Bijles voor de CIO: Integreer AV en IT

Voortschrijdende technologie en werkconcepten eisen een nieuwe strategische aanpak van de CIO

Als organisaties op dezelfde wijze kijken naar innovatie in de Audio en Video omgeving (AV) en het net zo gestructureerd beheren als ze het binnen het veld van de IT doen, dan kan communicatie omgezet worden in effectieve communicatie. En dat tegen lagere kosten en hogere beschikbaarheid. Als de AV omgeving nu ook nog geïntegreerd wordt met IT omgeving kan de gehele informatie- en communicatie cyclus strategisch ingezet worden. De CIO zal hier een cruciale rol moeten gaan spelen en is de katalysator in het integratieproces.

Voortschrijdende technologie
Nog geen 15 jaar geleden waren printers en scanners het domein van de IT afdeling. Faxen en kopieerapparaten behoorden echter tot het domein van de afdeling facilitaire zaken. Elke afdeling was verantwoordelijk voor de aanschaf en beheer van hun eigen apparatuur. Met de komst van een Multi Function, een apparaat dat zowel kan printen, scannen, kopiëren als faxen, rezen nieuwe vraagstukken rond de aanschaf en beheer van deze apparaten. Wie bepaalt nu welk apparaat onder welke voorwaarden aangeschaft wordt, wie is verantwoordelijk voor het beheer?

Inmiddels is het 2008 en gaat de integratie steeds verder. De grenzen vervagen tussen de traditionele IT en AV hulpmiddelen. Dit illustreren we graag nog even aan de hand van onderstaande voorbeelden.

• Projectoren hebben tegenwoordig een netwerk aansluiting en men kan direct via de projector de data benaderen in plaats van het koppelen van een laptop aan de projector,
• Systemen om vergaderzalen te reserveren zijn gekoppeld aan een centraal agenda systeem (bijvoorbeeld Microsoft Exchange),
• Datanetwerken worden ook gebruikt voor video en spraak, videoconferencing kan nu ook op basis van IT technologie (bijvoorbeeld live communication server) of in ieder geval geïntegreerd worden met de IT gebaseerde oplossingen,
• Multitouch schermen; op dit moment staat deze technologie nog wat in de kinderschoenen maar het is sterk in ontwikkeling en opkomst. Deze technologie zal het interacteren met informatie een nieuwe wending geven (van statisch naar dynamisch en interactief). Dit gaat voor bedrijven ongekende mogelijkheden bieden om met informatie om te gaan

Deze steeds verdergaande integratie roept vragen op zoals:

• Wie gaat dit beheren en hoe kan dit het beste beheerd worden
• Hoe zit het met security en wie is daar verantwoordelijk voor
• Welke technologie moet waar ingezet worden
• Hoe past de gekozen technologie in de technologische architectuur
• Hoe willen we binnen de organisatie met deze technologie werken
  

Werkconcepten
Buiten deze technologische integratie tussen AV en IT componenten zijn ook werkconcepten binnen organisaties aan het veranderen waardoor andere eisen aan het gebruik van zowel IT als AV gesteld worden. De fysieke wereld is aan het virtualiseren, zowel klanten, leveranciers als medewerkers beschikken over meer informatie en werken steeds vaker op andere manieren samen en niet meer volgens de traditionele concepten. De nieuwe manier van werken waarbij het kantoor meer als ontmoetingsplek wordt ingericht terwijl een groot deel van het inhoudelijke werk overal plaats kan vinden (onderweg, thuis of bij klanten) vereist een moderne wijze van informatiedistributie.

Digital signage, de traditionele wijze van informatie verstrekken, wordt minder zinvol als een groot deel van de medewerkers zich op een andere locatie bevindt. Zij krijgen deze informatie dan immers niet. Door het toegenomen aanbod aan informatie en de snelheid waarmee deze verandert, wordt het dus steeds belangrijker de juiste informatie op de juiste wijze aan te bieden, zowel ten aanzien van de vorm van de informatie alsook de tijd en het medium. Dit aanbieden van informatie gaat veel verder dan een website of de eerder genoemde traditionele digital signage oplossingen. Het behelst ook zaken als vidcasts, podcasts, blogs, streaming media, besteltools, vooraard info etc

Visie: een gecoördineerde IT/AV strategie
Om als organisatie op de huidige veranderingen in te spelen, is een gecoördineerde IT en AV strategie gewenst. Geredeneerd vanuit de totale behoefte en op basis daarvan worden de juiste IT en AV componenten gekozen. Technologie is hierbij een katalysator. Deze worden vervolgens aan elkaar geknoopt in een geïntegreerd netwerk welke ook als zodanig beheerd wordt, dus conform methodieken als ITIL en de daarbij behorende tools.

Tevens zorgt dit voor nieuwe mogelijkheden die beter aansluiten bij de behoefte zoals:

• Digital signage waarbij content niet slechts naar schermen in het bedrijfspand gestuurd wordt maar ook naar screensavers/tickertapes/gadgets (widgets) of mobiele telefoons van medewerkers op een andere locatie zodat iedereen de informatie krijgt,
• Interactieve verwerking en vertoning van live data uit IT systemen,
• Het ondersteunen van alle apparatuur in een ruimte door 1 afdeling, dus niet slechts IT of AV apparatuur. Hierbij kan de helpdesk ondersteuning geven op de totale omgeving in plaats van op losse onderdelen,
• Werken in virtuele omgevingen gekoppeld aan de fysieke omgeving waarbij content uit de fysieke omgeving via internet gedeeld wordt met de virtuele omgeving,
• Leeromgevingen gebaseerd op games en simulaties waarbij het IT platform gekoppeld wordt aan AV technologieën voor de weergave en beleving.
  

De rol van de CIO
Vanuit het bovenstaande wordt het duidelijk dat door de convergentie tussen IT en AV de afdeling facilities veel nadrukkelijker moet samenwerken met de afdeling IT. De CIO zal niet alleen meer kijken naar de IT omgeving maar zal ook een prominente rol gaan spelen in de audiovisuele planning en de aanschaf van de AV hulpmiddelen. Een goede CIO zal dit niet doen vanuit 2 verschillende rollen maar vanuit een geïntegreerde strategie waarin AV en IT elkaar versterken in het ondersteunen van de behoefte in de organisatie. Centraal beheer van de geïntegreerde omgeving zal in deze strategie een prominente plaats gaan innemen naast het leveren van de gewenste functionaliteit.

Economies of scope
De voordelen hiervan zijn helder. Door op een andere wijze te kijken naar IT en AV en deze te integreren vanuit innovatie in plaats van te kiezen op basis van traditionele oplossingen komen er totaal nieuwe mogelijkheden beschikbaar voor een organisatie. De organisatie krijgt meer mogelijkheden om informatie efficiënt en effectief te distribueren tegen veelal lagere beheerkosten. Ook maakt dit totaal nieuwe manieren van samenwerken mogelijk die beter passen bij de trends in de huidige organisatiestructuren en werkstijlen. De medewerkers binnen een organisatie krijgen toegang tot nieuwe mogelijkheden om te werken en hun werkstijl beter te integreren in hun leven (door de nieuwe mogelijkheden op het gebied van samenwerking wordt het eenvoudiger te werken buiten kantoor en dus ruimte te maken om bijvoorbeeld kinderen naar school te brengen en pas na de files de weg op te gaan). Tevens is er voor de medewerker een duidelijkere supportstructuur. Dit is 1 loket voor alle IT en AV vragen zodat je als medewerker niet meer hoeft te denken waar het incident onder valt. In een geïntegreerde omgeving zal dit steeds belangrijker worden. Deze support zal tevens gebaseerd zijn op Service Level Agreements (men weet dus waar men aan toe is). Tenslotte zal de beheer organisatie zal bij een geïntegreerde omgeving een eenvoudigere en makkelijker te beheren omgeving hebben. Zij kunnen immers vanuit dezelfde tools en processen zowel de IT als de AV componenten monitoren en managen (niet slechts reactief maar ook proactief). Dit zal met name voor het AV deel van de infrastructuur leiden tot een verhoogde beschikbaarheid .

Interior architects start brainstorming on how to use this

Japanese researchers developed rubber-like OLED
05/11/2009

University of Tokyo researchers developed a new kind of OLED display, that can actually stretch and deform - like rubber.They showed one displays that is shaped like a face, and showing changing expressions, and another screen that is spherical and shows weather data. The OLEDs were produced by spraying a layer of carbon nanotubes with a fluoro-rubber compound to produce a stretchy, conductive material.

The current prototypes are 100 sq centimeters, and have 256 monochrome pixels. They can be folded at least a thousand times, with no decline in quality. They are working towards better resolution and color displays.

"In the future, displays that once had to be flat can be made spherical, or even moving," says Takao Someya, professor of electronic engineering at the University of Tokyo. "A human-shaped display could be used to show medical diagnosis data, and there are various other applications."

NICT Reveals Display Operated by Touching Floating Image

Apr 17, 2009 11:57

Yukiko Kanoh, Nikkei Electronics

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), an independent administrative institution in Japan, developed a display that can be operated by touching an image floating in the air.

For example, the "floating touch display" is expected to be used for medical purposes and for cooking because it can be operated while keeping the hand clean or operated with a dirty hand.
Optical devices developed by NICT are arrayed on an LCD display to show an image on the display as if it is floating in the air. The position of the fingertip touching the floating image is detected by an infrared touch panel with no glass.

The floating image is very solid. And it is possible to view an image that is staying motionless in the air even when the line of sight moves in any direction.

The optical device developed by NICT is an imaging optical device that uses a micromirror array to form a real image from a mirror image. This optical device enables to display a floating image by forming a real image as a concave mirror or convex lens does. However, different from them, it does not distort an image even when the image is formed from a 3D object; therefore, the position of the image does not move regardless of movement of a viewpoint.

There is a problem that the size of the optical device is too small, limiting the size of the floating image. But NICT plans to solve this issue by developing a new manufacturing technology. It aims to display a full-size image of a person in three years.

The Facility Technologist: A Call For Change

I was just reading a nice blog post/article from Tom Condon, RPA, FMA which has been published in the March 2009 issue of Today's Facility Manager. In a minute I will just lazy copy and paste the article (original can be found here) but before I do I like to point out that this is a great example why some technical parts (AV, security cameras etc) should be managed by IT. Tom sais Facility managers in general are not part of the building process early enough and this might be a fair comment but even if they are, are they capable of making the right decisions about stuff that needs to be on the IP network and that should talk to other components (eg the room reservation system that talks with the mail application (mostly MS Exchange), Camera's that should broadcast and be web viewable over the IP network (do they get the proper bandwidth to generate useable images/video streams) etc). So this might be a great call to involve the facility manager early in the process but to me it is even a bigger call to hand over stuff to IT (and have them early in the process as well). Then you have one single IP network with everything not just connected but also remote manageable and having the appropriate amount of bandwidth

Ok, here is the article (with is links at the end) with some highlights I put in there

All facility managers (fms) want technology in their buildings. Whether it’s in a small office buildout or a large skyscraper, technology is an increasingly critical tool for achieving the levels of performance that occupants now demand.

There are so many great technologies out there to help fms achieve their visions for the 21st century. And yet, the same fms who are technology enthusiasts are so often stymied by limitations that they inherited from the design and construction of their facilities. They would like to employ the most advanced technology, but find they are limited by what they have inherited. Consider the following examples:

One fm had a brand new facility and wanted to get Web access to her video surveillance cameras so she could view cameras from home at night and weekends—a great way to stay on top of what is happening. But she found that the video system in her brand new facility was analog only, and she’d have to replace the DVRs to get Web access, which was too costly to justify. The sad part? Web enabled DVRs would have cost only slightly more than the equipment that was installed. Unfortunately, the designer saw only the cost, not the extra functionality, and opted for the lowest cost option.

Another fm wanted to incorporate additional IP cameras to a digital video system, only to find there was not enough capacity on the security IP network. Ironically, a completely separate IP network was installed for the building automation system, but neither the security nor HVAC designers knew it. The combined capacity of the two networks was more than sufficient for what the fm wanted to do, but individually, they were too small. The end result was a costly replacement of switches on the security network, and the overall cost of the two networks was far more than what a single, efficient system would have been.

This scenario replays itself over and over again. But why are there so many disconnects between the technology needs of fms and the design of their facilities? One problem is that the fm is often not involved in the design until it is finished, and the building or buildout is already underway.

Sometimes the fm is not even involved until move in. This is a big mistake, as it assumes there is only one way to manage a facility. This approach fails to consider the fact that organizations are all different, and each one has special needs and uses for technology.In 21st century facility design, the fm should be involved as early as possible in the design of systems and the selection of products. No one will know which functionalities and attributes systems should have better than the fm.

Another big impediment to the implementation of facility technology is that the structure and process of traditional building design and construction has not kept pace with the evolution of technologies. In the traditional development process, an owner employs a team with an architect, engineers, and other designers, and the project is divided up among them. Each has a task that is viewed as distinct, with no need for each to work closely with the other designers. There is coordination at a macro level, where each individual design is incorporated in the overall design, but the individual designs are considered separate and distinct, and there is usually little collaboration.

This process has evolved over the last 100 years and reflects the 20th century paradigm in which each facility technology used its own individual hardware, cabling, and power. These systems never interacted in any way, and they operated on incompatible platforms, so there was no need for designers to work together. This is now an obsolete approach to designing a modern facility and the technologies that serve it.Today, facility technologies often use common hardware and cabling.

For example, access control, digital video, HVAC controls, and visitor management can all operate on the same IP network and can all share the same hardware using a virtualized server design. (Right now, I am sitting in a facility where VoIP, HVAC controls, access control, and digital video all reside on a single IP network that cost less than if these systems used their own individual infrastructures.) Not only can this approach cost significantly less than if each of these systems used its own cabling and individual servers, it is also easier to manage and secure a single system.

But it is impossible to create a comprehensive facility technology design with the fractured and disjointed approach that is now considered the standard. In a facility that seeks to employ cutting-edge technologies, there needs to be a single point of contact for the overall design. The technology designer (TD) advises consultants on which systems to select, the design of the building network and data center, and the ways that building systems will interact with each other in the completed building.

This person must be knowledgeable in all of the different technologies—and their latest advances—used in modern facilities. Just as important, the TD must also be able to understand the different perspectives of the traditional groups that are involved in design, construction, and management: operations (including facility and property management), security, IT, and A/E/C. This ability is referred to as being “quad lingual” in and around tech circles, and it is one of the key factors in the success or failure of complex facility technology projects.Here is an example of how this works. Right now, my firm is working on a one million square foot building. The owners wanted to ensure they would have the most advanced facility technologies, so they tapped us to make their wish list a reality. This is an insurance policy against the fate that so many facilities suffer, finding that they are constrained by technology limitations based solely on the use of an outdated design paradigm.

Changing the design process is not easy, and adding a TD to the team may be a stretch for more traditional professionals accustomed to doing things the 20th century way. But they will need to adapt to this new approach eventually; better to do it now and become an early adopter, rather than doing it later and becoming a casualty of advancing technology.

Condon, a Facility Technologist and former facility manager, is a contributing author for BOMI Institute’s revised Technologies in Facility Management textbook. He works for System Development Integration, a Chicago, IL-based firm committed to improving the performance, quality, and reliability of client business through technology.

Past Facility Technologist columns can be found here. To chat about this topic and others in real time, visit FacilityBlog.

The world is your computer

Computing is starting to think outside the box as researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) launch a “wearable gestural interface” that can turn your wrist into a watch, your hands into a photo frame or your newspaper into a TV. SixthSense comprises a pocket projector, mirror and camera – as well as some very clever software – developed by the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT’s Media Lab.

The system was unveiled at the Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) conference in Boston, April 4 – 9. Researchers at MIT’s Fluid Interfaces Group, led by Dr Pattie Maes, said the idea behind SixthSense was to create a link between our digital devices and our interactions with the physical world. The team wanted to free information from its traditional confines of paper or a digital screen. The prototype is comprised of a pocket projector, a mirror and a camera. The hardware components are coupled in a pendant like mobile wearable device. Both the projector and the camera are connected to the mobile computing device in the user’s pocket. The projector projects visual information enabling surfaces, walls and physical objects to be used as interfaces; while the camera recognises and tracks user's hand gestures and physical objects using computer-vision based techniques.

The software program processes the video stream data captured by the camera and tracks the locations of the coloured markers (visual tracking fiducials) at the tip of the user’s fingers using simple computer-vision techniques. The movements and arrangements of these fiducials are interpreted into gestures that act as interaction instructions for the projected application interfaces. The maximum number of tracked fingers is only constrained by the number of unique fiducials, thus SixthSense also supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction. The SixthSense prototype implements several applications.

The map application lets the user navigate a map displayed on a nearby surface using hand gestures, similar to gestures supported by Multi-Touch based systems, letting the user zoom in, zoom out or pan using intuitive hand movements. The drawing application lets the user draw on any surface by tracking the fingertip movements of the user’s index finger. The system is also designed to recognise a user’s freehand gestures (postures). For example, the SixthSense system implements a gestural camera that takes photos of the scene the user is looking at by detecting the ‘framing’ gesture.

The user can stop by any surface or wall and flick through the photos he/she has taken. SixthSense also lets the user draw icons or symbols in the air using the movement of the index finger and recognises those symbols as interaction instructions. For example, drawing a magnifying glass symbol takes the user to the map application or drawing an ‘@’ symbol lets the user check their mail. The SixthSense system also augments physical objects the user is interacting with by projecting more information about these objects projected on them. For example, a newspaper can show live video news or dynamic information can be provided on a regular piece of paper. The gesture of drawing a circle on the user’s wrist projects an analogue watch.

The current prototype system costs approximate $350 to build.

Struktable - a 70 inch multitouch table

Ok before going into a bit more detail on the latest developments at Struktable I'v got a question for you. What would be your ultimate multi touch application besides rotating and resizing photos and zoom in and out at google maps-earth? Please reply with your ultimate multitouch application

The Struktable is an interactive installation built by Strukt to develop multi-touch applications. It can be rented for events or permanent installations with custom software developed for individual needs.

With its 70-inch display size, the Struktable is built for simultaneous interaction of up to 8 people. The touch-sensitive surface recognizes unlimited finger touches at the same time - therefore, users can interact more intuitively.

The portable design makes it versatile for diverse applications: product presentations at trade fairs, interactive gamestations at conferences or information terminals in public space.

The Struktable makes use of the FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection) effect. Therefore, infrared LEDs are placed around the acrylic top, and finger touches reflect the light into the camera on the bottom of the table. Only one PC is needed for tracking, gesture recognition and 2D/3D rendering of the GUI. A beamer then projects the GUI onto the surface.The only downside to me here is the resolution. It's not a full HD screen but only 1280*800 pixels. The big plus is the design. It just looks great

Applications for the Struktable are implemented in vvvv, a rapid prototyping software. The tracking algorithms have been realised by the Technical University Vienna. Basic applications are ready for use, while custom software can be developed by Strukt on demand.

And for those interested there is a lot to read on their cool table at: http://multitouch.at/

Dell one has multi touch as an option and Fingertapps are right on this

A lot has been said already about the One however what I like about this line is that there is a multi-touch option (comes with a keyboard as well) that would make it a good choice for a kitchen or family room PC. Because the system is an all-in-one it also is a spacesaver. The system I saw also has Cozi.com Family Calendering system loaded. The starting price of $699 is friendly on the budget. Listed below are some specifications from the Dell press release.

Software from Dell:

• Easy multi-touch photo editing, slideshow creation, playlist compilation, notes, and even web browsing.
• Unleash creativity with You Paint finger painting software.
• Record videos and upload directly to YouTube with the touch of a finger.
• Flick to Flickr – Upload photos to Flickr to share with family and friends.
• Create a musical masterpiece with the multi-touch percussion center.
  

Technical Specifications:

• Intel® Celeron, Dual Core Celeron, Pentium Dual Core, Core 2 Duo, and Core 2 Quad Core Processor options
• Choice of nVidia GeForce 9200 or GeForce 9400 integrated graphics
• Up to 4GB dual channel memory
• Up to 750GB HDD
• Slot load Optical drive
• 7-in-1 media card reader, six USB ports
• Optional integrated wireless, web camera, Blu-ray Disc™
• Optional multi-touch capability
• Optional facial recognition security (with webcam)

But besides all these specs (that we all already know perhaps) the good thing is that Fingertapps is right there on it! Fingertapps are in fact the developers of the Dell TouchZone software, the application suite that provides the focal point for the touch experience on the Studio One.
TouchZone makes full use of the touch hardware to introduce some handy new gestures and 'actionable touch' behaviors (it's not just about resizing and rotating photos you know!). So this is kind of promising news

A great new development in standardizing interconnection between AV devices

Hooking up

If there’s one safe bet in AV, it’s that the number of connection technologies will continue to increase.

One newcomer is Digital Interactive Interface for AV (DiiVA), which uses standard Cat6 cabling to link displays with sources such as DVD players, set-top boxes and the Internet.DiiVA (www.diiva.org) features four differential pairs. The first three can handle up to 4.5 Gbit/s each, enough to support uncompressed 1080p at 60 frames per second or Quad HD. The fourth pair can send more than 2 Gbit/s in one direction at the same time it’s receiving at the same rate.

That data channel can be used for tasks such as carrying Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 and command/control information.DiiVA also enables systems where iPhone-like icons appear on a display. Instead of fumbling for remotes to control different sources, such as DVD players, satellite set-top boxes and PCs, users would select the icon – such as the BBC or YouTube – representing the source they want to switch to.

That set-up also would allow users to watch all video on their TV, instead of going to a PC or the room where the DVD player is.“We want to develop a new, multimedia networking standard make TVs the centre of home network environment,” says Steve Yum, senior director of product planning at Synerchip, one of the companies backing DiiVA.

DiiVA initially will be aimed at the consumer market, including home AV networks. But if it builds a following there, it’s likely to expand into the pro market, just as predecessors such as HDMI did.In the pro space, DiiVA could be used for applications such as bars. For example, a bartender could use DiiVA’s GUI to switch a display from a football game, delivered via the satellite set-top box, to YouTube videos, delivered via a PC.

Let's now hope they add native snmp support and standards to this and they are not just easy to connect and control but also easy to manage, specially when it comes to the pro market. Then big savings can be made using a standard CAT6 nework with a standard management environment while reducing installation complexity (I hope)

I guess the home AV network here will look totally different in 5 to 10 years from now

Watching windows, any view you like

Again a nice article from InAVate

09 March 2009
after the wallpaper TV it’s OLED windows. Apparently Philips Research is currently working on a 12cm invisible OLED panel that could provide images when switched on. The technology has the potential to create any view you want from any window; imagine a rolling countryside landscape from a city boardroom on the 15th floor.

Philips is joined by other technology pioneers who have formed a project called OLED100, an organisation that aims to produce efficient OLED products for the European lighting industry. The group’s objectives include creating 100 lumens per watt power efficiency, more than 100,000 ‘lifetime hours’, a unit area of 100cm by 100cm and a cost of no more than €100 per square metre.

Although OLED100 focuses on technologies for the lighting industry it has interesting consequences for the audiovisual sector, demonstrated by the Philips invisible OLED product. OLED100’s members are Epic, Fraunhofer IPMS, Novaled, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, Bartenbach LichtLabor, Evonik Degussa, Microsharp, OCE Technologies, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Siemens, Universiteit Gent and Technische Universität Dresden.

Toshiba wallpaper to match home decoration with laptop

Unfortuntely still many years away from us and then probably way to expensive for home decoration but think about what you can do with this in an office setup. It never has beens o easy to redecorate the office. just clcik the button and the wall paper looks different so you canuse mood influence wall paper design, match the wallpaper to the meeting style, use the wall paper a a giant flatscreen for your presentations and much more.


Toshiba develops TV wallpaper
03 March 2009
Toshiba unveiled “television wallpaper” at Tokyo’s annual International Nanotechnology Conference and Exhibition, revealing that its scientists had used nanotechnology to create flexible paper capable of showing images. The revolutionary wall coverings, announced at the conference held February 18 – 20, are a result of a breakthrough in OLED technology that allows the paper to emit light.

Scientists at Toshiba have increased the efficiency of OLED devices by using light that has been redirected by an ultra-fine grating that is fabricated by self-assembled nano particles. OLED is far less energy hungry than LCD or plasma equivalents.The paper can be used to project moving pictures or images to create different atmospheres. Furthermore the paper can emit light which could potentially eliminate the need for additional light sources.Toshiba says the concept is still many years away from production.

Minority report 5.0

For hose not looking at engadget. This is how they envision the future of computing (mainly human-computer interaction). Kind of minority report but thn version 5.0. Pretty cool and nice to know, big parts can be realized already 9but I gess your wallet is the limitation here)

Crisis, What crisis........not everybody is in crisis

Ok we do have a crisis but this is not by definition a bad thing. Car repair centers, fastfood and cheap food (bit of the same) restaurants, and videconference companies are doing great right now. According to the latest figures videoconferencing is growing fast.

Although the sales in the US is not really growing Europe is growing very fast and focussing on hight definition. According to Gartner in 2012 we will book 2.1 million less plane tickets due to videoconferencing.

This makes videoconferencing an interesting market and it's pretty clear why Cisco and HP want their share (and so does Microsoft with OCS). This has not been unnoticed by the traditional video conferencing manufacturers like Polycom. As a matter of fact, Polycom is fighting back and bringing VC to the desktop with an application that also provides application/desktop sharing, chatting etc. Kind of OCS like functionality. Hope they make this compatible with OCS (currently less than 15% of the VTC systems are connected to OCS) so customers have a choice, not just for a specific brand but also for different situations (guess it all comes down to $$$$)

What will a school look like in about 5 to 10 years from now

One area where the convergence between ICT and AV will grow big is undoubtfuly the educational world. So far a modern classroom has a smartboard (interactive whiteboard, a projector and maybe tv for school television as we have in The Netherlands) and if it is really fancy students work on laptops or fixed computers.

Well this is about to change. Teachers will use onenote to create their readers so they can easily share with the students (who can pretty nicely add their notes into this). Tables will become multitouch devices Students can share their table or laptop screen with the teacher or classroom and applications are developed in a way that helps teachers in giving all students the right challenges.

2D screens will be replaced by 3D screens so you can actually walk through what you see and all lessons are recorded and available as streaming media (or on demand afterwards so you can recheck some stuff you have missed during class)

Digital signage and room reservation systems will be used to plan the classes and communicate changes.

Also the process of checking if people make their own exams or when still at the age that education is not a free will thing but mandatory pupils can be traced using RFID to see if they did attend the classes (this same rfid enabled student card can give some discounts in stores and keep track on the classes you have attended or modules you did in a class)

These are just a few ideas but it is pretty obvious that this needs an integrated approach to ICT and AV since it's actually a perfect blend of both. Also it is not as far away as we think. There are actually already groups working on a multi touch table for a class room with the educational software. Also laptops are getting pretty common in some areas. The big thing here is to look which building blocks are available in the market and stack them in a smart way

Some links to related articles and blogs are:

A nice blogpost on ZDnet:
Multi-touch screens are very fashionable these days, but there are not many practical applications for them. Now, researchers at Durham University in the UK are using them to develop the world’s first interactive classroom. The new learning environments are using ‘interactive multi-touch desks that look and act like a large version of an Apple iPhone.’ Their initiative, called SynergyNet, has several goals, including the development of learning by sharing. So far, the research team has linked up with manufacturers to design software and desks that recognize multiple touches on the desktop. But read more…

A great article on EurekAlert
Smart desks make sci-fi a reality in the classroom
Schools are set for a Star Trek make-over thanks to the development of the world's first interactive classroom by experts at Durham University.
Researchers at the Technology-Enhanced Learning Research Group (TEL) are designing new learning environments using interactive multi-touch desks that look and act like a large version of an Apple iPhone.

Example: Click here to see how the new desks work: http://smart.dur.ac.uk/index.php?n=Main.MultitouchPage

The team observed how students and teachers interact in classes and how Information Communications technology (ICT) could improve collaboration. They then set about designing an interactive classroom solution called 'SynergyNet' to reflect TEL's aims of achieving active student engagement and learning by sharing, problem-solving and creating.
The team has linked up with manufacturers to design software, and desks that recognize multiple touches on the desktop, using vision systems that can see infrared light.
SynergyNet will integrate ICT into the fabric of the classroom.

The new desk with a 'multi-touch' surface will be the central component; the desks will be networked and linked to a main smartboard offering new opportunities for teaching and collaboration. Several students will be able to work together at a desk as the desks allow simultaneous screen contact by multiple users using fingers or pens. Durham researchers want to create a 'natural way' for students to use computers in class. The system encourages collaboration between students and teachers, and a move away from teacher-centric learning.
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The SMART table
One touch on the SMART Table screen is never enough. Young students are drawn to its surface, where work and play come together in hands-on, collaborative activities.
The SMART Table is the first multitouch, multiuser interactive learning center that allows groups of primary students to work simultaneously on its surface. The table's interface is so intuitive that even the youngest of students can get started without instructions.

An overview of the TEL (Technology enhanced learning) projects
http://smart.dur.ac.uk/index.php?n=Main.HomePage. Here you also find some info on their 3D projects where gaming and learnig gets one (anyone said that learning could not be fun). A direct link is http://smart.dur.ac.uk/index.php?n=Main.VLS3D

Telepresence grows fast and can act as a cathalist to the new world of work

The growth of telepresence and its applications to support collaboration is reaching a new era. Still taking away a lot of euros from the travel and hospitality industry and growing in numbers and importance. Especially the importance makes a difference and can push the new world of work further. When integrating the telepresence and live communications platform a complete different approach to communication within companies can be made

Telepresence robs travel industry
11 February 2009

Telepresence will soon snatch $3.5 billion (€2.7 billion) from the travel and hospitality industry each year, according to technology research and advisory firm Gartner. By 2012, the company predicts, 2.1 million airline seats will be replaced by videoconferencing as cash conscious companies and rapidly developing technologies boost the appeal of video meeting solutions. The announcement came as part of Gartner’s top ten predictions for 2009.

People will stop flying and start callingSpeaking at the annual Gartner Predicts 2009 briefing in Sydney, Gartner Fellow Steve Prentice said companies must educate themselves on the scope and capabilities of telepresence systems. He said companies must “revisit” the need for face-to-face meetings due to economic conditions."Telepresence is not the answer in every circumstance and there will always be strong cultural and other reasons for face to face encounters, particularly in Asia.

But not every meeting needs to be face to face and there is no doubt that telepresence and other approaches to virtual collaboration such as Immersive Workspace, which is built on top of Second Life, or yet to be released solutions will provide a real alternative for many businesses. Companies should put aside previous prejudices and bad memories of older video-conferencing services and seriously investigate these new technologies."

AMX takes convergence of AV and ICT serious

AMX just released a press announcement that clearly states that AMX understands where the convergence is going to by appointing an ICT heavy weight as VP of global market development

AMX: Megura at helm as AV/IT converge
11 February 2009

Industry veteran, Walt Megura was recently welcomed into AMX’s Executive Leadership Team. Megura joined the company as vice president of global market development and is responsible for strategy development and execution for government, education and corporate markets.

Megura is vice president of global market development at AMXRashid Skaf, president and CEO of AMX said: “Walt’s deep and extensive background in developing and managing high performance teams in the telecommunications and IT segments which will enable him to help AMX navigate through the convergence the AV industry is experiencing with IT.”Megura said greater end user customer focus was needed to simplify the way people interact with technology. “Today’s organisations require reliable, scalable technologies that centralise the management, monitoring and control of those technology assets across the network and I will be collaborating with our dealers, consultants and sales force to help drive significant revenues for AMX,” he said.Megura was previously senior vice president for the Americas at Intervoice. Prior to that he held a number of leadership positions at Nortel. Most recently he had overall global business responsibility for the IPTV and Broadband business. He holds a BS degree in business administration from Northeastern University, Boston and is an alumnus of the Stanford Executive Management Program.

the portable projection screen will be the projector as well:)

It's sad we have to wait for about 10 years but this would be great. The projection screen will become the projector as well so no more ugly devices in the design interior. Just roll up the TV:) Besides of this there are plenty other great applications you can think about when being able to use flexible OLED. I wish they would sell it on rolls just like wall paper. This is the article as published on InAVate

Technology breakthrough paves way for flexible OLED

Highly flexible displays are just round the corner, following a breakthrough in the use of carbon-based graphene. A group of South Korean researchers, headed by Byung Hee Hong, developed a way to “spray” graphene, a material derived from carbon nanotubes, on thin pieces of nickel that are dissolved before attaching the film to a PET polymer.

Graphene structure. Image courtesy of Wikipedia

The graphene is tipped for use in OLED screens, adding momentum to the technology that originally took off in 2007 when it started to be selected for screens in popular gadgets, such as mobile phones and MP3 players.

Although graphene, a material that is one atom thick and maintains electrical conductivity, was orginally produced in 2004 it was extremely cumbersome to make in bulk. However, Byung Lee Hong‘s team claim, in a paper published in prominent scientific journal, Nature, their new technique can produce strong, flexible, conductive sheets, suitable for mass-production.

And whilst scientists are busy working on ways to commercially produce flexible displays, a quick look at Las Vegas‘ CES show demonstrates that major industry players are also ploughing money into flexible OLED technologies. Sony showed off concepts that included a video bracelet and a one screen laptop, with touch screen keyboard. Not to be outdone Samsung unveiled a PDA that opened up into one large screen for watching video.

Finally, the US Army is backing flexible display technology, funding research at Arizona State University's Flexible Display Center. The military want to create small, portable, flexible screens that can provide its soldiers with situational information on a battlefield.

Although projections suggest we won’t see this kind of technology commercially developed, on a large scale, for perhaps another 10 years the research and funding dedicated to the technology indicates people are serious about bringing flexible displays to market.

De rol van ICT en AV binnen organisaties

Communiceren is een essentieel onderdeel van (samen)werken en leren. Het zal duidelijk zijn dat de faciliteiten die dit mogelijk maken goed moeten functioneren. AV (audiovisuele) en ICT oplossingen dragen bij aan de creatie van informatie en de verbetering, versoepeling en versnelling van het communiceren. Hierdoor zijn organisaties in staat om sneller te schakelen en beter gefundeerde beslissingen nemen wat kan leiden tot een concurrentievoordeel.

In het licht van de huidige stand van de economie is het dus van belang een zo hoog mogelijk rendement te halen uit de ICT en AV omgeving tegen zo laag mogelijke kosten.

Dat de zorg om een adequate ICT omgeving binnen organisaties hoog op de agenda staat blijkt uit de rol van de CIO en de waarde die toegekend wordt aan de ICT performance scorecard waarbij een 5-tal aandachtsgebieden onderkend kunnen worden volgens Forrester research:

· De mate waarin investeringen bijdragen aan de organisatie doelstellingen,

· De ROI van ICT investeringen,

· Het ICT budget en het beheer hiervan (bijvoorbeeld transparantie, planbaarheid en juistheid),

· Operationele excellentie,

· Service level excellentie.

Deze 5 metrics zouden de kern moeten vormen van een ICT performance scorecard en om te zogen dat de performance op elke metric goed is moet de CIO begrijpen wat noodzakelijk is vanuit de business en hier op inspelen met de juiste services en op de juiste manier geleverd.

Wanneer echter gekeken wordt naar de zorg voor de AV omgeving binnen organisaties dan valt het op dat de verantwoordelijkheid voor AV binnen een organisatie in het algemeen op een veel lager niveau belegd is dan de verantwoordelijkheid voor ICT en dat het kennisniveau binnen de organisatie van AV vaak lager is dan dat van ICT. Het AV beheer vaak wordt gedaan door de leverancier, welke ook vaak een zeer grote stem heeft in de “noodzakelijke” functionaliteiten danwel de invulling hiervan. Hierbij is dus geen sprake van een gestructureerde AV performance scorecard maar meer van een ad-hoc aanpak

Overeenkomsten in het beheer van ICT en AV omgevingen

Vanuit een ideale situatie beschouwd zouden de beheerprocessen voor zowel de ICT omgeving als de AV omgeving identiek kunnen zijn. Hierbij kan voor het beheer van de AV infrastructuur dus net als binnen de ICT omgeving gebruik gemaakt worden van bijvoorbeeld ITIL (IT Infrastructure library) als set van best practices voor het beheer van de ICT infrastructuur. De 3 core volumes van ITIL beschrijven de onderstaande vijf aandachtsgebieden:

· Servicestrategie
ontwerpen, ontwikkelen en implementeren van servicemanagement als een strategisch middel;

· Serviceontwerp
ontwerpen en ontwikkelen van de services en bijbehorende processen op basis van de strategie;

· Servicetransitie
effectief omzetten van het serviceontwerp naar een nieuwe of gewijzigde service;

· Serviceproductie
regelen, coördineren en uitvoeren van de dagelijkse uitvoering van de processen;

· Continue Serviceverbetering
voortdurende de effectiviteit en efficiency van IT services verbeteren

In principe geldt dit voor een AV infrastructuur op dezelfde wijze als voor een ICT infrastructuur hoewel bepaalde aspecten wellicht minder zwaar aangezet zullen worden (bijvoorbeeld beveiligingsbeheer, uitgaande van een AV infrastructuur die niet geïntegreerd is met een ICT infrastructuur). Hierbij geldt dan ook dat toepassing van deze best practices in een AV infrastructuur zullen leiden tot lagere beheerkosten bij een AV infrastructuur die beter aansluit bij de wensen van de klant en tegen een hogere beschikbaarheid.

Uiteraard zijn een aantal van de processen binnen het AV beheer tot op zekere hoogte reeds aanwezig maar vaak niet geformaliseerd en in het algemeen minder volwassen dan in het ICT domein. Helaas ontbreekt in het algemeen de samenhang tussen de processen (in welke mate dan ook aanwezig) en de formele procesgang bij de uitvoering van de processen. Bij een formele implementatie van slechts enkele kernprocessen kan de kwaliteit van de AV dienstverlening binnen een organisatie eenvoudig verbeteren.

Een pragmatische aanpak, een logische stap

Indien de invoering op een pragmatische wijze wordt vormgegeven dan ligt het voor de hand gebruik te maken van de tools (denk aan bijvoorbeeld de helpdesk tool voor registratie van incidenten) en procesbeschrijvingen die reeds aanwezig zouden moeten zijn in het ICT domein. Vanuit zowel kostenaspect als gezicht naar de klant verdient het de aanbeveling hierbij zaken als de helpdesk te delen met ICT beheer.

Voor de klant schept dit duidelijkheid. Die hoeft het hoofd niet meer te breken over welk domein verantwoordelijk is in de keten (is de projector defect (AV) of ligt het aan mijn computer (ICT)). De klant kan eenvoudig 1 service nummer bellen en het incident wordt geregistreerd en opgelost. De kostenbesparing hierbij is inherent. Geen dubbele systemen en teams.

Integratie van 2 werelden

Integratie van het beheer van de ICT en de AV omgeving is een logische keuze, zelfs als het 2 volledig gescheiden omgevingen betreft. Dat het 2 gescheiden omgevingen betreft lijkt logisch als gekeken wordt naar de diensten die beide partijen leveren. Vanuit ICT worden diensten als messaging and Collaboration (waarin mail, sharepoint en office communicator) of Connectiviteit (draadloos of bedraad network toegang en mobiele netwerk toegang). AV daarentegen levert diensten als (video) conferencing en gebruik van presentatie/vergader ruimtes.

Als we echter iets beter kijken naar de 2 omgevingen is het de vraag in hoeverre of hoe lang deze nog volledig gescheiden blijven (weet u het nog, vroeger waren fax, printer, scanner en kopieerapparaat ook losse apparaten, beheerd door verschillende domeinen).

Er is sprake van een convergentie waarbij integratie mogelijk en vaak ook gewenst is tussen bijvoorbeeld:

· Videoconference systemen en pc gebaseerde conferentiesystemen (denk aan bijvoorbeeld Microsoft Office Communication Server),

· Integratie tussen een room reservation systeem en Microsoft Exchange/Outlook om ruimtes te reserveren.

· Smart boards en software voor collaboration waarbij je dezelfde software wilt gebruiken voor elke setting dus met of zonder display systeem of smartboard

Wanneer we nu ook eens kijken naar de ontwikkelingen in de markt dan lijkt de grens tussen beide domeinen snel te vervagen. Zowel HP als Cisco stappen in de videoconferencing markt en Cisco stapt nu ook in de markt voor digital signage met hun LCD panelen. Naast deze traditionele IT bedrijven zie je dat ook de traditionele AV bedrijven opschuiving in de ICT richting. Barco projectoren bijvoorbeeld zijn eigenlijk gewoon PC’s die op windows draaienmet een afwijkend scherm, te weten een stel lenzen.

En nu?

Dit is alles bij elkaar een aardige verandering in het diensten landschap en daar door combinatie van componenten uit twee domeinen nieuwe diensten gedefinieerd worden, wordt het ook zinvol het beheer van deze diensten onder te brengen in 1 domein. Het meest logisch hierbij is om het team dat de ICT omgeving ondersteund ook verantwoordelijk te maken voor de ondersteuning van de AV omgeving. Op zich is andersom ook een optie maar er zijn een aantal redenen die ervoor pleiten dat juist niet te doen. Deze zijn:

· Vanuit ICT zijn de beheerprocessen en tools in het algemeen al ingericht en beproefd in de praktijk

· Daar AV componenten meer en meer ICT componenten worden (netwerk projectors, video over IP, etc.) zal vanuit ICT beheer een integratieslag plaatsvinden waarbij de AV componenten in het ICT netwerk geplaatst worden

Op dit moment is dit al zonder meer mogelijk maar gezien de diversiteit binnen de AV wereld en de manier waarop de devices hier beheerd worden kan het zijn dat een tussenlaag mogelijk is die aan de ene kant kan communiceren met de AV componenten en aan de andere kant met de IT beheer tools.

Om dit te vereenvoudigen zal de AV industrie moeten zorgen dat hun devices bepaalde standaarden zoals SNMP gaan ondersteunen. Dan kunnen de devices direct en zonder tussenlaag beheerd worden

Tevens zullen organisaties moeten gaan nadenken over een duidelijke strategie over hun AV infrastructuur en hoe dit aan de ene kant te benutten en aan de andere kant te beheren en integreren. Het zal duidelijk zijn dat deze strategie niet gefocust zal zijn op het per direct vervangen van onderdelen die nog in het begin van hun economisch levensduur zijn. Dit zal immers een desinvestering zijn (tenzij de baten groter zijn dan de kosten van vervanging).

Hierbij kan het IT’s AVision™ model gebruikt worden zoals gedefinieerd door MII.

Dit model helpt organisaties bij het definiëren van:

· De communicatie behoefte en technische hulpmiddelen die hierbij nodig zijn

· De strategie ten aanzien van de geïntegreerde infrastructuur gebaseerd op de werkwijze van de organisatie en het beheer van de infrastructuur

· De stappen die genomen moeten worden om te komen tot een goed beheerde en geïntegreerde ICT/AV infrastructuur

En last but not least, de CIO moet zich voorbereiden op de integratie met de AV instrastructuur en het beheer van deze geïntegreerde infrastructuur. Dit houdt dus in dat naast de reeds aanwezige ICT kennis hij/zij ook zal moeten zorgen dat er voldoende kennis aanwezig is van de AV specifieke technologie. Zonder dit zal de CIO nooit de kwaliteit kunnen leveren die is afgesproken met de organisatie en is vastgelegd in SLA’s

Conclusie

Door ICT en AV te integreren krijgen organisaties:

· Meer keuze in hun communicatie mogelijkheden

· Nieuwe keuzes in hun communicatiemogelijkheden

Daarnaast kan door deze geïntegreerde omgeving te managen volgens 1 model (bijvoorbeeld ITIL) een aantal additionele voordelen behaald worden:

· Hogere klanttevredenheid

· Toegenomen beschikbaarheid

· Lagere kosten door een gestructureerde en pro-actieve aanpak

· Beter risico management

· Beter inzicht in de componenten van de infrastructuur, de relaties ertussen en de kosten ervan alsmede waar het zich bevindt in de economische levensduur