In expansive community facilities, the ability to quickly and clearly notify and relay
instructions to visitors during emergency situations is critical to public safety and
security. When Long Island, New York integration firm Rapid Motion Technology
deployed a new emergency paging system at a 100,000-square foot cultural and
community centre in Brooklyn this fall, they selected a Barix Audio over IP solution,
supplied by its US distributor LineQ, to provide the flexibility, advanced functionality
and installation efficiency the project required.
The community centre features a swimming pool, gymnasium and fitness centre,
and hosts between 500 and 600 visitors at any given time across five floors plus a
rooftop playground area. With no existing paging system in place, the centre’s
management set out to enhance visitor safety with a system to play pre-recorded
audio messages throughout the building or to specific, targeted zones in the event
of evacuations, fires, lockdowns or other emergency situations.
Brought into the project by Gleis Security Consulting, Rapid Motion Technology
looked to an IP-based solution to overcome significant physical challenges. “The
building had fully closed, Sheetrock ceilings, which made wiring difficult even within
individual floors,’ said Jason Hagler, CEO of Rapid Motion Technologies. “With an
Audio over IP solution, we were able to use the facility’s existing CAT6 network
infrastructure, avoiding the extensive work that would have been needed to run
feeds between floors.’
Having discovered Barix solutions at the ISC West security industry trade show—
this year, LineQ will demonstrate Barix IP audio and control solutions for security at
ISC West, Booth 12141 from April 5-7 at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas
—Hagler saw them as a perfect fit for the project.
In-depth conversations with LineQ quickly overcame Hagler’s initial hesitation about
using IP-based audio over the existing network. “I was concerned about bandwidth
impact on the customer’s other applications, but the Barix solution shares the LAN
very well with other network traffic. It requires very little bandwidth, and LineQ
worked closely with me to design the optimal configuration.’
Seven Barix Annuncicom PS1 desktop IP paging stations are distributed across the
building’s five floors, rooftop area and central security office. Barix Exstreamer 100
IP audio decoders, located in equipment racks on each level, receive and decode
the audio, which Clarity amplifiers by Valcom then feed to ceiling-mounted
speakers.115 speakers are dedicated to paging, while integration between the Barix
units and the building’s pre-existing, Clarity-powered background music system
enables pages to override music playing over additional speakers.
Each Barix paging station can perform an “all call’ to every speaker throughout the
building or target just specific areas assigned to that station, such as its own floor.
“The Barix system makes it easy to configure targeted paging zones,’ said Hagler.
“We simply gave each Exstreamer receiving unit a static IP address, and specified
the IP addresses that each Annuncicom’s audio is directed to. And if the customer
wants us to modify the mapping, we just add or change IP addresses, with no wiring
required.’
