LED Display In Philadelphia's Comcast Center Unveiled

Barco, a manufacturer of display technology, recently announced the grand opening of The Comcast Experience at Philadelphia’s Comcast Center, an LED wall comprised of 6,771 Barco NX-4 LED modules.

Situated in a seven story high glass atrium, The Comcast Experience is a joint gift to the citizens of Philadelphia from Comcast Corporation and Liberty Property Trust; one that combines sculpture, architecture and technology in a public environment.

By transforming a public transportation hub into an artistic focal point for the city, The Comcast Experience encompasses a number of important “firsts.” From a technology standpoint, the world’s largest four millimeter LED wall is 83.3' wide by 25.4' high. With 10 million pixels mounted in a seamless flat array, the wall provides an extremely high degree of photo-realism, at five times the resolution of high-definition television. Behind the scenes, Barco image processing equipment includes six DX-700 LED digitizers, seven Encore Video Processors and three MatrixPRO routers.

From an architectural standpoint, the installation marks the first time that audio and video technology at this scale has been incorporated into the design of a major urban building. Adding to the complexity, the LED wall includes rectangular cutouts for the lobby’s three banks of elevators. (Photo above, courtesy of Barco, shows those cutouts with nature scene on screen above.)

All of the content for The Comcast Experience was designed and produced by the Niles Creative Group. The installation also marks the first time that an everchanging audio and video environment has been designed for an audience in transit, with artificial intelligence at the core.

“There’s never been a screen not only of this resolution, but also of this realism,” said Steve Scorse, vice president of sales and marketing for Barco's Media & Entertainment division, North America. “Not only does the screen integrate seamlessly into the Comcast Center as a forum for content, but at times, the content mimics the atrium’s natural wood paneling and virtually disappears,” said Scorse. “The resolution, contrast and seamlessness are such that you can do things with this screen that cannot be done with any other technology.”

John Gattuso, senior vice president and regional director for Liberty Property Trust, commented on the scope of The Comcast Experience. “The thought process on behalf of Comcast and Liberty evolved beyond the idea of just broadcasting content, into a larger art piece that would ultimately complement the building’s aesthetic,” said Gattuso. “When you undertake these kinds of projects that have so many components, the only way you pull all those pieces together is through an outstanding team. And while it’s not to diminish the challenges involved, it continues to remind you of how critical it is to have the best people involved in a project.”

“Barco has been a great partner and we are excited to have the world’s largest four millimeter LED screen in Comcast Center,” said Karen Dougherty Buchholz, vice president, administration, Comcast Corporation. “The combination of Barco’s wonderful technology and the Niles Creative Group’s artistic content will truly make Comcast Center a destination for Philadelphians and visitors to our great city.”

The blend of architecture, vision and technology is brought to life via the content, as designed by New York’s Niles Creative Group. “It was exciting that both Comcast and Liberty approached this as a ‘new media’ project,” said David Niles, founder of the Niles Creative Group. “This meant that we weren’t just talking about digital signage, but the creation of an extraordinary environment in a public space, to design a spectacular and inspiring visual illusion that blurs the lines between reality and the unexpected. To accomplish this, we designed a content delivery system using artificial intelligence. The system creates unique content on an ongoing basis without human intervention.”

The Comcast Experience is located in Comcast Center’s lobby, located at 17th Street and JFK Boulevard in Philadelphia, PA. As Philadelphia’s newest destination, The Comcast Experience is on 18 hours each day, delivering custom content.

AHRI Awarded Prestigious ANSI Accreditation

The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) announced it has been awarded accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a standards developing organization.

"ANSI accreditation adds value to our standards development process by confirming that our procedures meet ANSI's essential requirements for openness, balance, consensus, and due process," said AHRI President Stephen Yurek. "In order to maintain accreditation, AHRI is required to consistently adhere to a rigorous set of requirements and procedures."

Many of AHRI's standards outline technical procedures for uniformly measuring the performance of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and commercial refrigeration (HVACR) equipment. Through the use of these standards and voluntary participation in the industry's performance certification programs, consumers can be assured manufacturers' performance claims are verified and rated uniformly to enable fair comparisons.

"The rigor of ANSI accreditation makes it widely recognized as a valid measurement of a standards program's credibility and competency by federal and state governments and governments outside the United States," said Yurek. "It also enhances the integrity of AHRI's industry certification programs, and improves consumer confidence in the performance of heating, cooling and commercial refrigeration equipment and components both domestically and abroad."

Growth Predictions For IT Investments

A new national study conducted by The Gantry Group, LLC, Software Development IT Governance Expenditures Trends, reveals that a company’s annual budget for these solutions and services, on average, will grow to $1.2 million in the next 12 months. Companies will increase allocations in their budgets for key solution areas: 6% for Portfolio Management, 4% for Project Management, 3% for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), 2% for integrated Project Portfolio Management (PPM), and 2% for Requirements Management.

Respondents reported that within the next 12 months their organizations plan to implement solutions for PPM (25%) and Process Workflow Management (20%). Companies show a strong preference for third party on-premise solutions for all categories of IT investment with the exception of demand management for which custom in-house solutions are preferred.

According to the study, respondents prefer third party solutions to outsourced services primarily because they want to maintain control over data quality, privacy, and security (48%), and believe that they will also derive greater control over solution access and performance (45%) as well as improved integration with existing systems.

The study solicited feedback from C-level IT executives and Vice Presidents (50%), IT/Development Directors (18%) and Managers (12%). 66% of respondents have responsibility for IT/Product Development, Program Management or IT Governance. Nearly 25% of respondents came from companies with 5,000 or more employees, while 27% came from companies with 1,000 – 5,000 employees and 28% came from companies with 250 – 1,000 employees.

The study revealed the following additional findings:

• The key metrics that companies use to determine the success of their development IT governance solutions are alignment of IT investments with corporate objectives (52%), followed by expected ROI (45%), and alignment of IT projects with corporate objectives (44%).
• The majority of respondents believe that their development IT governance solution deployments have benefited their organizations through improved alignment of both IT investment (52%) and projects (41%) with corporate objectives.
• Respondents are least satisfied with their deployed solutions for PPM, PLM, Time Management and Resource Management.
• Dissatisfaction with development and IT governance solutions arises primarily from poor employee adoption (50%), poor integration with the company’s infrastructure (50%), and an increase in process complexity and workflows (44%).

Gantry Group is a strategic consulting firm that guides technology based solution providers to build offerings that capitalize on urgent market needs and challenges. For the past decade, Gantry Group’s customer satisfaction, primary market research and ROI/TCO measurement services have armed the world’s leading technology vendors with targeted market intelligence to support their strategic business decisions and inform their solution roadmaps.

Entire Contents, Copyright © 2008 Gantry Group LLC All Rights Reserved. References to any of the contents in this press release must include Gantry Group copyrights and citation.

UVC, Turbine Cooling Included in New ASHRAE Handbook

New chapters related to ultraviolet lamp systems and combustion turbine inlet cooling are featured in ASHRAE’s new 2008 Handbook volume.

HVAC Systems and Equipment discusses systems and the equipment that comprise them, including features and differences. It is designed to help system designers and building operators select and use equipment. It contains 48 chapters.

The chapter on ultraviolet lamp systems addresses the use of such systems to improve indoor air quality. “Use of ultraviolet germicidal irradiation has increased as concerns about the transmission via ductwork of pathogenic organisms, such as tuberculosis and even bioterrorism agents, have escalated among designers,” Walter Grondzik, chair of the subcommittee that coordinated publishing of the 2008 volume, said.

The new combustion turbine inlet cooling chapter provides discussion on how the cooling is used to help improve combustion turbine performance. It was added to address use of such cooling to improve the environmental and economic performance of combustion turbine installations, typically used for electric power generation.

“Inlet cooling can mitigate the negative effects of high inlet air temperature, a critical consideration in this era of rapidly increasing energy costs and depleting resources,” he said.

The cost of the 2008 ASHRAE Handbook, HVAC Systems and Equipment, print edition (either I-P or SI and includes a CD of all content in both I-P and SI units) is $195. The 2008 volume also is available in CD format for $155. The Handbook can be ordered from this link.

First Digital Commercial Appraisal Reporting Standard for Interoperable Data Exchange

The Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE) recently announced that 10 participating member organizations will provide four live interoperable data exchange demonstrations of three of OSCRE's seven standards. Cushman & Wakefield and Prudential Mortgage Capital will provide the first of two demonstrations highlighting OSCRE’s Appraisal Reporting Standard for Commercial Property. A second live interoperable data exchange demonstration will be conducted by Integra Realty Resources and The Situs Companies/CJC Worldwide Technologies.

“The purpose of these demonstrations is to share with these influential IT executives the reason we invested our time, knowledge, and financial funding to create this standard,” explains Matt Marschall MAI, ARA, MRICS, Managing Director, National Practice Leader Agribusiness Valuation Services - Capital Markets Group for Cushman & Wakefield. “We understood as we embarked on this project appraisers, lenders, and other industry stakeholders using this standard would experience very significant benefits in operating costs, access time to quality information, and for the first time, real consistency and transparency in the data we rely on,” he concluded. Marschall has served as the Chairman of OSCRE’s Appraisal Reporting Standard working group.

According to Patrick Craig, Chair of the Business Innovation Committee for Cushman & Wakefield and who will be presenting his portion of the demonstration, “This technology creates a new value proposition for valuation firms and their clients. For valuation firms, we now have the ability to transmit our appraisal report data to the client with speed and accuracy. Previously, this was not even possible. Also, we can validate the data against the data standard to make sure it is compliant.”

John Hall, Chief Credit Officer for Prudential Mortgage Capital’s Structured Finance Group adds, “As a consumer of appraisal reports, I believe that this will change the mortgage underwriting process and help us serve our customers more efficiently. With this new technology, we will be able to stream data accurately and no longer have to re-key information manually. Also, historically the appraisal information was used only once in a single transaction and we would have to fill out a form manually with 15 to 20 data points. Now, we can move hundreds of data points from the appraisal report into our forms, or even store it in our database to help source new transactions or monitor existing deals in our portfolio.”

OSCRE members responsible for the creation of the Appraisal Reporting Standard for Commercial Property include Cushman & Wakefield, Prudential Mortgage Capital, Colliers International, U.S. General Services Administration, Integra Realty Resources and The Situs Companies/CJC Worldwide Technologies.

China is Third Largest Destination for U.S. High-Tech Exports

AeA, a trade association representing all segments of the high-tech industry, has released the 23rd edition of its ongoing Competitiveness Series. The report analyzes the strong economic relationship between the U.S. and China in terms of high-tech trade and foreign direct investment.

“China’s economic rise poses not a threat but a host of opportunities and challenges to the rest of the world,” said Rob Mulligan, AeA’s Senior Vice President International. “Public policy in both the U.S. and China must recognize the interdependent nature of our economies and avoid protectionism and distorting trade practices. Such policies restrain trade, damage economies, and raise prices for consumers.”

U.S. high-tech goods exports to China more than doubled between 2001 and 2007. This makes China the third fastest growing (and the third largest destination) for U.S. high-tech exports. Only the United States’ two NAFTA partners, Canada and Mexico, are larger export destinations for American tech products than China. Between 2001 and 2007, U.S. high-tech goods imports from China rose from $26 billion to $112 billion.

Total U.S. direct investment in China was $22.2 billion in 2006, a 30% increase over 2005. In 2006, U.S. technology investments in China totaled $1.9 billion, a 69% rise over 2005.

"As China seeks to become a global leader in technological innovation,” continued Mulligan, “it will need to move away from policies promoting discriminatory local standards, domestic government procurement preferences, and protectionist competition laws."

The report outlines a series of public policy recommendations for dealing with China as a rising economic power.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Cool Case Study

Wherever he goes, Bill Schuelie with SBE Hotel Group is ready to chill. And not long ago in Puerto Rico, he solved two cooling problems ― one which meant life itself.

As a construction manager, Schuelie is a roving warrior tasked with overseeing all things building related. On the construction project in Puerto Rico, he encountered two problem hot spots. One was a telephone equipment room. The other? A medical room that houses organs donated for transplants.

Hot Lines And Cool People
“We needed a way to keep both of these rooms at a cool temperature,” Schuelie says. “Equipment rooms are notorious for heating up. And we needed to keep the medical room cool seven days a week, even when the rest of the building had its air conditioning off for the weekend.”

The medical room solution sought to keep the employees cool and comfortable and support their efforts to keep the transplant organs in healthy condition. Adding to the cooling problem was the outside temperature. “Summer in the Caribbean is really hot, which makes it even worse,” Schuelie adds.

Cool Air By Air
An engineer designed an air conditioning solution, but it was expensive and inefficient, according to Schuelie. He contacted MovinCool in Florida and had two CM12s flown in. He chose the small, ceiling-mount system for several reasons.

“The units are ceiling mounted and self contained; there’s no condensate pan. The exhaust duct went into the plenum return. The unit has its own thermostat, so we just set it to the right temperature and that’s it,” he says.

“The whole experience was painless,” Schuelie notes. “You just install the CM12 and walk away. It doesn’t take up any floor space and there’s no special electrical required ― it’s 110/220v.”

The CM12 solution was not only convenient, but also more cost effective, Schuelie says. “We saved thousands. Everyone was really happy. The units more than paid for themselves.”

Today, Schuelie is in Los Angeles, overseeing a major transformation of the SLS Hotel (formerly Le Meridien Hotel Beverly Hills), which has been conceptualized by celebrated designer Philippe Starck. So far, Schuelie hasn’t needed any portable cooling solutions for the job. “But if a problem should arise, I have a MovinCool solution ready,” he says.

Port Authority In Ohio Marks One Year With Solar Powered Camera

The Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority originally deployed the system in 2005 as a property management tool to watch construction of Kaiser Drive at the Central Ohio Aerospace & Technology Center (COATC). The camera system, developed by the Port Authority, passed the one year mark since solar power improvements were made. In that year, the system never lost power as it captured and delivered real-time video and digital images to the Web.

The Port Authority set out to continuously improve the camera system it first developed three years ago. In addition to the 2005 construction project, this same system was used to monitor construction of James Parkway which opened in May 2007. Also, Samuel Manu-Tech’s corporate officials in Toronto, Canada used it in 2006 during construction of the company’s new 151,000 square foot building on the COATC South Campus.

The system can be viewed live on the Internet, during daylight hours, at http://coatc.com/cam.

“You don’t normally think of a government engaging in research and development projects, but I’m proud of our team’s success,” said Rick Platt, executive director of the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority. “Our team was given a challenge to stretch our in-house capabilities, and they succeeded. One year of running something with so many possible uses and value, just on the power of the sun, is a major accomplishment.”

“Everything in it is commercially available right now,” said Port Authority facilities manager Bruce Boylan in describing the nuts and bolts of the system. He and project manager John Vermaaten are credited with development and improvements to the solar and Internet camera device. “We found a pretty economical way and, yes, hitting the mark of one year running only on sun is pretty extraordinary too.”

Going forward, the Port Authority is considering development of a low maintenance solar camera system that would be mounted on a trailer system and could be used by local governments and agencies in Licking County. The final product would be a mobile camera system useful for public events, safety, homeland security, and other uses.

Tips For Space Planning

SmartDraw.com, maker of SmartDraw, a program to automate the process of creating business graphics has compiled a list of tips for space planning. These tips can apply to both non-residential and residential settings.

Have you employed any of the tips listed here? Have you had success or challenges with any of the strategies below? What space planning tips strategies have you learned on the job?

SmartDraw, which offers a free trial on its Web site, contains hundreds floor plan templates that users can modify to create the graphic they need. This includes floor plans for corporate and office layouts, emergency evacuation and planning, home floor plans and room layouts, hotel floor plans, restaurant floor plans, landscape design, retail plans and planograms, and store layouts and facility designs.

The "Top Tips for Effective Space Planning" are as follows:
1. You can save yourself a lot of time and trouble by taking careful measurements and thinking through the following issues before you start drawing. When measuring existing spaces, lay your measuring tape flat on the floor and measure room dimensions in several places, especially where furniture will be a tight fit. Don't assume your walls are parallel.

2. Before laying out furniture, look for projecting windowsills, and note the location of electrical receptacles, light switches, vents, and thermostats.

3. When placing a desk, ask yourself, "What do I want to be looking at when I sit there?"

4. When planning an office, first determine whether the occupant's back will be toward the door. Some people feel very strongly about this. Other design decisions will flow from this basic choice.

5. To reduce glare, try to avoid having computer monitors directly facing windows.

6. Leave enough empty space in front of filing cabinets to fully extend the drawer, plus at least 18 additional inches if the drawers will be accessed by a person standing in front of them.

7. Allow adequate working space at desks or cubicles. The distance from the working side of a desk to the nearest wall or furniture should be at least 42" (and most people find 54" or 60" to be more comfortable).

8. The walkway between a piece of furniture and a wall should be at least 30" in a residential space (36" is preferred). In a public space it should be at least 36" (42" is preferred).

9. To get a feel for the width of a walkway before placing furniture, put a tape line on the floor to see how different dimensions would feel.

10. When placing furniture on a residential plan, remember that most furniture will actually sit 2" or 3" from the wall.

11. Don't line all the furniture up along the walls. Break up spaces by placing pieces out in the room. Setting rugs, sofas, or other furniture at angles can help avoid an overly rigid feel.

The SmartDraw features built-in-themes with professionally designed colors, schemes, and effects for polished results, as well as one-click copy to MS® documents such as Word® and PowerPoint®, as well as PDF.

About SmartDraw.com
SmartDraw.com is the creator of SmartDraw, a business graphics software and the first program that makes it possible for ordinary computer users to create presentation-quality business graphics. Each year more than two million people install and use SmartDraw and the company counts more than half of the members of the Fortune 500 as customers.

Founded in 1994, SmartDraw.com is privately-held and based in San Diego, CA. In addition to SmartDraw 2008 for general business and home use, the company also offers SmartDraw Healthcare and SmartDraw Legal editions which include graphics and applications for those respective fields.

Chief Employees To Receive CTS Certification

Chief, a leader in projector and flat panel mounting solutions, is dedicated to providing the best service to its clients through up-to-date CTS certification and training for employees. Chief is a certified InfoComm Certified AudioVisual Solutions Provider (CAVSP). Each member of the company's inside sales technical support staff and Pro AV regional sales managers are certified, or on schedule, to be certified.

The CTS certification is highly regarded within the audiovisual industry. For more than 30 years, Infocomm has offered certification programs to establish and maintain widespread credibility for AV professionals. The CAVSP is based on the percentage of a company's employees who have achieved CTS certification. Chief has achieved the basic CAVSP, meaning that 25% of the employees are CTS certified.

About Chief
Chief Manufacturing, a division of Milestone AV Technologies, has more than 30 years of proven product and service excellence. Committed to responding to industry needs in the Pro AV, Residential and Office markets, Chief offers a complete line of mounts, lifts and accessories for flat panel displays and projectors. Chief distribution centers are located in Minnesota and the Netherlands.

About InfoComm
InfoComm International® is the leading non-profit association serving the professional AV communications industry worldwide. Founded in 1939, the association offers industry expertise and market research serving press and others seeking information about the industry.

APC Introduces New Service For Data Centers

The global provider of integrated power and cooling services has introduced a Cable Infrastructure Assessment Service aimed at simplifying the process of data center transformations to 10 Gigabit (Gb/s) Ethernet network architectures.

This new service, specially designed for Cisco, supports the global launch of the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series. The Cisco Nexus 5000 is a line of Layer 2 access switches designed for data centers that provide high-density, low-latency, 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching, as well as a fully unified data center fabric integrating LAN, SAN and HPC traffic.

The APC Cable Infrastructure Assessment Service, available through Cisco Advanced Data Center services, delivers the resources, expertise and tools needed to prepare data centers to meet 10 Gb/s Ethernet specifications. Based on individual customer needs and requirements, APC’s BICSI certified Registered Communication Distribution Designers® (RCDD) will evaluate the existing structured cabling solution and recommend changes that will ensure support for current or emerging 10 Gb/s Ethernet technologies.

To read about ensuring that your network is ready for a changeover, see “It’s All About The Network,” which appears in the March 2008 issue of TFM.

Unified Fabric over Ethernet simplifies and reduces data center infrastructure. As organizations grow their networks to support bandwidth-intensive applications such as those enabled by server virtualization and I/O consolidation, 10 Gb/s Ethernet technology is becoming increasingly pervasive.

The APC Cable Infrastructure Assessment Service includes a broad range of activities to help customers deploy the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series and other advanced technologies in their data center environment using a lifecycle services approach. To find out more about the APC Cable Infrastructure Assessment Service for Cisco Nexus family switches, visit www.cisco.com/go/nexusservices or www.apc.com/techpartners.

The APC Cable Infrastructure Assessment Service for the Cisco Nexus switches is available immediately in the United States and Canada.