If you’ve ever wondered what a quarter of a million dollars worth of boxes looks like, then wonder no more.

Room with boxes

This summer CAHNRS IT is coordinating a large refresh of our academic Video Conferencing capabilities, both in Pullman and at our Research and Extension Centers.  With this upgrade CAHNRS students across the state will have access to quality classroom spaces built around remote instruction.

The video systems will be deployed to the following sites:

  • Two in Johnson Hall Pullman
  • Two at the Prosser REC
  • Two at the Wenatchee REC
  • Three at the Mount Vernon REC

Each site will have at least one system designed to receive and originate instruction from, allowing for classes to be delivered to, and from, the REC’s.  The rooms will include a minimum of two displays, will be controlled via touch panels instead of remotes, and will be configured to auto-start at the beginning of class so no action is needed by our students.

People testing a new monitor

We are now testing and configuring each component and organizing them by site.  Once everything is organized and configured it will be freight shipped to to sites, and CAHNRS IT will do a tour of the REC’s helping to configure and validate the functionality of the systems.

Update – 7/31/2017

Shipping 90″ monitors poses a unique challenge.  With individual shipping costs exceeding $1,000 we had to be creative in moving equipment around the state.  Fortunately between the motor pool and U-Haul we found a solution.

The only thing it needs is a sign that says “Mount Vernon or Bust”.

Special thanks to Nick Pappin, Mark Mizoguchi (AMS), and Rob Baker (AMS) for the dozens of hours they have already put into this project.