Electrosonic has provided classroom audio-visual systems for Hult International Business School campuses in London, Dubai, Boston and San Francisco—all to a common design. Each campus was outfitted with AV presentation equipment supported by local service operations.
- In addition, all campuses are connected to Electrosonic’s 24/7 Video Network Operations Centre (VNOC) in the UK for remote support and management. Electrosonic completed the new Hult campus build in London in 2012; more recently, classroom AV systems were installed in Hult’s Boston and Dubai facilities.
- Hult International Business School spans a global network of campuses that now form one of the world’s largest graduate business schools with a focus on teaching practical and international business education.
- “Over the many years we have worked together, Electrosonic have delivered only better value results for Hult,” said Yousuf Khan, chief information officer of the Hult International Business School. “The quality of work during implementation has been consistently high and ongoing support has been exemplary.”
- To accommodate Hult’s international rotation component where students can attend their studies at more than one location, all systems at each campus had to be consistent. The consistency of the operation of teaching and learning resources also helps to reduce barriers and increase effectiveness and efficiencies.
- The AV systems were designed and implemented with appreciation of the overall design aesthetic. Electrosonic furnished the Hult campuses with lectern-based teaching and presentation systems that offer the ability to show images from a rack-mounted PC, laptop or iPad. The rack PC is connected to a SMART Podium 22-inch interactive display that allows lecturers to annotate or use white-boarding capabilities, and have their notes displayed via twin NEC PA500U projectors projecting directly onto the walls.
- The campuses also feature Tannoy program loudspeakers, which were installed front of house; room control is provided via a Crestron 2 series processor with an iPad touch control interface.
- Each campus has multiple classrooms, four in London, Dubai and San Francisco and two in Boston. In the Dubai campus, which formally opened in March 2013, there are an additional 20 breakout rooms, and 18 in London, for the use of students working on projects, assignments and presentations. Each of these rooms is equipped with a 46-inch NEC LCD; a wall-mounted Extron control panel providing on/off, volume and source control; and a Spinetix digital signage player to allow distribution of content to all rooms simultaneously or to specific functions and events. VGA and HDMI cabling is provided at the table for direct connection to the wall-mounted display. Where possible, equipment is network connected. Remote support is made possible by direct connection to individual devices and by XPanel for the classroom systems.
- The Hult campus’ service contract with Electrosonic ensures the reliability of the installed systems. Using a specific VLAN via VPN, Electrosonic is able to access all network capable equipment located at all campuses and offices to provide support. Electrosonic’s 24/7 Video Network Operations Center (VNOC) in the UK provides remote support and management of the systems.
- Project management and delivery were organized across geographies. The project was account managed from the UK, and then supported in each region with Electrosonic’s own engineering expertise from its regional offices in the USA and Dubai. This formed an integral part of the relationship experience and leveraged Electrosonic’s international capabilities to provide ‘on the ground’ localized project management for each campus location.
- “We have been able to implement consistent AV standards at the school, which resulted in improved customer experience at each of our campuses across the globe,” said Khan. “We continue to work with Electrosonic in a collaborative way to come up with more innovative AV solutions to support our growth.”
