AVM acquires Impact to create “AVM Impact”
05/12/12

On December 4th, UK audio visual companies AVM and Impact announced that they would be merging their operations.  AVM Impact will be the UK’s largest provider of audio visual and video conferencing solutions and will manage the most extensive and established alliance of audio visual companies across the world.

Commenting on this milestone event, Edward Cook, CEO of AVM Impact said, “AVM Impact will benefit customers by combining each company’s strengths and by taking advantage of economies of scale that have not yet been seen in the UK audio visual market.  We trust that all customers will enjoy the resulting and unparalleled pool of both offsite and onsite AV service engineers and benefit from the merged entity’s superior purchasing power. Furthermore, AVM’s existing customers will gain access to Impact’s market leading Facilities Management Software solutions while Impact’s existing customers will gain access to AVM’s True Collaboration “meeting space” solutions and AVM’s Creative Services for digital signage.  It is also our aim to use our scale to develop ever more sophisticated engagement models and standards based solutions to meet the needs of the global communications and IT industries with which we partner extensively. I am very excited about the prospect of delivering a whole new level of service, which includes genuine global capabilities, to customers and partners in our market.”

“We believe that AVM is a natural and excellent choice for Impact’s evolution” says Thomas Doyon, Executive Chairman of Impact Europe Group AB. “It will enable the company to be a more interesting partner to customers and have the strength to deliver larger and more complex solutions globally.”

AVM Impact will be headquartered in Sunbury, Middlesex with additional offices throughout the UK.

AVM Impact Recognised as Cisco TelePresence Video Master Authorised Technology Provider Partner in the UK
19/11/12

AVM [now AVM Impact] announced today that it has achieved TelePresence Video Master Authorised Technology Provider (ATP) status from Cisco. This designation recognises AVM Impact as having fulfilled the training requirements and program prerequisites to sell, deploy and support Cisco TelePresence Video products and solutions at the Master level.

 

The Cisco TelePresence Video Master ATP Program is focused on providing a new way of working in which everyone, everywhere can be more productive through face-to-face collaboration with Cisco TelePresence Video solutions. A Cisco TelePresence Video Master ATP Partner has the greatest depth of knowledge and skill in deploying the entire Cisco video endpoint portfolio, which comprises single- and triple-screen Cisco TelePresence units, custom TelePresence suites, and infrastructure solutions. Cisco TelePresence Video Master ATP Partners possess deep networking and advanced Cisco Unified Communications capabilities, regional to global coverage, and a strong and mature services practice.

 

Edward Cook, CEO at AVM Impact said “AVM Impact has worked very hard to achieve this high level of expertise and we are pleased to be recognised by Cisco for our continued commitment to the latest TelePresence solutions. This achievement not only underlines AVM Impact as a market leader, it also shows our dedication to offering customers world-class collaboration solutions.”

 

“The Cisco TelePresence Video Master ATP Program is designed to enable partners to take advantage of the tremendous market opportunities ahead—not only in the telepresence space but also in the overall collaboration market,” said Richard McLeod, Senior Director of collaboration for worldwide channels at Cisco. “As a Cisco TelePresence Video Master ATP Partner, AVM Impact has made an investment in the sales, technical and life cycle services capabilities needed to deliver the industry’s most comprehensive and interoperable Cisco TelePresence Video portfolio.”

            

The Cisco Authorised Technology Provider (ATP) Program is part of the Cisco go-to-market strategy for emerging technologies. The program helps Cisco to define the knowledge, skills and services that channel partners need to successfully sell, deploy and support an emerging technology.

The Global Presence Alliance Joins Wainhouse Team at UC+C Summit in Singapore
29/10/12

*This project was carried out by Impact prior to the acquistion by AVM.

GPA constituents will speak on managing the collision path between the adoption of Agile Working methods and the Unified Collaboration platforms of today’s modern corporations

The Global Presence Alliance (GPA) will participate in the Wainhouse UC+C Summit in Singapore on November 28-29, 2012. Kaiesh Vohra, Vice President of Enterprise Mobility for ESCO, will represent the GPA by presenting and serving as a panelist regarding global UC standards and managed services. Vohra is a regional expert in both cloud and mobility working platforms. Having worked with organizations such as Accenture and Credit Suisse, Vohra has invaluable experience and insight to share with real world strategic value.

Wainhouse brings together top analysts and experts from around the world to provide an educational forum on the leading trends, challenges and solutions for unified collaboration. The GPA was actively involved in the Wainhouse Summit in Amsterdam, and the organization brings rich knowledge of best practices and innovative approaches for global AV/IT issues.

“To match the thought leadership of the Wainhouse audience, we plan to have an open discussion on the current trends for so called Smart & Agile working environments and how they collide with the current collaborative technologies being deployed,” states Mike Gopal, President of Sales & Strategy of ESCO. “Our key clients globally are involved in planning or implementing universal standards and deploying collaborative technologies, and we help them address the latest challenges and opportunities of BYOD, Mobility and Collaboration as a Service.”

Gopal continues, “Both the clients and members of the GPA recognize the importance of Asia and specifically Singapore as a strategic hub for innovation. This is why we have taken a premium sponsorship position in the region’s foremost Unified Collaborative conference."

ESCO is the managing GPA member in the Global Presence Alliance with responsibilities for APAC. Other GPA managing partners participating in the Summit include GPA founders Impact [now AVM Impact] and Whitlock, representing EMEA and the Americas.

The GPA footprint encompasses business partnerships serving all major hubs worldwide with the latest collaborative solutions, including global procurement, technology standardization and integration, hosted solutions and managed services for unified collaboration.

The Global Presence Alliance (GPA) comprises a select group of leading audiovisual, videoconferencing and managed services solution providers worldwide, who have joined together to reduce costs, improve efficiency and enhance communication for global clients. The GPA provides a sole-source solutions approach and offers global pricing support as well as greater simplicity through a consolidated service operation. www.global-presence.org

The UK's largest multi-touch video wall
01/10/12

*This project was carried out by Impact prior to the acquistion by AVM.

Impact [now AVM Impact] an innovator and leader in the audio visual industry, working closely with Source Tech installed the UK’s largest single source multi-touch video wall at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU)

AVM Impact built the video wall using 18 x 46” Samsung ultra-thin bezel LED screens, with Source Tech developing a multi-touch solution with a fully customised 32 touch overlay, which features applications developed using Ventuz software.

Located within the award winning Saltire Centre, the video wall is being developed as a central source of information for life at GCU and will be a key strand in the strategy to improve the student experience. It is currently being used to drive student projects within the School of Engineering and Built Environment, allowing them to showcase their work to fellow and prospective students, employers and industry representatives. It also allows relevant staff to research touch screen interaction in cutting edge interfaces - with at least one member of staff who is now undertaking research using the Ventuz software that drives the interface. Vice Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) Professor Mike Mannion: said: “Our belief is that learning by doing, and having fun at the same time, should be at the heart of the education we provide. Interactive video technology is a significant milestone towards the fully interactive and immersive learning environment that we are creating at GCU.”

Chris Poulson of SourceTech says: “During 2011 we had a number of discussions with GCU about a single source multi-touch video wall, during this period the initial specification on the size of this wall grew until last Christmas when we were set the target of a producing a 254inch multi-touch video wall, at the time this was on the borderline of anything that had been attempted with our promultis technology. The final installed results are testimony to the dedication of the team, co-ordinated by Seb Ballan who could not have achieved this, the UK’s largest single source touchscreen, without the support and guidance of GCU’s Jeff Murray and Ray Murphy and AVM Impact’s Stuart Dockerill. The software testing of the wall applications, the performance and response of the wall were applauded by all those involved”.

Breaking new ground: Impact installs latest collaborative technologies at Man Group
05/07/12

*This project was carried out by Impact prior to the acquistion by AVM.

Impact [now AVM Impact], an innovator and leader in the audiovisual industry was awarded the prestigious contract to design, supply and integrate state of the art AV/IT technology to one of the world’s leading alternative investment management companies, the Man Group, at its new flagship offices at ‘Riverbank House’ in London

With its impressive technical specification, Riverbank House is designed to offer the Man Group all the resources required to operate and compete on a global scale. Rob Benton, AVM Impact Corporate Account Manager, explains “With knowledge of AV/IT already engrained in the culture of Man Group, our challenge was to create an environment that surpassed any other offering currently in the market through the use of seamless technology. The solution that we implemented was designed to meet the business needs of the Man Group and with the capability for global deployment to ensure a consistent, standardised solution throughout the company. It will reduce both costs and risk to their business allowing employees to do what they do best, whilst embracing the benefits of the latest technologies.”

To ensure that Man Group is able to fully leverage the value of these new facilities for their business, AVM Impact is also providing a full Managed Service package that provides support for both the technology assets and the end-users.

Working in partnership with Steljes, AMX and Gresham Wood, AVM Impact offered Man Group a ‘one stop shop’ to ensure the smooth running of the project. Sam Baker, Business Development Manager at Steljes, advised Man Group on the latest collaborative technologies to help realise the financial and performance benefits that these technologies offer. She comments “The world of work is in the midst of significant cultural change. The Steljes business productivity suite enables businesses to cater for the needs of the 21st century worker wherever they are in the world – whether they are office based, home based or field based.”

To ensure the seamlessly integration of technology into the design of the interior of the building, AVM Impact turned to Gresham Wood – technical furniture specialists. George Rutson, company director of Gresham Wood Technical Furniture & Design, explains "Pulling on our abilities as 'technical furniture' designers and manufacturer we were able to work closely with AVM Impact and Steljes to produce a truly stunning end result, creating an exciting and thoroughly innovative working environment.”

Every detail of the project was carefully planned to ensure that the Man Group realises its technological investment. Kevin Morrison, Managing Director and Vice President AMX Europe, explains “This project enabled us to showcase the full capabilities of the AMX system by incorporating unified control and automation, system-wide switching, audio and video signal distribution and an unprecedented level of building management capability. Our solution will continue to pay dividends over the lifetime of this prestigious building.”

This complex project was initiated by Steve Brookman, Head of Production Man Group, who chose AVM Impact to turn the company’s vision into reality. “The installation of this ground breaking project has been a huge success and the initial feedback from users has been very positive. This paves the way for this being replicated across our global office locations using AVM Impact’s Global Presence Alliance model.”