Mumbai Based ACTIS Technologies Creating Smoother Collaboration Experiences
The Multi-purpose Cafeteria adapts to changing requirements
The client (Client particulars for this Case study have been withheld for privacy reasons), a leading global provider of financial services which caters to the medical, academic and governmental fields were looking to create several collaboration spaces including Presentation Rooms, VC rooms, Training Rooms and a Multi-purpose cafeteria space for greater flexibility especially with larger audiences. There was a very tight time-frame for completion of this project, which increased the complexity of implementation. The client wanted to provide their teams with better tools for collaboration and Actis was engaged to design and implement solutions to support this.
As a leading global financial institution, the client wanted to create infrastructure which would lead to smoother collaboration. The Actis team designed and implemented a solution which integrated AV, control and collaboration tools that lead to more effective work interactions across the organisation.
THE SOLUTION
The organisation placed great emphasis on flexibility in their collaboration spaces — making them highly adaptable for use across different functions and room sizes. Actis helped create several types of collaboration spaces including Presentation Rooms, VC rooms, Training Rooms and a Multi-purpose cafeteria room. One of the most unusual elements of the project was the creation of 4 training rooms and a 2-section cafeteria which can be combined to create one huge 430 seat Town Hall space. Of course, each individual room can also be cordoned off for use by smaller groups when required.
The Digital Cafeteria is equipped with projectors combined with 119” roller screens that provide high visibility for content to the participants in this section. Video conferencing has also been enabled in this space with hardware based VC systems — our team has incorporated a Panasonic camera along with Cisco TelePresence SX80 codecs. High-quality AV switching is possible with the Crestron DigitalMedia matrix switchers. A DSP has also been incorporated to ensure clarity of audio, especially during VC calls. Crestron control processors teamed with a touch panel interface make device and environment control simpler in the rooms and also allow a fair degree of automation.
The use of custom programmed presets makes it easy and fast for the facilities team to manage room transitions. The equipment racks for all 6 rooms have been located in a section of the cafeteria. Each Training Room is equipped with a large Samsung QM98 display, which can be accessed via connectivity interfaces. The podium also features a touch panel control for managing various aspects of the AV setup. Ceiling mounted speakers and microphones are combined with a Biamp DSP to ensure perfect audio quality even in video calls. Video collaboration is possible, and the rooms feature both front and rear cameras for this. The training rooms can be separated with sliding partitions for smaller groups or combined with adjoining rooms when a larger audience is involved.
The Multi-purpose Cafeteria – Has 2 divisible sections and can be combined with 4 adjacent Training Rooms
Actis also created several Presentation Rooms which have a more basic setup and support smaller groups. This includes smaller 4 seat huddle rooms which have a 49” display, button panel and cable cubby for connectivity. There are several larger 6 seater and 14 seater VC Rooms where video conferencing is also supported. These rooms feature a larger 65” inch display and use the Cisco Room Kit for VC. This is an integrated unit which consists of the display, camera and audio system required to make video calls. In the larger 14 seater rooms additional table-top microphones, cable cubbies and speakers have also been incorporated to ensure every participant is clearly audible. A higher level of control and convenience is provided in these VC rooms with a Crestron control system.
THE FINAL IMPRESSION
The new collaboration infrastructure designed by Actis has had a considerable impact on the adaptability of the organisation in different collaboration, learning and meeting scenarios. While individual rooms have helped provide more powerful tools for in-room and remote collaboration, an even larger impact has been achieved due to the flexibility that they offer when combined. Facilities teams are able to react quickly to the requirements from business teams, to provide the functionality they need to support them in achieving smoother interactions.