London-based integrator champions USB-C solutions at Halkin’s King William Street workspace.
International business property developer and winner of the 2023 Sunday Times Best Place to Work award, Halkin, recently unveiled yet another sought-after project at King William Street, London. The landmark workspace, nestled in the heart of the City of London’s financial district, has undergone extensive refurbishment to revolutionize the meeting room experience at the premises. The integration was led by AV and IT system integrators, Tateside, also based in the capital. Lightware’s cutting-edge USB-C technology forms the foundations upon which the upgraded meeting room experience has been built.
Tateside was commissioned to develop and implement the project, which consisted of eight unique meeting spaces including a 20-person capacity boardroom. Known for their exceptional workmanship, creativity and ongoing support services, Tateside was able to unify the client’s vision with the installation of the most up-to-date and effective meeting room technology.
With Halkin’s aspiration to provide premium meeting and collaboration experience across its workspace property, Tateside designed a solution that would ensure a user-friendly experience with smooth connectivity and automation to streamline collaboration in communal meeting spaces for all users, even those with zero experience in setting up hybrid meeting spaces.
“The customer wanted something simple to use, without additional complications and control systems - they wanted one box to provide all the functionalities,” recalls Jack Cornish, Technical Director at Tateside. “Lightware’s solution offered something beyond the competition and everything the customer wanted to achieve is embraced within this one technology.”
Tateside deployed four of Lightware’s USB-C powered Taurus UCX universal switchers (UCX-4x2-HC40) across the eight meeting spaces, from huddle rooms hosting just four people up to larger boardrooms with capacity for 20 delegates.
“To me, Taurus UCX offers something unique, with good built-in control and automation available from LARA, as well as the physical UI of the two USB-C inputs allowing for plug-and-play functionality, the latter being the key point we needed to achieve,” continues Cornish. “Ultimately, the good relationship with Lightware, the in-built LARA automation, and predictability in regards to how each USB-C input operates, made us confident in our choice of this core technology. In that sense, Lightware had no competition.”
Leveraging Lightware’s technology, the solution offered a user-friendly BYOM platform for hosting a variety of meetings, presentations, and collaborative sessions for users with any level of technical experience.
With Taurus UCX, Tateside ensured unrivaled USB-C connectivity for users to effortlessly connect their devices, providing a streamlined and efficient meeting experience with easy host switching, and utilizing data speeds of up to 5 Gbps under the USB 3.1 Gen1.
Halkin’s meeting rooms now boast crystal-clear video and audio, with Lightware’s Taurus UCX enabling 4K@60Hz at 4:4:4 video and audio switching. This ensures that virtual participants feel as though they are in the room, helping to foster productive communication and collaboration.
In all meeting spaces at the King William Street office, users can rest assured that their devices won’t run out of power with Taurus’ charging up 100W (120W in total) capability. They also enjoy comprehensive and secure Ethernet connection.
With Taurus’ firmware LARA (Lightware Advanced Room Automation), meeting participants enjoy even more comfort and confidence in the technology that supports their collaboration. At Halkin’s offices, LARA successfully replaced previous automation technology used to control endpoints such as TVs and provided advanced switching flexibility. “We’re seeing a trend where people want to step away from having a touchscreen and other complex technologies in the room,” says Cornish. “Now, they’re looking for automation from a single box, where you can simply plug in a cable and turn the screen on and switch sources automatically.” With LARA in Taurus, Tateside satisfied this customer need fully.
In the two main boardrooms, a Shure audio solution was also installed. Here, due to its open API features, Lightware’s technology integrates smoothly with the Shure system in BYOM mode to secure audio and visual equality for remote participants.
Confidence in the product allowed the team to successfully deploy the solution without the POC stage. “Confidence is essential,” remarks Cornish. “Not so long ago, USB-C was seen as a bit ‘Wild West’; sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t…As the industry leader in USB technology, Lightware provided us with a reliable solution and their support was fantastic. With this solid foundation, we only needed one site visit during the commission stage.”
With Halkin’s understanding of the value of investing in quality technology and support, the customer has received all the benefits and longevity of a Lightware solution. Looking to the future, Lightware’s technology will provide substantial cost savings to the client whilst Tateside are enthusiastic to champion the flexibility and superior functionality of USB-C technology for future meeting room projects.
