MIAMI-DADE COMMUNITY COLLEGE'S EMERGING TECHNOLOGY CENTER OF THE AMERICAS PURCHASES SONY NETWORK PROJECTORS, ROBOTIC VIDEO CAMERAS FOR $7.9 MILLION FACILITY
MIAMI, Fla., June 3, 2003 - When it came to finding space to house Miami-Dade Community College's new high-tech classrooms and auditorium, all roads led to its multi-story parking garage on Second Avenue in downtown Miami. Like its name suggests, the Emerging Technologies Center of the Americas (ETCOTA), was born of innovation.
Built inside a refurbished garage, ETCOTA is a 40,000 square-foot facility linked by fiber optical cable with 19 fully networked classrooms on the first floor. They are surrounded by parking spaces on the ten floors above. The main auditorium is located right under the garage ramp. The building's architectural design was masterminded by The Corradino Group with Digital Video Systems applying its audio-video expertise. In each of these rooms, Miami-Dade Community College chose to employ and standardize Sony's cutting-edge audio-video solutions.
Near the head of the class are Sony's VPL-FX50 SuperSmart ™ projectors. Professors can use the touch-screen panel to initiate the projector to display desired multimedia -- including material accessed remotely via the Internet, local servers or the college's extensive video libraries -- on a 100-inch (viewable area, measured diagonally) projection screen. For distance learning, Sony EVI-D100 robotic video cameras are used to capture, as well as record to a VTR, the classroom instruction so students who live far away or miss class can view the session on the web.
In addition to the 3500 ANSI lumen Sony projector and robotic video cameras, the auditorium also houses a control room, which includes a rack set-up with a Sony DVD and VHS players. Any or all of these sources can be displayed on the auditorium's 200-inch (viewable area, measured diagonally) screen at the push of a button on the touch-screen panel, which rests on the podium.
"ETCOTA is one of the world's premier technology centers," said Jonathan Sussman, the center's director of industry relations. "Institutions and academics from around the country and world, including China, Italy and Spain, have come here to observe our architectural design, sophisticated technology and curricular standards so that they can emulate our fully integrated approach to learning."
"ETCOTA is more than a building. It is a college wide concept of preparing today's students for tomorrow's careers," said Dr. Wasim Shomar, interim president of the downtown Miami Wolfson Campus while the facility was being constructed. "This project is the recognition of the critical importance of educating the workforce for the `Internet coast,'" he added.
To provide the skills needed for the future, ETCOTA offers a complete curriculum in Information Technology and other emerging disciplines. Students can work toward degrees in electronics, computer repair, computer sciences, architecture and interior design, remote video and burgeoning fields like computer animation and computer network security. The center is also a regional academy for both Microsoft Networking and Cisco Networking Telephony training.
"The opening of ETCOTA has expanded our capability to help educate the thousands of new workers needed for technology jobs throughout Florida and the Americas," said Eduardo Padron, the college's president. "As our association with leaders in the field like Microsoft and Cisco continues to expand, the school is poised to become one of the premier training facilities in the region."
Funded in part with a $7.9 million grant from the State of Florida, classes began last June at the ETCOTA, with more than 1,000 students matriculating in the first semester. The college anticipates training 10,000 students annually here with the first graduating class this December.
The scale of this achievement is in keeping with Miami-Dade Community College's leadership as the largest college in the United States. The six campuses serve more than 160,000 students that reflect the incredibly diverse multi-ethnic, multi-national cultural mix that is South Florida. For all the diversity that defines this cosmopolitan landscape, technology is the common denominator for the future.
Building ETCOTA from the bare walls out in an existing space offered unique challenges for Digital Video Systems, a Miami-based value added reseller and integrator specializing in A/V systems, video conferencing, broadcast products, CCTV and marine satellite systems, said Jorge Necuze, vice president of sales for DVS.
"One of the main challenges of any project is working around some of the unexpected aspects of the space," Necuze said. "The classrooms are on the first floor with parking spaces on the ten floors above. The main auditorium is located right under the garage ramp so the noise and vibration made us rethink and relocate our initial place for the Sony projector."
Usually, auditorium installations place the projector on the ceiling. But here, vibration threatened to spoil the razor-sharp resolution of the Sony LCD projector. The solution involved mounting the projector in the back of the auditorium instead.
"We had a number of other work-arounds and innovative fixes," Necuze noted. "In the end, we delivered an installation as effective as if we had been working with completely new construction from the ground-up."
Doug Harding, Miami-Dade Community College's director of media services, oversaw and directed Necuze throughout the project. He believes that credit for the success is due both to the flexibility of Sony products as well as Digital Video Systems' mastery working with them. From the start, the Sony VPL-FX50 SuperSmart LCD projector was a standout because of the exceptional image quality plus the "intelligent" features. Full IP addressability, Harding opined provides service and security advantages by being able to monitor each unit remotely. For example, an attempt at removing a projector would result in an alert to the security office. Likewise, being able to monitor bulb life status eliminates downtime from unexpected failure.
Also, networking provides instantaneous access to a wealth of media assets throughout the institution including some 10,000 video presentations.
"We decided to standardize on the VPL-FX50 projector because in my view it was the only projector that allowed us to be ready for the future," Harding said. "We demand the latest, most advanced technology because that is what ETCOTA is all about. With its incredible depth and breadth of features, it is a product that will grow with us. In my opinion, as we discover the need to add new functionality, we find this Sony projector already has the capability waiting for us."
Sony's line of SuperSmart projectors, which includes the VPL-FX50 and next generation VPL-FX51 model, along with the VPL-PX15, VPL-PX35, VPL-PX40 and VPL-FE110 models, feature industry standard technologies and protocols, including HTTP and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) browser compatibility. The projectors also display a wide range of computer and video formats, which offers protection against future obsolescence.
Extending the reach of network projection is Sony's new PJNET! ™ management software. It allows institutions like Miami-Dade Community College to schedule timed tasks and conduct virtual on-site monitoring of as many as 255 projectors simultaneously. Diagnostics and troubleshooting can be done remotely by way of a technician's office desktop computer. With the new software, projectors can be automatically programmed at a specific time for a cool down period if required to conserve bulb life.
With the Sony network solution, Harding maintains that other maintenance issues including monitoring a projector's bulb life and cooling filters can be handled from any location on the network, which simplifies the school's regular up-keep and significantly reduces labor costs.
Additional maintenance savings come from the projector's thoughtful design, which makes maintenance a snap. A technician simply has to pop out the filter, clean it and put it back.
When deciding upon how to show a virtual view of the classrooms and auditorium for distance learning, the team of Harding and Necuze felt the best choice was to install Sony EVI-D100 robotic video cameras for remote shooting.
They noted that with the EVI-D100's advanced robotic features, a teacher can control the camera using the built-in pan/tilt/zoom capabilities so students can follow the syllabus and see the professor's interaction as it takes place in the classroom or at a later date. Harding stressed his belief that the camera's auto focus, wide angle view (up to 65 degrees) and 40x zoom (10x optical + 4x digital) allows for a virtual view of the classroom making it ideal for distance learning.
Sony has an extensive portfolio of professional robotic video cameras, including distinct product lines to meet the customer's needs. For remote shooting applications such as classroom, conference and training room views, Sony's analog EVI line (models EVI-D30 and EVI-D100) offer the ability to pan/tilt/zoom these cameras remotely. Sony's SNC line of IP addressable cameras (model SNC-RZ30N) are designed for remote monitoring purposes such as surveillance, as well as "looks-in" of amusement and tourism attractions, along with web shopping via the Internet.
"By insisting on such demanding technology standards, ETCOTA has become a model of efficiency and a benchmark for our community," Harding said. "Many institutions both in the U.S. and abroad are looking to emulate our success."
