Case Study

Project: Tikri India - Fidelity International

Overview of Ashton Bentley’s project with Fidelity International

Greenfield Site

Candor Techspace in Tikri, Gurgaon, is the new address of Fidelity International in India. The facility was built to house 2,200 people whose primary role is to provide IT and other back office support for the company’s global operation, which relies heavily on AV conferencing technologies. Within these new offices are 72 collaborative spaces spread over eight floors. These spaces are used to provide a means for the structured and stress-free sharing of data, video and audio.

Fidelity's AV Challenge

However, when it came to deciding what AV systems to use in the greenfield site, the company had to make a decision. It was frustrated with existing AV systems across the business. The company struggled with the complexity of these multiple vendor AV solutions, the reliability of them,and the need to support a growing and geographically diverse estate.

Fidelity began its search for an answer.

They needed a new approach to avoid the previous frustrations with their legacy AV equipment. They chose to take a new approach with the Tikri site, looking for a consistent, simple, flexible, intuitive and manageable solution for a large, growing enterprise.

Ashton Bentley Awarded Contract

Ashton Bentley was awarded the contract to provide the meeting space environments for Fidelity’s entire eight story building, as well as many more Fidelity sites in other locations around the world.

These meeting spaces range from the smallest of public collaboration areas to fully immersive video enabled conferencing suites which utilise cutting edge high definition video and audio solutions, with VC equipment supplied by Polycom.

Ashron Bentley’s Headquaters in Kent - United Kingdom

About Ashton Bentley & Fidelity International

Ashton Bentley was formed in 2011 to create commoditised, complete audio-visual solutions for the vast majority of meeting rooms from small huddle spaces up to large boardrooms. While advanced technology solutions are the backbone of the company, the range has expanded to include tables and associated furniture specifically designed to make integration of the AV technology simple and to give users the facilities they need.

Fidelity International provides world class investment solutions and retirement expertise to institutions, individuals and their advisers - to help our clients build better futures for themselves and generations to come. As a private company, we think generationally and invest for the long term. Helping clients to save for retirement and other long-term investing objectives has been at the core of our business for nearly 50 years. Established in 1969 as the international arm of Fidelity International, founded in Boston in 1946, Fidelity International became independent of the US organisation in 1980, and is today owned mainly by management and members of the original founding family

The Polycom Medialign 255 - Designed by Ashton Bentley

Today Ashton Bentley exports all around the world as well as having strategic partnerships in place with industry giants such as Logitech, StarLeaf and Zoom, as well as well as developing the very popular Medialign range for Polycom.

Fidelity International NEW Headquaters in Tikri, Gurugram - India

In 2004, Fidelity established its first presence in India by opening an office in Mumbai. However, their offices in India mostly serve back-office function and do not make any investments related decisions. The company has over 4,000 employees based in the region, with over 2000 employees at the Tikri site alone.

Developing The Project

On site deployment was carried out by a local company, taking place between February and April 2018, closely following completion of the physical build of each floor.

An Ashton Bentley engineer developing the individual table designs

Ashton Bentley devised various system specifications from their standard range that would fit the needs of each of the 72 rooms. As the systems are simple to ship, store and move, it was easy for the local company to assemble the kit, saving Fidelity money as Ashton Bentley did not need to send people from the UK to India to carry out the manual aspect of the project. Only a two person team from Ashton Bentley was required to commission and hand over.

Fidelity currently uses Polycom as the primary video conferencing solution but the beauty of the Ashton Bentley video conferencing rooms is that they can be easily upgraded in the future without rebuilding, or reprogramming the control system, to enable the migration to other hardware or software platforms.

To reduce clutter on the table, Ashton Bentley have unique leg designs that feature various connectivity options that the customer can select. For this project in each side of the table leg were sockets for, dual mains power sockets (India specification), dual network and dual USB charging sockets.

Simple laptop input connectivity and selection is provided via retractors housed inside Ashton Bentley’s own table box, which has three simple control buttons with multi-colour status indication.

An Ashton Bentley table leg design reduces clutter and adds functionality

All Ashton Bentley tables feature dual mains power sockets built into the side of each table leg together with dual USB charging sockets. Ashton Bentley Retractors are housed inside Ashton Bentley’s own table box, which also houses three simple control buttons with multi-colour status indication.

Implementing The Project

Meeting Space Profiles

On site deployment was carried out by a local company, taking place between February and April 2018, closely following completion of the physical build of each floor.

Huddle 4

Single 55” display with integral rectangular 4 seat table, dual laptop inputs on retractors and provision for thin client computer.

Huddle 5

Single 55” display with integral shaped 5 seat table, dual laptop inputs on retractors and provision for thin client computer.

Huddle 5 High

Single 55” display on high chassis with integral shaped 5 seat table, dual laptop inputs on retractors and provision for thin client computer.

AB One55

AB One55 Single 55”display presentation solution incorporated into customer breakout area, 1 laptop input and provision for Polycom Pano wireless sharing device and thin client computer.

AB Two75

Dual 75” 4K Touch displays for videoconferencing with customer supplied boardroom table. 8 laptop inputs on retractors and provision for Polycom Group 500 VC, Polycom Pano wireless sharing device and thin client computer.

AB Two75

Dual 75” 4K Touch displays with customer supplied tables configurable for training layout and meetings. Provision for Polycom Group 500 VC + ceiling mics, Polycom Pano wireless sharing device and thin client computer.

AB Two55 + TP Table For 4

Dual 55” displays with 4 seat telepresence table, 4 laptop inputs on retractors and provision for Polycom Group 500 VC and thin client computer.

High AB One55 + Table For 5

Single 55” display presentation system with separate high 5 seat table, 4 laptop inputs on retractors and provision for thin client computer.

AB Two55 + Table For 5

ab Two55 + tablefor5 Dual 55” Touch displays for videoconferencing with separate 5 seat table, 4 laptop inputs on retractors and provision for Polycom Group 500 VC, Polycom Pano wireless sharing device and thin client computer.

AB Two75 + Table For 9

ab Two75 + tablefor9 Dual 75” 4K Touch displays for videoconferencing with separate 9 seat table, 4 laptop inputs on retractors and provision for Polycom Group 500 VC, Polycom Pano wireless sharing device and thin client computer.

Implementing The Project

Making The Most Of Project Management

Dan Allen, AB Lead Systems Engineer training local resources on site.

Smaller teams deploy in to the 72 individual room spaces

The Client

Within Fidelity Technology our goal is to serve our clients better by making collaboration seamless to our employee’s.

Fidelity is a truly global company with staff collaborating across geographies and timezones every day. It is critical for us to work effectively as a business and have focus from our senior management, as enabling this helps our business succeed.

We have grappled with standardising meeting and collaboration spaces and been through many iterations.

The key is simplicity, reliability and functionality for the end user. The AB solution deployed in Tikri has helped us achieve this finally and set the standard for future deployments to our other locations, aligned with our overall AV (and collaboration) strategy.

Fidelity had to work closely with AB to ensure the goal was met - delivering a project of this scale did not come without challenges. Working in partnership meant we have been able to make our client happy - which ultimately is what it’s all about.

Duncan Welford
Technical Director
Collaboration Technology - Fidelity International

The Engineer

I was involved with packaging up the parts ready for shipping out to Tikri, which in itself was a herculean task. I think where we shine in a situation like that is that we are able to focus 100% of our efforts on doing it in a very short space of time.

Everything was packed up and sent in stages so that it would make receiving it at the other end easier. For example, all screens were sent out on one shipment, all table furniture on another and so on. This made it infinitely easier to receive onsite.

Being my first time in India I didn’t really know what to expect, but what I wasn’t prepared for was the warm welcome we received from the client, which to this date is one of the most outgoing and helpful clients I have worked for. Nothing was ever a problem for them. Help was always on hand, and certainly early on in the project when it was still very much a building site, logistical problems were solved very easily.

I believe that given the timescales we had to work to, anyone else, because of their size or commitments, wouldn’t have been able to do what we successfully achieved, and that is something I am very proud of. The hard work of the team and I directly impacted how effectively Fidelity works.

Once all the hard work had been completed it was great to see the client using the rooms. I personally didn’t have one person come up to me and ask ‘how do I use this?, which in itself is a testament to our ‘walk in and work’ philosophy. What they got was a custom designed set of suites that enhanced the way the company meets. A simple to use user interface that works.

Dan Allen
Lead Systems Engineer, Ashton Bentley Europe

The Designer

I had the first-hand experience of working on the Tikri project from the very early stages and seeing it grow from an architectural design concept all the way through to being on site for the second phase of deployment. There was a huge amount of work that went on behind the scenes, CAD drawings, manufacturing, planning, logistical challenges and deployment timescales to deal with, but I am enormously proud of the Tikri project and have a huge respect for all the teams and partners involved.

I got to witness the preparation and planning first hand, and it was tremendously satisfying being on site to see everything just fall in to place.

As the doors opened for the first day in their new facility there was a huge buzz of excitement and my lasting impression of that day was just how fast everyone settled into the new office space and got straight to work. A huge part of that was using the Ashton Bentley systems for local meetings and video conferences. Without any prior introduction or experience with the product, members of staff just set to work, with no fuss or issues.

The transition was seamless and effortless for all concerned and the feedback we received on site (and continue to get), was enormously positive. There is no doubt that it exceeded the client’s expectations and has redefined and set a new standard of meeting space technology for Fidelity’s global estate.

Noel Packer
Director of Design, Ashton Bentley Europe

Measuring Results And Evidence Of Achievements

Fulfilling Fidelity's Needs

In tackling the Tikri project, Ashton Bentley knew that despite the range of requirements for the 72 conference rooms, as its systems all use the same core components they can not only provide complete technological consistency, but that also makes deployment easy while making future maintenance simple. As a result, it both met and exceeded the client’s expectations.

The resultant systems create ease of use for the client. Every system is intuitively simple to use, requiring no special user training. Most operations are automated so there is no need for complex touch panels or hand held remote controls. Each system and therefore each room,operates in exactly the same way.

Ashton Bentley has delivered a consistent deployment that is truly scalable. There is no systems integrator interpretation,and no issues with regional component availability. The Ashton Bentley solutions, which are all built in the UK, include comprehensive self-diagnostic tools together with a comprehensive remote management system that can link into Fidelity’s Service Now IT fault reporting platform, so the entire building can be remotely managed.

Providing Immediate Results

Fidelity began its search for a solution to its complex, frustrating, out of date and unmanageable multi vendor, multi systems integrator, legacy of AV equipment. It chose to take a new approach with its greenfield Tikri site thanks to the abilities demonstrated by Ashton Bentley; that one company could provide a consistent, simple, flexible and intuitive system for a large, growing enterprise.

Tikri was the first largescale deployment of Fidelity’s new approach to AV and significant because every meeting room, no matter what size, was to have AV technology of some type. The company also wanted open office areas furnished with non-bookable collaboration spaces to allow staff to have impromptu meetings.

Ashton Bentley’s deployment was carried out efficiently and quickly and shows a radical new approach to delivery. All systems were built in the UK and shipped out in a phased rollout for installation in India.

Fidelity moved its staff into the completed building and within hours all meeting rooms were being used by staff. What is significant is that no user training was needed; those staff members intuitively understood how to make the system work, which they all did and are continuing to do, successfully. The Tikri site has no dedicated AV staff within it due to the ease of use of Ashton Bentley’s systems; everything is self-service.

It is an aspirational project for the industry in that it shows there is no need for AV conferencing in today’s enterprises to be complex. It is the first out-of-the-box AV solution deployed to work at this kind of scale,and whether deployed in India or New York, the system will work in exactly the same way.

Continued Development of Fidelity's AV Systems Globally

Despite tight timescales and the challenges of working with architects and builders thousands of miles from its UK headquarters, Ashton Bentley developed the room spaces from standard systems to meet the exact requirements of the client and carefully and effectively managed the Tikri project.

A profile of systems for the 72 rooms were shipped in stages from the UK to India, so receiving the goods was made simple. We could then do a trouble-free phased roll out and handover.

Due to the success of the project and demand for the existing 72 meeting spaces exceeding expectations, Fidelity’s needed more meeting rooms. So they have taken over another floor in the building and immediately looked to Ashton Bentley to supply further systems. It will complete floor nine in August this year.

Furthermore, thanks to the success of this project, Ashton Bentley is working on other Fidelity sites, creating a global standard for the company’s meeting space requirements – integrated AV hardware and furniture that is simple to configure, purchase, deploy, operate and support. Lowering their Total Cost of Ownership and giving a far better return on investment. More AV meeting rooms for their budget.