Christie, a major provider of visual solutions for cinema, entertainment and business, today announced the official opening of its Network Operations Center (NOC). Designed to monitor and control a wide variety of cinema client networks, the Christie Network Operations Center is fully operational and already monitors over 1,000 networked screens for one of North America's leading cinema exhibitors.
Based in Cypress, California, the Christie NOC provides an unprecedented level of service and support to exhibitors, studios, post-production facilities and large corporations around the world. It utilizes ChristieNET(tm), the most widely used networking enabling device, to provide real-time monitoring of customers' installed systems, hardware and software in any location around the world.
Christie technicians "see" networked equipment from the control room on screens that graphically illustrate devices within every theater and multiplex in a connected theater network. Technicians can identify geographic regions, theaters and multiplexes, numbers of screens at each location, as well as all networked devices such as servers, projectors, visual devices, and even power supply units and remotely diagnose them individually.
"The Christie Network Operations Center has the ability to drill down from market to site to screen, to remotely resolve issues with our customers' equipment on a 24/7 basis," says Craig Sholder, senior director, business development and cinema sales. "We also provide predictive maintenance capabilities that track equipment usage and operation and alert technicians to any potential problems before they occur. A customer service engineer (CSE) can then be dispatched to the site with the proper tools and parts within two hours to correct or prevent the problem. It's an exceptional level of control that no other industry manufacturer can offer today and reflects Christie's focus on providing innovative solutions and setting the industry standard for superior customer service."
Sholder noted that the company also recently increased the number of customer service engineers who provide prompt onsite, hands-on service and strategically positioned them throughout the United States. Rapid response time is critical because any downtime in customers' equipment can represent a loss of revenue, especially in cinema exhibition. The service engineers, equipped with the latest hardware, software and diagnostic equipment, also provide periodic preventive maintenance and tuning of systems to ensure optimum performance.
"The launch of the Network Operations Center, in combination with our expanded service personnel to provide onsite support reflects Christie's ongoing commitment to our customers. For some companies, the end goal is to sell their equipment and move on to the next business opportunity. For us, the sale and installation of Christie projection solutions is just the beginning. We seek to establish a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with our customers, and provide them with the products and services they need to help them grow," adds Sholder.
About Christie:
Christie is a global leader in visual solutions for business, entertainment and media used by world-class organizations for diverse applications. Christie is the world's single source manufacturer of a variety of display technologies including 35mm film projectors, digital cinema projectors, DLP(tm) and LCD projectors, rear screen projection modules and cubes, wall display controllers, networking solutions and cutting edge technologies such as immersive 3D, virtual reality and simulation. With expertise in professional projection systems since 1979 and film projection dating back to 1929, Christie has over 50,000 projectors installed in over 50 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.christiedigital.com.