Latest Public Address system News

IndigoVision's integrated IP Video surveillance system deployed The Gherkin
posted on 29/09/2011

At 180m tall, the third tallest building in the City of London at 30 St Mary Axe, widely known as ‘The Gherkin’ is situated on the former site of The Baltic Exchange. ‘The Gherkin’ is a multi-tenanted commercial office block occupied by a number of the world’s best known insurance and legal businesses. IndigoVision’s integrated IP Video surveillance system has been deployed as part of a major security upgrade at the iconic London skyscraper. The distributed and open architecture of IndigoVision’s IP Video system provides the ideal installation platform for the migration of legacy CCTV and the seamless integration with other security systems. Using this advanced capability a fully integrated surveillance, access control and intercom solution was implemented. The new surveillance system replaced old analogue CCTV matrix and DVR equipment with a fully digital network solution using an IP-based distributed virtual matrix. This allows any component in the system to be located at any point ... [more]

Biamp Systems's Vocia 1.3 enable systems integrators to approach critical paging applications more creatively and at a lower cost
posted on 28/06/2011

Designed for facilities where audio reliability and scalability are paramount, Biamp Systems' EN 54- and ISO 9001:2008-compliant Vocia 1.3 adds increased functionality to its decentralized, network-based system architecture. With these new features Vocia 1.3 continues to be an ideal solution for a critical paging system in North America and critical paging and life safety paging systems elsewhere in the world. Vocia 1.3 introduces four new amplifiers to the full family of paging product line. These small amplifiers are ideal for projects that have areas to be covered with small zones or provide local analog inputs. Underscoring the importance of reliability, Vocia’s new failover module adds comprehensive failover capability, with 7:1 or dual 3:1 failover, complementing the already built-in, device-to-device and 1:1 channel failover capability in the large amplifier. Additionally, Vocia 1.3 software provides improved notification options, including more intuitive email notifications an... [more]

NICE Situator fuses Los Angeles International Airport's various safety and security operations systems into a cohesive platform
posted on 27/05/2011

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is the third busiest airport in the U.S. and seventh in the world. The world’s busiest origin and destination (O & D) airport, more people start their trips at the Los Angeles International Airport than at any other airport in the world. The City of Los Angeles’ Department of Airports (also known as Los Angeles World Airports, or LAWA) has implemented NICE Situator, an open platform situation management offering. LAX selected NICE Situator in 2010 for its new consolidated Airport Response Coordination Center (ARCC) at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The LAX ARCC is the coordination hub for all LAX airport operations and response activities. NICE Situator is fusing various safety and security operations systems into a cohesive platform, analyzing and correlating data to streamline operations and help LAX enhance its situational awareness and response capabilities to address multiple types of operational challenges, emergency situatio... [more]

Hikvision's vandal-resistant dome cameras installed at the Nuremberg railway station
posted on 20/05/2011

The Nuremberg railway station in Germany is the largest railway station in northern Bavaria which over 130,000 passengers every weekday. As part of continuing improvements in customer care and heightened vigilance against terrorism, Deutsche Bahn AG has begun to transform its operational control centres and is upgrading camera surveillance from analogue to IP systems. These measures are part of information gathering at control hubs known as ‘3-S Centres’ where video streams, audio signals, telephone and radio messages are assessed so that appropriate action can be taken. Hikvision’s 1.3 megapixel vandal-resistant dome cameras are being used at the Nuremberg railway station. The cameras are allowing station management to protect travellers and provide them with context-sensitive information. Passengers communicate with the control centres using information/emergency columns on the station platforms at Nuremberg and the Hikvision cameras are positioned nearby so that officials ca... [more]

Key guidance for voice evacuation specifiers
posted on 04/04/2011

EN 54-16 is an harmonized standard governing "Voice Alarm Control and Indicating Equipment" (VACIE) products. From 1 April the European Union Construction Product Directive (CPD), also known as Directive 89/106/EEC, requires voice alarm products to be independently tested and certified under this standard. The EU CPD ensures key building technologies meet basic levels of uptime, resilience and ruggedness. Voice evacuation has been found to cut the time needed to evacuate a large building by up to 60%, though manufacturers must meet stringent life safety requirements, embodied in the EN 54 series of standards, which has become European law. Biamp’s Vocia voice-evacuation system was certified against the EN54-16 in June 2010. Biamp Systems has announced best-practice guidance for specifiers and AV installers on implementing voice evacuation (VE) solutions. Key guidance for voice evacuation specifiers • Voice Evacuation systems are there for emergencies, so the system must work... [more]

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