Google Jamboard
Google may seem an unlikely entrant into the interactive whiteboard ring. But the company faces off against Microsoft in the office productivity apps space and against Cisco in the video and collaboration services market. Both have introduced interactive whiteboards to complement their offerings, so it shouldn't be surprising for Google to do the same.
Announced in late 2016 and scheduled to ship this month, Jamboard is the first physical endpoint Google designed specifically for G Suite. It looks like a ginormous tablet, running Android and making it easy for users to pull content from Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive into whiteboard sessions. Video conferencing is via Hangouts Meet. Google Cast lets it share content to and from other devices. And a companion app lets people view and annotate content on the board.
All the A/V components are fully integrated into the device so you hardly notice they're there at all. Instead of black, white, or zombie-skin grey, Jamboard seems to be bright red -- guaranteed to brighten up even the drabbest of conference rooms.
Hangouts Meet provides video conferencing with up to 30 participants. Using Jamboard lets only one of them be displayed at a time. But if you've got Chromebox for Meetings in your conference room, you can pair it with Jamboard and get more of a full-blown video conference going.
