Corporate AV technology is constantly evolving. From sound and lighting that shifts the mood of a workplace to BYOD setups for remote workers, companies are constantly adapting to the ever-changing landscape.
[Striving for Sustainability Success]
he meeting space is increasingly the pulse of any modern corporate facility, with most workers spending a majority of their workweeks in meetings. Techkinect, which provides AV solutions for commercial and residential clients, recently reinvented collaborative working for the Ohio-based headquarters of Deceuninck North America, a manufacturer of PVC windows, thanks to a three-way divisible meeting space complete with customized programming.
Build Your Backbone
Jacob Reek, director of business development at Techkinect, shared that the company's role in the storyline quickly evolved. “Deceuninck were reworking their training room and wanted to create a divisible, three-way space with the option to mix and match rooms,” he recalled. “That included bringing in additional videoconferencing and sound reinforcement systems to support different meeting configurations.”
Initially, the Deceuninck team reached out to request some new projectors, and it quickly turned into a much bigger project. “They were not thinking much beyond connecting a few computers and maybe adding some simple switching,” said Reek. “I followed with, ‘Hey, there’s a solution that will allow you to connect as many inputs and outputs you want across these three spaces and later scale throughout your building if you want, and hand you complete control of all the systems over the network.'"
That moment started Deceuninck’s journey into the world of networked AV and control, powered by Atlona’s OmniStream AV over IP and Velocity control solutions.
The in-house team at Deceuninck already began remodeling the room before Techkinect arrived on site, creating three separate spaces using acoustic walls while also painting and reworking other areas. The project required customized structuring in the drop ceiling to accommodate recessed projector screens that are also controlled with the system.
Leo Acuna, director of operations at Techkinect, led the team in the installation and quality assurance for the integration. The Techkinect team ran new Category cabling to each location to ensure simplified computer connections, switching and positioning of displays.
“I have learned from experience that too much cabling is better than too little,” said Reek. “People always end up adding more as a project develops, so adding it at the beginning creates a strong backbone. We decided on Cat 6 plenum and we ran multiple cables to every projector location, because we knew that cameras and microphones would be in the vicinity. We also ran it to each wall so that we could add a touchscreen in every room and optimize screen locations and speaker positions.”
Divisible Networking
All three rooms have the same audio and video, but just two have microphones and cameras. Techkinect's schematic identified equipment in each room, including IP and Mac addresses, as well as what port each product is plugged into on the switch and patch panel.
Techkinect used Atlona’s OmniStream AV over IP solutions in each space because of the multiple devices in use. For the HDMI signals, they chose a selection of decoders, encoders including single-channel encoders and decoders (AT-OMNI-111, AT-OMNI-121), and a dual-channel encoder (AT-OMNI-112). For routing USB signals over the network, the team employed USB to IP adapters for host devices (AT-OMNI-311) and IP to USB adapters (AT-OMNI-324) for peripheral devices.
“There are a lot of USB devices in these three spaces, and they wanted the freedom to plug in flash drives and bring their USB devices they could plug in for presentations,” explained Reek. “The OmniStream USB/IP adapters create a harmonious ecosystem where the host computer in each room still works no matter what peripherals are added to the mix.”
Completing the video distribution system, OmniStream encoders and decoders are used to route 1080p video to three BenQ LU930 projectors and three DragonFly 120-inch recessed screens.
On the audio side, signals from various microphones and other sources in the space are mixed and processed by ClearOne Converge Pro 2 DSP mixers, then routed to Atlona AT-GAIN-60 amplifiers. The GAIN 60 amplifiers power a total of eight Episode ECS-800-IC-6 70-volt ceiling speakers.
Techkinect emphasized the performance aspect of the audio system, adding that ClearOne’s voice tracking technology and Atlona’s amplification optimize the audio in each room. “The ClearOne BMA 360 microphone system used in the space has beamforming VoiceLift technology,” Reek noted. “This ensures seamless sound reinforcement without any acoustic or feedback problems.”
Reek chose camera tracking systems for Rooms A and B to capture various settings including conferences, virtual calls, and presenter tracking. “We deployed these cameras so that they face the presenter, and they work with ClearOne’s BMA 360 voice tracking capabilities," he said. "We use these to follow the host as they move around or between rooms. The microphone system and camera system pick up which room they're technically in, so operators don’t have to perform any manual switching.”
All technology components are programmed into Atlona’s Velocity control system, with an AT-VGW-HW-20 hardware gateway that is expandable to 20 rooms. “Velocity is also a powerful device management system that manages and configures Atlona IP-controllable devices on the network. It’s the brains of the entire system,” Reek noted. “It is a browser-based user portal that lets you discover, set up, and commission both Atlona and third-party IP-controllable products to help streamline the configuration of AV installations. Velocity provides continual system monitoring and the ability to manage firmware and credential updates."
Techkinect added AT-VTP-1000VL touchpanels in all three rooms for room scheduling and AV control. The entire project includes a custom programmed user interface from Techkinect’s design team, including company branding and integrated control.
“Deceuninck has three computer inputs in each room and a wireless input, as well as three outputs depending on the way the room is set up," Reek said. "For example, I have custom programming set up on the DSP, as well as in Velocity. Depending on what room they are in, I can send custom programmed serial commands to the DSP and explain how it is configured. This gives users the ability to control what they see on the screen and what they hear from the speakers.”
[On Your Business: Put Me In, Coach]
he upgrade to Deceuninck’s facilities offers complete versatility for every kind of meeting. "Across all three spaces, it’s a story of using flexible, expandable, and reliable AV systems within a divisible space that evolves with the times, and keeps up with the technological demands of corporate facilities," Reek said.