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| Vocia brought in several new concepts to paging and voice evacuation systems. |
At Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) in Amsterdam, Biamp® Systems unveiled Vocia, its newest Networked Media System. Vocia introduces several new concepts to paging and voice evacuation systems, including combined distributed processing and page routing, as well as networked audio and control. This networked and modular approach eliminates the potential for a single point of failure and allows for the design and construction of a system that is easily expandable from a single paging station and amplifier to multiple zones with several hundred inputs and outputs. Vocia (pronounced vo-CHEE-ah) is available now to help facilities of all sizes implement reliable, scalable and flexible paging and voice evacuation systems.
It Just Works
Vocia is a comprehensive system that includes dozens of essential features and functions including live, delayed and recorded announcements, message store and forward, system-wide alarms and event logging, as well as background music routing. The Vocia system takes advantage of standard Ethernet networking technology and is CobraNet®-enabled. It is also designed to comply with several voice evacuation regulatory standards.
"Facilities managers insist on reliable paging and voice evacuation systems," said Steve Metzger, president of Biamp Systems. "Using our 30-plus years of experience making quality audio products and systems for facilities around the world, we built Vocia from the ground up to be highly dependable with no single point of failure, and easy to install and operate. Simply put, it represents a leap in systems of this type."
First Vocia Installation a Resounding Success
The Sydney (Australia) Olympic Park Authority installed a pre-release implementation of Vocia at its Homebush Olympic Park site and launched it in a live situation at a public event held in December 2009. At Homebush, Vocia handles site-wide paging and covers all public areas of the park. Site managers use the system for crowd control and egress announcements, as well as for background music broadcast to the public areas.
"We were very impressed with the simplicity of the installation of the Vocia system," said Chris Dodds, managing director of The PA People, the company that led the project. "The software interface was very intuitive and the system as a whole was among the easiest we've ever worked with. Since the installation, the Sydney Olympic Park Authority reports to us that the system is working flawlessly, so we are pleased with the overall result."
Vocia can be implemented in healthcare facilities, university campuses, transportation facilities such as airports, recreational facilities and other venues that require highly reliable paging and voice evacuation systems.
Biamp's commitment to valuable training programs continues with Vocia. Certification courses are available at Biamp's Beaverton, Oregon headquarters, as well as in Amsterdam, Bangkok and Mumbai. To date, approximately 75 customers have completed Vocia certification.
