Middle Atlantic Products, a brand of Legrand | AV, is increasing its participation in AVIXA's AV standards program. Tim Troast, Middle Atlantic's vice president, has been appointed to AVIXA's Standards Steering Committee after serving as the moderator for AVIXA's newly released Rack Building Standard for Audiovisual Systems (F502.01:2018). Jay Franetovich, CTS, application engineer/product manager at Middle Atlantic, stepped up his role on the task group appointed to create the new standard focused on Rack Design, filling in the co-moderator responsibility. In addition, Scott Lowder, the company's director of product development, is providing his expertise to the refresh of AVIXA's Energy Management for Audiovisual Systems.

"Standards are the foundation for better designed, more reliably installed AV systems," said Troast. "As a global manufacturer, Middle Atlantic has been invested in the development process since Bob Schluter served as a contributing member to the original energy management standard over five years ago. We're continuing that commitment by participating in the development of and supporting standards where our input is valuable and relevant."

The AVIXA Standards Steering Committee is made up of nine members who serve three-year terms, making recommendations for standards development as they relate to AVIXA's strategic plan. As AVIXA's official American National Standards Institute (ANSI) consensus body, the Standards Steering Committee approves completed standards before they are sent for public review, ANSI approval, and subsequent publication.

"AVIXA receives hundreds of requests for AV standards and, with the guidance of the Steering Committee, we can home in on standards that are currently pressing and make the biggest impact," said Ann Brigida, AVIXA's senior director of standards. "Middle Atlantic brings a global manufacturing perspective that helps us develop standards usable by a large audience. Tim, Jay, and Scott generously share their valued expertise to help develop the high-quality standards and best practices that AVIXA brings to the AV industry. We are grateful for their support and participation. Middle Atlantic has been a staunch supporter of our program for many years. They understand the value of participating in a standards setting effort."

The Rack Building Standard for Audiovisual Systems details the requirements for integrating AV systems into racks by providing a process for consistent assembly, mounting, and cable management. It addresses assembly of AV equipment racks, associated options, and accessories in single and multi-rack installations; mounting and affixing of rack-mount and non-rack-mount AV equipment; cable management, including planning, lacing, location, and separation of signal and power cables for cable management entering and within racks; and final cleaning, labeling, and finishing of the AV rack build. It also supports AVIXA's AV Rack Design standard, currently in development. To best support the Rack Building standard, AVIXA's AV Rack Design standard will outline the requirements for AV planning, design, accommodation, and equipment layout as it harmonizes with the Rack Building requirements.

AVIXA's updated Energy Management for Audiovisual Systems standard will further complement the AV configuration process. This standard, which takes a tiered approach to conformance, aims to reduce or eliminate wasted energy consumed by AV systems when idle or not in use. It will continue to provide the requirements for efficient energy management and use of power-consuming audiovisual systems. It will help designers, specifiers, and installers of audiovisual systems provide users with successful audiovisual solutions that incorporate optimum energy efficiency while adhering to the stated operational and functional requirements for transnational applications. The public comment phase was completed in January. The final standard is expected to be published later this year.

More information on these and other AVIXA standards is available at www.avixa.org/standards. More information about Middle Atlantic Products is available at www.middleatlantic.com.