Vol. 61 No.7 July 20, 2015 Commercial Systems Integration Survey AV FOR SYSTEMS INTEGRATORS, CONTRACTORS AND CONSULTANTS 30th 30th Annual Commercial Systems Integration Survey 12-page report on the state of the industry ZONED OUT INTERACTIVE RETAIL VERIZON’S DESTINATION STORE PROVIDES A PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCE DIVERSIFYING INTO DESIGN/INTEGRATION AV FOR SYSTEMS INTEGRA TORS, CONTRACTORS AND CONSULTANTS New commercial AV division leads Spye
Transcript
Vol. 61 No.7July 20, 2015
Commercial Systems Integration Survey
A V F O R S Y S T E M S I N T E G R AT O R S , C O N T R A C T O R S A N D C O N S U L TA N T S
30th CSIS 15--2.indd 1 7/8/2015 3:09:04 PM
30th Annual Commercial Systems Integration Survey12-page report on the state of the industry
ZONED OUT INTERACTIVE RETAILVERIZON’S DESTINATION STORE PROVIDES A PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCE
DIVERSIFYING INTO DESIGN/INTEGRATION
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New commercial AV division leads Spye
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6 WAVELENGTH By David A. Silverman
12 SIGN AGE By Shonan Noronha, EdD
74 AVENT HORIZON By Pete Putman, CTS, ISF
CONTENTSVolume 61Number 7
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30TH COMMERCIAL SYSTEMS INTEGRATION SURVEY REPORT CLICK HERE
32 ZONED OUT INTERACTIVE RETAILVerizon’s Destination Store provides a personalized experience.By Jim Stokes
40 DIVERSIFYING INTO DESIGN/INTEGRATIONNew commercial AV division leads Spye.By Dan Daley
44 INTEGRATING FOR EMOTIONAL RETAILAnalog, digital and the subconscious.By Laura Davis-Taylor
46 MARKET BRIEFRetail Environments: ROI’s Our BoyBy Matt Van Dyke
9 NEWSLETTER16 HOUSE OF WORSHIP: BUSINESSA Global View: Opportunities abound worldwide.By David Lee Jr., PhD
18 WHAT WOULD YOU DO?So, It Doesn’t Work...So! SO! SO!?By Douglas Kleeger, CTS-D, DMC-E
22 THE COMMISHScope Of Work: Nail it down before it nails you.By James Maltese, CTS-D, CTS-I, CQT
24 NSCA POVBogged Down In Documentation: Dealing with the necessary.By Chuck Wilson
26 INTEGRATOR’S POVBetter Cabling, Better Business: It can be difficult to get excited about cables.By Brian Morrow
28 INTEGRATOR’S POVWho Guards The Guards? We owe customers a more intelligent solution.By John Mayberry
A V F O R S Y S T E M S I N T E G R AT O R S , C O N T R A C T O R S A N D C O N S U L TA N T S
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Sound & Communications July 201532
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“Amplify It” is one of the lifestyle zones that feature an HD videowall for signage. The “Wall of Sound” is directly to the right of the videowall.
33July 2015 Sound & Communications
BY JIM STOKESVerizon Wireless Chicago is not your traditional brick-and-mortar
store. Instead, the glass-enclosed shopping destination on Michigan Avenue reveals an exciting retail experience from its nearly 35-foot-tall front atrium display tower through two floors of customer interactive AV environments. Correspondingly, we’ll guide you through intriguing zones such as the “Wall of Sound” speaker demo area and the “Device Walls” comprised of touch-enabled video monitors.
Regarding the Verizon Wireless expansion (verizonwireless.com), Mall of America (MOA) in Bloomington MN in the Twin Cities metropolitan region was the first Destination Store; Chicago was the second. The Boston Destination Store opened in March 2015, while the Houston location opened in November 2014. A new one will open this summer in Santa Monica CA. We’ll detail Verizon Wireless Chicago here, as well as highlight and compare the MOA store and preview the upcoming Santa Monica facility.
Verizon Wireless lives up to the name of the Magnificent Mile with its Chicago Destination Store. As part of Verizon’s broader brand redesign 33July 2015 Sound & Communications
The Verizon Wireless Chicago exterior features 10-foot-wide by 35-foot-tall videowall.
The 10'x35' 3mm LED tower at the front of the store.
initiative, the Destination Store introduc-es new ways of doing business that make shopping for wireless devices and services easier, more convenient and more personal-ized. Designed by longtime design partner Chute Gerdeman (chutegerdeman.com, Columbus OH), the actual retail space for this wireless wonderland is 10,000 square feet. The Destination Store is packed with the tools and training to integrate technol-ogy into any lifestyle. Visitors explore pos-sibilities through interactive displays and digital signage engineered and integrated by McCann Systems (mccannsystems.com, Edison NJ).
This technology playground is fully equipped with the digital essentials for streamlining every way of life. Through-out the store are several lifestyle zones to easily locate today’s crucial tech toys. In-teractive displays provide a self-guided ex-ploratory experience while digital signage glows from high-definition videowalls or large-format displays in each zone.
Designer’s ViewpointOur first stop on the tour is with Adam
Limbach, Vice President, Brand Commu-nications, at Chute Gerdeman, who gave us a design overview. “Brand Communica-
tions does pretty much anything that has to do with the brand expression and how it gets expressed in the retail space,” he explained. “That includes making it come to life, whether it’s graphics, signage or merchandising. We literally design con-cepts from the ground up.”
For Verizon Wireless Chicago, Chute Gerdeman took an existing space, stripped off the veneer and totally created the new architecture, environment and interior de-sign. The design task took about a year.
“The way we lay out the space is based on the customer experience,” he affirmed. “Our goal was to encourage shoppers to
The Executive Meeting Space, located above the retail space, features a 75-inch
flatscreen with touch overlay at the far end and a 46-inch on the right
The “Get Fit” zone helps the shoppers test equipment. Here, users test fitness trackers while on the treadmill or bike. In this scenario, an HD display provides content for full immersion in the experience. In users’ minds, they aren’t in a store testing equipment with hundreds of eyes watching, they are on their Sunday run.
35July 2015 Sound & Communications
shop and explore. So, when you walk in the Chicago Verizon front atrium area, there’s a screen that pulls shoppers in through the space. From an architectural standpoint, the glass lets you see into the space. Rather than small windows, we have a lot of jointed glass where you can see multiple floors. The whole store is AV, including the third-floor Executive Briefing Center. The task was to get people to think of Verizon in a different way, not just for telecommunication packages or new phones. We created a whole different shopping journey. It’s about lifestyles.”
Limbach noted that you can use your mo-bile phone in different ways. For example, you can connect with Bluetooth headsets or speakers. There are fitness accessories. There are many more areas where Verizon Wireless is tied into merchandising (we’ll cover those later). He explained that Mc-Cann Systems was hired to specify the AV. “We do the sizing and make sure the con-tent is the right scale,” he said. “We have to do custom screens for certain areas.”
Verizon Perspective“AV basically allows us to deliver the ex-
perience to the customers in a digital for-mat,” stated Grady Milhon, senior member with planning and engineering at Verizon Wireless (Lincoln NE). “That allows us to be more engaging and interactive with customers as they are going through and experiencing the different lifestyle experi-ences within our Destination Store format.
The Executive Meeting Space as seen from outside the meeting space. The three 46-inch displays offer
wireless presentation capability.
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Sound & Communications July 201536
In terms of our Destination Store deployment, I represent the overall IT, planning and engineering effort. If you look at it from an AV perspective, we would be the interface, with McCann the integrator, interfacing with our Verizon IT.”
Milhon discussed the similarities and differences among the MOA, Chicago and upcoming Santa Monica Destination Stores. “For the most part, the digital experiences stayed the same,” he said. “We initially deployed a lot of digital content in our first store at MOA. When we went to deploy the future stores, we scaled back a little and ended up going back and retrofitting those scale backs at MOA. So, Chicago and MOA are very similar in terms of the AV.”
One major difference is that MOA has a front window where customers can interact with a digital experience from outside the store via a 3x4 videowall. Access is via Displax multitouch foils with an overlay in the store window. Content is constantly being revised and changed throughout the seasons. In contrast, Chicago has a two-story LED videowall in the front atrium that presents the story of Chicago, which includes the fire and the World’s Fair, among other historical features. Custom content plays at the top of the hour, every hour.
The Santa Monica store will have similar interactive experiences, but with a slightly different layout. In comparison, MOA is a single floor, a little bit bigger and more spread out. Chicago is more of a narrow store and three stories high. Santa Monica will be a two-story location.
There’s also a difference in videoconferencing. “In Chicago, we’re just using a software-based WebEx,” said Milhon. “But in Santa Monica, we will be integrating a Cisco codec and will be using Cisco’s videoconferencing platform that will tie in with the Verizon Enterprise Video Telepresence platform. Then we’ll be able to go online, reserve a room and connect to any other Tele-presence room within the Verizon organization.”
Verizon’s Interactive AVMcCann Systems worked with Verizon and Verizon’s experience design firm, Chute Gerdeman, for nearly a year, doing tests, mock-ups and refining the experience to develop the fun, engaging media environment for the stores. All of the AV equipment in each store is controlled, monitored and scheduled by Medialon Manager v6 show control software, running on a PC provided by Verizon’s IT depart-ment. Daily equipment startup and shutdown is scheduled locally at each store on the local Medialon system. To get our bearings, here’s a look at some primary AV features in stores (see the main Chicago Destination Store for details). One of the first video features customers see when entering the stores is the Atrium Wall, a video column consisting of Christie LED panels. Further into the store, shoppers can explore features of various phones and tablets on the Device Wall, two long videowalls flanking each side of the store, 14 displays wide by two high. In the center is the “Brand Focal” videowall, consisting of more than 100 Christie MicroTiles with an interactive experience. A couple of videowall features display larger-than-life content to immerse customers. Here is a more in-depth look at “Wall of Sound.” The area features Bluetooth speakers arranged on the wall to give the visual appear-ance of a graphic equalizer. Audio is played via Bluetooth from a phone at the display, and sales associates use a custom iPad app to select which manufacturer’s speakers to listen to. Instead of listen-ing to only one speaker at a time, all speakers from the same manu-facturer play simultaneously, or all speakers on the wall together, creating an immersive effect. McCann connected the audio source phone to a Bluetooth receiver, which feeds the audio to a BSS Soundweb London break-in box. The custom iPad app communicates via WiFi with the Medialon Manager system that, in turn, commands the BSS Soundweb London DSP to route the audio from the Bluetooth receiver to the appropriate outputs, through distribution amplifiers, to the speakers on the wall. The custom iPad app that the store associates use has different levels of access, depending on each user’s login credentials, which are authenticated through Verizon’s servers. Sales associates can change the speaker routing on the “Wall of Sound,” while store man-agers can change the audio routing and volume or lighting levels in each zone in the entire store. McCann’s Josh Navarro developed an API for communication between the Verizon app and the Medialon Manager system. He said that one of the benefits of using a Medialon system is its flexibil-ity. “We knew they wanted to do a lot of unique things,” Navarro said, “Medialon Manager natively controls BSS Soundweb London systems and is flexible with regard to being able to handle as many iPad apps connecting to it as we want. That can be difficult with other control systems.” In addition to the store locations, Verizon has set up a test site in Ohio to try out new technology and media content before it ever goes in front of customers. Stephen Keppler, Vice President/Senior Sales Executive with McCann Systems, explained, “The Ohio test site is the proving ground, so to speak, for Verizon. Any of the technol-ogy and all content must run in the Ohio lab prior to implementation in a store.” Each store uses consistent design standards for each interactive experience. This allows McCann to design the drawings, paperwork and programming for one store and deploy the design in many loca-tions with minimal adjustments to the documentation and program-ming, keeping the systems consistent and easy to troubleshoot remotely.
The “Wireless Workshop” features a 70-inch display to ensure good sightlines in this training area.
Integrator Challenge/SolutionGenise Parker, Director of Operations, McCann Sys-
tems, shared challenge/solution observations as program manager during the Verizon Wireless store installs. There was the huge task of installing three stores simultaneously in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and South.
“McCann’s national footprint made this fairly seam-less,” said Parker. “We shared engineering resources from home base [New Jersey], assigned a site foreman and install crew to each location, and shared program manager resources who traveled from site to site. Chi-cago’s delayed construction schedule challenged us to forge ahead with the AV install under less-than-optimal site conditions, which meant we had to completely rework our installation schedule on the fly each day. We had to make field adjustments to ensure that our equipment was protected from construction dirt and debris while still allowing the software and content providers downstream from us ample time with the experiences prior to the grand opening.
Limited Storage Space“Storage space in Chicago was limited, so we worked with
a local logistics company to stage everything in a warehouse just outside of the city. Given the flux of our installation schedule due to construction delays, someone from our lo-
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Equipment1 Aluratek AIS01F Bluetooth audio receiver2 AMD 100-505859 W9000 video card computers26 Apple MF004LL/A iPad Air tablets, 32GB30 Atlas FAP62T 6" coaxial speaker systems w/70.7/100V-32W transformer, 8Ω bypass Belden BEL6200FE877500 16/2 plenum speaker wire Belden BEL6502FE877500 22/4 plenum audio/control wire2 BSS BLU-120 networked I/O expanders1 BSS BLU-800 networked signal processor w/CobraNet1 BSS BLUAEC-IN 4 analog input mic/line card for Soundweb London chassis5 BSS BLUCARD-IN 4 analog input mic/line cards for Soundweb London chassis5 BSS BLUCARD-OUT 4 analog output cards for Soundweb London chassis C2G stereo audio premade stereo cables C2G USB 2.0 premade USB cables6 Chief LSMVPU pullout video display array mounts, portrait, large Fusion micro-adjustable, portrait 41 Chief LSMVU-ATC pullout video display array mounts, Fusion pull-out, large1 Chief MPW6000B medium flatpanel swing-arm wall mount, 8" (without interface)1 Christie back focal wall MicroTile system (107 tiles)1 Crown Dci 8/300N 8-channel audio amp, 300W, Blulink interface2 Dakota FA-602W 24"-square overhead directional speakers8 Datamation DS-CH-32-500 standalone USB charging stations, 32 ports14 Displax Touch Foil touch overlay film w/adhesive1 ELO E027378 7001L 70" HD touchscreen monitor5 Evertz 2406DVIR+MM fiber transmission receivers, single DVI video only4 Evertz 2406DVIR-2+MM fiber transmission receivers, dual DVI video only16 Evertz 2406DVIR-2-USB+85 fiber transmission receivers, dual DVI video w/single USB6 Evertz 2406DVIR-USB+85 fiber transmission receivers, single DVI video w/single USB2 Extron 60-1234-21 fiber transmission USB extender/receivers1 HP F0J10UP#ABA Z820 w/W7000 card computer1 HP F6A87UC#ABA Z820 (w/3 NVIDIA K5000, sync card installed) computer28 HP G9K57UP#ABA Elite USDT 800 G1 computers2 HP J5D55UP#ABA Z820 computers1 Logitech c920 USB HD camera2 Microsoft 74Z-00001 Kinect for Windows v2 Sensor computers1 PlayNetwork player (customer supplied background music subscription service)14 RDL RU-ADA8Dn audio distribution amps, balanced/unbalanced, 2x8, 1x165 RDL RU-RA3 19' rackmount for 3 rack-UP Series products1 Samsung ME32C 32" commercial display w/touch overlay5 Samsung ME55C-ATC 55" HD monitors1 Samsung MPW6000B flatpanel portrait mount3 Samsung TM55LCC-ATC 55" HD monitor overlays40 Samsung UD46C-ATC narrow-bezel 1920x1080 LED backlit LCD displays 1 Samsung UN75H6350AFXZ 75" residential/consumer display1 Shure UA850 antenna extension cable 1 Shure ULXP14/150/C lavalier wireless system 1 Tekumi front entrance tower 3mm LED diecast cabinets w/sender, TX/RX1 Tekumi mounting adapter bracket300 Misc Bluetooth speaker systems (Jawbone, JBL, Beats, Bose) Head End6 APC AP9630 UPS network management card w/PowerChute network shutdown6 APC SMT2200RMUS Smart-UPS 2200VA LCD RM 120V US C2G wires, cables Corning fiber head-end system1 Crestron QM-RMC room media controller8 Evertz 7700FC+3RU VistaLINK 3RU frame controllers5 Evertz 7706DVIT+85+3RU transmitters, single DVI video only4 Evertz 7706DVIT-2+85+3RU transmitters, dual DVI video only16 Evertz 7706DVIT-2-USB+85+3RU transmitters, dual DVI video w/single USB6 Evertz 7706DVIT-USB+85+3RU transmitters, single DVI video w/single USB8 Evertz 7800FR+78P 3RU multiframes w/16 single spot, redundant power supplies1 Medialon Showmaster Pro Mark II controller6 Middle Atlantic WRK4432 44-space equipment racks w/accessories70 Tripp Lite U222-010-R 10 Port USB HubsList is edited from information supplied by McCann Systems.
The “Device Wall” features a 14x2 videowall, with 14 of those displays touch-enabled.
cal crew would make the trip to the distribution center to tag items needed for delivery the next day.”
The LED display tower was a major install challenge. “Originally, we spec’d that all out with Verizon and were hoping to have rear access,” related Parker. “We lost that opportunity, so it was quite challenging installing it. We ended up working with the general contractor, doing scaf-folding all the way up. Putting in the last row was a real challenge because everything is flush around it. But there still wasn’t any access from the top to have access to the rear. We found a cross-space on the third floor of the build-ing where we were able to crawl through to the back of that last row to get the tower aligned.”
Installation Details It’s beyond our scope here to include all shopping areas
within the store. Thus, we’re highlighting zones with more concentrated AV. First, we’ll explore several videowall ar-eas. Starting at the front of the store, the Christie Digital Velvet 3mm LED display tower spans the first and second floor. Standing at almost 35 feet tall and just over 10 feet wide, four million pixels radiate from the store interior and out onto Michigan Avenue. Four control units maintain the high-profile display, while a single custom-built PC is equipped with X20 software to manage content and syn-chronicity throughout the towering monument.
Furthermore, a bevy of HP computers is used to control content throughout the install. “HP is a solid partner of ours,” said Milhon. “We use the HP 800 product to basi-cally drive all the digital interactive content. Through the integration with McCann, we were able to put all those PCs in the back of the house in a mini server room. So, we put them in racks and then extended the video and USB out to the floor using Evertz fiber transmission gear. The HP 800s operating on Windows 7 or 8 run our MDD (Multimedia Digital Display Platform).
Our next videowall stop is the “Brand Focal” wall, which
provides animated interactive recreation via a 7'x19' Christie Digi-tal MicroTile back focal wall system incorporating 107 tiles. Two Microsoft Kinect devices are set to designated areas on the floor, prompting the shopper to create a personal avatar and engage with the software through movement and dance. Dakota directional speakers are mounted above the user to create a concentrated dispersion pattern. “When users come in to engage the wall,” said Parker, “they can do things like throw a football at a target and it keeps your score. You can play drums and go wind surfing.”
On each side of the MicroTile wall is a “Device Wall” with 28 Samsung 46-inch touchscreen LCDs split into a left 8x2 and a right 6x2 matrix configuration. The device area shows every type of device Verizon sells, including tablets and accessories. Thus, you can compare Samsung, Apple, Droid, LG and others.
The “Amplify It” area has a DJ booth and a “Wall of Sound” display. Customer access is via a 3x3 array of 46-inch Samsung screens. The customer can interact with Apple iPad air tablets. “The whole idea is that you’re playing with DJ equipment and testing out headphones and portable speaker systems, trying to figure out what’s best for you,” said Limbach. “People are getting engaged in that experience.” Customers can also sample more than 200 speakers by Bose, Beats by Dre and other manufacturers on the accompanying “Wall of Sound” display.
The “Get Fit” area has a treadmill and fitness bike where visi-tors can virtually move through streets around the world using Google maps aided by Samsung monitors and Apple iPad tablets.
Larger screens are used in two areas. The “Wireless Work-shop” can function as an instructional area. It has a 70-inch Elmo touchscreen for showing store reps Verizon demos and other training presentations. Attendees gather in a wraparound seating area. The instructor has a Shure wireless microphone. There’s an override on the audio system so instructors won’t have to compete with the store’s background audio.
“Home Solutions” is fashioned like a living room. Various home products are demoed and sold in the area, which has a Samsung 75-inch residential consumer model to match the setting.
Executive Meeting SpaceDirectly above the retail area on the third floor, the Crestron-
controlled Executive Meeting Space, or briefing/conference cen-ter, revamped the traditional collaboration area with extensive Samsung screens. There’s a 75-inch LED monitor wall with touch overlays mounted at each end of the room. Because the room is rather long, four 46-inch HD flatscreens are mounted on one wall to ensure that all participants can view presentations.
Four HP 800 PCs running Windows 7 are on a traditional desk-top and integrated with the Crestron, which allows users with a wireless keyboard and mouse to interface with the room PCs. One PC is integrated with a Vaddio PTZ camera, so it can be used for WebEx videoconferencing or any other conferencing application that supports USB video. Audio equipment includes
(continued on page 70)
70 Sound & Communications July 2015
DIVERSIFYING INTO DESIGN/INTEGRATION(continued from page 43)
NSCA POV: BOGGED DOWN IN DOCUMENTATION(continued from page 24)
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entity with a number of aspects, most of which can be demonstrated in Spye’s offices, in a recently renovated industrial building in Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood. Those offices double as showrooms and display the integration of much of the technology they recommend to their clients. “Our best sales tool now is our building, and the fact that we did 95% of the [renovation work] ourselves,” said Krumrich.
The BMW of Minnetonka showroom is an example of where all of that comes to-
gether. Even though the installation itself is modest (five 47-inch LG flatpanel displays, two of which are soffited in columns in a lounge area and others in customer-inter-action areas like a coffee bar, with 124 So-nance CM660 ceiling speakers comprising a distributed audio system powered by a pair of Crown CTS 4200A amplifiers and managed by a dbx ZonePRO 1260 proces-sor and connected by a few miles’ worth of Liberty cabling) the system also adds three Spyeworks players and supporting
software, as well as Spyeworks network manager software, which routes the con-tent between screens and integrates out-side feeds such as DirecTV and weather inputs. These are loaded into a Middle At-lantic rack located in an equipment closet on one of the floors.
Fry said that the Spyeworks system acts as the routing matrix as well as the media player, sending preselected content streams to dif ferent zones in the expan-sive showroom. “We did the Spye-branded
• Video Training: A new technology tool for documentation involves using video for training and learning. Creating a series of short videos with “how-to” info about completing certain technology system tasks is an innovative way to edu-cate customers without fielding as many calls. These videos can be accessed on a private page, or even on YouTube.
Between this and the reference FAQs, it’s possible to avoid a lot of the small calls made by confused users, while pro-viding real value to clients (and providing content that can be used in other situa-tions, if generic enough).
Of course, there are many other ways to store, track and manage documenta-tion. However, these four ways have
proven to be successful for many integra-tors looking to improve the documenta-tion management process.
Sometimes the elegance in simplicity is far from simple, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t do better for ourselves and our clients by focusing on what’s possible with the tools, resources and technology available today.
season’s lineup instead. “Window displays are one of the most
important marketing points for any store; therefore, digital displays for this space must be carefully selected,” said Eric Donnelly, Vice President of Opera-tions at MagicInk Interactive. “Bright-ness and surface area of the LCD, as well as proper setup, are keys to suc-cess,” Donnelly said. He noted, “Combat-
ing glare is critical, and the size of the display will add visual impact. Clients need to understand selection criteria, such as the bare minimum acceptable 700 nits brightness [which he does not recommend] and display size of 65-inch or larger, if possible.” MagicInk also ex-pands its clients’ understanding of tech design considerations by blogging on digital display specifications, branding
essentials and other topics of interest. Mobile, sensor, data analytics and
other tech solutions are now in wide-spread use in retail, but which ones will help meet your client’s marketing and sales objectives? The Journal of Retail Analytics from Platt Retail Institute is an excellent source of information about the available technologies and success-ful applications.
SIGN AGE: A WINDOW ON RETAIL(continued from page 14)
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ZONED OUT INTERACTIVE RETAIL(continued from page 39) ClearOne microphones, Biamp DSP and a Crown amplifier driving four JBL Control 26CT ceiling speakers. Access to all sys-tems is via a Crestron 10-inch touchpanel on the conference table. The rack room is located behind the conference center.
Sound is key in completing this technolo-gy-rich retail and collaboration experience. BSS controls the DSP processing for the wireless microphones, the ambient sound and the individual audio zones. There’s a Crown eight-channel amplifier. Background music is provided by Atlas speakers. Con-trol of the audio system is accomplished using a Medialon system that recognizes
spoken commands from a Verizon-supplied audio app installed on various tablet de-vices. The Medialon system also handles the task of powering the system on and off each day. Main Middle Atlantic equipment racks are located on the fourth floor.
Keeping The ClockWe’ve come full circle. We started with
an outside view of the atrium display tower, toured the inside AV zones and now we’re looking at the clock on the outside of the building. “There was an existing analog clock at the very top that the landlord and the city liked a lot,” explained Limbach.
“Part of our charge with the landlord in taking this space was that they still wanted to have the clock there. Verizon wanted to make sure it was modernized and reflected their new location on the Magnificent Mile. So we have an LED digital clock that looks like an analog clock. We designed a red clock, which tied in with the branding.”
This writer wishes to extend special thanks to the individuals who supplied background information and coordinated the interviews: JoAnn Arcenal, CTS, Marketing & Corporate Resources, McCann Systems; and Amanda Seevers, Chute Gerdeman. Well done, folks.
