To support this collection of technology, FIU received a hefty $20 million donation from the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which just celebrated it 13th year and features celebrity chefs like Martha Stewart.
Zoran Visnjic, senior AV sales engineer for AVI-SPL and the project manager for the Chaplin School, says FIU invested in heat and sound protection for its restaurant technology.
“With our stoves, someone using the mic had to try to overpower the noise,” he says. “We use special mics to cancel the noise on the stove hoods. We also use domes to protect our cameras from heat. We had to adapt those cameras to maintain broadcast quality even though they are protected by the domes.”
Visnjic adds that one of the reasons for the project’s success was the thorough communication between integrator and end user, as well as vendors, during the planning stage. “The brainstorming phase lasted a year,” he says. “We met with the customer and different manufacturers and found out their conditions and requirements. It was one big family … communication is definitely key to keep everyone on the same page.
One of the biggest challenges during installation, though, was getting all of the various technology pieces to talk to each other.
“We should have started our programming on the same day we started building the project,” Visnjic says. “This usually doesn’t happen. Then you end up with shortcuts and things aren’t programmed correctly or done well.”
Visnjic adds, however, that the challenges of this unique higher education project were met and well worth it.
“The ROI for this project is more about exposure and raising awareness,” he says. “It’s more for personal gain, to show off the school and expose it to the rest of the world to see what’s out there.
“It’s nice to see your baby growing up and start running,” he says.
See the complete list of 2014 CI & TD Integration Awards winners.
