Which is Better for Your Boardroom: Projector vs. Television

So you've decided to remodel your old boardroom, or possibly build a brand new one.  Often times in this day and age the sleek and stylish new boardroom can symbolize the company atmosphere to visiting business partners.  You start to consider what new technology you want to include, but you know right away that you want the latest and greatest 80” LED display to hang on the wall…or do you?

Choosing the right display for your boardroom, be it an LED television or a motorized screen and LCD projector, is one of the key things that you want to consider when the project begins.  It has become vital to pick the right display option because you need to make sure that no matter where your audience is sitting in your newly updated space, if you have chosen a display that’s too small for the room, the information will not be delivered efficiently and effectively to those you want to receive it.

While the current trend in the Audio/Visual industry is to see more large format LED televisions used in meeting spaces, that doesn’t always make it the best choice for your environment.  There are certain advantages to using an LED display: it can be more cost effective, it can be more energy efficient, and it is definitely much less labor intensive during the installation phase.  However, that doesn’t mean that a television display is perfect for every situation.

So, how do you determine whether a large format television or a projector with screen will be best for your environment?  Let’s first start with two simple assumptions: # 1 you are going to want an HD (16:9) format display area, and #2 we are going to use the screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 which is becoming the standard for laptops. 

With those ideas in place, the first consideration that you want to make is what kind of content you are going to display.  If you are going to be displaying things like video, film or simple graphics, the need for a larger display isn't as necessary as it would be if you were viewing things like detailed engineering drawings or scientific data results.  The more detailed the content you want to share with the viewing audience, the larger the display should be.  Once you know what the content is going to be, the next thing to think about is where in the completed room the farthest point that a viewer will be seated?  After that, Infocomm International (the standards organization for the A/V industry) provides a simple formula for determining the height of the display area that will best suit your room.

For general viewing purposes, take the distance of the farthest viewer and divide that number by 8.  If you’re going to be sharing a lot of text information that requires reading, divide the distance by 6.  Or, if you are going to be looking at those detailed drawings, divide the distance by 4.  That number will be the height of the recommended screen.  The last step is to take the result of your division and multiply it by 1.78 to obtain width of the screen in an HD format.

While this formula can help you determine the best display size for your environment there are many other concerns to take into account when choosing the best display type for your new boardroom.  Lighting systems, ambient light, window location, as well as display location are all important factors as well.  Now that you’re armed with this fundamental information you can communicate with the architect as to the size of display area you’re going to need to best get your information across, and once an Audio/Visual integrator joins the project, they can help you fine tune that choice.

For more information on picking the right equipment for your new boardroom project, please contact ICS at 408-491-6000 or at www.ics-integration.com

How Can Your Audio/Visual Systems Make You Green?

How many times have you been the last one out of the building?  Making the rounds to every meeting room and office just to turn off the lights and save on energy.  The drive for our homes and buildings to be more energy efficient is at an all time high.  For example, in the coming years incandescent light bulbs will no longer be available only compact fluorescents because they are more energy efficient.  The ultimate goal that we are striving to reach is that each building will eventually reach Net Zero status.  What Net Zero status means is that the building does not consume any energy it does not need and does not put out any carbon emissions.  Typically we associate the thought of a net zero architecture project as being full of green technology such as solar panels, natural resource recycling and energy conservation, and it’s that last one that we want to focus on when it comes to using A/V technology in a green environment.

When you talk to a nutritionist or trainer about going on a diet the first thing they focus on is to make sure that you are using your caloric intake efficiently.  Meaning, are you consuming more or fewer calories than you are burning in a given day?  The same holds true for how an energy efficient building operates.  The goal, of course, is to make sure that as little energy is being wasted as possible.  So how can the A/V system contribute to making these buildings more energy efficient to approach that net zero status?  Making the proper choices will help you take the first steps in moving toward a more energy efficient building.  Are the devices that are being installed, such as the LCD display in your new boardroom, rated with energy star compliance?  Is the equipment at the core of the system, such as signal processors, mixers, and amplifiers, engineered to decrease current draw when the system is not in use?  The first thing to consider when looking to make the move to a green(er) A/V solution is the selection of the devices that you intend to use.  Although, if you are looking to use the A/V system to reach beyond and help your company save on energy consumption, then looking at a centralized and scheduled control system would be the next step in the process. 

Your business performs the majority of its operations during a set timeframe on a weekday, typically between 8 to 5 or 9 to 6.  So that leaves 15 other hours of the day that the systems can be shut down or left to rest in a low consumption idle mode.  But how can we make the building more efficient during the hours of operation?  That is where the central control system comes into play.  Companies like Crestron and AMX are known for their building control systems, and both offer a scheduling based solution.  How would that affect the way that your building currently operates?  In essence, each room that you choose to have connected to the central control system would have end point devices.  The beauty of these systems is that they have the ability to control more than just the A/V; they can also work with lighting systems, HVAC systems, and even access control systems if necessary.  Once a room is scheduled for use, control signals can be triggered to activate the devices just prior to the room being occupied.  At that point they can remain on while the system is still in use.  This can be done with occupancy motion sensors and other programming methods, but once the system no longer detects activity in the room it can return to a state of idleness where the temperature is regulated, lights are turned off, and any associated A/V devices are turned off or returned to their idle running state.  Of course this scheduling system can be overridden manually if there is a need for the space, and at that point it will just require a brief moment for the devices to initialize for use.

In these economic times we must explore new options as to how we can utilize the resources available to us.  Changing how the resources we have function when not in use is a long term way to not only save on costs for your business in the short term, but potentially push the business towards no energy costs in a long term plan.

For more information on how these room scheduling and control devices could 

help your company, please contact ICS – Integrated Communication Systems at 408-491-6000 or on the web at www.ics-integration.com.

Get Tested for Safety and Savings

A shift has been sneaking through the world with a chill in the air and shortened days with longer nights.  That’s right readers; the autumn season is finally here.  With that time of year comes great family celebrations with the cavity inducing Halloween, the long trips for family gatherings at Thanksgiving, and the gather round the fire holidays of Christmas and Hanukkah following shortly thereafter.  While these are all things we look forward to as we start to look at the end of the year, it should also be remembered that this is the time of year we hear more and more about keeping your family and your businesses safe.  For the team at ICS that all begins with fire system testing and maintenance.

Getting your residential or commercial fire system inspected annually isn't just a requirement of the local and national fire code it is also smart business sense.  This is a system that is installed in every commercial space as well as residential spaces like condominiums and apartment complexes to keep you and your family or employees safe.  While on the news we hear about first responders coming to the rescue, the fire detection and alarm system is the first response that your occupants will get to inform them that there is a problem and they need to get in motion to stay safe.  Without regular inspections and maintenance your system could have sensors that are no longer working correctly – and that can spell big expenses.  Setting aside the possible consequences if there were to be an incident where there was property damage or personal injury, including loss of life, if an inspector were to get word that there were issues with a system he could potentially shut the building down.  This would force any occupants of the residency or commercial space to vacate the premises until the system is proven to be operational.  This could yield fines for not having a functioning system, the cost of relocating any residents or lost business for commercial tenants, even reaching the point of having to pay a qualified individual to be on location 24 hours a day monitoring the building until the system returns to proper operation. 

By reaching out to your local fire systems integrator before these issues arise you can make sure that your system and devices are all working correctly and prevent any problems from increasing in severity down the road.  In addition to abiding by code and preventing any liability issues in the event of an emergency, there may also be a cost savings with your insurance carrier.  Some carriers work with their customers and discount the costs when the owner performs regular fire systems inspections, has a remotely monitored system, and maintains UL (Underwriters Laboratory) certification.  Please check with your insurance carrier to see what their policy might be as it could be annually, quarterly, or even monthly to get this savings.

ICS has a department specifically constructed to be available for fire system maintenance and testing.  If it’s been a while since your last system inspection, give us a call to arrange an appointment for a complimentary system inspection.  We can advise you on any functionality issues, improvements that might need to be made, or changes to the fire code that would require adjustments to the system.

You can reach the ICS fire alarm integration team at 408-491-6000 or at www.ics-integration.com

Can You Hear Me Now?

Everyone knows the difficulties of dropped cell phone calls and the now famous Verizon commercials, but the question “can you hear me now” is still a part of our professional vernacular.  As cell phones have become a primary communication device and cell phone networks improved, the question is now more commonly heard in corporate boardrooms.   The difficulties in the boardrooms are not based on maintaining connectivity but rather someone not speaking within range of the phone in the center of the table, the caller hearing their own voice play back through the speaker phone, or the intelligibility of the voice on the call.  We’re going to look at how each difficulty can be overcome with a simple system update. 

When you have a group of people gathered around a conference table with a speaker phone placed at the center, unless you are a member of King Arthur’s Court, odds are all participants will not be equidistant from the built in microphone.  Now, to the credit of the speakerphone manufacturers, they do offer optional microphone extensions but that still only puts a microphone near most people, not directly in front of them.  When a recent customer decided to upgrade, ICS was able to provide independent microphones that were installed in the boardroom table in front of each seat.  With this method no person was ever leaning over a table or out of range of a microphone forcing the listener to ask “can you repeat that?”

Speakerphones are everywhere; from using them in boardrooms to using them in your cars with Bluetooth technology.  Speakerphones, however, do not transmit your voice instantaneously; there is a slight delay in transmission causing an echo we have all experienced where we might be able to hear the last few words we said when we finish talking.  The audio industry has developed a way to combat this issue called Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) processing.  The way this works is that the phone system and your microphones are connected to an audio processor with a built in AEC function.  During the programming phase of a project the audio processor is configured to ensure that the sound from the phone system is not picked up by the table microphones, preventing the echo.  In situations where two boardrooms might be trying to talk to one another, with an AEC processor in each boardroom attendees might not even be certain they are on a phone call at all.

Now that we've addressed ways to improve the transmission of voices in the boardroom, what can be done to increase the quality of the voice on the phone to make the message received clear and intelligible?  Using a speakerphone to try and broadcast sound to a room can be compared to shouting a message in an empty auditorium.  Eventually the sound will spread out and travel throughout the room, but will you be able to understand the message when it gets there or will it be distorted or interfered with by reflections?  A localized speaker system might seem excessive for a 15’ x 15’ room, but by putting more speakers closer to people’s ears providing more direct sound you can actually decrease the overall volume in the room, helping to prevent distortion and reflections off of the walls and ensure the message received is understood. 

By converting your boardroom conferencing system to independent microphones, audio processing with AEC, and localized speakers you can eliminate communication issues in the transmission of your message to anyone trying to receive it.  Your vision can be heard clearly, without echo, and increased intelligibility.  Now the only issue you might face is making sure who you’re talking to is as up to date with technology as you are.

For more information on how upgrading your boardroom audio visual systems can improve the quality of your meetings, please contact ICS integrated Communication Systems at 408-491-6000.

A New Way for Your Network to Improve Communication

Business today moves at the speed of information.  Each employee is wired into a network backbone allowing for communication and collaboration regardless of physical location.  Network infrastructure has become a key for every business to facilitate the ability to pass information at will wherever it needs to go.

That existing network has become much more influential to our businesses as more and more devices are connecting to it.  Now the office printers and even our phone systems are network based.  The same is true for audio visual equipment.  Devices that are network capable are becoming the standard in A/V making it easier to communicate for all Audio Visual devices over your company network.  But that’s just where it begins.  In addition to being able to use the touch panel on your conference room wall to have the screen drop and turn on the projector, we are also able to pass live audio and video signals across the network.

This network based audio solution is what ICS, in conjunction with Charles M. Salter Associates, Inc., has provided for the new expansion to the San Jose Convention Center.  The idea behind the network audio system is simple: there are dozens of possible configurations for the divisible meeting spaces, each meeting space area has multiple places to connect an audio source (microphone, iPod, Blu-Ray player, etc.) and multiple places to send that audio (like a local powered speaker or recording device).  The challenge that had to be overcome was with so many possible input locations trying to potentially reach so many output locations is, how could we find a way to make it easy to route those signals anywhere we needed them to go?  By implementing an Audinate ‘Dante’ network audio solution with system components including the Atterotech unDX2IO, MediaMatrix NiON n6, a Crestron Pro3 control system, and HP 10 gigabit network switches we were able to provide simple control for all signal routing across the network.  With the click of a mouse, a technician has the ability to route a single microphone to any designated area or combination of areas they wish for the given event.  In order to accomplish this with analog audio technology, it would have required that all signals, and thus cables, route back to a centralized room with 6’ tall racks completely filled with nothing but patch bays forcing them to physically connect a cable (just like the old phone system operators) to pass that sound to where it needed to go.

So why is this network audio solution so significant?  Let’s go back to how businesses are currently operating.  With businesses having locations with multiple conference rooms, remote locations and employees, by utilizing a network audio solution you are no longer limited to passing that audio signal just to a local area.  Now you can use your company’s existing network to send sound to any location that is capable of receiving that digital signal.  Just as a remote worker plugs in a laptop to connect to your local data system, they can now plug in an audio receiver making the conversation and information clearer and pushing your business farther and faster.

For more information on how a network audio solution could help your business, please feel free to contact ICS Integrated Communication Systems at 408-491-6000.

The World Gets Smaller With Collaboration

The buzz about remote collaborative work environments has been floating throughout office buildings across the world.  With the cost of travel increasing every year and the continued growth of a global economy, the need to communicate across vast physical distances is becoming mandatory.  This reality has been trickling into offices for years with the adoption of programs like Adobe Connect, Skype, and GoToMeeting.  But these formats are starting to lose a little bit of their luster in the workplace.  While they are fantastic ways to open communication and share information with people remotely, it is still difficult to achieve the same results you might get while all parties were located in the same room.

Audio Visual manufacturers are developing solutions that allow for greater interaction to promote collaboration for both localized and remote solutions. For offices looking for a more advanced localized collaboration solution there are two options that have been growing in popularity. The Barco ‘Clickshare’ solution was demonstrated at Infocomm, the largest A/V show of the year, where small meeting rooms had the solution set up and ready for use during the show.  With the simple insertion of a USB device into a laptop, making it perfect for the new Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) workspaces, wireless integration to the local 42” display was easy and seamless.  Depending on how many USB devices available, even multiple screens could be shared on the same screen.  The InFocus Mondopad is a slightly different option.  While the Barco system connects to any display, the Mondopad is a fully integrated touch panel display with built in PC, webcam, and optional speaker.  This means that through cloud computing, a local PC isn’t even required to access the display in the meeting room. And with a built in webcam built in to the display this system is already capable of utilizing programs like Skype or GoToMeeting.

Those solutions are designed to allow everyone in the room to view and interact with the presentation material with greater ease.  When looking for solutions that incorporate not only a local display but also provide the ability to “push” your presentation materials to any remote viewers that are also participating we start to look to software based options.  Microsoft Lync is one such service that allows an authorized user to log in from any network connected device and participate in a chat session, video conference, or collaborative session where all attendees can see the materials on their own device and even add notes on the materials that can be seen by everyone and then saved.  Blue Jeans is another software based option that provides video conferencing and remote collaboration on materials.  What sets Blue Jeans apart is that not all users need to be on a single service provider.  For example, your company might operate using a Cisco or Polycom video conferencing solution while a potential business partner might be using Google or Skype.  By communicating through the Blue Jeans service, multiple conferencing platforms are able to interact with one another.  This can help avoid a possible issue and offices are no longer standardizing on one particular video conferencing format.

This does leave you with the question of which conferencing solution is going to be best for your business? The answer is going to be entirely based on your current equipment and needs.  


For more information on how each of these solutions could be implemented for your company contact ICS Integrated Communication Systems.

www.ics-integration.com
408-491-6000

Using Interactive Technology to Welcome Clients

Recently ICS was contracted to provide a unique digital signage solution for UMPQUA Bank in downtown San Francisco.  This new facility was to have state of the art interaction for their customers while trying to keep it energy efficient.  What they wanted to do was provide a personal connection, not only from their visible personnel to the customers, but also to the “behind the scenes” executives.  This was accomplished through a series of displays placed throughout the space.

With a window façade facing the street, 3 NEC displays were used to allow for independent content to be broadcast to each.  If they wanted to show company profiles, local news, or information on the facilities, all of that could be managed in house with their content creation team.  This type of signage has become more common place in store front applications to draw attention to what things can be possible inside. 

UMPQUA, with the help of Charles M. Salter Associates, went above and beyond a standard signage application by the use of 2 interactive digital signage walls.  As opposed to having someone develop content for them that cycles continuously throughout the day, UMPQUA will be developing specialized content to be displayed on these walls.  When no one is standing in front of the displays, they can be showing things like local news, headlines, weather, the UMPQUA twitter feed or other static types of content.   As soon as someone steps up to these displays motion sensors will trigger the interactive content to appear.  At this point any potential customer will have the ability to peruse the personal profiles of employees, the history of the business, and graphical representations of the services offered.  During non-business hours, one of these video walls can even be used as a presentation wall for training employees or displaying specialized content for high profile clients.

The crowning jewel in this application might be the most subtle portion of the job.  Within the windows to the street, UMPQUA BANK is written in frosted glass.  Hidden away inside the building is a series of 6 NEC projectors that have been edge blended together to project directly onto the store front glass.  This means that throughout the day the UMPQUA BANK logo can change colors or even have streaming patters flow across it essentially drawing attention to the logo and enticing curious people to come inside.

As had been mentioned, the focus was interactivity; however, there was also a desire for energy efficiency.  With 12 NEC displays and 6 NEC projectors running throughout the day a fair amount of energy was being used.  To curtail this energy consumption to peak traffic times and conserve energy when viewers were scarcer, the Crestron control system installed was set up with a schedule to only have the displays running at optimal times.

To find out more about how we can use this and other available interactive technologies for your business, reach out to us and we can see how to achieve your current business needs and goals.

Photo of people interacting with the touch screen display taken from sfgate.com article:

www.ics-integration.com
408-491-6000