Avaya "desktop video device"
The new Avaya video desktop device and “Flare experience” is something I was recently introduced to at the UK executive briefing centre of Avaya.
The device itself is an Android powered 11.6 inch HD touch screen tablet, wireless capable with an inbuilt camera and a stand (and yes, I did ask if it had that specifically!).
There are other bits and bobs of connectivity but its rather ancillary and not really critical to the primary function of the device.
The primary function!
Yes the primary function; it possibly has a secondary function as a phone but it’s designed with one thing in mind - Video Conferencing.
Video conferencing has been around for a while and is now used heavily in business; presented in a variety of forms and integrated into phone systems this device takes that integration one step further. By using the same contacts list as the phone system it can facilitate video conferencing in the same way as you would make a voice call. To do this it runs an operating system called “Flare” and there is now a “Flare experience” (see YouTube clip) all about how this works.
The drag and drop create and manipulation of video conferences is they key selling point here and this might be the true selling point of the device. The Flare application sitting on top of the Android OS makes this platform very productive for the things it supports but with obvious limitations:
Shall I get one?
It’s a good product which should certainly be on the radar of any IT manager who has, or is going to implement, a company wide video conferencing system. Not necessarily to buy one but to see the new products in the market and the direction technology is taking.
At $2000 a time (what’s the chances this turns into £2000 when its sold over here?) it’s a very expensive single function device. It needs an existing video conferencing system to plug into, which wont be that common, and is only any use against that video conferencing system. It also has a very limited audience; ask yourself which person you can see in your company using it and is it anyone other than a director or CEO? Actually that’s a genuine question - can you see someone using it in a production capacity in your company?
For me that’s always been the problem with the video conferencing - we don’t actually like doing it! The technology to do this sort of thing has been around for over 10 years yet no-one has pushed to roll it out. In the same time period mobile phones have been hugely successful and developed into multi function devices which were nothing like the mobile phones of old. Yet here we are re-hashing the same concept when it’s been proved (over time) that no-one actually wants it!
I’m not a researcher, and perhaps I lack the insight of the Avaya board, but i don’t think this is going to go anywhere in its current form. It does represent a new development in video conferencing to a mobile device and that is a step forward - wonder what the next step will be….
