Logitech launches Sync to monitor, manage video conferencing devices
Logitech launched Sync, monitoring and management software, so enterprises can manage their video conferencing devices more easily.
The company's foray into managing its devices for conferencing comes as meeting rooms are increasingly moving to video. Logitech Sync offers cloud administration, control and ultimately insights.
Logitech's plan is to offer Sync for free and possibly charge for analytics in the future. Sync is designed for meeting rooms with Logitech devices and is currently in a private beta. Analytics will land in 2020.
Ultimately, Sync, which is built on IoT services from Amazon Web Services, will serve as a base platform for future Logitech services. For instance, analytics can provide metrics on meeting room utilization, capacity and other items.
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Simon Dudley, head of sales enablement and analyst relations at Logitech, said Sync is designed to address multiple pain points so video conferencing can scale. Dudley noted that video conferencing has become less expensive and has moved to USB conference cam devices from pricey proprietary systems.
"Ultimately all meeting rooms will be video enabled, but only 3% to 5% have video today," he said. "IT will have to manage these devices at scale."
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Sync also can prep devices and spot problems before meetings start. The idea would be to minimize the need for site visits and trouble tickets. Logitech Sync also offers in-device diagnostics as well as the ability to push upgrades, firmware updates and security patches from a browser-based console.
In addition, Sync has APIs for integration into platforms from cloud vendors, system integrators and enterprise management tools.
Barco, Domotz, Nectar and Utelogy have integrated with Sync.
"We're not looking at this as a huge profit center," said Dudley. "But we do want to get to 100% room utilization."