Announced earlier this year, Google’s Chromebox for Meetings product has now been released in Australia. Hoping to perhaps revolutionise the way that businesses both small and large conduct meetings across different sites (or even within the same site), the Chromebox for Meetings service will allow users to connect from across the campus or around the world, without dialling into phone conference points like days of yore.
Priced at $1450, Chromebox for Meetings brings together Google+ Hangouts (for video conferencing) and Google Apps (for room / resource booking and scheduling) to make meetings with Chromebox a breeze. It’s not just a cloud service; included in the price is a small Chromebox unit, speaker and microphone unit, HD video camera and all the cables you’ll need to connect it up, as well as a nifty remote control so there’s no need to muck around with keyboards and mice.
Google has highlighted the following features:
- Instant meeting room. Chromebox for meetings comes with a Chromebox, a high-definition camera, a combined microphone and speaker unit and a remote control. You can set up your entire room in minutes and easily manage all meeting rooms from a web-based management console. All you need is the display in your room, and you’re good to go.
- Simpler and faster meetings. Walk into the room, click the remote once and you’re instantly in the meeting. No more complex dial-in codes, passcodes or leader PINs. Share your laptop screen wirelessly, no need for any cords and adaptors. Integration with Google Apps makes it easy to invite others and add rooms to video meetings, directly from Google Calendar.
- Meetings with anyone, anywhere. Up to 15 participants can join the video meeting from other conference rooms, their laptops, tablets or smartphones. Need to meet with a customer who doesn’t use Chromebox for meetings? That’s easy too—all they need is a Gmail account. You can also connect to rooms that have traditional video conferencing systems using a new tool from Vidyo, and participants who prefer phones can join your meeting with a conference call number from UberConference.
Given what traditional video conferencing costs have been (many thousands of dollars per meeting room), Chromebox for meetings could revolutionise the way SMEs run their businesses, allowing smaller players to take advantage of the latest developments in technology for up to a tenth of the price of competing solutions.
To arrange Chromebox for Meetings for your own business, you can get in touch with Google’s sales team.
