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Swindon Academy

High bright projection with zero maintenance

Businesses and Educators have been quick to recognise the benefits of laser as a light source and Swindon Academy is one of the first establishments in the UK to deploy the new technology. With a lamp life of 20,000 hours and zero maintenance, operational costs are dramatically minimised; a compelling proposition in resource stretched organisations.

The Challenge

TWith a large performance hall with tiered seating, Swindon Academy was looking to replace its existing projector in order to achieve higher brightness and enhanced quality projection whilst ensuring they were future-proof against evolving technologies such as 4K resolution and 3D content. Reducing their operational costs was equally important, having suffered with frequent and expensive lamp replacement on their legacy projector with maintenance made all the more arduous with the projector located high up close to the ceiling.

The NEC Solution

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Recent rapid development in alterative light sources has brought major benefits to the latest projector ranges from NEC Display Solutions and James Tuohy, Project Manager – A/V & IT Solutions at integrator Playfords was quick to recognise that these benefits would directly meet his client’s requirements at Swindon Academy. “I recommended the recently launched PX laser projector from NEC. With zero maintenance and 20,000 hour lamp life, this solution would immediately solve many issues suffered by Swindon Academy including high operational costs and access for maintenance.”

Swindon Academy was looking to achieve brightness in excess of 10k lumens to ensure a vibrant picture is enjoyed by audiences. Laser technology achieves a brighter, purer, more intense image compared to lamp technology and at a much reduced power consumption. By utilising the stacking capability of the PX Series, brightness of 12,000 lumens is achievable.

“Having the two new NEC laser projectors installed within a stacked configuration, our client is benefiting from far greater brightness and image quality meaning all students in the large hall can clearly see the content being displayed. Also, should a failure occur, they still have the option to run a single projector meaning the hall will never be out of use,” says James Tuohy.

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With Swindon Academy operating on a large campus on two separate sites, monitoring and control of digital assets is a demanding task and Tony Mazzotta, ICT Senior Technician at Swindon Academy was seeking a solution which would help reduce dependence on his ICT staff. Once again, NEC was able to provide the solution through its NaviSet Administrator, a software tool enabling control of all settings to be managed remotely including set up of automatic scheduling.

“It took a considerable amount of time to set up the hall each time it was needed for presentations, ensuring the projector was switched on or off and assisting users in operation of the rather confusing remote control. The NaviSet system allows us to prep equipment in advance and to set daily timers to switch the projector off when it’s not needed. The remote control on the lectern is very simple to use.”

Using NaviSet Administrator, ICT staff will receive email alerts should there be any problems with the projector operation allowing potential issues to be fixed without causing unnecessary downtime.

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The Result

“The overall cost of ownership reduction will be significant over time. The Academy’s previous projector was very expensive to maintain with lamps lasting only a couple of months and costing c.£500 to replace,” says James Tuohy.

Tony Mazzotta sums up the success of the installation, “What we have achieved has made a huge impact on staff teaching and learning, the end solution with the stacked NEC Projectors, the image and the brightness is out of this world. When external people come in and see the setup, the first thing they say is ‘WOW’.”