USC Standardizes Hybrid & HyFlex AV Solutions Campus-Wide

Case Study

University of Southern California

A Universal Audiovisual Solution that Enables HyFlex and Hybrid Learning Spaces

The Client

The University of Southern California is a world-leading private research institution based in the heart of Los Angeles, California. Home to nearly 50,000 students and 4,700 full-time faculty, USC offers a diverse learning experience and serves as a global center for arts, technology, and international business.

Ranked 19th among more than 1,000 public and private universities, USC is one of the most sought after institutions in the world – Focused on building an enterprise that provides endless opportunities for collaboration, problem solving, community support, creativity, curiosity, and more, USC’s desire for innovation remains a top priority.

Play Video

The Challenge

With notoriety comes high expectations. In today’s modern age, performance, technology, and experience all play a role in how one perceives you or your institution.

Being one of the top-performing universities in the world, USC was faced with the challenge of upholding its premier reputation in spite of the many restrictions that were in place due to Covid-19.

Establishing a unified communication standard across campus was a plan already set in motion by USC’s IT team, but because of the pandemic, the team had to pivot their design in order to accommodate a safer learning experience for students, faculty, and staff.

Before the terms hyflex and hybrid became a part of one’s daily conversation, USC knew their renovation had to be inclusive of both in-person and remote learning technologies – Ultimately, creating a universal hybrid/hyflex standard across campus where students have the ability to learn from anywhere in the world.

With more than 300 spaces needing to be refreshed across campus, finding the right AV partner that could provide the best services and support was a must-have for USC.

The institution required extensive resources, both physical and technical, and also required a partner who they could trust to get the job done right – the first time. Given those requirements, USC selected Spinitar to resolve their challenges, while providing the right audiovisual solutions and support services for the betterment of their institution.

The Approach

Once the project was awarded to Spinitar, the AV integration company worked closely with USC’s director of learning environments, Joe Way, who was tasked with designing a standard hybrid/hyflex solution throughout campus. Having traveled the world to experience first-hand the latest technology solutions, Way knew what needed to be done in order to accomplish a modern solution for the institution.

In need of additional assistance, USC partnered with Spinitar to procure the necessary equipment, install the solutions, and provide the labor needed to successfully complete the massive overhaul.

Knowing what type of solutions were included in USC’s design, Spinitar turned to their manufacturing partners, Crestron, Shure, and Zoom (to name a few) to provide the necessary equipment needed to achieve hybrid and hyflex enabled spaces throughout.

Aware of the number of rooms needing to be upgraded, Spinitar deployed their top industry-trained and certified AV installation technicians and programmers to USC’s campus to integrate, program, and support technology in 300 rooms across campus.

Spinitar was a natural partner given the scale and capability, proximity, history, and a combination of many things that allowed them to be the ideal partner to help us in our journey.

Raj Singh

Manager, AV/IT Design & Engineering at USC

The Technology

Spinitar was aware of current issues related to existing technological infrastructures. Prior to beginning the project, existing equipment lacked the technical capabilities required for company growth and expansion. Although current accommodations worked for smaller teams, a number of technical issues existed. Microphones and insufficient computer hardware caused individuals to become frustrated and inundated with mindless tasks. Furthermore, existing equipment and sporadic technical components created frustration amongst leaders.

In collaboration with Happy Money, Spinitar used their years of AV integration experience and design expertise to create highly functional yet sophisticated and innovative technological solutions. This gave Spinitar the creative flexibility to implement a design geared towards Happy Money’s specific business needs.

Since Happy Money was moving into a brand new office building and was the first company to occupy the space—it was easier for Spinitar to create designs with specifications geared towards company objectives and goals. With a heavy emphasis centered around automated functionality, Spinitar attempted to make the interface as straightforward as possible.

The following technologies were implemented throughout the new Happy Money office space facility:

19 Huddle Rooms

Each of the rooms contain a 65” mounted Samsung commercial grade display monitor.

Creston Mercury devices with built-in VoIP functionality were used with swivel mounts integrated directly into the table.

Cameras were then attached to the bottom of displays and USB/HDMI extenders were used for connectivity from the Mercury devices at the table to the displays on the wall.

2 Interview Rooms

Each room received a 55” Samsung wall mounted display.

Creston Mercury devices with built-in VoIP functionality were used with swivel mounts integrated directly into the table.

Cameras were then attached to the bottom of displays and USB/HDMI extenders were used for connectivity from the Mercury devices at the table to the displays on the wall.

All Hands Area

The All Hands area consisted of a 4x4 video wall which utilizes (16) 55” LCD monitors mounted to form a 165” diagonal display with (8) dedicated electrical circuits.

A 24 port network switch and (1) POE+ injector facilitates the networking side of the equipment and is well hidden inside a credenza rack underneath the video wall.

The audio consists of (4) JBL speaker line arrays which were floated from multiple I-Beams along with a DSP for line level mixing, zone control, and equalization.

The lighting is made up of (4) Martin LED lights mounted to lighting pipes attached to I-Beams in front of the stage.

An in-wall transmitter is provided to allow for quick local display of video and a nearby in-wall video transmitter allows for plug and play of a local video source. By distributing this feed back to the MDF and into the NVX matrix, this allows the feed from the All Hands area to be routed to any other signage displays in the building. This includes any display on a separate floor or even the video wall in the Reception area.

A white Crestron 10” touch panel is mounted in-wall nearby to provide control of the whole system for on/off functionality, volume, microphone selection and lighting control.

Additionally an external iPad was provided which mirrors the in-wall touch panel and allows for wireless control from anywhere in the room.

Large Conference Room

The conference room was outfitted with an 82” wall mounted Samsung commercial LED display and a Vaddio 30x PTZ USB camera.

A Shure MXA910 in-ceiling microphone was used in conjunction with a Crestron sound bar allowing for VoIP calling and echo cancellation.

A white 10” table mounted touch panel allows for control of systems on/off, microphone muting, audio volume control, camera adjustment and VoIP call dialing.

Experience Center

The Experience Center is a two way combinable room.

Each room consists of a 2x2 video wall which utilizes (4) 55” LCD monitors mounted to form a 110” diagonal display.

USB PTZ cameras were installed next to each display to allow for video conferencing sessions.

The audio is made up of (1) Shure MXA910 in-ceiling microphone which is pole-mounted to the ceiling along with (8) Crestron pendant speakers in each room.

When combined both rooms act as one utilizing all (16) speakers and both Shure MXA910 microphones in conjunction with each other.

Each video wall mirrors the other depending on which room you select a source from.

The system is controlled by (2) Crestron 10” wall mounted touch panels, one for each side of the space.

Additionally an external iPad was provided which mirrors the control panels and allows for wireless control from anywhere in the room.

3 Mix Training Rooms

An 82” wall mounted commercial grade Samsung display was used along with Creston Mercury devices with swivel mounts integrated into the tables. The Mercury simultaneously acts as both the speakers and microphone while an HD Huddly GO camera is attached to the bottom of the display in the front of the room.

An Intel NUC with bluetooth capabilities functions as the processor in these spaces and acts as the Zoom Rooms hub.

1 Game Room

An 82” wall mounted commercial grade Samsung display was used along with (8) Crestron pendant speakers.

This area functions as one of the main controllable zones for background music which utilizes a Sonos Connect box on the network, one of four distributable background music sources that can be changed on the fly throughout the building.

1 Reception Area

The reception area contains a 2x2 video wall which utilizes (4) 55” LCD displays mounted to form a 110” diagonal display.

A nearby in-wall video transmitter allows for plug and play of a local video source. By distributing this feed back to the MDF and into the NVX matrix, this allows the feed from the Reception area to be routed to any other signage display in the building. This includes any display on a separate floor or even the All Hands video wall.

A 10” in-wall touch panel is used for control to turn the wall off/on, select a source and control volume levels for the speakers.

1 IT Lab

The room consists of (4) 40” wall mounted commercial grade Samsung displays and (4) HDMI input wall plates for local plug and play at each display.

1 Coffee Bar

A 55” wall mounted commercial grade Samsung display was used in the area. This location also acts as part of the distributed digital signage destinations and can be controlled wirelessly via an iPad.

Digital Signage

A total of (13) 65” wall mounted commercial grade Samsung displays were used along with 2 NVX Encoding/Decoding card frames and (16) NVX box decoders located at each digital signage location (This includes the All Hands Space, Reception area and Coffee Bar).

A total of (4) BrightSign media players are used for signage content management along with a Mac Mini, while (4) mobile iPads act as the main interface for control of the signage locations.

The system was set up with user friendly “pick and poke” routing for simple management of all content. Simply pick a source and then pick a destination to route the desired content. If a display is off it automatically turns on. A scheduling system can also be put into place to have all displays turn on and off at specified times of the day.

Distributed Audio

A total of (112) speakers were used along with an (8) channel QSC digital amplifier and a (12) channel Biamp DSP.

Audio systems consist of (5) audio decoder cards, (1) paging microphone station, and (4) Sonos players.

There are a total of (7) speaker zones that can be controlled from touch panels on the 3rd and 4th floors with optional passcode protection.

Sound Masking

A well engineered Biamp/Cambridge sound masking system is used in the 4th floor open office areas to allow for noise management between the call centers and private office areas.

The technological infrastructure was made with the help of several top notch manufacturers, most notably including several products from:

The Solution

USC wanted a solution that was not restrictive in any way. Being a large campus with a number of different spaces, including classrooms, conference rooms, a library, auditorium, coliseum, and more, USC wanted a solution that would fit all of the AV molds.

Type of Room Upgrades

Over 300 general use classrooms
Over 100 conference rooms – Offices, group study spaces
Large auditorium
Lecture hall(s)
Traditional building(s)
“And every other space that needed an AV system to connect to the globe.” Said Joe Way, Director of Learning Environments at USC.

USC created a hybrid/hyflex standard that’s inclusive of cloud services, software services, AV solutions, IT solutions, and more.

Type of AV Solutions Installed

Zoom Room(s)
Crestron UC-ENGINE
Crestron Flex – Video Conferencing System
Crestron XiO Cloud®
Shure IntelliMix Room
Shure Ceiling Array Microphone

Due to the constant shifts in education during the pandemic, USC was focused on providing a holistic classroom experience that was easy to use, incorporating features like, automation, full voice control, easy accessibility, closed captioning, and high-quality audio and video components.

The Results

USC is backed by state-of-the-art modern technologies that allow students and faculty the ability to communicate and collaborate flawlessly from anywhere in the world.

With their hybrid and hyflex enabled spaces, the USC enterprise has successfully invested in a solution that’s built to grow with their institution, while allowing teaching and learning to happen simultaneously across campus, and in any space.

Through Spinitar’s added customer success services, cloud services, and managed services, USC staff can rely on the support of their partners when managing and updating their AV infrastructure now and in the future.