Dan Wilhelm calls the company he works for, Harmarville-based NEP Broadcasting, a "quiet giant" because it is in a small, remote location in a small town in Western Pennsylvania, but wields a big stick in the world of sports and entertainment television.

NEP is clearly a giant, but nothing it does is even remotely quiet.

The fruits of the company's labor can be seen and heard all the way around the world on any number of channels.

That's because the company specializes in providing television production services and engineering support for live televised sporting and entertainment events and has been doing so for the past 25 years. This year NEP has been a big part of the production of the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup playoffs, Kentucky Derby and Preakness. In the past it has done events such as the Academy Awards and Tony Awards.

And this week, NEP is at the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club to provide production and engineering support for more than 10 networks, including NBC and ESPN -- the two networks that are televising the event live -- and the Golf Channel.

Wilhelm, NEP's executive vice president, said the company has 14 television production trucks at Oakmont and 41 of its nearly 200 full-time Pittsburgh-based employees working at the event. The company, which also has offices in London, Los Angeles and New York, has 450 employees, more than half of whom have an engineering background.

The company had to lay "miles and miles" of wires last week in order to provide the television crews with the capabilities of showing all of their camera angles from each hole throughout the course.

"I think it is pretty incredible that this company based right across the river from here is largely responsible for making sure the whole world can watch this event, as well as many others," Wilhelm said.

Although NEP is on site and working with the networks to make sure the production of the broadcast is as close to perfect as possible, the company's job begins long before an event as it must design the trucks to meet the needs of a specific network. The design and manufacturing of production trucks is a big part of NEP's business, though, the company also must send an army of engineers and production people to make sure the trucks run properly.

The inside of the truck is like command central -- with various stations for transmission, photos and graphics. A group of engineers monitors a sea of television screens.

Each truck is a little a different but all incorporate the most cutting edge of digital and video technology. The company has several trucks designed specifically for HDTV -- so yes, the U.S. Open will be available in high definition -- including the production truck it designed for use with NBC's broadcast of "Monday Night Football."

"There isn't much that is televised these days that we don't have our hand in," Wilhelm said. "Like I said, these are exciting times for our company because we are growing so fast and again, we're from right across the river, which makes doing this Open a little extra special for us all."