How subnetworks and team practices can help to build a campus-wide A/V solution.

by networking multiple buildings, then it makes sense not to network them,” says Doug Hall, senior product manager at AMX. “Most HVAC systems have limited automation capabilities, including a clock calendar integrated with occupancy sensing. Lighting systems may also have integrated scheduling for load shedding. If the schedules are predictive and unchanging, it may cost less to simply live with the disparate systems.”
In the experience of The SOHO Shop, there are commercial venues where it does not make sense to use control and automation across multiple buildings. Multiple medical practices are an example. “We have done these systems and then broke them back apart, because each medical practice location wants their own control,” says Jefferson.

Where It’s Going

Following the tracks of IT networking, A/V will also have a similar culture of tech support and monitoring. “In the next few years, there will be dedicated desktop A/V people in the same sense that you have desktop support for IT now,” says Cloud9’s Stucklen. “The tech will be sitting at a computer and virtually controlling a room’s A/V equipment at a far off location.”

Crestron, for example, has a service called RoomView for that purpose. AMX has a product named Remote Management Suite (RMS) Enterprise. A person is sitting in front of a computer and is literally seeing what the client sees, along with the displays. “The tech has full control of the room, almost like a technology concierge,” says Stucklen. “You’ll have one person sitting in front of a computer managing 20 or 30 rooms. It all goes back to the fact that everything is going IP-based,” he says. “It’s all standard with the Internet and local area networks.”

 

 

 

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.