Updated 2/20/2020
Control room video walls are often deployed in mission critical environments that require a level of sophistication and functionality above that of a standard digital signage video wall. It is important to choose a solution that has a proven history of success in these environments, so you can focus on the emergency at hand without worrying about the capabilities of your video wall.
Dependability
Control center video walls are expected to have as little downtime as possible, and in many cases, none at all. A disruption during emergency situations can seriously affect the ability of video wall controllers to respond accurately and effectively. Video wall solutions that require proprietary hardware are susceptible to long repair times and extensive delays if something goes down, which isn’t ideal for a command and control room.
Software solutions such as Hiperwall can mitigate these risks. Hiperwall offers fault tolerance with two controllers working simultaneously. If one controller goes down for any reason, the other takes over seamlessly which means zero down time. Since Hiperwall is a 100% software solution, it can be run on any off-the-shelf hardware. If you have a severe hardware failure, simply switch in any available PC or display to continue operation.
Ease of Use
Control room environments often have multiple operators with various levels of technical expertise. It is important for your LED video wall to have a simple and intuitive user interface that will reduce training time and allow for quick changing of content as needed. As this is the point of control between you and your video wall, it is important to choose a solution that makes sense and is not overly complicated.
A solution like Hiperwall is ideal because it offers a drag and drop user interface that is easy to use and easy to learn.
Preset Content Mapping
An emergency operations center or police command center may be responsible for a responding to several different kinds of emergencies. Often times these emergencies require unique content to be displayed on the wall in very specific layouts. A solution that allows you to save these individual content layouts will be an invaluable time saver in crisis management situations.
A solution like Hiperwall allows you to save content layouts as environments that can be reopened with a click of a button.
Access Control
Control rooms are secure environments that require a level of administrative control over user permissions on a video wall and tracking of actions taken by various users. Establishing user accounts and permissions applied to individuals or groups of users is extremely important in maintaining control over your video wall.
Hiperwall offers a powerful user authentication tool that provides robust user access control, tracking, and detailed authorization levels.
Collaboration
Large natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Katrina affect large areas and can encompass multiple cities or counties. In these cases, collaboration between different command centers is crucial for effective crisis management. Your video wall solution should allow you to share data with other wall installations, whether they are in a different city or a different country.
Hiperwall facilitates this important collaboration through HiperCast for faster, better decision making.
Remote Control
In-house operators aren’t the only ones who will need to control your video wall during emergency situations. Remote video wall control from laptops or tablets for responders and commanders in the field can provide the most up-to-date information from those who are on scene.
HiperOperator is a feature of Hiperwall that allows remote management of your video wall from laptops or mobile devices such as Windows/Linux tablets.
As you can see there are many factors to consider when selecting a video wall solution for your control room. Not all solutions have the necessary power and flexibility to properly run in a demanding command center environment, so make sure your solution hits these marks.
Want to see how Hiperwall works? Click below to get a free demo of our software.
