One network for everything that happens on stage.
HDVP Events runs a permanent event venue at Jaarbeurs Utrecht. Video, audio, light, comms and control had all moved to IP, each in its own way. AV meets IP rebuilt it as one converged network.
Every show adds a device. Nobody removes one.
A venue that hosts corporate events day in, day out collects technology. NDI sources and multiviewers, Dante audio, lighting control, intercom, Companion button panels, wayfinding screens in the foyers, translation screens, Wi-Fi for crew and an office that wants to see the programme feed.
All of it lives on the network. The network itself had grown along with it, one patch cable at a time. It worked, until the question became: what happens to the NDI feeds when someone plugs in the next thing?
Survey, plan, build on the bench, then install.
The project started with two measuring sessions rather than a shopping list. From the inventory came a rack plan and a patch plan. Cable looms were built and labelled beforehand, and switch and router configurations were built and tested before they went anywhere near a live rack.
Only then were the racks stripped and rebuilt. Documentation was updated at every stage, so that what is on paper is what is in the rack.
Five weeks, survey to handover.
Measure first
Two survey sessions on site before a single cable was ordered. Meten is weten: measuring is knowing.
Inventory, rack plan and patch plan
Everything in the racks inventoried, then a new rack layout and patch plan drawn up and parts ordered.
Cable looms
Looms built and labelled off site, so installation days are spent installing, not crimping.
Racks stripped and rebuilt
Racks emptied, rebuilt to the new plan and the looms laid in.
Switch and router configs
Configurations for switches and router built and tested on the bench before going live.
Installation
Network in, desk cabling finished, measured and patched. Network configuration server and NDI Discovery Server installed. NDI, control and Dante devices configured, lighting controller connected. NDI multiviewers, backstage camera and screens, wayfinding screens in two foyers, a switch in the warehouse, a Companion server, audio and comms, UniFi controller and access points, an office multiviewer and translation screens.
Stress test
The full network loaded and watched before anyone depended on it.
VPN
Remote access configured and tested, documentation updated.
Functional check
Every function walked through end to end.
Finishing
Rack cabling dressed and labelled, fibre runs laid and terminated, last access point hung, racks closed.
Three habits that matter more than any switch.
MEASURE FIRST
The first two visits were surveys. Decisions were made on what was actually in the building, not on what the drawings said.
TEST ON THE BENCH
Configs were built and tested before installation, and the finished network was stress tested before the first show relied on it.
DOCUMENT AS YOU GO
Rack plan, patch plan, labels and documentation were updated at every step, so the next engineer can find their way.
[QUOTE — Paul van Stempvoort, HDVP Events: one or two sentences on what changed day to day.]