Recently, many of the mission-critical command and control room solutions that covered in Commercial Integrator have a very specific common trait – they involve integration of NEC Display video products with HiperWall video wall software.
[related] There is a reason why that integration seems to lead to success stories, according to NEC Display Solutions of America VP of business development and solutions Rich Ventura. A “global partnership” is how he describes the relationship between NEC and Hiperwall, adding that NEC’s video products are integrated with Hiperwall’s video wall software in deployments around the world.
That’s “really important and key for integrators,” Ventura says, “because it’s building on an ecosystem. You’re not piece-matching a solution and hoping that it works together. This is a solution that’s tried and tested.”
Most command and control applications are mission-critical, he adds. “When we’re talking mission critical you can’t have a product that can fail, you can’t have a product that’s not displaying the information you need to have.”
Mission-Critical in the Real World
At Stony Brook University in Long Island, assistant chief of police and director of the Office of Emergency Management Lawrence M. Zacarese relies on an NEC-Hiperwall solution for its situation room. When Hurricane Sandy ripped through Long Island during fall semester 2012, prior to the implementation of the solution, the school learned how important it was to have a reliable emergency response center.
“When we’re talking mission critical you can’t have a product that can fail, you can’t have a product that’s not displaying the information you need to have,” says NEC Display’s Rich Ventura.
For integration firm Intralogic Solutions, based in Massapequa, N.Y., Hiperwall video wall software helped tie everything together reliably,says Lee Mandel, CEO “We wanted to tie in all systems into one common operating picture and not be limited based off manufacturer or vendor,” Mandel says, adding that “Hiperwall was a solution that provided unlimited capabilities without the need for expensive hardware. We were able to easily bring everything together into one organized platform.”
Not all mission-critical applications involve command and control rooms. Global satellite services provider Intelsat set out to create a network operations center environment in which it can quickly access and monitor real-time events and information on its video walls. It also leaned on NEC Displays and Hiperwall software. The Intelsat team wanted to choose the video wall themselves, and did due diligence on three different vendors before making a selection: 72 55-inch NEC Display Solutions X555UNV displays in a 3×24 configuration and Hiperwall software.
“Intelsat found the Hiperwall software through NEC Displays, so we developed this overall solution to help the company facilitate its NOC broadband and video,” said Tyler Bonner, senior vice president of the Mission-Critical Environments Division at Diversified, the integration firm on the project.
“We’ve been working with NEC Displays since 2000. The products are solid, and it’s an organization with a customer service mentality. Mission-critical facilities can’t go down, so we like to align ourselves with companies with a desire to take care of mission-critical customers.”
