Jack Flaherty, Director of Channel Markets/System Integrator for LG Electronics, talks up flat-panel products and their importance in the technologically evolving classroom.
ESD: Tell our readers a little about your company. What’s your main line of business?
JF: LG Commercial Products is a division of LG Electronics USA, and serves digital signage, lodging and hospitality, business-to-business [corporate and industrial], healthcare and channel markets [systems integration, education and government]. Based in Lincolnshire, Ill., LG Commercial products furnishes a broad range of products and services tailored to the particular needs of business and educational environments. The company also has a dedicated engineering and customer support team.
ESD: What is the single most important change/trend you’ve noticed in the education market over the last few years?
JF: There is a rather significant movement away from basic projectors toward flat panels in classrooms from K–12 to higher education. With traditional projectors there is a requirement to replace the lamps every 2000 to 3000 hours. With flat-panel pricing becoming more and more competitive, there is a financial advantage to making the switch. Plasmas, for example, will retain their highest level of resolution and contrast specifications for 60,000 to 100,000 hours. In addition, the cost of maintenance and associated downtime is substantially decreased with flat-panel products. The LG product line offers a competitive advantage with our advanced technology and superior engineering expertise.
ESD: What are the benefits from a tech-enabled classroom?
JF: Interactivity is a key element to the teaching profession. Several of our flat-panel products allow for split-screen viewing, which means teachers can show a digital document on one side and video content on the other. By using two different means of communication, teachers are better able to engage their students.
In addition, whether it’s a plasma or LCD, content displayed on a flat panel will look crisper and more defined than on a projector. The resolution is enhanced, making it much easier for the entire class to view the content.
ESD: What are some interesting installations you’ve done in the education sector?
JF: We’ve had great success in Kentucky with the Johnson County School District. This school district was looking for a full turn-key digital classroom experience that enabled teachers to have full control over all A/V equipment in the classroom. We worked with our resellers to provide them with a total of 225, 50-inch plasmas [model 50PX2DC] in seven schools. The 1 U Control System offered by our partner, UDI, can digitally record content that goes through the 1 U Control interface for lesson plan and content creation for the ultimate classroom activity experience. The 1 U Control System also allows the operator to select the source device, start the video and adjust the volume.
ESD: Why is interactivity so important?
JF: Interactivity is important when you have a finite amount of time to convey a large amount of information. For most teachers they have approximately 45 minutes to conduct their class and keep the attention of their students. Easy to use functions, such as split-screen, allow teachers to present the lesson plan timely and efficiently while keeping students actively engaged.
ESD: What does LG bring to the educational channel that other competitors do not?
JF: Through our digital signage applications we use an IP solution that is able to disperse content from one centralized location to multiple screens. This network solution provides an immediate communication tool which can be extremely important in times of an emergency or an untimely event. Our advancements in digital signage, our interactive touch screen and superior flat-panel technology make LG the company of choice in the education market.
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