Vidyo Disrupts Video Conferencing Room Market with Industry’s First Ultra HD Soft Room System

On Jun 5, 2014

In the same way professional-grade conference phones have become standard equipment in most office meeting rooms, Hackensack-based Vidyo is making the highest quality, affordable video conferencing and collaboration experiences on commodity hardware as ubiquitous as a dial tone. With the introduction of VidyoRoom SE (Soft Edition) and Ultra HD (4K) rendering capabilities for its VidyoRoom HD-230 and VidyoPanorama™ 600 solutions, Vidyo continues to lead the video conferencing industry’s transition to software-based video communications.

Continuing a Tradition of Vidyo “Firsts”

Vidyo drives innovation within the visual communications market by continually developing and patenting technology that spawns breakthrough applications in a variety of markets such as healthcare, financial services, retail, government and education. The addition of its new soft room and 4K software upgrade further build on Vidyo’s software-based portfolio that provides enterprise customers with market-shifting pricing and exceptional quality. The new products are the first and only in the market to:

• Enable rendering of content and video in Ultra HD
• Deliver 4K-ready infrastructure as a software-only upgrade
• Offer 4K rendering endpoints as a software-only upgrade
• Provide a fully-functional, software-only group solution with performance capability greater than immersive telepresence systems

“The market is moving quickly toward greater resolution experiences, including ‘retina’ consumer devices and 4K displays,” said Ofer Shapiro, co-founder and CEO of Vidyo, Inc. “Vidyo’s uniquely adaptive software-based architecture is able to take advantage of these device enhancements and deliver ever improving user experiences through software-only upgrades. And now with VidyoRoom SE, Vidyo has extended infrastructure advantages to the group solution endpoints, making it possible for an enterprise to outfit collaboration spaces with up to 4K solutions using off-the-shelf computing platforms and low cost USB-based peripherals. The result is incredible value for our customers who get better performance than multi-screen telepresence at a fraction of the cost and installation complexity.”

Introducing VidyoRoom SE

VidyoRoom SE is a software application that installs on customer-provided general purpose computers such as the Intel NUC. By enabling customers to source hardware locally and avoid costly import duties and fees, the VidyoRoom SE delivers a lower initial cost and a lower total cost of ownership for group video communications solutions globally. Key features include:

• User interface designed for easy remote control operation with the ability for remote participants to control the in-room camera (known as Far End Camera Control)
• Calendar integration for single click meeting connections
• Automatic rendering of shared content on a second screen, if present
• Ability to be installed as an application on an open compute platform that can run other applications and provide simplified access to content for sharing and collaboration

With the cost of Ultra HD resolution screens continually dropping, 4K capabilities are now within reach for any size company. However, true 4K rendering has not been available to the market until now. Unlike other so-called “4K solutions,” Vidyo’s 4K capability allows native Ultra HD rendering on the local display so there is no sacrifice in detail and quality, instead of upscaling to 4k from lower resolution like legacy devices and MCUs do. This is critical for customers that require remote participants to see fine details of shared content in a room environment such as viewing a detailed spreadsheet or project plan to engineering, research, healthcare, education, entertainment, fashion, advertising, and many other “fine collaboration” applications.

Key features include:

• Renders greater than HD content in native resolution for remarkable clarity and quality
• Ultra HD has the same number of pixels as 4 x 1080p displays, but without the bezels dividing multiple screens
• Simple, aesthetically pleasing, single screen deployment that offers flexible screen real estate for rendering of 4x1080p or 9x720p participant streams
• Vidyo is offering 4K as a free upgrade for VidyoRoom HD-230 and VidyoPanorama 600 systems that are on a current maintenance and support plan. 4K is also available as an option for new VidyoRoom SE customers.

“With the addition of VidyoRoom SE and 4K rendering to its product portfolio, Vidyo is leading the market by offering an unprecedented range of choices in price and functionality to meet the needs of individual in-room deployments. Software-enabled solutions for the conference room could significantly change the reach of video conferencing,” said Roopam Jain, Principal Analyst, Frost & Sullivan North America. “No other video communications provider offers such a wide selection of options – everything from dedicated appliances, to group-use licensed soft clients with essential in-room features and open access to sharable content on the same machine, to BYOD huddle spaces using VidyoDesktop™ on users’ laptops where traditional in-room features aren’t required.”

VidyoRoom SE and Vidyo 4K software upgrades and products will be available globally in July, 2014.

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