Discover how Texas A&M University standardized AV across 600+ learning spaces with wireless collaboration technology.
The Challenge: AV at Scale
Many large university campuses have a patchwork of AV systems—different brands, outdated wiring schematics, and a maze of departmental silos. Texas A&M University (TAMU), which has more than 70,000 students, faced this exact challenge.
“Five years ago, if you walked into one of our classrooms, you might find a perfectly working wireless sharing system,” says Carlos Lucio, Associate Director of Technology Services for Texas A&M’s University Audio Visual Services department. “Walk into the next building, and it was a different story—maybe an outdated HDMI setup, or a proprietary system that only worked with certain devices. We knew we needed a unified approach.”
TAMU’s University Audio Visual Services is responsible for 600+ learning spaces spread across multiple campuses—from College Station to Fort Worth. They include teaching spaces, common spaces, laboratories, conference rooms, centrally scheduled classrooms, and even environments at satellite Texas A&M professional schools. The institution’s AV infrastructure was growing organically, leading to inconsistencies, higher maintenance costs, and frustrated faculty and students.
INDUSTRY
- Education
SERVICES
- Wireless Content Sharing
- Cloud Management
- Dynamic Digital Signage
LOCATION
- Texas
The Vision: One Experience, Everywhere
The team’s goal was simple but ambitious: No matter where a student or professor was on campus, the AV experience should feel familiar, reliable, and intuitive. That meant standardizing everything—from control interfaces to wireless sharing—while still allowing flexibility for different teaching styles.
“When we design educational spaces, we stick to a curated set of equipment so that we can keep an assembly line model going…keep it lean, keep it efficient. We need to be able to replicate, providing one user experience for any user in any TAMU environment,” says University Audio Visual Services Director Regina Greenwood. “The user interface must be the same. The available connections must be the same. This makes it easy for users to acclimate to any environment, as well as for our team. If any space needs service, for example, it’s likely that we have seen the problem many times before and can quickly fix it.”
Creating this templatized approach to AV wasn’t just about picking the right hardware; it was about building an ecosystem. The team categorized rooms into five tiers, ranging from basic single-display classrooms to advanced active learning labs, and defined standard AV packages for each. Wireless collaboration was a key pillar, but it had to meet strict criteria, including low latency (under 0.5 seconds) to avoid lag during lectures; cross-platform compatibility (supporting Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android); and centralized management to streamline updates and troubleshooting.
After evaluating multiple solutions, TAMU deployed Mersive Solstice as its primary wireless-sharing and collaboration platform, integrating it with existing displays, projectors, and conferencing tools.
Dynamic Digital Signage in Texas A&M University Labs
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The Execution: From Silos to a Unified Cloud
One of the biggest hurdles was consolidating disparate AV systems. Before standardization, different departments—engineering, business, health sciences—had their own Mersive Solstice instances, each with unique configurations.
“We ordered about 330 Mersive Solstice Pods for our relatively new Instructional Laboratory & Innovative Learning Building (ILSQ). But then we discovered that the hundreds of Solstice Pods already in use across campus were all being managed separately,” says Lucio. “Some departments had their own cloud tenants, which meant we couldn’t troubleshoot issues centrally.”
In 2023, the team migrated every Solstice Pod to a single cloud instance, giving IT full visibility and control. Now, whether a Pod was in a chemistry lab, a lecture hall, or a remote campus, it had the same security protocols, branding, and user interface.
Avoiding the ‘Sage on the Stage’: Active Learning in Action
The impact was most visible in TAMU’s active learning classrooms, where Solstice plays a pivotal role. In the ILSQ building, for example, instructors are not locked into the typical sage on the stage teaching model, but instead use Solstice to broadcast lab demonstrations to 30+ displays simultaneously. Students then break into small groups, wirelessly sharing their own content from laptops or tablets, without needing dongles or cables.
“Before, if a student wanted to present, they had to plug in an HDMI cable, wait for input switching, and hope it worked,” says Lucio. “Now, they just tap. It sounds small, but when you multiply that by hundreds of students every day, it adds up to a much more convenient, time-saving, and interactive experience for both students and faculty.”
“We ordered about 330 Mersive Solstice Pods for our relatively new Instructional Laboratory & Innovative Learning Building (ILSQ). But then we discovered that the hundreds of Solstice Pods already in use across campus were all being managed separately,”
– Carlos Lucio, Associate Director of Technology Services for Texas A&M’s University Audio Visual Services department
The Results: Efficiency, Scalability, and Student Satisfaction
With standardized AV packages, TAMU’s University Audio Visual Services team can now roll out new classrooms in days instead of weeks. “We did over 100 AV projects last year alone—classrooms, conference rooms, digital signage—because we had a repeatable process,” says Greenwood.
Additionally, centralized management means fewer on-site service calls. “If a Pod in Houston needs a firmware update, we push it remotely. No more flying technicians across the state,” Lucio says.
Students and faculty have adopted the AV systems all over campus. “The best AV is the kind you don’t notice. When a professor walks in, teaches without hiccups, and never has to call us—that’s success,” adds Greenwood. “Students and professors expect wireless sharing to just work, like it does on their phones. Now, it does.”
Lessons for AV/IT Teams
Texas A&M’s success offers a blueprint for any large institution looking to modernize AV:
- Standardize, but stay flexible. Define core AV packages, but allow room for discipline-specific needs.
- Centralized management. A single cloud dashboard for all devices reduces complexity and IT overhead.
- Prioritize user experience. If faculty struggle with the tech, they won’t use it—no matter how advanced it is.
- Plan for obsolescence, but avoid it with a software-led approach. TAMU’s six-year refresh cycle keeps technology current without breaking budgets. Choosing partners that have a software-led approach allows updates without the need for new capital investments for equipment.
- Wireless isn’t optional. Students and professionals now expect cable-free collaboration—build for it from the start.
Key Takeaways
Unified Wireless Collaboration Across 600+ Learning Spaces
Texas A&M standardized AV technology across 40 buildings by deploying Solstice Pods as its primary wireless collaboration solution. This move eliminated outdated systems and created a consistent, intuitive experience for 70,000 students and faculty, regardless of device or location.
Centralized Cloud Management Reduces IT Overhead
By migrating hundreds of Solstice Pods to a Solstice Cloud, TAMU’s IT team gained full control and visibility. Remote management now streamlines updates, troubleshooting, and branding—eliminating the need for on-site visits and accelerating AV rollouts campus-wide.
Active Learning Empowered by Flexible Multi-Display Sharing
In TAMU’s Instructional Laboratory & Innovative Learning Building, Solstice transformed passive lectures into interactive sessions. Instructors can easily broadcast content to multiple in-room displays or enable students to wirelessly share their work in small groups to support dynamic, learner-centric teaching without cables or dongles.
Future-Ready Collaboration with Campus-Wide Security
TAMU selected Solstice for its low-latency performance, cross-platform compatibility, and robust security. Centralized cloud management ensures compliance with IT standards, while Solstice helps TAMU avoid costly hardware refreshes and stays ahead of technological change.
