SUCCESS STORy

Moon Rising

The Client

Moon Creative Lab is an incubator, headquartered in Tokyo. Staffed with a global team of designers, engineers and product experts, they shepherd aspiring entrepreneurs from prototype to marketplace.

In 2019 the company chose a satellite location in Silicon Valley. They transformed its high ceiling, sky-lit interior with state-of-the-art AV, seamlessly integrated with glass-surrounded Zoom, project, and meeting rooms; a maker area; and a large, flexible open space. All was designed to foster communication, creativity, collaboration and collegiality.

Apple products are central to both the infrastructure and the empowerment of team members and entrepreneurs.

Company meeting inside Moon Creative Lab.

Company meeting inside the Moon Creative Lab

The Situation

But the technology was not reaching its full potential. Internet connectivity was slow, fragile, or unable to handle capacity. Attempted fixes at the network gateway, led to conflicts at the AV rack. Audio would drop out in the Zoom rooms. Communications with contracted Internet, network, and AV vendors did not resolve the nagging issues.

Meanwhile the clock was ticking closer to a major in-house hosted event.

Locating a Guide

Enter the network of Apple consultants worldwide. IT support for the Tokyo headquarters was a long-time participant. They contacted a team member in Pennsylvania. That person and I were part of a group of Apple consultants in a weekly video conference, sharing experiences and new ways of working during the period of crisis and transition in Covid’s dark days.

And so, I was asked to visit the site and meet with the Chief Operating Officer.

Plans and Actions

The Event

I started with a site survey and discussions with the event organizers. First and foremost, they needed reliable and fast Internet.

I achieved the former by switching to the secondary, but slower, service and testing it over several workdays. But there was not enough time for a provider to install faster service, and I could not reach or convince rooftop neighbors to “loan” their connection for the evening’s event.

The Event

I started with a site survey and discussions with the event organizers. First and foremost, they needed reliable and fast Internet.

The Event

I started with a site survey and discussions with the event organizers. First and foremost, they needed reliable and fast Internet.

Maximizing reliability and decreasing load was the path forward. A contractor inconspicuously dropped Ethernet cables down from the mezzanine’s network rack to a ground floor Zoom room reserved for the laptops of presenters and Zoom admin choreographers. Just before the even began, we asked all attendees to turn off WiFi on their devices. I monitored traffic and bandwidth during the event, which proceeded without incident.

Employees in close-up during a meeting at Moon Creative Lab.

Close-up of employees in a meeting at Moon Creative Lab.

Taking Charge of the Internet and Network

I next recommended that the client take control of its Internet services. The vision of simplicity via an Internet broker was not panning out.

For faster, reliable Internet I favored dedicated symmetric fiber, even though installation was not the fastest due to the permitting process. I interacted with three vendors; one stood out for its responsiveness. We worked out a plan in which they would first install asymmetric coax Internet service, which did not need a permit. It would continue without contract until the fiber was installed and its service level agreement went into effect.

Taking Charge of the Internet and Network

I next recommended that the client take control of its Internet services. The vision of simplicity via an Internet broker was not panning out.

Taking Charge of the Internet and Network

I next recommended that the client take control of its Internet services. The vision of simplicity via an Internet broker was not panning out.

AV for All

From the user end at Moon, there were iPad Zoom room controllers to handle displays, a drop-down projection screen, cameras, screen sharing, audio settings, music and its speaker locations, and more.

From the IT side, the challenge was recognizing what was broken as opposed to what the user did not know. Related was a deep dive: documenting issues; gaining familiarity with elements of the fully stacked AV rack; wading through product specs and capabilities, schematics, and wiring diagrams; and, of course, interacting closely with the AV integrator.

We were able to work through the problem list. Then I recommended adding a remote access device on the AV rack for the integrator, helped determine an additional video camera location, reviewed the service level agreement, evaluated upgrade proposals, and documented processes and quick fixes for common issues.

Throughout this process and beyond, I was joined by a keenly interested facilities manager, who would soon take over guiding users and handling events.

AV for All

From the user end at Moon, there were iPad Zoom room controllers to handle displays, a drop-down projection screen, cameras, screen sharing, audio settings, music and its speaker locations, and more.

Throughout this process and beyond, I was joined by a keenly interested facilities manager, who would soon take over guiding users and handling events.

AV for All

From the user end at Moon, there were iPad Zoom room controllers to handle displays, a drop-down projection screen, cameras, screen sharing, audio settings, music and its speaker locations, and more.

Throughout this process and beyond, I was joined by a keenly interested facilities manager, who would soon take over guiding users and handling events.

All On Board

Not a crisis, but an opportunity. In a Tokyo IT led decision, Moon moved to the benefits of device management. I contributed to the process. Tedious on boarding for new Macs was replaced with zero-touch deployments. Repurposed older Macs needed a few steps: enrollments in Apple Business Manager, erasure of all content and settings, adding a user, and the download and installation of profiles. Asset management was simplified.

All On Board

Results

Events ran trouble-free and increased in number as the site became a hub in the region for speakers, networking and workshops.

Choice and control of Internet providers came inhouse. The service was stable. In rare cases of fiber outage, failover to the secondary provider was seamless and invisible to users.

With the AV system under control, the user experience documented, and a facilities manager up-to-speed in an area he enjoyed, support moved from me to him.

Network management moved from outside vendor to me with Tokyo IT as second opinion as needed.

The company moved from a potential tedious on and off boarding processes to a smoother and more efficient one with devices in line with company policies from the get-go. 

The client was spared aggravation and unwanted diversions, realized increased efficiencies, and reduced costs.