HMPL Elevates User Experience at S&P Global Headquarters

Published in Jan-Feb 2020 Issue

In the last decade or so, AV has cemented its stand in the corporate sector. Corporates in the quest for a seamless workflow are increasingly looking to upgrade their AV infrastructure.

When financial information and analytics company, S&P Global, expanded its Indian headquarters in Gujarat, it sought to push technical boundaries with the help of one of India’s leading independent consultancies – HMPL Consultancy. AV-ICN takes a look inside the project.

A year ago, when S&P Global India, the Indian arm of S&P Global Inc., an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, employing more than 21,000 employees in 33 countries,  started to expand its headquarter located in Ahmedabad, they brought on board HMPL Consulting to make major upgrades in the AV Infrastructure and technology.

 “In India, what began as a 200 member team has grown to an operation covering three cities with nearly 7,500 employees. Through our  new facilities, our  people are empowered to develop the advanced technological skills necessary to deliver exceptional value for our customers, while at the same time improving operational efficiency and strategic development of technology services continuing to propel S&P Global as it powers the markets of the future,” said Abhishek Tomar, Managing Director- India Operations, S&P Global.

S&P Global was looking for an AV Consultant to design and install state of the art AV infrastructure, as the current Audio-Visual technologies being used were delivering a bad user experience in some of its meeting and collaboration spaces. They had limitations on collaboration and had to rely on un-standard software applications to work on. All of this resulted in an unorganized technology infrastructure, which in turn made corporate town hall meetings very difficult and did not serve the purpose of wanting to address all employees together at once.

The company needed a fix. Headquartered in India, with branch offices in the UAE, UK, Philippines, Australia and the US, HMPL has worked with some of the world’s largest corporations across enterprise and has been part of several signature buildings in association with International leading architects and project managers across the globe.

Recognizing the extensive experience and considering that HMPL had a diverse team of technocrats, each recognized as experts in their respective field of audio and acoustic Engineering, S&P tasked the consultancy with the job of delivering a much better user experience supported by a reliable AV Setup.

“HMPL has grown immensely over the years to provide some of the best in class solutions to cater to the everchanging trends in the use cases from the businesses across enterprises. We are very proud to have been engaged on a project of this scale and complexity, and to successfully deliver the same in line with international standards as adopted by major corporations globally. The testimony to the quality of services offered and executed by HMPL for S&P is the fact that we were engaged for two of their campuses in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad as an extension of our contract. We must also acknowledge the fact that the end users at S&P were indeed very flexible and adaptive in adopting newer technologies and trends as part of their fit outs - be it their agile work spaces, divisible training rooms, cafeteria with full fledged townhall scenarios, collaboration spaces, NOC etc.,” said Vineet Singh, Managing Director, HMPL

To make the AV infrastructure and the UI- user friendly, HMPL, had to first assess the technology needs, pain points, constrains and expectations of the client.

The spaces in the building that needed to be upgraded with state-of-art AV infrastructure included:

• RECEPTION
• CONFERENCE ROOMS
• MEETING ROOMS
• DIVISIBLE TRAINING ROOMS
• COLLAB SPACES
• BOARD ROOM
• CAFETERIA - TOWN HALL
• GYM

After brainstorming and studying the needs of the client, HMPL came up with the most innovative solutions. Throughout the process, HMPL’s approach remained customer focused by providing maximum information, latest technology options and more. Important stakeholders were involved, to ensure that the audiovisual design-build would meet the needs of day-to-day end users.

The Reception area at S&P Global fitted with a 700Nits video wall by Panasonic to play live feed of the townhall from the cafeteria

AV INFRASTRUCTURE

The Reception:

The reception is deployed with a 700Nits Video wall by Panasonic that runs 4k content with uncompromised clarity and brightness in the said environment. The video wall also acts as a large Presentation displays, Display for Digital Signage and can play live stream from Cafeteria Town Hall feed to facilitate the client’s requirement of using the Reception space to hold small tech events for external Users and visitors.

The speakers are strategically placed to perform well in the non -acoustic friendly environment providing clear audible lows and highs paired up with the Powersoft amplifiers.

The Meeting room is deployed with a large 4k display and Polycom Trio amongst other things for easy and convenient meetings

The Meeting Room:

All small and medium sized meeting rooms are equipped with a single 4K display with one of the matrix switcher connected to it and the other to the Polycom Trio. The HDMI and the USB-C are connected to the switcher along with the Polycom output for as Input sources. The resolution from Polycom is 1080p and the other sources run on 4k.

The meeting rooms are deployed with Extron Cable cubby 500 with buttons that works as the UI for these rooms. These buttons are standard across all rooms to provide the same user experience across the facility. The IPL processor used is on the network sharing information with EXTRON Global Viewer Enterprise for remote monitoring and control.

The Board rooms are fitted with dual displays to facilitate ease of video conferencing and presentation comparisons

The Board Room:

To make presentations and video conferencing better and easier, the Board Rooms are fitted with Dual Displays for Video Conferencing and presentation comparison. The Matrix Switcher is wired and programmed to detect Laptop connectivity and power up the displays automatically. The Trio’s also can wake up the displays on selecting the options on the touch interface.

Eagle Eye cameras are deployed and connected to Group series ensuring all participants are clearly captured in the frame.

To fulfil the audio 6 QSC Ceiling speakers which are also powered by QSC Amplifiers are installed along with Microphones from Polycom which are directly wired to the codec.

Vineet Singh, Managing Director, HMPL

The touch Panel UI is simple, which features VC and Presentation mode along with the admin mode for advanced setting and control. It also offers flexibility to control Video sources and Audio.

The Room scheduler is on the corporate network linked the Microsoft exchange server for room booking integration.

The best part of the Boardroom is its performance despite non-acoustic friendly surfaces and finishes.

Cafeteria- Town hall:

S&P Global was clear about the usage of the cafeteria. They wanted the cafeteria to works as both- a dining area as well as a space where they could accommodate everyone for Town hall.

Keeping in mind the requirements, HMPL suggested that the area be equipped with Video conference and Live streaming as well with multi large Video Wall Screens and Projection screens to ensure the highest quality, seamless visibility and coverage throughout the Cafeteria. The video conferencing systems feature two HD cameras, mounted to the side screen ideal for head shots and one above delivering overhead room views.  The challenge was to provide the best sound possible when surrounded by a non-acoustic friendly high ceiling and glass walls, glass ceiling and mirrors. This being a major challenge, with the use of microphones and integrated conferencing for town hall sessions, the three Large Screens were flanked on either side by Line array speakers.

The TW AUDIO VERA T20i and B14i Subwoofers are placed in a way that the clients have more control on the gain and we can easily distribute the Audio without causing any feedback on stage for higher SPL.

The ability to live stream or connect through live video with client’s remote offices, other floors in the country’s location, or anywhere in the world allows simple communication between employees.

The challenges faced by integrators owing to the Large Town Hall being a Non-Acoustic Friendly Space and requiring Cafeteria Catering, were mitigated with the deployment of:

Hydraulic Motorised Preview monitors & Speakers.

Multi Source 4K Switching, Streaming & recording.

Zoom into a particular participant in a single touch.

Annotation and Collaboration with small handheld devices.

Wireless Connectivity for multiple participants simultaneously

Training Rooms- Divisible:

The management at S&P Global wanted the training center to include features like interactive classrooms, audio intrusive solutions and recording, streaming capabilities and soft  codec integration all controllable by the user.

They also wanted AV and IT as an integrated solution. This integration included supporting the S&P’s use of Extron Global Viewer Enterprise, allowing the central management of the rooms’ functionality and enhancing the capability for support, service and maintenance.

HMPL worked with Stake holders’ team, to design effective ways to meet their requirements, whilst still delivering multiple new versatile and high performance learning spaces. These range in size from large (90 capacity) to medium (60).

The Training Room is deployed with a large projection screen of 120” Diagonal from Dalite with 7000 Lumens Laser projector from Panasonic installed inside of a ceiling mounted shroud. The unique display solution maximizes the room’s usable area and audience size in a challenging space.

Trainees can connect on wireless with Quad and multi view options. Program audio, such as laptop, cable boxes, and Room PC can be heard from the front in wall speakers and ceiling speakers.

Shure (The MXA 910) ceiling array microphones are connected to QSC Core 110f to facilitate VC and Audio Conferencing for remote training sessions. The latest Q-SYS Designer Software v5.3 update enables a multitude of audio connectivity options including audio integration via Dante, analog audio as well as AES67.

The equipment rack holds the room PC’s which are wired over IP to screens. The PC’s can be brought on the screens in addition to the local sources and wireless sources. The neighboring Collab can be used in a combination as well the touch panels in each of the rooms have the option to enable the rooms to the combine or independent rooms. These rooms also support live feed from Cafeteria Town hall or auditoriums and vice versa.

Collab Spaces:

The Collab Spaces has been deployed with a Panasonic 65” 4k resolution wall mounted display, intended to display either of the following sources:

Sign Edge Panasonic Digital signage content

Satellite TV

Presentation content from HDMI wallplate

The AV control, processing and distribution equipment for the Client Lounge is incorporated into the AV rack installed in neighboring Hub Room 1 to minimize floor space clutter.

Control of the audio-visual equipment from a Crestron MPC keypad panel flush is mounted in the Collab and the space has been integrated with Extron Global Room Monitoring

4x ceiling-mounted loudspeakers have been installed for programmed audio reproduction

GYM:

The client’s requirement was clear- they wanted high quality Audio with good low and high frequency output. This need was fulfilled by the 4K displays that run satellite TV content and music videos through the Yamaha AV receiver which supports USB Playback with Bluetooth and airplay connectivity.

The Audio output from the Receiver is fed to the Powersoft Amps which is wired to all the speakers on different channels.

Digital Signage:

S&P wanted to implement a Digital Signage System and make it a standard across the country to manage and schedule common content throughout. HMPL Helped them identify ideal locations to position the Displays and recommended size 12 for fonts which is readable from the nearest zones.

“We are so proud of the new space HMPL has helped us create.  We have taken collaboration to the next level with our new high performance work and meeting spaces, making it easier than ever to communicate with our customers and partners around the world.  Our Cafeteria Town Hall is probably the best in the world offering the best of technology and flexibility.

This is a fantastic achievement for the project and the HMPL team that delivered this outcome. Perhaps most satisfying is that this sustainability achievement was the result of an integrated and engaged design process, not a race to acquire points ,” said Guru Ramamurthy, Head of IT at S&P Global, India.

“This project is also nominated for the InAVation awards at ISE 2020 for the best project in corporate category and HMPL as the consultant of the year nomination as well. I am very proud of my team led by our senior AV Consultant, Nithin Manjunath to have successfully delivered this project to S&P as a state of the art facility setting a new benchmark for them,” says Vineet Singh.

The design choices that the team selected have resulted in a high performance building. For example, the Audio Visual systems were selected for their return on investment, every day long operations,  and maintenance considerations,  future scalability, and their ability to improve the Experience, Ease of use  and quality for the staff.

HMPL is a highly recommended design consultancy for quality jobs across all our projects,” concluded Guru Ramamurthy, Head of IT at S&P Global, India.