Multimedia communication is as integral to the academic world as it is to the business world. At Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 100% of the students and faculty own and use laptops. Professors teach from computers, displaying notes and materials using MS PowerPoint, the Internet, and other software programs. Students use computers during class to make presentations, to take exams, or to complete other projects. With so many people involved in classroom presentations. Wake Forest started looking for a simplified, uniform platform for teachers and students alike to navigate their technology. They found the answer anja control systems, designed and programmed by Wake Forest University and installed by Long Communications Group of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Ninety-eight percent of the 140 media-centric classrooms on campus use the same Panja touch panel graphics and logic. Each room is served by a Panja Axcess controller that integrates the various electronic components including computers, VCR, DVD, CD, document camera, video/RGB switcher, video projector and light dimming into a unified control system. While the exact mix of resources in each room may vary, every room is operated in the same way. Once a person learns how to control one room, they know how to manage all the others.

Integrating the rooms with Panja systems makes economic sense as well. An automatic 1:00 AM shut-off feature (which can be overridden for late-night sessions) extends the life of expensive video projector lamps. In the future, all the rooms will be connected to a Panja WebLinx Administrator Web Server, allowing centralized management, preventative maintenance alerts, and network-based service of all the systems.

"The key to the implementation's success has been the uniformity of Panja control system design," states Aubrey Bowman, Videoconference Project Manager for Wake Forest University.

MIT's Building 9, state of the art presentation and distance learning center is comprised of three classrooms and two control rooms, all are interconnected. The classrooms can facilitate multimedia lectures, audio video conferencing and distance learning utilizing recording and document imaging for the lectures and presentations. The amphitheater (pictured left) has a control room, several video monitors, a large projection screen, several video cameras including an auto-tracking camera, a ceiling mounted video projection system, and a lectern with a built in color LCD touch-screen control panel. The control room is completely automated. Equipment can be operated by a technician in the control room or by a presenter from the control panel. The other two flat-floor classrooms have similar features to the amphitheater (above) and share a control room (pictured left). Both rooms have ceiling mounted microphones to optimize sound during videoconferences. All three rooms are linked through a large audio and video matrix router. Information can be sent from one room to another. Classes, presentations and videoconferences can be recorded. The control rooms have broadcast quality equipment for recording, editing and playback of data, lectures, meetings or discussions.

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