- Client: Army Materiel Command (AMC), Tobyhanna Army Depot
- Location: Tobyhanna, PA
- Scope: AV-over-IP infrastructure modernization across two headquarters zones
- Platform: Crestron DM NVX, two 160-endpoint director appliances
- Timeline: Proposed December 2021, shipped early 2022
Background
Tobyhanna Army Depot is the Department of Defense's largest full-service electronics maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility, supporting Army Materiel Command's mission at a genuinely large scale. A depot headquarters this size doesn't run video distribution through a handful of point-to-point cables — it needs a networked AV backbone that can grow with the facility rather than being rebuilt every time a new room or building comes online.
The situation
AMC needed its Tobyhanna headquarters AV modernized around a networked switching architecture rather than traditional matrix switchers, split across two separate project scopes — each getting its own dedicated director appliance rated for up to 160 AV-over-IP endpoints.
What made it hard
Two director appliances, each capable of managing up to 160 endpoints, isn't hardware you buy speculatively — it's a commitment to a specific network architecture across a facility large enough to need that kind of scale. Getting the specification right meant confirming the network could actually support Crestron's NVX AV-over-IP standard across two zones, and building in government-specific hardware — like touch panels in their government version finish — where the contract required it.
How we designed it
Each of the two project scopes centered on a Crestron DM-NVX-DIR-160 Director — a virtual switching appliance that manages AV-over-IP endpoints entirely in software rather than through a physical matrix, each one rated for up to 160 endpoints. That's headroom for a headquarters building's full video distribution needs without a hardware upgrade every time a new endpoint gets added. Control integration ran through Crestron CEN-IO-COM-102 Ethernet-to-serial modules and IR emitter probes, letting the system talk to third-party equipment that only speaks serial or IR rather than native network protocols. A Crestron TSW-770-GV-B-S touch screen — specified in its government version finish — gave each zone local control.
Equipment
| Component | Model | Function |
|---|---|---|
| AV-over-IP switching | Crestron DM-NVX-DIR-160, x2 | Virtual switching, 160 endpoints each |
| Serial/IR bridging | Crestron CEN-IO-COM-102, IRP2 | Third-party equipment integration |
| Control | Crestron TSW-770-GV-B-S | Government version wall panel |
The rollout
The proposal was issued in December 2021 as two coordinated project scopes, with equipment shipping via UPS in stages through early 2022 — the deployment logged and tracked shipment by shipment, matching each carrier tracking number and delivery to a named recipient at the depot. A separate dropship order followed later that year, continuing the equipment relationship past the original two-zone rollout.
What's the advantage of AV-over-IP switching over a traditional matrix switcher?
A traditional matrix switcher is limited by its physical input and output count, while a system like the two Crestron DM-NVX-DIR-160 directors deployed at Tobyhanna manages switching virtually over the network, each supporting up to 160 endpoints without adding new switching hardware as the facility grows.
Why would a facility need two separate AV-over-IP director appliances instead of one larger system?
Tobyhanna's headquarters modernization split into two coordinated project scopes, each with its own dedicated 160-endpoint director — a way to scale AV-over-IP switching across two distinct zones of a large facility rather than routing everything through a single point of failure.
Does government AV equipment need special hardware versions?
Sometimes, yes — Tobyhanna's project specified a Crestron TSW-770 touch panel in its government version finish, the kind of federal-contract-specific requirement that shows up in defense facility work but not in typical commercial installs.
Technology partners on this project
Creation Networks, Inc. — nationwide commercial AV integrator, CTS-D certified, based in Concord, CA and Incline Village, NV. Design, engineering, programming, installation, and support from a single point of contact since 2006. Call 888-230-3661 or email sales@creationnetworks.net.
AV-over-IP infrastructure
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