Powerco, considered the second-largest gas and electricity distributor in New Zealand, incorporated Visionary’s PacketAV Matrix Series with the help of TSH Audio and Video for distributing data and resources to nearly 1.1 million customers across 452,000 homes.
The company announced that they selected TSH Audio and Video, a full-service audiovisual, lighting, projection and production company, for consulting, design and installation services in their new Network Operations Center.
According to the company, the $5 million Network Operations Center consisted of three working areas separated by glass sliders. The areas also consisted of control room operations, customer service and switch writers, release planners, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) team and the network operations center (NOC) management.
Powerco emphasized that large amounts of data flowed in and out of Powerco’s Network Operations Center in order to provide safe and efficient energy to their customers, and when the supply was interrupted, it was Powerco’s mission to respond quickly. As a result, the Network Operations Center had a mission-critical environment where it required the latest and most reliable technology so that it could meet all the above demands.
According to Powerco, the Network Operations Center included a storm room which was designed to improve its response protocol in major events that damaged the network. The company revealed that the room has a six-screen video wall supplying information to identify outage areas and SCADA data. Furthermore, it is complemented by additional video walls and displays in the adjoining areas which required a fully integrated audio, video and control system.
Neil Penno, director for TSH Audio and Video, noted that the project required the distribution of video signals across different locations within the Network Operations Center. Penno saiid, “In addition to simple video distribution, full KVM support was essential to enable control of PCs when they are displayed on the video walls. Powerco had an existing network infrastructure in their Network Operations Center so we needed a flexible and versatile system that would allow us to work over their network infrastructure.”
He added, “We selected Visionary’s PacketAV Matrix Series to achieve the required functionality. This allowed standard structured cabling and Ethernet switches to be utilized, while eliminating the need for specialized cabling and video matrices. It provided limitless expandability for future additions. It was important to have ultra low-latency because we’re transmitting mission-critical data. Visionary’s PacketAV Matrix Series provided us with ultra-low latency to meet our project requirements.”
The company also mentioned that NSL, the exclusive distributor of Visionary in New Zealand, provided TSH Audio and Video with product, design and support. The project included the installation of video displays in the control room and storm room. The control room featured a 2×2 video wall with four additional displays and the storm room features a 6×2 video wall. Visionary’s PacketAV Decoder was paired with each display to power a reliable signal and perform the video processing for the video wall functionality. Eight PacketAV Encoders were installed to provide video signal input and USB for KVM functionality.
Finally, Visionary’s PacketAV Matrix Series was combined with QSC’s Q-SYS to provide intuitive inferences for controlling display power, video and audio routing and volume control.
“Pairing Visionary’s PacketAV Matrix Series with QSC’s Q-SYS enabled us to provide a flexible and intuitive system,” said Penno. “We can quickly and cost-effectively add additional screens or video inputs as Powerco’s requirements change. It eliminated the need for additional changes to the system and new cable runs.”
He concluded, “Visionary PacketAV Matrix Series integrated seamlessly with the Q-SYS platform. Using QSC’s touch screens with live video thumbnails creates a simplified user experience with instant feedback by displaying each video source available.”
