BACKGROUND

A leading player and pioneer in the Pro AV industry since 1981, Kramer Electronics are a widely established brand that has customers in 90 countries, working across numerous sectors including government, education and healthcare.

An award winning company, Kramer Electronics has consistently turned the nice-to-have into a necessity and has been at the forefront of analog, digital and IP-driven solutions in an ever-evolving Pro-AV industry; helping companies to deliver their message through audio and visual technologies that amplify what they want to say.

PROBLEM/OBJECTIVE

Previously, Kramer Electronics was using several different manufacturers to compliment their business strategy, however, this was usually achieved through a combination of availability and distribution rather than through building core relationships. Previously, Kramer Electronics’ training centre had 5 different networking devices split across three manufacturers.

While most of their previous experiences had generally been solid, as time went on it became clear that it wasn’t keeping up with more modern devices, affecting the speed and efficiency of their services. In particular, their training center was designed in order to encourage a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy as well as starting to handle SDVoE (Software Defined Video-over-Ethernet) products – this meant that having the best wireless capabilities to have desirable conditions for demonstrations was essential.

SOLUTION

With that many different devices in one place, ranging from iPads, iPhones, laptops, Chromebooks and Android tablets, as well as the training centre’s own devices such as a touchscreen teaching desk with three interactive pods and an 84-inch display which creates a collaborative classroom, it was imperative that it all ran efficiently. To do this, they needed a way of routing the video signal from each one of the pods to every display in the room and a way of helping their products shine in the best light possible.

With this in mind, Kramer Electronics reached out to NETGEAR and we were able to provide a range of products that matched their ambitions and helped them to create the experience that they desired. We provided them with an M4300 switch that replaced their two previous switches while a WAC540 AP was also installed.

NETGEAR’s M4300 is a stackable platform that is specifically designed for server and audiovisual installations and was a perfect fit for Kramer Electronics needs. It’s ability to scale from a 8-port 1G PoE+ up to a 96-port 10G or 24 port 40G switch means that it offers edge to core stacking and unrivalled ease of use, allowing Kramer to concentrate on what they do best without worrying about the tech that powers it.

The accompanying WAC540 AP is ideal for a high-density environment such as Kramer Electronics’ training centre, where a multitude of devices are used as it can support up to 600 users while still providing a speed of 3Gbps with consistent coverage.

Products Installed

1 x M4300-96X (ProAV 1/2.5/5/10G Modular Switch)

3 x APM408P 8 Port PoE line card (24 ports of PoE ports)

5 x APM408C 8 Port Copper line card ( 40 Copper ports)

1 x APM408F 8 Port Fibre line card (8 fibre ports)

1 x WAC540 Wireless Access Point

RESULTS

With this new infrastructure, Kramer Electronics has been able to incorporate a solution that’s solid and much faster than their previous one. Its flexibility and ability to expand also falls in line with Kramer Electronics desire to potentially grow their training center over the next few years.

It connects them much faster to WiFi and has allowed them to manage everyone’s device, resulting in fewer concerns when they have large attendances at their training centers. They are now also installing SDVOE products that require a 10G network rather than products that didn’t support such a high video resolution but only required a 1G network.

In the short-term, it has allowed them to view the room in a different light and utilize the space in a much more dynamic way, whilst also giving them ways of improving plans for future demonstrations and training sessions in that area. A more solid structure has also allowed Kramer Electronics to help sell their products, as they are being shown off in the best possible environment, indirectly impacting them in a very beneficial way for the business.