Microsoft Surface Hub
I outlined the genesis of Surface Hub a while back. It's an interesting story, but is starting to read like a history lesson, so no need to dwell on it here. Suffice it to say Microsoft announced its interactive whiteboard in 2015, hit a number of snags, then started shipments in early 2016.
In the fall, Microsoft said it sold more than 600 devices to an unspecified number of businesses, and more recently it announced selling an unspecified number of devices to more than 2,000 enterprises, with individual orders ranging from one to 1,500 (!) units. A/V specialist Whitlock has sold about 800 of the devices so far. So there's some impressive growth figures around Surface Hub.
You can run any Universal Windows Platform apps on Surface Hub. About 20 apps -- including various medical, engineering, architecture, and educational ones -- have been optimized for it. A recent software update added Office 365 sign-on from the Surface Hub start screen, as well as various improvements to how Skype for Business works on it. Content can be shared and annotated across multiple Surface Hubs via Stormboard software, with multiple users now able to simultaneously write on the networked boards.
Microsoft also recently introduced a couple new purchasing options. One is a monthly subscription plan called "Surface Hub as a Service." This is offered by partners, rather than by Microsoft itself, and in most cases seems to be essentially an option to lease. Examples include:
Another purchasing option is a Try and Buy program that lets Arrow SI, AVI-SPL, CDW, and other partners essentially lend Surface Hubs to enterprises for a month before they commit to buying them.
