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Altia Systems to Showcase PanCast 2 Improvements at Microsoft Ignite

By Michael Guta Contributing Writer

In today's collaborative workforce environment, companies and their employees use video to come together no matter where they are to tackle the project at hand. Video communication has now become as important as voice, and the hardware to make that possible is getting better and more affordable. The improvements Altia Systems has made to its critically acclaimed PanaCast 2 camera was just announced at Microsoft (News - Alert) Ignite with the addition of new computer vision algorithms that will be in the PanaCast video processor.

As 25,000 senior decision-makers and developers descend to Atlanta Georgia for this year's Microsoft Ignite, they will be looking for technologies that will improve the productivity and efficiency of their organizations.

The PanCast 2 was hailed by industry experts and users alike, which resulted in the camera receiving the CES 2016 Innovation Awards Honoree and the 2016 Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) New VC Product innovation Award. So any improvements Altia Systems made to the camera will be welcomed.

According to the company, the new improvements in the PanCast 2 camera will introduce new levels of functionality to the world's first Panoramic-4K plug-and-play USB video camera. The new computer vision algorithms and the camera's video processor will be able to automatically optimize panoramic-4K video with what the company calls, “Being There” experience to collaboration applications in the market.

So if you're using Skype (News - Alert), Skype For Business, Webex, Citrix GoToMeeting, Google Hangouts Vidyo, Zoom or others, the camera will use the video processor to synchronize, stitch and optimize the images it captures to create an immersive 180° wide by 54° tall video stream with 3840 x 1080 pixels per frame.

When video conferencing takes place in huddle room environments, getting a natural perspective can be difficult if the camera doesn't have features that have been specifically designed to address this issue. PanCast2 was already designed to solve this problem with its three miniature cameras and panoramic-4K technology. But the addition of the video processor now gives the camera a wider field of vision, higher resolution and a natural perspective that gives participants more presence when they engage and collaborate with teams from anywhere.

“With our latest computer vision algorithms, PanaCast 2 cameras dynamically auto align to the environment they are placed in within a few seconds of being turned on, to automatically deliver optimal Panoramic-4K video. The enhanced experience is seamlessly made available to popular collaboration services. The functionality simplifies huddle room design and has been delivered to customers already via a simple firmware upgrade,” said Yash Gupta, Director of Engineering for Camera Systems Development at Altia Systems.

Since it was launched in 2015, PanaCast 2 has been adopted by more than 450 companies and 50 universities in 28 countries around the world. As the company continues to add more features to its camera, it will continue to grow as an indispensable tool for video collaboration, higher education, live streaming, broadcasting and distance learning.

Edited by Alicia Young