International Health Organization Upgrades Conference Capabilities with Analog Way Aquilon C+, C and Zenith 200 Systems

An international health organization recently renovated and upgraded the technology in its auditorium, two large conference rooms and an executive meeting room adding Analog Way Aquilon C+ and C fully-modular and scalable high-performance presentation systems and a Zenith 200 compact presentation switcher.

“The organization hosts numerous important international messaging and needs to disseminate audio and visual information with a degree of professionalism that matches that of the organization itself,” says Eric Echols, Vice President of Technology at Baltimore’s Pershing Technologies LLC, an AV design, consulting and commissioning firm specializing in the government and corporate commercial sectors.  “The organization also wanted to enhance meeting efficiency and engagement.  To achieve that the organization is making the most extensive use of Analog Way equipment we’ve seen to date.”

“Pershing has used Analog Way equipment on many projects with great outcomes,” says Seth Teates, Senior Regional Sales Manager at Analog Way.  “So Eric knew the kind of premium products and the level of support we offer.  For this project we were able to provide the perfect size machine that met the needs of each room from plenty of horsepower in the auditorium with our Aquilon C+ to simpler executive meeting capabilities with our Zenith 200.”

Pershing was brought onboard the project by a team of architects, with whom they previously partnered on a renovation for a similar NGO in Washington, D.C.  ITI Systems in Beltsville, Maryland, an AV systems integrator specializing in government, NGOs, higher education and commercial Fortune 500 markets, was awarded the integration contract.

The new equipment brief was pretty broad at the beginning of the job.  “The organization had some very old systems and required more functionality and flexibility” within the existing footprints of the spaces, notes Echols.  This system flexibility needed to encompass events with visiting press, with outputs for them to pull audio and video feeds, and auxiliary input locations to accommodate additional cameras and user devices.  

The largest and most high-profile space, the rotunda-shaped auditorium, hosts Government Body Organization meetings with representatives from 44 member countries attending and other important international events, such as pandemic and influenza prevention meetings and the new director’s induction and welcome.  

“The auditorium is used several times a month, often for many days and long hours at a time,” explains Adam Weiner, ITI Systems’ Principal.  To meet a multiplicity of demands, the space was configured with four curved LED videowalls: a main center screen flanked by left and right screens with a rear wall serving as a confidence monitor for the dais.  The large complement of screens gives remote participants “a real place in the room, a prominent presence, which is important for an international organization in a post-pandemic world,” he notes.

Analog Way’s Aquilon C+ was selected to provide the videowalls with a high degree of automation, control and customization for the screens, their layouts and camera switching.

“Aquilon C+ gives the organization the ability to customize everything about the screen layouts and switching.  It also can do transitions and dynamic video layering while running the API (Application Programming Interface) for control and automation,” says Weiner.  “Most products can’t do all of that in a single, solid box with no glitches and no failures.”

“Having all those capabilities in one box with format conversion and scaling included is unique,” agrees Echols. 

Weiner notes that while “there is a high degree of sophistication and quality in the system’s video product, it has the option for simple operation by a single operator who’s also managing audio and simultaneous interpretation.  We try to design for staff whose primary job is not in the video field: They can recall presets through a touchpanel or Analog Way’s RCS software and the room is up and running with different scenes and layouts.”  ITI personnel also run the rooms when professional staff is required.

Two large and nearly identical conference rooms serve as formal meeting spaces and regular meeting rooms with head tables and delegate seating.  Each has three large, side-by-side flat panel displays at the front of the room and three confidence monitors at the back.  Each also has a confidence monitor built into the head table’s furniture.

“We chose Aquilon C systems for these rooms to keep operation similar to the auditorium so if a tech works in both spaces, they are familiar with the interface and configuration of the system, the same preset recalls and the same easy touchpanel operation,” says Echols.  “The Aquilon C’s scaling and transitions are all the same as with the C+.”

The executive meeting room is similar in size to the conference rooms but has flexible seating for more informal gatherings and open discussions plus very user-friendly operation.  Analog Way’s Zenith 200 drives three flat panels in this space.

“This is our first use of the Zenith 200 for seamless switching and the same kind of simultaneous source switching and screen management performed in the other conference rooms,” says Echols.  “The system works really well in this multi-purpose environment.”

Echols gives kudos to Analog Way for its project and product support.  “Their design assistance and engineering support was phenomenal.  Our team, under Senior Systems Engineer Todd Garon and Senior Designer Cat Knorr, worked with Analog Way to come up with solid designs and system specifications.  Analog Way also came through with loaner equipment to provide a solution on the timeline the client needed – not too many manufacturers would have done that.”.