LOL! Whoever came up with the phrase ‘plug ‘n play’ has obviously never gone into conference rooms with their laptop and tried to link up with the audiovisual equipment.
As unified as everyone, including ExhibitOne, tries to make connectivity in conference rooms, it seems like there is always some ‘gotcha’ that requires attention. That goes double if you’re linking your non-company device into the company’s video/web-conferencing system.
Which is why we would like to bring a little piece of technology to your attention. It’s called Mercury and it’s made by the folks at Crestron. Crestron are one of the industry leaders in smart home automation, and by looking for Crestron London dealers and suppliers, you could soon have some their products controlling your smart home too.
As you can see in the side-by-side comparison below, the Crestron Mercury doesn’t really resemble a Swiss Army knife. However, the respective missions of the two devices are very similar – do everything.
Central AV Interface for Conference Rooms
Quite simply, the Crestron Mercury is the central interface for your conference room’s communications and audiovisual equipment. Wire or wireless, users are never more than one or two screen touches away from being up and running with a presentation or web/teleconference.
If your presentation is on a laptop, smartphone or tablet…a couple of button pokes on the Mercury’s screen and it is up on the conference room’s display.
Teleconferencing? Same thing. Your smartphone can be linked via Bluetooth®. Instead of huddling around your phone, you’re listing and talking via the Mercury’s high-quality speaker (seriously) and multiple microphones. And yes, your call can be set up directly on the Mercury as well.
Web conferencing? You’re probably starting to get the feel for this now. With a couple touches of the screen, the laptop (or other) connects and you can run any web collaboration application such as Skype® for Business, WebEx®, GotoMeeting® etc. The Mercury includes a USB camera and just like the teleconference, you’re using the Mercury’s microphones and awesome speaker.
Perfect Huddle Space Solution
Obviously, this is a great unified communications platform for conference rooms. However, with its low implementation cost, we think the Crestron Mercury is exceptionally well suited for handling the use patterns we commonly see in a huddle space. It’s easy to deploy, easy to use, easy to manage and even helps facilitate room scheduling.
No, the Mercury doesn’t come with scissors, cork screw, screw driver, file, saw, pliers, bottlecap opener, magnifying glass or even a knife blade.
But, this all-in-one meeting and collaboration solution does provide you with just about every connectivity capability, wire or wireless, that you may ever need to successfully run a meeting. Fast and easy.
No. It doesn’t come in red.
