The media technology in the Fresenius Forum, Bad Homburg, was extensively redesigned and renewed in autumn 2021.The media technology planning was the responsibility of macom GmbH and was implemented by Amptown System Company GmbH.Fresenius is a global healthcare group with products and services for dialysis, hospitals and outpatient medical care.In more than 100 years, the company has developed from a Frankfurt pharmacy into an international group and one of the largest listed companies in Germany.Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA forms the umbrella of the Fresenius Group with the divisions Medical Care, Kabi, Helios, Vamed and DigitalTechnology.The holding company is based in Bad Homburg, Hesse, where the Fresenius Forum EK2 can also be found.The media technology in this 19 × 19 meter event and conference room was showing its age and was extensively redesigned.The revitalization was successfully completed in mid-October 2021.>> back to overviewmacom GmbH was responsible for planning the media technology under the leadership of Philip Eschenfelder.After winning the tender, the delivery and installation of the media technology components was the responsibility of the Amptown System Company GmbH branch located in Mörfelden-Walldorf, south of Frankfurt.The first point of contact on the part of ASC Frankfurt was Master of Engineering Damian Mucko, who was responsible as project manager.ASC employee Lars Daubermann was involved in the project as a sales specialist.The driving forces at Fresenius Digital Technology GmbH, which is responsible for operating the forum, were Jörg Hagemeyer (Architect Multimedia Technology, Global Infrastructure - Network Engineering & Operations / VIP Support) and Til Bitsch (Analyst Multimedia Technology).During the renovation in autumn 2021, the normally well-frequented Forum EK2 was temporarily closed.The people responsible for the revitalization were faced with particular challenges due to a tight time window in connection with the effects of the pandemic, the chip crisis and interrupted supply chains and a lack of materials.>> back to overview"Forum EK2 is the largest event space on the Fresenius campus," explains Jörg Hagemeyer, who has worked for Fresenius for more than two decades.In his professional capacity, Hagemeyer is not only responsible for Forum EK2, but also, together with Til Bitsch, for the media technology in all conference and meeting rooms distributed on the Fresenius campus."Technology must be functional and should not be conspicuous in conference and event rooms," is Jörg Hagemeyer's credo.And so both the forum and the other rooms at Fresenius that are relevant to media technology offer an exceptionally tidy appearance."The revitalization of Forum EK2 was urgently needed after many years of use," states Jörg Hagemeyer.“Among other things, older projectors were replaced by a large-format LED wall.In the meantime, there were considerations to set up a projection screen made of LC displays, but these were quickly discarded, since a homogeneous image display is important in our house.All presentations at Fresenius have a white background, and if LC displays were used, different shades of white would probably have been visible.Detached from this, the self-illuminating LED wall cuts a much better figure today when sunlight falls through the glass roof than the projectors used in the past.”>> back to overviewAn eye-catcher in the Fresenius Forum EK2 is an LED wall measuring 9.76 × 2.74 meters, which has replaced a previously used front projection and with a pixel pitch of just 1.2 mm for razor-sharp images and an accurate display of the finest details, even with small ones viewing distances.128 (16 × 8) modules of the type Upanel II 1.2 from Unilumin are used, which are joined together without gaps and display a homogeneous large image (2 × 4K full wall) without disturbing bars.The modern RGB-SMD-LED technology allows wide viewing angles, ie there are no noteworthy color distortions even when viewed from the side.Fanless operation ensures a pleasantly quiet room, and the power consumption (total output max. 2 × 8,320 watts, typical output 2 × 2,752 watts) is low.Access from the front is possible for service purposes.Automatic calibration also guarantees a module ensemble that is perfectly matched in terms of brightness and color.All installed panels come from one production batch.Should an LED tile fail, the defective module can be replaced during operation with spare panels stored at Fresenius.Two 4K-capable (max. 3,840 × 2,160 pixels at 60 Hz) Novastar SD 4000 E are used as master controllers for the LED module ensemble, whose output signals are transmitted to the video wall via fiber optic lines.There, two Novastar CVT4K-S single-mode fiber optic converters convert incoming signals from fiber optics to copper cables (CAT).The two converters are located on the side of the substructure of the LED wall, where they can be accessed via a practical 19″ pull-out after the cover has been removed.The substructure for attaching the LED modules was custom-made on behalf of ASC and uses brackets from peerless-AV (AV ST660 type) for the panels.The heat is dissipated passively using the chimney effect: fresh air can enter the lower area of the support structure and the heated air is discharged upwards, where it can escape through a perforated grille.With modern LED panels, the heat generated during operation is primarily radiated to the front, making additional fans obsolete.In terms of brightness, the LED wall in the Fresenius Forum is operated at around 45 percent of the possible total output.The substructure, which is only 55 cm deep (dimensions including paneling 10.90 × 4.98 meters) made of square steel tube supports, is covered with black acoustic fabric and looks like a monolithic block.A large area of insulating material (Texaa Vibrasto 55) was installed underneath the LED modules, which benefits the acoustics in the forum and thus speech intelligibility.Access points (Aruba AP-505RW) are hidden in the upper area of the structure.These are used for the wireless operation of Microsoft Surface 2-in-1 tablets (Pro 7+ for Business), which are used to control the entire system and are also used for the three10 X AV/IT software.On the LED wall in the Fresenius Forum EK2, mostly wide-format images or equally scaled content can be seen at the moment - for meetings with people present virtually, for example, the video images of external participants as well as the current content.According to Jörg Hagemeyer, much more “action” will take place on the LED wall in the future, in which the three10 X software is not entirely uninvolved.>> back to overviewIn the Fresenius Forum EK2, the tasks of a media server as well as the functionalities of a media control are performed by AV/IT software called three10 X. The mastermind and managing director of the associated three10 GmbH, founded in December 2011, is Andreas Michl, who has already successfully developed multimedia trade fair applications and has developed software solutions for events and shows.The three10 X Windows software makes it relatively easy to create digital experiences for image ads.Central elements for this are the media file pool X-Manager, e.g.B. for photos, videos, PDF files, 3D data, live inputs, IP streams, and the X-Creator operating software."The basic idea is to get different sources in the forum as easily and flexibly as possible onto the LED wall and the displays," says Jörg Hagemeyer."The possibilities are immense, although you should deal more intensively with the system in order to really be able to fully exploit the multitude of options." Thanks to multi-touch support, the basic operation of three10 X is largely intuitive - if you know how to use a smartphone , will quickly grasp the basic functionalities on the clearly designed GUI of the software platform.For new projects, a so-called "experience" is created in three10 X, an individual usage scenario in which media from the media file pool X-Manager can be used.These media are available after starting an experience in the X-Creator, can be removed from containers and dragged into the project.So-called chapters, which are made up of different slides, ensure structure.Events can be clearly structured in this way.The software can be used for linear presentations with a slide-after-slide process, but it can also be used in an agile manner: content from players can be accessed in real time and scaled as required, which promotes interaction with the presentations of the speakers."Typical areas of application for three10 X are all scenarios in which large electronic display areas are to be displayed quickly and easily," summarizes Andreas Michl.“three10 X combines a video mixer, a media player and digital asset management in one powerful software.Additional hardware from the professional AV world can be connected without any problems and can be controlled by three10 X as well as control the software itself.”>> back to overviewIn addition to the LED screen, two Sony 65″ screens (FW-65BZ40H HDR-BRAVIA Professional Display with 4KUltra HD resolution) mounted on the side of solid double columns are connected to the three10-X software in the Fresenius Forum EK2.These can be folded out by means of an electric motor (using Future Automation brackets of the type PSE90-CCW and -CW "motorisedarticulated TV Wall Mount") and are used for different purposes.The contents are variable;at events, the presentation is usually displayed on the two monitors.Three preset positions can be called up on a touch panel;However, the displays can also be swiveled steplessly by up to 90 degrees.The display equipment in the forum is completed by a trolley designed by ASC, on which two preview screens (Sony FW-55BZ40H) are mounted pointing diagonally upwards.The wooden construction also contains heavy-duty castors hidden behind rails and a triangular storage space between the monitors, which includes the associated electronics (receiver, etc.).The latter can be easily connected to various floor boxes, which are distributed at strategically sensible positions in the forum.The tanks are equipped with Schuko sockets, network connections and an Extron twisted pair transmitter DTP2 T 202 FB, with the help of which DisplayPort, HDMI, control and analog audio signals can be transmitted over distances of up to 100 m via shielded CAT cable .>> back to overviewWhen it comes to signal transmission, the focus is on AV-over-IP.The solution of choice for the forum is Extron NAV, which enables low-latency, high-quality streaming of video, audio, Ethernet, and USB 2.0 signals over Ethernet networks.The equipment with Extron products is correspondingly extensive - Extron NAV SD 501 decoder, Extron NAV E 501/101/101 DTP encoder, NAVigator hardware system manager, which was installed in the control room and in a separate technical room, among other things.The new Extron IPCP Pro IP Link Pro control processors are also used, which despite existing delivery difficulties could be obtained with the support of the German Extron sales department.The user interfaces are clear: "We received a CI concept from Fresenius that specified, among other things, the colors to be used - however, we at ASC developed the layout and structure of the control under the premise of making the handling as easy to understand as possible," explains ASC project manager Damian Mucko.>> back to overviewUpon entering the Fresenius EK2 building, visitors are first greeted in a foyer equipped with a wall-mounted Sony 75″ screen (type Sony FW-75BZ40H) on a tiltable peerless AV ST660 universal wall mount.The current stock prices of Fresenius and Fresenius Medical Care can usually be seen on the display - thanks to the connection to the network, however, welcome messages or the agenda of an event taking place in the forum can also be displayed.The playback of live images from the forum is also possible."We can route everything anywhere," Damian Mucko summarizes the network concept.Accordingly, various conference and meeting rooms in buildings EK1 and EK3 are also equipped with Extron NAV-compatible products.This provides the opportunity for comprehensive networking on the campus.The implementation is to take place in the foreseeable future with the involvement of the IT managers at Fresenius.The option of giving service technicians from ASC remote access to the installation is also being considered: "Many problems that may arise with media technology during operation can nowadays be solved remotely," says Jörg Hagemeyer.>> back to overviewIn addition to meetings of all kinds, the Fresenius Forum EK2 is also used for particularly demanding meetings, which is why the best possible quality with 4K resolution was required in terms of image display.As already mentioned, the large LED screen is able to display two 4K content side by side in native resolution.In the case of presentations, for example, the latter can be delivered from laptops using the Barco ClickShare systems (CX-30) available in the forum.In addition, 4K-capable AW-UE100 PTZ cameras with 1/2.5 type 4K MOS sensors from Panasonic are used in the forum, which are installed both in a recess under the LED wall and on the back of the room above the control panel are.Among the IP transmission solutions supported by the AW-UE100 camera is NDI (license-free protocol from NewTek), which is used in the Fresenius Forum EK2 for signal transport.NDI transmits 4K video at speeds of up to 250 Mbps (Full HD video at up to 100 Mbps), enabling high-quality, low-latency live video transmission over a single LAN cable.NDI encoders/decoders from Birddog (4K HDMI, up to 4K p60) are used in the Fresenius Forum."Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there has been virtually no conference room on the Fresenius campus that is not equipped with a camera," reports Jörg Hagemeyer.“Hybrid meetings are part of the conference agenda and were also explicitly taken into account as part of the media technology planning.It's rare these days that all the participants in a meeting are in one room together - someone always joins in from the outside."Although the entire media technology infrastructure is designed for the transport of 4K moving image content, hybrid meetings work with 720p, as Fresenius Microsoft Teams is the remote communication medium of choice.A streaming option to the Internet is available in the forum, but is currently not being used.There are also recording options for AV content.>> back to overviewWith a square floor plan, parallel walls and a glass pyramid roof, Forum EK2 poses a challenge from an acoustic point of view. The walls have slotted wood paneling, the glass roof can be optionally covered with fabric sails, and the low-pile carpeting was relaid on the occasion of the revitalization - nevertheless, the Forum has a concise, short reverberation, in which defined shatter echoes mix.So it is important not to unnecessarily excite the room and to direct the waves coming from the PA system as precisely as possible onto the audience areas – ideally, with the direction of projection specified by the LED wall, without pointing at the rear wall of the room, including the large control panel that belongs to it aim."The simulations have shown that high-quality products must be used in the forum," says Damian Mucko.“Due to its construction, the forum is not a very simple room, which is why the use of beam steering loudspeakers made sense.We calibrated the entire sound system in such a way that comparable sound experiences can be heard everywhere in the room at the same levels - so it's no quieter in the back than in front and doesn't sound any different either.It feels like the sound always comes from the front of the LED wall for everyone present, regardless of individual seating positions.The beam for the rear area of the forum ends about one and a half meters in front of the control panel, so that there are no disruptive reflections.Furthermore, we have ensured that there is no feedback when the speaker is directly in front of the loudspeakers.”The tools of choice in the Fresenius Forum EK2 are high-quality loudspeakers from the Meyer Sound portfolio: Behind an acoustically transparent textile covering, Meyer Sound CAL 64 self-powered column array loudspeakers are hidden to the right and left of the LED display area, the lower ends of which are level the lower edge of the screen.Two concealed Meyer Sound USW-210Ps with double 10″ equipment provide support in the low-frequency range. These are particularly suitable for installations in tight spaces and demonstrate their advantages particularly when music is to be played back.The speaker systems do the latter with flying colors – powerful with a differentiated sound and relaxed even at higher levels.>> back to overviewThe fact that the loudspeaker systems are also convincing when it comes to reproducing (live) speech is not least due to the first-class input signals, which are supplied, among other things, by two Shure MX418 gooseneck condenser microphones mounted on a lectern.Digitally working wireless systems from the ULXD series also come from Shure, which can be operated with handheld and bodypack transmitters, with headsets and lavalier microphones being available for the latter.The associated antennas are mounted invisibly on the LED substructure in the forum and cover the entire space from the podium to the outer door.The fact that the ULXD systems from Shure were chosen may also have something to do with the fact that the Dante network protocol is used in the forum for the digital distribution of audio signals.The Shure ULXD4Q receivers are factory-equipped with appropriate interfaces (primary/secondary port).Thanks to the Dante network, external sound engineers can easily digitally connect the audio consoles they have brought with them to the forum.Appropriate settings are stored in the controller, which grant complete freedom of action without restrictions due to presettings.A Dante connection is also available on the stage, so that active wedges can be used to monitor the participants during panel discussions.The audio signals are processed by a Biamp Systems Tesira SERVER-IO AVB with various I/O cards, to which a Tesira CONNECT TC-5 AVB network switch is connected.>> back to overviewFor conference applications, 30 wireless intercom stations from the new Televic Confidea FLEX G4 Wireless series (with Mike PLM401F gooseneck microphones, transport cases and spare batteries) are available in the Fresenius Forum. In addition to their attractive design, they are particularly easy to use.Since no cables have to be laid thanks to wireless communication with a Confidea WAP G4 access point, the intercom stations are always ready to go with different seating or table configurations.The tidy visual impression without cables lying around is appreciated in Bad Homburg in order to avoid potential tripping hazards.Linked to the Televic system is a Bosch DCN system for interpreting tasks (four channels via Dante, choice of headphone signals on the Televic microphone units).Booths for interpreters can be rented if required.Live translation is quite often requested as multilingual sessions are regularly held in Forum EK2.Two Bodet LED time display systems (on the Netsilon 7 time server) installed above the control room window indicate the time and time of speech to speakers.>> back to overviewThe control room is located at the back of the forum and is separated from the hall by a large pane of glass.Technicians sitting in the control room can follow what is happening acoustically via two active Genelec 8040B two-way studio monitors.On the director's desk is a Panasonic AV-HLC100 live streaming production center that combines vision mixer, PTZ camera control and audio mix in one compact body.In contrast to hard touch panel switching, the image mixer enables soft crossfades if desired.The device accepts NDI and receives the output of the Panasonic PTZ cameras on this basis.Logos, subtitles and other graphic refinements can be inserted into the video signal via the AV-HLC100.Furthermore, the production center has an integrated recorder, which is currently not used in the forum.External recording of AV signals is possible in the Fresenius Forum EK2.On the side of a 19″ rack in the control room are CUE Perfect Cue systems for presentations, the controls for the Bodet time displays, Extron NAV products and USB extenders as well as four outsourced ports for the USB inputs of the presentation computers on which conveniently insert USB sticks brought by speakers without having to enter the technical room.Two additional 19″ racks are installed under the control desk and, in addition to connector panels, contain additional Extron NAV units, a Bosch DCN controller and several Shure ANI interfaces.A KVM system designed by ASC with products from Extron from the USB Extender Plus series ensures convenience: There are four PCs in the technical room on which Fresenius employees can store digital content for presentations in the forum.The fact that it can be operated with just one keyboard, mouse and monitor ensures a clear overview.The KVM system can also be used to access the Bosch DCN server and the computer required to operate three10 X.Speaking of comfort: An Extron TLP Pro 1230WTG ultrawide tabletop touchscreen is available in the control room for controlling various media technology and room functions.>> back to overviewThe Fresenius Forum EK2 is used on at least three out of five working days in pandemic-free times and is therefore not just a representative location for special occasions, but is firmly integrated into everyday work at Fresenius.In order to ensure smooth processes, events in the forum are always accompanied by technicians working for Fresenius."The cost of events organized in the forum varies depending on the type of event," reports Jörg Hagemeyer."It often happens that we only hand out microphones and make a few basic settings in the morning, after which we no longer have to worry about what happens next."Jörg Hagemeyer is of course pleased that the forum project in the Hessian medical technology and healthcare company was successfully completed within the planned time frame thanks to the great commitment of everyone involved, despite the challenges mentioned.The "Architect Multimedia Technology" is more than satisfied with the cooperation with ASC and reports on a maintenance contract that was concluded with the well-known system integration specialists.When asked how the newly introduced media technology has proven itself since it was put into operation, Jörg Hagemeyer answers with a smile: "We only actually get feedback on the technology from those responsible for the meeting if something doesn't work - so everything is fine if you don't hear anything about how this is the case with the revitalized Fresenius Forum EK2.”>> back to overviewThe rather unusual name three10 is derived from the binary number 101010, which is represented by the number 42 in the decimal system.Readers of the cult novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy know straight away that the fifth Catalan number is nothing less than "the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything else".In this context, it is fitting that users repeatedly associate three10 X with the Hollywood blockbuster “Minority Report”, in which actor Tom Cruise interacts with digital content in a virtuoso manner in his role as Chief John Anderton.>> back to overview>> www.fresenius.de>> www.macom.de>> www.amptown-system.com>> www.three10.eu>> back to overviewYour email address will not be published.Required fields are marked with *.(Mon - Thu 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., Fri. 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.)