Kortrijk, Belgium, 26 November 2018 – Barco, a global leader in large video walls, announces the launch of its latest generation RGB Laser video wall upgrade program. This allows customers owning a Barco lamp- or LED-illuminated, rear-projection cube video wall to upgrade to the latest RGB Laser technology. The benefits include many years of additional service (more than 10 years in 24/7 mode) and highly improved image-quality and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), without any architectural or physical impact on the control room, or downtime.

Ever since the introduction of Rear-Projection Cube (RPC) video walls in the late 1990s, they have been the preferred display technology for use in 24/7 control rooms. Barco has been supporting partners and customers in over 15,000 critical decision-making environments. In the past 20 years, however, RPC technology has evolved. The introduction of new illumination technologies—first LED and more recently RGB Laser—have proven an important step in both performance, TCO and longevity. It is therefore logical that customers feel the need to upgrade their legacy RPCs to more recent models.

Traditionally, replacing a video wall is a very tedious task. Because it is typically a large construction that takes up a lot of space in the control room, replacing it means a very radical step with a lot of architectural impact—and many days of downtime. Barco’s upgrade kits now give customers the opportunity to renew RPC technology without any operational downtime. All of the cube construction and the screens remain in place, while the projection engines and input boards are upgraded to the newest RGB Laser technology. This can be done one cube at a time, while the rest of the video wall remains operational.

Boost in performance, lower TCO

Barco offers customers the opportunity to upgrade to either LED or RGB Laser technology depending on cube size, lifetime expectations and budgetary targets. Both types offer higher resolutions, greatly extend the lighting-source lifetime and bring a great saving in power consumption & heat dissipation of up to 50%—leading to a lowest possible TCO. Additionally, RGB Laser light-sources also offer much higher brightness with improved contrast levels and reproduce more colors than ever before, allowing the video wall to be used in daylight environments, which is favorable for operator ergonomics.

Energy-efficient and circular

Next to the obvious business advantages, there is also the environmental aspect. This maintain and prolong option for video walls is an excellent example of circular management. Upgrading a video wall not only minimizes waste – after all the bulk of the RPC remains in place – but also strongly reduces power consumption and heat dissipation. Both LED and laser technology need less energy to produce the similar light output. Additionally, the light sources last a lot longer (up to 100K hrs. in eco mode so the lamps, which often qualify as hazardous waste, don’t need to be replaced anymore) and there is no rotating color wheel that is susceptible to wear – which further reduces the waste pile.

Pick the financial option that best suits your needs

“Upgrading RPC technology is a lot more economical than installing a completely new video wall, both in terms of product cost as well as infrastructure works,” says Jay Badvel, Product Manager Large Video Walls at Barco. “On just the hardware, organizations can save up to 50% compared to a completely new installation. Add the construction costs and the loss of business due to downtime, and you know this is a proposal that cannot be matched.”

“Furthermore, we offer both CAPEX and OPEX contracts, allowing customers to pick the financial options that best suit their needs,” Shane O’Reilly, Sales Enablement Manager at Barco, adds. “In this way, they get a completely refreshed visualization solution for an attractive cost, and crucially keep their processes operational without any disruptive infrastructure works.”

Are you interested to know more about upgrade kits offer? Then visit us at ISE 2019, February 5–8 at the Amsterdam RAI.