A well-known, global technology solutions provider, Diversified, knew they needed a standardized yet rapidly deployable AV solution to update the AV technology in place throughout a prominent American managed health care insurance company with worldwide locations. The health care company is steeped in an almost 200-year history of serving its customers in an exemplary manner. Their existing system of hanging wall displays and stowing equipment was slow and no longer cost effective. Additionally, it required extensive labor and coordination of trades such as electrical and construction, further driving up costs.

Needless to say, the new solution they sought had to be ADA-compliant and handicap friendly. But the stringent list of requirements didn’t stop there. The client did not want to redo rooms or make extensive changes to the existing room layouts. In short, they sought a solution that worked and blended with what they already had. Furthermore, they wanted to be able to mount displays independent of wall locations for immediate ease-of-use and possible adjustments or changes in the future.

This end customer needed flexibility and ease of ordering—because the solution was intended to be a lasting one, not an interim fix. And they did not want to force employees including AV and IT professionals to undergo extensive training. In a nutshell, they needed a technology partner and furniture supplier who could provide the best solution within these narrow parameters and wanted that supplier to provide the easiest way to order, install, and flexibly rearrange furniture if and when necessary.

Diversified and their end client came to Salamander Designs with a well-considered vision of their needs. They expressly wanted to know how Salamander might supply a standardized-but-flexible design with easy selection for the different options to streamline specifying, ordering and installing. The company explained their basic rollout needs and design ideas for different cabinet options with differing screen sizes and capabilities.

Salamander Designs proposed low profile wall cabinets to support integrated video and audio equipment and provide rack mounted component storage. The basic design was standardized on a single furniture platform to allow multiple hardware options depending on the size of the room or use-case. In addition, and very important, the recommended units allowed each office to select the finishes to match existing décor and custom match existing furniture.

Salamander Designs offered three different core base-line cabinets (55, 70 and 98 inches), all with vertical rack mounts for equipment storage. This arrangement provided great flexibility to modify in future, so if the integrator or end customer ordered a cabinet for a 70-inch monitor, for example, it could be reconfigured onsite in the future to accommodate a larger screen if necessary.