StarLeaf
The headline at the StarLeaf booth was the StarLeaf app, which was first shown at last year's Enterprise Connect, formally announced at last year's InfoComm, and officially available in late September 2017. It may not be new, but the company is quite proud of its new UI and the associated ease of use/workflow. For those who have become accustomed to the ease-of-use of browser-based conferencing and collaboration, the use of a client app often provides improved ease-of-use and functionality. StarLeaf is no exception.
On the business side, StarLeaf has been successfully growing its business by demonstrating how the company's cloud infrastructure and service works seamlessly with third-party endpoints as well as their own. Skype for Business is the other big story here; at the event, we also participated in a refresher tour of the StarLeaf Skype for Business endpoint and the company's management portal for these endpoints.
Videxio
Several interesting bits of news came from this booth. The first was the launch of Videxio's Skype for Business gateway that enables Videxio users and systems (SIP) to directly dial call Skype users or systems, while offering all participants a native calling experience. In addition, Meeting Room Mode within the My Meeting Video app allows users to join scheduled meetings at the push of a button. This calendar integration supports one-tap joining into video meetings hosted on Videxio, Zoom, Skype for Business, BlueJeans, Cisco WebEx, Cisco Spark, Pexip, and more. We also saw a preview of soon-to-ship software that harmonizes the user experience across mobile, desktop, and web.
Urben
While running between halls, we stumbled across the urben booth. Founded by a team of ex-integrators and engineers, urben offers stand-alone, free-standing floor-mounted frames and turnkey media walls that eliminate the need for custom millwork or wall-mounted racks/brackets. Urben systems, as shown on the right, are technology agnostic and are designed for quick system installation and easy maintenance.
To buy an urben, you specify the type (frame or media wall), the number and size of displays (e.g. dual 75" displays), and the color. The picture to the right shows a single display urben frame with a recessed Cisco Spark Room kit.
Yamaha (Revolabs)
The company announced the first customer-ship of its CS-700 huddle room solution in January. For those of you who haven't see this product, the CS-700 is an all-in-one USB audio/video solution including an integrated microphone, speaker, and camera designed for small-to-medium spaces (see our evaluation results). The CS-700 A/V's camera has a 120-degree wide angle lens, features integrated SIP capabilities, and supports centralized device management over IP. On a corporate front, it's worth noting that the company's booth clearly stated that Revolabs is now (and perhaps finally) Yamaha, or more specifically a part of the Yamaha Unified Communications department.
Learn more about Video Collaboration & A/V at Enterprise Connect 2018, March 12 to 15, in Orlando, Fla. Register now using the code NOJITTER to save an additional $200 off the Regular Rate or get a free Expo Plus pass.
