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The rise of the huddle room
drives demand for flat panel
displays
The trend for faster, smaller meetings, epitomised
by the rise of the huddle space, is driving a big
expansion in the number of corporate meeting
rooms and a corresponding rise in demand for flat
panel displays, claims Futuresource Consulting.
Chris McIntyre-Brown, Associate Director at
Futuresource Consulting, said: “Our figures point to a
total addressable market of more than 10.5 million
meeting rooms right now across Western Europe and
North America, and that figure just keeps on rising.”
Its analysis shows that by the end of 2018 corporate
flat panel ownership will have increased by 25% in
Europe. Over the same period, ownership of projectors
is predicted to decline by 9.6% as LCD flat panel
displays continue to take share from projectors.
Of all the European markets, the UK shows the
lowest reliance on projection. Even so, more than 55%
of large meeting spaces and 45% of mid-size meeting
rooms still have a projector installed.
With the convergence of AV and IT and the
upsurge of collaborative communications solutions,
Futuresource Consulting expects web conferencing
tools like Skype, join.me and GoToMeeting to become
integrated into the meeting room experience.
Almost half (44%) of European professionals
surveyed have a company-sponsored web conferencing
account and when conducting a meeting in their
office, over 25% of all respondents prefer to use web
conferencing technology.
revenue rather than targeting coverage.
It backed down from forcing mobile
operators to share networks to reduce
not-spots.
The Government has continually
backed BT and given it all the contracts
to roll out rural broadband. In turn, BT
has continued to favour residential
customers, as they are a greater source
of revenue and enable it to protect its
leased line business. The fact that almost
half of businesses in the country don’t
have access to cheap fibre broadband
can be attributed to BT, which lacks any
incentive to ditch its copper network and
focus on fibre to the premise.
Ofcom has continuously bottled
it in making the decision that the
industry has long been calling for, viz.
to separate Openreach from BT. It is
edging towards it with a separation
proposed in late 2016. But the money
for infrastructure will still come from BT,
and whoever controls the purse strings
usually controls policy. Had Ofcom taken
a more radical approach a year ago we
could be well on the way to having an
infrastructure designed to meet the
country’s needs rather than BT’s own.
Furthermore, the Advertising
Standards Authority should take a look at
the way it allows the telecoms industry
to continuously mislead the public. This
includes allowing broadband companies
to publicise the speed that just 10% of
their customers get on their networks,
and the mobile companies to claim
coverage based on premises served,
ignoring the fact that the technology
was designed to be used on the move.
Only 8% of A and B roads have complete
4G coverage, with 47% having no 4G
coverage at all. Even on the motorway
network, OpenSignal’s report shows
that users fail to get either 3G or 4G
availability almost 25% of the time.
Then, there are companies that advertise
how great their customer service is when
they are one of the most complained
about to Ofcom.
Next steps
So, what is being done and is it enough?
In the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s
Autumn Statement, the government
committed to invest more than £1bn
over the next four years on the roll-out
of new fibre networks and 5G. This will
be delivered through:
n
A new £400m Digital Infrastructure
Investment Fund – which is expected to
be matched by private investment – to
invest in new fibre networks;
n
A new 100% business rates relief for
new full-fibre infrastructure for a five-
year period;
n
Funding to local areas to support
investment in national fibre networks
to meet business and public sector
demands. A consultation with industry
on delivery methods is expected shortly;
and
n
Funding for a coordinated programme
of integrated fibre and 5G trials.
The recent Adonis report on 5G in the
UK said we should aim to have it in place
by 2025.
All of this sounds good. But look at
the success, or lack of it, of previous
programmes and plans. New plans seem
to be typically unambitious, with a target
for 95% of UK premises to be able to
buy superfast broadband, defined as
24Mbps. Other countries define it 4 or
10 times that. Japan is aiming to have
5G operational in time for the 2020
Olympics, and South Korea, which has a
GDP half that of the UK’s, is planning to
invest more than twice the amount we
are in its 5G infrastructure.
In summary, the UK is in the slow
lane when it comes to technology
and the short-term prospects are
not encouraging. As tech and digital
industries become increasingly important
to the economy and all organisations
rely more and more on the Cloud, our
infrastructure could hinder our growth
potential and the ability to attract new
inward investment. The Government has
made a small start but needs to do more,
more quickly to incentivise the industry
to make the necessary investments. And
if the carrot doesn’t work, it should not
be frightened to wield the stick.
Dave Millett has over 35 years’
experience in the telecoms industry. He
has worked in European Director roles
for several global companies and now
runs Equinox, a leading independent
brokerage and consultancy firm. He
works with many companies, charities
and other organisations and has helped
them achieve savings of up to 80%. He
also regularly advises telecom suppliers
on improving their products and
propositions.
Sharp has introduced a mini version of its BIG PAD
interactive display specifically for huddle rooms and
other small, informal meeting spaces.With a screen
size of 40 inches, the PN-40TC1 is ideal for groups of
two to six people.
