Powersoft’s DEVA Makes Cincinnati Zoo Roar

Advanced Messaging, Wireless and Security Capabilities: world’s third largest zoo integrates DEVA’s world-class public messaging and wireless communications loudspeaker platform
The Cincinnati Zoo features a world-class menagerie of animals from far and wide, including lions, monkeys, manatees, etc… 1.8 million of annual visitors emphasize the innovative approach of Cincinnati Zoo in education, outreach, conservation, and giving every visitor a unique experience with wildlife that they would not have anywhere else. What the zoo lacked until recently was a reliable audio system for delivering messages throughout its sprawling campus.

In addition to providing pristine sounding music throughout the zoo campus, the new multi-point DEVA system also helps with communication and messaging challenges: “With as many guests as the zoo attracts, we recognised the need for the paging system that could clearly and effectively deliver messages throughout our space”, says Dutch Mulholland, IT/AV Director of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens. Starting with only two DEVA units to see how they would work with the zoo’s existing network infrastructure. The two units worked flawlessly, so the zoo went up to 50 DEVA units, just in time for its major Festival of Lights holiday event.

The DEVA Control Panel app is key to unlocking the unit’s flexibility and remote control features. “The app is really great”, says Mulholland. “In the past, we had to go to a closet where our switches and amplifiers were just to turn a zone down or mute it. With this app, not only does it allow us to customize our volumes in each zone remotely, which saves a lot of time, but it also allows us to monitor the DEVA’s performance. We wanted to have as close to 100% coverage as possible with our audio messaging. This made DEVA’s wireless capabilities a key selling point. “With our old conventional sound system for emergency paging, it was always a fight to set up wiring, and then we’d deal with having squirrels chew through our cables, or even the horticulture destroying a lot of the cables that are in the ground” explained Dutch Mulholland.
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