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Four innovative uses of intercom systems bring sophistication and special features to office buildings, apartments and residences.
From office buildings in Las Vegas and Chicago to a renovated New York City apartment building and an upscale California home, businesses and residences across the country rely on intercom systems for communicating between remote locations, controlling building entry and other creative uses.
For example, an intercom system at one of the three office buildings in the Great American Plaza in Las Vegas features a virtual character on a television screen named Victoria who functions as a receptionist. At an office building in Chicago, intercoms provide access only to an unattended lobby and designated floors of the facility.
A dealer in Brooklyn, N.Y., uses telephone interface intercom systems almost exclusively for buildings with at least 20 tenants. In Foster City, Calif., a telephone interface intercom system remotely controls two gates to a California home.
AVATAR ON THE INTERCOM
Walk up to one of the three office buildings in the Great American Plaza in Las Vegas after hours and Victoria will greet you.
Appearing on the screen of the building's intercom system, Victoria, who resembles an avatar in a video game, will ask you to select the name of the business you wish.. to visit from an alphabetical list using a touch screen.
Touching the screen will connect you with someone in the office you selected who can speak with you and buzz you in and, depending on the equipment set-up in the office, may also be able to see your image on a computer screen.
Victoria will tell you where inside the building your destination office is located. If the person you wish to see has left the office for the day but wants to keep in touch, the system can ring that person's cell phone. Victoria will guide you through the process.
Since the system was installed in the first half of 2004, it has been a "nice selling tool for tenants," reports Noam Schwartz. The building is seen as "very sophisticated" and tenants like the sense of security that the system brings them, he adds.
Schwartz is in charge of design and construction for Great American Capital, the real estate developer that owns and...