The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) announced that it has officially taken new office space in Arlington, VA. The trade association, which for years resided in the city of Clarendon, is now occupying a new space in the Courthouse area of Arlington at 1320 N. Courthouse Road.
According to a press release, the new office was expressly built to be a high-tech center of information sharing and collaboration for the information and communications technology (ICT) industry. The space features communications technology created by TIA members, innovative "green" features, opportunities for companies to showcase their products and services, and significant meeting space so members can gather to collaborate on standards development, public policy, and more.
To help foster collaboration and innovation, the office features expansive, flexible meeting space with extensive video conferencing tools. Centered around a large, sub-dividable conference room, the office also offers other meeting spaces that can be converted to meet the specific needs of occupants.
Dedicated display and presentation space provides a unique forum for member companies to showcase their products and businesses. The new office also has a fully-equipped, modern video studio for “TIA NOW,” the organization’s digital media arm, which brings together industry experts and company executives for programming about industry news and trends.
Throughout the office, TIA has used new communications technologies produced and donated by its member companies:
-- Tellabs contributed an all-fiber Local Area Network (LAN). The Tellabs Optical LAN solution delivers Gigabit data speeds to every desktop, along with the wireless nodes, over a passive fiber network. Tellabs was the first company to donate equipment, and did so in memory of Rob Pullen, its former CEO and TIA board chair, who passed away last year at age 50.
-- Recognizing the growing need for significant bandwidth, TIA worked with Comcast to provide the office with 100 gigabit high speed Internet.
-- TIA deployed cloud-based wireless architecture with Adtran's Bluesocket Virtual Wireless LAN (WLAN) system.
-- TE Connectivity provided its Passive Optical Network (PON) infrastructure, which will help TIA leverage the distance and bandwidth capabilities of single-mode fiber to deliver converged voice, video, data, and building automation.
-- To ensure the office includes the most advanced mobile communications and collaboration technology, Panasonic provided Toughbook computers, the latest plasma and interactive displays and projectors, and security and surveillance technology.
-- Crestron provided an advanced digital media system; the first to allow any format of video to be switched and routed to flat panel displays in a digital format.
-- CommScope provided its ION-B in-building solution, a multi-carrier, technology agnostic solution that enables wireless communications inside TIA’s office, eliminating dead zones and spotty coverage.
Other companies providing equipment include: Leviton (structured cabling system); Network Integrity Systems, which provided its Interceptor Optical Network Security System (to support the U.S. government) and the Vanguard Fiber Optic Network Monitoring System (for private enterprise and non-U.S. government uses), which ensure protection and cost-effectiveness for secure network infrastructures; and Z-Band, which provided a HD TV signaling platform.
In keeping with TIA’s status as a founding member of STEP, an organization dedicated to bringing greater sustainability to office technology systems, TIA’s new office space also incorporates numerous green technologies; in fact, the deployment's move and build-out was a STEP pilot project. Other green technologies include:
-- Vector Resources provided the Category 6 copper cables, and the design, integration and project management services as the administrator of the STEP sustainability process for the entire project.
-- Powerflor provided a cable and power management system made of material that can be recycled five times and allows rooms to be reconfigured without any ripping or replacing, and which will enable TIA to better manage its fully adaptable conference and video studio facilities.
-- Da-Lite provided a 110” diagonal Greenguard-certified HD Progressive 0.9 projection surface on a Tensioned Advantage Deluxe projection screen and lectern.
“Our intent is to have an office that fosters collaboration and helps lead the industry forward,” comments TIA president Grant Seiffert. “With the rapid growth of mobile, the advancement of cloud computing and the advent of machine-to-machine communications, this is a critically important time for our industry. For this reason, we felt it was essential to offer ICT companies a highly functional, high-tech workplace at the federal government’s doorstep. From flexible meeting space to a modern video studio, the office provides numerous opportunities for companies to work together, to stay on top of industry trends, and to showcase and present.”