BACKGROUND
The National Skills Academy for Financial Services is the new standard for excellence in training and skills education in the financial sector.
The first of four nationwide Academy locations, the National Skills Academy for Financial Services is a shared development between City College Norwich and local businesses and is based in the College's St Andrews House site in Norwich city centre.
Led by a regional board of major employers in the region, including Norwich Union, Marsh and Virgin Money, and major organisations such as the East of England Development Agency, the Learning and Skills Centre and the University of East Anglia, the Academy was officially opened by The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the RT Hon Alistair Darling MP, on 29th November 2007.
Snelling Business Systems were contracted to supply and install the Audio Visual infrastructure to the demanding requirements of the Academy, with a budget of £750,000 allocated from the £3.5m overall development costs.
AIMS OF THE PROJECT
The Academy was created to demonstrate the capabilities of a 21st century learning environment and set the standard for similar learning centres of the future.
The building was designed to look and feel like a thriving financial business hub - with an infrastructure matching the latest developments in Canary Wharf and the financial quarter of New York. The aim of the College was to then make the outstanding resources and facilities available to all students, creating a world class campus that would inspire and motivate students.
The overriding purpose was to create a learning flagship for Norwich and Norfolk, and Dick Palmer, Principal of City College Norwich said that the Academy was created as something "the local community can look on with pride".
Appointed to design and install the audio visual requirements for the Academy, Snelling Business Systems adopted a flexible approach to the installation, to allow the system to be expanded as the College grows.
TECHNICAL SOLUTION
In order to meet the high level of requirements demanded by the project, Snelling Business Systems who had already worked extensively on providing Information Learning Technology at the college's main campus, installed state-of-the-art technologies across the five floors of St. Andrews House. This included systems such as Internet Protocol TeleVision (IPTV), video conferencing, MediaSite rich media recording and archiving facility - as well as a 100in Supernova optical front projection display and a 40in rear projection Holo Screen holographic display from Danish manufacturers dnp.
To meet the client requirements by giving the St. Andrews House site the look of a business centre, digital signage equipment from ONELAN's Net-Top-Box was installed to feed a vast selection of display media including the Holo Screen - all under AMX control. This system has the ability to reproduce a live financial feed whilst delivering different dynamic content to any display configuration, including the selection of 4 x 1, or 2 x 2 separate channels on the bezel-free PDP wall and there are 55 digital signage points site-wide taking RSS web feeds. The system is controlled by an AMX Endeleo Matrix and AMX Control, with Mediasite and Exterity IPTV gateways.
Snelling Business Systems delivered the St Andrews installation on schedule, and it has now been operating successfully since September 2007.
John Pollitt, IT Manager, said:
"Toby Wise and the team at Snelling Business Systems have met every objective set".
Dick Palmer, Principal of City College Norwich said:
"The facilities we have here are superb and it is an exciting, state-of-the-art learning environment".