3CDN Workplace Technology Consultants and Sigma AVIT explain how coherent design philosophy underpinned the AV and IoT system deployment at Principal’s HQ facility in India.
Principal is a Fortune 500 company, headquartered in Ohio, USA, providing insurance, retirement and
income solutions. ‘Project
Mobius’ is its largest office
outside the USA, providing
420,000 square feet of space
to serve as Principal’s Indian
headquarters. Principal’s
leadership in India was keen to
use technology to improve the
overall employee experience
and AV and IoT were to be
the linchpin systems towards
achieving this.
Mradul Sharma, principal
consultant and MD at 3CDN
Technology Workplace
Consultants, says: “There was
a request for proposal [RFP] on
the market for which multiple
players were in contention.
Everyone’s proposal went
through technical and
commercial evaluation after
which we ended up winning the
project. Likewise, Sigma AVIT
went through a similar process
to be appointed the system
integrator for the job. We first
started work on the AV part of
the project and as conversation
with the client progressed IoT
came into play.”
Speaking with the client
helped 3CDN arrive at a design
philosophy derived from the
client requirements. Sharma
details: “This was one of the
projects where we had access
to the leadership and that had
a positive impact on how the
project progressed. Principal
wanted well-coordinated
rooms with cohesive lighting
and AV systems. They also
wanted to pursue a less is more
philosophy and clutter-free
tables. All in all, Principal
wanted operational excellence
from the AV systems and
compliance with the standards
of the Info-Sec team.”
Elaborating on the topic
of standards, Sharma says:
“Principal has global
standards for standard
rooms, driven by their team
sitting in the US and broad
guidelines around the rest of
the spaces such as custom
rooms. But the fact that this
was meant to be the regional
headquarters, rather than a
standard fitout, allowed us
the leeway to experiment."
Wabi-sabi
We start our exploration of the
AV installation at Principal with
a look at the asymmetrical
videowall located at the entrance
of the facility.
Sharma details: “A driving
force for the design was ‘wabisabi’ which is the Japanese idea
of celebrating imperfection. This
brought us to an asymmetrical
videowall as the centrepiece of
the entrance lobby. Principal
wanted to convey this
underpinning design
philosophy of ‘wabi-sabi’
as soon as you entered the
building. The MD of Principal
actually took the lead in this
regard and sketched the initial
design for the videowall at the
entrance.”
Sigma AVIT adds: “Translating
the sketches from the MD into an
actual technical design required
CAD impressions and working
with volumes and understanding
what products are available on
the market and what cabinet size
would be the best to turn the
vision into reality.”
A total of 86 Samsung 2mm
LED tiles were selected as
the display for the videowall.
The video signal transmission
is centralised on the rack using
Scala 4K video players which are
connected to the Scala content
management system. Scala also
happens to be the global standard
for signage and corporate
communication for Principal. The
output from the Scala players gets
processed on Dataton Watchout
servers and Samsung boxes take
the signal on from here to the
video controller.
Installing the videowall was a
challenge and Sigma AVIT says:
“Obviously, we could not just mount
the structure directly onto the wall
because of the different interior
design elements and technology
considerations. The challenge was
ensuring that the construction
would be able to support the
load of the videowall. We had a
structural consultant come in
and they independently verified
our designs and approved our
calculations. The entire wall is
made up of Korean-laminate
material and we essentially
sketched the design onto the wall
so that we could embed the
videowall.”
A team from Samsung flew
down from Korea and assisted in
the installation of the videowall
with its input and expertise.
Functional spaces
As can be expected, Principal
‘Project Mobius’ features a number
of meeting spaces with the most
prestigious being the boardroom.
The display for the boardroom is
a Samsung 1.2mm LED videowall
measuring 3.2m by 1.8m. Voicelift in the space is provided
with the help of Shure MXA910
microphones paired with Biamp
DSPs. The ceiling microphones
are also used to trigger camera
presets based on the active user
in the room.
A fully automated system with
Crestron control processor at
the back-end and Crestron
CCS-UC-300 have also been
pressed into service.
A certain outcome was desired
for the boardroom and all the
meeting spaces at Principal and
Sharma details: “We had an
internal design thinking workshop
about videoconferencing and
meeting rooms and the use of
these spaces, and we came up
with the objective of having a ‘10
second start time’ for all meetings.
This isn’t something that was a
client requirement but rather
something that we proposed to
them based on our experience
working with clients in the
corporate sector and the findings
from our design thinking
workshops. All the AV systems
we have deployed in the meeting
spaces have been set up to meet
this mark.”
From the boardroom, we shift
to the HR holding area and
cafeteria. Sharma says: “Principal
wanted a large, multi-function
space and they decided to use
the HR holding area and cafeteria
for this purpose. The space can
open up to become a 607-seat
townhouse space and it can also
be sectioned into smaller spaces
where Principal can conduct
onboarding for new employees
and other activities.”
Once again, the main display
for the HR holding area is a
large Samsung 1.2mm LED tile
videowall measuring 6.4m by 1.8m
with video reinforcement being
delivered by 49-in monitors
installed on columns.
The cafeteria has dual 135-in
projection screens and video
reinforcement using 49-in monitors
installed on columns.
Distributed digital wireless
microphones and ceiling
loudspeakers based design handles
audio. Catchbox is used as the
soft-throwable microphone to
enable Q&A sessions with the
audience during events.
When it comes to video signal
transmission across Principal, the
AV professionals met a hurdle.
Sharma details: “The reason we did
not go with AV over IP across the
entire site was because of the
limited window of time we had
on the project to get Info-Sec
approvals from Principal and
have them [the AV-over-IP
products] sit on on their core
network. There just was not
enough time during the project
for the Info-Sec team to evaluate
the Crestron NVX for use and
deployment. HDBaseT was the
preferred technology for Principal
and it has been used extensively.
But when it came to the control
rooms and the videowalls,
Crestron NVX was the most
cost-efficient solution to achieve
the different layouts and usage
scenarios that we had envisioned.
So, we were able to employ AV
over IP in some small capacity.”
Sitting atop these AV systems
is Crestron Fusion, deployed by
Sigma AVIT. Sharma details: “This
is an extensive AV deployment
from the meeting rooms to the
boardroom to the cafeteria.
Principal wanted to have a way
to monitor and manage all these
systems and this is where Crestron
Fusion comes in. It provides a
window for the dedicated AV team
to have the capabilities to oversee
how all the systems are being used
and how they are performing.”
With the project complete,
Sigma AVIT reflects back on the
project: “When we came on to the
project the customer told us that
they had a hard deadline as the
facility was to be inaugurated on
July 1. The designs that we were
provided were great and we also
communicated to the client the
timeframes we would need to do
a quality job. But as is the case
with any building project, there
was slippage and the areas we
were meant to work on were
not received when they were
supposed to. This meant that
we were under a time crunch
with over 180 rooms to deliver
for the client. We went back to
the drawing board and had to go
floor-by-floor and room-by-room
to see how we could meet the
deadline. We regrouped and
doubled up on manpower and
had 35 people on site for close to
a month. In the end, we feel that
we were able to meet our own
internal standards of quality
work and as well as the client’s
requirements.”
The IoT component
In addition to AV, 3CDN
Workplace Technology
Consultants also delivered an
entire IoT system to help Principal
track, monitor and extract the full
potential from the technology
systems at its disposal.
Edzil Deniz, director at 3CDN,
details: “As the discussions
around the AV systems were
progressing, there was one
particular piece of feedback
that we were receiving from the
different teams and stakeholders.
They wanted a single platform
to tie together all the various
systems so that the user would
be able to use them with ease.”
The natural progression of
the conversation led 3CDN to a
simple solution. Deniz says:
“Principal wanted to have a
single app which would give
them access to the various
modules which would correspond
to the different technology
systems that have been deployed.
The conversation started with
something very basic, they
wanted to be able to control the
lighting and the HVAC systems.
And as we continued this
conversation, we understood that
they wanted to have a cafeteria
module, attendance module,
visitor management module and
much more included as well.”
Deniz continues: “The key
piece was to look at how we
could deliver real-time asset
tracking for the situations that
the end user was looking at and
then translate these into IoT
systems that would deliver the
functionality required. The
solution took the form of an
app that is available for Android
and iOS platforms. We had to
address privacy concerns, so the
same functionality is available
through web-browsers. And for
those who do not have access
to an internet connected device
on-premises, we have also
provided kiosks across the
facility.”
Deniz concludes: “The rollout
for the IoT system was done in
parts as the modules were built.
We had the users testing them
and giving feedback and insight
for improvement. For a system
of this kind, 100% enablement of
all modules from day one is not
possible, so we took a staggered
approach to deploying the
solution. But I can say that the
impact for the end user has been
immense. They’ve been able to
streamline their processes to
benefit not only the employer
but the employee as well.”