Challenge:

The Arlington County Emergency Communications Center (ECC) serves as the 9-1-1 emergency reporting station for the county, as well as the dispatch center for Police, Fire, Rescue and Emergency Medical Service units for both Arlington and nearby Falls Church. This innovative center is one of the nation’s first consolidated, fully civilian staffed and cross-trained public safety dispatch centers. As part of their forward-thinking approach, Arlington ECC decided to implement cutting-edge audiovisual technology solutions to further enhance the efficiency of operations and response to the public.

Solution:

Whitlock was chosen to assess, advise and deliver AV and digital media technologies for the Arlington ECC, which included new designs for a Dispatch Center, Watch Desk Room, Roll Call Room and a collaborative Reception Area. A full requirements and needs assessment resulted in the recommendation of control systems, video walls, videoconferencing and a digital signage network that connects into, and is managed by, various locations across the ECC. Technology decisions were made on functionality, reasonable pricing and expandability, delivering short- and long-term value to the county and enabling “any source to any display” capabilities. At the Arlington ECC, they are now able to monitor and alter communications and recorded data to share with multiple connection points for “hot stand-by” scenarios and redundancy, essential components of this highly secure environment. Technologies implemented also included desk-to-desk paging systems and GUI control interfaces to provide ease-of-use for all skill levels across the organization.

Technologies:

• Barco video wall with 50” diagonal cubes
• Barco 47” LCD panels
• Barco control processor for displaying multiple content windows on the video wall as well as on the LCD monitors
• Extron RGB 109 interfaces for dedicated PC’s, as well as three Extron RGB 460 wall-mounted interfaces for laptop connectivity to the displays
• Extron 32x32 RGBHV and an Extron 32x48 video switch
• Integrated QSC ceiling speakers
• Crestron’s wireless color touch panel with biometric security built-in and functionality for source selection and routing, volume control, playback and record functions, as well as videoconferencing viewing
• Sharp high output LCD Projector (in a motorized ceiling enclosure for security and esthetics)
• Cisco/Tandberg codec and PTZ camera