Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has been a staple sightseeing attraction along Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach since the 1970s. During its 40+ year stint, it’s gone through several expansions, renovations and facelifts. Many of these improvements were cosmetic, but like many tourist attractions, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to keep the facility fresh and attractive to new generations of visitors. Enter the commercial integrators from Unified AV Systems, of Greenville, S.C.
The integrator had a chance to update the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! site. This solution required adding a Crestron touchpanel for the mermaid exhibit and show, and relying on a iTach TCP/IP to Contact Closure (IP2CC) from Global Caché to complete the job in a timely and economical manner.
This component from Global Caché would single-handedly streamline and simplify what could have been a complicated endeavor, according to Unified AV Systems design engineer Hal Hawkins.
“The facility already had its own LAN and had been previously using a button to start the music for the mermaid show,” he explains. “The Crestron touchpanel was added to do the same thing but in a more modern form factor that would allow employees to control other aspects of the exhibit.”
The IP2CC allowed Unified AV Systems to enable the Crestron touchpanel to control the existing relay activated devices without having to add new wiring.
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“It’s really great to have this module to do the job rather than having to use a completely proprietary solution,” Hawkins comments. “The IP2CC was a huge help on this job, and is a consistent problem solver on other projects.”
Some of these other projects include high school and college classrooms and boardrooms.
“Thanks to Global Caché’s range of IP modules we are able to add touchpanels to lecturns to enable presenters to control existing classroom and boardroom displays, and do so without having to install a complete proprietary control system,” Hawkins says. “Another benefit is that anything connected to a Global Caché module becomes IP enabled and can communicate with anything, be it a product that’s RS-232, IR, or contact closure.”
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The ability deliver an Internet of Things experience to its clientele has expanded into United AV Systems’ business model. The company can offer remote management service thanks to the Internet connectivity afforded by Global Caché products.
