IBM Headquarters

Conference Room Update at IBM’s Headquarters Features Planar Ultra-Fine Pitch LED Video Wall

IBM (International Business Machines) is an American multi-national technology company with operations in more than 170 countries worldwide. At its corporate headquarters in Armonk, NY, IBM’s real estate operations identified a project to modernize the technology in a large, first-floor conference room. With old audio-visual equipment, upgrades were necessary to inspire more use of the room and maximize its value.

IBM engaged A-V Services, which supplies much of the company’s audio visual needs, to provide a redesign proposal. “The space has a beautiful 40-foot-long, 20-plus-seat oval conference table but had an outdated rear screen projection system,” said Pete Michetti, A-V Services senior account director. “Looking at a spreadsheet on that rear projection you can hardly make out the numbers. No wonder the room wasn’t getting the use it deserved.”

Michetti and his team created an audio visual design featuring LED display technology from Planar--specifically the Planar® TWS Series LED video wall. The proposal included three different pixel pitch options: 1.5mm, 1.2mm and 0.9mm.

“Obviously, the cost for the 0.9mm pixel pitch was higher than the others, but based on the seating arrangements in the room, it was the right choice,” Michetti said. “There would be people sitting four to five feet away. At that distance, you don’t want to go higher than 0.9 mm. Plus, with the size of the video wall we were proposing and their intended use of multiple 4K images, 0.9mm offered the best performance.”

Improving the usefulness of the space

Following IBM’s approval, A-V Services installed a nearly 12-foot-long, 7-foot-high Planar TWS Series LED video wall with a 0.9mm pixel pitch (TWS0.9) in a 6x6 configuration. The installation provides IBM’s headquarters with a versatile, ultra-fine pitch LED video wall for presentations, video conferencing and other uses.

“People are now lining up to book the room,” Michetti said. “With the video processing we included, up to 10 people can be shown on the display when they hold a video conference. Depending on the use, the video wall has the flexibility to switch from a single screen to many different layouts. That was a very necessary reason to go with this system.”

With the low pixel pitch, anybody in the conference room can view the installation from any distance, according to Michetti. “The resolution is just unbelievable. You can walk right up to it and the clarity is still tremendous.”

“Everything came out the way they expected,” said Michetti. Of course, every time I’m involved with a project that calls for LED, my first step is Planar. I know they’re always there for me with regard to service, answering questions and helping with the design and installation. I would rather go with Planar than anyone else.”