Hennepin County | Emergency Management

Hennepin County Technology Refreshed and Ready to Respond to Emergency Situations.

In 2012, Hennepin County engaged iSpace Environments in an initial project to outfit their emergency management center with state-of-the-art technologies. The project solved the need to connect technologies that would allow their teams to monitor conditions and orchestrate complex responses across departments in multiple remote locations. The problem now: it’s 2020 and time for an upgrade.

More than 1.25 million residents of Minnesota’s Hennepin County rely on around-the-clock Public Works Emergency Management Teams to keep an eye on weather, traffic and public safety. 

“The existing A/V and network systems, though continuously serviced by iSpace, just couldn’t keep up with the county’s growing demand to get information to the internal team and external community as quickly or cleanly as needed.” Shared Wayne Lusthoff II, of iSpace Environments. 

Two spaces within the department, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and Situation Monitoring Station (SMS), received major system upgrades.  The transition took them from a fixed system with limited inputs/outputs to a truly flexible networked system using data switches providing a nearly limitless capacity of inputs/outputs. In addition, video and information is now more rapidly shared to the lobby and between the two spaces seamlessly. 

Other improvements include a video wall with the capacity to display up to 16 individual screens at 15,360 x 2160 pixel resolution, 360 degree viewing capabilities, and new furniture that provide more space and allowed full connectivity. Some existing audio/visual components were reused as a cost saving measure, such as the existing codec system and audio systems. 

“The solution implemented makes this application one of the largest NVX systems deployed in Minnesota” continues Lusthoff, “and more importantly, the improved speed and flexibility of the system puts Hennepin County in a position to truly impact the outcomes of emergency situations.”