The MXA920 incorporates Next Generation Array Architecture for improved directional audio pick-up and clear and natural speech. It’s easy to install and use, includes onboard IntelliMix DSP and provides voice lift, sound reinforcement. It also has camera-tracking capabilities for a premium videoconference experience. The MXA920 is certified for Works with Google Meet when combined with the ANIUSB-MATRIX and the Microflex MXN5W-C Networked Loudspeaker.

The MXA902, the latest addition to the Microflex Advance line, is a conferencing ceiling array microphone with integrated loudspeaker and IntelliMix DSP. Thus, it is suitable for small and medium-size meeting rooms when combined with the ANIUSB-MATRIX. As of today, Shure’s MXA920, MXA902 and ANIUSB-MATRIX are Works With Google Meet certified, the company says.

“We understand how critical it is to ensure seamless conferencing performance, which requires solid collaboration with UC platforms. By certifying both the Shure MXA920 and MXA902 for Google Meet, we support IT and AV professionals with reliable and innovative technology for enhancing the end-user experience,” says Julie Crawford, strategic alliance senior marketing manager at Shure.

Another version of this article originally appeared on our sister-site Commercial Integrator on November 10, 2023. It has since been updated for My TechDecisions’ audience.

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ShurePlus MOTIV for All

The MVX2U interface delivers the customization and simplicity of the ShurePlus MOTIV Desktop app to all condenser and dynamic XLR microphones, regardless of the manufacturer. With the MVX2U, users can transform their existing XLR mic into a USB powerhouse equipped with the tools required to take the guesswork out of achieving extraordinary audio, says the company.

The MVX2U ships in Auto Level Mode, which sets gain perfectly in real time, acting as a virtual audio engineer to adjust levels on the fly and provide audiences with a more consistent listening experience. This means creators can focus fully on their content, and not on their mic technique, resulting in less time editing and more time creating.

Auto Level Mode settings, presets, and additional parameters, including “vocal tone,” can be controlled through the MOTIV Desktop App.

Users seeking a more hands-on approach to their sound can also take advantage of additional features available in Manual Mode of the MOTIV Desktop app, including EQ, limiter and compressor presets. Recurring firmware updates will also be available for the MVX2U, meaning the interface will continue to adapt to users’ needs, says Shure.

Shure MVX2U Designed for Versatility

The MVX2U is compatible with any XLR microphone and can be plugged directly into the XLR output of the mic or at the end of an XLR cable (in-line). Thus, it gives users flexibility in how they implement the interface into their setup.

Without enough gain, microphones cannot perform at its best. For this reason, the company says MVX2U provides +60 dB of clean gain, enough to power gain-hungry microphones, such as Shure’s SM7B. The MVX2U also ships with Phantom Power enabled for those using a condenser microphone.

“The MVX2U is the most convenient and powerful solution for users looking to convert their XLR microphones to USB at this price,” shares Sean Sullivan, associate director of global product management. “The integrated software is designed to be approachable to anyone – experienced professionals and those just starting their audio journey.”

The MVX2U Digital Audio Interface XLR to USB adapter is suitable for streamers, podcasters, content creators, musicians, and all those looking for a compact option to achieve a simple, professional, and fully customizable audio setup.

In the box, users will find the MVX2U Digital Audio Interface, a 1m USB-C to USB-C cable, and a printed quick-start guide to help begin using the MVX2U.

The new Shure MVX2U is now available on Shure.com.

Another version of this article originally appeared on our sister-site Commercial Integrator on August 15, 2023. It has since been updated for My TechDecisions’ audience

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According to the companies, the new partnership and integration announced during InfoComm 2023 is designed to take the complexity out of BYOD meeting room deployment, use and management.

Using the Airtame App, users can start a conference call on the Airtame Hub Once connected, the Airtame Hub hosts the call for all attendees in a conference room, providing a central processing unit where Stem Ecosystem devices can be integrated. This is designed to simplify audio and provide a consistent meeting experience, the companies say.

“Airtame is proud to provide a platform that is compatible with the highest quality technology available. Together, the Shure Stem Ecosystem and Airtame Hybrid Conferencing Solution provide a frictionless experience for collaboration in any setting to better support the future of work and communication,” said Jonas Gyalokay, Airtame Co-Founder, in a statement. “This strategic alliance provides end users with flexible, intuitive conferencing solutions that can adapt to shifting demands and hybrid work trends.”

Shure’s Stem Ecosystem devices provide a scalable audio solution for rooms of any size, and Stem Ecosystem devices require only a single USB connection with Airtame. This is designed to make it help IT managers avoid the time-consuming, difficult, and potentially expensive task of integration, according to Shure.

The Stem Ecosystem platform enables users to add each device to their local network and assign them within the room. With access to free software tools, the IT team can adjust device settings to the room’s unique audio environment and verify a successful installation, Shure says.

“As the need for hybrid meeting environments continues to evolve, IT managers are exploring scalable and flexible ways to create modern, BYOD conference rooms for end users,” said Julie Crawford, Manager of Global Integrated Systems Marketing at Shure, in a statement. “With our Airtame partnership, we’re thrilled to offer a convenient solution to these decision makers and end users collaborating in hybrid meeting spaces where impeccable audio and integration with their own devices are essential to success.”

The post Shure and Airtame Announce Integration to Simplify BYOD Conferencing appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Back in May, during a trip to Shure’s headquarters in the Chicagoland area, I had an opportunity to immerse myself in the Shure Stem Ecosystem. Shure acquired Stem Audio back in November 2020, bringing into its fold a company that was born in 2019 and that attracted very considerable attention during a short time. Here, we’ll share insights into Stem Audio’s creation, its mission to resolve conferencing pain points, its ongoing firmware updates and emerging capabilities, and its commitment to white-glove customer support. Moreover, we’ll explore how Shure Stem devices cater to both AV integrators and enterprise IT managers, making their lives easier and empowering them to devote their attention to other matters. Finally, we’ll share a use case that illustrates the Stem Ecosystem action.

Ryan Budvitis, direct-to-market reseller channel manager, Stem Ecosystem by Shure, is a Stem veteran who provides background on the company. Stem Audio emerged from a company called Phoenix Audio Technologies. Joseph Marash and, later, his son Jacob ran Phoenix Audio Technologies, which made conference speakerphones, standalone microphone arrays and other products. In ideating Stem Audio, Jacob Marash, CEO at the time, found himself asking several important questions. Budvitis paraphrases them as follows: “Where is the industry going? What do the actual people who are using these products want?”

Marash set out to find the answers, embarking on a huge end-user tour that encompassed finance, education and healthcare organizations, along with end users, IT managers and AV integrators, as well as consultants, architects and other industry stakeholders. Marash presented a long questionnaire whose purpose was to help determine market desires and identify pain points.

Six Pain Points

Marash and his team identified six principal pain points that needed addressing:

• Not least due to time constraints and cost considerations, project stakeholders wanted to find a way to get people on the same page more quickly with respect to room design and specification. One avenue for doing that, the team determined, was bringing the client into the process earlier.
• Respondents perceived wiring, powering and programming a room — in short, installation — to be overly difficult. End users also understood that, the greater the degree of complexity in installation and programming, the more challenging it would be for them.
• Project stakeholders desired an objective way to verify successful installation — that is, to test the room.
• Respondents also expressed their wish for an enhanced ability to match solutions to different rooms’ unique needs. Hypothesizing about solution customization, Budvitis says, “Hey, for this room, I only need a couple of table units. For this room, I may need ceilings, because I want nothing on the table.” Respondents also wanted mix-and-match flexibility.
• Project stakeholders surveyed also articulated concerns about being unable to guarantee day-to-day reliability on large installations. “Not having a simple way to manage all of the rooms is always a pain point,” Budvitis reflects.
• Finally, respondents gave voice to a strong desire for training — in a sense, ensuring everyone “plays nice” with new technology. “People who are running that room have to know what they’re doing,” Budvitis declares.

Armed with all those insights, Marash and his team created Stem Audio. “Those are the pain points that we saw,” Budvitis recalls, “and we aimed to solve [them] with both the hardware and the software for the Stem Ecosystem.”

The Stem Ecosystem Building-Block Approach

The Stem Audio team achieved something very close to that with the Stem Ecosystem. The company embraced a very intuitive approach — analogous to using building blocks — that enables substantial flexibility, regardless of room size or aesthetic considerations. “You can use these building blocks however you see fit,” Budvitis says with a smile.

We’ll explore each of the building blocks in turn:

• Stem Ceiling is a microphone array that is mountable on the ceiling of a conference room. Composed of 100 elements, it allows you to pre-select different beam widths.
• Stem Wall is a conferencing bar array that boasts 15 inbuilt microphones, as well as speakers and subwoofers. These attributes enable it to function as a standalone device.
• Stem Table is a conferencing speakerphone built for tabletops and flat surfaces. With nine inbuilt microphones, it offers spatial-awareness functionality for conference spaces. It, too, is usable as a standalone device.
• Stem Speaker has the capacity to deliver a high-quality sound experience in meeting rooms of any kind. Usually, it’s paired with the Stem Ceiling microphone array.
• Stem Hub Express serves as the brains of the operation when more than one Stem device occupies the same room. It is suitable for conferencing spaces with up to 10 units. “It aggregates everything,” Budvitis explains. “It turns it into one big, giant USB peripheral.”
• Finally, Stem Control is a dedicated touch controller that, via a single Ethernet connection, connects to your network. Stem Control is an optional add on for any Stem Ecosystem room. Alternatively, operators can manage their rooms on a browser, via apps, etc.

Built for Videoconferencing

Asked where the Stem Ecosystem works most naturally, Budvitis offers a ready answer. “Stem is always more for a standard, straightforward room where the only thing that’s happening in it is videoconferencing,” he says. Nevertheless, the Stem Ecosystem scales quite flexibly, accommodating huddle spaces, meeting rooms, larger training rooms and more. Industry observers frequently see the Stem Ecosystem on corporate campuses and enterprise environments, but Budvitis stresses that healthcare and, especially, higher education represent ripe opportunities.

Indeed, he notes that it’s common to see 200, 300 or 400 units deployed in multiple classrooms across a campus. “We’ve had our largest wins in education for sheer volume involving individual projects,” Budvitis says proudly. In fact, he references one community-college technology manager who, by using Stem Remote Management, now has visibility into up to 600 rooms on the single pane of glass of his iPad.

Remote Management offers the ideal segue into the Stem software toolset, which is equally robust:

• Stem RoomDesign helps assess which devices one needs in a meeting room. “You can not only see microphone pickup,” Budvitis explains, “you can [also] see speaker coverage. You can really get the full picture of what is in the room.”
• Stem RoomAdapt evaluates a room’s distinct acoustic signature and adjusts device settings to deliver a better-tailored audio solution. This calibration tool, for instance, measures the room’s reverberance signature and contextualizes device placement.
• Stem RoomCheck empowers integrators and end users alike to align their audio expectations for any specific area of the room. It does so by generating a heatmap of the actual microphone coverage. Thus, users can objectively know the room coverage.
• Finally, the aforementioned Stem Remote Management offers Ecosystem-wide visibility.

The Stem Ecosystem and its Ongoing Firmware Updates

Notable for integrators and IT managers alike, the Stem Ecosystem has aggressively released firmware updates lately, the most recent of which was 2.9. Among the benefits unlocked by those updates are no longer needing a DHCP router in your meeting room; the recent addition of speaker coverage to the Stem RoomDesign tool; and the ability to change the audio output on individual devices, thus enabling different, customized soundscapes in any room. According to Budvitis, the last of those benefits has particularly enhanced classroom settings, which prize delivering an equitable educational experience for all.

Of all the firmware updates, Budvitis reserves his greatest enthusiasm for the release of an API to enable control and monitoring of Stem audio endpoints via third-party control systems. “Now, you can bring in the control of the Stem solution throughout your organization within that single pane of glass,” he enthuses. Thus, the full Stem Ecosystem can now seamlessly merge into the overall management system for the larger campus. Although Budvitis won’t tip his hand about the next announcement, he expresses enthusiasm about Stem’s continuing innovation. “A lot of great updates have come,” he declares, “and we’re still going to be doing more.”

Integrators and IT Managers

Although the Stem Ecosystem has enjoyed success in the AV integrator channel — not least because of Shure’s firm channel grounding — the company’s offering almost appears built for IT managers. “An IT manager or IT director is going to understand Stem far better than an AV integrator will, as many AV solutions are ‘over spec’ for certain situations,” Budvitis says candidly. “Stem allows IT teams to install high-quality audio to locations that aren’t practical or budgeted for AV implementation.”

And, really, simplicity lies at the core of Stem Audio’s value proposition. Claire Barrett, associate global marketing manager, Stem Ecosystem by Shure, makes the point clearly. She states, “Your IT manager might have 30 tickets on their desk and 12 repairs to make. Lisa in accounting might need help with her headset or help with her setup. And someone else might need to get a room started. So, [we ask], ‘How can we help make their lives easier?’”

The imperative to make conferencing systems easier to manage is particularly acute because, according to Budvitis, IT managers and IT directors are increasingly finding that installation and management of in-room conferencing and communications systems falls within their technology estate. As Allison Dolegowski, Shure’s senior global media relations manager, puts it, “Now, [post-pandemic], IT is overloaded more than they’ve ever been before.” But, by leveraging the Stem Ecosystem, those IT managers enjoy greater confidence that they’ve selected devices that will be right for their rooms.

Stem’s Customer Happiness Team bolsters their confidence further. The team aims to provide a white-glove approach to customer care. “If you call that Customer Happiness number right now, you’ll get a human on the phone,” Budvitis promises. And access to the team is open ended, stretching as long as the relationship with Stem Audio lasts.

But CI can’t overlook the integrator channel, which Stem does, indeed, play in. Interestingly, Barrett notes that the Stem Ecosystem’s simplicity actually redounds to the benefit of integrators, as well — especially at a time of escalating labor rates and when firms are concerned about utilizing their talent wisely. “You don’t have to send your most experienced technician to install Stem,” she declares. “You can outfit way more rooms in a much shorter time span, and really take on more business that way.”

Indeed, integrators can even strategically deploy their most seasoned technicians for more challenging, highly complex projects, whereas less-experienced technicians can handle Stem Ecosystem installations.

The Stem Ecosystem in Action

To get a client’s-eye perspective, CI sought out Daniel Hassell, information technology systems engineer with R.E. Garrison Trucking, a refrigerated-trucking company whose fleet numbers approximately 800. The company was dealing with an issue common across industries and trades: subpar conferencing experiences. “We have a lot of meetings with customers,” he relates. “So, that’s where we had to start getting serious on our sound situation in our conference rooms.”

Hassell acknowledges that clients and others would call in and have problems hearing the meetings. “That’s never a good look,” he laments. Those challenges spurred Hassell and his team to act, searching for a solution that would work well but require minimal maintenance.

Drawing on R.E. Garrison’s existing relationship with Ring Central, the company sought a recommendation. The communications-solutions provider pointed to a particular sound system, saying, “We’ve never seen a room that it didn’t work in.” Unfortunately for Hassell and his team, these conference rooms presented the perfect storm that resulted in the originally recommended solution failing.

Only then did R.E. Garrison receive a recommendation to try the Stem Ecosystem, sourcing the products through videoconferencegear.com, a division of Cloud Connextions. After testing various setups and combinations, Hassell found that the optimal configuration entailed using two Stem Tables with the Stem Hub Express. This setup enabled coverage despite crosstalk during meetings and facilitated smaller breakout conversations within the larger group-collaboration space.

According to Hassell, Stem helped during initial setup, showing his team the ropes of how to get everything set up. Outside of that, though, he has found that he has needed little support. “It just works,” he states plainly. “It’s not difficult.” Thus, it’s unsurprising that Hassell and R.E. Garrison Trucking intend to stay loyal to the Stem Ecosystem for their conferencing needs. “Once you find someone who provides a good service, you just want to stay with them,” he concludes.

During my Shure brand immersion in the Chicagoland area in May, I got a glimpse of why both AV integrators and IT managers are giving the Stem Ecosystem such a close look. And if these indicators are predictive of the future, we might well see even greater market penetration across conferencing-centric verticals in the months and years ahead.

_______________________________________________________________________

Dan Ferrisi is Editor in Chief of audiovisual integration trade publication Commercial Integrator. 

The post Shure: Democratizing Conferencing Hardware With The Stem Ecosystem appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Shure’s Microflex Advance ceiling, wall and table-array microphones have been a popular choice for AV conferencing applications since 2016. The launch of the Microflex Advance MXA902 comes after Shure launched the MXA920 Ceiling Array Microphone in 2022. Now, the company is extending its Microflex Ecosystem portfolio with a new audio solution for meeting rooms. Importantly, it delivers microphone, loudspeaker and DSP technology in one device.

Microflex Advance MXA902: Complete Ceiling-Mounted Solution

In today’s work environment, IT managers and AV professionals seek reliable, easily configurable audio solutions out of the box. This enables them to efficiently transform any small to medium-sized room into an equitable meeting space. The MXA902 is a complete ceiling-mounted audio solution for AV conferencing. It’s well suited to deliver premium audio capture and reproduction, while requiring minimal setup. It offers an array microphone for enhanced directional voice capture and an integrated wide-dispersion loudspeaker for natural-sounding far-end speech. Thus, the company says, users experience a blend of excellent sound quality and streamlined deployment. Onboard IntelliMix DSP applies automatic mixing, echo cancellation, noise reduction and automatic gain control for an excellent audio mix.

Evan Groom, conferencing product manager at Shure, says most conference rooms and meeting spaces don’t address modern-day professionals’ needs. Thus, they opt to meet in spaces that best support hybrid collaboration with in-office technology that’s flexible and effective.

“We’ve recognized the depth of our customers’ needs with the MXA902,” Groom notes, adding that the solution delivers the best audio-capture and reproduction for all users in the room. “With the microphone, loudspeaker and DSP all in one device, the MXA902 helps improve the overall room design, creating a sleek and elegant meeting room without extension mics and extra wires.”

Shure Provides Seamless Collaboration

To provide a seamless collaboration experience, the MXA902 is certified for Microsoft Teams and Zoom Rooms when paired with the USB Audio Network Interface with Matrix Mixing (ANIUSB-MATRIX). Indeed, the MXA902 and ANIUSB-MATRIX have undergone testing in both lab and real-life environments.

The MXA902 is designed with Single Zone Automatic Coverage Technology, which covers a 20’x20’ space with minimal configuration needed. Thus, users can easily and automatically capture the talkers they wish to hear, while avoiding noise in other areas of the room. This feature is combined with a wide-dispersion, 2.5-inch, high-quality loudspeaker to deliver excellent sound capture and listening. Most importantly, it’s all from a single device. The MXA902 comes equipped with Shure’s onboard IntelliMix DSP. Moreover, it can leverage automatic gain control, acoustic echo cancellation, noise reduction and automatic mixing to help deliver clear, crisp sound for all in-room and remote meeting participants.

MXA902 Suits IT Managers, AV Professionals

Shure built the MXA902 for IT managers and AV professionals of all experience levels. Therefore, it suits anyone looking for an installation-friendly Microflex Ecosystem solution for small to medium collaboration spaces. The MXA902 is further compatible with MXA900 series accessory kits. This, of course, delivers a simplified mounting system that works with a variety of ceiling types. These include in-ceiling, on-ceiling, pole or wire rope. A sleek, white (and paintable) industrial design fits most architectural needs of today’s meeting rooms, so installers don’t have to worry about making additional cosmetic changes.

This article originally appeared on our sister site Commercial Integrator.

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The pandemic brought more urgency to the need for modernization, as it shifted how we think about what technologies are needed to support the way employees engage with their organizations.

One half of the equation is existing UC systems — employee hardware, audioconferencing technology, video capabilities, and collaboration software — that have slowly improved over the last two years as IT teams came to understand how to support employees and encourage collaboration. The other half is how enterprises prepare meeting spaces for the change in workflow that the post-pandemic landscape provides.

The way that employees collaborate has shifted, and the systems they need to ensure effective communications should conform to the new work environment. As enterprises move into the next “phase” of pandemic life, businesses will need to look at their IT and UC systems to determine what they need to modernize for a more successful and sustainable hybrid future.

Let’s explore considerations for enterprises looking to modernize aging systems, the challenges faced when trying to achieve this. and solutions to present a secure and modernized workplace.

Steps for IT Modernizing Aging UC Systems

Organizations seek technologies to solve for communication and collaboration challenges, but the first step should be to consider how the technology will fit within the workspace.

Consider what an office space today is used for and what technologies are needed to create a well-used space. For example, if you are setting up a meeting space for hundreds of employees to gather in-person, consider setting up screens around the room for visibility regardless of seating location. If you are setting up a meeting space for hybrid meetings, consider implementing technologies and designing room layouts that encourage equitable interaction among colleagues.

The methods to achieve equitable and reliable means of collaboration vary across industries depending on the required levels of in-person vs. remote work. It’s critical for IT teams to evaluate the needs of your organization and industry to determine the best path forward for modernization. A boardroom at a hospital may benefit from a more traditional roundtable in a conference room, whereas a higher education facility would likely prefer a U-shape table with a large screen at the front of the room.

Long before you even think of things like furniture, consider how you intend to meet, whom will be in person vs. remote, the content, the number of participants, and even lighting. The first step to modernization is determining “how” your organization works, and then you can dive into the technologies needed to achieve a successful workplace.

Addressing the Challenges of Modernization – Evaluating Space

Every enterprise requires its own version of flexible office space, but the challenges remain similar. The three main challenges when it comes to modernizing systems to create valuable spaces are the element of time, the use of budgets and determining the types of spaces needed.

• Time: Evaluating aging technologies and implementing new ones takes time. This is often time that organizations do not have as they must work quickly to create spaces that work well for employees with differing needs. When implementing new technologies, set realistic expectations from the start. Ensure teams are aware of the time needed to create usable spaces.
• Budgets: While overall budgets are increasing, IT spend is decreasing. While it can be tempting to compromise on technology to ensure the correct number of spaces, modernized technology is the key to effective meeting spaces and engaged employees. Without audio and video, a room is just a room that lacks collaboration tools. This can impact employee retention, recruitment, culture and engagement.
• Evaluating Space: The spaces that once enabled effective collaboration no longer hold the same value. The days of a two-person huddle room are over, as employees have figured out how to meet among themselves remotely. This means that it is more important than ever for organizations to consider what spaces they truly need to succeed (e.g., town halls, exclusively for remote meetings, executive roundtables, sales training seminars, etc.).

The Future of Functional Office Space

The future office space is one that can easily be reconfigured for various needs. With modernized systems, this is a room that can adapt at the push of a button — from one meeting to the next.

Enterprises must take the time to evaluate what technologies are standing in the way of future success and what technologies are needed to move the organization and its employees forward. To help reach these conclusions, ask these questions within the organization:

• What rooms need to get built?
• What is the most effective way for your team to collaborate?
• How many onsite team members do you have? How many remote?
• What is the content to be discussed in the meeting?

These are the questions that should be asked well ahead of any space planning or system design. How your enterprise works needs to be the lead consideration in all aspects of the spaces you are designing — room shape, acoustics, adjacency to other spaces, seating, displays, microphone and loudspeakers.

With these considerations in mind, the process of modernization comes down to the simple selection of secure technologies that meet the needs of the organization.

Another version of this article originally appeared on our sister-site Commercial Integrator on April 20, 2023. It has since been updated for My TechDecisions’ audience.

Troy Jensen is senior manager of global accounts at Shure.

The post Revolutionize the Future of Work by Modernizing Your Aging Systems appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The Audio Network Challenge

At the start of 2020, the pandemic forced educational leaders around the world to transition from in-person to remote learning, including the administration at NYU Shanghai. This presented many challenges for the University leaders and its almost 2,000 students, including improving the audio setup in 57 lecture hall-style classrooms. Each of the classrooms had existing loudspeakers to reinforce the sound for in-person attendees, but it lacked the proper audio equipment to capture sound and broadcast to remote learners. The University tasked a project team consisting of members of the IT and instructed them to create an audio system capable of delivering high quality performance.

Criteria for Choosing A New Audio Network System

The project team had several key criteria when choosing its new audio network system. First, it needed to ensure the upgrade fit within a required budget. Second, they wanted to select products from reputable vendors and brands who would provide the support it needed. Finally, reliability was critical as the system needed to last 5-7 years. When the team began researching equipment, it met with several representatives from different audio component hardware manufacturers and one brand consistently received endorsement in conversations as the choice for audio networking distribution —Dante.

Sunny Qi, senior IT helpdesk manager, was one member of the University’s project team tasked with evaluating Dante. Qi is responsible for communications services in the IT department, which includes classroom audio and technical IT support. When the team received proposals from different manufacturers, they were apprehensive about making a change given their comfort-level and experience with the existing, traditional point-to-point system. “Our team was not as familiar with Dante as we had experience mostly with analog connections,” says Qi. “When we determined our solutions required for hybrid teaching, it became clear Dante was the best choice for our campus.”

Selecting the Dante Platform

The Dante platform is a complete AV-over-IP solution that allows audio, video and control data to be transported over standard 1Gb Ethernet networks. Supported in more than 3,500 Dante-enabled products from more than 500 manufacturers, Dante replaces point-to-point analog and digital connections with software-based IP routing, allowing users to send AV channels anywhere on the network with perfect digital fidelity.

The University chose Dante-enabled equipment to improve the sound quality within the lecture rooms. Qi and her project team selected Dante-enabled Digital Signal Processors (DSP) from Extron for audio processing. The Extron DSPs also provide the ability to add high-quality effects including voice recognition, noise cancellation and surround sound capabilities.

The team also selected Dante-enabled Shure ULXD4D Dual Channel Digital Wireless Receivers with lapel microphones, and later added Dante-enabled ceiling microphone arrays from Shure and Sennheiser to provide better audio coverage and consistent sound during lectures.

Using Dante-enabled products, the team could connect different hardware brands with the latest products using standard Ethernet cables. This allowed them to directly integrate the products into their existing data network.

One other important factor for the team was selecting manufacturers with a solid track record of customer service. The presence of an Audinate customer service team based in China gave them added confidence in their choice. “The local Dante customer service team has been very responsive, and we are pleased with their support,” added Qi.

Dante Domain Manager

With numerous Dante products on the network, the university IT teams also use Dante Domain Manager, a server-based software solution that provides a centralized view of the entire deployment. The software allows the team to divide the system into groups to manage broadcast traffic more efficiently on the computer network and improve maintenance efficiency. Through a centralized view, the team receives alerts when issues arise in the system. Then, they can access the system from anywhere, determine the problem and solve it remotely.

“The Dante Domain Manager user interface is very straightforward, and has been simple for us to use,” says Qi. “With the ability to see all the devices at once on the network, it’s easier for us to monitor and manage our systems. Being able to access the network remotely also allows us to work more efficiently and keep our classrooms operating smoothly.”

Today, the NYU Shanghai project team is now both more familiar and comfortable with Dante serving as the backbone for their audio network. As new audio needs arise, the University will continue to look to Dante-enabled products to provide flexible, scalable networked audio and video.

The post Shanghai NYU Implements Dante Audio Network for Lecture Rooms appeared first on My TechDecisions.

With 2023 around the corner, IT budgets should reflect those necessary conference room upgrades and end user tools, unified communications expert say.

Numerous studies of end user habits suggest that a large majority want their organizations to retain some sort of flexible work model that allows them to choose where they want to work, forcing IT and facilities professionals to rethink the modern office and the technology deployed within.

The challenge of hybrid meetings

However, one such study from Crestron suggests that most organizations are behind when it comes to deploying technology necessary for effective hybrid meetings. The Rockleigh, N.J.-based control and automation systems manufacturer’s survey of more than 830 mid-level employees and 502 IT decision makers found that 41% say that half or fewer of their workspaces are equipped for full hybrid engagement.

Sam Kennedy, senior director of product marketing at Crestron, “full hybrid engagement” essentially boils down to the ability to clearly and effectively share audio, video and content with remote participants.

“The reality is that the adoption of collaboration technology–a microphone, speaker, camera and some level of content sharing–is not pervasive within most rooms within most organizations,” Kennedy says.

When organizations sent everyone home during the worst parts of the pandemic, no physical conference rooms were being used and users saw their coworkers in a box on their meeting interface. As users begin to go into the office, users everywhere need that same kind of experience.

Crestron’s research also found that meetings must always be anticipated to be hybrid, as 84% of employees expect at least one remote participant to join their virtual meetings.

Remote, hybrid or flexible work models are not the same across the board, and different teams within the same organization might even have different distributed work policies.

“You want to enable as many spaces as you can with the right technology,” Kenney says.

Meeting equity and why it is important

Also important to the equation is ease of use and ensuring employees have similar experiences at home and in the office, a concept that the collaboration industry calls meeting equity.

According to Troy Jensen, senior manager of global accounts at audio company Shure, end users over the last two-plus years became accustomed to the Brady Bunch layout where each participant was framed in a head-and-shoulders shot in their own box on a meeting interface.

However, the typical meeting room layout of a long rectangular table and a single camera at the front of the room can be a difficult transition from the head-and-shoulders view. That long camera shot can make it difficult for remote participants to see who is talking.

“Everyone needs to share the same amount of screen space so we can see who’s speaking and who’s trying to address and communicate a thought and idea,” Jensen says.

Kennedy offers a similar definition of meeting equity, saying equity is about getting all users on the same playing field. For example, if three people are in the office and three people are remote, the in-office participants can look at each other in the eye, talk to each other when they’re on mute and pick up on body language and physical cues.

“That brings down the equity of experience for everybody else on the call,” Kennedy says.

Essentially, this creates a scenario in which a remote meeting participant would see one window with three in-office employees and another two windows for each remote user.

Solving hybrid meeting issues

To solve some of these meeting equity issues, Jensen and Kennedy suggest building more flexible spaces into offices, designing purposeful collaboration spaces and leveraging AI-powered technologies.

“There’s a need to ensure that the office is a destination with amenities, comfort and ease of use,” Jenson says. “There will still be some of those standard conference room spaces, but I see a lot more need for [huddle rooms] and flexible training rooms because the room needs to be different on any given day depending on who’s coming into the office.”

While Microsoft, Zoom, Google and others are trying to solve meeting equity issues with their own built-in intelligent audio and video features, organizations can also leverage advancements in meeting hardware to help keep in-room participants seen and heard equally.

“It is a combination of the platform you plan to use and the technology you’re going to deploy to accomplish that,” Jensen says.

As an audio expert, Jensen says the audio component is important to not overlook, as meeting rooms are being reconfigured to accommodate hybrid workforce. IT professionals and their service providers should reevaluate the audio needs of their meeting spaces and ensure there is adequate coverage.

“When someone is hard to hear, you almost dismiss what they’re going to say,” Jensen says. “Without audio, [meeting spaces] are just fancy surveillance.”

For Kennedy and Crestron, the solution comes in the form of intelligent cameras and multiple monitors in larger meeting spaces. The company earlier this year introduced Sightline, a meeting room experience designed to promote natural conversation, meeting equity and enhanced collaboration for hybrid meetings.

Via multiple monitors and intelligent cameras, the technology displays a view of the entire room while framing individual speakers.

The vast majority of organizations won’t be confined to a single office building, so they’ll likely need to communicate and collaborate outside of their four walls. This is increasing the value of meetings and meeting spaces.

“If you’re not already looking at your strategy around hybrid work, it’s a great time to be doing so,” Kennedy says.

The post What UC&C Experts are Saying About Hybrid Meetings in 2023 appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Ensuring Reliable, Consistent Sound

The Zoom Rooms Hardware Certification is a key milestone for Shure in providing consistent, reliable sound for today’s hybrid work and learning environments. To achieve Zoom Rooms Hardware Certification, the products underwent rigorous and comprehensive tests in lab environments.

Shure thus reassures IT professionals and integrators that it will deliver the highest standards in collaboration performance. Meanwhile, end users can enjoy premium audio in an easy-to-use conferencing experience.

“We are pleased Shure has pursued Zoom Rooms Hardware Certification, which sends a signal to customers that the hardware meets the high-performance standards for Zoom Rooms,” says Eric Yu, head of hardware partnership, Zoom. “As many organizations look to enable remote collaboration for virtual participants, customers need scalable solutions to virtualize even the most complex hardware spaces.”

Also Read: Shure Announces its MV7 Microphone is now Zoom Certified

With the recent Zoom Hardware certification, Shure says it has expanded its scalability for complex spaces. The flexibility in Shure microphones and DSP for Zoom Rooms delivers a first-class system to any high-rise conference room or classroom on campus. The new flagship MXA920 also features Automatic Coverage Technology. Per the company, this offers precise control of audio capture with minimal setup. Thus, it reduces installation time and costs for integrators.

Bringing High-Quality Audio to Conferencing Rooms

Designed with Next Generation Array Architecture for enhanced directional audio pickup and more natural, clear speech, the MXA920 Ceiling Array Microphone is easy to use for videoconferencing. According to Shure, it is an ideal choice in array microphones for camera tracking, voice lift and sound reinforcement applications.

IntelliMix Room software DSP gives users more choice for audio processing power. It has scalable options mixed simply within the same software for small rooms to large and complex setups requiring multiple microphones. IntelliMix Room also reduces the amount of hardware in the meeting room, collaboration space, or classroom. At the same time, it provides users with clarity and echo-free audio.

Additionally, the denoising feature removes unwanted common noises, like tapping keyboards and mouse clicking. As a result, it helps ensure that users can always sound their very best.

“Achieving Zoom Rooms Hardware Certification on our new MXA920 Microphone with IntelliMix Room software DSP is a big win for Shure. [It] gives customers the certainty that they have a tested and consistent solution for their needs,” adds Richard Knott, senior manager of global systems alliances at Shure.

According to Knott, the innovative technology in both products helps bring the highest quality audio to Zoom Rooms users. It also streamlines the number of devices needed and simplifies the end-to-end setup process.

Shure states that partnering with and connecting to other technology leaders is fundamental for collaboration. It also helps ensure users can seamlessly connect with the top communication platforms. Thanks to this Zoom Hardware Certification, Shure says IT professionals and AV integrators can rely on a unified, user-friendly and easy-to-install audio solution. The company adds this cohesive end-to-end solution allows participants to avoid distractions from what really matters: effective, productive collaboration and learning.

This article originally appeared on MyTechDecisions’ sister-site CommercialIntegrator.com.

The post Shure Achieves Zoom Rooms Hardware Certification for Flagship Products appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The Zoom Hardware Certification Program helps customers identify hardware solutions that integrate seamlessly with the platform. The MV7 microphone underwent rigorous testing and is certified according to Zoom’s stringent ProMic category certification requirements, says Shure.

The plug-and-play setup makes the MV7 ideal for hybrid workers who are investing in an external microphone for the first time. It is also suitable for an up-and-coming creator looking for a microphone that grows with them throughout their career. The MV7 features Shure’s Voice Isolation Technology. This elevates the user’s voice and deliver studio-quality audio for clear communication. No matter the environment, the MV7 microphone brings vocals to the forefront and enables uninterrupted audio every time.

Improved Audio Quality in the Shure MV7 Microphone

“Typical laptop microphones aren’t able to deliver the same high-quality audio as an external microphone,” says Paul Crognale, associate director of musician and consumer audio at Shure. “The MV7 is equipped with Voice Isolation Technology to highlight your voice and prevent any unwanted background or room noise from interrupting your audio. The Zoom certification lets you know that the MV7 microphone works with the Zoom platform while providing a high-quality communications experience at your personal workspace.”

According to Shure, the MV7 is an essential tool for anyone looking to improve audio quality at home. Thus, podcasters and creators alike, trust it. The intuitive design is also incredibly user-friendly and simple to set up and control. This makes it a versatile option for joining important conference calls or recording a podcast. A hybrid USB and XLR output on the MV7 ensures a compatible connection with virtually any computer or professional interface.

“Audio quality plays a paramount role in any meeting, presentation, call or webinar ― especially when you are the presenter. To highlight this importance, Zoom added ProMics as a category to our Hardware Certification Program. We are pleased to include Shure’s MV7 microphone as the first device in this new category to earn this classification. Shure worked closely with our rigorous guidelines to reach certification,” adds Jeff Fox, Zoom’s strategic alliances marketing lead.

This article originally appeared on MyTechDecisions’ sister-site CommercialIntegrator.com.

The post Shure Announces its MV7 Microphone is now Zoom Certified appeared first on My TechDecisions.