New Huddle Room Package Eases Real-Time Videoconferencing Collaboration

Altia Systems has introduced a new "huddle room solution" that aims to provide the technology to make communication between teachers and students in remote locations easier.

The PanaCast 2 Huddle Room Solution allows the smooth communication from a remote location that its developers say make collaboration more effective and productive — and, with a starting price under $1,500, more cost-effective. With a camera that creates a 180-degree wide and 54-degree tall field of view, it is designed to solve some of the problems with real-time video and web collaboration such as narrow field of view, low resolution and slow mechanical operation.

The PanCast 2 Huddle Room Solution has four plug-and-play components:

  • A PanaCast 2 video camera with 3,840 X 1,080 resolution;
  • An Intel NUC or Compute Stick PC;
  • USB speakerphone; and
  • A wireless keyboard that can be used with a video display.

Optional software available includes the PanaCast ePTZ app that will give remote participants the ability to use a touch screen or track pad to digitally pan, tilt and zoom, allowing them to, for instance, zoom in on a whiteboard or an individual speaker in the other room.

Already available, the >PanCast 2 Huddle Room Solution can also be used with third-party collaboration apps like Zoom, Intel Unite, Skype for Business, Cisco WebEx or Google Hangouts.

"PanaCast 2 enables the rapid deployment of low-cost huddle rooms to make video collaboration accessible to everyone, working with popular on-premises or cloud-based video conferencing services," said Frost & Sullivan Principal Analyst Robert Arnold.

About the Author

Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.

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