Onelan installs signage at Sheffield Uni

Paul Milligan, 30 June 2009

Onelan has installed a digital signage network at The University of Sheffield to ensure improved communications across six floors of the Information Commons (IC) building of the educational institution.

The ongoing objective of the building is to ensure the student facilities in the IC remain at the leading edge of student study, comfort and well-being. The IC is now one of the most popular areas on campus with over 1,300 study spaces, 500 fully networked PCs and a library with over 100,000 volumes of reference.

The brief for the digital signage was for it to have a flexible means of showing content and to become a general information point to everyone using the building. The IC is spread over six floors so communication required special consideration. A-v manager Ian Knowles wanted a system that would display multiple channels of content with both local and remote control capability. Local browser-based text updates existed, and that this function would be actioned by authorised users and terminals within the six IC levels.

In addition, all the new a-v equipment needed to network with existing infrastructure and previous installations. The system chosen comprised 18 Century NTB units from Onelan, combined with 18 Samsung LCD monitors to provide a network of remote and locally controlled display sources.

The IC building serves many needs of the student population including the CILASS on level 1 – two fixed space ‘collaboratories’ purpose built for inquiry-based learning.