In this week’s news roundup, we take a look at wireless access point analytics, enterprise-grade Internet service, and conferencing solutions for the office and home office, as well as take a moment for reflection.
A Moment of Reflection
In the spirit of coming together, we as a team at No Jitter wanted to take a moment to reflect on the racial injustices that continue to impact the black and African American community. The No Jitter team firmly opposes racism and violence in all its forms and is committed to being a forum that embraces diversity and promotes racial equality for all.
Cisco Ups Office Visibility with WAP Analytics
As noted on our sister site, WorkSpace Connect, Cisco this week introduced application updates for its wireless access point (WAP) analytics tool, DNA Spaces, aimed at facilitating a return to the office.
The first new application, called Right Now, tracks new devices that enter a space and connect to Wi-Fi, and allows analysis of how workers move around a building or campus by recording movement from one WAP to the next. The second application, Impact Analysis, will provide insight into how employees are using spaces, not just how much they’re using them by enabling reports on metrics such as time spent in the office and building utilization, as shared in an announcement blog. The level of data collected is dependent on company need, allowing a range from anonymous statistical counts to identification of individuals.
DNA Space is available for use across Cisco’s Catalyst, Aironet, and Meraki WAPs, and is included in many licenses. For customers that don’t have a DNA Space license, Cisco is offering a 90-day free trial period.
Comcast Business Offers Dedicated Home Connection
Aiming to address the bandwidth tug of war taking place within homes turned into offices — Comcast Business this week announced availability of a new enterprise-grade service called Comcast Business at Home. This service allows organizations to provide employees working from their homes with a business-paid Internet connection independent of, and therefore not impacted by, home cable service.
There’s no threshold for data usage or limit on number of employees a business can support with the service, Comcast Business said. In addition, Business at Home allows users to route calls from their business numbers to any device.
Poly Adds Microsoft Teams Rooms Solutions
Last week, Poly unveiled a series of Poly Room solutions for Microsoft Teams Rooms, including the Poly G10-T, G40-T, and G80-T. Designed to fit the needs of small- to large-sized rooms, each kit will include the Poly GC8 controller, Lenovo ThinkSmart Edition Tiny, and wall mounts, Poly said. Additionally, the G40-T will come with the Poly Studio USB, and the G80-T will include the EagleEye Director II premium HD video camera and the Trio C60 desktop device, according to Poly.
These solutions will ship upon Microsoft Teams certification within the coming months.
Crestron Makes the Home the Office
Following last month’s release of the Flex MX, a tabletop conferencing device, Crestron is now also offering HomeTime, a video- and audioconferencing system aimed at work- and learn-at-home use cases. Designed in collaboration with Logitech and Zoom, HomeTime features native Zoom Rooms integration and includes Logitech’s MeetUp conferencing camera, which which also provides microphone and speaker functions.
The system's UC engine is compatible with the Crestron XiO Cloud service for network management and provisioning and system alerts, and a one-year subscription of Crestron XiO Cloud Premium is included with HomeTime, according to Crestron.
Dana Casielles, No Jitter associate editor, and Beth Schultz, No Jitter editor, contributed to this article.
