Jaguard Land Rover boosts collaboration at its development center with Panasonic AV technology

Located in Manchester, This software center has nineteen professional displays from this manufacturer, as well as control technologies, unified communications and Byod to create a collaborative work environment.

The new software center, IT and engineering Jaguar Land Rover just opened in the Neo building in Manchester, it was not chosen by chance, since the objective of its managers has focused on attracting and retaining talent in this city, one of the UK's leading digital hubs and center of excellence for software engineers.

Nevertheless, due to the high competition to hire developers that exists in the city, An essential element for this company was that the facilities were not only attractive to members of the so-called Generation Y, but also allowed them to work collaboratively both internally and externally.

This is what Mark Brogden points out, director of business architecture and innovation at Jaguar Land Rover: “Manchester is one of the main digital centers in the United Kingdom. In a competitive environment it is really vital to attract and retain staff in a software development space. One of the advantages of Manchester is that such skills exist, but there are also competitors. So we had to create a better way of working and an essential aspect was having an innovative work environment”.

One of the challenges to achieve, since Manchester is far from other company facilities, situated in Gaydon and Whitley (in the West Midlands, United Kingdom); in Shannon (Ireland); Shanghai (China) and in Portland (USA), “has been having advanced videoconferencing technology, “digital screens and collaborative meeting rooms that allow us to fill that void and distance”, Brogden points out.

The building uses audiovisual technology from Panasonic to create a collaborative work environment. In total, the integrator Visavv has installed nineteen professional screens from this manufacturer for this project, plus control technology, Byod, audio and unified communications technology.

“This is an iconic building for Jaguar Land Rover and Panasonic is an iconic brand from an audiovisual perspective.”, so it was a natural choice - explains Rob Hill, manager of this account at Visavvi. This company's hardware is very reliable, It offers us extended guarantees and a very quick response”.

A vision that Brodgen also shares: “Visavvi has been an audiovisual partner of Jaguar Land Rover for eighteen years, while Panasonic has also been a partner for several years. So it has been a natural choice for all parties.".

Specifically, three units of the TH-32EF1 model and an equal number of TH-43LFE8 screens have been installed., in addition to large format systems (of 55 y 75 inches) of TH-55LFE8 models (once units) y TH-75EF1 (two screens).

For this project, as the head of Visavvi explains, “We have integrated several technologies: screen, of control systems, unified communications hardware and audio equipment. We have brought it all together and integrated it all to create a workspace that is as intuitive as possible.”.

The software team, Jaguar Land Rover IT and engineering uses this technology in a flexible and versatile way; from internal meetings to presentations with information panels to control the software they are developing, as well as for collaboration with colleagues from other centers and with third parties.

Sustainable technology

All Jaguar Land Rover UK manufacturing facilities run on 100% renewable electricity; besides, The company has ambitious plans to achieve zero-carbon manufacturing in this country within the year. 2020, so the energy efficiency of all the technology they use is a key factor and was part of the acquisition process.
As Rob Hill points out, “Energy use is an important aspect for Jaguar Land Rover, since the company's objective is to eliminate carbon emissions and, therefore, “The fact that Panasonic displays have low power consumption is especially important.”.