Poly | HP meeting room devices become an integral part of your Smart Building

What are Smart Buildings?

Smart Buildings communicate with internal systems, devices, and sensors such as HVAC, lighting, alarms, cameras, etc. to self-regulate building operations, minimize environmental impact while making it safer and more comfortable for occupants.

Powered by Internet of Things (IoT)¹ and Power over Ethernet (PoE)² et al, smart buildings are poised to play an ever-increasing role in helping businesses manage the return to office and achieve sustainability compliance goals.

Some interesting examples³ of what Smart Buildings can do:

• Use people counting sensors to automatically turn off lighting, turn off air-conditioning, and trigger an autonomous disinfection process as soon as meeting rooms are vacated.
• Turn on the building tenant’s allocated space lighting systems as soon as tenant swipes their access card at building entrance.
• Increase ventilation as occupancy increases.

The Poly | HP & Neowit Advantage

While smart buildings hold a lot of promise, without a single cohesive view of the data from the innumerable devices and sensors in a building, it is difficult for businesses to optimize space utilization, reduce carbon footprint and overall make smarter business decisions.

Further, people-counting and air quality sensors can cost anywhere from $1000 to $3000 USD. Poly | HP Studio X Series devices come with sensors built-in which directly translates to cost savings.

That’s why Poly | HP has partnered with Neowit – a leader in Smart Building technology. Neowit’s flagship product, the Neowit Platform, is a modern and scalable IoT, facility management and workplace portal that provides comprehensive visibility into your office space and assets, by aggregating data from various IoT sensors & devices into a single pane of glass.

Powered by the Poly Lens Management & Insights API

The publicly available Poly Lens Management and Insight API supports all features in the Poly Lens admin portal and enables you to easily plug data from a tenant into third-party platforms such as Neowit. You can use this feature to optimize your workflows, build custom applications or extract the data from Poly Lens in a way that works for your organization.

Smart Buildings Are the Future

With environmental impact, financial and operational considerations, Smart Buildings are clearly an area of global interest. Making the best use of real estate through insights and analytics provided by partnerships such as the one between Poly | HP and Neowit which will undoubtedly deliver a better bottom line for business. Here’s a quick intro video about Neowit.

Please stop by the Poly | HP booth #2Q250 at ISE Barcelona for a demo.

Footnotes:

1. The Internet of Things (lot) describes the network of physical objects — “things” that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet. These devices range from ordinary household objects to sophisticated industrial tools.
2. Power over Ethernet (PoE) is a technology for implementing wired Ethernet local area networks (LANs) that enables the electrical current necessary for operating each device to be carried by Ethernet data cables instead of standard electrical power cords and wiring.
3. The Guide To Smart Buildings | Irisys True Occupancy

Change is happening all around us, and at HP, we’re leveraging our combined strengths with Poly to create a unique, pro-grade experience for hybrid workers.

We’re excited to announce a complete Microsoft Teams Room solution experience now integrated with HP compute for meeting rooms of any size, new Microsoft Teams device certifications, and promotions to better experience the power of Poly | HP.

The Poly Studio Room Kits for Microsoft Teams Rooms can now be paired with the Microsoft Teams-certified HP Mini Conferencing PC with Microsoft Teams Rooms to deliver a complete Microsoft Teams Room solution experience for meeting rooms of any size. Powered by Windows IoT and 12^th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processor, the HP Mini Conferencing PC with Microsoft Teams Rooms is a high-performance processing powerhouse that provides users with a rich, collaborative video conferencing experience and gives IT peace of mind with HP Wolf Security for Business and integrated management. This combined solution reflects the world-class innovation driven by the power of Poly’s audio and video collaboration with HP’s legacy in personal computing.

Poly has  a broad portfolio of devices certified for Microsoft Teams, and two new Poly products now join this growing list as the latest devices certified or pending certification for Microsoft Teams:

• The Poly CCX350 phone – Our first Microsoft Teams-certified desk phone with a physical dial pad ideal for multiple users in high-traffic common areas as well as retail, manufacturing, or lab environments
• The Poly Voyager Free 60 Series wireless earbuds – Pro-grade wireless earbuds, built for work, but designed for everyday life featuring adaptive ANC and WindSmart technology. The Voyager Free 60 UC variants come in a standard model with a charging case, or the Voyager Free 60+ UC with a smart charge OLED case. Both the standard and the 60+ UC will also be available in a version certified for Microsoft Teams. The Voyager Free 60 series will be available worldwide in CYQ2.

We’re also making it easier than ever for users to experience the power of Poly | HP.

• My First Room 2.0 is a promotion that includes the new HP Mini Conferencing PC-based Microsoft Teams Rooms solution and Android-based Teams Rooms. It offers one-time discounts on first-time Microsoft Teams Rooms purchases.
• The My First Room Program allows users to choose from any part of our refreshed Microsoft Teams Room portfolio on Windows or Android, including My First Room 2.0, and offers a discount on a user’s first Microsoft Teams Room purchase.

We will be showcasing our latest Microsoft Teams solutions at ISE Barcelona. To learn more, please visit the Poly | HP  booth #2Q250 at ISE or visit: Poly solutions for Microsoft Teams.

As classrooms continue to adopt hybrid learning models, telephony remains a critical tool to support day-to-day communications between teachers, administrators, and parents. Our experts have assisted schools across the globe, including Howe Public Schools, to migrate from legacy phone systems to modern VoIP systems, like Zoom Phone.

We sat down with Howe Public School leaders to hear how Zoom Phone and Poly CCX series desk phones have helped improve daily operations. Here are four key benefits customers can enjoy when choosing Poly |HP and Zoom for your telephony needs:

1. Ease of Deployment

As shared by education advocate, Lance Ford, “When we bring in a [Poly] device, it’s so easy to provision and get it out of the door. That speed of delivery and with the flexibility to be wherever you need to be is what’s been beautiful about Zoom Phone and Poly.” When customers choose Poly solutions certified for Zoom Phone, you can trust our solutions to power up your Zoom experiences with ease.

2. Smart Tools built for Mobility

Poly and Zoom understand that school leaders need tools to support effective communications no matter where they are physically working. We are delighted that educators, like Carol Ann Ford, can confidently “jump into it [Zoom Meetings] wherever” they are and keep the conversation going. Poly has a complete suite of certified solutions for Zoom, so whether you start a Zoom phone call on your mobile device with a Poly headset and transition the call to a Poly desk phone at your desk, we have all your communications needs met.

3. Feature-Rich User Experience

“Our teachers and staff are loving the new Zoom Phone system; from the day of implementation to now, it’s been seamless” – Tammy Parks, Instructional Technology Coordinator

An intuitive user experience is essential to a successful deployment, and Poly uniquely understands this. We’ve thoughtfully engineered the Poly CCX series desk phones with Poly signature audio along with a color-touch display that showcases the familiar Zoom user interface. The modern design and cool features including Zoom directory access and escalating a call to Zoom video make this lineup of desk phones a fan favorite.

4. Reliable Support You Can Count On

Our experts know that transitioning to a modern VoIP system takes a coordinated effort. We have a global team of sales and tech support that work closely with customers to ensure the best user experience. As simply put by Superintendent Scott Parks, our team of experts make sure “the products work well and here’s how to get [the] job done”.

Enjoy this video testimonial from Howe Public School leaders to hear how Poly CCX series and Zoom Phone made a positive impact. Have questions? Connect with our experts today!

This year gave organizations the opportunity to explore and shape what hybrid work feels and looks like. Companies across all industries were tasked with finding the perfect balance, from determining how many days employees should spend in the office to identifying the right mix of collaboration tools to support various work styles. We’ve all learned together that hybrid work at its best is fluid. We are so proud that IT leaders continue to trust us with helping their teams share ideas, collaborate, and stay connected no matter where they choose to use Zoom services.

This year we launched Zoom-certified solutions that give users the flexibility to show-up and get the job done in style. Here’s a look back on our innovations that unlocked seamless collaboration experiences for Zoom users.

Zoom Phone

As Zoom Phone grows beyond 4 million seats worldwide, we remain committed to offering a full range of enterprise-grade voice solutions that meet every budget. Check out these three product lines that we’ve thoughtfully engineered together with Zoom to deliver seamless hot-desking and home office experiences.

Poly Edge E series – Our most versatile phone to date packed with indispensable features, including some you didn’t even know you needed.

Poly Edge B series – Enjoy these ENERGY STAR® rated phones equipped with audio-enhancing technologies at a shockingly affordable price.

CCX Series – Certified Zoom Phone Appliances that power a native Zoom user interface. We were happy to expand our portfolio to include the CCX 400 and CCX 500 models. Hold tight for CCX 505 to join the batch in 2023!

 Zoom Rooms

One of this year’s standout innovations that leveled-up the hybrid work experience is Zoom Workspace Reservation which allows employees to easily book office meeting spaces on-site or remotely using an interactive map. At Zoom’s annual end-user conference, Zoomtopia, we announced TC10, a two-in-one touch panel for room scheduling and meeting control. The TC10 powering Zoom Workspace Reservation makes meetings more productive and allows users to easily schedule spaces and conference rooms, control Zoom calls in the room, and share content with one simple touch.

Alongside TC10, we announced Poly Studio Bundles for Zoom Rooms — our latest Windows-based solution powered by HP’s Mini Conferencing PC. This was our most memorable highlight of the year, as it was the first collaboration of Poly and HP coming together as one. More importantly, Zoom customers now have a complete portfolio of both Android-based and PC-based solutions for small, medium, and large-sized Zoom Rooms.

We Are Stronger Together

As the year comes to an end, it’s incredible to see how our shared passion for human connection can trailblaze a wave of innovation, design, and technology. Our many accomplishments this year serves as a reminder that teamwork makes the dream work. With 2023 right around the corner, I’m so excited to see how our partnership with Zoom will take hybrid work to new dimensions.

Zoomtopia Featured a CEO Fireside Chat

Hear from HP CEO Enrique Lores and Zoom CEO Eric S. Yuan as they reflect on the power of human connection, the future of hybrid work, and work/life balance. The Zoomtopia 2022 Closing Keynote and Fireside Chat can be found here.

We look forward to what the Poly | HP and Zoom partnership will bring in the new year!

The Poly Edge E phone family continues to grow its network of certified Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platforms. RingCentral, Vonage, Lumen, C-Spire, RevenueWell, and New Horizon Communications have completed their certification and testing of the Poly Edge E phones. Customers on these service provider platforms will be able to use Poly Edge E phones for their UCaaS deployments.

The Poly Edge E phones have been rapidly certified and adopted by several UCaaS platforms since their introduction in August. “We’re thrilled by the response to the Poly Edge E phones from our service provider partners,” said Steven Fair, Sr. Director, Global Voice & Service Provider Platform Sales at Poly. “With the move to hybrid workforces, more companies seek solutions which meet the needs of their employee personas, whether they are in-office, remote and hybrid. Our partners recognize that, which is why we’re seeing such movement toward adding the Poly Edge E series to their lineup.”

The Poly Edge E series is thoughtfully designed to meet the challenges of a hybrid workforce. Built for hot-desking or the home office, these phones offer more ways to connect, like simple mobile phone pairing and fast headset pairing. Poly’s famous noise reduction technology, Microban® antimicrobial product protection, and our cutting-edge design round out the features tailored for the perfect hybrid working experience.

Poly Edge E series phones are easy to deploy and support. Phone users now have a self-diagnostic test they can run themselves before calling support. A QR code can be configured pointing to feature tutorials making these phones easy to learn. And a convenient support contact screens is also configurable by the service provider or the IT help desk, so users don’t have to hunt for support contact information.

To see if your UCaaS provider currently supports the Poly Edge E phones, check our Interoperability and Compatibility page or contact your UCaaS platform provider directly. To learn more about Poly Edge E series IP phones visit Poly.com.

©2022 Poly. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

It’s easy to overfocus your return to office and hybrid work planning on space because it’s so visible. But ignoring an invisible factor – organizational culture – can undermine the best plans.

In fact, culture has been called “the top predictor of workplace satisfaction.” And recent research by Gallup found that companies with strong cultures ohttps://hbr.org/2017/01/what-matters-more-to-your-workforce-than-moneyutperform competitors by up to 33%.

Yet even before the pandemic, Gartner reported that while HR leaders felt they knew the culture needed to drive business performance in their organization, only 30% were confident that their desired culture was evident in their actual culture.

What may have been working when almost everyone spent most of their time in the office won’t work in a hybrid world. It’s no surprise then, that Gartner found 68% of executive teams are reevaluating their company’s culture for virtual and hybrid work.

What is organizational culture?

Culture can be described as the set of collective assumptions within an organization that guides attitudes, behaviors, and ways of working. It outlines how your company gets things done.

In the traditional office, a lot of behaviors that people thought defined culture were tied to the physical space and the activities that happened there. But culture isn’t a game room where different teams participate in ping-pong tournaments. It’s not free lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays, “no-meeting” Wednesdays, or quarterly Friday beer bashes in the parking lot.

Culture is the values and assumptions that these activities – and the company’s workflow, collaboration style, and how colleagues are expected to treat each other – should align to. And over the past year, the business world has seen the very public struggle as different organizations have reflected assumptions from “people can only be effective if they’re in the office” to “our people are so productive from wherever they are that we’re closing the office.”

Most organizations have settled on a hybrid working model that falls between these extremes, making it essential to reshape their culture for their new reality.

The power of connection

The secret power of a strong culture is that it makes employees feel connected to the company and to each other. That’s good for brand, good for the bottom line, and good for employee productivity, happiness, and retention.

But a December 2021 poll by Gartner found that only 1 in 4 hybrid/remote knowledge workers felt connected to their organization’s culture.

Clearly, it’s time to create cultures better suited to our current working world. And it’s time to acknowledge leadership’s role in creating and sustaining a successful culture.

A once-in-a lifetime opportunity

Achieving this kind of change requires a shared vision and direction that moves beyond tactics to take a clear stand on what the hybrid culture is, so that people know what they can rely on. If reinventing an organization’s culture is a significant challenge, it’s also a unique opportunity to redefine the business.

Bill Schaninger, a Senior Partner at McKinsey recently pointed out that “it’s rare in a leader’s lifetime to have such a clean drop for reshaping how you run the place.”

To help you make the most of this unprecedented moment,

Read The Journey to Hybrid Working: Hybrid Heaven or Hell? for key considerations in creating a culture that supports hybrid success.

Hybrid work is happening everywhere, and it’s more than a trend—Poly’s recent persona research, which surveyed more than 5,000 enterprise workers across eight different countries, revealed that 73 percent of employees expect to work from more than one location. Poly is focused on providing innovative solutions and phenomenal features to help these professionals thrive, no matter their workstyle or work environment. Our recently launched Poly Edge E series is a great example and we’re excited to share new two new features now available with the latest Poly Voice Software (PVOS) release 8.0.1.

It’s Easy to Connect

Say hello to Poly Fast Pair! This feature allows users to quickly pair an Edge E series phone with a supported Bluetooth headset, like the Poly Voyager Focus 2. If the Voyager Focus 2 is in Bluetooth pairing mode and within 0.91 m or 3 ft of the Edge E phone with integrated Bluetooth, the phone detects the headset and displays an image of it right on the main screen. To finish the pairing, just press the “Connect” soft key, and that’s it!

This pairing provides three levels of hybrid active noise canceling (ANC) technology and the freedom to move about your office or home while on a call. You can easily grab a document off a printer, refill a beverage or just stand and stretch. Sounds pretty nice, right?

New Settings for Color Vision Deficiency

Phones are a necessary part of daily life and yet they are not all designed inclusively. This is an especially meaningful pain point for those with impaired vision and for the IT decision makers who are doing their best to accommodate a diverse workforce. According to the UK National Health Service, “red-green” color vision deficiency is a common problem that affects around 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women.

Poly Edge E series phones have settings to improve screen readability by adding a color filter on Poly Edge E series phones. The available color filter settings include:

• Greyscale
• Protanomaly (Red-Green)
• Tritanomaly (Blue-Yellow)
• Deuteranopia (Green-Red)

With features like large and bold font options, text-to-speech technology and a color filter, the Poly Edge E series phones are incredibly inclusive devices, making them a great fit for a diverse workforce. All of the accessibility features are outlined in the Poly Edge E Series Phones Accessibility User Guide.

Click here to learn more about our Poly Edge E series.

I met my wife thirty-two years ago and married her about a year later. We had never met prior to that, but coincidentally we were born in the same hospital, we went to the same schools, my father sold her mother their house, and our older siblings were classmates. Sometimes your soulmate is right there next to you, and you don’t realize it.

HP and Poly have a similar story to my wife and I. As I’m sure you know, HP bought Poly this past year, bringing the leader in collaboration solutions into an organization that has been leading the way in technology for over eighty years. However, did you know that, just like my wife and I, HP and Poly also ‘went to the same schools and had the same parenting’ without meeting until now?

I was reminded of this by the recent launch of the Artemis space mission. When humankind first set out to accomplish that monumental task in the 1960’s, both HP and Poly were there – together.

The story for Poly begins in 1961 when NASA launched Mercury Redstone 4 Sub-Orbital Spaceflight with Astronaut Gus Grissom aboard. This was the second manned space flight and it lasted about 15 minutes. After splashing down in the ocean, the hatch on the capsule prematurely blew open. Water poured into the capsule and, as it flooded, the electronics short circuited. When this happened, all power was lost inside of the capsule. Nothing worked, including the radios, and Astronaut Grissom lost communications with the rescue team. He nearly drowned, and the capsule sank.

After that incident, NASA contracted for the development of a portable radio transceiver that was small and lightweight to fit into a pocket of the astronaut’s spacesuit. In the event of a power loss inside the capsule, it could be deployed to facilitate communication with the rescue team. Plantronics heard about the need and provided NASA with MS50 lightweight headsets (just developed for airline pilots) as part of the emergency radio solution.

At the same time, astronaut Wally Schirra really disliked the headsets used by the astronauts on the first Mercury missions because they were heavy and cumbersome. He asked NASA to investigate using the MS50 headset inside of his helmet for his upcoming flight.

From that point forward, all NASA space flights utilized the Poly (Plantronics) headsets in the astronauts’ “Snoopy Caps” used for communication. The immortal words “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” (and all other astronaut communications) were spoken on a Poly headset.

At the very same time, the “Snoopy Caps” and radios required solid state components like diodes and pin-switches that were provided by, of course, HP.  And that was not the only contribution that HP made to space flights in the 1960’s. One other example includes HP’s cesium beam frequency standards were the atomic clocks that kept the worldwide Apollo network of 18 tracking stations and communications systems synchronized within a few thousandths of a second.

It’s important to note with pride that the HP components used during the Apollo missions were off-the-shelf products. The same precision components that NASA required to complete the missions successfully were in use across the globe in many industries.

HP’s involvement in the space program also goes back to the original Mercury program. On May 15, 1963 Astronaut Gordon Cooper Jr. piloted the Mercury Earth-orbital space mission in his “Faith 7” capsule. During the nearly 35-hour flight, all of his vital signs were continuously recorded on an HP Sanborn “350” 8-channel recording system so that NASA scientists could learn how the human body reacted to the conditions at all times.

So, like my wife and I who were there together three decades ago without formally having a relationship, HP and Poly worked side-by-side over five decades ago, facilitating humanities exploration of the moon.

All these years later, HP and Poly are in a ‘moonstruck’ relationship leading the technology world and proving that innovation has and can continue to drive extraordinary contributions to humanity.

Sources:

https://hpmemoryproject.org/news/apollo/apollo_11.htm

https://blogs.poly.com/poly-and-nasa-early-partners-in-space/

Photos / videos:

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14191

As a trusted Zoom partner, Poly has equipped many meeting rooms with the Poly Studio X Series and G7500 Zoom Rooms Appliances. These solutions simplify Zoom meeting experiences and help create meeting equity with innovative technology, which is why we are excited to announce Poly Studio Bundles for Zoom Rooms—our new PC-based solution, powered by HP’s Mini Conferencing PC. This solution expands our portfolio and fosters Zoom Room adoption with even more flexibility. It doesn’t matter if you need to equip a small meeting space, a large lecture hall or a boardroom, Poly has you covered.

Poly Studio Bundles for Zoom Rooms

Our new Poly Studio Bundles for Zoom Rooms include USB video bars, our Poly Studio R30 for small rooms, our Poly Studio USB for medium rooms and our Poly Studio E70 for large rooms, the recently announced Poly TC10 touch panel and an HP Mini Conferencing PC to power this solution.

The HP Mini Conferencing PC included in the Poly Studio Bundle is a very powerful and capable device, certified to support three cameras (multi-camera mode), three displays, and is designed to allow expansion with Flex port—just in case additional interface is required for future capability. The HP Mini Conferencing PC is a very powerful engine that can scale from small rooms to custom rooms.

Our Poly Studio X Series, G7500 Zoom Room Appliances and Poly Studio Bundles for Zoom Rooms can co-exist in the same organization, offering consistent, simple meeting experiences for everyone.

Supporting Effective Collaboration

Zoom Rooms offer a user-friendly meeting experience for both Android-based Bundles and PC-based Room Bundles. This experience is enhanced with Poly’s innovative Director AI technology, which is built into our room solutions to provide cutting-edge video with various camera framing modes that optimize views of room participants regardless of room sizes or configurations. This technology empowers effective collaboration in a hybrid work environment because it helps virtual attendees feel as if they are in the same room as the speaker and, therefore, can participate on an equitable level. No matter the rooms size or work location, we want to ensure every participant feels equally seen and heard.

Click here to learn more about Poly Studio Bundles for Zoom Rooms.

Forward-thinking organizations recognize that employee needs have changed over the last few years, and their return-to-office strategies reflect those changes. Most notably, organizations are transforming office environments to optimize rooms and create more technology-infused, engaging collaboration spaces to accommodate and unite their diverse workforce. This demand for more efficient spaces and better meeting experiences has made automated scheduling and room control major areas of focus.

Today, we are excited to introduce the Poly TC10, a two-in-one touch panel for room scheduling and meeting control. The Poly TC10 is the newest addition to our series of Zoom-certified touch panels that make it remarkably easy to schedule collaboration spaces and join video meetings. As a dual-purpose device, it can be used inside the room to control video calls or outside the room to book meetings instantly. The flexible installation options and single Power over Ethernet (PoE) cable provide a clean, simple and professional set up. Whether you mount it on a wall or set it on a table with its flexible, multi-angle stand, you’ve got the tool for true meeting productivity.

BETTER MEETINGS INSIDE AND OUT

The Poly TC10 makes meetings more productive and allows users to easily schedule spaces and conference rooms, control video calls in the room and share content with a tap. From outside the room, users can check vacancy and schedule any bookable space without interrupting the active users. The large, intuitive, high-resolution 10.1” touch display, makes control options clear and accessible, while the multi-color LED lights on the side panel signal room availability and mute status from a distance.

Unlike other solutions in the market, the Poly TC10 includes a multi-angle tabletop stand that is adjustable and tilts the touchscreen to a 30 degree or 60 degree viewing angle for better visibility. During meetings, users can easily access the control dock by simply tapping on the Poly logo or they can launch environmental controls via Extron integration. Designed with all environments in mind, the Poly TC10 comes in white or black and can be discreetly mounted to various surfaces.

At A Glance:

• Dual device: Incredible versatility empowers usage outside the room for scheduling and inside the room as a video and room controller.
• High-resolution 10.1” display: Intuitive, large display ensures room details and call controls are clear and accessible.
• Multi-color status lights: Know when mute is active or quickly find available rooms from a distance via highly visible LED indicators.
• Clean, simple and flexible installation: The Poly TC10 can be mounted outside the room on a wall or glass. It can also be placed inside the room on a flexible, multi-angle stand.
• One cable. Zero clutter: Tidy, professional-looking setup, thanks to a sleek design and a single cable for both power and connectivity.

COMPATIBILITY

The Poly TC10 can be paired with our Poly Studio X series or Poly G7500 video conferencing system to control a cloud video app on the device. Certified for Zoom, the Poly TC10 can also be used to schedule and conduct Zoom meetings with ease. Microsoft Teams certification is expected in early 2023.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

The Poly TC10 is available now as a standalone accessory for meeting control and room scheduling or as part of the Studio Room Bundles for Zoom Rooms. As a standalone accessory, the Poly TC10 starts shipping in selected countries November 2022 and will be available globally in early 2023 for $1099.

To learn more about the Poly TC10, visit Poly.com.