Immediate Release

Dec 07

Five years on at the University of Westminster

TeamMate passes the test of time with flying colours

During the summer of 2002, the University of Westminster awarded Aventis AV with a £1.1M contract for a complete AV refurbishment at their Marylebone Road Campus. Selected from over 25 candidates, Aventis AV where able to physically demonstrate a real solution and present a valid business case to the university, showing how such a single upfront investment would pay dividends over time, emphasising reliability, ease and familiarity of use for all those concerned.

The University was seeking to expand the student intake to 7,000, amounting to almost double the intake over a five year period. As a consequence this had placed enormous stress on the existing facilities, including the delivery of AV across nearly 100 locations. Whilst most areas had basic AV facilities there was increasing demand being placed on more sophisticated multimedia solutions. Lecturers now wanted to show video clips, or display a web based application, perhaps in conjunction with a regular acetate.

So a brief to the contractors became very clear - The University needed a system that was secure in every respect; that could run technician-free, and most importantly, could be run by a technically unskilled lecturer. There was also recognition to the importance placed on this level of technology being operated by the student base.

So how was this done? TeamMate Tutors were selected for the teaching rooms and medium size lecturing areas, while the more sophisticated TeamMate Podium units where installed in the larger lecture areas including the flagship Hogg Lecture Theatre. Each TeamMate was fully integrated and commissioned to include a P3 networked PC, Visualiser, Presentation switcher, VCR, amplifier, and Crestron touch panel for media selection - all within a 14U by 19" TeamMate rack. The Crestron manages all aspects of media control including projector power up/down protocols, with the ability to offer remote e-control through a web browser, enabling remote monitoring, systems integrity and diagnostics.

At the time, AV Manager Ralph Martin mentions "We are delighted with the simplicity of the solution, and the prospect of onsite/offsite network monitoring. Now we can deskill the whole game." Ralph went on to say "If we hadn't gone down this route the delivery of audio visual services would have been nigh on impossible. We have spent several million pounds in upgrading our facilities over a five year period and TeamMate has shown that it has been possible to provide a standard delivery platform."

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