Ringcentral, Inc., one of the leading providers of enterprise cloud communication and collaboration applications, today announced the addition of RingCentral Rooms to their lineup. A new cloud-based room video conferencing application, RingCentral Rooms is aimed to redefine room video conferencing by utilizing a cloud software approach. RingCentral also introduced the Room Connector, to enable legacy H32.3/SIP room systems to participate in Ring Central Meetings.
According to the announcement, RingCentral’s objective is to help organizations quickly adopt video conferencing by overcoming the pain points normally associated with the technology. RingCentral Rooms is designed as a cost effective, easy to establish solution compared to other overly complex and expensive conferencing solutions that rely on fixed infrastructure systems.
“Today, having high-definition web conferencing capabilities is not just a nice-to-have for Fortune 500 companies, but an essential part of any enterprise’s efforts to bridge the gap between increasingly dispersed teams,” Kira Makagon, Executive Vice President of Innovation at RingCentral, said. “With the launch of RingCentral Rooms and Room Connector, we turn every conference room into an active meeting participant. We’re redefining room video conferencing and taking on the legacy players in the industry with an innovative and easy-to-use solution that works in conjunction with our cloud-first, unified communications platform.”
RingCentral Rooms won’t rely on proprietary infrastructure and will work with just off-the-shelf hardware like common iPad, Mac and PC camera devices. Companies will be able to bring a high definition video experience for much less than other solutions, yet still maintain that enterprise grade quality and presence. Designed to work in the cloud, RingCentral Rooms can be used in any conference room, huddle room or large open space room and even lets users from any mobile, tablet desktop or even IP desk phone to jump into the conference.
“Currently standing at less than 10% penetration rate, industry growth of room video conferencing in the future will be driven by video in multiple meeting environments – conference rooms, huddle rooms, open spaces, desktop and mobile devices,” Roopam Jain, Industry Director of the Conferencing and Collaboration Practice at Frost & Sullivan said. “The shift to software-centric cloud solutions is creating new opportunities for growth. The addition of RingCentral Rooms is the next step for the RingCentral portfolio and will help them extend their reach and impact beyond desktop and mobile users to conference rooms as well.”
Some key features of RingCentral Rooms include calendar integration with Google or Microsoft Exchange, screen sharing with Wi-Fi, Airplay or a wired HDMI connection, dual screens to show active speakers alongside content, and even the ability to see a list of scheduled meetings with a simple one-tap approach to start a meeting.
“For companies that have already made the investment in telepresence systems or traditional room conferencing, RingCentral Room Connector integrates with legacy hardware so enterprises can continue capitalizing on their investment while using the latest, state-of-the-art cloud technology,” the announcement said.
RingCentral Rooms is available in the U.S. and Canada immediately at $49 per month per license, but it is not a standalone service. Rooms is an add-on that requires a RingCentral office subscription with RingCentral Meetings. RingCentral Room Connector is also $49 per month per license and will be available in mid-July 2016.
