First Model Port concept realized in Houston and hopes to set the standard for the rest of the nation.

Gaithersburg, Maryland, February 5, 2008 – In September of 2006 Professional Products, Inc (PPI) was commissioned to start work on the model port concept with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security.  PPI did the design and integration of this multilingual display and transmission system which is setting the standard for international traveler gateways all over the country.  This model port concept was developed for travelers entering the U.S. by having a more efficient and welcoming process.

The model port project utilizes large screen displays mounted in multiple areas within the arrivals hall to direct incoming visitors through the customs and immigration process via a new narrated explanatory video in Spanish, French, German and English languages.  This video and audio content will be contained within four MPEG players.  The audio and video from the four MPEG players will output to a 4x4 audio/video router.  Output of this router will feed to dedicated twisted pair transmitters which will feed to twisted pair receivers.  Twisted pair technology is important for the distribution because there will be multiple single flow requirements at various lengths for this project.  Each twisted pair receiver will output directly to an LCD monitor while the audio content will be amplified and routed to the designated ceiling mounted speaker system.  The Crestron Pro2 processor will control the entire system as it is the brains of a complete integrated AV or automation solution.

This project was completed at the end of March 2007 and in time for the official launch on April 4, 2007 when it was announced by CBP.