Commercial Integrator March 2022 - 27

a rack room, with all the necessary cabling
fed to/from the control room across the
hall. Originally, CTI's plans called for seven
racks, which included some vacant space
to allow future additions. However, with the
installation of a large, powerful air handler
to keep temperatures cool, the team had to
find a way to get down to only six racks.
" Using our experience, we were able to
offer some suggestions on how best to solve
that problem, " Wile states. " We were able to
work collaboratively with both the consultant
and the end user to offer suggestions that
would keep them on budget and on time. "
In this application, the network is built
around M4300 Series switches. Of the
six racks in the rack room, each one has
a NETGEAR switch at its top to control
the traffic.
ports that'll do 10Gb and 40Gb uplinks.
We even have the larger spine switch that
has 100Gb uplinks. "
Much as CTI works hard to develop
strong relationships with its customers, the
integrator also maintains robust vendor
partnerships, including with NETGEAR.
" CTI has been a partner of ours for many
years, " Henkel says. And part of that bond
might lie in each organization's willingness
to pitch in to deliver an outstanding
result. " People are finding out left and right
that our response is awesome, " Henkel
enthuses. " We will work with you before
the project to figure out what switches you
might need. We have people on staff who
know all this...who do this for a living...who
do hundreds of projects. " Wile underscores
the point, saying that NETGEAR has
a strong support system for configuration
and commissioning and that the company
makes its engineers readily available.
Relocating the Racks
No project is without its unexpected challenges.
It's how those difficulties are surmounted
that illuminates the effectiveness
of the integrator. For Subaru Park - and for
Mandell specifically - a big priority was to
get all the racks out of the control room due
to the undesired noise their presence had
caused through the years. To achieve that
result, Mandell secured access to a former
IT closet and determined that it would be
commercialintegrator.com
Commissioning and Support
As a matter of course, CTI invests considerable
time in system configuration and
commissioning. According to Wile, " The
commissioning process and the configuration
of these systems is very important.
And we are incredibly fortunate that the
people we have on our staff that do that
work...a lot of them have what we refer to as
'gameday experience.' " By that, he means
that members of the CTI team have worked
in production capacities in stadiums and
arenas. Therefore, they know precisely what
Mandell and his team must accomplish.
CTI understands that the Union's video
systems are mission critical - and that
means the integrator must be able to
remotely connect, at a moment's notice, to
resolve a problem. Utilizing BeyondTrust
(formerly known as Bomgar), a remotesupport
provider, CTI can dial in through the
network and directly connect to Mandell's
systems. Fortunately, however, it's exceedingly
rare that such a problem occurs.
Long-Term Relationship
Wile makes clear that, whether for the
Union project or for any other, CTI strives to
expunge stress from the process. " Someone
like Carl is spending literally millions
of dollars, " he observes, " and people are
expecting him to have all the answers. "
That, Wile says, is where CTI adds its value.
" We make it easy for him to do his job. "
From Mandell's perspective, the key is
for an integrator to instill confidence. " You
want to know that you can call somebody
up on the phone, have a relationship with
them and be confident that you're going
to get an answer back, " he explains. He
hastens to add that, when he texts Parker
or Brodie, he knows he's going to get an
answer, and quickly. For the Union, that is
at the heart of its long-term partnership -
indeed, its friendship - with CTI.
And that partnership is already paying
business dividends for CTI. Subaru Park is
about to undergo a substantial audio upgrade,
of not only production audio but also
stadium sound reinforcement. Rather than
sending the project out for bid, Mandell
and the Union have decided that CTI is the
best possible partner. " I like to establish a
relationship with one company - not bring
a bunch of companies in, " he explains. And
the success of the video project speaks for itself.
Therefore, Mandell continues, " As long
as they can meet my budget and my goals,
and [we] have that relationship, why not give
[CTI] repeat business? "
Wile quotes a guiding question for CTI:
" How can we help? " With that service ethos
guiding it, the integrator is building its legacy
one long-term customer at a time. CI
Based on the quality of CTI's work in the video-centric project, as well as the
integrator's commitment to fostering an outstanding client relationship, the Union
selected CTI to execute a complete audio systems overhaul in the months ahead.
MARCH 2022 Commercial Integrator 27
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Commercial Integrator March 2022

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