Featured Article from Conferencing

Yamaha's CS-700 Huge New Conferencing Move

By Steve Anderson
Contributing Writer

Thanks to conferencing, many of us have already discovered benefits like improved communication and collaboration internally, a better use of the remote workforce, and even cost savings due to a reduced need for business travel. As we pursue these benefits, a host of new tools has emerged to help give us a leg up on the rest of the market, and Yamaha (News - Alert) recently showed off one new tool at Infocomm Week: the Yamaha CS-700.

The Yamaha CS-700, according to reports, is designed to be a major new force in huddle room offerings, on par with the Harman Acendo Vibe and the Logitech (News - Alert) MeetUp systems. Huddle room systems are specifically geared toward the huddle room, a much smaller version of a standard conference room geared toward smaller groups of users. A huddle room has much different dynamics from a conference room, not to mention different acoustics, so significant differences are called for.

As for the system itself, it will work to meet these challenges by way of USB support for both audio and video devices for any necessary expansion efforts. There's a beam-forming microphone array which makes catching what's said all the easier, as well as four included speaker elements for high-quality sound.

Further, the system uses a camera that boasts a field of view measuring 120 degrees, as well as a session initiation protocol (SIP) interface so that call manager tools can be brought in. The system also provides support for remote management systems, and will even allow for dual-display screen sharing over an HDMI connection thanks to its included DisplayLink (News - Alert) interface.

Early word suggests that, when Yamaha showed this off at Infocomm Week, it enjoyed a steady stream of interested parties stopping in to have a look at it. Yamaha was running fully four separate demo spaces to show off the system, and each was routinely busy.

This is the kind of system that's sufficiently versatile to make conferencing a breeze. Companies need that level of connectivity in order to best put conferencing to use, and given how much value it has, tools like the Yamaha CS-700 should go quite some way toward providing that connectivity. With options to cover delivery of the best in audio and video, as well as screen sharing for the best approximation of right-in-the-same-room that can be had no matter the location, it's a safe bet there will be plenty of firms looking to the CS-700 to deliver on conferencing's promise.

Conferencing is a welcome part of the lineup at many firms, but it takes the right kind of tools to take the best advantage of it. Yamaha's new CS-700 may be just that kind of tool.