Thanks to a recent donation of visualization and collaboration equipment valued at more than half-a-million dollars, researchers, tenant companies, and conference participants at the Virginia Tech Research Center — Arlington have access to leading-edge technology to enhance their work and their meetings.

The gift by Cyviz builds upon the company’s existing relationship with Virginia Tech. Cyviz, which is headquartered in Norway, has a regional office within the university’s Arlington facility.

"To be in the forefront of technology, it is strategically important to us to have a close collaboration with high-ranked academic institutions," said Jeff Eisenhard, the company's vice president for the Americas. "Cyviz's gift to Virginia Tech is [equipment in] several state of the art executive collaboration rooms, which offer Virginia Tech employees, partners, and students access to Cyviz-equipped training and collaboration technology. In return, we are receiving extremely valuable feedback on the user experience and technology of the collaboration room, from highly analytic and skilled user groups. This feedback is important to us in our aim to create radically improved user-experiences."

Virginia Tech Director of National Capital Region Operations Nick Stone said Cyviz's gift provides multiple benefits. Much of the university-produced research conducted within the building is in computer-intensive fields such as big-data analytics, simulations, cybersecurity, and health information technology. The donated equipment can help researchers in those areas to collaborate and to present their work effectively to potential partners or funders.

"This building is a showcase for the university in the Washington, D.C., area," Stone said. "Think about the value of introducing Virginia Tech to the diversity of the people here -- from the federal agencies and local government, embassies from around the world, a dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem, established companies, and an amazingly talented and well-educated population. The technology we now have here makes a huge difference in people’s experiences and impressions of the university."

Along with being a center for university research, the Arlington facility has a commercial component, which is also helped by Cyviz's gift.

"One comment that we often get when people tour the facility is that they are impressed by the technology that we have at our fingertips,” said Larissa LaCour, who manages the Executive Briefing Center located in the building, which can be booked for meetings or conferences, and is where the donated equipment is located. “I think it makes it more attractive and certainly, for the users, improves the functionality of our rooms. It allows meetings to be more dynamic and collaborative."

By improving the environment for research and education at the Virginia Tech Research Center — Arlington, and by making the facility an even more powerful showcase for the university in a strategically important region, Cyviz’s gift of equipment makes a major impact.