A company dedicated to providing equipment, solutions, and engineering services for a range of industries, Romania-based RomTek Electronics SRL has set a high bar for determining the tools it uses and recommends for clients. To aid in its decision-making process and provide a local resource for capturing content, RomTek carved out a multifunctional space called the ‘demo room.’ Outfitted with the requisite gear, including AJA solutions, the setting is ideal for producing sophisticated videos and testing new products and workflows. We recently caught up with Corneliu Cristian Gheorghiu, RomTek’s Business Development Director of Audio/Video/TV/Film, to find out more.  

Tell us about RomTek. 
Established in 1998, RomTek is a privately owned company with three specialties: Audio/Video/TV/Film (A/V/TV/F), Telecommunications (Telecom), and Test & Measurement and Educational Training Platforms (T&M – ETP). Our team is about 15 strong and we help clients in Romania and the Republic of Moldavia secure equipment, build and procure solutions, and engineer workflows, customizing each to their specific needs and industry. 

What does a typical day look like for you? 
I focus on the Audio/Video/TV/Film aspect of our business. It’s a role that challenges me to anticipate and quickly adapt to technology trends, strengthen and expand relationships with our partner suppliers, identify and create synergies with our other RomTek business segments, and work to increase market share in established and new areas. Typically, I start each day by reviewing my schedule, to-do list, and emails, then prioritize activities and assign tasks as needed. My day varies, but could include internal meetings, customer visits/calls, tackling projects, generating offers, and capturing professional readings/videos, while remaining highly responsive to customers as needs arise. 

What are your most and least favorite aspects of your job? 
I’m a builder by nature so I enjoy seeing how projects and opportunities turn into realities. I think the most challenging aspect of my job is navigating different personality types and cultural backgrounds to accomplish those end goals. 

Describe RomTek’s Demo Room.
Our ‘demo room’ is an area that can be transformed for up to 12 people to meet, present to a live audience of up to 25 people, use for demonstration and training purposes, or create high quality productions. It houses modular furniture, a mobile 100-inch professional TV display and a retractable green screen so that we can change the configuration in less than ten minutes. 

From a production standpoint, the demo room is basically a small TV studio outfitted with equipment from major brands in our company’s portfolio, including AJA’s KUMO 1616-12G router, KUMO CP control panel, HELO Plus H.264 streaming solution, and various Mini-Converters. The equipment in the demo room can be quickly changed so that the room can be easily re-purposed and various technologies can be rolled out based on demo objectives. We can capture virtual backgrounds, use the TV monitor, or employ other physical backgrounds, while preserving the feeling of live experiences as opposed to mundane marketing presentations. 

AJA has always been an important brand for our portfolio for its quality, reliability, and value, so naturally it’s the glue for our demo room workflow. The AJA KUMO 1616-12G router and KUMO CP control panel are best-in-class, and the AJA HELO Plus streaming solution has proven far more reliable than any other streaming solution that we have tested. In terms of manufacturing quality and based on years of first-hand experience, I can say that the AJA equipment is solid. I know many of our customers won’t even consider alternative brands or products once they’ve discovered AJA. 

What industry and technology trends are you tracking and why?
I’m personally following developments related to virtual production, robotic cameras/heads, AI-based tools, and multifunctional processing platforms that can perform signal switching/routing/conversion tasks between several I/O ports. For the time being, it is important for these platforms to handle SDI since IP adoption is still lagging, between high administration costs and slow standardization. 

About AJA KUMO 
AJA routers provide a convenient dense routing solution in lightweight, compact form factors for use in facilities, OB trucks, post suites and more. KUMO is available in multiple connector densities, in 3G-SDI and 12G-SDI options. KUMO is easy to update, configure, and control with optional Control Panels for quick physical access to source and destination routing, with convenient USB ports for IP configuration, plus all models offer integrated web browser access across a network over the built-in Ethernet connection. https://www.aja.com/family/routers

About AJA HELO Plus
AJA HELO Plus is a compact, advanced H.264 streaming and recording stand-alone appliance. HELO Plus offers both SDI and HDMI I/O with the capability to stream up to 1080p60 to a content delivery network and record simultaneously. Two separate streaming destinations can be set up and recordings can be made to a combination of SD card, USB storage and NFS or CIFS network storage. HELO Plus also provides Picture-In-Picture graphics and functionality in hardware for compelling presentations made simple. https://www.aja.com/products/helo-plus

About AJA Video Systems                                                                                                               
Since 1993, AJA Video Systems has been a leading manufacturer of video interface technologies, converters, digital video recording solutions and professional cameras, bringing high quality, cost effective products to the professional broadcast, video and post production markets. AJA products are designed and manufactured at our facilities in Grass Valley, California, and sold through an extensive sales channel of resellers and systems integrators around the world. For further information, please see our website at www.aja.com.

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