It’s all in how you see the column. Some see a column in the middle of the room—that pesky support column holding up the building—as a showstopper. Professional interior designers see it as an interesting challenge to solve.

"I cannot stress enough that these specifically designed UVC light sources are not safe for humans or pets.”

Ultraviolet light (UVC) sanitizing wands are flooding the COVID-cleaning market, and I’m more than a little concerned. Touted as a means of cleaning COVID19 germs out of… everything (your workstation, office, skin), here's what's even more unsettling. Sellers of these "magic wands" are advertising relentlessly to mission-critical facilities, including dispatch and command and control centers.

Before you even touch a UVC sanitizing wand, read this.

If you’re shopping for new consoles for your 24/7 operations area, you’ve likely heard a lot of mixed messages about wood vs. steel-construction workstations. Why so much conflicting information? Because the best console manufacturers, including Xybix, invest heavily in their manufacturing infrastructures for the products they know are high quality.

So how do you sort through the myriad claims out there and, most important, choose the right materials and products for your operations center or control room? Read on as we address five common, often misleading, claims about wood components in control room consoles—and uncover the truth.

When you're shopping for a new dispatch or command center console, you want to get something that will hold up to the abuse of a 911 dispatch center. Let’s face it; 24/7 use is tough on any equipment. The actual furniture itself takes even more abuse with the constant physical contact.

There’s been plenty of talk about what the world will look like post-pandemic. This includes non-essential folks returning to work—and a new reality for mission-critical operations who never stopped working. I see several specific and tangible solutions, some involving cloud technologies, that will likely serve mission-critical infrastructure in the immediate future and beyond.

Here are my top seven predictions, working from the small-scale ideas to the large.

Your top 3 price questions, answered

Most radiologists know the advantages of doing their work at a high-quality, height-adjustable workstation. The best radiology furniture not only delivers optimum comfort for doctors during long hours; it supports an ideal workflow and enables greater collaboration among the team.

So, what does a new radiology desk cost? We’ll cut straight to the chase here, followed by key considerations to help you maximize the furniture investment you make for the long term. 

(Fall 2020 Update: Watch this short video to learn more)

3 Big Cost Questions, Answered

There’s been much written about dispatch furniture: why you need it, the health benefits and more. But let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. If you’re just starting out as a purchaser of PSAP furniture, your first question is going to be, how much does it cost?

Read on for answers to this and other FAQs regarding dispatch furniture pricing.

FALL 2020 Update: Watch this short video to learn more

DistribuTech is the largest power grid technology conference in the U.S.

Transformation is the name of the game in the electric power industry, and that fueled the energy, so to speak, at DistribuTech 2020 last week in San Antonio.

New solutions and a flood of blow-your-mind innovations in AI (artificial intelligence) are powering the heightened needs in the utilities industry. But one thing is clear: it is and always will be the people who are making it happen. They are the gatekeepers who keep us safe and keep the machine running in the command and control centers of today.

I was reminded of this a few days ago when I received a text notification from my utility provider that the power was out in my neighborhood and would be back on in one hour. This minute-to-minute monitoring typically occurs in the NOC (network operations center), and this is the part of the process I love.  

TOC and NOC centers are among the many names for a operations command center which manages information from outside of the room. As new technology comes into this industry and new room design ideas are created, your command center design will change. For 2020, how can your room layout/design be more responsive and adapt to the fast pace technology and communications changes that are headed your way? 

Some console manufacturers claim to have eliminated wasted space with a linear design, when they have just moved it in different locations on the console.  No matter what you will still have some wasted space in the design of the console and then in the design of the room.