Cisco NYC 9th Floor Penn Plaza

The summer saw the culmination of an extremely exciting project in the USA. Our team was absolutely thrilled to be part of a large-scale project in NYC, which gave us the chance to showcase the best of what EOS has to offer. Let’s dive a bit deeper into the project:   

The Client:  

Cisco Systems, inc. – Worldwide leader in IT, networking and cybersecurity solutions. EOS also has a strong relationship with Cisco as a Gold Partner Integrator.   

The Background:  

In 2019, EOS was awarded the task of a brand new fit-out of Cisco’s NYC 9th Floor Penn Plaza – located in the Penn 1 skyscraper. This is the tallest building in the Pennsylvania Plaza complex, in close proximety to the Pennsylvania station and Madison Square Garden. Over the next 2 years over 115 rooms were completely deconstructed and redesigned by our team.

Cisco’s vision for this project would be to create a smart building with a creative hybrid workplace. This would prioritize employee wellbeing as well as utilizing technology to make the building as energy efficient as possible. Unlike many other projects, this building was designed with technology at the forefront. EOS was tasked to create both a modern working environment for the Cisco team and a sales showcase area. 

The Challenge:  

This project included a number of different departments and team members to make this project flow from start to finish. This was broken into 3 phases: design, procurement & installation:

Design: 

The project kicked off with the design phase. When awarded this project EOS’ BIM capabilities were a major factor in the project outline. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the process of creating and managing information for a built asset. EOS took on the responsibility of designing the bill of materials needed for each room that required Cisco endpoints. We then created drawings to include visualizations to give the client a clear view of how each room would look. With the use of BIM, these drawings could be converted into 3D images to deliver a realistic view of each room, which helped the client make judgment calls and aided in the final decision process. 

Procurement: 

Alongside designing the whole project, we also procured all the technology. The procurement team sourced several hundred items from across the globe. The whole solution consisted of a wide range of technology from Cisco Desk Pro’s & Room Kit Mini’s (Quiet Rooms/Huddle Spaces) to Training rooms involving Codec Pro’s & Digital Signal Processing.  

The project presented some obstacles for the procurement team to overcome, the first being open meeting spaces that required special directional speakers. To solve this, we procured a special speaker type, and our audio programming department modified this to suit Cisco’s needs. The client also required a bespoke demonstration space to house 5 different types of Cisco Systems. This would be utilized for sales demonstrations for Cisco, so everything had to work seamlessly to showcase Cisco’s product range capabilities.  

We also cannot forget that this project took place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which presented some challenges in the supply chain, causing issues in procuring materials for the project, and seeing an increase in lead times across the channel. Despite these challenges, the team overcame them all and sourced all materials to Cisco’s project specifications. 

Installation: 

The final part of this project was to deliver all materials to site which were to be commissioned by our Field Engineering team. Much like the procurement stage, this was again affected by the pandemic including labor resources and working restrictions. In addition to pandemic challenges, we also faced hurdles when it came to deliveries as the building was right beside Madison Square Garden which meant delivery access was tight. In addition, there was only one elevator to the space. 

The team successfully managed to overcome all challenges in front of them. This was all spearheaded by Melanie Husson our AV project manager who managed this challenging project from design concept to final handover, working closely with the client to ensure everything went as smoothly as possible. 

The Outcome:  

This was a challenging but rewarding project that saw an outcome that both the EOS team and Cisco can be proud of. Some of our favorite parts of this project were:  

• The use of BIM made it easy for the client to get a realistic view of the building and how the space would look, reducing the risk of future changes when the room was installed. This also aided the decision-making process throughout the project as approval was easier to receive when the client could see 3D images of what they are approving.  
• The use of technology to make this project and building more sustainable was insightful. Each room measures CO2, network and lighting shut-off when the building notices no movement (and turns back on when employees return in in the morning). 

This project had a number of innovative and creative spaces. One of our favorite was the Innovation Space which included two Video Walls using customized wall mounts from BTEC Solutions, Webex Board 75 pro, Cisco room kits with Displays and a Desk Pro highlighting various technologies within one space. The customized video wall mounts were major concern, as the client wanted to be able to move the video wall along the rail for access as well as having a board pro mounted with a 1×3 video wall. This space required a lot of design work but it was all worth it as it turned out spectacularly when it was completed. 

It was a real honor to work on such a spectacular project and the team at Cisco! A special thanks to Melanie Husson, Audio Visual Project Manager + David Convery, BIM Lead/Design + Aine Cunningham, Design/PM for all their hard work & dedication on this project. You are all a real asset to the team.  

For information on how EOS IT Solutions can support your organization, please contact our team info@eosits.com.