Government Agency Modernizes AV Distribution with ZeeVee
The use of reliable communications systems throughout government agencies is essential to keeping visitors informed and employees knowledgeable and engaged. Government entities rely on products and suppliers they know will get the job done and provide successful results. One government agency, located in South Florida, (whose name has not been disclosed due to security concerns) experienced substantial growth since its inception more than 50 years ago, which resulted in an extremely disintegrated communications network.
Challenge
This government agency took on a large scale modernization project with the goal of effectively distributing information to visitors and employees across its massive footprint – encompassing approximately 10 million square feet with 77 buildings. After making the investment to run fiber cabling throughout the facility it turned to upgrading the antiquated AV distribution equipment to HD, with the goal of providing an efficient, transparent experience through every department and delivering visual information applications that would improve visitor experience, increase awareness and boost efficiency. The new AV system would be used for many applications including billeting, news and information for the office spaces and break areas, in addition to displaying weather forecasts and other digital signage information. Effectively installing a system that would allow messages to reach all buildings, especially in emergency situations, was imperative. In the past each department installed its own AV system, resulting in 70 different solutions which were expensive to manage and maintain. Additionally, the resulting cabling projects in many cases were not properly installed by qualified technicians and some of the technology products were already outdated when they were installed on the network. As a result, these disparate systems had continuous signal transmission errors when attempting to amplify broadcasts, making it impossible to transmit HD signals over the existing network.
The Solution
With more than 80 years of experience working with government agencies, E&E Enterprises Global, Inc. was selected to tackle this challenge. E&E collaborated with ZeeVee to engineer a solution to deliver a centrally managed, dependable, high quality video distribution system. With new fiber cabling in place to all of the buildings, the next step was to replace the aging analog AV system with a facility-wide HD solution. E&E chose the ZeeVee HDbridge 2540 as the headend system for this massive facility. The HDbridge 2540 encodes and modulates four sources for clear digital reception at connected HDTVs. The new 84-channel ZeeVee headend had no problem delivering uncompressed HD video to every building through the new fiber cabling plant regardless of the distance to the headend. The ZeeVee headend leverages the existing digital tuner built into every HDTV so that expensive set-top-boxes aren’t required at each TV location – making this an extremely cost-effective design. Expanding on the system is easy with this plug-and-play solution. Through this single headend design the client can assign channels and manage all devices remotely making this solution very flexible. Critical information can be delivered reliably to TVs set up for digital signage across the facility via ZvShow which is a bonus information channel built into each system. Also included with the HDbridge 2540 is the ZvEAS, an Emergency Alert System. In the event of any emergency situation ZvEAS effortlessly integrates with the Emergency Alert System and automatically triggers an override on every channel system wide sending an alert to each HDTV on the network.
The Results
The result for this government agency is a fully interactive system that can notify all employees of important information, while allowing departments to manage their own specific messaging and content. “ZeeVee’s HDbridge Series has provided us with an extremely reliable and cost-effective solution for this government agency,” said Bill Casiday, chief technology officer for E&E Enterprises Global. “The agency is extremely pleased with the results and they are thrilled to be well connected. The installation occurred during a 10-day period using products that were made in the United States,” he added. The military agency is benefiting from greater reliability on its network due to the centralized approach which also eliminated expensive failure-prone end-point devices behind every TV, making this solution cost effective and simple to maintain. “Choosing ZeeVee products for this client was an easy decision,” explained Bill Casiday, chief technology officer for E&E Enterprises Global. “After years of using ZeeVee I have never had to replace their products. Additionally, the ZvEAS can send an emergency alert to the entire facility across the AV network during emergency situations.”
ZeeVee’s HDbridge Series has provided us with an extremely reliable and cost-effective solution for this government agency,”
Bill Casiday, Chief Technology Officer, E&E Enterprises Global
After years of using ZeeVee I have never had to replace their products. Additionally, the ZvEAS can send an emergency alert to the entire facility across the AV network during emergency situations.”