We at rAVe were as excited about day two of LAVNCH EMEA — UCC Collaborative Day — as any other LAVNCH event we’ve hosted thus far. It’s like Chris Mcintyre-Brown of Futuresource said Wednesday on ProAV Day and reiterated this morning: UC&C (unified communications and collaboration) technology is intertwined into every AV discussion today. How […]

Like many of you, we’ve decided to keep THE rAVe Agency’s physical offices closed at least through the end of the summer, but I think it’s unlikely that we will actually gather our team together, physically, fall. In fact, nearly every business will face the significant hurdle of dealing with people who are creeped out […]

Wow, what a way to kick off LAVNCH WEEK 2.0 — the weeklong event’s UCC Day included three fantastic education sessions and amazing partner content from AVer, Nureva and Bluescape. There wasn’t a minute we weren’t learning, growing or soaking in something new related to the unified communications & collaboration (UCC) vertical of AV technology. […]

Charmaine Torruella is the moderator for our upcoming panel on UCC (Unified Communications & Collaboration) Day of LAVNCH WEEK 2.0, a day of LAVNCH WEEK that we’re all really excited about, and not just because so many of us are working from home and constantly using Zoom/Teams/WebEx/BlueJeans/Google Meet (though video fatigue is now a thing) […]

By Adam Cox Futuresource Consulting Populations are adjusting to COVID-19, with social distancing orders having compelled people to find alternatives to face-to-face meetings. As a result, cloud video conferencing solutions have never been more popular. With hundreds of millions of people now working from home, vendors such as Cisco, Lifesize and Microsoft have responded to […]

I had the pleasure of providing live coverage for the first-ever LAVNCH WEEK, an all-digital event put on by THE rAVe Agency in partnership with Zoom last week. After five full days of education sessions, product launches and thought-leadership, I wanted to write a wrap-up story of my favorite moments, broken down by vertical: ProAV, […]

Crestron’s new Flex MX is a UCC appliance that offers both native and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) capability. Crestron Flex MX allows companies to run native Microsoft Teams (UC-MX150-T) or Zoom Rooms (UC-MX150-Z) software or switch to BYOD mode for all other conferencing software. For organizations standardized on Microsoft Teams or Zoom Rooms, Flex MX delivers those […]

The UCC Panel of our LAVNCH WEEK Wednesday covered some things that everyone has been thinking about but maybe not talking about. “What’s Next for UCC Integrators and Power Users?” It’s one hell of a title because it’s something that keeps us all up at night — we’re living in a weird world right now […]

By: Madelyn Welch and Leah McCann For today’s UCC Day “Tech Talk,” we were joined by industry veteran Dr. S. Ann Earon to compare unified communication collaborations options and discover where the battle lines are today. With more than 38 years in the industry, Dr. Earon has dubbed herself the “fairy godmother of the industry.”  […]

I was shaking in my boots (with excitement) to hear from Zoom for our LAVNCH WEEK UCC Day keynote. Zoom has been in the news a lot recently, but a lot of us think the platform has done a fantastic job of responding to criticism about its security measures, then directly addressing them with timeliness […]

**Note: CTS RUs are not available for webinar or educational session recordings. Do you design, sell or use UCC-based collaboration systems like Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams or BlueJeans? Do you prefer one ecosystem over the other, or are you tired of interoperability problems? Are you thankful for Zoom’s simplicity and frustrated by Microsoft’s inability to […]

Hypersign’s new Huddleup is a new UCC application for its all-in-one Hypersign+ system. It’s a single-tap wrapper that integrates with Zoom, Whereby (formerly appear.in) and Webex Teams. Features include: Interactive whiteboarding: Whiteboarding is built directly into the application, so you don’t need traditional whiteboards in the meeting area. Live TV: Huddleup brings live TV to […]

I’m starting a trend of releasing a corresponding blog with my webinars, and this will be the second of that series. On Wednesday, I hosted a webinar in conjunction with Almo Pro A/V and Dana Corey of Avocor, in which I took you on a tour of the UCC world! But, in case you weren’t […]

Bose Professional and Sennheiser have teamed up to provide an in-ceiling unified communications solution and announced a new UCC-based ceiling mic system called the ES1 Ceiling Audio Solution aimed at conference rooms. Consisting of three Bose products: the ControlSpace EX-440C conferencing signal processor, the EdgeMax EM180 in-ceiling loudspeaker, the PowerSpace P2600A amplifier and the Sennheiser TeamConnect […]

AVI-SPL will introduce its Symphony Adapter Marketplace at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2020 today. The marketplace will enable additional audiovisual (AV) and unified communication (UC) devices within an organization’s collaboration technology estate to be proactively monitored and controlled through Symphony. AVI-SPL’s Symphony Adapter Marketplace will expand accessibility to the catalog of Symphony certified devices, combining […]

UC Workspace’s new UCC product is called WEAV; more information is near the bottom of this product announcement but read this first to understand its positioning. UC Workspace jumped on the scene a few years ago with a universal UX for all collaboration boards. Called Quicklaunch, it’s the maiden product of UC Workspace that allows […]

Barco has launched something called Canvas, a VR-based system that allows companies to conceptualize projects. The Canvas is applicable in all markets where 3D images are coupled with business objectives, with a focus on AEC (architecture, engineering and construction). Many VR users want to enhance their 3D visualization capabilities and shake off the disadvantages of […]

Plantronics released today the Voyager 4200 and Voyager 5200 Office Series. These Bluetooth headset systems are an extension of the Voyager 4200 UC and Voyager 5200 UC Series. Both enable mobility and multiple connectivity options for office workers. The Voyager 4200 and Voyager 5200 Office Series will have a version available with a dedicated Microsoft […]

Atlona just started shipping a controller aimed at UCC spaces dubbed the AT-DISP-CTRL. Aimed at controlling small rooms using BYOD, the AT-DISP-CTRL sends a control command to power the display, switches inputs and enables volume control automatically when detecting an HDMI source. Also, it can be programmed to turn display power off after a specified […]

ClearOne today announced the release of its new CONVERGENCE AV Network Manager, an AV network management platform-to-monitor control, and audit ClearOne pro audio and video products and services. Remote real-time system access provides network administrators at-a-glance and dashboard views. Two levels of access are available — a secure administrator level for full access and a […]

On the heels of the Zoom and Microsoft partnership — detailing complete interoperability between Zoom and Microsoft Teams coming in early 2020 — Lifesize announced an interoperable and cloud-connected Lifesize Dash software-based meeting room kit. These enhancements include a new free licensing model that allows organizations to immediately save up to $1,000 per room per […]

The IMCCA Collaboration Week Silicon Valley event just wrapped up. On Oct. 28-30, UCC professionals and end users attended events at Intuit, Poly and AWS. David Danto, Poly’s director of strategy and research and the IMCCA’s director of emerging technology, was the event chair. He provided a UCC industry overview of the hot topics up […]

DTEN has launched a new business model for its collaboration products for both personal and room-based video conference solutions, which combines hardware, software and support into the new subscription-based service model. Called DTEN Orbit Service, it’s now available with new product lines DTEN ON and DTEN GO. There’s no down payment required and there are […]

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 […]

Bose Professional announced it is shipping the DesignMax family of loudspeakers. The speakers have begun shipping in Europe and will be available in the USA in November. DesignMax includes 10 loudspeakers and two subwoofers — there are ceiling- and surface-mounted options available in either black or white. Designers can tailor DesignMax to fit applications of […]

Atlona is shipping two new Atlona Omega switchers, including the AT-OME-MS42 4×2 matrix switcher with USB extension and the AT-OME-RX21 HDBaseT receiver and 4K/UHD scaler. Available on its own or bundled in the AT-OME-MS42-KIT with an AT-OME-EX-RX HDBaseT receiver, the OME-MS42 delivers exceptional performance and value for 4K/UHD presentation and video conferencing applications in small-to-medium […]

Crestron today announced a Crestron Mercury update for the tabletop meeting and UCC solution. Crestron says the new UI features a more modern-looking, cleaner design that provides users with a simpler experience, including more intuitive navigation. The redesigned UI will ship with all new Crestron Mercury units and is available for existing units via a […]

Elo announced the launch of the Elo 5553L 4K touch screen, a 55-inch interactive display and the latest addition to its 4K line. With a new design built for 24/7/365 use, the Elo 5553L is designed for interactive applications, including digital signage, self-service, corporate collaboration, whiteboarding and huddle rooms. Both the 65-inch display introduced in […]

Vaddio has confirmed that all RoboSHOT PTZ cameras equipped with RTSP streaming work with Echo360 to record video directly into the higher education video platform. With Vaddio Echo360 IP camera support, instructors can now use any Vaddio camera that supports RTSP streaming to record video in the Echo360 platform. Cameras connect to the Echo360 platform […]

Marshall Electronics has decided to set up a new UCC division of its MXL microphones team (known as the UCC MXL division) for the collaboration industry. According to Marketwatch, the UCC market size is expected to double by 2025, reaching $60 Billion. The new UCC MXL division of Marshall Electronics is in charge of developing […]

Nureva announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued three new patents for the Nureva Microphone Mist technology platform. Patents numbered 10,063,987 and 10,397,726 describe the ability to focus sound signals in a shared 3D space and patent 10,387,108 describes the use of sound source positional information to derive automatic gain control output […]

Panopto today announced a new release of its integration with Zoom Video Communications, Inc., available for the first time on the Zoom App Marketplace. The integration brings together Zoom’s video communications solutions with Panopto’s video content management system, providing organizations with a way to manage, search and securely share Zoom recordings. Many organizations have begun […]