CenturyLink, a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company, cut the ribbon on its new Technology Center of Excellence. The 300,000 square-foot state-of-the-art (LEED certification pending) R&D center features of a stunning array of NanoWrap visualization solutions from NanoLumens, an industry leading manufacturer and marketer of visualization solutions.
The new building’s lobby is a palace of glass that incorporates 37,000 square feet of View Dynamic Glass, making it the single largest installation of electrochromic glass in the country. View Dynamic Glass leverages nanotechnology and pre-programmed intelligence to tint automatically in response to outside conditions and user preferences, eliminating the need for blinds or shades. But, even with that technology, the lobby is still very bright. The exceptional brightness of NanoLumens’ technology, which can be adjusted as the ambient light levels change throughout the day, assures that the video on the solutions will remain clearly and crisply visible at any time, under any conditions.
“The NanoLumens displays create a stunning effect in the lobby, and it’s fair to say that this sets the lobby apart from any other atrium like it,” says Ben Cating, Senior Consultant-VP of Idibri, the Addison, Texas-based consulting firm hired by CenturyLink. “It’s more than just a video installation — it’s a visual achievement.”
The center also includes a technology research and development lab, a network operations center, a customer experience center and a collaborative office and meeting space. But, says Cating, the space also needed to make a definitive statement that immediately established the facility as a cutting-edge technology location. NanoLumens NanoWrap solutions helped the client make this visual statement and capture the attention of customers as they walk through the door.
“CenturyLink wanted to make this lobby a unique technological experience for visitors and guests,” says Cating. “We looked at a lot of possibilities, and video would keep the columns as an integral part of the aesthetic design. But attaching conventional flat displays to them would have ruined the flow they create visually. Only the flexibility of the NanoWraps, which we could literally wrap around the columns, offered us the solution that we needed. NanoWraps were the only way we could address this particular form factor. The result is striking to look at.”
Three columns in the building’s three-story-tall atrium are wrapped with NanoLumens’ 5MM NanoWrap displays in a 42-inch-diameter circular panel that covers 12 feet of vertical surface on each column. The NanoLumens LED panels, made up of thousands of Nixels, NanoLumens’ patented display module, turn these architectural elements into archi-technological elements. They provide a continuous stream of full-motion video that’s visible throughout the entire lobby and from any angle. Each display can show different video content or all three columns can play synchronously, with content fed over IPTV via fiber from a cloud-based Cisco-AppSpace content delivery system.
The NanoWraps are attached to the columns by a unique circular mounting system, incorporating a custom metal frame around the column in which the panels are attached. This system was carried out by AV systems integrator American AVL, based in Ruston, LA.
“The space- and energy-efficient NanoWrap solution offers quiet, low energy consuming cylindrical visualization wherever a customer would like to place it,” says NanoLumens Executive Vice President of Business Development, Karen Robinson. “Whether that’s hanging overhead, in a fixed position on its own, or around the columns of a building, NanoWrap solutions are made to equip customers like CenturyLink with the perfect visualization solution that’s just right for them– no matter what size, shape, or curvature is needed.”
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