Hurrairah bin Sohail speaks with Vega Singapore about how the integrator balanced global standards with local use cases to create highly flexible AV systems for Here Technologies’ office.
A global approach to corporate spaces has led to an evolution of how AV systems are designed and deployed for multinational companies. Integrators do not only have to evaluate and analyse the project at hand but also factor in global standards that the
client might have implemented.
Here Technologies, being a fast-growing company that provides enterprise-grade mapping and real-time location data sharing solutions, requires high resolution content sharing and uses video communications globally.
Discussions surrounding the project began in June 2019 and Vega Singapore was given a finish date of October 2019.
Here Technologies is a global client of Vega’s and Angeline Tan, executive director at Vega Singapore, says: “We have been involved with AV projects for Here Technologies’ offices in Beijing, China and Mumbai, India. After a tender process Vega was also given the opportunity to provide AV systems to Here Technologies’ office in Singapore.”
Stanimira Koleva, senior vice president and general manager of Here Technologies, Asia Pacific, said: “Asia Pacific has always been an important region for Here, and we are proud to further invest in Singapore with our regional headquarter launch at MBFC.”
Their relocation of the Asia Pacific headquarters to Singapore was part of the regional expansion efforts. The new office is located at Singapore’s downtown Marina Bay Financial Centre [MBFC] and spans over 1,170 square metres.
Tan details Vega Singapore’s role: “The project was a design and build. The AV systems for the office were completely our responsibility. We had to adhere to their global standards using Cisco. Vega design team worked together with Here Technologies to select the best products for the optimal experience in audio and visual for the environment. We worked together with Here Technologies to select the best products for the office.”
She continues: “The main AV decisions were made in collaboration with Here Technologies’ headquarters in the States and the IT management team in India.”
With a degree of freedom, Vega Singapore set to work. Tan says: “Videoconferencing was needed for meeting rooms. There were also three spaces that make up the town hall and its atrium. These spaces needed to work together and separately.”
The town hall is used in a flexible manner by Here Technologies and Tan details: “The town hall can be used as two individual rooms with the help of a partition. The open area outside serves as a cafe or general area but it can also be used as an atrium for the town hall. We had to envision how the three spaces would work together as well as making sure that they could perform their individual functions when used separately.”
The two spaces had different requirements for AV systems. Tan provides more details: “Each side has been provided with its own display. The display types were dictated by the layout and features of the spaces. One of the halves features an Epson 7,000 lumens laser projector. This part of the town hall has large, almost floor to ceiling windows with a view of Singapore’s Bay. The client definitely did not want to have this view blocked so projection was the best option.”
She continues: “The other half of the town hall features two Samsung 98-in displays. There was a wall present where these displays could be easily mounted, and the flat panels provide a sleek, corporate look.”
For better utilisation of space, the two conference rooms can be easily transformed into a town hall space with intuitive program written after consultation of client’s usage requirement. This is powered by integrating two Extron switchers in each room which can work as one.
She continues: “The town hall is also used in its combined form for important events such as quarterly meetings. So, the inputs and outputs provided were needed to make sure that the AV system had the capacity to handle the requirements of the client.”
Regarding the size of the frames, Tan says: “One of the things that Here Technologies wanted was to have the flexibility to configure these spaces as they wanted. The input and output size of the Extron switchers allows this, and we have provided eight floor plates around the town hall. There is a moveable display on a trolley that can augment the displays in the space as required.”
Balancing client requirements for the town hall was one of the major components of the project. Tan says: “We wanted to make sure that the systems we deployed were future proof and that all the different use cases the client had detailed were catered for. The whole process was achieved through constant communication with the client and took us a month to complete.”
Regarding signal transmission, Tan says: “Using HDBaseT along with the transmitters and receivers was definitely the way to go. They wanted flexibility within the spaces which are technology dense and scalable.”
Cisco RoomKit Pro provides videoconferencing in the town hall. Making sure the VC system, which straddles the line between AV and IT, worked flawlessly was a task that required work.
Tan says: “The main obstacle was with deploying Cisco Webex. The actual deployment is not an issue, but for Webex to successfully operate there is a lot of planning and preparation that is required. We worked with the IT department at Here Technologies to make sure that there were no issues to drive the high-resolution video communications.”
Two Biamp Tesira DSPs are provided for handling audio at the town hall area.
The Shure MXA910 microphones was a clear choice for its seamless design profile to the ceiling and programmable audio pick up for various table arrangements.
Bose DS16F speakers provide audio in the atrium. Bose speakers are also used in the town hall space itself as Tan details: “Once again the layout and the function of the town hall guided our selection of speakers. A Bose Edgemax 90 is used in the half that features the flat panel displays, while a Bose Edgemax 180 is used in the half with the projection.”
A single Crestron processor is used to provide control for all the spaces.
Besides the town hall, Here Technologies also features two meeting rooms. One is equipped with Cisco Webex videoconferencing. Both feature Samsung 65-in displays which provide audio and visuals. Evoko panels and system provides room booking services.
A 4 x 3 videowall at the entrance greets visitors. The videowall comprises Samsung slim bezel 55-in panels forming a 4846m x 2047m canvas which doubles as a multi-content presentation space and is powered by an Extron Quantum processor.
Audio is provided by JBL speakers at this entrance space.
Looking back at the project, Tan concludes: “The timelines for this project were quite crunched. But the great teamwork from conception to completion made this project a success.”