Commercial Integrator October 2022 - 36

MARKETS: GOVERNMENT
Working with Government Clients:
A Challenging but Rewarding Pursuit
Integrators who align their firm with IT/security teams early on in projects will be poised for success.
By Alyssa Borelli
TRYING TO BUY AV products off the shelf is
like walking into a car dealership and wanting
to get the latest and greatest model on the
showroom floor. That might be great for
some, but not for government customers.
That's because these clients' systems must be
customized to meet very specific needs.
Scott Norder, COO at Alameda, Calif.headquartered
RGB Spectrum, recalls a
government customer that had hundreds of
low-latency analog cameras feeding a system.
The customer didn't want to change the cameras
because they were customized to begin
with and had a specific, classified purpose.
" We see requirements for analog video
from systems that have been in place for over
20 years, but they don't want to change
them, " Norder says. " It's hard to find someone
who's got an analog-based, off-the-shelf
system. " He continues, " That's the challenge
that manufacturers and integrators will often
have: They'll look at a problem that a customer
is having in the DoD or another government
agency, and they'll find that there are very specific
requirements that are difficult to fulfill. "
What that means for integrators is that
solutions providers must be creative when
working with government clients, remaining
mindful of the legacy systems that are in place.
Put simply, the government doesn't often
buy " new " stuff. The products it does buy, are
technically new; however, they're not necessarily
the current generation, Norder confirms.
That longstanding trend is now butting up
against our post-pandemic world, in which
we've seen a drive to buy more current technologies
to adapt to all the societal changes -
both in how we work and in how we learn.
Arizona-based integrator CCS Presentation
Systems notes a trend of ditching hard codecs
for soft codecs. Government clients only seek
hard codecs for classified areas, the integrator
observes; otherwise, they use Zoom.
Prior to the pandemic, many government
employees went to many different conference
rooms, working to set up their calls and con36
nect
to certain bridges. Now, the integrator
observes, most don't have to do as much
walking around the campus. Instead, everybody
can just jump onto a Zoom call. It's an example
of yielding better, more effective results
by stripping away unnecessary hardware and
embracing software-based solutions.
The Shift to DVLED Displays
Another major trend centers on the shift
to DVLED displays, a development that has
moved in parallel with price decreases.
RGB Spectrum's Norder agrees, saying,
" High-quality displays, [which have seen] cost
reductions, have really driven business. " He
adds, " End users in the government [and] military
groups are leveraging more of this technology
to collaborate - typically, in high-value
decision spaces like command-and-control
rooms for surveillance or strike activity. "
CCS Presentation Systems observes that
a lot of players are looking for government
clients today and seeking DVLED installations.
The integrator notes that its team must pay
close attention to which offerings are Trade
Agreements Act (TAA) compliant or Defense
Information Systems Agency (DISA) certified.
Any non-complaint or uncertified product
cannot be used in government projects.
Commercial Integrator OCTOBER 2022
Government and military end users are
leveraging more technology to collaborate
- typically, in high-value decision spaces.
That leads to another common challenge
integrators face when pursuing governmentrelated
work - working with security officers.
CCS Presentation Systems' Mike Price, a
design engineer, says, " It's very hard to work
with security officers and get them in to find
out what is approved and not approved. " He
notes it's common for them to " ...come back
to [us] and tell us we have to remove something.
Or they've already removed it, and [we]
need to find something else in its place. "
" We've gone back and forth on having to
switch out Cisco to NETGEAR routers and vice
versa, " Price notes. " Having the security and
IT teams involved earlier on in the project has
been a huge help in our designs, [offering
guidance] on what we can do inside certain
rooms. It avoids headaches like these. "
Integrators are paying a lot more attention to
collaborating directly with end users to design
systems that government clients need. Each
agency is different and might have different
requirements for interfaces and other factors.
RGB Spectrum's Norder recommends
patience and persistence with government
clients. " Once you have a foot in the door, the
cost to change for the government is large.
So, you set [your business up] for decent recurring
revenue streams by sticking with it. "
commercialintegrator.com
ALEXEY ACHEPOVSKY/STOCK.ADOBE.COM

http://www.commercialintegrator.com

Commercial Integrator October 2022

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