I have spent the past few days setting up and then holding conference calls with both the MS Office RoundTable Video Camera\Phone device and the Logitech Web Cam I own. I have been very impressed with the ease in setting up the MS Office RoundTable device. It pretty much does what it says on the tin. This is providing the back end infrastructure is able to support it, especially the network.
One of the big selling points of the MS Office RoundTable is the 360 degree camera, which enables the camera to be placed in the centre of a meeting room table in the same way as a conference phone traditionally would. When somebody speaks (the loudest I hasten to add) the small screen will show that person speaking to other video attendees. It will do this for all video attendees regardless where they are located. This means that network bandwidth needs to be good for multiple attendees within a room and outside of that room. Too much movement in the room where the device is can cause the picture to disappear and then reappear which is a very off putting experience to the end user.
Being the first device that Microsoft have delivered with regards to Video Conferencing I do like it, to make it truly effective you need at least one more piece of equipement e.g. LCD Screen or a projector, so for me that removes the adhoc meeting purpose. From my perspective, I have colleagues who work up north and often get together, with this device I could “join” them in person without travelling a 500 mile round trip. By placing this device on the table I could at least see the people and there reactions which would make for a better meeting experience for myself. However I could do this with a room based video suite e.g. LifeSize for not much additional cost, but in this scenario I would still need the web conferencing tool, my laptop etc. I think to truly understand the value of this piece of equipement the team I work with need to use it in its real environment for a period of time. Once I have done this I will add my thoughts again.
One thing I haven’t mentioned is the audio on this device. This is something I think is exceptional, in comparison to a spider phone in the middle of the desk the audio quality and sound detection is of superior quality.
As a first attempt at Video Conferencing this device is very good, as with all advances in technologies and strategic partnerships this device will only improve with time.
One of the things I haven’t commented on is the design of this device. Yes it does remind me of something from “War of the Worlds” and to sum up the impression of somebody who does work in this industry when he walked in to the office his first words were “What the **** is that thing?” If you haven’t seem it yet go take a look at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/uc/images/image034.jpg
