When General Electric (GE)'s energy techniques company, GE Power, embarked upon building a $40 million, 200,000-square-foot facility in Markham, Ontario, Canada, they sought out Diversified to be a technology partner who could provide an audio visual design for a one-of-a-kind Global Innovation Center designed to educate clients on GE’s full suite of energy management tools. The center would include a Grid IQ video wall, numerous meeting rooms that allow individuals to work together in real-time across the globe, a gym and fitness studio, and a cafeteria that doubled as a town hall meeting place.
One training room can be divided into two separate rooms with a motorized wall and is equipped with a 70” LCD interactive display and video conferencing system that allows for simple and effective global conferencing and training sessions. The room also features several large interactive touch screens, a projector and a fully integrated audio system. The facility’s executive boardroom is equipped with a Crestron system that controls an automated projector, audio conferencing system, table-mounted microphones at each seat and ceiling-mounted microphones that provide an unobtrusive solution for presenters. Finally, in the collaboration room, Diversified provided an interactive whiteboard, in-ceiling speakers, microphones, a video conferencing system and a projector to accommodate any type of meeting and interaction. All of the room’s functions can be managed through the Crestron control system on a wireless Crestron touch screen device.
Additionally, GE knows that happy, healthy associates are productive associates, so they had Diversified integrate fitness studio technology that provides a personal experience. At each station, associates can plug in their personal devices to listen to music or watch satellite TV or DVDs. And, adding to the Global Innovation Center’s sense of community, the cafeteria serves double duty as the location for Markham’s GE staff town hall meetings. The cafeteria features a projector and five LCD displays with built-in speakers to display cable programming or video presentations for town hall meetings, while an integrated video conferencing system with two wireless microphones allows meetings to be broadcast to remote viewers.
