New Restaurant "Captivates" Its Clientele With Exquisite Food, Ambience and Entertainment Control Technology From ELAN!

When designing the new Delicious Heights restaurant in Bedminster, New Jersey, the owners set out to create a 21st Century hospitality environment that redefines the concept of a ‘captive audience.’ They knew that in addition to offering fairly-priced exquisite food backed up by outstanding service, they needed to immerse their customers in state-of-the-art entertainment that would keep them in their seats longer and ensure their quick return! As a result, every part of the new restaurant, which held its grand opening last month, is designed with that end in mind — and the centerpiece of it all is the ELAN® g! Entertainment and Control System.

Maplewood, New Jersey-based 360 Media Innovations integrated the entire lighting system, five digital signage displays, more than 30 flat screen TVs showing eight video sources and 50 speakers broken into eight audio zones into the ELAN g! Entertainment and Control System, allowing the staff to make changes on the fly in order to cater to their customers every whim.

"We knew that the system would be touched by a lot of hands,” said Chima Gale, owner of 360 Media Innovations, “so we had to install a system that would allow us extreme flexibility from a control standpoint with the additional caveats of being reliable and easy to use. The ELAN g! system fulfilled those needs for us without question."

According to Delicious Heights General Manager Marc Hudacsko, “I’ve been working in restaurants for more than 17 years, and I’ve never had such a powerful media management tool at my disposal. Guests have asked me to lower the volume or change the channel on a TV in the dining area, and when I pull out my iPhone and make the adjustment right there in front of them, they are absolutely amazed—and so am I. The ELAN g! System not only helps impress our guests at Delicious Heights, but it’s also so fast and easy that I have more time to oversee the restaurant and my staff.”

Delicious Heights has a large main bar with 24 beers on tap and more than 50 varieties of bottled beer, a main dining area, and a private bar with two private seating rooms, which can each be rented out for parties or business functions. In its dedication to cater to every guest, Delicious Heights included power outlets and USB ports at every table in the main seating area for charging mobile devices, and it also provides free Wi-Fi. Additionally, one of the private dining rooms can become a presentation room, with three 37” TVs that can be used for business presentations or commercial videos through an in-wall VGA and audio connection.

“We wanted to solve all the typical problems a guest may have,” said Hudacsko. “Need to charge your cell phone? Done. Need the volume lowered in your area? Done. Want to watch the Yankees, not the Mets? Done. We even created a new type of menu with LED backlighting, so no guest ever has to ask for more light to read the menu. We wanted to be proactive, not reactive, and make it so our guests don’t have to worry about a single thing while they are here, and the ELAN g! System helps me deliver that level of care.”

The restaurant’s ELAN g! Entertainment and Control System includes an ELAN TS10 touch screen at the main bar and one at the private bar, iPhone and iPad control and four point-of-sale terminal (POS) control interfaces with a video preview function that lets the user see what is on each station, in real time, before sending the signal to a TV. This ensures that the user changes the channel correctly the first time, even before the customer sees a change.

The system uses the ELAN HC6 Controller, two ELAN M86A Audio Controllers, an ELAN DT11 Tuner, six Crown amplifiers and eight ZeeVee boxes to distribute the audio and video. The media sources include six DirecTV feeds, a Comcast Cable feed, a DVD player, am/fm radio, SIRIUS|XM® satellite radio, and an iPort iPod dock at the main bar and private bar that link to those respective areas. The fire alarm system is also integrated into the system so all audio instantly shuts off if the alarm is triggered.

360 Media Innovations programmed custom buttons in the ELAN g! software labeled “Good Morning” and “Good Night” that turn on and off every TV and the entire audio system for the restaurant. It also includes three lighting modes: “In Service”, which dims all lights for normal business hours; “All On” for last call and pre-business hours; and “All Off” for when the restaurant is closed.

The ELAN g! Entertainment and Control System provides users with the most uniform and intuitive icon-based control from their favorite devices, including TVs, touch screens, touch pads, PCs, iPhones, and iPads. The standardized interface works across platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN touch screens, valets and handheld remotes as well as users' televisions and mobile devices. And the system's IP backbone makes it just as easy to control the system from across the room as across the globe.

360 Media Innovations is a New Jersey based full service audio video systems
integration firm offering sale, design, and integration of custom electronic
systems in both commercial and residential spaces. With service offerings
such as system automation, custom home theaters, phone systems, network
solutions, commercial/residential audio systems, security surveillance
cameras, lighting and shade control and so much more, 360 Media Innovations
can completely service your Audio Video needs. To learn more, visit
www.360mediainnovations.com.

TD Bank Conference Center Location in Mount Laurel, New Jersey is Xantech's Two Millionth Installation

Mount Laurel, New Jersey’s Twelve Thousand Building Conference Center houses training room and boardroom spaces for TD Bank, and recently Bensalem, Pennsylvania-based firm APA Music & Pictures, Inc., through McHenry Creative Services, was charged with installing A/V control systems in the bank’s spaces. The project marks the two millionth installation of products from Xantech (InfoComm Booth 1255), a leader in the field of audio/video remote control and distribution, and further underscores the company’s position as the preeminent manufacturer of A/V control solutions. APA’s VP of Sales and Production, Dave Pedemonti, along with Lead Programmer Bob Balan and the rest of their team, selected control solutions from Xantech. APA has a long history as Xantech users, and they have been proud to push ahead with putting Xantech’s newest technologies to good use.

Xantech products, including the WIC1200 Web Intelligent Controller and CWTC10 10.4-inch Wireless Touch Controller, now form the foundation for the A/V distribution in several rooms in the building. Pedemonti stated, “We had a few different rooms – the boardroom space and training room spaces – and they needed to be ready for everything from PowerPoint presentations to audio and video conferencing. Obviously, we were dealing with multiple connectivity, and Xantech’s technology, which is based on IP addresses for different devices, was the clear choice. The CWTC10 is the ideal interface – it has a large touchscreen that is easy to read and operate, and it is wireless, so it can be moved around to whoever is running a meeting or training sessions. This is far preferable to an in-wall box.”

Pedemonti continues, “When we decided on Xantech products for this installation and reached out to them, they shipped us the units right away, and we worked together closely through the installation phase. Now we have four of those CWTC10’s up and running, and they have worked perfectly. The client is very happy, and we are happy to once again choose Xantech solutions for a key installation.”

APA’s relationship with Xantech goes back several years. Mr. Pedemonti stated, “We were probably one of the first A/V companies to really start working with the technology that they created. Through the years, we have been involved in beta testing for some of their new products, getting a good sense of the best ways to put these groundbreaking technologies to good use, and giving our input back to them. That’s a great approach – letting real users in the field give feedback on the product and help make it the best it can be. We’ve been lucky to forge such a strong relationship with Xantech, and we use their products whenever we can. And thinking of what Xantech’s competitors offer, what it really boils down to is value for dollar – we can install the CWTC10’s for about a quarter of the cost of a comparable product from other competitors, and plus, the CWTC10 is actually a far more versatile control device, because you can control so many different types of things. Additionally, we were able to design and implement the customized web control page using Xantech’s new Web Designer 3.0 Software. They have helped us create some very outside-of-the-box installations, and we’re extremely proud to be their two millionth installation. We, look forward to utilizing their products for years to come.”

For more information, please visit www.xantechcommercial.com.

America's Favorite Cake Maker Buddy Valastro Installs $100,000 ELAN g! Home Control System to Automate Every Aspect of His New House

America’s favorite cake maker, Buddy Valastro of Carlo’s Bakery, can control and automate every aspect of his $1.3 million, 7,000 square foot New Jersey home, right from his iPhone with the ELAN g! Home Control System.

When Valastro moved in 2010, he didn’t know much about home automation. He had a new music distribution system installed, but that was it. Two days after closing on the house, he was introduced to Chima Gale, owner of 360 Media Innovations, who showed him how the ELAN g! IP-based Home Control System could make his life, and his home, simpler to manage. After a short demo at the set of Valastro’s television show, Gale had him hooked. Now, they have just completed a $100,000 ELAN g! installation that lets Valastro control every aspect of his home from around the globe.

“In today’s world, if you don’t embrace new technology, you get left behind,” Valastro said. “I use state-of-the-art appliances in my kitchens, but had never spent much time thinking about other parts of the house. So I said to myself, ‘I want a space-age house. I want to turn off all the lights with one button before I go to bed, and I want music playing when I walk into the kitchen in the morning.’ The best thing about this system is it took no time at all to learn to use it. My family knows how to use an iPad and an iPhone, so the software feels just like any other app we use on a daily basis. Having all the systems – the heating, lighting, music, and alarms – adjust themselves throughout the day has made everyday life simpler for me and my family.”

And the system doesn’t just turn lights and music on and off. Valastro’s house is fully integrated, so he now has total mobile control over the home’s 68 light switches, four-zone HVAC system, security and surveillance system with 24 cameras, whole-house audio system with 42 ELAN Elios speakers in 17 discrete zones including the master bathroom and three-car garage, and he can even control the pool equipment.

The system is so extensive, you can hardly turn a corner in the house without seeing a touch screen control panel. There are 12 TS7 touch screens that double as digital picture frames, two TS2 touch pads, 4 On-Screen Displays (OSD) on TVs throughout the house, three new iPod touches and two new iPads in addition to the six iPads the family already owned. As if that were not enough, there is a vanishing-mirror TV above the sink in the master bathroom.

“Nobody can deny that the adoption of home control is growing by leaps and bounds, and the home is quickly becoming an extension of our digital lives,” said Gale. “The ability to help someone go from a simple dedicated music distribution system to a full-fledged home control system, accessible from anywhere in the world, is what makes today so exciting for the industry. The fact is that everyone wants home control. With the ELAN g! Home Control System, everyone can have it.”

In fact, Valastro’s appreciation for the ELAN g! Control System will soon extend beyond the home, as he and Gale later this year integrate the g! System throughout Valastro’s brand-new 35,000 square foot command center, a high-volume bakery production facility in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The ELAN g! Control System provides users with the most uniform and intuitive icon-based control from their favorite devices, including TVs, touch screens, touch pads, PCs, iPhones, and iPads. The standardized interface works across platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN touch screens, valets and handheld remotes as well as users' televisions and mobile devices. And the system's IP backbone makes it just as easy to control the system from across the room as across the globe.

Carlo’s is a family owned bakery that produces what many say are the best tasting, highest quality wedding cakes, specialty cakes and baked goods in New Jersey. Carlo’s, originally opened by Carlo Guastaffero in 1910, was acquired by Bartolo Valastro Sr. in 1964. Since the untimely passing of Bartolo Sr. in 1994, matriarch Mary Valastro, along with her daughters, Grace, Maddalena, Mary, and Lisa, her son, master baker Bartolo Jr. “Buddy” Valastro, and their spouses have maintained the business. The Valastro’s and their experienced bakers and staff have expanded Bartolo Sr.’s dream and have seen it flourish.  The bakery is located in the heart of Hoboken, New Jersey.