Zoom North America now offers its new F1-SP Field Recorder + Shotgun Mic system, which comes with the F1 Field Recorder and the SGH-6 shotgun mic. The recorder and mic system mounts to DSLR cameras with a hot shoe. The Zoom F1 Field Recorder + Shotgun Mic bundles the F1 Field Recorder with the SGH-6 Shotgun Mic […]

As the rest of the advertiser-supported AV press just reprints the Polycom or Plantronics press releases, we’re going to call it how we see it — with the truth about this “acquisition.” Yes, Plantronics is taking control of Polycom — a history-making videoconferencing company that all but invented the space — for what amounts to $2.0 billion in enterprise […]

Considering adding video-enabled collaboration spaces to your enterprise for conference rooms, huddle rooms, or other areas? Check out this Wainhouse Research Report, authored by Wainhouse senior analyst and partner Ira M. Weinstein. This report focuses on Zoom Rooms, Zoom’s all-in-one conference room solution, and covers Zoom Rooms’ specifications, uses and off-the-shelf hardware compatibility. Weinstein also gives an in-depth evaluation based on […]

Today Zoom announced the development of two new programs that will expand the reach and impact of its software-based conference room solution, Zoom Rooms. The company will showcase the scope of its Technology Ecosystem Program and Certified Integrator Program, along with the breadth of its communication solutions, at Enterprise Connect this week. Zoom Rooms’ superior user experience and scalability have enabled thousands of organizations such as Uber, […]

Avocor announced at ISE that it’s joined Zoom Video Communications to add an option to Zoom Rooms via the Zoom Rooms for Touch program. As you likely know, Zoom Rooms features wireless content sharing, up to 4K video and audio conferencing with up to 500 interactive video participants while integrating with most calendaring systems. Zoom Rooms for Touch is a mode […]

Zoom Video Communications today announced a variety of new features and enhancements to its core Meetings platform and its Zoom Rooms software-based conference rooms. Altogether, these enhancements streamline administrator and user experiences and increase productivity as part of Zoom’s ongoing effort to create frictionless experiences for buying, deploying, using and managing enterprise video communications. Zoom also announced the general availability of […]

ZOOM just published, on their internal blog, a video-based shootout against WebEx. Rarely do you see public side-by-side comparisons where one company calls out their competitor, by name, as it’s considered, by many in marketing, to be a bad move. But, in this case, ZOOM doesn’t seem to care — and, of course, it’s probably well-known […]

Today at AWS re:Invent 2017, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced Alexa for Business. Alexa for Business lets you use Amazon Alexa to voice-enable your workplace by providing the tools you need to manage Amazon Alexa devices, skills, and users at scale, and an API to build custom, context-aware voice skills for your organization. Zoom has collaborated with AWS to enable […]

ZOOM Video Communications was the brainchild of WebEx founder Eric Yuan. He wanted to find a way to make people happy using videoconferencing — not frustrated. In six years, it’s gone from his idea to a company with headquarters is in San Jose, Calif. that’s projected to be valued at well over $1 Billion. And, Yuan […]

Zoom Room Scheduling Displays use an iPad that’s placed outside the room to show current availability, display upcoming meetings and allow people to reserve time for a Zoom meeting. The scheduling system integrates with Zoom Rooms and any calendar system. Basically it’s an iPad app that allows the iPad to be locked out to only be a room scheduling device. After you […]

Crestron announced today a new partnership with Zoom, a provider of enterprise video and web communications technology, to simplify the Zoom Room experience by offering an integrated solution for AV presentation, conferencing and collaboration with the Crestron Mercury conferencing system. A Zoom Room features a dedicated computer running the Zoom application. Instead of carrying a laptop or tablet running […]

Update: I spoke to ZOOM CEO Eric Yuan this morning. He told me that it’s correct that they do try to establish relationships directly with the clients. But, he says that ZOOM’s policy about this is very specifically defined: If an AV integrator has an existing client relationship, all they need to do is register that […]

Communicating is a part of life. Whether you are at the grocery store, a sporting event, or work, at some point in the day you communicate your likes, dislikes, needs, and wants. Effective communication is important, especially in the workplace. So why is it that we are still trying to figure out how to communicate […]

Are you Zoom-ing yet? If not, you will be soon. Zoom just announced 215 percent Y0Y (year-over-year) growth in usage and some major new features for their Zoom Rooms conference room system. So what does “215 percent YoY growth in usage” mean? Rough translation: Zoom is on track to hit 15 billion (that’s billion with […]

Zoom just unveiled the new F4, a six-input/eight-track field recorder for sound that includes four low-noise mic preamps, time code and a solid metal build. Like the Zoom F8, the F4 is equipped with mic preamps for recording and playback at resolutions up to 24-bit/192 kHz and it uses a Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator (TCXO) […]

Some say the future is now. I say the future is now, as well as in the innovations that continue to present themselves for the end user, as well as the industry integrator. In April 2013 I wrote one of my first rAVe blogs where I detailed the purchase of a new Windows laptop after […]

A couple of time I have written on the use of video conferencing in higher ed. At my institution it has grown exponentially. Last year we supported over 200 individual videoconferencing “events.” Many of these were job interviews, done in blocks. So, while I don’t have an exact number, it is likely that we had […]

A new series – I’ll be looking at news and developments in both AV and IT within the industry during the week. Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Acano (11/20) Today, Cisco announced its intent to acquire Acano Limited, a privately held company based in London that provides collaboration infrastructure and conferencing software. Acano’s hardware and […]

The Ultimate Drone? Qualcomm Technologies, the $26 billion (2014 sales) wireless chip company is looking for a new market to consume Snapdragon 800 series SoCs (system on a chip), in large part due to the persistent market strength of the iPhone which only makes use of some of Qualcomm’s technology (even though there is usage of the chip in the […]

So you’re telling me hardware is dead… Every time a new software video conferencing product hits the market, I hear the cries that hardware is dead in our industry. Cloud (Internet) services are all the rage, but the continual cry of hardware being dead from software vendors is stale and has run its course. Maybe […]

Zoom hopes to transformation of room-based conferencing with the launch of ZoomPresence. ZoomPresence is the Zoom application that runs on a Mac Mini with touchscreen functionality, and claims to offer five things: Easy set up — Zoom can be set up within minutes by connecting your HD camera, touchscreen and monitor(s) to a Mac mini; […]

OK, I’ll admit it, I’m a social media junkie. Without social media, I’m not sure I’d have even been doing such a series in the first place — I’ve gotten a very good idea of what the companies involved in this bring to the table either through certain individuals or collectively. And this company is […]