Cisco TelePresence MX Series in a Nutshell – Part 2

In other words, meeting members on screen no longer need to go into PIP mode every time content is shared if you don’t need them too. We sometimes find it infuriating when a slide is pulled up and we need to see the reactions on members faces, but they have suddenly become too small to view! Part of the collaborative advantages of using Cisco Telepresence is to feel like you are sitting in the same room. Happily, the Cisco Telepresence MX series was developed with this important factor in mind. They also have the ‘intelligent proximity’ feature allowing members to see content on their personal devices, including tablets and smartphones, instead of just on the video display screen. Not only does this free up limited screen space so you can view each other, it also lets members go through content at their own pace without disturbing the presentation.

For medium-to-large conference rooms, the Cisco Telepresence MX700 and MX800 are custom-made to specifications like camera height, screen display size and screen resolution, and the audio speaker system. Another great feature of these solutions has to be the studio-like camera work: that is, the dual camera speaker tracking solution. This allows a large and complicated discussion to seem like it’s being done in a professional studio, with multiple cameras tracking each speaker and showing you precisely what you need to view. We think the greatest feature is the speaker tracking capability. It’s going to enhance the user experience, particularly in huge rooms. It is going to revolutionize the ways in which we interact with people.

Cisco’s patented solution enables members to concentrate on their meeting, while the cameras automatically track the speakers wherever they are sitting in the room. The cameras can shadow the speaker, focus on the speaker’s face, and then present the new speaker centered on screen. They also have presets which are fully customizable, so one will capture the room while the other can capture a presenter standing at a whiteboard. With up to eight tabletop microphones connected, everybody can be heard loud and clear, and that is of critical importance during conference calls. The Cisco Telepresence MX Series also comes with the capability to bridge diverse locations without the need for any back end equipment. So you don’t require an elaborate video service in the network to host a four-way conference on the Cisco Telepresence MX200/MX300 and a five-way conference on the Cisco Telepresence MX700/MX800.

The Cisco Telepresence MX Series are also more lighter in weight, have brighter displays, and can fit into modern spaces with their elegant and sophisticated cutting edge design. When paired with the Touch 10 user interface, simplicity of use and an awesome design, the Cisco Telepresence MX Series feels intuitive in use and makes Cisco Telepresence that much better.

For more detailed specs on the MX300 G2 and MX200 G2, take a look here.

For more on the MX700 and MX800, check out this link.

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Cisco TelePresence SX Series – Part 1

The majority of these Cisco TelePresence units are in specifically-developed rooms and built right into the rooms, which means they are pretty expensive; and after 1600 units, Cisco divisions are purchasing fewer. But this is not halting the demand as staff video demand is continuing to go up. Video is rapidly transforming into the new audio at Cisco. Even as Cisco needs more TelePresence, end users couldn’t really meet the expense of more – until now.

The Cisco Telepresence SX and C Series and MX Series have now been launched, and after testing and appraisal, Cisco IT is beginning to install them in sites around the world. Most enterprises will already have a plethora of standalone video display screens installed in their buildings – the mmjaority of which are in conference rooms, for sharing presentations during conferences and meetings. The new Cisco SX series and C series hardware is a low-cost method of transforming these display screens into complete, low cost, HD Cisco TelePresence. These endpoints function with preexisting video display screens to provide you with a great video TelePresence experience.

The Cisco TelePresence SX Series in a Nutshell

The SX and C Series of TelePresence endpoints can transform any meeting room having a good video screen into a conference room simply by the addition of just 2 or 3 pieces of plug-and-play hardware. This is not only an awesome engineering feat; it also makes a lot of business sense for many Cisco divisions. The Cisco TelePresence SX Series ranges from the Cisco TelePresence SX10, for teleworkers to the Cisco TelePresence SX20, for medium-sized conference rooms, to the Cisco TelePresence SX80, for bigger meeting rooms. The Cisco TelePresence SX10 is portable, so Cisco and Cisco partner sales teams can transport the endpoint in bags when they are required to visit customers; in fact, anybody is able to host conferences and meetings anywhere by carrying their Cisco TelePresence SX10 or SX20 from one office to another. Enterprises are also installing the larger Cisco TelePresence SX80 in bigger meeting rooms, where they are able to connect numerous presentation display screens, numerous microphones, and numerous PC inputs.

The Cisco TelePresence SX20’s are not as portable (although, they will do for some end user requirements); they have quick-fit units designed for different-sized meeting rooms. The camera with this unit is flexible and having 4X optical zoom abilities and we have been able to interconnect the camera to nearly any surface, like wall-mounts, a stand or even on television display monitors.

When making use of the Speaker Track 60, you will find that it brings an added advantage that you will not have seen before: no more people will be audible if they are off-screen. One end user gushes: “As a participant of the Advanced Cisco Experience group, we get to test all our technology and we have to say, the Speaker Track 60 is really one of the finest solutions.

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Cisco TelePresence SX Series – Part 2

The Speaker Track 60 is armed with 2 cameras and these are able to track whoever is speaking, they can focus on that speaker for a clearer image, and then switch automatically to that speaker. When a different speaker chimes in, the 2nd camera is able to track them so that when the 1st speaker has finished, the camera then displays the 2nd speaker. The outcome is a lot like having an expert camera team (one having 2 unconnected and moving studio cameras) following all the speakers and continuously moving to the active speaker at the correct time, which provides you with a really professional studio feeling.

Having a ton of features, like tabletop microphones, remote control for a camera with pan/tilt/zoom features, and Cisco’s TelePresence Touch, the SX Series employs your preexisting video display screens for a very cost efficient substitute to some of your current Cisco TelePresence units, and these hardware devices are a component of your single video architecture. They employ SIP protocols and are compatible with all of your systems, including Jabber and IP phones, WebEx, and mainly all your other Cisco TelePresence units. It does necessitate CUCM 8.6 or higher; you can just move all your clusters to 10.0, so that will be no issue.

Important Benefits

  • Easy, plug-and-play video for all your meetings
  • The SX10 camera orientates itself irrespective of how it’s setup on a display monitor so that the receiver of your call can always see you right-side up.
  • Staff members can take the SX10 home with them and connect it to their HDTVs for completely faultless, 1080p video calls (as long as they have access to good Internet bandwidth).
  • The dual-camera Speaker Track 60 that adjusts the active camera to continuously transmit the active speaker in the conference room.
  • Power over Ethernet (PoE) to minimize cables and ensure energy efficiency.
  • HDMI ports are available to plug in output devices, like laptops for presentations on-the-go.
  • Red Dot Award for the best endpoint with an industrial design, attractiveness, and attention award for ground-breaking products.

When Cisco is done, they will have taken advantage of in excess of 200 video display monitors in Cisco conference rooms positioned all around the world, and the addition of 200 more Cisco TelePresence units.  (It is early days yet for Cisco Telepresence expansion, so Cisco is not sure how many they will end up with). This should help to put a dent in the increasing customer demand for more virtual global conferences and meetings, more TelePresence to bring together Cisco employees with each other and with customers. But Cisco is aware that all this is not going to be enough. There will still be a plethora of locations having no spare video display monitors that Cisco can take advantage of. Cisco has already begun deploying Cisco TelePresence MX Series solutions in numerous select Cisco sites to further their goal.

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TelePresence and WebEx Unite to Give You the Best of Both Worlds

What is the significance of this unification?With the existence of tens of thousands of Cisco TelePresence endpoints and in excess of 30 million active WebEx solution users, Cisco endeavoured to make B2B video collaboration easier than ever before in the past. By unifying Cisco’s market leading online Web conference solution, WebEx, with the market leading enterprise high-quality video features present in Cisco’s TelePresence solutions Cisco is facilitating an all-in-one meeting with anybody, anywhere, on any hardware device.

Augmented to function with any standards-based video endpoints, Cisco TelePresence and WebEx assists enterprises to widen the reach of video collaboration and streamline the experience for all members.

What can Cisco’s clients expect by this amalgamation of these two powerful collaboration solutions?

I’ve delineated a few advantages below:

  • Simplicity of Use
    • With One Button to Push (OBTP) you can schedule, simply begin and join in a meeting, WebEx users are able to join by clicking on the WebEx link given to them in the meeting invite
    • You can expect a unified and familiar experience irrespective of whether they select to join a meeting using telepresence or WebEx
  • Flexibility
    • You can invite anybody, selecting to utilize TelePresence and or WebEx, based on who is being invited inside their enterprise or outside via a personalized email invitation
    • These conferences can be planned and performed using tools you are used to like Outlook
    • Via Cisco Jabber, users can interconnect using mobile phones or tablet devices
  • Improved Conferencing Experience
    • Via Cisco TelePresence endpoints users are empowered to experience the finest, realistic video to improve the collaboration experience
    • High definition (HD) video with up to 720p resolution amongst Cisco TelePresence endpoints and WebEx providing a premium experience
    • Share content in the most secure manner inside a conference– like applications and desktop content
  • Scalability
    • Enlarge meeting options for enterprises to simply make video collaboration accessible for anybody to be utilized more widely inside and outside of the enterprise
    • Scale face to face communications through the whole business to nurture and facilitate increased collaboration

This announcement further supports Cisco’s vision of pervasive conferencing  and making video technologies as simplified as voice. It’s a result of Cisco’s exertions to amalgamate the greatest and brightest in Cisco’s solution offerings to improve simplicity of use and flexibility.

Click here to find out more about how TelePresence and WebEx are working in tandem to make an environment where people can work together with ease, from any place and from any device.

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Cisco TelePresence MX Series in a Nutshell – Part 1

We were forced to custom-construct the rooms, put in place extraordinary lighting and tables, and much more. Each new room required an additional overhead expense. We have to confess, though, the end result was overwhelming. Collaborating with your teams over immersive telepresence, we pretty much overlook the technology behind it after a few minutes, and we are not actually conscious of anything else but being present in the same room with the team members in front of us.

The Cisco TelePresence SX Series allows us take advantage of preexisting, standalone video displays (or standard home High Definition HDTVs) to produce low-cost, high-definition video conferencing endpoints. As there are a large number of rooms in our organization that don’t have preexisting video display screens, we are starting to use the Cisco TelePresence MX Series to create video conferencing in just a couple of minutes, without needing to rearrange and restructure a complete conference room from scratch. Not just that, but the Cisco Telepresence MX Series utilizes less bandwidth, so it is a comparatively inexpensive to support. The Cisco Telepresence MX Series is ideal for business startups, small to medium sized businesses, and people just starting out with video and hoping to save expenditures in locations where internet bandwidth is costly: Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia are good examples of regions with expensive bandwidth. But it also is ideal for large companies that need to install broadly all over their companies.  Cisco’s talented IT teams are in process of accomplishing just that, adding to their videoconference proficiencies worldwide at a decreased cost.

The Cisco Telepresence MX Series are incorporated systems which have their own dedicated video screens. The Cisco Telepresence MX200 and MX300 are extremely simple to use, put in place and deploy for small-to-medium sized rooms. You can take it from box to call in as little as 10 minutes, but I’ve seen people do it in less than five minutes. The Cisco Telepresence MX700 and MX800 are larger and higher performance solutions – giving high definition (HD) audio and video experiences for medium-to-large sized rooms. They are lightweight considering their size, but you will still need help getting them out of the box, configuring and setting them up.

As an end user, we like how the Cisco Telepresence MX systems look so visually pleasing, and just like other Cisco telepresence hardware, they are still extremely simple to use. Being an IT person, I must appreciate the plug-and-play facility. Once you have planned out where you would like to put everything, and after you have done it a few times, it only requires around 10 minutes to set up the Cisco Telepresence MX200 or MX300 units. There is still a bit of planning involved: it is a lot like configuring a good entertainment system. You need to think about having windows and access to bright light in the room, and position the monitor to minimize glare. You must place the microphones in close proximity to where staff will be seated but far enough from each other to avoid interference. You are advised to place the speakers in a location where attendees will have access to the best sound quality. And when you are done setting it up, the video and sound quality is extremely impressive.

There is a bit more to it than all this though. For the optimal experience, you should set up the system preferences and settings for the audio equipment and cameras/visual apparatus, network connections, and security. The good news is that there is a simple web user interface to utilize and also some helpful user documentation that comes along with the system and walks you through it. Once you have done it yourself a couple of times, it comes quite easily.

The display screens are all high definition (HD) and are available from 42-inch to 70-inch options, so the Cisco Telepresence MX Series can accommodate just about any room or conference meeting size.

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