New Research Institute Expansion at Hamilton General Hospital Utilizes Vaddio Cameras for Videoconferencing

When Hamilton Health Sciences started development of their new research institute, the David Braley Cardiac Vascular and Stroke Research Institute at Hamilton General Hospital, they needed an AV system capable of broadcasting two internationally recognized and well-established groups of scientists on a global scale. This new Institute will form a collaborative organizational structure by bringing together the Population Health Research Institute (PPHRI), currently led by Dr. Salim Yusuf, and the Henderson Research Centre (HRC), which is led by Dr. Jeffrey Weitz, with people around the world on a daily basis.

Omar Prashad, senior systems integrations consultant with Duocom Canada, enlisted Vaddio to bring these two groups together physically, to further promote synergy between basic scientists and clinical investigators and to provide the physical space necessary for the expansion and retention of these highly qualified professionals.

"We needed to create a space that allowed easy distribution globally and locally," explained Prashad. "Locally for the research teams in the facility and globally so that presentations could be viewed easily by many." What they needed was a flexible system that could record, capture, archive and stream content both on and off site.

"When people of this stature have something to say people want to watch," Prashad added, "and as we designed and built the overall system, we knew a robust videoconferencing system was at the heart of the solution."

Solution
Duocom created a dynamic AV system that features eight Vaddio cameras in both executive conference boardrooms and the auditorium.

Each doctor has his own executive boardroom - one on the third floor for Dr. Yusuf and one on the fifth floor for Dr. Weitz. The identical 15-person executive boardrooms allow for typical presentations, global videoconferencing and archiving. There are three Vaddio WallVIEW PRO HD1 camera systems in each room: one facing the main table, one facing the front of the room for traditional presenting and one off to the side to capture smaller group collaborations.

"We designed the rooms so the three Vaddio cameras aren’t directly connected to the videoconferencing codec," explained Prashad. "We run the video through a matrix so we can use the cameras for videoconferencing as well as purposes outside of videoconferencing." The high definition camera feed can be taken with the spoken audio and presentation materials, independently of videoconferencing, into a media capturing system. A single file is then created and stored on the server for live streaming or later reference. "All you have to do is log on to the management server, find the desired presentation and hit play," says Prashad.

"Interns who want to see the presentations, and normally wouldn’t get invited, can access all of the presentations remotely. Everything is extremely flexible not only for videoconferencing, but live streaming and archiving as well."

Of the three hi-definition, multi-camera videoconferencing systems installed within the building, the most AV-intensive was implemented on the ground floor, in the auditorium. The auditorium, a 40 x 40-foot space, is more like a multipurpose boardroom with a high definition videoconferencing system, wide-screen, projector and three LCD monitors. The videoconferencing system includes two Vaddio WallVIEW PRO HD1 cameras and a videoconferencing codec. One camera faces the audience for traditional group-to-group videoconferencing, while another is placed in the rear of the room to record the presenter.

"When Dr. Yusuf is giving a presentation in the auditorium, because it isn’t that big, it gets full very quickly," said Prashad. "When world-renowned doctors are speaking it’s a big deal and because of the large network of hospitals, the audience cannot be accommodated in just one room." Overflow crowds can view the presentation from anywhere in the building. This includes the ground level, 5-story-high "hallway of memories" atrium with separate zones for monitors, projectors, audio, and video displays.

"All of our high definition videoconferencing systems are typically Vaddio-based," said Prashad. "We’re very accustomed to Vaddio cameras. We know what we’re getting. We know the quality. We know they are going to function and operate and most importantly - we know they are going to be more than sufficient for what we need them for. This wasn’t a project I wanted to beta test new equipment on. We needed something we could rely on. We needed Vaddio."