What is Audio Visual Integration?

August 31st, 2012 | Posted by Adam Kaiser in Audio Visual Integration - (0 Comments)

The term “audio visual integration” is used quite a bit by organizations (including IVCi!) to describe the work that they do. The term is well known within the “industry” and customers may even use the term to describe a potential project, but what does it really mean?

When thinking about the term, one has to look at the application of the technology within a particular business or organization. What are you attempting to accomplish within the room? It might be as simple as wanting to have a display that you can hook your laptop up to and present slides. Or maybe it’s a bit more involved where video conferencing, presentations, cable TV, Blu-ray players, and overall lighting and shading control are desired. With that level of complexity, it’s time to think integration.

The truth of the matter is that there is not one company that makes of all of these different technologies. If there was, it might be as simple as connecting all of them together and creating the final room. But, since different vendors are providing the technology, the challenge comes down to a couple areas:

  • How to get all of these technologies to work together
  • How to enable seamless control of all devices from a single interface

The answer to both is audio visual integration! The process of integration involves creating the connections between these devices (usually through a series of switchers or matrix devices) and then programming software that connects the devices and enables that seamless switching.

Creating an audio visual integrated room is a meld of art and science. The art is in the design of the room itself; the lighting, furniture, and the selection of the right technologies that will eventually come together. The science comes in with the building of those technology connections and making each device work together as if they were one. – Tim Hennen, SVP Audio Visual Integration Services at IVCi

Beyond the technology, it’s important to understand what these types of environments truly do. They provide a specific set of technologies, with specific customizations, to meet unique customer and business needs.  It’s about creating an environment conducive for collaboration and addressing the business needs at hand.

So when you look to find the right integrator for you project consider two things:

  • Do they have the technological expertise to meet the needs of the project
  • Do they take the time to really understand the application of the room and how it will impact users and the business

If the answer to both is yes, then that integrator is poised to give you exactly what you need.

And, when the room is complete, a few buttons can trigger complex interactions between video conferencing systems, laptop computers, shade control and much more. To the end-user the experience is seamless; but to the integrator, the process to get there was quite involved.

Additional Resources:
Audio Visual Integration Services

, ,

AV Innovation: A Bridgeless Video Bridge

August 15th, 2012 | Posted by Lisa Avvocato in Audio Visual Integration | Telepresence - (0 Comments)

Video conferencing solutions are quickly replacing the frequent high-level meetings that are standard in most organizations. Executive teams typically meet with the managers of different business units or locations to discuss business strategy, profitability and other key deliverables. However, many times these managers are scattered across the globe making frequent in-person meetings costly and time consuming. While video is great for meetings with two to three sites it can be difficult to hold a group meeting with several worldwide sites over a video bridge.

In many instances, the active speaker view limits the continuous presence of the remote sites. When the CEO speaks he cannot gauge the reaction of the site he is addressing until they speak and the view shifts. Even more frustrating is when a member of the Executive team is speaking but the view keeps shifting between sites where participants are rustling papers or murmuring agreements. Despite all of the audio visual components, these meetings just don’t provide the same experience of having the meeting in-person at headquarters.

A global Real Estate firm faced similar challenges and wanted a solution that simulated their quarterly management meetings; from eye contact to speaker priority. They wanted the ability to customize the way remote sites were displayed in continuous presence views plus a concurrent view of the active speaker. Additionally, they wanted to give the CEO and other Executives speaker priority; whenever they spoke the active speaker would switch to them regardless of whichever site may be speaking.

Since a standard video bridge did not provide the flexible windowing capabilities, the ability to place sites in a specific location on screen, our engineering team created a bridgeless video bridge.

With the help of three displays, three Cisco C90s, an array of audio visual equipment and a lot of programming; a new Executive Boardroom was created. The left and right displays featured continuous presence of each site, unless content was being displayed, while the center display switched with the active speaker. Additional programming gave headquarters speaker priority; anytime the CEO spoke the active speaker would automatically revert back to him.

Since most of the remote sites did not have three displays, the continuous and active presence capabilities needed to be condensed into one video feed. A little extra programming created the layout below. This allowed remote sites to continuously and easily view the headquarters location while still having a larger view of the active speaker and the presence of all sites.

Watch the video below for a quick demonstration on how this amazing technology works!

, ,

Norm Meets Friday the 13th

July 13th, 2012 | Posted by Lisa Avvocato in Tips & Tricks - (0 Comments)

It’s here, Friday the 13th, and I have a huge meeting today. I woke up in a panic last night because I had a nightmare that I completely bombed the presentation and then got fired. I don’t understand why they had to schedule this meeting today – do they not understand I have the worst luck ever?

Then I’m walking to my car this morning and a black cat crawled right in front of me and gave me the stare down. This is a bad omen, something is going to go wrong, I just know it. As I’m driving, I start making a list of everything that I need to do to ensure this presentation goes well.

I checked with our receptionist to make sure the conference room was booked and then scheduled a pre-test with the client to ensure we could connect easily and push content without any issues. While I was in the conference room I straightened up to make sure everything looked nice as well.

After that, I went back to my desk and put together an outline of what I wanted to cover. Then I went through my PowerPoint slides to ensure I wasn’t missing anything. With about a half hour before the meeting, I decided to just get to the conference room so I could get set up. Everything seems to be in place, but you just never know.

I connected my laptop, got the presentation ready and decided to do a quick test run with Barry just to be sure everything was working properly. He said the content was crystal clear and everything looked good.

Time for the call, here goes nothing!

Wow the call connected perfectly and I’m speaking to the CEO about his weekend plans. Everyone else has joined the call so it’s time to begin. The presentation is displayed and it looks great. This is going too well something is bound to happen.

Next thing I know, it’s time for questions which I answered quickly. Now everyone is saying goodbye and have a great weekend. I disconnected the call and just sat there for a minute. Wow, everything went perfectly, a little planning goes a long way I guess.

As I was strutting my stuff back to my desk I tripped over the carpet and went flying. Not exactly sure how I managed to save my laptop from getting crushed but whew that would’ve been embarrassing!

Ah well happy Friday the 13th!

,

Top 5 Conference Room Considerations

July 12th, 2012 | Posted by Lisa Avvocato in Audio Visual Integration - (0 Comments)

Conference rooms play a major role in any organization. They’re where presentations are made, ideas are formed and innovation happens. Management teams go to discuss business strategy, work teams go to collaborate on projects, business partners go to discuss relationships, and sales representatives go to court clients. The bottom line is conference rooms are where business happens. Therefore, it is very important to consider the factors that make a space conducive to meetings.

Before designing and implementing an audio/visual integrated room it is important to take some time to consider the meeting space itself, where the room will be located in your building, and some of the key components of the room:

Location: Conference rooms should be located in low-traffic areas to minimize background distractions and maintain confidentiality. Soundproofing or speech privacy solutions can be used in busy areas to mitigate unwanted noise and preserve privacy.

Acoustics: A conference room’s acoustics ensure an optimal audio experience for both in-room and remote participants. The room’s size and shape, as well as, surface materials (walls/floor/ceiling) can lead to reverberations or echo. In some cases, noise cancellation devices may be needed to improve audio quality.

Doors & Windows: Too much direct sunlight can become uncomfortable, not to mention blinding, for participants. Additionally, glass windows and doors tend to let in more outside noise which can disrupt a meeting. Blackout shades and solid doors can be used to minimize light and background noise.

Furniture: Proper seating arrangements must be designed to provide optimal viewing and comfort for each participant. If video conferencing will be integrated, furniture should be chosen that minimizes the glare on cameras.

Power: A conference room should have a few dedicated circuits to power all equipment (displays, projectors, video conferencing, etc) along with convenient ports for participants to plug in personal devices.  There should also be enough power to handle any HVAC systems that will need to be added to the room to support larger numbers of participants.

Many of these areas of concern can be adjusted in the selected room space, However, selecting a room space that meets many of the above criteria can help to reduce costly room remediation and provide an environment that will be far more conducive to meetings.

Additional Resources:
AV Buyers Guide

,

Norm’s Conference Room Debacle

July 6th, 2012 | Posted by Lisa Avvocato in Tips & Tricks | Video Conferencing - (0 Comments)

Norm here. I use video on a daily basis and absolutely love it; although, I seem to make a lot of mistakes which can be rather embarrassing at times. Out of the goodness of my heart, I’m sharing some of these instances so you can avoid making the same mistakes.

Well yesterday I had a little snafu during my presentation to a client. I got caught up chatting with a co-worker and was running a little late. I had just enough time to join the video call but figured it was okay since I could just connect my laptop and get the presentation set up during the first few minutes.

So, I’m in the middle of catching up with the client on their weekend plans and all of a sudden this ear-piercing noise starts coming from the table. I look down and, you know that little thing that pops out of the table so you can you can share content from your PC, it was possessed!!

It would rise up and then get stuck and start buzzing really loud. When I pushed it down the buzzing stopped but then the stupid thing started raising up again. It was a vicious cycle I tell you! I hit mute so the client’s ear drums wouldn’t blow out but I can only imagine what I looked like trying to fix this thing. Mute just doesn’t work on video like it works on audio.

Anyway, I finally gave up and “accidentally” disconnected the call. Then I called our helpdesk to come investigate the issue (because our entire office could hear it) while I located a free conference room to reconnect to the call. After that I was able to continue without a hitch, but the meeting started 15 minutes late. I apologized profusely but I could tell the client was a little agitated.

After the meeting I tracked down Rob to find out what happened. Apparently a paperclip got stuck in the laptop computer interface causing it to jam when it rose up and produce that obnoxious sound. I just looked at Rob with disbelief. A paper clip, seriously?!? I just don’t understand why this stuff has to happen to me.

At any rate, I learned a valuable lesson today. It’s called stop dilly-dallying and get yourself set up ahead of time!

,