GAITHERSBURG, MD—Electro-Media Design Ltd. (EMD) and The HIDI Group (HIDI) have formed a strategic alliance. According to the companies, this partnership is designed to deliver more comprehensive AV + IT and Engineering services for today’s competitive lodging environment.
According to Jeff Loether, EMD founder and president, they have collaborated on dozens of projects worldwide, including 11 Four Seasons Hotels, The Quin Hotel in New York, Hilton Lagos Nigeria and the Loews Regency in Houston.
Electro-Media Design has managed hundreds of meeting/conference project designs related to audio visual, acoustics and entertainment design. Loether has also authored the master design standards for some of hospitality’s largest global brands, according to the company, and written supplemental “Best Practices” books that are used to guide the efforts of architects and developers. EMD’s AudioVisual Consulting practice includes the following: Control & Automation Systems, Building Management Integration; Live and Post AV Production; Production and Feature Lighting; Show Flow, Staging, Power, Hoisting and Rigging; Equipment, Technology, Industry Trends and more. EMD also provides Acoustics Consulting to ensure the environment compliments the technologies. The Acoustics practice includes the following: Architectural Acoustics, Isolation, Impact Noise Analysis & Remediation, Reverberation and Echo control, Mechanical Noise, Noise and Vibration Control, Electro-Acoustics, Psychoacoustics, Environmental Noise, HVAC Noise, Industry and Product Trends, and provides both prevention and treatment solutions.
The HIDI Group (formerly Hidi Rae Consulting Engineers Inc.) operates with a staff of more than 150 engineers, engineering technicians and designers from its head office in Toronto, Canada, with branch offices in Calgary, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The team specializes in the consultation of hospitality IT implementation, including the following: Communication Infrastructure services (cabling, voice, date, TV, WiFi, radio, telecom, and HSIA), Enhanced Cellular and Distributed Antenna Services (including network integration, phone systems, PBX, automatic call distribution and call accounting); Security Design (physical and electronic); Mechanical Engineering Design; Electrical Engineering Design (including low voltage); Architectural Lighting Design; Commissioning; and Risk and Resilience.
Ward Sellars, head of HIDI’s technology group, said, “Today we are making available to the hospitality world a talented AV and IT alliance with high standards and an intimate knowledge of hotels and conference spaces. Electro-Media Design and The HIDI Group are a perfect marriage. Although our two practices are different, the outside world sees them as one and the same, and they expect AV and IT to be a seamless package. Much of the AV infrastructure is now expected to operate seamlessly across a hotel’s IT network, making this convergence all the more important.”