APG Displays Opens U.S. Headquarters and Expands Its United States Marketing Program at InfoComm 2015

Underscoring its commitment to provide all of North America with specialist AV distribution services and a series of unique wholesale-only rental partnerships, APG Displays, Canada’s leading distributor of video walls and other displays, is announcing its expanded U.S. marketing program and the opening of a U.S. headquarters office and showroom in Orlando, Florida. The announcement was made by APG Displays President David Weatherhead at InfoComm 2015 at Booth #3569 in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

“We’re excited to expand further into the United States marketplace,” Weatherhead said today. “Our new office allows us to better support our resellers and wholesale sub-rental partners. Plus, we will be in closer proximity to key rental and staging customers who service exhibits.”

The new office also puts APG Displays closer to the event market in Orlando. Prospective resellers and sub-rental clients can now visit the space and tour the demonstration showroom before purchasing or renting video walls. “This expansion makes it easier for our clients in Orlando to select displays,” Weatherhead added. “It also simultaneously broadens our reach in the U.S. market.”

At InfoComm 2015, APG Displays is showcasing displays and visual solutions from leading manufacturers like Prysm, Leyard, Orion, and NEC. “Our objective is to offer the U.S. market the same range of solutions backed by an exceptional level of support that our Canadian customers have long come to expect from APG,” Weatherhead said. 

The United States headquarters and showroom are being managed by Dan Ayerst, who noted that, “No other company is better able to meet the needs of resellers who want to sell video wall technologies or rental companies who need access to cutting-edge digital displays than APG Displays. We offer the most comprehensive portfolio of large video display solutions, each with customized accessories, technical support, and full system design and installation services. We’re very excited to bring our services to Orlando and the United States in general.”

The new office is located at 7685 Currency Dr, Orlando, FL, 32809. For more information, visithttp://www.apgdisplays.com/. 

Advanced Brings York University Atrium To Life With Stunning Ultra-Thin Bezel Videowall Installation!

York University’s Schulich School of Business, one of the world’s top business schools, wanted to replace their dim projector screen with a vivid display to compliment the modern aesthetic of their new atrium. To do so, they turned to Advanced, Canada’s leading AV integrator, to envision and install a 4x4 panel 55” LCD ultra-thin bezel videowall in the school’s new space.

“Advanced is honored to have been selected for this prestigious project,” Advanced President David Weatherhead said today. “The school’s former projector screen was not compatible with the room’s natural light. We were able to replace the old system with a videowall that vividly delivers content to students.”

The ultra-thin LCD bezel videowall with a 4mm seam gap is made up of 16 panels to display one, complete image. The content feed, comprised of announcements, videos and photos, is managed from the network operations room. All content is managed and displayed by a BrightSign XD digital media player.

“The ultra-thin bezel LCD videowall is the ideal technology for this space because it is as visually stunning in high ambient light and more cost effective than traditional LED displays,” Weatherhead said. “The videowall’s content distribution mechanism allows administrators to send an image to any monitor from the network operations room. This gives them complete control over the content in real time.”

What’s more, the videowall is easily serviceable due to the unique pull-out videowall bracket system Advanced installed. Since the University runs the display twelve hours per day, it’s important that the videowall can be easily serviced should a failure happen.  “The videowall mounting system allows for increased maintenance flexibility, which is vital when managing a display in a public space,” Weatherhead added.

Known as Canada’s Global Business School™, the Schulich School of Business in Toronto is ranked among the world’s leading business schools by a number of global surveys. Schulich’s MBA program is ranked #1 in the world by the Aspen Institute (a Washington, DC-based leadership think tank) in a global survey that identifies which schools are doing the best job of preparing future business leaders for the environmental, social and ethical complexities of modern-day business. Schulich’s MBA program is ranked #1 in Canada by Forbes.

Advanced Makes Pro A/V Accessible With Its New Web Store!

Underscoring its commitment to providing AV services to professionals across Canada, Advanced, North America’s leading AV integrator, today announced the launch of the “Advanced Store”, a fully transactional web store that provides Canadian customers with professional audio and video products. 

“Advanced Store is focused on professional AV,” Advanced Co-President David Weatherhead said today. “We’re differentiating ourselves by providing highly trained technical sales staff and strong customer service.  With Advanced Store, we are offering customers an accessible and easy-to-use platform to order products directly from manufactures.” 

Advanced Store is serviced by InfoComm qualified sales and customer service staff to ensure that each customer’s most technical AV questions are thoroughly answered. Additionally, Advanced has developed its own training plan to support new hires to the Advanced Store team. “We’re committed to providing the best customer service staff in the AV web business,” Weatherhead added.

The website is fully integrated with Advanced’s logistic systems, allowing for instant warehouse dispatch, live inventory, and automatic FedEx tracking. Plus, all products are offered at discounted rates.

“Many web stores that sell pro AV products don’t get close to integration services. Since Advanced has in-house technical design and installation knowledge, we can provide real value to our web clients,” Weatherhead said. “This website will compliment Advanced’s current site, which offers complete system integration services. We want our customers to rely on us as a one-stop-shop to suit all of their professional audio/visual needs.” 

The store, officially launched today is accessible at store.advanced-inc.com.

APG Displays Strengthens Its North American Presence With New Office in Orlando, Florida

Underscoring its commitment to provide North America with specialist AV distribution services and a unique wholesale-only rental partnerships, APG Displays, Canada’s leading distributor of video walls and other displays, today announced its expansion from Canada into the United States market with the opening of a new 5000 square-foot office and showroom in Orlando, Florida.

“We’re proud to announce our greatly anticipated expansion into Orlando,” APG Displays President David Weatherhead said today. “This new office allows us to better support our resellers and wholesale sub-rental partners. Plus, we will be in closer proximity to key rental and staging customers who service exhibits.”

The new office also puts APG Displays closer to the event market in Orlando. Prospective resellers and sub-rental clients can now visit the space and tour the demonstration showroom before purchasing or renting videowalls.  “This expansion makes it easier for our clients in Orlando to select displays,” Weatherhead added. “It also simultaneously broadens our reach in the U.S. market.”

This past year, APG Displays has experienced record-breaking growth, having signed a North American distribution agreement with Green Hippo for their new AViary Video Processor Range.

“No other distributor is better able to meet the needs of resellers who want to sell video wall technologies or rental companies who need access to cutting-edge digital displays than APG Displays,” APG Displays General Manager Dan Ayerst said today. “We offer the most comprehensive portfolio of large video display solutions, each with customized accessories, technical support, and full system design and installation services. We’re very excited to bring our services to Orlando.”

The new office is located at 7685 Currency Dr, Orlando, FL, 32809. For more information, visit http://www.apgdisplays.com/.

Toronto Transit Commission Gains Critical Control With Massive Rear Projection Cube Videowall Installation By Advanced!

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) selected Advanced to upgrade their Control Room where they monitor Toronto’s four subway lines, 11 streetcar routes, and more than 140 bus routes each day.

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), home to one of the largest Control Rooms in North America, wanted to incorporate the most dependable and innovative videowall display for monitoring Toronto’s public transportation system. To do so, they turned to Advanced, Canada’s leading AV integrator, to envision and install a large 80” Delta Displays Rear Projection LED Cube videowall system that guarantees 24/7 footage of the city’s transportation system for more than 1.6 million people daily.

“Advanced is honored to have been selected from a pool of elite Canadian integrators for this critical project,” Advanced Co-President David Weatherhead said today. “The TTC’s Control Room oversees the safety of 460 million passengers annually. Utilizing dependable technology is essential in order to make sure everything runs smoothly.”

When selecting the ideal videowall for the TTC’s Control Room, Advanced knew it had to be dependable, low-maintenance, and easily serviceable. The Delta 80” Rear Projection LED cube videowall embodies all of these factors; broken into different sections, each low-maintenance rear projection cube displays four separate camera feeds. Other cubes display the transit system and subway lines status allowing control room operators to make critical decisions.  Each cube operates independently, so that if one has an issue, the rest of the videowall remains functional.  The LED light source ensures no lamps need to be replaced over the life of the display, and since Delta is the world’s largest manufacturer of power supplies the power engine is extremely robust and durable.

“Most importantly, the videowall is easily field serviceable, as it provides rear access to the displays without affecting the image presented at the front. Therefore, we can change or repair a cube without affecting the rest of the videowall, which is extremely important in this type of operation,” Advanced Vice President Mark McPherson said today.

Switching out the TTC Control Room’s fifteen-year-old system presented several challenges for Advanced. Firstly, the videowall had to be updated in sections and matched precisely to the concave curvature of the wall, which required custom-tailored engineering. Secondly, the Delta LED rear projection cubes are smaller than the previous systems’, so each new cube had to be custom matched with two sections flanking each side.

In order to install a videowall in a 24/7 mission-critical room, Advanced provided a temporary seamless NEC LCD ultra-narrow bezel videowall during the installation process so that TTC employees could continue to monitor Toronto’s public transport system at any given time.

In addition, Advanced technicians worked through the night to avoid busy transit times, such as Toronto’s rush hour. “Our integration staff was fully briefed on the TTC Control Room’s schedule and unique requirements. All of this work was done in the wee hours of the morning,” McPherson added.

The Transit Control room oversees every vital Toronto Transit System operation. As the largest referrer to 911, Transit Control workers are responsible for maintaining order in an emergency. The room holds 98 employees, 22 per shift, working 24/7 to track the trains.