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FEATURE: EDUCATION


one wants to shell out significant sums for maintenance, so projectors must be efficient and labour- light. Coupled with a desire for bright, engaging images, this is leading many in the direction of DLP-powered solutions. Negating the need to


replace dust filters is one advantage, says David Zhiren, sales manager EMEA at Vivitek. But DLP projectors – such as Vivitek’s own small teaching space-suitable D7180HD – can also help today’s educators secure the interest of “technically savvy students who live in a media- on-demand, high-definition world. Using an education projector with DLP technology makes lessons come alive with vibrant colour, superb readability, and outstanding quality that lasts.” Making lessons ‘come alive’ also spells the incorporation of external devices, including tablets and smartphones. Plenty of new projectors, therefore, prioritise extensive and hassle-free connectivity options.


“The use of smart devices and tablets in education is growing at a tremendous rate,” confirms Graeme Davidson, business manager, visual imaging products at Epson UK. “[Consequently] it is important that projector manufacturers keep up with this to enable simple connectivity to a wide range of devices. Epson has already launched the iProjection app for use with both iOS and Android devices, and will be looking to develop this app over time to keep up with evolving technology.” Alongside connectivity,


Davidson – who points to the EB-475Wi with ultra-short-


‘DSPs have basically


evolved from standalone one-trick ponies to scalable network


infrastructures’


Mark Ullrich, Symetrix


AdTech Systems supplied a SymNet DSP Audio Matrix from Symetrix for the JFK School of Government at Harvard University


throw distance and dual interactivity as the core of Epson’s ‘classroom solution’ – anticipates a greater role for 3D as well as increased demand for solutions able to offer high brightness and accommodate unusual/ challenging installation spaces. Epson has 25 current models at 4,000+ lumens and “will make further expansions in the high-brightness segment in 2013. High-end features such as integrated edge blending, 360º projection and geometric correction will enable Epson projectors to be used in more technically complex applications and demanding install scenarios.” But if the latest interactive


projectors like the EB-475Wi offer the chance to bring classroom presentations to


life ‘without installing expensive interactive whiteboards’ (to quote the Epson marketing materials), the IWB market remains buoyant. Very much so, in fact, with the latest research from Futuresource Consulting (issued Nov 2012) revealing that IWB and interactive flat panel display sales in the education and corporate sectors rose by 22% in Q3 year-on-year. Regionally, EMEA experienced its largest quarter ever in terms of sales, while the UK market grew for the first time in seven years.


AUDIO AESTHETICS Sound reinforcement might have little role to play in smaller teaching spaces, but its deployment in larger lecture halls increasingly


BIAMP VOCIA CONNECTS 35 BUILDINGS AT PNU SAUDI ARABIA


An audio solution able to unify communications across an entire campus, and work within a cultural structure that stipulates the separation of men and women were the primary objectives of a recent installation project at Princess Nora bint Rahman University (PNU) in Saudi Arabia. The first women’s university in the kingdom, PNU hosts a vast campus including 700 classrooms, a 700-bed medical facility, extensive medical research premises, a six-storey library, convention centre, community centre, and multiple residential


20 January 2013


buildings that include capacity for faculty members’ families.


After careful consideration, Biamp Systems’ Vocia networked public address and voice evacuation system was determined to best meet the requirements for a single, unified Ethernet-based paging system able to be centrally monitored from the PNU security centre around the clock. A decentralised,


network-based architecture allows Vocia to connect 35+ buildings into 37 separate ‘worlds’ within the PNU ‘universe’. These worlds are distributed via fibre and also include the train stations connecting the various locations. The Vocia set-up – which comprises multiple VA-8600 amplifiers, VO-4 and VO-6 devices, MS-1 message server, DS-4/DS-10 desk stations and


AudiaFLEX distance learning technology – offers the ability to


resembles that of well- equipped provincial theatres. As with those spaces, effective coverage and low visual impact are enduring priorities.


“Often, lecture halls are difficult acoustic environments, and the architects are looking for minimal visual impact from the loudspeakers, and to retain a structural balance within the space,” confirms Mark Copeland, product manager at Tannoy, whose Q-Flex digitally steerable, multichannel arrays have proven popular in this education segment. Meanwhile, having


speakers sit on the same fully integrated network is gradually becoming a default choice. By way of example, Copeland points to a recent


fit-out at United Arab Emirates University, where VNet speakers and subs occupy the same network as QFlex 48s (for speech reinforcement) – “allowing remote tuning,


commissioning and ongoing monitoring of this main component of the system” via Tannoy’s VNet software. Audio processing is also the subject of increased unification. So whereas higher education facilities once perceived processing devices “as separate sub- systems within the campus communications systems”, in the words of Harrison, there is now a shift towards greater consolidation. Safety and security issues


have been an important influence here. Brett Downing, sales and marketing director at TOA Corporation UK, highlights the interest in


interconnect directly into the fire protection system or provide an immediate, system- wide muting. It will also be used for regular paging duties such as the call to prayer five times per day. Bill Nattress, associate principal at integration


consultant Shen Milsom Wilke, said that the response to the installation had been “overwhelmingly positive. The Vocia solution allowed for all of the requirements of this complicated environment to be met while still remaining simplistic to all of the users.”


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