The United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) has successfully deployed Arrive Systems green technology by Visionaire, Dubai’s homegrown ICT and Intelligent Building Management company, it announced today.
The new system architecture at UAEU is the first integrated educational system of its size in the region, equipping the campus with a reliable cloud network that promotes educational standardisation, unified communications and green technology.
In a bid to keep pace with international academic developments, the UAEU implemented the new system, powered by Intel technology, in its 154 laboratories, 100 computer labs, 259 smart classrooms, 50 lecture rooms, two auditoriums and more than 20 meeting spaces.
Visionaire equipped each UAEU classroom with a standardised interactive whiteboard that provides the faculty with a uniform experience in all teaching venues. Excessive electronic mountings and multiple devices have been replaced by Arrive RoomPoint, which uses 2nd generation Intel Core Processors and performs the combined tasks of the Room PC, DC power adapters, lecture capture, AV switcher and content delivery platform.
The media processor appliance (MPA) eliminated the need for faculty to bring a laptop to the classroom as the cloud makes applications and content available to all users at once. Battery operated microphones and energy consuming audio amplifiers have also been replaced by ceiling mounted microphones that amplify lecturers’ voice and saves their presentations for archiving purposes.
“The strategy to standardize on the educational technology and cloud connected content delivery at UAEU using open standards Intel based architecture, provides the ability for students and faculty to experience the same user interfaces irrespective of different delivery devices and venues as well as promotes scalability when adopting next generation technologies,” said Aneeta Gupta, president and CEO at Visionaire
“It also allows for the end-point systems to be light weight with the cloud connected network doing much of the heavy lifting,” Gupta added.
Each teaching venue in the UAEU is now equipped with Arrive InfoPoint, a small touch screen with an embedded Intel Atom processor to display timetables, published surveys or broadcast internal communications.
The UAEU is headed towards a “paperless” and “inkless” teaching environment with the faculty using all the resources available on the UAEU Cloud – converting the classroom from being just a consumer to a producer of information. However this is not the only area in which this project has been environmentally friendly.
“The Intel Atom is designed to make it easier for users to take advantage of benefits of the Intel Architecture based on their specific needs. The Intel Atom is built directly into the CPU of smaller devices to improve performance and sustainability – much like Intel creates technologies that advance the way people live, work, and learn,” said Taha Khalifa, regional sales manager at Intel ME.
The UAEU replaced equipment racks with a wall mounted modular media processor appliance that provides network access via a thin-client and audio-visual switching. The Arrive RoomPoint MPA is comprised of 100% folded aluminum and therefore reduces carbon footprint and energy consumption.
Without fans or other moving parts, the system operates as a low voltage system providing the multiple functions of a thin-client PC, advanced AV switch and lecture capture system.
“UAEU’s planned focus on using green ICT as the key driver of its educational emphasis is paying off with the new and “green ICT” campus providing faculty and students high performance access to UAEU IT services, the Internet and Ankabut,” said Dr. Abdullah Al-Khanbashi, vice chancellor of UAEU and the primary stakeholder of the UAEU Green ICT Vision.
