The architecture of Holyoke Community College reflects the
mindset of the campus leadership: always look forward.
Indeed, they were looking forward in 1997 when they
installed Synergy to drive the audio/visual distribution and
control needs of the facility. Fast forward to May of 2005
and Media Center staff realized the need to upgrade. Enter
HB Communications and Realm Control Corp. and the transformation is
complete: what was Synergy is now Phoenix, what was obsolete
is again viable.
Out With The Old, Sort Of
For those facilities with existing Synergy installations,
upgrading to Phoenix is the only way to maximize the
investment made years ago. While Phoenix requires a hardware
upgrade of the central processor, necessitating the jump
from AXcess to NetLinx, all other existing hardware remains
in place. This allows re-use of the Head End control devices
(IR cards, RS-232 cards, etc.) and the Television Managers
that are distributed throughout the campus. Therefore, HCC
can enjoy upgraded technology without a complete system
replacement. The investment required to upgrade from Synergy
to Phoenix is minimal. This was particularly important for
HCC since the campus utilized the Philips Smart Card TVs in
some rooms while other rooms contain various models of the
AMX Television Manager. Because Phoenix supports any display
device regardless of the control mechanism (IR, RS-232,
AXlink, etc.), all rooms behave identically, regardless of
the display device model or control mechanism.
Expansion Needs
At the time of the Phoenix upgrade, HCC was in the process
of constructing the new
Technology Building. The need to add
A/V control to the new building, coupled with the ongoing
needs of HCC as the campus continues to grow, heightened
their interest in moving away from their obsolete Synergy
system. In the future, as the school has need of Media
Retrieval within new buildings, the Remote IP capabilities
of Phoenix will be invaluable. Instead of pulling AXlink to
new facilities, they will simply place a dedicated NetLinx
control system within any new building and communicate via
TCP/IP using the existing LAN infrastructure.
The Upgrade
Edward Kenney of HB Communications met Shane Burke at the
campus on May 31, 2005. Ed and Shane worked together to
install the NetLinx hardware, then Ed walked the halls to
validate room functionality while Shane remained at
the Head
End and tested all features of the source control. The
hardware complement within the Head End consisted of various
models of VCR, DVD Player, and Laser Disc Player. Working
together, Edward and Shane completed the upgrade over the
course of three days. Aside from issues related to invalid IR codes and IR code pulse lengths, no significant problems
were encountered during the upgrade process.
Conclusion
Realm Control Corp. would like to thank Holyoke Community College for
choosing Phoenix to meet their ongoing Media Retrieval and
Campus Automation needs. Special thanks go out to Ed Murch
and Joseph Talisano. Realm Control Corp. also extends many thanks to
HB Communications for negotiating the upgrade and providing
on-site installation services, with special recognition to
Tim Downes and Edward Kenney.
