Building or remodeling a center for 911 dispatch, utilities, transportation, or security is not something you do every day. Control room projects are critical but not common. In fact, given that technical furniture consoles generally are made to last 10 to 20 years, you may be involved in only 1 or 2 console purchases in your entire career. As a result, we know you have questions. To help, I’ve rounded up the most common questions we encounter and provided quick answers along with sources for more information. As always, feel free to reach out to Xybix with any questions.

Acoustic divider panels in a 911 dispatch or operations center can you help walk that fine line between a cubicle farm and an open office. Most employees hate both options—and yet they crave the privacy and relative quiet of a cubicle along with the easy access to their neighbors in an open space. You can get the best of both worlds with a panel system designed specifically for your consoles, your floor layout, and your PSAP’s specific communications style. Here’s an example of panels with glass tiles.

Most dispatch console manufacturers—including Xybix—are expert with the shoehorn. We help PSAPs and operation centers add or replace consoles as needed, and our designers work with the center to make it all fit. We love the creativity that goes into this process, and we’re happy to be involved in any upgrade or remodeling project.

That said, when console manufacturers get the chance to be involved from the inception of a project, we jump! For a new center—not hampered by tight spaces or weird columns—we can employ all our innovative technologies and years of experience in creating functional and inviting floor layouts. Plus, we bring the expertise in the unique needs of dispatch centers to the architects and interior designers involved in the project. Read on for details.

Well-designed dispatch consoles are so sleek that it’s easy to wonder where the computers go. For most people, it doesn’t really matter until the computer breaks or needs an upgrade. Then you care how fast IT can take care of it, and IT certainly cares about having to crawl around the floor or squeeze behind a heavy desk.

Backup 911 call centers used to be bare bones—just enough to get the dispatchers up and running at a moment’s notice. These days, PSAPs are starting to build more robust backup centers, likely due to the increasing frequency of extreme weather events. Whatever the cause of this trend, creating a space with a similar setup helps PSAPs remain mission ready and maintain response times, no matter where they are located.

Monitors and computers are critical to the work of radiologists, which means that imaging desks need to carefully handle that equipment. This includes providing easy access for IT, so they can quickly swap out a computer or monitor as needed. 

Think about how edgy you feel when you leave your phone in the car or plug it in a few feet away at, say, a coffee shop. Imagine if your belongings were always out of your possession like this, while you’re busy taking critical dispatch calls. This is where personal lockers come in—and they offer plenty of other benefits as well.

Given the importance of an efficient hospital command center to healthcare outcomes—and the significant costs involved—projects like this require an architect. Their expertise will help with walls, flooring, electrical, windows, and more to create a room that works for you. Even with their expertise, the architects and other vendors still need your input on how the room looks. This means where do the desks go, do you have a video wall, what about ancillary furniture to hold paperwork, lockers, etc.?

As I write this—on May 19, 2022—forecasters are predicting that it will snow tomorrow in Denver. But I know that other parts of the country are already enjoying relative humidity in the range of 70, 80 and even 90 percent. Which brings me to an old myth that seems to circle back on us: That you shouldn’t buy desks with laminate tops if you live in a humid client. I’m always happy to debunk this myth because I hate for people to miss out on all the benefits of 3D laminate. Let’s take a deeper look.

How many times have you bought a larger phone and then had to buy a larger case? Or a larger purse or fanny pack? (If Dr. Rick will let you keep a fanny pack, that is.) That’s what happens with technology—it gets bigger and better, but we need bigger and better spaces to accommodate it. So it goes with telemetry labs.