Huddle Hub One, a wireless video hub that allows people to use their own mobile devices in a multi-camera videoconferencing experience, was launched at ISE by Huddle Room Technology (HRT).
The Hub connects up to six laptops, tablets and smartphones by receiving a video stream from each device’s camera and combining those into a single stream. It then sends the stream to any standard communication software running on the videoconference host computer, which receives the stream as if coming from a single webcam. At the same time, Huddle Hub One mirrors the screen of the videoconference host computer to the screen of the laptops and mobile devices.
Giulio Ferrari, sales manager at HRT, commented on the ubiquity of mobile devices today and how that is changing meeting room technology: “You already have a screen and a camera in your pocket, so all you need is a table and with Huddle Hub One, you have a meeting room. People have a very informal way of meeting today. We are following this trend, which is revolutionary, as it is something that hasn’t really existed until now. It’s powerful; just take your mobile phone out of your pocket, and you’re equipped.
Huddle Hub One also improves the experience of videoconferencing for remote participants. It performs speaker detection and returns a combined image layer with all the participants’ faces, highlighting the active speaker. By making the faces of the participants more visible – compared to the image returned by an ordinary webcam, even a wide angle one – and naturally guiding them to look into the camera, Huddle Hub One brings eye-to-eye contact to a new level, claimed HRT.
Mario Ferrari, CFO at HRT, concluded: “We all have these very sophisticated devices in our pockets. We are trying to push a new paradigm, a new movement, which has seen people shift towards mobile devices.”
