Recent Work

OME-EX-TX-WPC transports video, audio, control, and USB data over HDBaseT in aesthetically inconspicuous, one-gang form factor

SAN JOSE, California, October 5, 2020 – Atlona, a Panduit company, has taken the wraps off the latest HDBaseTtransmitter in its Omega™ Series of switching, extension, and video processing solutions for modern AV communications and collaboration. A unique wallplate extender for USB-C AV and data, the immediately-available AT-OME-EX-TX-WPCtransmitter enables discreet, remote USB-C and USB 2.0 connectivity for soft codec conferencing and applications with interactive displays.

Providing presenters and meeting participants with convenient AV and data interfacing on walls, in furniture or in floor boxes, the OME-EX-TX-WPC transports video, embedded audio, RS-232 control signals and – when paired with a USB-capable Omega Series switcher or receiver – USB data via HDBaseT over distances up to 330 feet (100 meters). The wallplate transmitter supports video up to 4K/UHD at 30 Hz with 4:4:4 chroma subsampling and is HDCP 2.2 compliant for delivery of protected content.

The OME-EX-TX-WPC’s USB-C input supports both AV and data, enabling adapter-free AV connectivity for recent Mac®, Chromebook™, and Windows® PCs as well as mobile devices with AV-capable USB-C ports. A separate USB 2.0 interface supports a peripheral device such as a speakerphone, microphone, keyboard, or mouse, making the transmitter an idealextension solution for soft codec and web-based conferencing applications or interactive collaboration, when used with a compatible Omega switcher or receiver.

The OME-EX-TX-WPC features a US one-gang form factor and ships with interchangeable black and white trim kits, allowing inconspicuous installation across a wide range of environments while simplifying ordering for integrators. Powerfor the transmitter is supplied over HDBaseT from an Atlona Omega receiver or switcher, with remote configuration and monitoring available through the free Atlona Management System (AMS), part of the Velocity™ System AV control and management platform.

“An increasing array of devices are offering AV-capable USB-C connections, and as demand for software-based video conferencing and interactive applications accelerates, the need for connecting USB peripherals at remote locations is becoming more prevalent,” said David Shamir, Director of Product Management, Atlona. “With USB-C and USB 2.0interfaces, the OME-EX-TX-WPC addresses this challenge in an elegant, aesthetically unobtrusive, and easy-to-integrate form factor.”

The OME-EX-TX-WPC is available immediately through Atlona’s extensive network of authorized channel partners and is backed by the company’s award-winning 10-year limited product warranty and support services. To learn more about this product, please visit atlona.com/at-ome-ex-tx-wpc.

About Atlona

Atlona, a Panduit company, is a leading global manufacturer of AV over IP distribution, connectivity, and control solutions. The company designs and engineers innovative, award-winning products for a diverse range of residential and commercial AV and IT markets. Backed by an award-winning 10-year warranty, Atlona’s products are developed to enable our customers’ ability to connect and collaborate with simplicity. More information about Atlona is available at atlona.com.

About Panduit

Global connectivity leader Panduit Corp. creates innovative electrical and network infrastructure solutions for applications across the enterprise. Headquartered in Tinley Park, Ill. and operating in 112 worldwide locations, Panduit’s technology leadership and robust ecosystem help support, sustain, and empower business growth in a connected world. panduit.com

Viktor will work closely with Atlona partners throughout Scandinavia, leveraging his regional knowledge and relationships to expand Atlona’s EMEA business

SAN JOSE, California, September 30, 2020 – Atlona, a Panduit company, announces that Viktor Fjordberg has joined the company as Regional Sales Manager, Nordics, covering the countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Reporting to Thorsten Goecke, Director of Atlona Sales, EMEA, Viktor will work closely with partners to expand Atlona’s visibility and market share across Scandinavia.

As part of his responsibilities, Viktor will emphasize relationship-building with the top-performing dealers under each Atlona distributor – an initiative he believes is paramount to Atlona’s business growth in an active AV region.

“The Nordics market is quite mature when it comes to AV, and we are seeing a dramatic evolution that has led to stronger alignment with IT systems,” said Viktor Fjordberg, who most recently served as Kramer’s Nordics Account Manager. “This is a fast-changing business, and it is important that our dealers have the knowledge and support that gives them a broader perspective of how Atlona fits into the AV and IT landscape. I’m very much looking forward to taking more of our customers on the AV over IP journey, which is a major strength for Atlona.”

Viktor’s experience means that he comes to Atlona with vast knowledge about the many product areas Atlona serves, notably AV over IP distribution, collaboration, and control. He is especially impressed with Velocity, which he describes as a “mature control system for the network that is very easy to use.” He previously spent eight years covering the Nordics region with Interoute, a former European telecommunications company that specialized in cloud services.

“Viktor’s extensive experience working throughout the Nordics region will help Atlona make a stronger impact in an important region that has lacked a local sales presence,” said Thorsten Goecke. “We continue to aggressively grow our sales and support teams through EMEA in an effort to get closer to our customers, and bring Atlona’s value proposition to the forefront of the AV industry. We welcome Viktor to the team and look forward to his contribution.”

About Atlona

Atlona, a Panduit company, is a leading global manufacturer of AV over IP distribution, connectivity, and control solutions. The company designs and engineers innovative, award-winning products for a diverse range of residential and commercial AV and IT markets. Backed by an award-winning 10-year warranty, Atlona’s products are developed to enable our customers’ ability to connect and collaborate with simplicity. More information about Atlona is available at atlona.com.

About Panduit

Global connectivity leader Panduit Corp. creates innovative electrical and network infrastructure solutions for applications across the enterprise. Headquartered in Tinley Park, Ill. and operating in 112 worldwide locations, Panduit’s technology leadership and robust ecosystem help support, sustain, and empower business growth in a connected world. panduit.com

With Lua scripting functionality, integrators can program their own custom drivers for almost any third-party product that has a control string, and utilize Xilica’s library of pre-designed integrations

Toronto, September 25, 2020 — Hot on the heels of bringing its Designer 4.0 software to market, Xilica®, a global leader in digital signal processing technology for AV and installed sound, has raised the bar by adding Lua scripting language to its award-winning Solaro Series DSPs.

Widely-used in the AV and IT industries among major control system manufacturers, Lua scripting is a universal language that enables products from third-party vendors to communicate and interoperate. While many other DSP brands either feature no integrated control engine functionality, or utilize a proprietary command protocol, Xilica is continuing to add value to its premium open-architecture DSP portfolio by enabling integrators to omit traditional control systems from small-to-medium sized projects, and instead utilize the existing DSP for system command.

“Xilica control systems will provide all of the functionality needed in conference rooms, hotels, restaurants, schools and many other AV environments,” said Shaun Robinson, VP Product Management at Xilica. “We can control all of these standard functions without the need for a highly sophisticated and expensive control system. While we interoperate with enterprise-level control systems, we can save our customers up to $30,000 in many cases.”

While integrated control into a DSP is ideal for many small-to-medium applications, Xilica recognizes the value of a scalable external control system for larger projects and additionally launches updated modules for AMX®, Crestron® and Control4® automation platforms, which are available on AMX InConcert, Crestron AppMarket, and from Xilica directly.

Where a third-party vendor is a member of Xilica’s partner program, Lua control modules are available inside the Xilica Designer software interface, pre-built and ready to deploy. For those situations where a particular brand may not be available, Xilica’s ‘Lua Device Driver Builder’ function enables an integrator’s in-house programming team to create custom functionality specific to their product and application. Additionally, Xilica has field resources located across North America who can provide custom driver development as required.

“System design and integration professionals have historically relied on manufacturers to create drivers that can speak to third-party devices in the library, typically because they were restrained through proprietary protocols,” said Robinson. “Lua scripting opens the programming universe within Xilica DSPs and control products for any user that can write a control universe.”

Xilica’s corporate, education and government customers further benefit from new USB I/O capabilities that improve compatibility with the latest Unified Communications (UC) platforms, including Microsoft Teams™ and Zoom®. Separately, network-based update and deployment of Solaro Series DSP products has been improved for rapid install times.

About Xilica

Xilica® is an award-winning manufacturer of innovative, next-generation digital signal processing solutions for AV control and command applications including conference, corporate, hospitality and leisure, retail and transportation. From its headquarters in Toronto, Canada, Xilica sells and supports products worldwide in over 75 countries, gaining rapid acknowledgement for its all-modular, ultra-small-format and high-performance product ranges that solve critical business challenges.

www.xilica.com

Remy Nguyen and Justin Sattazahn bring familiarity, experience and motivation to RSM roles supporting Atlona’s commercial AV business in two busy US territories

SAN JOSE, California, September 24, 2020 – Atlona, a Panduit company, announces that Remy Nguyen and Justin Sattazahn have joined the company as Regional Sales Managers in the Southwest and Northcentral US territories. Reporting to Jamey Swigert, Director of AV Sales and Business Development, Nguyen and Sattazahn will work closely with partners and end users to expand Atlona’s commercial AV business in their respective regions.

Nguyen previously served as Atlona’s Regional Sales Manager – Southwest, before taking on a brief role outside the AV industry. He returns with an expanded territory covering Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico, southern California, southern Nevada, Utah and El Paso, Texas. Nguyen’s previous industry experience includes a Regional Sales Manager position at Extron, where he developed their Pacific Northwest region business. He also served as Director of Sales andBusiness Development for AV systems integrator Avidex, which gives him valuable insight on supporting Atlona’s dealer channel.

Nguyen looks forward to helping Atlona customers faced with changing business and education environments. He’s also bullish about Panduit’s network infrastructure solutions, emphasizing the added value it brings to Atlona’s commercial AV business.

“Atlona has been on the forefront of AV product development, and its latest innovations with the Omega™ Series and an expanded PTZ camera range are ideally suited for touchless AV and distance learning environments,” said Nguyen. “I am also excited that Panduit has brought a differentiating message to Atlona with its network infrastructure solutions and built an organizational infrastructure to better serve our regional distributors, dealers and end users.”

Sattazahn will also work closely with partners and end users to raise brand awareness across his territory, which includes Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. He brings extensive commercial and residential AV and pro audio experience to Atlona across systems design and integration, sound engineering, and live entertainment production and management. His broad range of professional experience brings a comprehensive understanding of nearly all AV businesses verticals, and the unique needs of each.

“I look forward to growing our business with low-voltage and electrical contractors, which will help Atlona customers transition to complete AV over IP systems,” said Sattazahn. “In addition to Atlona’s networked AV solutions, I see Velocity™ as a key differentiator. My experience in systems integration gives me a strong understanding of how IP-based AV control simplifies design and configuration for integrators and provides a simple and scalable control solution for end users.”

​​​​​​​“Remy and Justin bring successful track records and broad industry experience to our team, which will strengthen our overarching initiatives for continued business growth and getting closer to our customers in every region,” said Swigert. “We welcome them to the Atlona team and look forward to their contributions.”

About Atlona

Atlona, a Panduit company, is a leading global manufacturer of AV over IP distribution, connectivity, and control solutions. The company designs and engineers innovative, award-winning products for a diverse range of residential and commercial AV and IT markets. Backed by an award-winning 10-year warranty, Atlona’s products are developed to enable our customers’ ability to connect and collaborate with simplicity. More information about Atlona is available at atlona.com.

About Panduit

Global connectivity leader Panduit Corp. creates innovative electrical and network infrastructure solutions for applications across the enterprise. Headquartered in Tinley Park, Ill. and operating in 112 worldwide locations, Panduit’s technology leadership and robust ecosystem help support, sustain, and empower business growth in a connected world. panduit.com

SK-UHD4000 Ultra HD cameras help PGCC-TV educational access studio stand out in region, while Z-HD5500 models support hands-on learning in new instructional space

Woodbury, NY, September 23, 2020 — Founded in 1958, Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) in Largo, Maryland prides itself on delivering quality academic and career training programs supported by cutting edge technology. Striving to provide superior hands-on education and expand its community relationships, the College selected cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, Ltd. (Hitachi Kokusai) for two separate projects last year: a new production studio dedicated to student instruction, and a 4K studio upgrade for its PGCC-TV educational access channel.

PGCC-TV is available to more than 750,000 cable subscribers in Maryland. Until last year, the PGCC-TV studio doubled as a classroom for students in the College’s mass communication concentration, which prepares students for career positions in television, video, film, radio, and other mass media industries. In 2019, the College invested in building a second studio designed exclusively for teaching and learning in its new Center for Performing Arts (CPA). This in turn gave PGCC-TV the opportunity to expand its community engagement in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

“With the addition of the smaller studio, our plan is that the PGCC-TV studio will not only be for students, but also opened for the community to be able to learn how to use the equipment and to rent it for their community video projects,” said PGCC-TV Manager Dr. Angela Mathis. “While our external roll-out has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, our goal is to continue expanding our partnerships with non-profits, government agencies – including our local county government, which provided the funding for our upgrade – and others in the community.”

Having used Z-HD5000 cameras from Hitachi Kokusai since their last studio renovation in 2012, PGCC-TV again looked to the company to help achieve its latest goal of offering 4K acquisition and recording. “Prince George’s Community College wanted to stand out in the marketplace by becoming the only institution of higher education to have a 4K studio in our county, if not the entire state,” explained Dr. Mathis. “We worked closely with integrator Digital Video Group (DVG) to upgrade our equipment and infrastructure. I believe we are the only two- or four-year program in Maryland that can shoot and record in 4K, and people are looking at us as a place they can go for high-quality production.”

The College purchased four SK-UHD4000 Ultra HD cameras for the PGCC-TV studio. While the educational channel is currently broadcast in HD, content can be recorded in 4K to an AJA Ki Pro Ultra unit and mastered to HD in post-production. “We can edit in 4K even though we are mastering HD, and I am very impressed with what it looks like,” said Dr. Mathis. “The SK-UHD4000s have met or exceeded our picture quality expectations.”

Hitachi cameras were also the preferred choice for the new CPA educational studio, with the College purchasing three Z-HD5500 HDTV models for the facility. “We had a lot of success with students using the earlier Z-HD5000s at PGCC TV, so we wanted to continue using Hitachi cameras in our new facility,” said Dr. Sherelle Williams, mass communications professor at PGCC. “The Hitachi cameras have great image quality and I like the fact that they’re an industry standard, so the students are gaining experience that will benefit them once they go out into employment.”

Dr. Williams also highlights the merits of the operational consistency between the Z-HD5500s used for instruction and the SK-UHD4000s used by PGCC-TV. “We value having some continuity between what we use for productions on the student side and what PGCC-TV produces on the professional side,” she explained. “Students can train on Hitachi cameras in one studio and be immediately comfortable with them in the other.”

Production Coordinator Marshall Johnson has been with the College for 10 years, and highlighted the role Hitachi cameras have played in the evolution of the PGCC-TV studio. “They have given us a level of professionalism we hadn’t had before,” he said. “We are always trying to grow with the times, and value technology that allows us to improve. Hitachi Kokusai has been very good in their ability to grow with us.”

“From both an operational and instructional standpoint, I am very proud to use the Hitachi 4K cameras,” concluded Dr. Mathis. “I think they were an excellent choice. They give a good quality image, they’re very easy to train on, and knowing that I am training students on products they will encounter in real-world situations gives the students and myself a lot of confidence.”

About Prince George’s Community College

Named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance designated by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security (2015-2020), Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) provides high-quality education and training for the progressive and career-oriented residents of Prince George’s County. From new high school graduates and career seekers to more seasoned professionals and senior citizens looking to enhance their skillsets, PGCC is comprised of students who represent a wide range of ages, backgrounds, and goals. Serving nearly 40,000 individuals annually, the College is the first choice for higher education for residents of Prince George’s County. Collaborative partnerships, responsive degree and training programs, and a commitment to student success enables PGCC to address diverse education and workforce development demands. For more information, visit the college website at www.pgcc.edu.

About Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc.

Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a company that manufactures broadcasting systems, security and surveillance systems, wireless communications and information systems. For more information on Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., please visit the company’s website at https://www.hitachi-kokusai.co.jp/global/en/index.html.