Polycom Announces CX5000 (Formerly Microsoft RoundTable)

You may have heard of Microsoft’s mysterious RoundTable voice and video collaboration device, which was announced quite awhile ago but has never seemed to actually materialize in the channel. It’s no secret that hardware manufacturing is not Microsoft’s strong suit…..thankfully this product concept is finally seeing the light of day thanks to Polycom….a company that does know a thing or two about voice, video and hardware manufacturing.

When used in conjunction with Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 or Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, the Polycom CX5000 delivers a unique, engaging 360-degree group video experience, bringing video, voice, and content together into one seamless interactive session.

The Polycom CX5000 features simple USB plug-and-play operation that require little or no training to use. The product is intended to enhance team collaboration and enable faster and more effective decision making, improved interaction and lower costs. Advanced technology automatically changes the camera view so that the active speaker can always be identified, allowing participants to easily track the flow of conversation. The Polycom CX5000 allows you to fully engage all participants by providing a 360° panoramic view of the conference room when used with Microsoft Live Meeting 2007. In a Live Meeting 2007 session, both video views and the shared content are all seamlessly integrated on one screen. The CX5000 also allows you to record meetings for playback with synchronized voice, video and content, using Live Meeting 2007.