onShore, Inc. has just completed its work on the ECHO project, the code name for creation of the Eloise W. Martin Center. This center is part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's $110 million renovation. We thought you might enjoy an informal recap, a journal of sorts, of how the opportunity came about, how it progressed, and get some reactions to the project now that it is completed. As you read on, you will find the specifications we were originally given by the CSO, a handful of email communications between the four contractors chosen for the project, and you will read some comments by our president and founder, Stel Valavanis. about the project, the teams, the challenges, the lessons we learned, and the future of the technology.

Raul Silva, one of onShore's partners and Director of Design and Multimedia, is the reason we were called to bid on the ECHO project. While working for the Art Institute of Chicago, he was the interface designer and lead Director programmer for three interactive installations, the largest being Cleopatra, now a permanent exhibit as part of the Ancient Art Galleries. That work, plus his impressive success starting his own business producing numerous commercial interactive titles and Shockwave games for mail and web-based distribution brought his name to the attention of the CSO planners.

Raul, Eric Dodson, onShore's CEO, and Harvey Tillis, Director of Strategic Planning and Business Development attended an orientation meeting in mid-April, 1997, hosted by the CSO. The CSO had asked a total of 17 potential contractors to attend an all day session during which the 600 page, three volume design document produced by ESI, Edwin Schlossberg, Inc., was introduced and reviewed. Contractors were separated by skill groups with each group reviewing details and asking questions together to get as clear a picture as possible before deciding whether to attempt a response to the RFP and meet the tight deadline for submission. We would have about two weeks to read, analyze, and respond to the design doc.

As we sat in our meeting, talking about software design, Eric suddenly realized that the systems integration portion of this project was another area for which onShore was ideally suited. He borrowed Raul's portable phone, walked into a lobby, and called Stel Valavanis, onShore's president. Stel was in the field supervising a job. "Drop everything and get over here," said Eric. "I'm wearing a t-shirt and jeans!" responded Stel. "Everyone there must be in a suit and tie, aren't they?" "That doesn't matter, just get here," replied Eric. So, in came Stel and Nick for the afternoon session.

We walked out more excited than we had ever been about a potential project. This was going to be the big one. Big challenge. Big visibility. Big price tag. Very big deadlines. We would bid on both the software development portion and the systems integration portion of the project. Nine onShore staff members worked for 10 days and nights on our bids. Our response was more than 60 pages long. We stated that onShore felt confident bidding on either software design and development or systems integration and we made a strong case for considering us to do both portions together. In the end, we were awarded systems integration and circuit design for the musical activity boxes.

Weekly Status Report #1

The systems integration job was very big. However, we have done bigger jobs for clients in the advertising industry and in the financial brokerage industry. We had to put a lot of redundancy into our planning for this job because additional wiring would not be possible later. Dollar-wise, the combined systems integration and MIDI development project was the biggest dollar project we had ever done up to that time.

Not only was this project exciting. It was also dangerous because we had never done anything quite like it before and we told this to the CSO. The circuit design and code we were developing for the activity boxes was a unique challenge for us. I think that including that design as part of what was defined as "systems integration" scared off some of the other potential bidding contractors.

I believe that after the CSO and ESI reviewed specs for the entire job and then studied our credentials they felt comfortable bringing us in because we already had done bigger, more complex systems; we had the dealerships in place, and we had outside vendor resources already established.

1. Engineer all technical systems
2. Coordinate and schedule all Systems Contractor work and other contractors.
3. Review designer's specifications for all systems elements and confirm availability and appropriateness of all components specified.
4. Submit specification substitutions for approval
5. Produce final systems schematic diagram
6. Produce systems rack elevations
7. Produce cabling and termination schedules
8. Submit diagrams, elevations and schedules for approval
9. Provide systems components
10. Provide mounting hardware and equipment racks for systems equipment
11. Provide systems components for software developers and exhibit fabricator.
12. Set up prototype systems for all systems types for evaluations and for use by software developers
13. Integrate exhibit systems
14. Deliver and install exhibit systems
15. Coordinate on-site electrical work.
16. Coordinate technical installation with other contractors.
17. Test installed equipment
18. Assist software producers in installation of software programs
19. Troubleshoot systems
20. Correct punch list items.
21. Produce systems documentation, manuals, and warranties.
22. Train Exhibit Staff in operations and maintenance of systems
23. Coordinate turn-over of systems to Exhibits Staff.
24. Provide technical support for Exhibit Staff.
25. Provide initial 1 year warranty for all systems components and systems integration
26. Provide on-going service contract support as requested by CSO

The Exhibit Systems include, but is not limited to:

• Interactive computer systems
• computer networks
• computer MIS stations
• computer network file server
• data acquisition and control system
• video playback system
• audio system
• electronic message display system