2020-D translation system has been a fantastic success this year, with those three projects alone accounting for over 11,000 headsets and associated chargers etc.

This year, we had made a key appointment with the recruitment of John McGregor as our Business

VOICE BOX Systems Integration Asia February - March 2015 instability and on-going conflicts that blight many of our neighbouring countries.

More, of course, if we see the price of oil remain this low for much more than 12 months, then we can expect to see an impact on capital investments in the main GCC economies driving growth.

The Sennheiser ADN conference system installed at the Jazan Chamber of Commerce in Saudi Arabia

Development Manager for the Middle East. I believe this is a move that will further strengthen our foothold in the region's education and broadcast markets. McGregor is a former tutor at the highly reputed SAE Institute in Dubai and has been driving our knowledge transfer initiatives directed at the audio specialist's Middle East partners and customers.

SI Asia: Would you please do a short, snapshot SWOT analysis(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) for the region?

CARDAMONE: Strengths: High liquidity and low debt (comparatively); some of the fastest growing economies in the world, meaning continued investments in infrastructure across the Middle East and therefore opportunities for growth in our business segments.

Weaknesses: From our specific perspective, finding good staff is difficult and becoming increasingly expensive as the cost of living in Dubai in particular continues to outstrip the official inflation figures of 4-5 per cent.

Opportunities: Despite increasing competition across all aspects of the business, the Middle East markets are relatively under-developed compared to Europe and America, and so represent genuine opportunities for growth and new business for corporate companies if one commits to the region.

Threats: Many, of course, but the most obvious and unpredictable is the regional

SI Asia: What sets apart Sennheiser from the other big players?

CARDAMONE: Quite simply, Sennheiser is one of the most recognizable brands in its line of business. This year marks our 70th anniversary in the industry and our name is synonymous with top-quality products, true sound and tailor-made solutions for every aspect of recording, transmission and reproduction of sound.

With German engineering, decades of experience in professional business, and innovative science, we stay true to the sound and set new standards for headphones, headsets, microphones, and integrated systems.

SI Asia: In the age of HDBaseT, Cloud and Internet of Things - where do you see the ProAV industry heading for? And how do you see the EMEA/ME region faring in the journey?

CARDAMONE: One of the key trends that we see emerging for the ProAV industry is the convergence of audio and IT networks. This is something that is already coming to the forefront with many manufacturers choosing one format or another to transport audio directly out of their products using existing IT infrastructure.

This is going to become a lot more prevalent in 2015 and we believe it will force the Integrated Systems market into deciding on a universal format to do it.

Working with the IT system integrators will become increasingly important and the AV industry will need to adapt to that change – we’re already seeing examples of large IT SIs buying established AV SIs in order to bring that competence within

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their organization and we see this as an important trend over the coming years.

SI Asia: Where does Sennheiser figure itself out in the same tech journey?

CARDAMONE: At Sennheiser, we have definitely made strides in the right direction with our support for the Dante multi-channel audio networking standard. By joining this standard, we will be able to optimally cater to our customers’ needs in the broadcasting and live sound worlds. In late 2014, we announced the availability of our Dante card for the EM 9046 receiver, enabling our top-of-the-range Digital 9000 wireless microphone system to be integrated into Dante™ audio-over-IP networks.

SI Asia: Can you let us in on what Sennheiser will be up to in the year 2015- in terms of specific technology/product/ marketing initiatives?

CARDAMONE: A new range of digital wireless microphones will be launched in the first quarter of this year that will be more cost-effective than our flagship D-9000, with a three-pronged range that aims squarely at the corporate users and installers, semi-professional videographers and budding musicians, bringing the key benefits of audio excellence, reliability and ease of use at a more affordable price.

We’re also pioneering the Bring Your Own Device (BOYD) philosophy to Pro Audio installers with a brand new universal system called MobileConnect that uses a WiFi connection to stream lip-sync audio content direct to the user’s smartphone, using a free-to-download app that instantly converts it into a receiver. Applications are unlimited: whether it is in a theatre or cinema, an opera, a sports bar, an airline lounge or a company – MobileConnect can be quickly and easily installed and is also cost-efficient in use because it relies on BOYD. In a region that on average boasts nearly two smartphones per person, this should be a winner! www.sennheiser.com

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Making Queueing Systems Sexy Lucep is a young company that was established two years ago.

In brief, the company was set up to help their clients better connect and understand their customers. Their business model is to work with system integrators and consultants to create a win-win solution for all concerned including the end-user. SI Asia spoke to Zal Dastur, Lucep's Marketing Director to find out more about the company, its offerings and the opportunities it is providing SIs. How long has Lucep been established? Does it only have offices in Singapore currently?

ZAL: Lucep has been established for two years. Currently, we have our head office in Singapore as well as a development team in India. Our model is based on working with partners, in doing so we have installed our VirtuaQ product in countries such as Poland, Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and others. Partners are how we distribute and integrate our product; so building and maintaining strong relationships with our partners is a big part of our job and how we look to expand globally.

Why was Lucep set up? What are its business objectives and goals?

ZAL: Lucep was set up as a company to help our clients better connect and understand their customers. We felt that the customer experience in queue management, could be greatly improved from its current situation. We have all had to wait in long queues, whether at a bank, doctorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clinic, government office, or service center, and it is frustrating experience for everyone. We thought that there must be a way that this can be improved with the advances in web and mobile technology. The experience can be greatly enhanced for both the businesses and their customers. Our web based queue management system means that anyone in any business can quickly and easily set up and manage their queue directly from their existing desktop. The savings from avoidance of purchase of unnecessary terminals and cabling can be be reinvested in a

more sophisticated retail waiting space with digital signage integration. Our system is far more flexible and adaptable than all other queue systems, enabling our partners to deploy much better environments.

Are its solutions applicable worldwide or is it specific to certain countries or regions?

ZAL: Our systems can be used anywhere in the world. We are proud to say that we have installed our system in Asia, Europe, North and South America. We also have projects lined up for 2015 in the Middle East, Russia and Africa.

Our system comes inbuilt with a multilanguage facility which means that it is easy to give your customer multiple language options on the interactive queue system. This is a big advantage as businesses want to be able to speak to their customers in a language they are comfortable with. We are actively looking for integration partners to work with, and provide custom branded demo portals to our partners in their local languages so that the sales cycle is simplified.

What are the solutions offered by Lucep?

ZAL: Our biggest solution by far is VirtuaQ. This is our cloud based, remotely managed, mobile enabled, customer flow and experience management system. Compatible with most major digital signage systems, and generic hardware that is available locally - you can think of it as a customer experience and queue management system on steroids, designed for integrators, by integrators.

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"VirtuaQ...you can think of it as a customer experience and queue management system on steroids, designed for integrators, by integrators."

It is best suited to retail banks, telecoms companies, and hospitals.The system manages queues, sending SMS tickets and reminders to customers, allowing people to join or monitor queues from company websites or mobile apps, making the experience for the customer that much better. It can collect customer satisfaction feedback at every point of the customer journey, providing detailed insight for group owners and operators.

With built in automated reporting and monitoring tools, VirtuaQ provides the perfect platform to enable remote managed services for clients that own and operate numerous outlets.

Are the solutions generally tailor made or is it a mix of readily available solutions and custom made solutions?

ZAL: VirtuaQ can work right out of the box - but is hugely customisable. With a little bit of configuration, significant

process flow variants can be supported to cater to the most complicated of clients. Everything from custom branding, multiple languages, through to complicated queue handling methods can be supported.

The easiest clients can be turned on and running in their retail space in a matter of hours, while the same platform is suited to, and already deployed in, some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest enterprises.

How does Lucep's solutions work with AV hardware?

ZAL: VirtuaQ is best suited to touch screens where user interaction is required, and digital signage systems for information displays. The solutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s AV outputs are compatible with almost everything - as long as there is a component that can connect to the internet and run a browser, the HTML5 solution can be presented. This provides integrators with huge flexibility and freedom in design.

Does Lucep work with the end-user directly or with SIs and consultants or is it a multi-business approach?

ZAL: Our preferred route to market is through system integrators and consultants.We rarely work with endusers directly as our knowledge and value-add comes in the software.

Customers are always going to need hardware and integration expertise, as well as ongoing remote management.

Even when companies approach us directly, we always engage a partner to handle the client. We will be there every step of the way with the partner, and we prefer to engage them as early in the process as possible to ensure high quality delivery.

Which markets or segments does Lucep feel has the most potential for its solutions?

ZAL: Our solution is focused on a few key industries, those are retail banking

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operations, medical clinics and hospitals, as well as customer service centers.

These are the industries where VirtuaQ adds the most value as we enhance the customers experience with the brand increasing customer loyalty. These are also all situations where people have to queue before they can be seen, so we want to make that process as quick and painless as possible by allowing

you to take queue tickets online or from a mobile app, as well as providing SMS tickets and reminders so that the customer does not have to wait in the waiting area but instead is free to spend the time how they choose and then return when they are at the front of the line. www.lucep.com

Offering Differentiation For A Global Bank Based In Singapore Our client was looking for a way to differentiate their retail banking service from the already very crowded offerings in Singapore. They realized that if they could make the process of waiting in lines more pleasurable for their customers then they would be able to offer that as a competitive advantage against their competitors.

They also realized that if they could reduce the number of people waiting in a branch, then they could reduce the space of a branch while still handling the same amount of customers. The reduction in space can be anywhere from 20-30% of the visible floor space, as bank branches tend to be in high traffic areas the rent for each branch is a substantial amount. Using our system they are able to reduce the amount of space required by the branch which equates to them as a significant savings, once you begin to multiply that by

the number of branches then you start looking at savings of millions of dollars per year. The bank also provided some challenges when it came to dealing with the security issues that all banks face regarding customer data and protection.

For this, Lucep installed VirtuaQ on an independent, secure, private network which sits on top of the banks current banking systems. This means that all the data that is transmitted is secure within the branch itself and never touches the banking network or can leave the branch. This is vital when dealing with sensitive customer information.

Lucep installed one system in a branch as a pilot to see what the reaction would be and how customers would take to the new type of system. The results have been very promising and the bank has rolled us out into three more branches in Singapore. Including their new smart working branch where the queue system

became a focal point of the branch.

The queue system also allowed the branch manager to keep a better track of the branch staff getting information such as the average time to process a customer and the average time between customers.

We also work directly with the banks SLAs, which means if a customer is waiting longer than the SLA we send an instant notification via SMS or email to the branch manager for them to investigate. In this way the queue system becomes more than just a queue system and becomes an integrated part of the entire branch operations. Lucep even offers a customer satisfaction model onto the system which asks customers about their experience as soon as they have finished working with a teller. This allows the bank to track the quality of service from their tellers.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not Just Another Tech Showâ&#x20AC;? - Visual Asia Expo 2015 Seeks Differentiation For this issue, we spoke to Thomas Ang, the organising director for the inaugural visual communication trade show in Singapore.

Positioning itself to be Asia's definitive trade show for the visual communications industry, the inaugural Visual Asia Expo is scheduled between 5 - 7 November 2015 in Singapore at Suntec Singapore Covention and Exhibiton Centre. The trade show aims to draw in professional visitors and qualified buyers from the Southeast Asia region.

Offering a full spectrum of visual communication design and product solutions, market innovations, lighting, LED and emerging technologies, Visual Asia Expo seeks differentiation from other industry trade shows.

To find out more about the new industry show in town, SI Asia caught up with Thomas Ang, Director of Space Arena, the main organiser for the upcoming Asia Visual Expo.

SI Asia: Can you please tell us more about Visual Asia Expo 2015?

THOMAS: Visual communications cover quite a wide spectrum, be it in offices, commercial spaces, retail or hospitality, we can always see visual elements such as screens, facade lightings, LEDs, graphics etc in it. So my intention of doing this show is to basically to put up a comprehensive array of solutions for our target audience, be it exhibitors or visitors. The main objective of this show is to let those who want to find out more about visual communications to learn about the products and solutions.

Year on year, we can see more and more new technologies coming up, be it screens, lighting, or innovative use of graphics and solutions - so I thought it is quite timely for us to do this show

now. Currently, there are a number of things happening in Asia, with lots of buying taking place in the Southeast Asia regions like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, so these are all very much potential markets for different visual comms businesses. So I thought it is a very good opportunity to host this show in Singapore. Of course, I also hope both the exhibitors and visitors will come to enjoy this event created for them.

SI Asia: Can you also tell us more about Space Arena, the main organizer for this event?

THOMAS: When I started Space Arena, I wanted to transform any space into visual elements and facade. I believe we can enhance any space with imaginative solutions, animations, lighting, effects technology, so that was the whole

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purpose of Space Arena. For us now, organizing the Visual Asia Expo is to form a bridging link between what I am doing with visual communication.

This show brings about the convergence of several platforms, which I hope will be able to provide an array of ideas and solution offerings to visitors and exhibitors. Exhibitors will be able to find new business opportunities and partnerships through this show, while visitors will be able to take away a few good ideas and solutions which they can apply in their businesses.

SI Asia: Can you tell us more about the target audience for Visual Expo 2015?

THOMAS: For the visitor segment, we are targeting government agencies, hospitality industry, the retailers, property developers, and of course people in the visual communication industry, as well as architects and interior designers. We also see these visitors as potential buyers.

For the exhibitor segment, we are looking at the manufacturers, the companies dealing with lighting, imaging, technology and effects, and production solutions. These are the four key sectors of exhibitors we are targeting.

In a nutshell, we are targeting anyone who is interested in visual communication and wants to find out more.

SI Asia: Are they any big name exhibitors in this upcoming show?

THOMAS: I have spoken to several key exhibitors, as of now some of the confirmed exhibitors are SMRT media, DET Singapore, Design Format, Filmscreen, Madaboutdesign, WATS Behind the lens, SHOTECH PRESS and NPE PRINT.

SI Asia: What is the expected turnout?

THOMAS: Hopefully around 80 exhibitors and about 6,000 – 7,000 visitors over the 3-day period.

SI Asia: What are some key highlights of the show?

THOMAS: On the second day of the event (6th Nov), we will be holding a forum (sessions and topics to be confirmed), and then throughout the 3-day event we will also have institutional showcases, where we will have visual communications students showcasing their projects, as well as several design showcases by local production houses.

Also, as part of SG50 celebration, the Professional Photographic Association Singapore will showcase 50 unique photo display by the professional photographers in Singapore, as well as an exclusive buyer networking session.

SI Asia: So the show will not only target product technology, but also design aspects of it?

THOMAS: Yes, because for production solutions, it covers design as well. So basically you will see some innovative use of design solutions at the show, so visitors can expect some new, innovative solutions on display.

SI Asia: What makes Visual Asia Expo different from the rest of the AV tradeshow?

Why should our readers be interested?

THOMAS: Firstly, SpaceArena doesn’t organize any other related trade shows.

And having been in the industry related to media, design and communication technologies for the past 20 years, I have a certain level of knowledge on the visual communication industry and also have a link with several of the industry players.

Since we know their language, we will able to provide solutions/suggestions for them to how to connect with buyers, which benefits them.

Secondly, Visual Asia Expo is not just going to be another technology trade show. What I can bring to this show are concepts, ideas and solutions that visitors and exhibitors can look forward to. Like I mentioned earlier, the businessto-business (B2B) partnerships can not only happen between exhibitors and buyers, but between exhibitors themselves as well.

For the visitors who come to the show, they will feel excited because it's not just another technology show, but over here they will be looking at a lot of ideas and concept showcases, so visitors will be kept at a certain level of interest.

Lastly, there are already a lot of similar shows in the region, for example in China - so we wanted to bring something that is relevant to the current market context in Southeast Asia. We wanted to create something that the visitors can participate too, not just the exhibitors. Additionally, I also believe that there is also a component in the visual communication where students have a role to play because ultimately, when they graduate, they can seek many innovative ways to get involved, be it at the buyer's side, or the manufacturer’s side.

SI Asia: So what do you hope to achieve for this show?

THOMAS: Most importantly, I hope the participants, be it exhibitors or visitors, will all have a good impression on visual communication, and learn how they can embrace it into their business. Using the show as a sourcing channel, I hope both the visitors can find out how to get to the right channel/products via the exhibitors.

I think this is especially true for people in the Marcomm, where they had to do a lot of sourcing, and sometimes they might not get the right products.

By attending this event, they can get information they want at their fingertips.

Overall, what I wanted most, is that, for all participants to be able to find some new ideas or concepts or business connections when the event concluded.

Visual Asia Expo 2015 will be held between 5 - 7 November 2015 in Singapore at Suntec Singapore Covention and Exhibition Centre.

For more details, please visit: www.visualasiaexpo.com

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