— State of the art squash courts get state of the art technology in the form of easy-to-use Xantech touchscreens based around the CRMWIC Commercial Room Monitor/Web Intelligent Controller, whose sophisticated features let users do more for less —

INFOCOMM, ORLANDO, FL, June 17, 2009 — One of oldest institutions of higher education in the U.S., with origins dating back to the 18th century, Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, provides its 2,100 students with a well-rounded liberal arts program, one that lives up to the legacies of both the school’s namesakes, Benjamin Franklin and revered former Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall. The school also prides itself on its athletic programs, and when it wanted to add a layer of advanced A/V technology for its squash courts, it turned to Xantech Commercial, a global leader in the field of audio/video remote control and distribution for 40 years, for advanced yet cost-effective solutions. The equipment was sold and installed by B&B Communications (www.bandbcomm.com), also located in Lancaster, which for 35 years has been serving the audio, video and telecommunications needs of business, educational, healthcare and religious institutions throughout Pennsylvania as well as parts of Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. B&B Technician Dennis Heim completed the rackfilling, wiring and programming of the Xantech equipment. The project was completed in early April 2009.

The College sought to add video recording capability to each of its five championship-level squash courts, with a separate camera and DVD recorder for each one. Signal from these recorders would also be converted to an IP format and be able to be streamed to other locations on campus. Furthermore, the school also wanted to enable users to plug their own portable music devices, such as an iPod, into the courts’ audio system and add the ability to interface a wireless microphone system for announcements. The most efficient way to accomplish all of this was to create a sophisticated routing matrix that would be intuitively accessible by a wide range of users. That’s where Xantech technology solutions came in.

“We needed to be able to tie all levels of control together into a single touchscreen interface,� explains Jeff Tate, Sales Engineer at B&B Communications. The solution centered on a Xantech CSPLCD64GW 6.4-inch Commercial Touchscreen Display, programmed to control and manage the entire A/V system. This is tied to a Xantech Commercial RS2321x8 1X8 (Eight-Channel) Addressable Serial Router, which links to all five cameras and DVD recorders. Attached to this is the Xantech Commercial CRMWIC Commercial Room Monitor/Web Intelligent Controller, used to communicate via IP connectivity with a Biamp Nexia DSP unit and Extron matrix switcher. Rounding out the system is a Xantech Commercial RS422232 “RS422 to RS232 Module� converter unit that converts the RS2321x8 router’s four RS422 outputs to the RS232 format. “The RS2321x8 was the ideal choice since the runs on the project were all relatively local,� Tate explains.

He adds that B&B’s past experience with Xantech Commercial systems was a major reason they chose them for this project. “For what we need to do here, the Xantech equipment gave us a degree of sophistication for which you’d otherwise have to spend far more money to achieve – it’s very cost-effective technology,� he says. But it was also B&B’s focus on the customer that made Xantech a great choice. “The ‘simplicity of use’ matters tremendously to the end user,� Tate observes. “Franklin & Marshall College now gets a high level of functionality and performance on their touchscreen, and students and faculty can execute complex commands to the system with the touch of a single macro. It’s a great system to work with and a great system to use.�

For more information on Xantech’s full range of commercial products, please visit www.xantechcommercial.com.