Scalable to your needs
With four standard offerings, plus the option of bespoke
configurations, the Mezzanine family is suitable for any application
and size of meeting room. All provide Oblong’s defining features,
including concurrent viewing of up to ten shared devices; gestural
interaction; and real-time control by multiple participants.
n
Mezzanine 200 Series:
A dual-screen configuration for small-to-
medium-sized rooms and remote offices.
n
Mezzanine 300:
A three-screen configuration for viewing a
combination of live video sources and content from connected
devices. Simple juxtaposition of content across screens inspires fresh
perspectives and innovative thinking.
n
Mezzanine 600:
Three primary screens, like the 300 series, plus up to
three additional screens that can’t be shared with remote locations and
can only be seen by people in the room. The so-called digital corkboards
can be used to display additional content or to stage content that will
later be introduced into the shared workspace.
n
Mezzanine 650:
Up to six screens can be configured as a video wall,
with the option to add additional Mezzanine appliances to extend the
workspace across more walls and screens.
01732 759725
21
magazine
COLLABORATION
computer);
n
to connect and view content from up
to 10 devices simultaneously (including
digital and analogue devices like a
whiteboard);
n
to display content on, and move
content between, displays, including
the shared workspace and digital
corkboards;
n
to transfer control of meetings and
presentations between users;
n
for multiple users in multiple
locations to make changes on the same
document;
n
to save snapshots of the workspace
as a PDF for downloading or emailing to
colleagues; and
n
to shut down a collaboration session
and then open it up again a week later
with all the artefacts as you left them.
Magic wand
In the first iteration of Oblong’s
technology, brought to market in 2012,
users interacted with content using
special gloves, like those worn by Tom
Cruise in
Minority Report
. Today you
get the same functionality from a small
handheld wand, like a remote control,
that’s more familiar and requires less
training.
Padraig Scully, who is responsible for
training customers on Mezzanine, says
it takes just two minutes to get to grips
with the wand and about an hour and
a half to become self-sufficient on the
whole Mezzanine system.
One of Mezzanine’s key features is a
scrolling bar at the bottom of the screen
displaying the user’s selection of live
feeds. Each system can have up to 10
live feeds at a time, which users can grab
and bring into the main workspace to
share with meeting participants – local
and remote – at any time.
Additional content can be uploaded
via a web browser or accessed from
the Mezzanine Portfolio, which collects
material relating to a presentation (e.g.
slides, screen snapshots, whiteboard
captures, annotations).
At any point a presenter can pass
control to another meeting participant
wherever they are, with their own
selection of live feeds. The result, says
Oblong director of communication
Jennifer Üner, is a “super-fluid, multi-
threaded, multi-user experience”.
Watching Scully and Üner go through
the motions in the demonstration
arranged for
Business Info
, it is hard to
disagree with this assessment.
“It’s about collaboration. It’s equal
opportunity control that democratises
ways of working. It’s fluid, gestural,
dynamic,” explained Üner. “A lot of
people still think in serial mode, where
one person presents and then sits down
for another person to connect and
present – this has more jazz and less
solos.”
It is also very high quality. Support
for high resolution imagery of up to 50
megapixels, combined with the ability to
zoom right in and out (by gesture) makes
it very useful for medical, technical
and engineering applications, as well
as for corporate brainstorming and
collaboration.
As working practices have changed,
it has become ever more important for
organisations to provide remote teams
with an easy and effective means of
collaboration. At the same time, there
has been an explosion in data volumes
and the variety of information that
employees must manage and process.
Mezzanine is a unique and compelling
solution to these challenges. Already
widely used by Fortune 500 companies,
it can now be enjoyed by small and
medium-sized businesses as well.
It takes just two
minutes to get
to grips with the
wand and about
an hour and a
half to become
self-sufficient
on the whole
Mezzanine
system
