FEATURE: VISITOR ATTRACTIONS 29 Case Study
operate with consistent reliability so operators can focus on the guest experience,” he says.
Alcorn McBride V16 Pro controls 1.2 million volts
The mission of the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, USA is to “delight, educate, and inspire through interactive experiences in science and technology”. When the centre’s Works Theater multimedia space needed an equipment upgrade for its aging, proprietary automation system it chose Alcorn McBride’s V16 Pro show controller. The theatre paired the hardware of the V16 Pro with software from QLab as the multimedia cueing
platform – which will, among other things, control a 100-year old 10ft tall, 1.2 million volt Tesla coil and a liquid nitrogen fog machine, together with two pan-tilt-zoom cameras and eight video projectors for the screens that ring the theatre. The system was designed such that the V16 Pro acts as the back end for QLab and allows it to work
dynamically with commercial equipment as well as AV equipment, interfacing with the original controls, which are based on MIDI commands. For example, if the fi re alarm goes off , it tells the V16, which will shut everything down.
What it takes Lars Sandlund, chief operating offi cer of Dataton, warms to the theme. “A good integrator in this market brings a solid technical base and an awareness of what works best,” he believes. “It may sound simple, but there are so many new technologies out there that it is easy to get swamped. The integrator has a responsibility to the client to ensure that everything actually does work as planned, and knows the products inside and out.” “The best integrators to this market have experience in software- based technologies, the AV/IT knowledge, creativity in system/solution designs, project management teams that work closely with all third parties and have the products and services to match requirements,” continues Depala. “There are many ways
to create a successful, profi table business in this market – and even more ways to do just the opposite,” laughs Sormani. “Service is increasingly the key word in many AV markets – and that’s especially true for the visitor attraction market. Operators are making money with the AV installation and downtime will need to be minimal. There has to be a service gene embedded within the integrator – but that doesn’t mean that they should provide service for free. It’s like with everything: you get what you pay for and there is no such thing as a free lunch.” Willrich has three key pieces of advice for a prospective integrator in the visitor attractions market. “First,” he says, “you have to be patient. Many projects don’t run to the original timeline and this frequently impacts on the integrator’s time at the end of the project, which is arguably one of the most important aspects in terms of fi nal programming and
August 2014
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