Northrop Grumman

Organization

Northrop Grumman

Location

Falls Church, VA

Market

Technology

Solutions

Mission: Bridge the Analog-Digital Gap

In preparing to move its headquarters from Century City, Calif., to Falls Church, Va., Northrop Grumman needed communication and collaboration systems that would promote efficiency and unite east and west coast executives. It also wanted to show guests its capabilities using large-scale visuals.

“I would definitely compliment AVI-SPL on their ability to work within (our) schedule constraints and to get everything done on time and within budget”
– Kevin Conniff, media services manager, Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman is a well-known global security company that provides innovative systems, products, and solutions in unmanned systems, cybersecurity, and logistics to government and commercial customers worldwide.

“We wanted to bridge the gap between analog and digital AV systems to remain compatible with the different types of technologies that we use in our day-to-day operations,” says Kevin Conniff, media services manager at Northrop Grumman.

AVI-SPL, which has worked with Northrop Grumman for over 20 years, was tasked with integrating collaboration technology on 13 floors of a new facility that houses 500 employees.

Action: Fast-Paced Implementation

A project this large offered up a few challenges, which AVI-SPL met by working efficiently. One of those challenges included the tight window of completion. AVI-SPL had just five months to complete the project to meet the company’s scheduled occupancy. During that time, we outfitted 60 conference rooms and equipped over 80 offices throughout the building with a variety of AV systems.

“AVI-SPL provided a very capable and professional consultant service that led to a design ranging from standard conference rooms to very complex installations for both digital and analog applications,” says Conniff.

The results of our design and integration include conference and breakout rooms with flat-screens, table inputs for external devices, computers, projectors, touch panels, and digital media switchers. Digital signs are available to inform and guide guests in the elevator lobbies, and outside every room on the second floor.

Specialized areas have similar devices and capabilities for collaboration. The Government Relations Operations Center, a multi-level facility, and a five-way divisible conference center each have projectors and control system management. In the multi-level facility, a Crestron Digital Media system automatically selects from three security levels of classification. The chief financial officer’s conference room on the 13^th floor includes a 70-inch NEC flat-screen, four of which are also in the Government Relations Operations Center.

The executive boardroom has similar collaboration systems with one major addition – the inclusion of Cisco video conferencing. Even when that isn’t available to the remote parties, collaborators can use audio teleconferencing.

“I would definitely compliment AVI-SPL on their ability to work within those schedule constraints and to get everything done on time and within budget,” says Conniff. “AVI-SPL was responsive to all of my concerns as a customer to ensure that the systems were fine-tuned for excellent quality.”

Impact: Thirteen Floors of Collaboration

Every floor has in common the ability to share and/or see information, whether you’re part of a meeting or moving through the hallways. Crestron allows users to, from their location, select and direct sources. AVI-SPL, which has been on-site for nearly a year and a half, now provides service and customer care for Northrop Grumman.

“The AVI-SPL crew had a willingness to go above and beyond what was to be expected,” says Conniff.

Solutions like digital signage have improved the company’s ability to communicate with guests and staff. In two lobbies, people are greeted by 55-inch LCDs that display DirectTV and welcome messages. To provide entertainment, cable TV is fed to displays in the main lobby, cafeteria, and fitness center.

“In general, people just want things that work and that are easy to use,” says Conniff. “We accomplished that with AVI-SPL.”