A unified approach to AV facilities is providing benefits for students and staff at the University of Birmingham.
For the last two to three years, Aventis AV have been consulting for and supply The University of Birmingham with their audio visual requirements. The university has been seeking to establish a common AV platform across the campus. This has now been achieved with the specification and delivery of TeamMate models put together by Aventis in the various teaching areas. These include lecture theatres, teaching rooms and small conference spaces.
Aventis AV and their main supplier GM Multi-media signed a framework agreement to provide a total of 120 TeamMate systems, installed across 8 different sites.
Back in 2005 ten initial TeamMate Tutors were installed by Aventis AV to be used in different teaching locations on a trial basis. The feedback from lecturers and technicians was largely positive and based on this, the University agreed to install the systems through the University.
First fixes took place during the summer break of 2006 by Aventis engineers, whilst at the same time integration and system testing of each TeamMate unit was carried out off site at Aventis’s facility, in time for second fix and completion before the start of the new academic year.
Aventis supplied the TeamMate solution in a number of different flavours, however they are all based around a core of common technology. The Tutor, Trainer and Trainer Pro are lectern solutions. They incorporate Smart’s Sympodium 1d250 monitor, a Crestron TPS – 4L touch screen, Kramer VP4x4 matrix switcher and a Kramer scaler as well as a rack mounted PC.
Audio pick up comes from an Sennheiser gooseneck microphone or a wireless lapel microphone from Shure. An Australian Monitor AMIS120 amplifier and a mixer from Phonic complete the sound set up. A selection of JBL ceiling speakers is installed in all rooms.
The Tutor and Trainer Pro are equipped with an Elmo 5600 document camera and a DVD / VCR combo unit as video sources. The Trainer is a stripped down version of the Trainer Pro but features no visualiser.
The other solution provided was the TM Totem. This came in the form of the regular Totem with a 42†or 50†NEC Plasma screen or the Totem Projector using a short throw NEC WT610 projector and screen.
The benefits to staff of having a consistant,common,AV infastructure are clear.Staff need only be trained once to use the equipment,support of the system is simplified by having common components across the entire campus and students benefit from modern presentation systems in all lectures.