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In Houston and the surrounding coastal areas in southern Texas, the threat of tropical storms and hurricanes often places the entire region on high alert. The region's transportation and emergency management agencies require constant, prompt and accurate information in order to ensure public safety. In both normal and crisis situations, the timely flow of real-time data is critical to enable multiple agencies to collaborate effectively - and RGB Spectrum equipment facilitates that collaboration.

The Houston TranStar consortium combines four government agencies under one roof to provide transportation and emergency management services to the greater Houston region. The facility is staffed by a team of traffic and emergency management professionals from Harris County, the City of Houston, and the Texas Department of Transportation. Serving as the first center in the nation to pioneer a combined emergency management approach, Houston TranStar monitors traffic incidents on a large, edge-blended projection video wall with the resolution to display all relevant visuals.

In addition to monitoring events, Houston TranStar personnel use the wall to facilitate a variety of vehicle dispatch requirements, such as debris or hazardous material removal, expediting communications with emergency vehicles, and selecting the most direct routes to accident scenes.

RGB Spectrum's MediaWall^® 4500 processor is the heart of Houston TranStar's video wall, with the ability to simultaneously display traffic cameras, maps, satellite images, and various feeds from state and federal agencies. In addition, the MediaWall 4500 processes video from a large number of network servers, which in turn receive over 1700 camera feeds from Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and southern Louisiana.

In terms of functionality, the MediaWall 4500 provides Houston TranStar with the ability to display up to18 inputs simultaneously - each in its own window. Any input can be positioned and scaled as required, up to the full dimensions of the wall. If a key problem area within the region needs to be highlighted, special "presets" enable staff to instantly change the window layout. For example, if an evacuation is required due to a hurricane, the team can monitor all evacuation routes and make critical decisions regarding traffic flow and road closures.

For the video wall installation and integration, Houston TranStar selected Whitlock, a national solutions provider with long-standing AV expertise. Whitlock, in turn, selected RGB Spectrum for the facility's mission critical video processing needs.

"RGB Spectrum video wall processors have proven their reliability during critical 24/7 operations," commented Steven Surber, Account Manager for Whitlock. "We have never had a single issue with RGB Spectrum processors related to reliability or service. The ease of operation through the system's built-in GUI, coupled with the product's ability to change the on-screen layout at any time with almost instantaneous switching, provided the performance characteristics we sought."

For mission critical applications such as those at Houston TranStar, RGB Spectrum's full line of video wall products excel in both multi-monitor and projected wall environments. Key factors include an embedded processor (non PC-based), redundant power supply option, and fully real-time architecture. Coupled with features such as edge blending, HDCP support and RGB Spectrum's unique MultiPoint Control Room Management System (MCMS), reliability and flexibility are just some of the reasons why customers continue to select RGB Spectrum products.