AV Case Study: Q-SYS in Federation Uni’s Connected Classrooms
Fed Uni’s AV team went all-in on Q-SYS, helping them to realise a scalable and flexible Connected Classroom model, while remaining entirely self sufficient.
13 May 2025
For Amit Suyan, AV Team Leader at Federation University, the mission was clear: create a Connected Classroom environment that puts teaching and learning first, while making the technology as frictionless and scalable as possible. Achieving that vision across multiple campuses meant finding a platform robust enough to handle it — and flexible enough to evolve with it.
SIMPLIFY STABILISE SCALE
“A Connected Classroom is all about allowing a professor or teacher to walk into the room and focus solely on their teaching — not the technology,” explains Amit. At Fed Uni, the guiding principles were simplicity, flexibility, and stability. Walk into the space, and the room essentially configures itself: displays fire up, conferencing systems spin into action, and the lecturer needs to do little more than tap ‘Join’ on a touchscreen – sometimes they don’t even need to do that.
“That minimal interaction was critical. But so was the ability to handle different devices, platforms, and teaching styles without breaking a sweat,” says Amit. Whether it’s a Teams call, a Zoom session, or just a standalone presentation, the Connected Classroom has to be agile enough to accommodate all of it — seamlessly.
RIGHT TECH, RIGHT COMBINATION
Building this kind of user experience demanded the right mix of technologies. Amit’s team settled on three main categories: Crestron control, Sennheiser ceiling microphones, QSC cameras and loudspeakers and Epson projectors – with Q-SYS at the heart of it all.
Q-SYS wasn’t just chosen on reputation. “It has a very unique blend,” Amit observes. “It’s part AV, part IT — which brings a different flavour into the AV industry. You’ve got DSP, control, user interface design, and software all in one platform.”
Amit’s contention, is that Q-SYS is a platform that rewards investment. Once you’ve learned it, you’re empowered to design, build, and adapt systems yourself — without having to call in external specialists time you want to make a change.
SCALABILITY BY DESIGN
If there’s one word Amit keeps coming back to, it’s ‘scalability’.
Federation University spans multiple campuses across Victoria, and the Connected Classroom concept needed to be rolled out at scale — fast. “Q-SYS provides a template-based system,” explains Amit. “You design it once, and then replicate it across as many rooms as you need.”
Thanks to that templated approach, Amit’s team — just three people strong — can commission an average meeting room in half a day, or a full connected learning space in a day.
The results speak for themselves. “If you demolished a room today, I could rebuild it tomorrow,” Amit says, only half-joking. “Contractors can’t match that because they’re not doing it every day. We are.”
PROTOTYPING TO PERFECTION
In the early days, developing the Connected Classroom model wasn’t without its challenges — especially when integrating Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) solutions. “MTRs have very specific limitations — one input share at a time, only two outputs, and everything needs to run on USB audio,” notes Amit.
Finding a platform flexible enough to meet those specifications was tough. Q-SYS was one of the very few that ticked all the boxes: fully open architecture for audio design, native USB audio support, and BYOD capabilities — critical for passing audio, video, and camera control.
Q-SYS Australia’s support was also instrumental. Amit is quick to credit the contribution of Nathan Ashguerra and the local Q-SYS team: “Without their help, we wouldn’t have been able to deliver the Connected Classroom the way we intended. The POC (Proof of Concept) phase involved lots of back and forth, but they stuck with us.”
IT PHILOSOPHY AT HEART
Amit sees Q-SYS as an AV platform with a distinct IT soul. “It’s based on an IT philosophy: server-grade hardware, open systems, drag-and-drop design, and programming capability if you need it.”
Amit sees that mindset is a huge win for his in-house AV team. Learn the system once, and you can not only deploy it but enhance it over time, independently. “That self-sufficiency is integral to how we operate — and it’s a big part of why Q-SYS gets such a high priority here.”
A TEMPLATE FOR SUCCESS
The success of the Connected Classroom rollout at Federation University is a textbook example of what can be achieved when the right technology meets the right design approach.
By embracing the scalability, flexibility, and IT-driven smarts of Q-SYS, Amit and his team have built spaces that are future-proof, user-friendly, and capable of meeting the fast-changing needs of higher education.
In an era where universities are under increasing pressure to deliver quality learning experiences both in-room and remotely, Federation University’s Connected Classroom initiative is a shining example of how to get it right — without losing your sanity (or your weekends) along the way.
TAG: qsysaustralia.com.au
RESPONSES