Commercial Integrator October 2022 - 31

4% of greenhouse gas emissions are
caused by digital technologies, and it is
increasing by 9% every year. We can't just
let that fi gure stand.
De Bono decided to launch SAVe, an
AV-industry-wide independent nonprofi t
organization, aſt er hearing from many
in the industry who are very concerned
about the growing climate crisis, persistent
inequality and ongoing poverty in
the U.S. She wanted to use the organization's
platform to highlight the issues
we're facing and the responsibility that
the AV industry has in regard to sustainable
production and manufacturing.
Eff orts like these bring together industry
stakeholders who, collectively, can take
concerted action to achieve the 2030
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
adopted by all 193 nation representatives
of the United Nations.
Individual and
Business Responsibility
" Look at what's happened just in the past
two-and-a-half years since the start of the
pandemic, " De Bono begins. " Every day
now, we're facing a massive natural disaster
that's being perpetuated by increasing
extreme weather events [occurring] due
to climate change. " She continues, " At the
same time, we have growing inequality
and poverty in this country. These challenges
are profound, and they're getting
SAVe provides a vehicle for AV industry
members to achieve sustainable
development and is a bridge to other
industries, NGOs and partner organizations.
Technology Master Planning
and Consolidating the Network
" Every construction site I've been on, there's a bundle of cable that runs to one
room to another that could be potentially consolidated into a single cable, " Yiannis
Cabolis, director of technology innovation at Electrosonic, laments. " [That] could
have saved infrastructure, installation and a number of diff erent cost centers. " He
notes that running 2,000 feet of Cat6 network cable with eight points costs around
$3,800. " You can start to add that up, especially when you have hundreds of
devices, " he continues. " And there's really no technical reason the video and control
systems can't run on the same physical network and physical cabling. "
Clearly, there are cost benefi ts to consolidating a network. However, as Cabolis
makes clear, there must be a strategy, and it starts with technology master planning.
" In simple terms, it's the coordination, planning and design of unifi ed infrastructure
for separate networks and subsystems that creates effi ciencies and savings, " he says.
Although integrators know the current technologies well and have a decent
outlook for where the next couple of years are headed, Cabolis acknowledges, " We
don't know the next big, disruptive thing that's going to come in. There could be
all-new technology - [for example,] new cabling, infrastructure, etc. - that we only
[can guess] but nobody really knows. " Integrators, he advises, should think about
what happens 10 years aſt er a project's completion. " You can provide an extra cable
and conduit, which could potentially save money during a renovation or technology
add-on, so you're not having to tear a structure down to rebuild it just to add a new
cabling type. "
Hotel chains, casinos, theme parks and Fortune 500 companies that have strong
IT departments are starting to understand the redundancy and extra infrastructure
of AV networks, and they're aligning themselves with integration fi rms to consolidate
and reduce the overall infrastructure costs to design and run the networks for diff erent
systems. In this way, technology can not only reduce overall operating costs but
also, ultimately, have a positive environmental impact.
" I challenge [integration] owners and designers to insist on the design and operation
of a unifi ed network solution that spans multiple subsystems, " Cabolis declares.
" Make this change, take the risk, be the leaders of change [and] unify the network
infrastructure to use AI to create real, sustainable smart buildings and attractions. "
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OCTOBER 2022 Commercial Integrator
31
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Commercial Integrator October 2022

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