The Palacio de Congresos, celebrating its 20th anniversary, is a state-of-the-art conference and exhibition centre in the heart of Valencia, Spain. Also known as the Palace of Light, due to its glass-fronted façade and distinctive roof design, the Palacio regularly accommodates large-scale international conferences organized by multinationals, trade associations and government organisations. Most events gravitate around the main auditorium with room for up to 1,481 participants, as well as smaller auditoria with capacities for 467 and 270 people. If needed, an IP-based video and audio network can connect up to 2,250 participants across these separate conference rooms.
Given the international character of most of the conferences it hosts, simultaneous interpretation is essential at the Palacio. The building management sought a solution that would take this into account, along with the facility’s existing architecture and infrastructure. Two of its three auditoria are equipped with fixed interpreter booths. Although the smallest auditorium and the conference centre’s ten smaller meeting rooms do not include interpreter booths, simultaneous interpretation is also often required in these spaces. It was also important that the new conferencing system would not require any additional investment for wiring or cable connections.
The DICENTIS Conference System from Bosch provided the perfect solution. Because the system is IP-based and Ethernet compatible, the existing IT infrastructure of the Palacio de Congresos could be used. The OMNEO Interface allows transportation of the language channels via the IT network from the auditoria with fixed interpreter booths to the meeting areas that don’t have these facilities. DICENTIS streams the language channels from the interpreter desks to the DICENTIS Conference devices in the main auditoria, and also to all the active conference devices in the Palacio’s smaller meeting areas. The floor languages of the active conference devices, regardless of their location, are streamed back to the interpreter desks.
To serve the smaller meeting areas, the DICENTIS central equipment is installed in a small mobile rack for easy transportation and setup. Additionally, the DICENTIS Conference devices with channel selector can be transported from one room to another in specially made, high-quality, lightweight and sturdy cases for protection during transit. The mobile rack simply connects to the room’s IT network plug to connect to the equipment in the various meeting rooms.
This smart, mobile DICENTIS solution meets the requirements of all the meetings held in the Palacio de Congresos. The capacity for simultaneous interpretation in all the meeting areas means 2,250 participants can be connected across all conference areas big and small
