DICENTIS Conference Systems in the Parliament of Finland
Caverion looks to the IP future with DICENTIS
The advantages of IP have captured the interest of early adopters and innovators in the conference market – including Finland-based Caverion. The company designs, builds, operates and maintains intelligent and energy-efficient solutions for buildings, industries and infrastructures. With offices in 11 countries and more than 16,000 employees, the construction giant is a champion of forward-thinking design within Europe’s most prestigious projects. Nowhere is that philosophy clearer than within the Parliament of Finland.
Loading the video requires your consent. If you agree by clicking on the Play icon, the video will load and data will be transmitted to Google as well as information will be accessed and stored by Google on your device. Google may be able to link these data or information with existing data.
The story of DICENTIS for the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta Riksdagen).
The Parliament House is a source of great pride for the Audio Systems department of Caverion. Having installed a wealth of technology throughout Parliament House, the Audio Systems department of Caverion recently turned its attention to the all-important committee rooms that form the backbone of Finnish law-making. For Juhana Kari, Project Manager with Caverion, and the Parliament’s own IT Planner, Jarmo Erling, the need for new, future-proofed conference systems presented both an opportunity to introduce IP into the building and an immense responsibility to ensure the solution was flawless.
“I was the owner of the entire AV project and it’s fair to say that I felt a lot of pressure to make sure it was easy to use and completely reliable,” says Erling. Kari adds: “When you choose the system that serves the whole country it has to be perfect.”
Achieving precisely that, Kari and Erling have collaborated to bring the committee rooms into the IP realm with the Bosch DICENTIS Conference System. “IP is getting more and more important in audio distribution,” confirms Kari. “I can say that almost 100% of the new projects we are working on are IP based.”
The advantages are clear. IP delivers latency-free uncompressed digital audio at the highest possible quality, while globally recognized encryption technologies ensure privacy and security. The DICENTIS IP solution is future-proof thanks to OMNEO using standard Ethernet as well as software-based feature updates. Perhaps most importantly, the use of existing IT infrastructure makes IP extremely cost effective – audio, video and meeting data can all be carried on an existing Ethernet cable, with very little technical training required to install the system.
“Since our audio has become part of the IP network, it’s really easy to control and supervise,” agrees Erling. “The rooms in Parliament House are easily connected through the IP network.”
To date, three large committee rooms have been equipped with Bosch DICENTIS solutions, two of which benefit from IP. In the larger of the two, a total of 75 DICENTIS Discussion devices with touchscreen serve the members of parliament who gather in the large, Baroque space. Nearby, a slightly smaller room benefits from 25 DICENTIS Discussion devices with touchscreen plus full camera tracking courtesy of three HD Cameras. Elsewhere in the building, a third room uses 63 DICENTIS Wireless Discussion devices with touchscreen.
Even for a company as influential as Caverion, working within its home country’s parliament proved to be an exhilarating experience. “It is a great feeling to take part in such an important project,” says Kari, sitting in the large committee room where he personally programmed each of the 75 discussion devices. “To work in this building and alongside such impressive personnel, it’s a privilege and it makes me proud.”
Erling, meanwhile, is delighted with his IP solution.
As for whether he still feels the weight of pressure on his shoulders, he adds: “No one has complained because it’s working well – no news is good news!”
“The DICENTIS system is very good, I’m very happy with it. It’s what we wanted and it makes my life easier.”