Global Presence Alliance (GPA)
We were pleased to participate in several GPA events at ISE, including a pre-event cocktail party with the GPA channel partners and a pretty intense panel discussion focused on the reality of A/V in the global enterprise.
GPA's momentum continues to grow, as does its list of members and roster of global customers.
Harman
The folks from Harman/AMX made a number of product announcements at ISE. The AMX N2400, for example, is a network-based windowing processor that supports multiple 4K60 streams and 4x1 windowing, without sacrificing security.
But we spent most of our time talking about the company's Acendo collaboration family including the Acendo Core (a PC-based appliance that supports one-click Skype for Business meeting launch, wireless content sharing, room scheduling, and more) and the Acendo Vibe (a USB "conferencing sound bar" that includes speakers, mics, and a wide-angle camera). We have yet to fully test Acendo in our lab, but the demos we've seen at shows have been impressive.
Huddle Room Technologies (HRT)
Our friends from Italy announced the general availability of Huddle Hub One (HHO) and Huddle Hub One+ (HHO+) products. These products support device-to-device presentation for up to 30 users, and a multi-camera UC feed for up to 6 users and 1 webcam). HHO+ also supports a webcam and local room display.
An enterprise (server-based) version designed for centralized deployment and offering support for four simultaneous sessions is coming soon. For those familiar with HRT, the company's marketing message has shifted from "a Skype enhancement for remote collaboration," (although this mode is still supported if the meeting room host launches a video conference) to "person to person in-room collaboration/content sharing" -- a use case that is far more common.
InFocus
InFocus debuted a range of new laser projectors including the INL5350 Series for large venues and INL140 Series short-throw projectors. In addition, the company showed its new 55-inch version of Mondopad, which, like the rest of the Mondopad line, supports HD video conferencing, interactive whiteboarding, web browsing, data sharing, presentation, document annotation, wireless casting, and more. In addition, the company demoed its Jupiter StreamPoint line of streaming encoders enabling users to upgrade their infrastructure to stream, process, and record video while supporting PixelNet 2.0, Catalyst, and Canvas installations.
Finally, the company highlighted its newly extended relationship with ideation solution provider MultiTaction, which allows InFocus to sell MultiTaction hardware and software worldwide (via authorized channel partners). While not announced or even whispered, we would not be surprised to see MultiTaction's software and UI make its way over to InFocus touch displays at some point.
Lifesize
The eye candy in the Lifesize booth was the company's redesigned mobile app for collaborating on the go, but perhaps the most significant technical feature was the ability of Lifesize Cloud clients to provide direct media connections for point-to-point calls -- the result being improved video quality and lower Internet bandwidth loads. Lifesize also showed in its booth Polycom and Cisco video systems integrated with the Lifesize Cloud video service, as well as a new Outlook add-in for scheduling.
