On Higher Ed Tech: Just Add Power

By Cindy Davis
( AVTechnology )
published

Taft Stricklin, Sales Team Manager at Just Add Power shares insight into designing the higher ed classroom for today and the future. Part of AV Technology's Thought Leader Series.

Taft Stricklin, Sales Team Manager at Just Add Power
(Image credit: Future)

AVT Question: Please share insight and best practices for designing the higher ed classroom for today and the future.

Thought Leader: Taft Stricklin, Sales Team Manager at Just Add Power

Today’s higher education classrooms present a robust video distribution application that must support a much richer and more sophisticated remote learning and meeting model. With the remote trend, many classrooms are installed with many new devices, high-res video sources, and other endpoints that will be necessary for providing a superb remote experience. The video distribution system will be paramount. 

AV/IT managers will need a system capable of transmitting 4K60/4:4:4/36-bit color video over a 1GB managed network using existing Cat X cable, or over 10G fiber cable." —Taft Stricklin, Sales Team Manager at Just Add Power

AV/IT managers will need a system capable of transmitting 4K60/4:4:4/36-bit color video over a 1GB managed network using existing Cat X cable, or over 10G fiber cable. Another key piece of the video distribution puzzle will be supporting today’s increasing USB-C-based devices, such as web cameras, and providing KVM control for ease of use. We had this application in mind when we engineered the Just Add Power MaxColor Series 2 transmitter and receiver; it features KVM support, a fiber port connection, and an audio return channel (ARC) while natively supporting 4K60Hz in and out. Instructors can play HDR video, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+ formats. It also boasts power over USB-C—supporting, for example, a USB web camera signal over IP. With the ARC feature, the audio from a TV connected to a MaxColor 2 receiver can be sent across the network to another MaxColor 2 receiver—connected to an audio-video receiver or other ARC-enabled amplifier—making project design even easier and more flexible.

Cindy Davis
Cindy Davis
Brand and content director of AV Technology

Cindy Davis is the brand and content director of AV Technology. Davis enjoys exploring the ethos of experiential spaces as well as diving deep into the complex topics that shape the AV/IT industry. In 2012, the TechDecisions brand of content sites she developed for EH Publishing was named one of “10 Great Business Media Websites” by B2B Media Business magazine. For more than 20 years, Davis has developed and delivered multiplatform content for AV/IT B2B and consumer electronics B2C publications, associations, and companies. From 2000 to 2008, Davis was the publisher and editor-in-chief of Electronic House. From 2009 to present, as the principal of CustomMedia.Co, Davis developed content plans and delivered content for associations such as IEEE Standards Association and AVIXA, content marketing for Future Plc, and numerous AV/IT companies. Davis was a critical member of the AVT editorial team when the title won the “Best Media Brand” laurel in the 2018 SIIA Jesse H. Neal Awards. A lifelong New Englander, Davis makes time for coastal hikes with her husband, Gary, and their Vizsla rescue, Dixie, sailing on one of Gloucester’s great schooners, and sampling local IPAs.