Established in 1960, Escuela de Administración, Finanzas e Instituto Tecnológico (known as EAFIT University) is a private university in Colombia’s second-largest city, Medellín. When founded, the university was a school of management and finance and aimed to educate professionals seeking to overcome new challenges in technology, management and finance. Today, EAFIT University has grown immensely, including additional campuses in Bogotá, Pereira and Llanogrande Rionegro. Today, EAFIT University is home to nearly 12,000 students taking part in various academic programs, including 25 undergraduate programs, 70 specialty programs, 47 masters programs and six doctoral programs. EAFIT University is led by Claudia Restrepo, the first woman to assume the position of principal of EAFIT University in six decades
Era Electrónica, a leading audiovisual integrator, was selected to enhance connectivity in the principals board room. Headquartered in Medellín, Era Electrónica is focused on enhancing connectivity through reliable, cutting-edge video conference technology.
“We required a solution that could integrate seamlessly with the existing Cisco system,” said Edwin Mesa, instrument and control engineer for EAFIT University. “EAFIT University is utilizing a Cisco-based solution for video conferencing and collaboration. We wanted to take advantage of the Cisco equipment that was currently installed while providing the ability to connect with third-party video conferencing platforms, such as Teams and Zoom.”
Juan Carlos Quintero, infrastructure architect for EAFIT University, added, “We wanted to ensure that the Cisco-based console could communicate directly with third-party video conferencing platforms. This would allow us to have a single point for video conferencing and eliminate the requirement for multiple alternatives to host a video conference.”
Together, Era Electrónica and EAFIT University standardized Lightware Visual Engineering’s MMX4x2-HDMI-USB20-L, a compact matrix switcher, which features four HDMI inputs and two independent HDMI outputs. The MMX4x2-HDMI-USB20-L supports USB 2.0 connectivity to empower easy switching across four USB peripherals and four hosts.
Lightware, a Cisco Solutions Plus Partner, enables users to expand the number of inputs and outputs of a system, extend the connectivity over longer distances, and empower the user to natively control the entire solution via the Cisco Touch10 and Webex Room Navigator. Lightware adds intuitive controls to the Cisco Touch10 and Webex Room Navigator and enables a consistent user experience to deliver dynamic controls in the same way in every room.
“The most critical characteristic of Lightware’s MMX4x2-HDMI-USB20-L is the ability to connect seamlessly with the existing Cisco-based system,” said Mesa. It was a very important challenge to overcome. We talked to many manufacturers and none of them fulfilled the promises. Lightware delivered on their promises.”
Quintero added, “Lightware’s MMX4x2-HDMI-USB20-L enabled us to integrate multiple sources into a single platform. The boardroom features three displays, including an interactive touchscreen, multiple audio sources and video conferencing cameras. The MMX4x2-HDMI-USB20-L allows us to integrate multiple sources into a single, unified platform to create a seamless solution.”
The final result was a success overall. Lightware’s MMX4x2-HDMI-USB20-L created a simplified user experience for EAFIT University. As a result, the simplified system enables assistants, secretaries and the principal to access the system and control devices within the boardroom. Quintero explained, “Carlos Otero [Director of Sales, Lightware Latin America] provided us with support for the installation. Our experience was excellent and, so far, the system has performed flawlessly. The MMX4x2-HDMI-USB20-L has eliminated technical support calls by providing an intuitive, easy-to-use interface. Now, the system is very transparent for the end user. The faculty and staff can access devices through Cisco’s Touch10 and the experience is seamless.”
As a Cisco Solutions Plus Partner, Lightware has created configured packages designed for small to large meeting spaces. Lightware bundles seamlessly integrate with Cisco Webex and can be easily configured utilizing the Room Configuration Wizard. The plug-and-play system comes with all the necessary components to get the system up and running in no time.
Additionally, Lightware has created bring-your-own-device (BYOD) packages to add camera sharing capabilities. Lightware’s configurator software simplifies room customization for many rooms at scale while providing a consistent workflow for the end-user via Cisco Touch10 and Webex Room Navigator.
