During the fiber installation at CNN's Manhattan headquarters, two workers blow fiber from the technical gear room on the seventh floor to a location on the first floor in 17 minutes.
Jacksonville, FL, is the home of North America's most watched sporting event this February. In preparation, the 76,000-seat ALLTEL Stadium, home to the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, has just undergone a $60 million renovation in advance of the Jaguars’ hosting Super Bowl XXXIX, on Feb. 6, 2005. The upgrade has included the installation of 294 high-contrast Panasonic plasma displays to increase the fans’ visual enjoyment. Located on 18 acres, adjacent to the St. John’s River in downtown Jacksonville, ALLTEL Stadium, built in 1995 at the site of the old Gator Bowl, is one of this nation’s most state-of-the-art sports complexes.
Phase One The stadium’s refurbishment took place last summer, with a three-story space constructed in the south end zone to house the 14,000sq ft Bud Zone sports bar for general patrons, and the 17,000-square-foot ADT Terrace Suite, a party suite with its own buffet dining, bar and seating. Ninety Panasonic 37in widescreen professional plasma displays are placed throughout the Bud Zone and the ADT Terrace Suite for patrons’ viewing.
Phase Two The second part of the renovation project was completed prior to the start of this year’s NFL season. The interior of all 90 private suites were renovated, as well as the remodeling of the two 65,000sq ft East and West Crown Royal Touchdown Clubs, which had been untouched since the opening of the stadium 10 years ago. The updates included upgrades in food service (including two new bars), furniture, finishes and audio/visual.
The private suites have each been outfitted with Panasonic 42in widescreen HD plasma televisions. Twenty-four 50in 16:9 professional HD plasma displays comprise the centerpiece of the East and West Crown Royal Touchdown Clubs, and are located above the new East and West Club Central Bars. Thirty-two 42in plasmas have been installed in proximity to select dining areas within each Club. Fifty-two 37in plasma displays have also been placed in the vicinity of the main concession, smaller bars and lounge areas dispersed throughout each Club. In the Bud Zone, ADT Terrace Suite and East and West Crown Royal Touchdown Clubs, the Panasonic plasmas are all controlled from touch pads at the central bars. During a game, feeds can be taken from the team’s in-house broadcasting, network television broadcast trucks, the scoreboard or from the internal stadium cable package. To accommodate business meetings during the week, the plasmas are equipped with PC and AV inputs for connecting a laptop computer or playback device for presentations. For more information, visit www.panasonic.com/plasma.
