The Tompkins County 911 Center serves the 100,000+ people who live in this Upstate New York county. Although much of the county is rural, the County Seat of Ithaca is home to Ithaca College and Cornell University. The dispatch center handled nearly 140,000 calls in 2024 alone.

After installing new consoles at the center, Susanne Lottie, Director of Dispatch Sales with Xybix, discussed the process and the results with John Halaychik, Assistant Director of the Tompkins County 911 Center. Watch the interview here and check out the highlights below.

As technology advancements continue to streamline healthcare and improve patient outcomes, the personal touch of a professional interior designer can help. A telemetry lab, command center, or radiology lab that is thoughtfully designed—from the layout and lighting to the desks and colors—is proven to improve productivity, employee health and satisfaction, and, most importantly, patient care. Read on for six ways a degreed and experienced designer can help optimize a new or remodeled healthcare space.

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.

How Panels Improve Productivity and Morale in 911 Dispatch Operation Centers

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.

Beyond the Desk: Why Xybix Focuses on Furniture Systems

Updated: February 12, 2025

At Xybix, we hear—and throw around—a lot of terminology for what you might call a “desk.” Dispatch consoles, healthcare workstations, imaging desks. But no matter what they’re called, the desks are part of an entire furniture system that is customized to each customer’s needs. It's one of the main reasons our name is "Xybix Systems."

We’re not pulling a premade desk off a shelf. We’re designing, manufacturing, and installing the desks, computer cabinets, bookshelves, panel systems, lighting, and more that all work together to create a healthy and productive workplace. Plus, thanks to our degreed and experienced interior designers, the room is not only going to look exceptionally cool, but it is going to function well systemically.

If you’re thinking, “Whoa, this is more than I need,” never fear. Our experts in dispatch, transportation, utilities, security surveillance, and healthcare, work with you to figure out what you need for your project, whether it’s 1 desk or 100 desks, bare bones or with all the bells and whistles.

Read on for how the system approach ensures that everything works together, right away and for years to come.

Control rooms for transportation and utilities see 24/7/365 use, contain a massive amount of technology, and host employees in charge of functions that are critical to all our daily lives. As a result, these rooms need specialized workstations that are highly functional, comfortable, and built to last. These projects generally require a capital expenditure, which requires a budget request—and approval.

It’s easy to say that creating a nicer workspace improves morale—but can you prove it? Tina Buneta can.

Most of us think that interior designers make spaces beautiful with paint, furniture and artwork choices. In the dispatch world, however, I would say that the No. 1 function of an interior designer is to solve space problems. Unless we’re talking about new construction, most centers have space challenges, whether it’s the size or shape of the room or the placement of columns and electrical boxes.

After perfecting the design of 911 dispatch centers decades ago, our designers here at Xybix are increasingly applying the same principals to transportation control rooms. Whether you’re directing planes, trains or automobiles, the room you’re in and the desk you’re at make an impact on how you handle your mission-critical tasks throughout the day. We’ve worked closely with everyone from air traffic controls to railroad engineers to bus dispatchers to understand what you need and how you work. Here’s a summary of what we’ve learned.

Reviewing floorplans, renderings and virtual walkthroughs is generally not an everyday occurrence for professionals in dispatch, command & control and healthcare centers. In some organizations, the project manager may have two or three remodels or new builds under his or her belt, but most of the time we’re talking about a once-in-a-career project. And yet, you’re being asked to sign off on a project that runs thousands of dollars and is intended to last 10 to 20 years!