The Systems Group Opens First NAB Booth

Systems-design and -engineering firm The Systems Group has never before had a booth at the NAB Show, but the decision to take a slot in the Central Hall this year seems to be paying dividends.

“They gave us a great spot on the floor, and so far it’s been good,” says Scott Griffin, principal/VP of engineering for The Systems Group. “We had about 15-20 people with real leads on day one. It’s also been interesting to see people that we worked with 25 years ago that are popping out of the woodwork, so it’s been great for networking.”

In previous years, The Systems Group took a suite at the Hilton Hotel, and, although the company may have been ready for the show floor in 2009, the economy did not cooperate.

“Last year, with the recession at its scariest period as far as knowing how low it can go, it certainly was not the time to try something that dramatic,” Griffin says. “We were fortunate in that we had a couple of projects that took us right through the recession, so we’ve been steadily building. We tried a whole bunch of other things, so we figured we should try the booth.”

In addition to meetings in the Central Hall, he has a team out exploring the rest of the show floor, looking at fiber-optic connectivity for the 3G backbone that the company is providing for projects like the Madison Square Garden renovation and, of course, 3D.

“With 3D, control rooms have to be thought about a little bit differently,” Griffin says. “For the most part, the fact that everything is going to be left-eye changes control systems.”

The fun part about 3D, he says, is being able to be involved in the evolution of a technology from the ground up, in an economic environment that promotes openness and sharing, rather than chest-pounding.

“To do it in this economy, where people are more willing to talk to other people and work together, it’s exciting for engineers,” Griffin says. “People actually want to share things with you. There’s a lot less conflict and that seems to make things a lot more fun. And there were a couple of years there where there was not a lot of fun in this industry.”

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