Control rooms once revolved around a single location. That model is changing fast. In a conversation for Commercial Integrator’s Command-and-Control Deep Dive Report, Senior Editor Alyssa Borelli spoke with Peter Pritz, pre-sales engineer at Datapath, about what’s pushing operations across multiple sites and how integrators can prepare.
Key Things to Know:
- Network infrastructure now lets operators share data, workflows and visualizations securely between control rooms anywhere in the world.
- Multi-site design builds in redundancy. If one room goes down, another picks up critical work.
- The focus has shifted from the videowall to the operator
- Software, scalability and a robust API are shaping the next five years of control room design.
- Datapath tools like the Secure Streaming Gateway, Channel Link and the Aetria platform support these workflows.
What’s Driving the Shift Toward Multi-Site Control Room Operations?
Pressure to keep operations running through any interruption is driving the shift toward multi-site operations. Organizations manage teams that are geographically spread out, and they need those people to work together without missing a step.
Network infrastructure makes this possible. “Now these operators can send information and data from one control room to another one securely over these networks to really enhance the workflow that they’re trying to do,” Pritz says. Data, workflows and even visualizations move across the internet from site to site.
The payoff is resilience. Two connected control rooms create inherent redundancy. If one site fails, the other continues the critical work.
In Datapath’s approach, signals travel between sites in multiple streaming formats. On-site operators get a full 4K60 signal, while a compressed version streams simultaneously. The Secure Streaming Gateway connects sites through a secure tunnel, so the same sources an operator works on locally can reach another control room across the globe.
Channel Link extends that reach further. The AV tech product sends any source, even composites of sources, to people who aren’t in a control room at all. “A channel link will allow for is a stream to be sent out and somebody could even pull that up on their phone or on an iPad if they’re working remotely just by accessing a secure link,” Pritz says.
What Operational Benefits Does Multi-Connectivity Deliver?
Shared resources are the main operational benefit of multi-connectivity. Operators send content between sites, but they also share expertise, which gives every facility full situational awareness.
Workload balance matters just as much. When one site has more to process than it can handle, it hands work to another location. That maintains continuity if a site becomes unavailable, because operators can move or a fresh team can take over critical data. The result is a more agile operation where the right people reach the right information.
Pritz points to two examples he sees often. Real-time crime centers are popping up everywhere. If an incident crosses a state border, one center can pass tracking information to another so everyone stays safe. Utilities face similar demands across wide service areas, sharing data about one substation with another control room.
The Secure Streaming Gateway lets teams pick the exact source they want to send. “You could say, hey, Site B, take a look at this very particular source that we’ve got here on Site A. It’s very important. Let’s get that over to you,” Pritz says.
Watch the complete video Q&A below:
What Does an Operator-Focused Control Room Look Like in Practice?
An operator-focused control room lets the operator’s workflow determine the technology, not the other way around. That means diagnosing what operators do day to day, then building systems to support it.
Videowalls still matter for situational awareness. But the critical decisions happen much closer. “The critical decisions are really happening 10 to 20-inches from that operator’s face on the displays that they’re looking at,” Pritz says. Sending the right sources and applications to each desk position, with an easy workflow, becomes the priority.
Reducing cognitive load is central. Operators shouldn’t fight the technology. They need to interact with content quickly and collaborate with colleagues to their left and right. Automation helps here. A robust API lets systems act proactively, so a trigger from another system can push sources to an operator as soon as they’re needed, or before.
AV-over-IP and KVM round out the picture. Fast KVM with sub-millisecond latency on keyboard and mouse controls keeps operators productive, with sources available to their positions, the videowalls and other locations.
How Will Control Rooms Evolve Over the Next Five Years?
Software and data will define control rooms over the next five years. Much of the hardware looks similar from vendor to vendor, so the value shifts to what the software layered on top can do.
Pritz points to unified platforms as the model. “Having that handle an entire control room from the operator’s position to videowalls, the multi site connectivity, having that under one umbrella really allows for that interconnectivity and operability and ease of use,” he says of the Datapath Aetria control room solution. Scalability is key, letting organizations keep adding videowall controllers and sites over time.
A strong API keeps that growth usable. When outside systems send commands, the control room should react and even get content to operators proactively.
Reliability ties it together. Everything in the system runs redundant, so operators can move to another workstation and get the same experience. “Being scalable, having the interoperability and focusing on that user experience is what’s really going to set up organizations for the future,” Pritz says.
What Should Integrators Take Away?
Integrators should focus on scalability and interoperability backed by a capable API. Those qualities let control rooms react to any situation as it unfolds.
“Everything nowadays does have some way to kind of get into it and react to it,” Pritz says. “So I think focusing on that for the future is something that control rooms should be looking for.”
The full Command-and-Control Deep Dive Report, along with more thought leadership from the industry’s leading manufacturers, is available for download here.
