Company’s New Forward Family of Toolless Rack Options and Accessories Enables 5x Faster Installation of Everyday Rack Builds
Visit Middle Atlantic in the Legrand / AV Booth at CEDIA Expo 2019, Booth 905
FAIRFIELD, N.J. — Sept. 12, 2019 — Middle Atlantic Products, a brand of Legrand | AV, is demonstrating Forward, a family of installation solutions that deliver greater system reliability, efficiency, and flexibility to the rack, in the Legrand | AV Booth 905 at CEDIA Expo 2019. With Forward’s innovative new rackrail, integrators can put down the drill and install the family’s blank and vent panels, cable management, lighting, and other rack solutions without tools, completing the project in a fraction of the time while delivering an optimized system.
“The rack installation story is a tale of site transport woes, fumbling around pitch-black rooms, wrestling with cable spaghetti, and dealing with power blips. This adds up to hours spent toiling inside the rack,” said Paul Dolynchuk, director of product management at Legrand | AV — Middle Atlantic Products. “We wanted to rewrite this story. Forward achieves the fastest- possible installation while ensuring reliability. Now integrators can install today’s systems at tomorrow’s speed.”
Forward was born from Middle Atlantic’s years of extensive research and draws upon continuous feedback regarding top integration pain points that the company solicits from its integrator community. The result is an accessory and options line designed with the entire system lifecycle in mind and built upon industry-leading products that integrators have depended on for decades. The rackrail, when coupled with Forward options, allows integrators to achieve reliable rack layouts easily and with less time, labor, and hardware. The new rackrail will ship standard in the BGR Series — the industry’s No.1 AV enclosure — and additional enclosures in the near future, enabling integrators to add the Forward accessories and options they need to achieve even greater efficiency.
• All-New Rackrail: Optimizes Rackspace and Saves Time With Toolless Forward Accessories
In a rack, space is finite, which is why Middle Atlantic has transformed the traditional rackrail into a multipurpose solution. Forward Rail features a new take on the conventional L-shaped design, providing two planes of mounting possibilities: First, the front face of the rail features a square hole designed to engage with Forward blank and vent panels and horizontal cable management options by simply clicking into place without tools or hardware. In addition to this hardware-free functionality, the rail maintains the 10-32 tapped holes for rack screw mounting of equipment. Second, the side of the rail is punched with Middle Atlantic’s patented Universal Hole Pattern. This feature allows for vertical cable management from top to bottom or from one rack unit to another throughout the enclosure.
• Forward Lighting: Mounts Without Tools to Illuminate Workspace Efficiently
Research indicates black racks in dark closets are one of the most common complaints from integrators. With Forward lighting, technicians no longer have to use one hand to hold up a flashlight or phone and perform intricate work with the other. Forward lighting mounts directly in any of the horizontal slots alongside the rackrail brackets (typically where the patented Lever Lock™ engages), providing a flexible, 0-RU lighting solution that mounts vertically and shines at an optimal 45 degrees. It also includes an IR sensor to switch on automatically when the door opens and a dimmer to adjust the brightness.
• Forward Cable Management and Power Bracket Solutions: Mount Without Tools to Run Cables With Ease
Neat and tidy cables are critical for ensuring reliability and creating systems that can be quickly and easily serviced and upgraded as components evolve, but threading zip ties and Velcro strips is a laborious, often frustrating process. The Forward cable management accessories offer limitless cable routing flexibility — including horizontal and vertical solutions that range from simple C and D rings to full-height grids that engage with the rackrail brackets — without the need for tools. Likewise, the family’s power bracket slips into rackrail bracket slots and accepts any button-mount power strip, such as Raritan PDU solutions and Middle Atlantic’s PDT Series.
• Forward Blank and Vent Panels: Engage With Rackrail to Achieve Optimal Rack Design in Minutes and With No Hardware
Much time can be spent screwing panels in to achieve the best rack layout. With Forward, integrators can now accomplish this in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. The Forward blank and vent panels simply click into the new rackrail.
• Forward UPS Base: Comes Preinstalled, so Integrators Don’t Have to Do the Heavy Lifting
With today’s AV equipment needs, a UPS is vital on every job. However, installing one can be a challenging, two-person job due to its size and weight. The Forward UPS Base eliminates this problem with a 2200VA Premium Series UPS that comes preinstalled and ready to plug in out of the box.
Further simplifying the design process, Middle Atlantic is also offering a BGR enclosure that comes preconfigured with Forward installation solutions and can be ordered using one simple part number. This preconfigured option gives integrators the assurance of the industry’s most trusted AV rack packed with the benefits of Forward.
More information about Middle Atlantic Products is available at www.middleatlantic.com.
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About Legrand
Legrand | AV Residential Solutions brings together Legrand’s industry-leading brands in infrastructure, networking, and AV systems, including Chief, Da-Lite, Luxul, Middle Atlantic Products, Nuvo, On-Q, QMotion, SANUS, and Vantage. Created to provide the highest level of service, support, and programs to custom integrators, Legrand | AV Residential offers dedicated technical support, incentive programs, simplified ordering, and easy access to marketing tools to help its customers achieve long-term success. With its purpose-built solutions, the company is solving installation challenges, streamlining integration across Legrand brands and third-party partners, and delivering AV experiences that simplify every aspect of an end user’s life. Legrand | AV Residential: transforming smart homes together.
Legrand | AV Residential is a division of Legrand, which globally reported sales of $6.2 billion (USD) in 2017. Legrand has a strong presence in North and Central America, with a portfolio of well-known market brands and product lines that includes AFCO Systems, C2G, Cablofil, Chief, Da-Lite, Electrorack, Finelite, Luxul, Middle Atlantic Products, Nuvo, OCL, On-Q, Ortronics, Pass & Seymour, Pinnacle, Projecta, QMotion, Quiktron, Raritan, SANUS, Server Technology, Solarfective, Vaddio, Vantage, Wattstopper, and Wiremold. Legrand is listed on Euronext Paris and is a component stock of indexes including the CAC40, FTSE4Good, MSCI World, ASPI, Corporate Oekom Rating, and DJSI (ISIN code FR0010307819). www.legrand.us
PR Link: www.ingearpr.com/MAP/190912MAP.docx
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Image Caption: Middle Atlantic’s No.1 AV enclosure, the BGR, and Forward, a New Family of Installation Solutions
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