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.

The company, largely known for its line of all-in-one videoconferencing bars, announced the Poly Studio X52, a new all-in-one device designed for the mid-sized meeting space.

According to the company, new Poly DirectorAI smart camera technology in the X52 offers automated camera framing modes like group, speaker, and people framing. The 4K, 20MP camera is designed to provide clear visibility of every participant, even those far away from the camera in the farthest corners of a conference room.

Updates to the AI-driven software for group and speaker framing capabilities include the new Poly DirectorAI Perimeter feature and other audio enhancements. The Poly Studio X52 is certified for Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom, with pending certification for native support for BlueJeans by Verizon, GoTo, and RingCentral.

The Poly Studio X52 is expected to be available late summer, starting at $4,300.

The company also announced an update to its Poly Video OS software, launching version 4.1 to enable IT administrators to leverage Poly DirectorAI Perimeter technology to input room dimensions and define parameters accurately and prevent capturing faces beyond glass walls or windows.

Poly Video OS 4.1 is expected to be available worldwide across the Poly Studio X Series of video bars and the Poly G7500 modular video conferencing systems in late summer.

Additionally, Sound Reflection Reduction minimizes echo and reverberations caused by glass and hard surfaces, the company says.

Other video announcements include the ability to connect the Poly Studio E70 smart camera to the Poly G7500 modular videoconferencing systems via a standard Ethernet cable for flexible room configurations and easier installation, according to Poly.

The company’s TC10 touch control panel now supports meeting control for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android, and it can also function as a room scheduling panel for Microsoft Teams, the company adds.

For large rooms, Poly announced a new bundle with the G7500 Modular Video Conferencing System and the Shure Microflex Large Room, which are jointly certified for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android. This gives customers a multi-vendor solution that integrates video, compute and DSP audio solutions.

In addition, the Poly Studio E70 and HP Mini Conferencing PC have been certified for Zoom for large meeting rooms, the company says.

For audio features, Poly announced the Poly Voyager Surround 80 UC headset, which it calls the first boomless headset cerified for Microsoft Teams Open Office. The headset features the company’s audio and adaptive noise cancelling features with a more comfortable headset design, according to Poly.

The Poly Voyager Surround 80 is expected to be available worldwide in August, starting at $449.95.

To manage these devices, Poly offers its Poly Lens tool for remote device management so IT professionals can monitor and troubleshoot Poly devices, and the company is adding to that by expanding its API integration partners with Ubiqisense and Vyopta to deliver insights for customers leveraging Poly Lens on the Poly Studio X30 and Studio X50 video bars.

“HP is committed to delivering solutions that eliminate the barriers inside and outside the room so you can look and sound your best,” says Andy Rhodes, Division President of Hybrid Systems at HP. “We are thrilled to offer the next generation of audio and video technology, enhanced with innovative AI capabilities so everyone can be seen and heard with total clarity.”

The post Poly’s InfoComm 2023 Highlighted By New X52 Videoconferencing Bar appeared first on My TechDecisions.

InfoComm arrives at an exciting time for Kramer, as the audiovisual experience provider maintains a strong vision. With the accelerated convergence of AV and IT, Kramer expects the transition from product to experience in the buying journey, and a value shift from hardware to software.

The company says it is not only capitalizing on market trends and customer needs, but also leading them. This includes the introduction of a new and enhanced version of the VIA platform, Kramer’s wireless collaboration and conferencing platform, and a new quicklaunch for Education solution. In addition, the company also debuted a new series of interoperable audiovisual signal management products and the new KDS-100, an open-standard 4K60 AVoIP streaming solution.

Kramer CONNECT also showcased an extended portfolio of premium USB-C products, as well as an inaugural range of Services like space design, installation, and technical certification.

To showcase the potential of its audiovisual products, Kramer’s InfoComm booth also featured interactive, life-size examples of a fully equipped hybrid classroom, meeting space and sports bar.

Kramer Partnerships 

Kramer also highlighted new partnerships with Sennheiser, Samsung and Yealink. Kramer’s alliance with Sennheiser has led to the creation of a hybrid teleconferencing solution, based on Sennheiser’s Team Connect Ceiling 2 microphone and Kramer’s AFM-DSP20-AEC audio matrix switcher.

Meanwhile, Samsung and Kramer have teamed up to enable Kramer’s quicklaunch collaboration software to seamlessly work with Samsung’s Flip and QMB display series, for immersive smart learning and collaboration experiences in any type of classroom or office meeting space.

Kramer and Yealink have partnered to improve efficiency in meeting spaces by integrating Kramer BRAINware, Kramer VIA Go, Kramer VIA Connect2 and Yealink MVC II room systems. This collaboration gives presenters full control of Microsoft Teams meetings, the sharing of content, and room elements such as lighting and shades, all via a single, easy-to-use touch panel.

Alongside these partnerships and new products, the company remains focused on ensuring its customers’ business continuity, investing in a robust supply chain that ensures Kramer products are consistently available across hubs worldwide. Kramer has also established regional offices and leaders across EMEA, APAC and the Americas, to enable it to get closer than ever to customers and their local requirements.

A version of this article originally appeared on our sister site Commercial Integrator. 

The post Kramer Unveils New Products, Partnerships & Services at InfoComm 2023 appeared first on My TechDecisions.

These requirements have given the all-in-one conferencing bar more importance in enterprise meeting rooms, which need bring functionality, ease of use and intelligent features that support hybrid meeting scenarios. These devices typically include a camera, microphone and speaker that offer intelligent framing, speaker tracking, noise suppression and a host of other AI features.

That is exactly where Biamp wants to play with the Parlé VBC 2500 Conferencing Video Bar, a new all-in-one camera, microphone and speaker bar designed to take the complexity out of setup, management and use.

The company says this device goes beyond others in its category by offering a premium AV experience for small and medium conference rooms. Based on our testing, we have no reason to say otherwise.

Setup

The Biamp Parlé VBC 2500 Conferencing Video Bar is bigger than some others in its category, but since it is designed for medium-to-large rooms, the form factor shouldn’t be an issue.

The device comes with three mounting options: table, wall and display, so it can be tucked away on a wall or simply installed on top of a conferencing display.

Along with a power cord, the bar can be plugged directly into a UC system with a single USB-C connection, but it can also be paired with a Devio SCR-10 for a bring-your-own device system, the company says. For our purposes, we plugged it directly into a laptop running Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

The device comes with the company’s Launch feature, which automatically analyzes the acoustic performance of the room and optimizes the audio. After one press of a button, the process only takes a few seconds to complete.

Read Next: 10 All-in-One Videoconferencing Bars For Huddle Spaces and Small Meeting Rooms

Audio

Just pressing the Launch button will give users a sense of the powerful audio capabilities of the Biamp Parlé VBC 2500. The bar’s speakers can handle anything thrown at it, from loud music to speech.

Two smart speakers use distortion compensation and dynamic bass enhancement technology to create room-filling audio with superior speech reproduction, the company claims.

Like others in its category, the bar uses AI and noise reduction algorithms to eliminate unwanted noise and focus solely on voices. In my office, my dogs’ nails on the wood floors and moving my chair around the room was not picked up at all. Only when I spoke did the bar pick up any audio.

The company says this is done with integrated Acoustic Echo Cancellation and AI Noise Reduction features, as well as a 27-element microphone array and Biamp Beamtracking technology to actively track and intelligently mix conversations from around the room.

Video

Speaking of AI-enabled features, the wide-angle 4K camera is specifically designed for conference room environments, using auto-framing technology to identify meeting participants and to adjust the focus and zoom to keep them in view.

The bar was simply placed at the far end of my desk, and it adjusted and framed me as I rolled around the room in my chair and walked around. Most of these all-in-one conferencing bars do this, but I found the Biamp Parlé VBC 2500 Conferencing Bar to be a bit quicker at reframing speakers and participants.

While nice to have in a home office, this feature is designed for conference rooms, helping to reframe participants as they enter or leave the room, or as they move around the room.

The camera also comes with an automatic privacy shutter, so organizations can be rest assured that video won’t be captured when the bar isn’t in use.

Bottom line

In an era when organizations are calling for all-in-one devices that are designed simple to deploy, easy to use and packed with features to support their hybrid meetings, the Biamp Parle VBC 2500 Conferencing Bar fits the bill. In fact, Biamp even goes a bit further than its competitors with the Launch feature and the powerful audio capabilities.

The post Review: Biamp Parlé VBC 2500 Conferencing Video Bar appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Announced at Cisco Live, the features – powered by large language models – come as Cisco is also bringing generative AI to its security tools to help augment security analysts and simplify policy management and threat response.

The news also comes as competitor platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams are announcing similar generative AI capabilities in their respective collaboration platforms also designed to help users become more efficient during and after meetings.

Cisco’s new Webex AI features, which will be available by the end of the year, include  “Catch Me Up”, which is designed to allow users to catch up on missed interactions such as meetings, calling, chats and more.

Meanwhile, intelligent meeting summaries will give users outlines of meetings with key points and action items. Users can opt in to automatically generate the most important parts of a Webex meeting, extract the key points and capture action items with owners.

Cisco’s vision is for intelligent meeting summaries to be a time-saver for attendees and employees with busy schedules who may be unable to make every important meeting. This also eliminates the need to listen to a recording or read through a transcript.

Similarly, Cisco Summaries in Vidcast, the company’s video messaging solution, that will produce highlights and chapters so viewers can navigate to the most important parts of the video quickly.

For contact center agents, Cisco is also bringing AI-powered conversation summaries to Webex Contact Center to give agents an automated way to consume long-form text from digital chats with customers as well as facilitating post-call wrap-up and resolution with customers, the company says.

Cisco gives the example of a customer call being escalated to a human agent where the customer expects the agent to be informed and not have to repeat what they’ve already told virtual agents and automated systems. Summaries give agents a clear summarization of issues and resolutions already explored via self-service and a summary of the call to both the agent and customer once it ends, the firm says.

In a statement, Jeetu Patel, the company’s executive vice president and general manager of security and collaboration, said generative AI will quickly become part of any business’ tools.

“At Cisco, we’ve been using AI for years,” Patel says. “Now we’re unveiling how we’re incorporating generative AI into our existing products, helping customers drive real value to unlock the most secure, unrivaled work experiences possible.”

The post Cisco Live: New AI-Powered Webex Meeting Summary Tools 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.

The post Shure Releases Microflex Advance MXA902 Ceiling-Mounted Solution appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The announcements come as Microsoft remains laser focused on integrating AI models from OpenAI across its product portfolio and new AI assistant Copilot. Microsoft bills Mesh as essentially a new way for organizations to collaborate that is designed to make virtual meetings more interactive and less dreadful.

To help cut down on meeting fatigue, Microsoft is launching the general availability of Avatars for Teams. In a blog, Microsoft says the new customizable avatars give users a “much-needed camera break” while still showing that they are actively engaged in the meeting.

Avatars for Teams is generally available on the desktop Teams client for PC and Mac and is rolling out to tenants now, Microsoft says.

Microsoft is also introducing immersive spaces for Microsoft Teams, which the company calls a new way for people to connect using the collaboration platform by adding an immersive experience to any Teams meeting. This is designed to give meetings a sense of “natural co-presence and togetherness” regardless of participant location.

“Engage with others in a space that mimics many elements of an in-person interaction – like the ability to walk over to someone you want to catch up with, or to be in a space with multiple concurrent conversations without talking over one another,” Microsoft in a Tech Community blog.

Immersive spaces features spatial audio so users experience sound as they would in an in-person setting, and it can be accessed through a PC or VR headset. It is currently available for Teams Technology Adoption Program (TAP) customers in private preview.

Customers and partners can learn more about Mesh or register interest in the Mesh private preview here.

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Like many others in the all-in-one conferencing bar category, Logitech says the Rally Bar Huddle is easy to set up, manage and integrate with Tap IP through CollabOS. The newest device for small rooms and huddle spaces joins the Rally Bar portfolio, which currenlty includes the Rally Bar Mini for small to medium rooms, the Rally Bar for medium to large rooms, and Rally Plus system for large to extra large rooms.

The Rally Bar Huddle comes as companies are heavily investing in conferencing technologies and outfitting meeting spaces with video and audio solutions designed to help support hybrid workers and turn office space into flexible conferencing spaces.

AI audio, video to support hybrid work

According to Logitech, the Rally Bar Huddle is designed for rooms of up to six meeting participants to ensure each is seen and heard clearly thanks to built-in AI video intelligence and 4K image quality. Six beamforming mics and AI-based noise suppression adds to the bar’s ability to keep participants focused on the meeting.

In addition, a redesigned ported-audio system makes Rally Bar Huddle two times louder than Logitech’s MeetUp solution, the company says.

Going even further, Logitech is adding ongoing software improvements to make Rally Bar Huddle even more intelligent, with updates that add advanced features.

Those advanced features include RightSight 2, Logitech’s AI tool that tracks the active speaker while also showing the entire room and also gives each participant equal representation by detecting faces and zooming in on each person to give them their own frame.

These features are integrated with similar tools from Zoom Rooms and Microsoft Teams designed to solve some of those meeting equity issues inherent in hybrid work, the company says.

Logitech says Rally Bar Huddle can be deployed three ways: with a dedicated Windows or ChromeOS computer, in BYOD mode, or in appliance mode to support video conferencing applications without an external computer.

Read Next: 10 All-in-One Videoconferencing Bars For Huddle Spaces and Small Meeting Rooms

Easy for IT to deploy, monitor, manage

Like others in its category, the Logitech Rally Bar Huddle supports the most popular videoconferencing platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet.

Again similar to other vendors in the all-in-one conferencing bar category, Logitech markets the Rally Bar as a simple solution that IT teams can deploy out of the box. IT can also monitor and manage the device with the company’s cloud-based Logitech Sync solution, which now includes Sync Insights to give IT teams data on how meeting spaces are being used.

Citing research firm Futuresource, Logitech says 68% of companies plan to invest in AV technology for small meeting rooms and huddle spaces.

In a statement, Scott Wharton, general manager of Logitech B2B, says huddle rooms are popping up faster than companies can deploy conferencing devices to support them.

“We designed Rally Bar Huddle from the ground up to have the optimal AI functionality for modern equitable meetings while coming in at a price point that is affordable for every single huddle room out there,” Wharton says.

When will Rally Bar Huddle be available?

According to Logitech, Rally Bar Huddle will be available globally in July 2023 through authorized sellers and logitech.com with a suggested retail price of $1699. RightSight 2 features will be available in Fall 2023.

The post Logitech Launches Rally Bar Huddle for Small Meeting Spaces appeared first on My TechDecisions.

• AirMedia Connect Adaptor, a one-touch, plug-and-play wireless presentation solution for wireless conferencing
• Crestron Desk Q and Crestron Desk Touch for desk scheduling;
• Crestron Flex Pods, a scalable tabletop wireless microphone and speaker platform;
• Crestron Videobar 70, an all-in-one collaboration bar for Microsoft Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms, and BYOD meeting spaces.

“We aim to be the ultimate partner for organizations seeking complete room solutions, company-wide workplace platforms or both,” states Brad Hintze, Crestron EVP global marketing. “Our goal is to provide a seamless and consistent experience across every room in the workplace, regardless of its size or function. We strive to be the driving force behind workplace technology solutions that make a tangible difference in how people work. The new products in the Crestron portfolio make this happen.”

Hybrid meetings have become essential for businesses to operate. Crestron provides enterprises with the tools to enable effective audio and video collaboration in every space, utilizing a broad product catalog and powerful management tools. In contrast, other solutions may require cobbling together multiple vendors to achieve the same level of reach and functionality across the enterprise.

Crestron Air Media Connect Adapter Bundled with Microsoft Teams

The AirMedia Connect Adaptor is a one-touch, plug-and-play wireless presentation solution for wireless conferencing. Crestron and Microsoft will launch an AirMedia collaboration bundle for Microsoft Teams software that will afford Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) and Microsoft Teams meetings in even more spaces. According to Crestron, the AirMedia Connect Adaptor is the only adaptor optimized by Microsoft for wireless collaboration, eliminating the need for an application to present and conference.

According to Craig Durr, a senior analyst at Wainhouse Research, “I am bullish to see Crestron as the first major vendor in the managed BYOD space. Working with Microsoft, they have released a BYOD solution with a very aggressive price point that can run the Microsoft application. The solution addresses a gap within the Microsoft ecosystem where BYOD is still a preferred solution for collaboration. For end users, the AirMedia Connect Adaptor easily connects to a laptop, and offers a user-friendly BYOD experience akin to a Microsoft Rooms-lite approach. For IT administrators, the solution is manageable. Everybody wins.”

Enabling Seamless BYOD Collaboration in Any Type of Room

BYOD is a leading request of organizations that want a simple way to bring meeting capabilities to smaller or non-traditional collaboration spaces where they may not want to deploy full third-party collaboration infrastructure. The AirMedia Connect Adaptor works with various platforms for added flexibility, but the Microsoft Teams software variation adds even more convenience for organizations that have chosen a standard meeting platform.

How does Crestron’s AirMedia Connect Adaptor Work?

Users will need to plug the AirMedia Connect Adaptor into the local device’s USB-C connector, use the quick-touch buttons, and present or conference with no need to install additional software or adjust user access. Users have the option to join virtual meetings using their preferred device.

The AirMedia Connect Adaptor allows for content transmission in up to 4K/30p, so users never have to worry that their image or video quality will suffer. All content transmitted utilizes encryption, so guests won’t have to worry about using new networks, and hosts won’t have to worry about unwanted intrusions.

A Gateway to Better Meetings

For Microsoft Teams users constantly moving to and from their office, the AirMedia Connect Adaptor will streamline BYOD workplace experience, says the company.

As with all Crestron devices, provisioning and managing AirMedia devices can be done remotely with zero-touch provisioning through the Crestron XiO Cloud Management System, which can also be used to deploy firmware updates, keeping the system updated without needing new installations or hardware replacements.

With Crestron, organizations have access to a suite of hybrid meeting solutions that can be easily and seamlessly integrated to meet their unique needs without relying on multiple vendors or products.

“At Microsoft, we understand the vital role of hybrid meetings in supporting effective collaboration in today’s workplace. It’s essential to have hardware solutions that are certified to integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Teams and meet the needs of small, medium, and large meeting spaces. We are pleased to see Crestron’s continued commitment to innovation in this area. Their dedication to empowering customers with comprehensive hybrid meeting solutions makes them an invaluable partner,” says Ilya Bukshteyn, vice president, Microsoft Teams Calling and Devices at Microsoft.

Download: Collaboration Today and Tomorrow: Spring 2023 Edition

Crestron Desk Q & Crestron Desk Touch

Crestron Desk Q and Crestron Desk Touch are new additions to the existing Crestron line of scheduling solutions. The Desk Q with QR-code-based reservations is ideal for community workstations, hot desks, and hoteling, while the touch interface of Desk Touch is ideal for semi-private offices, cubicles and even stand-up spaces, says the company.

Crestron Flex Pods

Crestron Flex Pods provide high-quality tabletop audio to meeting spaces, transforming a room to work as needed for each meeting, without being confined to fixed in-ceiling microphones or speakers.

The Crestron Flex Pods Hub is a wireless receiver that is connected to the room UC device and communicates wirelessly with multiple (up to four) Crestron Flex Pods that can be placed throughout the room.

Crestron Flex Pods can be deployed as part of a Crestron Flex or AirMedia Wireless Collaboration Kit or standalone to seamlessly integrate with existing Crestron Flex C-Kits, AirMedia Receivers, or other BYOD solutions.

Crestron Videobar 70

Crestron Videobar 70 is an all-in-one collaboration bar that pairs with Microsoft Teams, Zoom Rooms, and any BYOD service. It is best suited for medium to large rooms. The Videobar 70 includes built-in UC computing and intelligent features that capture participants vividly, says the company.

Four high-quality cameras work together to intelligently crop for the best image, ensuring the video captured is always a clear, well-framed view of the person speaking, even at 30 feet.

In addition, the company adds, that the Android OS makes it an easy plug-and-play deployment.

Product Availability

• The BYOD Crestron AirMedia and Microsoft Teams bundle will ship in Q4 2023.
• Desk Touch will ship in July.
• Desk Q will ship in Q4 2023.
• Crestron Flex Pods will ship in Q3 2023.
• Crestron Videobar 70 will ship in Q4 2023.

Crestron will be demonstrating these new solutions at InfoComm 2023 (June 14-16) in Orlando at booth #2501.

Another version of this article originally appeared on our sister-site Commercial Integrator on May 23, 2023. It has since been updated for My TechDecisions’ audience.

The post Crestron Expands Digital Workplace Portfolio With Four New Products appeared first on My TechDecisions.