Push to talk at Turkish Petroleum

Two new large conference rooms flush with technology are helping Turkish Petroleum keep in touch with three other offices around the country. Paul Milligan reports.

There is big money and high stakes involved in the search for oil and gas around the world.  So it’s no surprise that a systems integrator working in that sector has to provide the very best and most reliable AV systems to clients operating in that industry. And that’s just what integrator Asimetrik has done for state-owned oil and gas company Turkish Petroleum. The company was founded in 1988, and is an international company involved in the exploration and production, drilling, petroleum trade and distribution throughout the Middle East, north Africa, southern Asia and South America.

Asimterik got involved in the project as a subcontractor of communications company Altinova Elektronik. The two companies had worked on a range of projects together before which helped to ease what could have potentially been a tricky installation process. Mehmet Erman, Asimetrik’s project manager for the installation outlines the original ideas for the job from the client: “The brief of the project was that all the systems have to be easy to use, with state of the art technology yet remain sympathetic to the interior design.” Erman worked closely with Altinova throughout the design stages, “The first job was to identify the needs of the project and then we designed the systems and prepared the project.  Our objective was to create a highly sophisticated, but easy-to-use system. The client had limited knowledge of advanced processing and automation, and Asimetrik wanted to make sure that they were not obligated to use complex applications, but only the basic features they needed. So the system design we provided ensures a flexibility of control and configuration.”

“The first job was to identify the needs of the project and then we designed the systems and prepared the project.  Our objective was to create a highly sophisticated, but easy-to-use system.” 

For this project Asimetrik was responsible for the survey, design, supply, install and commissioning of a professional audio system, a conference system with simultaneous translation systems, and several visual presentation systems.  The main initial request from the client was the visual systems installed, as the client wanted motorised screens on the two conference tables, and also specified projection in one of the rooms.  The project includes the installation of AV in two large conference rooms in the same building, which are being refurbished. The rooms connect to three other Turkish Petroleum offices in Turkey via Cisco video conferencing.  But there are plans afoot for the system to grow and connect to other offices further away (Kazakstan being the most likely) as the company expands its reach in the search for new oil and gas fields.  

Meeting room one seats up to 45 participants, and features a huge bespoke desk fitted with 32 Arthur Holm 17-in widescreen full HD aluminium monitors with horizontal and vertical working positions. Part of the initial design phase included Asimterik consulting with the manufacturer of the table to get the specifications of the two tables just right.  Meeting room one also features three 80-in Sharp fl at panel displays used as repeater screens on other side of the table. 

Meeting room two seats 20 participants and includes a further 20 Arthur Holm 17-in full HD widescreen retractable data monitors.  A huge array of kit in both rooms includes all automation and control from Crestron, and switching from Extron and Kramer. Audio comes in the form of 12 Stella loudspeakers from Meyer Sound. The spine of the installation is the Televic TCS 5500 digital conference system, with 70 delegate units, two master control units and 72 headphones spread across the two rooms.  To reflect the global nature of the oil and gas world the system offers full interpretation ability. “We had to be aware that the people using the systems aren’t always trained in AV technology,” says Erman. To ease that process Televic has provided full product training for Turkish Petroleum staff in both rooms.

Projection in meeting room one is handled by a Hitachi 8,500 lumens projector which is projecting onto a dnp Supernova fixed screen measuring 400 x 220cm at one end of the room. This design is copied in meeting room two which instead features a 3x3 videowall at one end of the room.

Barco Clickshare is featured in both rooms of the installation and allows users to run presentations from their own smartphones and tablets. Connectivity under the two tables is supplied in the form of DVI and HDMI. In what is a growing trend, no VGA has been installed at all as part of this project.

The project took 12 months from start to finish, with the installation phase taking part during three months in the summer of this year.  What were the most difficult parts of the job? “The main challenge was timing because we only had a limited time for the installation, and another challenge was meeting the demands of the interior architect,” says Erman. With such a large and varied kit list in the project how did Asimetrik choose the specific technology it did for this install? “We like designing systems that communicate with each other, and form a solution that satisfies all the needs of the users. Integrating Televic, Arthur Holm, Extron and using Crestron Digital Media for all content allowed us to design a system with the highest quality, and reliability. The coordination of Televic and Arthur Holm allows us to take it to another level, where we can offer a complete integrated solution, which looks and sounds perfect at the same time,” said Erman.

“The important point of designing the system from scratch is to consider the range of products available to you. When designed correctly, good systems enable us to deliver high quality without compromising on the price. That is the job of project designer and manager. Designing smart goes a long way, and enables you to fit to the budget,” added Erman. This project is part of a growing move towards more flexible meeting room spaces says Erman. “The trend now is trying to get everything you can control and share for corporate AV in one solution, one box. As integrators, we work with various brands for different selections, but we see the brands wanting to widen their scope, and provide the complete solution under their product portfolio.”

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