Video-Conferencing

Fidelity Investments Opens New Executive Conference Room
Facility part of new FidelityCenter for Applied Technology

Fidelity Investments, one of the world's largest providers of financial services, with custodied assets of $3.2 trillion, including managed assets of $1.5 trillion, recently opened its new Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (FCAT). Located at 245 Summer Street, the company’s new briefing center includes several training and meeting facilities designed to keep the company at the forefront of the financial services business. As part of this ambitious project, the new company facilities include a small conference room—known as the Strategy Conference Room.

The Strategy Conference Room, which opened in December 2006, was designed as a teleconferencing facility for Fidelity’s senior technology management. According to Mike Askew, Senior Vice President, Fidelity Center for Applied Technology, “FCAT serves as a bridge, linking Fidelity's technology resources with business executives who seek practical high tech solutions to critical business issues. Our new executive conference facility was designed and built expressly for the company’s senior management. While the room is designed to accommodate eight to ten people, actual sessions typically see about six to eight participants. This is a truly global conference room, with teleconferencing facilities that routinely support communications with our offices in Europe and Asia in addition to those throughout the United States.”

Presentation facilities in the Strategy Conference Room include a PC, an NEC NP40 2200 ANSI lumens projector, a drop-down screen, as well as an NEC 50-inch PlasmaSync plasma display. At the heart of the room’s video conferencing setup is a LifeSize HD Video Communications system supporting 1280 x 720 pixels at 30 frames per second with two Sony cameras tied to the system. A ClearOne XAP 400 with an integrated telephone interface handles the audio conferencing side of the setup. An Extron MXP series media presentation matrix switcher with an MKP series controller facilitates content selection and routing. Ceiling speakers are provided for sound reinforcement.

For their wireless microphone system, executives had previously struggled with excessive ambient noise and, as a result, were searching for a setup that could minimize disturbances. “One of the most distracting aspects of our previous system was the nonstop paper shuffling, the sound of footsteps as people came and went, and the clicking of computer keys while people took notes,” explained Askew. “We were picking up all sorts of ancillary noise that made it extremely difficult to understand the conversations that were taking place.”

After conducting an extensive evaluation program, the company elected to install an eight channel Solo Executive wireless microphone system from Revolabs. “The clip-on nature of the Solo microphone is far easier to deal with than traditional wireless systems that run a cable down to a transmitter pack,” notes Askew. “Audio quality has improved dramatically, and ambient noise is minimized. We’ve also had occasions where we needed to pass the microphones among speakers. You can easily mute the mic, hand it over, and the system remains quiet. These mics have made a dramatic difference for us.”

The Fidelity Center for Applied Technology, which is part of Fidelity Technology Group, helps Fidelity's businesses explore advanced technologies and evaluate new business applications. The Fidelity Center for Applied Technology houses usability research labs that enable the company to test and refine its online services. Using eye-tracking tools and other telemetry technologies, Fidelity employs usability testing to determine the most efficient online design for its range of customer information, tools, and services.

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