Biamp unveiled Modena MAX Connect, which offers “the same experience that users have come to love in dedicated UCC rooms,” now within BYOM collaboration spaces. MAX Connect enables users to walk into any room, with any device, and join a meeting instantly using any video collaboration experience, including UC platforms or messaging apps. MAX Connect is the first and only seamless BYOM collaboration experience: from joining a meeting to sharing content, to adding remote participants, to controlling room AV, MAX Connect offers the same experience for all meeting participants and makes it easy for IT to manage and deploy.

MAX Connect receives content from phones, tablets and PCs via wireless or wired connections and pairs with a flat panel display, which offers a welcome screen with connection information for attendees, and any other audiovisual peripherals in the room such as microphones, cameras and loudspeakers. The user interface also includes a dashboard that displays meeting information, time, connection options, weather and other important content for attendees.

Here’s a video we shot of it at InfoComm 2023:

To get started with the BYOM setup, users enter the meeting space and join via the app or web browser. Once connected, the user can stream video calls from their own PCs right to the installed meeting room peripherals; share, view or annotate on any content from their device, including presentations, websites, spreadsheets, photos and videos; or draw, write and brainstorm on a shared whiteboard. In addition to viewing content from the room display, all participants can also see a copy of the shared content on their own personal device making it easy to zoom in or focus on something of interest.

The MAX Connect collaboration experience can be controlled through a handheld remote or the new Apprimo Touch 8 MAX tablet. The new Touch 8 MAX is based on the award-winning Apprimo Touch 8i tablet, customized for the MAX Connect BYOM experience. It is pre-programmed and works out of the box to control room volumes and camera functions, as well as the content and layout of the room display. It is PoE powered and includes PIR sensors that turn the screen on automatically and adjust the screen brightness based on the ambient light level of the room. The user interface is fully configurable with Project Designer software, and it is operated by an integrated controller capable of controlling up to 20 IP-based devices.

Feature highlights:

• Run calls from any UC platform or messaging app by wirelessly connecting to the in-room display, camera, microphone and loudspeakers.
• View and annotate on shared content or illustrate ideas on a shared whiteboard from a personal device, Touch 8 MAX tablet or touch-enabled room display.
• Connect via the MAX Connect app, web browser or wired HDMI connection.
• View content from up to six participants simultaneously.
• Replace the room camera with a feed from a personal device to reframe individuals, share a wall-mounted whiteboard or better display an object in the room.
• Directly control meeting room display peripherals through the included handheld remote or with the optional Biamp Apprimo Touch 8 MAX tablet.
• Monitor, deploy, and update the firmware of connected Parlé conferencing bars.
• Monitor and maintain the room Biamp with SageVue network-based enterprise management tool.

MAX Connect also features enterprise-class security to protect the organization from connected devices the IT team does not manage, ensuring that bring-your-own-device-led meetings won’t lead to security breaches.