2020 Exhibits Sets its Sights on High Resolution Systems' UDC for Multiple-Monitor Environments

2020 Exhibits, the Houston-based trade show and exhibit designer, has acquired Universal Device Controller (UDC) technology from High Resolution Systems LLC for use in multiple-monitor client demos in its showroom and at tradeshows nationwide.

2020 Exhibits maintains a 10,000-sq.-ft. showroom, set up like a trade show floor, with extensive numbers of flat-screen displays. A Vista Spyder X20 system resides in a dedicated control room and ties into eight different video wall configurations.

"We were looking at an AMX control system for the showroom, and were doing in-house training with Vista for the Spyder," says senior AV technician Chris Kennedy. "The trainer mentioned High Resolution Systems' UDC and how easily it worked. So I downloaded the free demo, and saw that it was exactly what we needed. [2020 Exhibits' president] Bob Babine fell in love with the idea that, with the UDC, we could control the monitors with a smart phone or an [Apple] iPad.

"We hooked up the system, programmed it in 10 minutes and we were bouncing through looks with my [Apple] iPhone," Kennedy says. "The ease of set up and cost savings for our clients over other control systems were amazing. In five minutes you can teach anybody to recall cues with the UDC. Customizing buttons and changing command keys takes seconds instead of having to wait for a programmer to write hundreds of lines of code."

The UDC made its debut in the showroom where it ran on an iPad and supported a five-by-six video wall during 2020 Exhibits social media boot camp held on August 25. "The ability to literally change your messaging and content in the exhibit space in real time is fantastic. People could walk up and tap into the iPad and change the content on the video wall all in real time," Kennedy reports.

Soon after, the UDC traveled to the VMworld 2011 convention at The Venetian in Las Vegas, a show for virtualization technologies, where it was employed at the BMC Software booth. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a 3x5 video wall, comprised of Samsung 460ux-2 46" LCDs, which occupied the entire booth and was tied into a Christie Vista Spyder X20.

"We had a laptop running Vista software and the UDC," Kennedy explains. "The UDC got a lot of good buzz. People wanted to know what it was and how it worked. The UDC worked just great at the show, and BMC liked how easy it was to use. The response from the show by clients and end users was amazing. The booth remained busy at all times with multiple demonstrations happening concurrently utilizing UDC technology.

"The UDC has so much to offer and our ability to integrate content through smart phones and iPads will continue to evolve. We love how easy it is to program, that we can use it with smart phones and iPads, and that it can control a long list of devices: You just tell the UDC that you're using a particular device and it knows the command strings."