Multi-Connection Meeting Space Solutions

Today’s workforce is more skilled than ever, bursting with ideas, and driven to succeed. However, collaboration in the modern workspace can be a challenge.

It is easy to look at meetings as a waste of time, especially since 47% of employees complain that meetings are the number one cause of wasted time at work. It is not just time that meetings waste, a single weekly meeting for mid-level managers can cost a business £10,700,000 a year.

These figures have been amplified further, with the introduction of working from home and the issues that accompany virtual and hybrid meetings. Meetings still remain an integral part of every business, at the core, they help share information and enable collaboration. Whilst they may get a bad reputation from technology that doesn’t work and rude attendees, difficult meetings are not the future.

Hybrid Meetings Made Easy

Meeting space technology has been widely adopted by businesses in the past couple of years, investing in UC&C strategies that allow employees to meet and collaborate from anywhere across the globe. This adoption has allowed businesses to increase their productivity, enabled working from home, as well as seamless and secure meetings.

A complete remote workforce has enabled even impromptu meetings to be called at the click of a button. However, as we slowly increase the number of hybrid meetings we attend, we will lose the ability to easily call-in additional members or drag work onto a screen-share. Meeting hosts will have to manage meeting room technology, multiple devices and webcams, different meeting room software’s, and much more.

Fundamentally, what will ease hybrid meetings is collaboration technology that facilitates meetings for both those in the meeting space, as well as those joining virtually. The technology in meeting rooms needs to be upgraded to facilitate the remain of easy meetings.

Multi Connection UC&C

As employees have been working from home, they have slowly adopted their personal technology into their work lives which may cause problems when employees return to the office. Meetings rooms that once only had to comply with the company laptops are now having to embrace multiple different devices, from multiple different brands.

Meetings will continue to be powered by whichever device the employee has gotten most comfortable using and meeting spaces will have to comply.

“USB-C input and integrated USB 2.0 hub in AV switchers support the latest BYOD trends and the wide adoption of software-based conferencing solutions.” - David Shamir, VP of Product Management, Atlona.

USB-C Connection Benefits

The connection industry has been revolutionised with USB-C technology, which has been crowned the ‘one-size-fits all’ saviour. Investing in USB-C technology future proofs your AV solutions, the technology first appeared in the form of USB-C monitors, but the benefits are now being widely adopted by many including Apple who have always chosen to opt for their own proprietary connectors which have greatly simplified interoperability with their products.

USB-C adapters have endless benefits of their predecessors including a smarter universal shape that

saves time plugging in devices and is an immediate benefit over the USB-A, B, mini and micro-USB connections. Other benefits include:

• A more powerful 100-watt, 20-volt connection.
• Transfer video, data, and power with one cord and faster transfer speeds.
• Connect and power USB-C devices without an adapter.
• Maintain a clutter-free meeting room, with one the need for one cable.
• Transmit 4K video delivery at a much higher quality.

HDMI Connection Benefits

Most people are familiar with HDMI leads as they are a common household item, transferring video and sound data from most consoles and media player boxes to home TV displays. They are also common in most meeting rooms with the main benefits being:

• The ability to transport a high bandwidth of data.
• Increased quality of picture with better contrast and colour saturation.
• Easy to use with a range of features transmitted via a single connector.

USB-A Connection Benefits

This is the most conventional connection found in meeting spaces and offices, most computer peripherals will use a USB-A connection on one end, to plug the device into the PC unit. Whilst this is an antiquated connection type, that does not mean that it is obsolete. Including a USB-A connection in meeting spaces ensures that all meetings are backwards compatible.

Multi Connection Meeting Space Devices

Traditionally, there were very few different types of meeting spaces, from meeting rooms and board rooms, there wasn’t much to choose from. However, over time as the benefits of collaboration have become more apparent, businesses have adopted a wider range of collaborative meeting spaces, from huddle rooms and personal VC booths to devisable meeting rooms and meeting rooms of varying sizes. All of these spaces require different AV equipment to help power their meetings.

“The OME-MH21 provides a compact yet comprehensive integration solution that is right-sized and attractively priced for smaller collaboration spaces,” said David Shamir, VP of Product Management, Atlona.

It is possible to take multi-connection meeting spaces one step further with a multi-connection switcher. These devices’ automatic input selection intelligently switches between inputs when sources are added or removed, minimizing the need for the user to manually plugin and unplug devices or use remotes to switch between feeds. Not only does this save time and make hosting meetings easier, but it is also significant as we enter into a more health-conscious workplace.

Atlona AT-OME-MH21

The Atlona AT-OME-MH21 is a compact, multi-connection switcher with HDMI and USB-C inputs. It is equipped with features for complete AV integration in huddle rooms and small meeting spaces, including automatic switching and display control, audio de-embedding, and a USB 3.0 hub for video conferencing peripherals or touch displays.

The OME-MH21 features interfacing for host PCs and USB peripherals, making it ideal for video

conferencing and UC platforms such as Zoom, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx, BlueJeans, and GoToMeeting.