Starting today, Microsoft Teams is available for Linux users in public preview, enabling collaboration experiences for the open source community at work and in educational institutions. Users can download the native Linux packages in .deb and .rpm formats here. The Microsoft Teams client is the first Microsoft 365 app that is coming to Linux desktops, […]

By Chris Mcintyre-Brown Associate Director, Futuresource Consulting As video conferencing solutions proliferate, remote working continues to rise and the number of inter-company video conferences increases, a lack of system interoperability has become a major pain point for many users. Internally focused video conferences are less problematic, as everyone is familiar with their system of choice. However, once […]

Zoom and Microsoft have worked together to enhance conference room interoperability and simplify how you connect to third-party meetings. How? The companies are collaborating to provide interoperability between both conference room solutions and streamlined meeting experiences. Available in early 2020, Zoom Rooms will be able to join Microsoft Teams meetings, and Microsoft Teams Rooms will […]

Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) announced it’s shipping the world’s first Windows Collaboration Display (WCD) with Microsoft’s Skype for Business certification. The native 4K 70-inch is integrated with Microsoft Azure Digital Twins to monitor collaboration spaces. The Sharp Windows Collaboration Display is marketed as the world’s first large-format interactive display to achieve […]

I had this thought back at Zoomtopia 2018, but after Zoomtopia 2019, it’s clear: Zoom is the Apple of the AV industry. Zoom is what? All of the eyes in AV were looking at Zoom yesterday. If you don’t believe me, look at the social stats of tweets and LinkedIn posts about Zoom Video Communications, […]

Microsoft actually launched the Surface Hub 2 right after running out of the first version — on May 15, 2018 — yes, over a year ago. But, since then, crickets. What followed was a host of chatter from both WCD (Windows Collaboration Display) hardware manufacturers as well as from a plethora of the AV press […]

Presented by Joshua Peterson of Avocor at the 2019 Almo Professional AV E4 Experience On June 2018, Microsoft announced a new category of interactive displays that extended the PC desktop experience to room scale, while bringing IoT sensors into meeting room environments. These collaboration displays bring a unique mix of capabilities and benefits for multiple room designs […]

CTOUCH entered the UCC market with a collaboration system for Microsoft Teams called Leddura 2Meet Teams. Following up on their Leddura 2Meet Skype for Business back in 2017, CTOUCH aims to make the transition to Microsoft Teams collaboration easy. The integrated system allows you to draw, meet, share and book a room directly on a […]

Avocor today introduced the first Windows collaboration displays featuring touchscreen, Windows 10 and Microsoft 365. The first Windows collaboration displays by Avocor will ship in December of 2018. Avocor says they worked with Microsoft to create a single-cable solution that connects a Windows PC to the display. It allows for immediate control of the camera […]

Crestron today accepted the 2018 Microsoft Global Partner of the Year Award for Internet of Things (IoT) in a ceremony at the Microsoft Inspire event in Las Vegas. Microsoft recognized Crestron for providing solutions in IoT in the form of Crestron XiO Cloud built on the Microsoft Azure platform. Crestron XiO Cloud is designed for […]

Taking a page from the Samsung playbook, Microsoft’s new Surface Hub 2 is thinner, lighter and now being primarily promoted to be used like a digital flip-chart — in addition to being marketed as a “traditional” Collaboration Board for Huddle Spaces and meeting rooms. Microsoft says the Surface Hub 2 was designed from the ground up to be […]

As consumers evolve to expect personalized, exciting shopping experiences, brands and retailers are developing new ways to attract attention and create meaningful in-store interactions. A prime example of this shift is Advanced’s recent installation of new Microsoft kiosks at eight Best Buy locations throughout Canada, which highlight Microsoft’s most popular software and hardware products with motion-activated ads, tutorials and demos. According […]

Black Box today introduced the Emerald Unified KVM Platform. Emerald is a converged KVM solution for distributing  video, audio and peripheral signals throughout expanding hybrid environments that include both IP and proprietary direct-connect networks. Emerald supports DisplayPort 1.2 4K video at 60 Hz and 10-bit color depth over standard IP network switches and connections and offers virtual machine support […]

Crestron has expanded its solution portfolio with Microsoft to include Microsoft Teams integration to equip meeting spaces of every size with innovative Intelligent Communications technology. With the newly announced capabilities, Crestron SR and the Crestron Mercury conference system will not only be able to run Microsoft Teams in spaces of all sizes: from huddle rooms and multi-purpose rooms to executive meeting rooms and large auditoriums; organizations can […]

Update: I spoke to Robin van Meeuwen, president and CEO of Crestron EMEA, at ISE 2018, where he confirmed this story to be true. I think it’s possible that Crestron is, behind the scenes, forming an “alliance” of sorts of AV-over-IP companies that focus exclusively (for now) on the 1Gig method of sending AV signals over an IT […]

TrueConf has announced an integration with Microsoft’s Skype for Business through its latest offering, TrueConf Server v. 4.3.9. The integration adds interoperability for TrueConf and Skype for Business users, including audio, video and instant messaging functionality. TrueConf and Skype for Business users can easily participate in joint video calls and conferences, as well as invite legacy room endpoints. TrueConf […]

When we think conference room and collaboration technology, we too often think of audiovisual collaboration technology, and when we think about that we think of a small set of traditional AV manufacturers, largely unknown to those outside of the industry. We think of control system manufacturers such as Extron and Crestron, of Vaddio and its […]

A few months back, I wrote a column: Will Microsoft Be Able to Continue to Rip People Off With Their Surface HUB? Most of you agreed; some didn’t. And now, four months after writing that piece, I still think it’s way, way, way overpriced for what you get. But on the same week that Whitlock recently awarded Microsoft’s Surface Hub […]

With the deluge of new “Collaboration Boards” that will hit the market over the next six months (this was the most popular launch product at ISE this month), there’s no question that Microsoft will have to cut the price of their Surface Hub. They can’t keep ripping people off at $8,000 — $9,000 (55″) and $20,000 (84″) […]

Stormboard today released a major upgrade to enable the first and only real-time drawing capability between multiple Surface Hubs. Teams in the same room or remotely on their own devices can now draw together on the same shared whiteboard. Stormboard users could always collaborate in real-time but the sketching component was limited to one user […]

In the wake of the new Microsoft Surface Studio computer with built-in object recognition (a video you NEED to watch), Zytronic with Tangible Display have launched object recognition capability on its MPCT multi-touch glass (ZyBrid) and foil (ZyFilm ) sensor products up to 85″ in diagonal. When deployed in touch tables, object recognition provides a […]

To enhance the Prysm Visual Workplace, Prysm today announced an integration with Microsoft OneDrive for Business and Office 365. Using the OneDrive for Business API from Microsoft, Prysm has made it easy for customers to connect Prysm to their existing OneDrive for Business environments to make it a seamless experience for end users to access, […]

Oh the wonderful world of cross platform, mobile device, unified communications! Don’t get me wrong, video conferencing and content sharing are an AMAZING tool for businesses to communicate and collaborate remotely…when they work. The problem is, sometimes they don’t, or they work in a less than ideal fashion. Take my conference call this AM for […]

We all talk about collaboration in the industry, in fact numerous manufacturers as well as integrators have put grand focus to it and that’s all well and good – collaboration is certainly an important element of every day progress in the business world. It may involve certain industry solutions, it may just focus on communication and […]

In early January I wrote a blog A Direct Look at the AV Environment – The Focus Ahead which in one section talks about how the AV integrator is the heartbeat, the lifeblood of this industry and their models of advancement certainly serve as an example. AVI-SPL, based in Tampa, is that example of an […]

Yes my friends, after many (many) months of waiting, wanting as well as utter criticism from all corners of the industry (beginning with InfoComm 2014, comfy couches and charging stations) the Microsoft Surface Hub has shipped and it’s been reported by various media outlets. Let’s all finally rejoice. I recently received an e-mail from the […]

Kramer Electronics is introducing something called Kramer Network, an enterprise management platform for AV over IP solutions at ISE 2016. This new solution from Kramer enables the routing, management and control of standard AV and AV over IP systems and it’s being launched in the Kramer booth, F20 in Hall 1 at the ISE show […]

Demonstrations of the Microsoft Surface Hub can be seen on the AVI-SPL stand throughout ISE 2016. The Microsoft Surface Hub is a collaboration display, designed to help teams work together and make meetings more productive. The AVI-SPL team are illustrating the Hub’s ability to combine video conferencing, whiteboarding and annotation, even for remote participants. Visitors […]

Vidyo Secures Strategic Investment from Kaiser Permanente Ventures for Telehealth and Video Collaboration (12/14) Vidyo, Inc., a leader in high quality visual communications, announced a $10M strategic investment from Kaiser Permanente Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Kaiser Permanente, and $5M from existing investors, for a $15M follow-on round of funding.  Vidyo has raised […]

A High School Student, An Inexpensive Ebola Test and a $50,000 Grand Prize  A science fair took place where 20 finalists’ projects – originally selected from thousands of submissions from more than 100 countries – came from 11 countries: Bosnia, Canada, France, India, Lithuania, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This […]

Will new headsets and more powerful phones pave the way for brain-controlled smartphone apps? Imagine calling your friends through the power of thought? According to an IBM and Xerox paper (*) summarizing the state-of-the-art in Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI), applications may well be developed including brain-driven software for dialing numbers, as well as for messaging and calling […]

This Thursday night, when the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots take the field at Gillette Stadium to host the Pittsburgh Steelers, each player on the field will be equipped with a set of RFID sensors about the size of a quarter in his shoulder pads, each emitting unique radio frequencies. Gillette Stadium, as […]