Constructing an impressive welcome center to provide an enhanced environment for new students’ enrollment and orientation activities was a paramount goal for leaders at the University of Houston-Downtown. To facilitate those activities and properly get students acclimated to university life, the welcome center, which will open officially in the spring 2016 semester, was outfitted with top-of-the-line AV equipment.
“The digital challenge has been at the forefront for our team for a while,” says Steven Cachia, director of network infrastructure for the 14,000-student institution. “We need equipment that is compatible with all digital systems.”
The AMX Enova series from Harman fulfilled that need for across-the-board compatibility, as well as consistent reliability. The AMX Enova DVX All-in-One Presentation
Switchers are used in the welcome center’s seminar and tour rooms for small group presentations. These switchers allow for audio and video switching and distribution, as well as transcoding and amplification in one device. With advanced technology, signal output is scaled to the native resolution of the connected device’s display.
Sometimes the divider separating the seminar room and tour room will need to be removed for large group activities. The AMX Enova DGX Digital Media Switcher provides centralized AV management and supports sending digital signals from point A to point B without any issues. The DGX 1600, which is a 16×16 matrix switcher, lets Cachia’s team push the same signals to different screens or operate in different modes.
“We can combine the rooms technically with the AMX equipment,” says Cachia. “We can start a presentation in the tour room and then continue it through the video wall in the seminar room.”
The way the DGX throws digital signals, as well as the way it handles HDCP and EDID, is very unique and useful, according to Cachia. Another differentiator is the fast switching concept, where a user can switch from one source to another instantly, even with a digital signal.
“DGX can send signals to different size devices,” he says. “AMX technology combines innovations and results in a very efficient system.”
All welcome center installation was handled in-house by UHD AV technicians. After the work was completed, Cachia’s team gave a building tour to the director of admissions, VP of student outreach and other administrators.
“They were quite impressed,” says Cachia. “We took their vision for what they needed to effectively welcome students to the university and brought it to life.”
Products by AMX from Harman have been used on the UHD campus since 1997. Technicians can standardize code, modules and training because AMX products are used across campus. Faculty can be trained on one interface, and have the same experience in most classrooms.
“I am an avid pusher for migrating all facilities to offerings by Harman because of their ease of integration,” says Cachia. “We also want to empower our staff to use the equipment, which they do because it is easy.”
Partnering with Harman gives UHD access to the provider’s vast knowledge and experience with higher ed institutions.
“Harman is always consistent in its delivery of new technology,” says Cachia. “The way they allow us to take advantage of market trends is exceptional.”
For more information, visit www.amx.com/education
