On any given day, it is likely that consumers come in contact with one or all of Unilever’s products. Seeing the scope of Unilever brands was never clearer than during a recent meeting in the new Enterprise Room at one of the corporation’s main offices, located in Greenwich, CT. Equipped with Sony’s high-performance projector and high-resolution plasma monitors, the conference room is the epicenter for decision-making about sales, marketing, and strategic brand planning initiatives, in addition to being the focal point for senior management and other meetings

Unilever’s facilities project manager Cecilia Cordova-Kling and A/V technician Jim Martin headed the Enterprise Room’s design. They called on the collective ingenuity of local A/V integrator HB Communications, architects The Phillips Group, furniture and obotics engineers Show Motion, and lighting experts Hillman DiBernardo, who contributed their personal touches to the Enterprise Room.

This sophisticated meeting room has it all from high technology to elegant design. From the stunning conference room table with cherry wood finish and floating glass tabletop, manufactured by ShowMotion of Norwalk, CT, to the Steelcase Leap™ chairs, lightning by Hillman DiBernardo and photoelectric LCD wall, the room possesses an ultra- modern look.

“Unilever is all about enterprise culture,” explains director of e-HR David Campisi. “This culture reflects our corporate values and vision for our brands.

“It was the vision of our president Charles Strauss to fashion a new boardroom,” says Campisi. “He wanted it to reflect Unilever’s new enterprise culture through an active, open, inviting, vibrant and interactive meeting space. It also had to epitomize the enterprising spirit of the company, its employees and the way we meet the needs of customers and consumers.”

The boardroom includes a highperformance audio, video and computer operation engineered by system integrator HB Communications of North Haven, CT.

SOPHISTICATED, EASY TO USE ”Our mandate was to inject a high level of technological sophistication to the room, yet make the system easy to use for everyone,” says project leader Timothy Hutton of HB Communications. “One of the key features of the Enterprise Room is that we’ve added many customized features that make this room very hands on for the user, whether displaying content or operating the videoconference system to communicate with colleagues at other locations.” For image display, at the head of the conference room, HB Communications opted for rear-screen projection using Sony’s VPL-PX31 SuperBright™ projector to a

Da- Lite™ projection screen measuring 60 inches high and 80 inches wide. A stainless steel frame surrounds the screen. It protrudes out from the wall about five inches to give the illusion that the projection screen is floating.

“This design element was used to scale down the expanse of the wall and make it appear as though the screen is at eye level,” says Cordova-Kling.

Presenters in the room can connect their laptop to display their presentation on the Sony projector or plasma monitors.

“The Sony VPL-PX31 projector was selected for its native 1024 x 768 resolution, high brightness of 2800 ANSI lumens*, installation flexibility and the ability to display a wide range of computer and video images,” says Cordova-Kling.

Also housed in the control room with the Sony projector is a rack setup with a video server, Sony TiVo™ system, DVD and VHS players along with three-quarter inch U- Matic® tape decks. All of these sources can be displayed on any of the screens at the push of a button on the AMX touch screen panel, which sits atop the conference room table.

Mounted on the ceiling, a few feet from the projection wall, are Sony EVD-130V video cameras with pan/tilt zoom capabilities and a videoconferencing system. Microphones for the audio for the teleconferencing are concealed in the table.

For transparencies and 3-D image display, the room is equipped with a Sony document camera.

BRANDS ON DISPLAY The Enterprise Room’s adjacent wall, looking across the conference room table, features a presentation/display structure. This area consists of a series of clear anodized steel shelves with glass panels as a backdrop to draw the eye to the Unilever brands on display. To further emphasize the product display, the bottom of the wall features a continuous cove of lighting. Above the shelves,

anchored to the ceiling and extending a few feet away from the display, is a row of silver-colored, bell-shaped lighting fixtures. This setup, combined with the snowflake-colored wall, has the effect of shining a spotlight on the products.

”By gazing at the product display wall in this room,” says Cordova-Kling, “it is a clear reminder of how much of an impact Unilever has on the everyday lives of consumers.

“The day could start by washing up with Dove™ and Suave™ hair shampoo,” says Cordova-Kling. “For oral hygiene, a Mentadent™ toothbrush and Close-Up™ toothpaste help freshen up. A load of laundry could be cleaned with all™ or Wisk™ detergent and the clothes dried with Snuggle™ fabric softener. For lunch, one could order a plate of spaghetti with Ragu™ sauce and a refreshing cup of Lipton™ ice tea. Later on, it’s snack time and that means a SlimFast™ drink. Scoops of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia® ice cream are available before day’s end.”

The product displays are flanked on either side by a Sony PFM-42B1 PlasmaPro™ monitor, which are attached by black anodized steel suspension brackets. The meeting participants facing the plasma monitors can view content broadcast, PowerPoint® presentations, Excel® spreadsheets or other computer images displayed on these 42-inch (viewable area, measured diagonally) displays.

On the opposite wall, there’s a photoelectric LCD wall that, at the touch of a button, turns opaque or translucent. “The idea here was to be able to lighten or darken the room as needed,” says Cordova-Kling. “It also gives the meeting participants the message that we’re bringing the ‘outside in’ and demonstrates our openness to ideas, a key element of our enterprise culture.”

CLEAN LINES, WIRE-FREE LOOK

The Enterprise Room’s conference table seats 16 people. There are ten connectivity modules, which were custom designed and built by HB Communications. In keeping with the design criteria for clean lines and a wirefree look, HB Communications wired each stainless steel box, which resides on the table and houses the essential PC links including a duplex output, an RGB cable, network access and a dial out analog line. For video and teleconferencing, HB Communications designed and installed various one- touch activation and de-activation features for each of the connectivity modules.

At the back of the room, there’s even a concealed butler’s kitchen. By sliding open the wooden cabinets, a kitchenette area is revealed and lunch, snacks and drinks can be served without constant intrusion to the meeting for meal setup.

“The beauty of the Enterprise Room is that it was designed so that everyone from assistants to board members can operate the equipment with ‘push-button’ ease,” says Cordova-Kling. In fact, she noted that not once during a recent planning meeting, which lasted for six hours, was technical support called upon to intercede.

“We believe that the Enterprise Room is a shining example of technological prowess and cutting-edge design,” says Cordova-Kling. “The first time Charles Strauss met with company officers here and by videoconference to Rotterdam, he was impressed with its operation and craftsmanship.”

In fact, Unilever’s offices in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are now looking to mirror this state-of-the-art facility and adapt it locally. “It is extremely satisfying to know that the environment we created here with this room has given others the motivation to raise their bar,” says Cordova-Kling.