Conference Rooms: Three Questions

Advanced meeting room spaces that support hybrid working have become popular in recent years (no prizes for guessing why) and are big asset to partially or wholly remote workforces.

However many organisations find the hardware choices bewildering – so before choosing a conferencing kit for your meeting room, here are three key questions you need to ask:

 

Where’s that call coming from?

If you’re a devotee of either Microsoft Teams or Zoom, it’s easy to believe the entire world uses the same meetings software.

Stop and consider this for a moment and it should be immediately obvious there’s a problem here. Not all of your customers or suppliers will have standardised on the same choice as you necessarily – and that’s not even to mention rival platforms, or indeed traditional phone calls.

More modern Microsoft Teams Rooms devices also provide native support for scheduled Zoom meetings &/or Cisco Webex, and HDMI override that’s compatible with alternatives like Google Meet. We already escaped the world of restrictive hardware a decade ago, so let’s not go back there. Instead, it’s sensible to plan for a conference room setup where people can both make and accept calls in a variety of platforms, to cover all bases.

 

Connected to what?

How will the end-user actually make the call? This is important to think about – there are really three options here:

  • From a fixed PC/Mac in the room
  • From a device the user brings into the room with them
  • From a dedicated conference suite that tracks its own scheduled meetings

Option 1 helps eliminate some common hardware problems like getting the right cabling/adaptors, but it’s likely to prove a bit restrictive the rest of the time. Option 2 gives users great flexibility over using the room, and can be paired with wireless hardware – as well as falling back on some other advantages of laptops, tablets or smartphones: like the user bringing their own calling platform and display, and familiarity with their own audio settings.

Option 3 goes a step further so that the room already understands what meeting is happening when, and often supports ‘single-touch’ join from a console or touchscreen. This is best for enterprise environments where the video/audio largely doesn’t change, and what you really need is for the conferencing software (Teams or Zoom) to control who is actually using the meeting room, and when.

 

But what’s the room like?

Don’t forget the practicalities – this isn’t just about the technology, but also the physical space.

How big is the room, and how is the seating arranged? Will a conference phone cut it, or do you need satellite microphones to make sure audio is captured? Where are the power sockets? This will determine how your plans overlap with the device choice. Monitors are often easier to use than projectors, particularly as more screen-sharing is taking place.

Camera angles are important if your room is large, although audio always takes priority – most of the time it’s more important that everybody can be heard clearly, rather than be seen.

 

Need IT support and communications expertise? Speak with our team today.


Ultra Ultrawide Monitor launched by Dell

Dell have released details of a new ultrawide monitor format: the super-sized Ultrasharp U49 – a curved mega-monitor that measures a desk dominating 49-inches, corner to corner.

Monitor sizes have escalated steadily over the years, with evidence that greater on-screen real estate improves worker productivity; as users can multitask and cross-reference information on screen more easily on a larger desktop space. Accordingly, all the major operating systems have also added support for easier double-app screen sharing, if multi-taskers know where to look.

At ultrawide sizes however, monitors include content outside the user’s peripheral vision (and desk-space) forcing manufacturers to look at a curved chassis design instead. In practice, a curved monitor screen makes significantly more sense than a curved television – since the viewing distance of the observer can be more accurately estimated.

Increasingly popular for financial services and the creative sector, curved ultrawide formats can sometimes feel a little silly: able to open a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet into the B(A-Z) columns without any user scrolling.

Dell U49

Don’t expect to see U49s very often – Dell will be selling the prestige ultrawide monitor in the US for (a bank-account punishing) $1,700 from the end of October.

The smarter development may be the less publicised: Dell also announced smaller Ultrasharp models with USB-C single cable input – allowing users to incorporate all the traditional device charging and compatibility features of a laptop dock neatly into the back of their screen.

This allows users to instantly connect a portable device (laptop, tablet or convertible) to their desktop monitor with only a single cable, and simply walk away from the desk with their device when needing to work elsewhere.

Take note: this kind of flexible working is coming sooner than you think.

 

For IT assistance and expertise, please contact Lineal today.


Fake hardware seized by Police

Fake hardware has been seized by a City of London Police intellectual property crimes unit, following a recent raid in Kent.

The counterfeit networking equipment, worth at least £300,000, is believed to have been manufactured by organised criminals imitating the high-quality hardware of IT giant Cisco.

Small form-factor pluggable transceivers were recovered, which are used to convert optical data to conventional electrical signals as part of fibre-optic networks. 

Police believe the risks of organised criminal gangs being caught transporting imitation IT hardware are lower than for drugs or firearms, and that only technically-trained specialists would be able to distinguish counterfeit technology from the real thing.

Although no evidence of cyber-security intrusions have so far been found, engineers from Cisco stressed that small items like these could easily find their way into a business or public-sector supply chain, become mixed up with genuine network hardware, or fail due to low-quality manufacture.

Customers who suspect they may have encountered counterfeit items should isolate the hardware in question from other devices and report their suspicions to IT staff.

 

Lineal are a Cisco Select Partner – for hardware advice and support, please contact our team today: 01271 375999


Apple iPhone 6S “3D Touch” Screen can measure ingredients

3D Touch

3D Touch technology shows potential

Apple’s iPhone 6S pressure sensitive 3D Touch screen can even be used to weigh small quantities of materials using a third-party application, users have discovered.

An iPhone 6S screen can be used to hold a measuring container, re-calibrated to zero with a tare function via a web app, and set to display the mass of ingredients placed in the container by measuring the downforce they exert on the 3D Touch screen.

An interesting proof of concept, expect to see this useful bit of technology spread beyond Apple’s iPhone – rumours have been circulating online that Samsung’s next flagship smartphone will also have a pressure sensitive screen.

For now the technology is not necessarily practical for actual cooking (unfortunately illegal uses might be entirely possible) because the maximum accurate weight is only 385 grams.

Expect to see more sensitive screens and wider measurement ranges in future iterations of the 3D Touch, and similar screens from rival smartphone makers as a new standard feature.

Now if only it could mix the ingredients too!

 

With over 25 years of experience – contact Lineal today for Apple IT Support: 01271 375999 or [email protected]


Why your next desktop computer will fit in your wallet

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ASUS have announced their latest new desktop computer, the tiny ASUS Vivo Stick: a PC little bigger than a pocket highlighter.

Smaller businesses take note: it’s easy to imagine commercial clients making good use of such practical technology. At under 14cm long, the tiny Vivo stick resembles a USB memory stick and can be easily moved between hot-desks by mobile employees, or into premises too small for even the smallest of small-form desktop PC towers.

The Vivo Stick will run Microsoft’s new Windows 10 operating system via an Intel Cherry Trail Atom Processor, and can be plugged directly into any screen with an HDMI port. In addition to a micro USB port for power, Wi-fi and Bluetooth are combined with 2 spare USB ports and an audio socket to give the Stick the basic connections needed for everyday external devices: a mouse, keyboard and speakers.

Don’t expect performance miracles at this stage. Marginally superior to Intel’s lacklustre ‘ComputeStick’ offering back in April – the Vivo Stick incorporates only 2GB of memory and 32GB eMMC flash storage, although both Asus and Intel must correctly suspect that many users will find this more than sufficient for ordinary work tasks – email, word processing and other admin.

The low price will also help ensure market interest. Retailing at around only $129 in the US (around £85) ASUS’ Vivo Stick will likely be a cost-effective and portable option for entry-level personal computing, new startups, small businesses, and even presents a competitively priced alternative for computer labs and classrooms in the education market – any sector needing to equip users without ‘fixed’ workstations for basic IT needs.

If your business has some unconventional IT challenges – Lineal can help. Why not get in touch with us by clicking here: http://www.lineal.co.uk/contact/

 


Skylake processors begin new era for Intel

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Intel have announced the release of their new Skylake processors – their sixth generation of processor chips using multiple cores to combine greater processing power with lower energy consumption.

The new chips will boast around a 60% performance increase for a standard PC, with overclocking capabilities and other features clearly aimed at capturing the higher end of the gaming market and similar. There are also more rudimentary improvements behind the scenes: for example supporting multiple 4k displays, and optimising for new connections expected on the next generation of laptops, including USB Type-C and Thunderbolt 3.

Skylake’s greatest asset however will be remarkably more efficient power-use. Intel believe superior energy efficiency (and less overheating) will allow more devices to operate without the need for internal fans, saving device weight, size, manufacturing costs, environmental costs, maintenance on moving parts, and prices for consumers. Their smaller models, Core m3, m5 and m7, will also help corner the market on more portable devices, saving weight and critical battery life in the tablets and smartphones of the future.

Intel must realise their market is changing and that it will be harder to keep selling new processors. Both Microsoft and Apple now offer constant upgrades to their Windows 10 and OS X Yosemite operating systems via free downloads – such that users are no longer forced to buy a new computer or package when they wish to upgrade. The IDC estimated last November that new tablet sales were also slower than the industry expected, as users hold on to older, well-built devices longer than expected rather than purchasing newer models. Hard drive capacities, in devices of all sizes, will only increase.

This all leaves Intel with a sales challenge – how to sell computer hardware to a world that doesn’t necessarily need or covet new devices as regularly? Skylake must provide new opportunities to manufacturers to push the boundaries of what can be achieved with a better chip to drive fresh sales across the industry.

Expect to see Skylake processors become available by the end of 2015, with the PC market picking up the range fully in the New Year.

If you’d like to take advantage of Lineal’s advice and expertise, you can contact us online easily by clicking here: http://www.Lineal.co.uk/contact/