LBL’s conference rooms see nearly constant use, yet most aren’t equipped with modern (never mind cutting edge) technology to support presentations, collaboration, and discussions. IT has never supported conference rooms outside of Building 50, and several years ago during budget cuts, stewardship of the technology for even these rooms was turned over to various Divisional owners.
Starting in October, this will change. IT is refreshing the core-technology in 50A-5132, 50b-4205, and the Director’s Conference Room with current generation, high-brightness projectors and user-friendly controls. For the first time (even though this technology has been around for quite a while), the helpdesk will be able to provide remote support to conference rooms, including resetting projectors, changing inputs, checking lamp life, and more.
All three rooms will have basically the same control system, so users of these rooms should feel comfortable in all three. 4205 will, for the first time in years , have a built in projector and sound-system. All three projectors should be capable of clearly projecting slides without closing the windows or dimming the lights at all but the brightest times of day.
Our goal is to demonstrate that a consistent, reasonably priced technology suite can make conference rooms work better. We’ll be working with division business managers and other interested parties as we see how it goes to encourage adoption of the same suite in new and refreshed conference rooms throughout the hill.
More as we get closer to completing the refresh in 50…