Church Without Walls Uses HaiVision Telepresence Technology

HaiVision Systems’ high-definition telepresence technology reportedly is helping The Church Without Walls to “build a greater sense of shared community among its three campuses in Houston,” according to HaiVision (News - Alert) officials.

 

The church is using hai1000 multistream encoder/decoder systems to deliver high-quality low-latency live video between campuses and “thus tie together the experiences of members attending services” at three separate sites.

“I did a lot of research into different streaming technologies, looking for a company that would stand behind its product and provide a high level of service,” said Roderick Hammonds, director of IT at The Church Without Walls and owner of IT consulting firm Net FX, which integrated the HaiVision systems.

One hai1000 encoder is installed at each of campus of the The Church Without Walls – whose pastor, Ralph Douglas West, is pictured right – and the three are connected over a VPN. Each campus has a different Sunday worship schedule, and Hammonds and his colleagues use live video broadcasts to create a window into worship at other sites.

 

If the pastor is speaking in one place, for example, his message now can be shared with members at other sites as they prepare for their worship service. Next summer the church plans to migrate its use of the hai1000 encoder to a simulcasting model and move from five services to three.

 

In September TMCnet reported a new partnership by HaiVision Systems and Video Furnace (News - Alert), a vendor of enterprise-class IP video products, to deliver video-over-IP quality and IPTV high-definition solutions for a wide range of markets, including enterprise, education and government.

 

The agreement included cooperative technical development, integrated systems propositions and joint marketing efforts.

The Church Without Walls Media Group also takes advantage of the hai1000 systems, pulling video directly from the encoder for more efficient live recording of worship for media creation, distribution, and Webcasting. The church reaches national audiences through weekly television broadcasts and Internet streaming, and its worship services are watched online by as many as 1,000 people over the course of a week.

The Houston church was founded in 1987 as Brookhollow Baptist Church and 10 years later, with the opening of its doors at Queenston campus, became The Church Without Walls. Today the church has three campuses and embraces 21,625 members.