Systems Contractor News - The Integration Guide to Conferencing and Collaboration - Jan 2024

A SUPPLEMENT TO

MAGAZINE

THE INTEGRATION GUIDE TO

CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATION

SPONSORED BY

ABSEN • ATLONA • AURORA MULTIMEDIA • CHIEF • EPOS • HOLOSONICS • SENNHEISER • SONY • YAMAHA UC

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LEARN MORE AT: legrandav.com/chief

C2G | Chief | Da-Lite | Luxul | Middle Atlantic | Vaddio | Wiremold ©2022 Legrand AV Inc. 220603 Rev A 9/22

A SUPPLEMENT TO

MAGAZINE

THE INTEGRATION GUIDE TO

CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATION

SPONSORED BY

ABSEN • ATLONA • AURORA MULTIMEDIA • CHIEF • EPOS • HOLOSONICS • SENNHEISER • SONY • YAMAHA UC

CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE

CONTENT

VP/Content Creation Anthony Savona Content Director Mark J. Pescatore, Ph.D. mark.pescatore@futurenet.com Senior Content Manager Wayne Cavadi IMAGES COURTESY OF CONVENE

Contributer Carolyn Heinze Group Art Director Nicole Cobban Art Editor Rob Crossland Designs for the new space changed to incorporate hybrid meeting capabilities.

Hybrid: The Next Generation IVCi and TAD Deliver Immersive AV at International Law Firm

By Carolyn Heinze

G

lobal law firm White & Case LLP recently celebrated the grand opening of its flagship event space at its headquarters at 1221 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Almost three years in the making, the facility was designed to deliver an immersive hybrid meeting experience for the professionals scattered throughout the firm’s 44 offices across the globe.

Through Convene—a hospitality company also headquartered in New York City—the space is available to external organizations seeking similar capabilities.

The AV systems were designed by TAD, a design firm based in New York City that interweaves technology and architecture. IVCi, an AV design and integration company headquartered in Hauppauge, NY, provided additional design and headed up the technology integration.

At 40,000 square feet, the space houses a 3,932-square-foot, 360-seat Grand Hall outfitted with a 160-foot-long, 8-foot-high curved SiliconCore 10 UHD LED video wall positioned 8 feet above the floor. An adjacent green room is used for welcoming presenters before they take the stage, and a studio serves as a control room for producing broadcast and hybrid events.

Outside the Grand Hall are two open-air galleries. Featuring full videoconferencing capabilities, these spaces can be used for overflow or separate meetings. They are also equipped with snack and refreshment bars for hosting receptions. Additionally, there are four smaller hubs—divisible conference rooms that may be opened into one or two larger spaces. The hubs are also equipped with amenities for serving refreshments.

Designing with Intent White & Case has long been a tenant at the building; the 49th floor is home to the firm’s New York offices and conferencing facilities. In 2019, when the organization signed a lease on the building’s second floor, it began working with TAD. IVCi, a longtime trusted AV partner of White & Case, also joined the team at that time.

The primary challenge that White & Case, TAD, and IVCi faced throughout this project was its timing: Design began in 2019 and was halted in April 2020. Less than a year later, White & Case 2

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CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE relaunched the project, and welcomed its first event in early December 2022.

As a result of the timeline, the initial use case for the space— and the AV design that would support it—did not address how professionals gather and collaborate in a post-pandemic world.

This required the AV design to go through several iterations, as both the client and AV professionals developed a vision for what meetings and conferences would look like once the pandemic was over. Coupled with this were the logistical issues associated with procuring equipment during the massive supply chain disruption that was taking place worldwide.

Because of this, solid collaboration between TAD and IVCi was crucial. “We did whatever it took to get this project completed successfully, and we all really worked well together,” said Debbie Mastrangelo, enterprise account manager at IVCi, who has been working with White & Case for about 15 years. “It truly was teamwork.”

According to Jeremy Joseph, director of conference services at White & Case, the original design intent was more traditional—it didn’t really incorporate hybrid meeting capabilities, but this changed drastically halfway through the project. To gain the best ROI, the firm wanted to deploy

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technology that would serve the organization’s immediate needs and accommodate them well into the future. “Focusing in on hybrid events was top of mind,” he said.

Despite the significant shift, the core goal for the facility remained the same. “From the offset, we wanted to deliver a signature conference space that was unlike any other offering we had in our current portfolio,” Joseph said.

The new facility is used for the numerous events that White & Case holds for its partners, associates, employees, and clients. In collaboration with Convene, White & Case also provides the space to outside organizations seeking a venue for their own meetings and conferences.

A Grand Showcase As the showcase piece of the project, the curved SiliconCore LED video ribbon in the Grand Hall covers the 60-foot rear wall and two 50-foot side walls. Richard Coley, senior project manager at TAD, said its content is dynamic—it’s constantly moving, and end users can manipulate it. It’s also used to display the faces of thousands of remote participants during hybrid gatherings.

“One thing we kept coming back to was this idea of immersive experiences,” Coley said. “People want something that’s beyond

COURTESY OF CONVENE

CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE the 16:9 PowerPoint presentation. They prohibitive. “At the time there were want something that’s more enveloping, only three manufacturers that fit the more grandiose, more interesting.” power per square meter requirement,” As a result, the design goal was to Coley recalled. build a space that could deliver immersive With the evolution of microLED experiences but accommodate smaller, technology, this may have been less of an less complex presentations as well. The issue today. However, at the time, Coley’s space—including the stage and seating— team was seeking a solution that was is reconfigurable, as is the audio system. under 200 watts per square meter of Beyond its video wall, the Grand Hall maximum power draw and heat output.

The 360-seat Grand Hall at White & Case features a curved LED video wall positioned 8 feet above features Sony 4K PTZ cameras, Shure The next technical challenge was the floor.

Axient digital wireless handheld interconnecting the overflow/breakout microphones, and Renkus-Heinz digitally steerable line arrays. spaces with the Grand Hall bi-directionally. “Our original The selection of SiliconCore LED video wall technology was, in approach was a large matrix,” Coley said, “but because of supply part, a result of the building’s cooling capacity. “The amount of chain issues, we had to go with something that was more chilled water coming to the floor is limited because the pipe decentralized.” coming from the cogeneration plant is only so big,” Coley noted.

To address this, IVCi brought in its AV distribution partner, “That was a limiting factor, so we had to get a wall that wasn’t as ZeeVee, and designed a more flexible solution utilizing hot [as many of the solutions on the market at the time].”

AV-over-IP technology. “Our design made sure that all cables Power was also an issue: There is only so much of it coming were put in the right places and supported the overall vision of from the transformer down on the street. Upgrading it—if the the space,” explained Michael Walker, director of engineering landlord would even approve such an endeavor—was costat IVCi.

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CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE

At Issue

How important is BYOD for today’s conferencing environment?

Michelle Baeza Director Strategic Partnerships, Yamaha Unified Communications BYOD is pivotal in corporate settings, reshaping the workplace dynamic with both advantages and considerations. Employees wield a spectrum of devices, fostering flexibility and personalized work experiences. This diversity catalyzes collaboration through seamless communication and access to collaborative tools. Cost efficiency prevails as companies leverage existing personal devices, curbing the need for extensive hardware investments.

Challenges surface in managing device disparities and ensuring robust security protocols. Implementation demands secure Wi-Fi networks, encryption, and effective device management policies. BYOD aligns with the evolving work landscape, accommodating remote work and enhancing employee digital literacy, ensuring corporations navigate the digital terrain with agility and competitiveness.

Joe Drury Business Manager, Professional BRAVIA Displays, Sony Electronics BYOD provides seamless collaboration and presentation.

Empowering each participant to effortlessly use their favored videoconferencing platform and device—and share content directly from it—provides more flexibility across the board. Doing so can save costs and time since rooms don’t need to be tied to a specific solution or piece of hardware, can scale as needed, and attendees can switch between devices and presenters with greater ease on a familiar device. Products like Sony’s BRAVIA professional displays, with a powerful SoC structure, save critical resources by allowing users to wirelessly cast from their device to the screen and integrate with partners’ solutions.

Paul Beals Sales Engineer, Northeast, Atlona BYOD has been largely absorbed into the technology infrastructure in corporate, education, and other AV 8

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environments. Nearly 90% of the rooms we do today include BYOD components. Most people want to use their own devices to present, instead of being locked into using a shared computer. There may be security implications that require the presenter to keep the content on his or her laptop. In corporate environments, sales and training professionals increasingly prefer to use their own devices. There is a comfort factor for students presenting in front of their classmates. It’s important to accommodate people that may otherwise opt out of future presentations.

Andrew Kornstein Manager, Business Development – Americas, Business Communications, Sennheiser It’s critical that everyone have access to quality audio, configurable to their individual needs.​Wi-Fi-based assistive listening solutions that utilize the BYOD concept allow users to stream audio to and from their smartphone, providing a convenient, inclusive, discreet, and hygienic audio experience. With BYOD, participants can sit wherever they want and use their personal device, without having to worry about having someone available to hand out rental devices or pass around a microphone. Impaired users can participate equally, without making their impairments obvious to others.

Paul Harris CEO/CTO, Aurora Multimedia BYOD is essential to today’s conferencing environment. The ability to accommodate a variety of commonly used equipment and interfaces must be taken into consideration. Expectations of performance in latency and resolution should be added to the equation, with the budget as the icing on the cake. Laptops, phones, and media players are examples of common devices a user will bring to a conference to communicate their message to others. The AV equipment in the room will either hinder or enhance the presentation based on the capabilities and performance. As we all know, a presentation can make or break a meeting.

INTEGRATION GUIDE CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATION Cristofer Osden Technical Sales & Marketing Manager, Holosonics The modern workplace has evolved rapidly over the past few years, especially with increased ubiquity of virtual meetings due to remote/ field assignment and WFH arrangements, and BYOD has become core to connecting these landscapes for conferencing and collaboration. Whether company-issued or entirely selfselected/owned, the devices and AV peripherals we choose are the very bridges that connect us as colleagues — wherever we are and wherever we go. From the hardware itself to the software we use and the networks/protocols these rely on, our workplace communication devices must now accommodate an expansive variety of user-focused preferences and ergonomic flexibility, without sacrificing integrity of connection, compatibility, or security.

John Kozlowsky Pro AV Regional Channel Manager, Absen In today’s fast-paced business world, BYOD has become a cornerstone of efficient and flexible conferencing environments.

Embracing BYOD means embracing a culture of accessibility and ease, where team members use their own devices to connect, collaborate, and contribute seamlessly. Absen’s latest offering, the Absenicon X, aligns with this philosophy. It’s not just a product but a testament to how technology can be harmonized with user-centric approaches. The Absenicon X caters to diverse device preferences, ensuring that meetings are not only technologically advanced but also inclusive and engaging. It’s an acknowledgment that the future of workplace collaboration is intrinsically linked with the flexibility and personalization that BYOD offers.

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CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE EPOS EXPAND Vision 1M Complete your meeting space with the EXPAND Vision 1M, an easy-to-use USB camera for small and medium-sized meeting rooms. This camera fits perfectly as a modular part of a native meeting room solution or into any BYOD meeting room. The 4K camera is optimized to produce the best picture in any light conditions. You will look professional and easily engage with remote colleagues. Experience hassle-free calls with intelligent picture framing that automatically adjusts the view based on the number of participants.

Atlona WAVE-101 The WAVE-101 is designed for quick and easy content sharing from up to four laptops or mobile devices. It supports device-native, wireless casting protocols, enabling exceptional convenience for ad hoc collaboration with no prior setup required. The platform’s patent-pending Dynamic Layout Mode automatically optimizes the screen layout when a content source is added or removed, delivering effortless, touch-free operation. Other WAVE-101 features integrated media storage and playback, YouTube live streaming, and support for URL-based digital signage sources.

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INTEGRATION GUIDE CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATION Absen Absenicon X The Absenicon X is the latest innovation in interactive displays.

The series features a high-precision infrared touch system with 1mm touch accuracy. Designed for the modern AV landscape, Absenicon X ensures seamless user engagement and interactivity. It’s perfect for those seeking to elevate their AV experiences. Whether in conference rooms, educational settings, or interactive installations, Absenicon X stands out as a leading choice for professionals who value precision, reliability, and cutting-edge technology.

Sony SRG-A40/SRG-A12 Sony’s 4K SRG-A40 and SRG-A12 PTZ cameras with built-in AI analytics automatically and consistently track and naturally frame presenters, regardless of movement or posture, for seamless content creation and control—all without operating a computer. Highlights of the cameras include image quality with automation, the flexibility of IP, powerful zoom, remote control, and easy configuration and operation. They’re ideal for use in education, corporate, medical, government, broadcast, and faith applications, as well as for live events.

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CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE Yamaha UC CS-500 Video Collaboration System Collaborate and connect without hassle with the new CS-500, a video collaboration system equipped with a 4K camera and Hexa beamforming microphone for comfortable and productive hybrid meetings. Using the positioning data provided from both the voice and camera pickup, Yamaha’s new SoundCap Eye AI technology pinpoints participant’s locations and blocks out unwanted background noise, ensuring that everyone in the room can be heard clearly by the participants on the far end.

Holosonics Audio Spotlight X-Series

Sennheiser MobileConnect MobileConnect is a solution for true inclusion. Anyone can access quality audio from anywhere in the room. After downloading the free MobileConnect App on any iOS or Android smartphone, audio content can be streamed via Wi-Fi to and from a mobile phone. The solution is a convenient and easy-to-use system with built-in features that give facility administrators the necessary tools to securely integrate it into a network.

Aurora Multimedia TS-100 The TS-100 is a low-cost, high-performance wireless huddle room solution. Aurora’s TeamStream technology enhances the usability of wireless presentation systems by eliminating the mouse trail found on many wireless solutions.

The TS-100 integrates cleanly into the room and allows more than 20 users at 1080p to have access.

Sometimes, wireless is not enough, which is why the TS-100 includes three HDMI ports capable of 4K60 4:4:4 and one VGA for legacy. It also includes RS-232, relays, and I/O for integration with control solutions.

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Holosonics’ unique Audio Spotlight speakers create sound in a narrow beam precise enough for a single listener, eliminating unnecessary noise, sound bleed, or the need for headphones/headsets— even in open, shared spaces. Featuring a built-in amplifier/processor and flexible IO, the product is compatible with any line-level audio feed, and also includes an output for daisy chaining multiple speakers to extend the focused sound field for larger groups.

The flagship AS-24iX model conveniently replaces a standard 2x2-foot ceiling tile without any additional hardware, making it an excellent choice for conference rooms and collaboration spaces.