Month: April 2024

THE CHALLENGE: When Walsall Football Club created exciting plans for the former Saddlers Club, First Class Technologies was pleased to assist in the venue’s transformation.


THE OPPORTUNITY: Walsall Football Club’s new owners, Trivela Group made plans to revamp the existing Saddlers Club. The venue had fallen out of use over the years, and ultimately closed in 2018, taking away a popular pre-game meeting place.

The new owners promised fans a new and improved matchday experience, which included the revamping of the Saddlers Club, under its new name of The Locker.

The owners wanted to create a popular destination for fans before a match, as well as a venue that had the flexibility for additional uses.

THE SOLUTION: The First Class Technologies team visited the building and met with the project management team, to understand the vision and suggest ways to make that a reality in terms of media.

The venue had some restrictions in terms of screen sizes, due to ceiling heights and other building elements. The team calculated that the optimum solution was for First Class to install ten large format screens in the two function rooms.

Due to the scale of the renovation, there was a limited time for the team at First Class to install the required tech, as they had to fit around a major refurbishment project where the main contractors were installing heating, lighting and undertaking other improvement work.

All the screens needed to play multiple video broadcasts, so First Class connected them up to 3 Sky boxes and one PC, allowing the venue flexibility to show various media on the multiple screens, for example, maybe different football matches, other sports and a music or news channel.

A standalone sound system was designed for each space (controlled centrally within the building), allowing individual control of TV sound, background music and radio microphones, plus local audio inputs if required, but for larger events the two rooms can be linked together. The two rooms are covered by a total of fourteen speakers to afford the quality audio experience for the audiences.

IN CONCLUSION: First Class designed and installed the sophisticated audio system to allow input from the broadcast feed, music and an extra feature to enable presenters to use radio microphones on match days and other functions.

Simon Murphy, Head of The Locker at Walsall FC says: “It was fantastic to have First Class on board with the project early, to advise the best way forward in terms of media. The original concept the club had wouldn’t have given us the end-result we desired. We’re grateful to the First Class team for sharing their thoughts about the initial plans, which allowed us to upgrade the specifications to meet the variety and flexibility of use required.

“In event spaces such as these, the requirements of a high quality sound system can change on a daily basis, as one day we might be showing live sport, and the next day might be a wedding or birthday celebration or even a business conference. First Class understood this, and provided us with a system with maximum versatility, but that could still be easy to operate by staff members.

“The opportunities for this venue are massive, and we’re only just scratching the surface with the potential this space offers, so we needed a team that would help us future-proof our vision. First Class has the knowledge and experience we needed to take this project forward. The team members were attentive to our needs and very professional. They were always willing to help with whatever we needed. They were as keen as us to get the best finished result, so were the perfect team for the job.”

Managing Director of First Class Technologies, Richard Hinton, says: “We were delighted to be involved in such a high-profile renovation. It was a tight project turnaround time, but we’ve got years of experience managing projects like this so it all went to plan, and everyone at Walsall FC was very helpful and a pleasure to work with. It’s fantastic to see The Locker in action with guests enjoying an improved matchday experience.”

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Did you know that it’s over 9 years since the release of Windows 10? And that the end of life for Windows 10 is scheduled for next year, 2025?

Windows 10 is probably one of the most used operating systems throughout the world, but as of 14th October 2025, Microsoft will stop its general release of important security updates and new features.

However, because of how popular the operating system is, Microsoft has announced that it is going to offer existing Windows 10 users the chance to purchase Extended Security Updates (ESU), in order to continue to receive critical and important security updates, in exchange for an annual subscription.

Subscription information and enrollment conditions will be available about 12 months before the end of the support date (approximately late 2024), but it’s not clear yet how much the annual subscription will be, or how the price will increase over subsequent years. However, Microsoft has stated that ESU will be free for all Windows 365 customers.

Although this move seems to offer a lifeline to those still running Windows 10, the security updates will only be available for a maximum of three years after the end of support for Windows 10, and there is also no technical support included in the ESU program.

Whilst Windows 10 PCs will continue to work, Microsoft recommends that customers upgrade eligible PCs to Windows 11 before the deadline.

If now seems a good time to start looking at upgrading your systems to Windows 11 and replacing PCs that are too old to upgrade, please get in touch with our friendly team who will help you evaluate all the options.

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First Class Technologies partners with a specialist UK based education sector solution house, providing filtering and monitoring systems and firewalls for schools and colleges.

Fully compliant with the UK Safer Internet Centre’s Appropriate Filtering” programme. Supporting both the IWF and CTIRU counter-terrorism filtering categories.

The solution is well established, field proven, developed and supported in the UK.

In 2024, it is one of the most important educational tools, evident that the systems required to keep pupils safe in the modern world would have to be able to grow with one of the most rapidly changing systems on the planet. The UK Government guidelines now demand more than the traditional URL lists and simple filters. From the very beginning the system pioneered real-time content analysis, believing this to be the best way to rapidly adjust to an ever-changing landscape.


OFFERING
• Comprehensive reporting
• Ensure the establishment is protecting your pupils with a powerful array of customisable reports.
• Built for Education
• Designed, built and supported in the UK for schools implementing the recommendations from the UK Safer Internet Centre and the new DFE “Filtering and monitoring standards” document.
• Deep Content Inspection
• Instant real-time filtering and categorisation of web content
• Local and remote control
• The ability to instantly update filters from anywhere on campus, vital for the smooth running of lessons.
• Support team comprises engineers with comprehensive networking experience and an excellent understanding of both the UK Government’s safeguarding guidelines and the technical realities of complying with these guidelines. Cost effective protection, with multiple support levels.


Whatever your size and requirements, the solution is scalable to suit. For more information, contact First Class Technologies.

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