Today's control rooms are inundated with increasing amounts and types of data, challenging operators to quickly make smart decisions about everything from traffic routing, to electricity distribution, to emergency service response. Most centers have operated successfully using custom-made systems, relying on highly trained operators to capture and manipulate an alphabet soup of analog video, RGB graphics and DVI computer inputs to display a clear, meaningful picture.
Today's control rooms are inundated with increasing amounts and types of data, challenging operators to quickly make smart decisions about everything from traffic routing, to electricity distribution, to emergency service response. Most centers have operated successfully using custom-made systems, relying on highly trained operators to capture and manipulate an alphabet soup of analog video, RGB graphics and DVI computer inputs to display a clear, meaningful picture.
But, what happens when changes to the system are needed? Control rooms built on a closed design have difficulty adapting to the growing volume and complexity of data sources. Chassis size restricts operators to a finite number of inputs/outputs, limiting growth of the system, and upgrade paths are not always available, nor clearly defined. As a result, managers are faced with integrating expensive linking equipment, incorporating old technology, or starting all over with a new system. None of these are viable options for the long-term.
The question arises: how does one create a future-proof control room? The answer to this dilemma is networked visualization. By its very nature, the distributed architecture of networked visualization enables users to capture video content and push it to an unlimited number of display stations via a standard Ethernet network. As network needs grow, proven IP technologies facilitate network expansion by enabling users to add an unlimited number of I/O by linking additional external components. The result: increased system flexibility and a clear growth path.
