Naila Nadeem explores how an AV upgrade at IOCL’s Mumbai HQ has set new standards for collaboration in India’s public sector.
Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), a leader in India’s oil and gas sector, was drawn to a vision to modernise its marketing head office in Mumbai. IOCL’s IT department recognised that to continue upholding its high-quality work in the public sector, an advanced communication infrastructure would be needed to improve the organisation’s overall efficiency and collaboration.
For this project, Cosmos Business Machines was appointed as the integrator. E.B. Devan, vice president at Cosmos Business Machines, shares how the project came to be: “IOCL floated a tender for this unique hybrid project for both AV and interior work together on a turnkey basis, and we won the tender. Our company is headquartered in Mumbai with pan-India presence across major cities in India. We won the contract based on our technical expertise and past experiences in successfully executing similar projects. Having met the pre-qualification criteria, Cosmos Business Machines got the highest marks in both technical and commercial parameters.”
The project’s scope involved the revamp of its key conference infrastructure, with the main goal of improving videoconferencing capabilities in its three key halls - Lakshya, Pragati, Samriddhi.
Devan notes some initial challenges that prompted the IOCL team to undertake an upgrade: “The existing conference rooms were equipped with outdated AV technology, resulting in unclear audio, low-resolution video, and frequent connectivity issues during virtual meetings. Often this would also cause miscommunication during high-profile meetings. The traditional setup lacked interactive features, making it difficult to share presentations, annotate documents, and engage in real-time discussions. Because of this, there were some inefficiencies in brainstorming sessions, strategic meetings, and technical collaborations. These virtual meetings would often require follow-up emails or separate offline meetings, making everything counterproductive.”
Beyond hampering workplace morale, the initial communications infrastructure had also led to tangible operational inefficiencies and spiralling costs which translated into a heavy financial burden. Devan shares: “IOCL had to rely on five-star hotels and external venues for major meetings such as state conferences, distributor summits, and business strategy meetings. Each event incurred significant expenses, including venue rentals, catering, and logistical costs, amounting to ?50-60 lakhs per conference.”
High-functional meeting spaces
Beginning with the primary conference hall, Lakshya was designed to support high-level meetings and remote collaboration with a multi- display video architecture.
Three LG 75-in UHD displays were installed at the front of the room using angled push- pull brackets to provide optimal visibility across all seating zones. The displays have been set up to provide a gallery view, active speaker view, and content view simultaneously, ensuring that every participant remains visible while maintaining focus on key discussions and shared content. These displays support HDMI input and are connected to a Dell Zoom PC and a Poly G-10T Teams Room PC, providing users with native access to both Zoom and Microsoft Teams platforms.
Two Lumens PTZ cameras have also been installed to support high-resolution video capture, and an additional Lumens document camera facilitates physical content sharing. Devan explains: “We selected Lumens cameras for their AI-powered capabilities, which include dedicated tracking for both the chairperson and the wider room. The system switches focus to the active speaker, ensuring that discussions remain engaging and that the most relevant voices are always in view to prevent any hiccups during meetings.”
To make meetings more engaging, interactive solutions were also prioritised. Devan says: “We installed an EIS touch monitor for presentations which allows participants to annotate, highlight, and save content in real time, making brainstorming sessions and training programs much more interactive. The client also wanted wireless presentation to be made easy, so we deployed a Barco CX-30 system which supports BYOD content.”
As for audio, Cosmos decided to go with JBL Control 28-1 FOH loudspeakers paired with JBL Control 16C/T ceiling speakers, which creates a dual-zone audio field suitable for both presenter reinforcement and room-wide distribution. These speakers are powered by a Crown DCi4|300N amplifier.
Devan adds: “At IOCL, it’s important that the meeting rooms have good speech intelligibility because a lot of high-profile meetings take place in these spaces. So we chose to go with a Sennheiser TCC2 ceiling microphone as it has a wide-area voice capture and beamforming capabilities, which can also help to reduce background noise during hybrid calls.”
On the backend, Extron solutions formed the main corpus of the control system in the Lakshya meeting room. Signal management is handled through an Extron 16x8 HDMI matrix switcher capable of supporting 4K60 resolution, complemented by Extron HDMI twisted pair receivers. An Extron IPCP Pro control processor has also been fitted into the space. The entire system can be controlled and managed via an Apple iPad.
Smarter spaces
Moving on, we arrive at Samriddhi, a mid-size collaboration room optimised for departmental meetings and team collaboration. Given the initial limitations in acoustic performance, the space was treated with dedicated acoustic panels during the renovation phase to minimise reverberation. A Sennheiser TCC2 ceiling microphone has been deployed alongside six JBL Control 16C/T ceiling speakers, strategically spaced across the room for even sound distribution. These are powered by a Crown DCi 8|300 amplifier and driven by a QSC Core 110f DSP.
On the visual front, the Samriddhi room features a single 85-in LG LED display wall - mounted at the front, serving as the primary visual interface. The main conferencing platform is delivered via a Poly G-10T Teams Room PC. Wireless content sharing is also enabled via a Barco CX-30 system. As with the Lakshya room, two Lumens cameras have been installed at the front of the room to support speaker tracking.
Across all meeting spaces, Condeco room panels have been fitted for real-time scheduling and booking of meeting spaces. As for control, the same Extron processor has been installed into the space while networking and device connectivity are supported by a TP-Link 48-port PoE switch.
Finally, we are brought to Pragati, the impressive 27-pax conference hall in IOCL’s HQ. At the heart of the room is an LG Magnit series active LED videowall, measuring 135-in diagonally. Devan adds: “This display serves as the focal point for all high-impact visual content, offering a large-format visualisation for immersive videoconferencing.”
Supporting the main display is a Samsung WM-55R flip interactive whiteboard, mounted on a mobile stand with tray and touch overlay, This allows for in-room digital annotation and can be mirrored or shared during virtual meetings. A Lumens VC-R30 whiteboard camera helps with capturing content from the whiteboard.
For audio in the Pragati hall, the same Sennheiser and JBL solutions were used, and the speakers are being powered by a Crown DCi2/1250 amplifier. Similarly, a QSC Core 110f DSP handles audio processing while Extron control solutions were deployed.
The transformation of the Pragati hall in particular has yielded measurable financial returns for IOCL. Devan provides some insight: “Previously, annual state heads conferences in the marketing division of IOCL were conducted in five-star hotels, costing approximately ?10 to 15 lakhs per day for three to four days, totalling ?30 to 60 lakhs per event. These conferences are now held in Room 201 at zero cost, leading to significant financial savings.”
According to Devan, the overall AV upgrade has had a profound effect on IOCL’s internal communications and digital infrastructure strategy. Following the successful deployment at the Marketing HQ, IOCLhas begun exploring similar implementations in its regional and divisional offices. Members of IOCL’s top management have formally congratulated Cosmos Business Machines for their role in delivering a state-of-the-art, successful user-friendly outcome which has had a major role in increasing the overall productivity at IOCL.