Following in the footsteps of the Surface Hub – and soon the Surface Hub 2 – Microsoft's partners are now getting into the large Windows PC business. At Computex, Microsoft announced the new category as "Windows Collaboration Displays," which will continue to empower employees and offices around the world.
Sharp and Avocore are just two of the initial manufacturers getting into the Windows Collaboration Display business later this year. Like Surface Hub, these larger than life screens let employees and creators leverage "Office, Teams, and Whiteboard at room scale" and are powered by Microsoft 365 – which includes Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security.
Not much is known about the features of these first-gen Windows Collaboration Displays, but the one from Sharp (seen in the lead image) is 70-inches and features a larger, high-resolution conference camera.
The news follows Microsoft's earlier announcement this spring of the Surface Hub 2 coming in late 2018 as an early preview to some companies, with a broader release in 2019. While pricing is uncertain for the Surface Hub 2 Microsoft's partners are expected to fill in the gaps with differing price points, sizes, features, and more extensive global reach into differing markets.
Other companies are expected to launch similar products later in 2019. Lenovo and others are also continuing on the smaller scale with Skype-powered conference speakers and other collaborative tools built around Microsoft's latest services and enterprise security tools.
Intelligent Edge and ubiquitous computing community
Besides the Windows Collaboration Display device category Microsoft also touted advanced in the Intelligent Edge, AI, ubiquitous computing, Microsoft 365, multi-device and multi-sense experiences at Computex. The theme is a familiar one that was featured at Microsoft's recent Build developer conference.
To help the process along, Microsoft is also announcing a new community-focused approach to growing the intelligent edge which will "help partners connect with one another to identify opportunities to collaborate on technology innovation and achieve shared business goals. In addition, community members will be able to participate in training and community events and can participate in early adopter programs that provide access to documentation, specs, OS builds and certification details" according to Nick Parker, Corporate Vice President, Consumer and Device Sales at Microsoft.
Partners can sign up at Microsoft.com/intelligentedge to get started.
Full details and more information about Microsoft IoT and Azure can be found on the Microsoft blog.
