Emirates Team New Zealand Joins Forces with BrightSign at the America’s Cup
Toulouse Group, Audio Visual Integration Specialists for the New Zealand Government at the Emirates Team New Zealand base, selected BrightSign to power the digital signage network in the team’sAmerica’s Cup hospitality center in San Francisco, California. This America’s Cup installation is the latest in a long line of collaborative efforts between Toulouse Group and BrightSign. In the past few years alone, Toulouse Group utilized BrightSign’s digital signage players in many venues, including the award-winning New Zealand Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, the outstanding 7,000 square-foot Rotorua Museum New Zealand, and recent new exhibition installations at Carter Observatory New Zealand with its state-of-the-art, full-dome digital theater – a world-class interactive multimedia space experience.
“The America’s Cup is about much more than competition on the water – it’s a months-long gathering of the international sailing community and our presence in the America’s Cup Village will be the team’s home away from home through September,” said Marc Simpson, founder and principal of Toulouse Group. “This hospitality lounge is the “off-the-water” representation of the team and of our country, so it was important to construct a lounge that showcases the very latest technology, and BrightSign enabled us to do precisely that.”
While the installation was completed by AV integrator Toulouse Group, the hospitality lounge itself is staffed by individuals who lack any formal AV training. This necessitated the installation of equipment that is easy to use and very reliable. BrightSign’s solid-state players served that need perfectly.
Emirates Team New Zealand’s hospitality lounge encompasses a total of 9,600 square feet, including a main gathering area, several ancillary rooms and an expansive outdoor deck. An extensive Ethernet network is deployed throughout the lounge, connecting a total of 23 BrightSign HD120 and HD1020 digital signage players that feed and sync content across a massive video wall comprised of 19 Full HD 1080p displays. Sound is deployed with two BrightSign players and an EM100 expansion module. Six channels of audio fill the space with sound effects and ambient audio, all in sync with the video wall. The remaining four BrightSign players feed projectors that display content on a series of white, sail-shaped screens that meld beautifully with the nautical theme of the event.
Key Facts
Industry: Quick Serve Restaurants
Location: San Francisco, California
Integrator: Toulouse Group
Project: Emirates Team New Zealand America’s Cup Hospitality Center
Installation
- Digital signage is used throughout the 9,600-square-foot Emirates Team New Zealand hospitality suite at the America’s Cup
- A total of 23 BrightSign HD120 and HD1020 digital signage players are deployed throughout the space
- A massive video wall made up of 19 Full HD 1080p displays dominates the most prominent gathering space in the hospitality center
- BrightSign players help project imagery on sail-shaped screens for maximum visual impact
Challenges
- Non-technical staff is responsible for maintaining signage on a day-to-day basis
- The hospitality center is contained in a small, freestanding building with very limited space to contain the hardware responsible for driving the digital signage
- The hospitality center hosts events from daybreak until late at night, so any downtime would inconvenience the staff and made it impossible to maintain this rigorous schedule
The Solution
- Solid-state players from BrightSign are able to power down at night and restart in the morning with little effort or latency
- Custom engineering enables a single switch to trigger the 12-circuit installation with sequential power cycling
- BrightSign’s compact players are able to tuck away in small spaces to preserve the efficient use of space within the hospitality center
Benefits
- BrightSign’s players deliver virtually zero downtime, all but eliminating the need for troubleshooting and maintenance over the course of the America’s Cup
- Unobtrusive hardware is hidden from sight for a clean presentation that highlights the sleek displays and screens within the hospitality center
- Very complex deployment with conventional HD displays and projector-driven screens is simplified for control by whomever is staffing the hospitality center at any given time