Austria - The Lindner Seepark Hotel is one of the most luxurious new hotels to open in Austria, located on the shores of Lake Worthsee by Klagenfurt in the south of the country close to the border with Slovenia. The distinctive looking four-star conference and spa hotel, clad in an ultra modern aluminium skin, opened to its first guests at start of July with a grand opening later in the month.

The new premium standard destination hotel has nearly 100 Tannoy loudspeakers installed, including small format CVS and CMS in-ceiling speakers as well as Di5 full-range wall mounted speakers.

Installed by Graz based AV integrators Pichler Medientechnik, the choice of Tannoy loudspeakers was driven by some good previous experience with the products in similar hotel installations, as company owner Mr. Gerhard Pichler explains, "We used Tannoy's CMS 801 and CMS 801Sub in a recent inst

UK - The Ulster Hall, a concert hall and listed building in the city centre of Belfast, has been equipped with a new Electro-Voice XLD line-array PA system by Park Audio Productions, after winning a multi-way tender from companies all over the UK and Ireland.

In 2007, an £8.5 million modernising refit was completed. In 2009, Belfast City Council supervised the selection and installation of a line-array sound reinforcement system, cleverly specifying a level of portability within the design so that elements of the system could 'float' between Ulster Hall and its sister venue, the Waterfront Hall.

A lengthy tendering process culminated in the contract being awarded to Belfast sound rental and installation company Park Audio, regular suppliers to the Waterfront Hall. "At the Waterfront, we've successfully hired in Electro-Voice systems for all sorts of shows, and I've

UK - The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd (LOCOG) is inviting an expression of interest from live events production companies to provide the production services for the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

LOCOG is seeking a highly experienced live events production company who have Olympic, Paralympic or large scale events experience to provide administrative and production services to the Creative Directors of the four ceremonies. The Creative Directors will be recruited directly by LOCOG through a separate process and so creative content proposals are not being sought from potential production companies. The chosen production company will manage and execute the production process from conception to delivery.

Bill Morris, LOCOG Director of Culture, Ceremonies & Education said: "The

UK - Multiform Lighting were recently contacted by Environetics, suppliers of 'Magic Fountain' systems, who were intending to use the company's MultiPac 4-channel DMX dimmer to control fountain pumps and lighting in their new 'Solo Mio' sound activated interactive fountain systems.

Multifoem says that Environetics chose the MultiPac because of its unique range of facilities including Soft Patch, Multiple Curves, Manual Presets, Programable Preheat, Limiter and Inbuilt Crossfades plus Multiform's renowned rugged serviceability.

Magic Fountain systems range from a single pump to 18-pump fountains with multi-coloured underwater lighting. They are supplied to public authorities, theme parks, special needs schools and also lottery winners! Unlike simpler sequentially programmed systems, Magic Fountains analyse the music signal electronically, converting this into DMX data which is

Denmark - On 5 December, the largest cruise liner ever built, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Oasis of the Seas, will set sail on its maiden voyage adorned in a multitude of Martin Professional dynamic lighting and smoke solutions.

The RCCL Oasis, built at the STX shipyard in Finland, surpasses anything that has come before it in nearly every way. Sailing from its home port of Port Everglades, Florida the Oasis is 360m long with room for 5,400 passengers and a crew of 3,000.

Martin secured delivery of the majority of the entertainment lighting and smoke package for the vessel: the company's solutions can be found in the majority of the ship's entertainment areas from the Promenade, ice rink and multiple theatres to a variety of bars, lounges and dance areas.

In addition, Martin is supplying an identical equipment package to the Oasis' upcoming sister ship, the R

UK - The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has congratulated leading theatre consultant Richard on his 50 years of continuous membership.

In the late 1950s, a teenage Richard Brett - studying engineering at University College London - joined the Institution of Electrical Engineering as a student member. Richard went on to become a Fellow of the IEE in 1986 after gaining many years of engineering and management experience as a theatre consultant. Now called the IET - formed in 2006 by the amalgamation of the IEE and the Institution of Incorporate Engineers - the Institution has recently congratulated Richard on his 50 years of continuous membership.

In the intervening years, Richard left university and undertook one of the last Graduate Apprenticeships offered by the BBC and then worked on planning the new colour television studios coming into service in the mid 1

UK - ASL Safety & Security has introduced Vipedia, a life-safety rated networked DSP audio system. Already veterans of the voice alarm market, in particular for the rail and airport sectors, Vipedia is ASL's first product for the professional audio industry and has been specifically developed to bridge the gap between pro audio networks and life safety systems.

Vipedia is an advanced Dante-enabled, voice alarm-compliant audio routing and distribution system. It conforms to all standards for voice alarm systems while providing audio quality and digital networking capacity suitable for pro audio installers working on major stadia, airport and rail terminus projects.

The system is modular; option cards plug into the back of the unit providing various processing, control and interface functions. The software and hardware is partitioned for 'life-safety' and 'non-life safety' funct

Denmark - Danish company Neets, who manufacture control systems for audio visual equipment, has developed a new power control - 1 relay box. This new power control offers the possibility to save power in installations and help the environment. At the same time, using the power control in your installation minimizes the risk of fire, the company says.

Installed with a Neets Control System, the relay box is designed to cut power from the projector, amplifier, DVD and other audio-visual equipment when the devices are not in use. The power control can cut power from two units at the same time. This gives you the possibility to cut off the expensive standby power.

(Lee Baldock)

USA - The Texan Dome at South Plains College (SPC) revealed its newly installed Meyer Sound UPQ-1P loudspeaker system at this year's graduation ceremony.

A replacement of the aged equipment purchased from the University of Texas in 1971, the Meyer Sound system was part of the college's modernisation efforts to draw its athletic prospects' attention to superior facilities that also include a fitness complex built in 2002. "This is our biggest recruiting tool," says athletic director Joe Tubb. "Once we get them here, it's the people that they like. But, you have to get them here first."

The new system also presents a giant leap in the sound quality for public gatherings at the venue, including livestock judging contests and other award ceremonies. "This facility is the showplace for our community and it was due an upgrade like this," says Dr. Kelvin

UAE - One of the newest architectural marvels of the Middle East, Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi, was recently completed with the launch of the first Formula 1 race held at the new circuit built around the hotel. Yas Hotel features the world's biggest LED project to date, with control via RDM (Remote Device Management) protocol by an advanced lighting control solution provided by e:cue lighting control.

The main design attraction of this five-star, 500-room, 85,000sq.m complex, is the curvilinear grid-shell covered with over 5,300 diamond-shaped steel panels, containing nearly 5000 RGBW LED fixtures, each controlled by e:cue's Control Server through RDM protocol. 32 e:cue Butler XTs (RDM capable) provide bidirectional communication between the LED lighting on the grid-shell, and e:cue's Control Server for status monitoring of LEDs. The system sends status reports to building management

UK - The Performance Pavilion is one of the highlights of the new £86 million Medway Campus in Gillingham, which substantially extends the facilities of the MidKent College, officially the county's largest provider of education and training. Construction of the Performance Pavilion presented the ideal opportunity for design and installation specialists Stage Electrics to integrate a Cat 5 infrastructure and RSS digital audio system at the heart of the venue, reaping significant advantages in terms of versatility and cost.

"From the very beginning, MidKent College was able to make meaningful economies," says Darren Beckley, business development manager at Stage Electrics. "The whole building could be wired with a Cat 5 infrastructure, which carries audio, lighting, video and data, which considerably reduced their cabling costs. The choice of the compact RSS M

USA - XS is an exclusive club located in the Encore Tower at luxury casino and resort Wynn Las Vegas. Conceptualised by nightlife entrepreneur Victor Drai, and described as the "gold standard where no extravagance is spared," XS features a sophisticated design that includes a 10ft rotating mirror ball chandelier encircled by a Martin lighting rig of MAC 250 Krypton and MAC 250 Wash luminaires.

Lighting designer for Wynn Resorts is Tom Kowalczuk who has the job of creating a variety of lighting designs across the Wynn property, from club to casino to convention room.

The elegant atmosphere at XS caters to a clientele who are looking for a more relaxed, intimate environment, but, as Kowalczuk explains, that doesn't exclude a dynamic lighting system.

"For XS, we really had to sell the moving lights," he says. "The owner wanted the club to be subdued, s

UK - Known as The Warren, the Metropolitan Police Sports Club in Bromley is housed in a magnificent late Victorian building set in spacious gardens, where its main function room is expected to serve a number of different roles.

When interior designer Colin Stone (of Stone Me!) was brought in, it was with the task of upgrading a typical 1980's social club interior - by creating an ever-changing environment which it would be equally comfortable hosting formal conferences, banquets and wedding receptions to full-on entertainment for up to 600 people.

"This was a very dated function room which resembled a big top inside," remembers Stone. "The client wanted it to be more contemporary - sufficiently warm for the majority of uses but with elegance and opulence to enable it to host wedding receptions.

"The logical decision was to keep the environment neutral and

USA - The Church of Redeemer in Baltimore, Maryland was erected in 1858 and abounds with that ornate architecture that brings with it a reverb time of well over a second. Intelligibility is less than optimal, whether acoustic or with the portable PA system used in previous years.

As the church's congregation has grown, the 400-seat venue has seen increased demand, including the addition of contemporary services to complement their traditional ones. As Joseph Schwartz of Baltimore-based HP Electronics explains, that demand eventually led to the installation of a new sound system centred around a pair of Community Entasys line array loudspeakers.

"With both traditional and contemporary services now being held in the chapel, the need for a versatile, high-quality sound system became clear," says Schwartz. "We had originally been discussing the idea of a small line

UAE - The newest architectural marvel of the Middle East, YAS Hotel in Abu Dhabi, was recently completed with the launch of the first Formula 1 race held at the new circuit built around this hotel. YAS Hotel is the world's biggest LED project to date, controlled through RDM protocol by an advanced lighting control solution provided by e:cue lighting control.

The main design attraction of this five-star, 500-room, 85,000sq.m complex, is the curvilinear grid-shell covered with over 5,300 diamond-shaped steel panels, containing nearly 5000 RGBW LED fixtures, each controlled by e:cue's control server through RDM protocol. 32 e:cue Butler XTs, RDM capable, provide bidirectional communication between the LED lighting on the grid-shell, and e:cue's control server for status monitoring of LEDs. The system sends status reports to building management and automatically adjusts the intensit

Australia - CAMCO and its Australian distributor Group Technologies have been chosen as the power amplifier supplier for the primary AV systems in the new Melbourne Convention Centre.

The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) is the first and only '6 Star Green Star' environmentally-rated convention centre in the world, and Australia's largest and most versatile convention and exhibition facility.

As such, one of the primary objectives for the complex is to showcase pioneering technology which enhances a world-class convention centre encompassing 32 meeting rooms of various sizes, a Grand Banquet Room and a state-of-the-art Plenary that can be sub-divided into three self-contained theatres.

The extensive audio-visual installation draws upon different models of power amplifier from the German manufacturer CAMCO to provide a super-flexible operational functionality

UK - The only entertainment and installation technology show in the North of England, PLASA Focus: Leeds 2010 has launched its website with news of a near sell-out show. The success of the first ever PLASA Focus event this year has already seen next year's event fill two exhibition halls and now you can check out the brands bringing their new technology to Leeds, on Tuesday 27 - Wednesday 28 April 2010 at www.plasafocus.com/leeds

April 2010 will be the second time that venue owners, consultants, show designers, producers and technicians working on the North's leading events, installations and venues have a dedicated event where they can meet and find the new technologies to use in future facilities and productions.

Over 100 manufacturers from all over the world will be on show and the free Education and Learning Programme that runs alongside the exhibition brings

Germany - In the new Rudolf-Harbig Stadium, the city of Dresden - and its third division football team, SG Dynamo Dresden - possesses one of the most modern and attractive stadiums in Germany. The arena was opened in mid-September after slightly less than two years' construction, and boasts a capacity of over 32,000 spectators, a VIP area capable of accommodating just under 1,200 guests, and a customer-friendly infrastructure.

The new building, erected on the site of the old Dynamo Stadium in Dresden's Volkspark, cost around 46 million euros - a budget that left the planners and organizers plenty room for a state-of-the-art stadium design. Already, barely two months since the opening of the new arena, their decision has been vindicated, as the stadium has not only proved a magnificent setting for SG Dynamo Dresden's home games but also impressed FIFA authorities enough for them

Turkey/USA - Following the recent launch of their latest version 1.0 IQOYA V*MOTE audio-over-IP codec with SIP software, which is part of the IQOYA family of IP audio hardware and software solutions, Digigram has announced the first success story of a V*MOTE/V*CALL system by a Turkish broadcaster in Istanbul, the Power Radio group.

V*MOTE is an audio-over-IP software solution for remote contributions - usually a journalist in the field reporting back to a studio. By simply installing V*MOTE onto any laptop PC, it becomes a professional "contribution" codec. Advanced ergonomics make it extremely simple to set up and operate, enabling the journalist to establish a connection with a newsroom or studio at the touch of a button.

Power Radio's technical director, Okan Celen, confirmed that ease of use was one of the biggest selling points for him. "We needed a simple

UK - Orange's new customer experience store in Milton Keynes has become the first retail installation of the new Samsung Ultra Thin Bezel LCDs videowall.

Integrators Fujitsu worked with videowall experts PSCo to deliver a 4x4 videowall using the latest LCD technology from Samsung. The 46" screens each measure over 4m in width and nearly 2.5m high and customers in the store can interact at close range with the screens.

The interactive Mexican wave, designed by London based digital content company Poke is a feature that improves the customer experience. Visitors to the store have the opportunity to be videoed on a phone instore, doing their best Mexican wave, which is then uploaded to the wall.

Fujitsu integrated the screen as part of a large installation in the store which included a comprehensive EPOS system, training area, game playing area and a 70" Samsung displ

Royal News - The Queen has been entertained by a host of stars at the first Royal Variety Performance to be held in Blackpool since 1955. The town's illuminations had lit the way as the royal party made its way to the Opera House in the Winter Gardens. The charity event's host, comedian Peter Kay, welcomed the Queen to "the entertainment capital of the world". The show's performers included Lady Gaga, Bette Midler, Whoopi Goldberg and Britain's Got Talent winners Diversity.

Blackpool's Opera House, which seats 2,900 people, was used to host the show in the 1950s era of acts such as Morecambe and Wise, Arthur Askey and George Formby. The annual event was first staged in 1912 and the proceeds go towards the Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund. The show's staging in Blackpool comes in the wake of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing being staged at the resort's Tow

USA - Giorgio Armani's newest flagship store on New York's Fifth Avenue has been wrapped in a custom Martin LED display designed by design firm Speirs and Major Associates (SaMA). The four-floor glass box store is located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 56th Street in the heart of the shopping district, prime space for a flagship architectural fashion store.

Speirs and Major have worked on other Armani flagship stores, notably Armani Store Ginza in Tokyo. "The Tokyo and New York stores are very much about the impression of the Armani brand through an architectural form," states SaMA director Keith Bradshaw. "On Fifth Avenue we developed the idea of wrapping the glass box in an LED screen, effectively extending the impact of the store out onto the street." The animated facade is double-sided and is visible from inside the store at the restaurant level.

To

Canada - CAST Software of Toronto has announced the arrival of Vivien2010 - Virtual Event Designer, available now for download for members only.

Vivien is an intuitive, 3D event design and sales software designed and built by CAST Software (makers of wysiwyg) for the full spectrum of event professionals who work in the special events and meetings industry.

By making use of its wide array of tools, onboard Wizards, a library of more than 3000 proprietary industry-specific objects and textures, and the ability to import external files in a variety of formats (including Google SketchUp), individual or multiple users from all areas in an organization can become more professional, more productive and more profitable.

Through the use of Vivien's accurate 3D images, event planners, designers, venue sales teams, caterers, furniture rental specialists - can design winning proposals,

UK - London Light Production Services' relationship with Rose Bruford College is continuing after supplying them with a new ETC Ion console for their lighting labs and is set to follow up this sale by providing the lighting tutors with initial training, which in turn will allow the college to offer students day-to day support. London Light has committed to offering the students more in-depth support as and when they require it.

Hansjörg Schmidt, lighting design programme director at Rose Bruford, says, "We are very happy with the Ion, which was purchased for use by students on the BA (Hons) Lighting Design course at Rose Bruford College. Students use the desk in our specialist lighting labs to create small scale projects in a range of applications, from theatre lighting to product launch and concert lighting projects. The console is also used to serve college productions,

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