AMX Commercial Case Study_John Laing_UK

WIREBIRD AND AMX PUT THE INFRASTRUCTURE INTO JOHN LAING

John Laing is harnessing AMX’s management and communication capabilities to enhance and support its own

Established in 1848, John Laing is a specialist investor,

“We used to have a problem with adoption. Staff had been

manager and operator of public sector infrastructure assets.

fearful of the technology at their disposal and, as a result,

The company manages a vast project portfolio of privately-

our conferencing facilities were largely ignored. When

financed infrastructure schemes for the public sector which

we moved into our new headquarters building in July

includes the Intercity Express Programme and the Second

2012, we had an opportunity to review how we facilitated

Severn Crossing, as well as transport, health, renewable

conferencing. Our primary business objective was that the

energy and special purpose government facilities in the

technologies should be user friendly and readily adopted.

UK and overseas. With so many consortium-led projects to

Put simply, it had to be easy.” Explains Dylan Jones, IT

manage, a strong partnership and communications ethos

Director, John Laing.

is integral to the successful delivery of its business strategy.

When, in 2012, the company moved into its impressive new

By harnessing the simplicity of touchscreen control and

No. 1 Kingsway headquarters, it took the opportunity to

the unrivalled reliability of AMX, Wirebird has been able to

review and optimise its telecommunications delivery.

deliver a true ‘visual collaboration’ experience. Tabletop

So, who does the infrastructure specialist turn to when it wants

10” Modero X Series touchpanels located in each of the

to lay down a technological infrastructure of its own? The

eight meeting rooms allow participants to enjoy a greatly

answer is leading systems integrator Wirebird and a unified

simplified user experience, as well as the ability to manage

control and automation solution from AMX which is helping

their own in-room environment. With their projected

John Laing stay connected across its entire operation.

capacitive multi-touch display, these intuitive interfaces provide fingertip control of conferencing facilities to

Occupying a prominent central London location, No.1

maximise the communication experience.

Kingsway has been completely rebuilt behind its original 1920s façade. From this landmark address, John Laing

A range of preconfigured settings ensure that the system

oversees the activities of no fewer than 73 national and

is optimised for ease of use, with presets that trigger a

6 international offices. Realising that, in today’s global

series of orchestrated events. At the press of a button, the

marketplace, a robust video-conferencing system is an

PolyCom VC system, cameras and screens automatically

increasingly valuable commodity, John Laing set Wirebird

activate, ensuring that those wanting to use this platform

the task of delivering the sort of point-to-point and multi-

can do so easily and efficiently. The sleek, low profile

point telecommunications system that comes as close as

design of the Modero X Series touchpanels also serves

possible to replicating a real meeting; whilst avoiding the

to aid collaboration by minimising the possibility of the

user-experience problems that had plagued it in the past.

interface obstructing the user’s view across the boardroom

A U T O M AT E

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CONNECT

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CONTROL

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MANAGE

table. Additionally, the AMX application for iPad transforms

One touch of the AMX panel and the camera and screen are turned on and the VC system initialised, presenting the dial pad ready for the conference call to take place. All of the VC and AV functions are displayed in a graphical way that makes it so simple to use – people just get it.

John Laing’s tablet devices into viable secondary control interfaces by affording them real-time, touch control of automation functions.

Outside each of these high-specification meeting rooms, flush-mounted 7” Modero X Series touchpanels provide an intuitive room scheduling interface, allowing John Laing staff to book and manage shared rooms and other corporate resources. Seamless integration between AMX’s Resource Management Suite (RMS) and Microsoft Exchange not only improves efficiency by streamlining the scheduling process, but also increases the utilisation of corporate assets, eliminates double bookings and improves productivity throughout the entire organisation. The RMS solution also provides IT-like remote management over John Laing’s AV assets and building systems. Real-time monitoring and problem notifications allow resources and equipment to be maintained proactively, with automatic and routine checks being made to the system’s status. Dylan Jones and his team are able to remotely monitor and diagnose equipment problems, improve uptime and reduce energy usage and carbon footprint; all from a single interface or web browser, no matter where they are in the building.

Flush-mounted panels provide an intuitive room scheduling interface

AMX’s award-winning Enova DGX, the industry’s first modular digital media switcher with a built-in central controller, provides the backbone behind this automation solution. Using the power of the HDCP-solving Enova DGX 32, together with products from AMX’s range of DXLink transmitters and receivers, Wirebird has been able to effectively resolve AV issues for digital video distribution while enabling John Laing’s connected devices to be centrally monitored, managed and controlled over its IT infrastructure. Centrally-locating the DGX units in the onsite server room has negated the need for bulky

Modero X Series panels give users a simplified user experience and control of their environment

credenzas in the meeting rooms themselves, while ensuring that engineers don’t need to access the rooms for support or maintenance. An AMX NetLinx 3100 controller provides additional processing capability for the Polycom, lighting, RMS and BMS systems.

So, with its high specification VC and AV systems, Modero X Series touchpanel technology and central NetLinx backbone, John Laing’s No 1 Kingsway headquarters is certainly a worthy home for this market-leading company. And, thanks to Wirebird’s innovative solution, the infrastructure specialist is now able to harness AMX’s management and communication capabilities to enhance

Multi-touch capabilities help maximise the communication experience

and support its own.

A U T O M AT E

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CONNECT

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CONTROL

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MANAGE

No 1 Kingsway has been completely rebuilt behind its original 1920s façade

OVERVIEW

HIGHLIGHT

Established in 1848, John Laing is a specialist investor,

Realising that, in today’s global marketplace, a robust video-

manager and operator of public sector infrastructure

conferencing system is an increasingly valuable commodity,

assets. With many consortium-led projects to manage, a

John Laing set Wirebird the task of delivering the sort

strong partnership and communications ethos is integral

of point-to-point and multi-point telecommunications

to the successful delivery of its business strategy. When,

system that comes as close as possible to replicating

in 2012, the company moved into its impressive new No. 1

a real meeting; whilst avoiding the user-experience

Kingsway headquarters, it took the opportunity to review

problems that had plagued it in the past. By harnessing

and optimise its telecommunications delivery. So, who

the simplicity of Modero X Series touchscreen control and

does the infrastructure specialist turn to when it wants to

the unrivalled reliability of the Enova DGX, Wirebird has

lay down a technological infrastructure of its own? The

been able to deliver true ‘visual collaboration’; enabling the

answer is leading systems integrator Wirebird and a unified

infrastructure specialist to harness AMX’s management and

control and automation solution from AMX which is helping

communication capabilities to enhance and support its own.

John Laing stay connected across its entire operation.

LOCATION London, UK

IT as you want IT

www.wirebird.co.uk

Putting AMX in control ensures that a positive video conferencing experience is always, quite literally, at the fingertips.

Dylan Jones, IT Director, John Laing +44 (0)207 652 9450 | www.amx.com/eu