At a glance
- Client: Brevan Howard, a global macro hedge fund, through Panoramic Signage, a London-based signage and AV firm
- Location: Brevan Howard's Austin, Texas office — conference rooms 202, 203, 209 and 210, plus the open office
- Scope: Four medium conference rooms on one standard, each with a Sony BRAVIA FW-85BZ40H and a Crestron VC-4-PC-3, plus five Sony BRAVIA BZ40H displays on Chief LTM1U mounts
- Platform: Cisco Webex Room Kit Plus video, Crestron Virtual Control and DM Lite, and Biamp audio in two designs
The situation
Brevan Howard's Austin office had four medium conference rooms, and the firm wanted every one of them to work the same way. The same display, the same camera, the same touch panel, and the same way to start a call. A person who books Room 209 should not need a different set of instructions from Room 202.
The firm had already chosen its video platform. Each room was getting a Cisco Webex Room Kit Plus, supplied by the owner, with a Codec Plus, a Quad Camera and a Touch 10. Brevan Howard also supplied the room PCs, the Cisco room schedulers and Exterity IPTV players. Our job was to build the conference room AV around that kit: displays, switching, signal extension, control, audio, racks and cabling.
The open office needed screens too. Five displays were ordered alongside the rooms for viewing, not for calls.
The work came to us through Panoramic Signage, a signage and AV firm based in London that manages the account. We handled design, installation and programming on site in Austin. The rooms are built for video calls first, which puts them alongside our hybrid meeting spaces work. We see the same pattern across our financial services AV work.
What made it hard
A large share of each room was not ours. The codec, camera, touch panel, room PC, IPTV player and room scheduler were all owner-furnished. Our switching and control had to fit around equipment we did not specify.
The design also moved a long way before it settled. The first equipment order specified Shure MXA910W-US ceiling arrays with Shure P300 processors, Crestron CP4N control processors and Crestron Saros ceiling speakers. The drawing set went through a for-review issue, a revision issue and an as-built issue, over more than a year. By the final proposal, the audio had moved to Biamp and control had moved to Crestron Virtual Control. The final proposal carries a restocking fee line.
Rack space was tight. Each room's equipment lives in two short open-frame racks inside a credenza, so every device, power strip and cable had to fit in a cabinet designed for a sideboard.
How we designed it
We split each room into two layers. The first layer is identical in all four rooms: the display, the video path, control and the network. The second layer is the audio, and it comes in two designs.
The shared layer
Every room has an 85-inch Sony BRAVIA FW-85BZ40H on a Peerless-AV SA771PU articulating arm. The articulating arm lets the display swing out for service without coming off the wall. The Sony BZ40H sits in our range of commercial displays built for long daily hours.
Two HDMI inputs at the table and the Cisco Quad Camera reach the rack over Crestron HD-TX-101-C-E and HD-RX-101-C-E DM Lite extenders. The table inputs, the room PC and the IPTV player go into an Extron SW6 HD 4K PLUS switcher. An Extron DA4 HD 4K PLUS then feeds the codec and the display. The owner's Cisco Webex room devices stay the part people touch.
Control runs on a Crestron VC-4-PC-3 in each rack. It is a small PC running Crestron Virtual Control, not a hardware processor. It reaches the codec over RS-232 through a Global Caché iTach IP2SL-P. It reaches the IPTV player over IR through an iTach IP2IR-P. The display and the switcher are controlled over the room network. Each VC-4-PC-3 is licensed with a Crestron USB-OFFLINE dongle rather than an online activation.
Two audio designs
Rooms 202 and 203 use ceiling microphones. A Biamp Parlé TCM-X and a TCM-XEX expansion microphone sit in the ceiling tiles. They connect over AVB to a Biamp TesiraFORTE X 400, which powers them from its PoE+ ports and handles echo cancellation. A Crestron AMP-2210T drives the 70-volt ceiling loudspeakers. Our ceiling array microphones range covers the same family.
Rooms 209 and 210 use a tabletop design. A Biamp Devio SCR-20TX hub sits in the rack with its tabletop microphone on the table. The codec plays far-end audio through a Bang & Olufsen Beosound Stage soundbar under the display. There is no amplifier and no ceiling loudspeaker in these rooms, though we prewired the ceiling for speakers.
The earlier design used Shure MXA910 arrays, P300 processors and CP4N processors in all four rooms. The final design replaced that with the two Biamp designs and Virtual Control. Our AV design and integration team kept the shared layer identical through the change, so the rooms still behave the same for the person at the table.
Equipment by room type
| Room type | Rooms | Display | Video | Audio | Control | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medium conference, ceiling microphones | 202, 203 | Sony BRAVIA FW-85BZ40H on Peerless-AV SA771PU | Cisco Webex Room Kit Plus (owner-furnished); Crestron DM Lite; Extron SW6 HD 4K PLUS and DA4 HD 4K PLUS | Biamp TesiraFORTE X 400; Biamp Parlé TCM-X and TCM-XEX; Crestron AMP-2210T; ceiling loudspeakers | Crestron VC-4-PC-3; iTach IP2IR-P and IP2SL-P | Luxul AMS-1816P switch; two Middle Atlantic CFR-12-18 racks |
| Medium conference, tabletop hub | 209, 210 | Sony BRAVIA FW-85BZ40H on Peerless-AV SA771PU | Cisco Webex Room Kit Plus (owner-furnished); Crestron DM Lite; Extron SW6 HD 4K PLUS and DA4 HD 4K PLUS | Biamp Devio SCR-20TX; Bang & Olufsen Beosound Stage | Crestron VC-4-PC-3; iTach IP2IR-P and IP2SL-P | Luxul AMS-1816P switch; two Middle Atlantic CFR-12-18 racks; ceiling prewired for speakers |
| Open office display | 5 positions | Sony BRAVIA BZ40H on Chief LTM1U | — | — | — | Viewing screens, no conferencing |
Parts list
| Function | Model | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Conference room display | Sony BRAVIA FW-85BZ40H | All four rooms |
| Display arm | Peerless-AV SA771PU | All four rooms |
| Codec, camera and touch panel | Cisco Webex Room Kit Plus (Codec Plus, Quad Camera, Touch 10), owner-furnished | All four rooms |
| HDMI over CATx | Crestron HD-TX-101-C-E and HD-RX-101-C-E | All four rooms |
| Presentation switcher | Extron SW6 HD 4K PLUS | All four rooms |
| Distribution amplifier | Extron DA4 HD 4K PLUS | All four rooms |
| HDMI patch cables | Extron HDMI Ultra/6 | All four rooms |
| Control | Crestron VC-4-PC-3 with Crestron USB-OFFLINE license dongle | All four rooms |
| IR and serial gateways | Global Caché iTach IP2IR-P and IP2SL-P | All four rooms |
| AV network switch | Luxul AMS-1816P | All four rooms |
| Equipment racks | Middle Atlantic CFR-12-18 | Two per room |
| Rack power | Middle Atlantic PD-815R-PL | Two per room |
| Rack shelves | Middle Atlantic U1V | All four rooms |
| Meeting room DSP | Biamp TesiraFORTE X 400 | 202, 203 |
| Ceiling microphone | Biamp Parlé TCM-X White | 202, 203 |
| Expansion ceiling microphone | Biamp Parlé TCM-XEX White | 202, 203 |
| Loudspeaker amplifier | Crestron AMP-2210T | 202, 203 |
| Ceiling loudspeakers | DX-IC6LP-W | 202, 203 |
| Conferencing hub and tabletop microphone | Biamp Devio SCR-20TX | 209, 210 |
| Soundbar | Bang & Olufsen Beosound Stage | 209, 210 |
| IPTV player, room PC, room scheduler | Exterity AVPLY-M9305, room PC and Cisco room scheduler, owner-furnished | All four rooms |
| Open office display | Sony BRAVIA BZ40H | Five open office positions |
| Open office mount | Chief LTM1U | Five open office positions |
How is the AV network kept apart from the office LAN?
Each room has its own Luxul AMS-1816P managed PoE+ switch in its rack. The VC-4-PC-3, the Biamp DSP or Devio hub, the Extron switcher, the iTach gateways and the Sony display all sit on that switch. The Biamp TesiraFORTE X 400 powers the ceiling microphones itself over AVB.
The owner-furnished devices connect to Brevan Howard's own network instead. The Cisco codec, the room PC and the Exterity IPTV player each take a port on the office LAN. That keeps each room's control traffic on its own switch, away from the office network.
All four rooms use the same device address plan on their own switches. A technician's notes for one room apply to the next one.
HDMI from the table and the camera travels over shielded Cat6 to the DM Lite receivers in the rack. The as-built termination sheet records the wiring standard for every connector type on the job, down to the RS-232 pinouts for the codec link.
Installation and closeout
We installed the four rooms to the as-built set. The Biamp DSP files and the Crestron Virtual Control programs are stored with the project, room by room. Our control and DSP programming team keeps those files current as rooms change.
The closeout package holds a nine-sheet as-built drawing set. It covers a video signal flow, an audio, control and network signal flow and a rack elevation for each room pair, plus termination notes. It also holds a serial number and MAC address record for the installed equipment, and the final pick list.
The open office displays went up on Chief LTM1U tilt mounts. They have no room-level audio, camera or control attached.
Support from here
The contract includes a three-year support and service package covering the installed systems. It was part of the original room order, not an add-on sold afterwards. Our AV maintenance and support team runs it.
Four rooms on two audio designs means three software platforms to keep current: Biamp Tesira, Biamp Devio and Crestron Virtual Control. The Cisco codecs are owner-furnished.
Our support records show what that looks like in practice. We logged return visits as service orders. One visit covered display-wall work in Room 202, a rewire of an equipment rack and new cable runs to the conference table. Our account notes track a manufacturer support case with Extron and earlier issues with the Devio microphones. We re-archived the Biamp DSP files for the rooms during the support term.
The as-built set is what makes those visits quick. A technician sent to Room 209 can see how it differs from Room 202 before opening the credenza. Rooms drift out of spec when nobody is watching them, and a support contract only works if someone keeps the records up to date. This is how we run enterprise AV across multi-room offices.
Frequently Asked Questions — Standardizing Video Conferencing Across Multiple Conference Rooms
Answers to the questions IT, facilities and workplace teams ask most often about running one video conferencing standard across several conference rooms.
Can conference rooms in one office use different audio systems and still share one video standard?
Yes, and Brevan Howard's Austin office does exactly that: all four rooms share a Cisco Webex Room Kit Plus, a Sony BRAVIA FW-85BZ40H and Crestron Virtual Control, while two rooms use Biamp ceiling microphones and two use a Biamp Devio SCR-20TX tabletop hub.
The person at the table sees the same display, camera and Touch 10 in every room. The audio design behind the ceiling is the only part that changes, so users never need a different set of instructions.
What does a ceiling-microphone meeting room need that a tabletop-hub room does not?
A ceiling-microphone room like Rooms 202 and 203 needs a Biamp TesiraFORTE X 400 DSP, Biamp Parlé TCM-X and TCM-XEX microphones in the ceiling, a Crestron AMP-2210T amplifier and ceiling loudspeakers, where the tabletop rooms use one Biamp Devio SCR-20TX hub and a soundbar.
The ceiling design keeps the table clear of microphones and cables. The tabletop design has fewer parts to commission and no amplifier or ceiling loudspeakers to maintain.
How does Crestron Virtual Control run a conference room without a hardware control processor?
Crestron Virtual Control runs the room program on a Crestron VC-4-PC-3, a small PC in the rack, and in the Austin rooms it reaches the Cisco codec over RS-232 and the IPTV player over IR through Global Caché iTach IP2SL-P and IP2IR-P gateways.
The display and the Extron switcher are controlled over the room network. Each VC-4-PC-3 is licensed with a Crestron USB-OFFLINE dongle rather than an online activation.
Can an AV integrator build conference rooms around Cisco codecs and IPTV players the client already owns?
Yes, and in Austin Brevan Howard supplied the Cisco Webex Room Kit Plus, Exterity IPTV players, room PCs and Cisco room schedulers, while Creation Networks supplied the displays, switching, extension, control, audio and racks around them for four medium conference rooms.
We drew the owner-furnished devices into the as-built signal flows like any other part. That way the support team can see every connection, including the ones to equipment we did not supply.
How is conference room AV equipment kept off the corporate network?
In Brevan Howard's Austin rooms each room has its own Luxul AMS-1816P managed PoE+ switch for the control processor, DSP, switcher, gateways and display, while the owner's Cisco codec, room PC and IPTV player connect to Brevan Howard's own office LAN.
All four rooms use the same device address plan on their own switches. A technician's notes for one room apply to the next one.
Why run HDMI over shielded Cat6 instead of long HDMI cables in a conference room?
Long HDMI runs from a table or a camera to a rack are unreliable, so the Austin rooms use Crestron HD-TX-101-C-E and HD-RX-101-C-E DM Lite extenders over shielded Cat6 for the two table inputs, the Cisco Quad Camera and the feeds to the display.
Short Extron HDMI Ultra/6 patch cables connect the devices inside the rack. The as-built termination sheet records the wiring standard for every connector type on the job.
How long does a multi-room conference room standard take from first design review to as-built?
The four Brevan Howard Austin rooms took more than a year from the for-review drawing issue to the as-built issue, with a revision issue between them, and over that time the audio moved from Shure to Biamp and control moved to Crestron Virtual Control.
The shared layer of display, video path, control and network stayed the same through the change. That is what kept the rooms consistent while the audio design changed.
What documentation should an AV integrator hand over at closeout for a multi-room project?
For the four Austin rooms Creation Networks handed over a nine-sheet as-built drawing set with video, audio, control and network signal flows and a rack elevation for each room pair, termination notes, a serial number and MAC address record, and the final pick list.
The Biamp DSP files and Crestron Virtual Control programs are stored with the project, room by room. Those files are what let a technician restore a room without starting from scratch.
What does a three-year AV support and service package cover on a multi-room office floor?
At Brevan Howard's Austin office the three-year support and service package covers the four conference rooms and their Biamp Tesira, Biamp Devio and Crestron Virtual Control systems, and it was part of the original room order rather than an add-on sold later.
Our records from the support term include return visits logged as service orders, a rack rewire, updated Biamp DSP files and a manufacturer case with Extron. Our support help desk is where those requests start.
Why keep as-built drawings and DSP files current after a conference room install?
Current as-built drawings and DSP files let a technician see how Room 209 differs from Room 202 before opening the credenza, so a service visit to one of the four Austin rooms starts with the fix instead of with tracing cables and guessing at settings.
Rooms drift out of spec when nobody is watching them. Keeping the records current is part of the support work, not an extra. Our Biamp DSP processors range covers the Tesira and Devio families used here.
Technology partners on this project
Creation Networks, Inc. — nationwide commercial AV integrator, CTS-D certified, based in Concord, CA and Incline Village, NV. Design, engineering, programming, installation, and support from a single point of contact. Call 888-230-3661 or email sales@creationnetworks.net.
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