NEC Solution Innovator

With customers ranging from government agencies to private companies, NEC Solution Innovator provides a full range of services - from upstream consulting for system construction to project management, system development, operation and maintenance. It has more than 10,000 employees supporting customers throughout Japan.

The executive conference room at its headquarters in Shinkiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo, is the largest conference room in the company. Regular hybrid meetings with remote participants were proving difficult, as limitations of the existing audio system meant meeting preparation was time-consuming and the number of those in the room who could speak was limited.

“Online conferencing required a lot of preparation and we had to provide as many table top microphones as there were people who would be speaking,” says Mr Takeshi Ojima, an NEC Management Partner. “The staff preparing the microphones had to check each time whether they were working properly and whether the remaining battery charge was sufficient. This meant preparing for each meeting took up a lot of time.”

“There was also a burden on attendees. The system required each speaker to turn their microphone on and off when speaking, and a maximum of five people could speak at the same time,” adds Mr Eiji Itou of the company’s Business Support Department. “Some would forget to turn their microphone off, so the meeting would often be interrupted by regular reminders for attendees to turn each microphone off when they had finished speaking.

“When the room was refurbished, the most common request was to do something about the microphone facilities.”

After looking at the options, a Yamaha ADECIA Ceiling Solution comprising four RM-CG ceiling array microphones, an MRX7-D signal processor and SWR2311P-10G PoE-enabled L2 switch was chosen.

“We chose ceiling microphones because they would reduce the amount of time needed to prepare for each meeting and also because we wanted to keep desk space clear,” says Mr Takeshi Ojima. “We looked at several candidates and the ADECIA system was the best solution, because the number of microphones can be increased, depending on the size of the room, and it automatically detects when there are multiple people speaking.”

He continues, “We visited Yamaha's demo room to check the performance of the RM-CG microphones. I tried whispering in a corner and talking while facing away from the microphone and my voice was picked up very well. With four microphones, voices would be picked up from anywhere in the conference room, so ADECIA was clearly the best system for our needs.”

All voices in the room, from a presenter at the front to those sitting at the back are picked up so well by the ADECIA solution that they are clearly heard by remote attendees. And even if the room layout is drastically changed, every voice is still clearly audible.

“Remote participants have commented that they can hear the entire conference room clearly, which gives them an enhanced sense of presence within the meeting,” says Mr Takeshi Ojima. “In the conference room, stress has been reduced for participants because they no longer have to switch a desktop microphone on and off every time they speak.”

“As well as no longer having to set up the microphones for every meeting, we also no longer have to worry if the microphones will run out of charge during long meetings. The introduction of the ADECIA Ceiling Solution has eliminated a lot of worry,” adds Mr Eiji Itou.

Mr Takeshi Ojima concludes, “Although ADECIA has only been introduced at our head office so far, I think the number of installations will increase. Our experience has shown that it both reduces the amount of preparation and improves the quality of meetings, which brings obvious benefits to both participants and technical support teams.”