Jabra

Copenhagen, Denmark – 27 April 2021– Jabra today announces the new Jabra PanaCast camera line-up that's set to reinvent meeting room video, audio, and intelligence for the ‘new normal' workspace: the Jabra PanaCast 50 – engineered to be the world's first new-normal-ready intelligent video bar, and the Jabra PanaCast 20, a ground-breaking intelligent personal camera.

Hybrid working is the new normal. Teams are collaborating more, and seeking to do so in a flexible, hybrid network – from cafes, to their home, and satellite offices. Since the beginning of the global pandemic, we've seen a significant increase in video usage as we work more in distributed teams – with 66% of office workers using either a stand-alone webcam or built-in PC camera pre-COVID, and now 86% of home workers doing the same1. The Jabra PanaCast range has been engineered to help businesses navigate the flexible hybrid way of working, combining immersive vision and video, world-leading audio technologies and cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence to completely reinvent meetings and collaboration.

When it comes to a solution for the office, organisations are often forced to choose between outstanding audio and high-definition video. Jabra PanaCast 50 addresses that by offering a plug and play solution to deliver the most immersive and engaging video experience available on the market today.

PanaCast 50: Immersive video and sound

The PanaCast 50 effectively takes on the role of the "director" of your meeting – intelligently adjusting the video stream to follow the action in the meeting. The Virtual Director feature uses both AI-based video and audio streams, as well as Jabra's proprietary AI algorithms, to automatically adjust the frame according to what's happening in the meeting. This allows Jabra PanaCast 50 to detect active speakers and the flow of conversation, thereby delivering a remote meeting experience that's fully immersive and responsive.

Three 13-megapixel cameras mounted in a high-precision multi-camera array create an immersive 180° field of view in Panoramic-4K that covers the whole room. Crisp, high-definition, patented real-time video stitching technology uses advanced algorithms to decide exactly the right way to live-stitch the video streams together in real time with ultra-low latency. From single person calls to full team meetings, this intelligent technology always includes everyone in the most optimum way.

Jabra PanaCast 50 features nine powerful Edge processors, including two state-of-the art Edge AI processors, specifically engineered for audio and video. This ultra-advanced system architecture enables the intelligent video bar to carry out real-time integration of audio, video and data. This powers the Intelligent Zoom feature which always frames the user perfectly for the far end. The Virtual Director feature transitions video frames from speaker to speaker, depending on what is happening in the meeting. This makes it much easier for remote participants to follow the discussion and allows Jabra PanaCast 50 to deliver an immersive and engaging video experience, without distraction.

The Jabra PanaCast 50 can deliver two video streams simultaneously. This allows the device to perform multiple functions at once, so while one video stream is busy focusing on the meeting participants, the second can be used to focus on a particular area of interest within the room. The two video streams also enable the whiteboard sharing feature, which is built into the device itself – it allows whiteboard content to be captured and enhanced in real time. This is then streamed live within the meeting, lesson or lecture so every participant or student can see the whiteboard content and contribute to the discussion, leaving nobody at a disadvantage because they're not present in the room.

Insight driven behaviour

In addition to dual video streams, the PanaCast 50 also delivers an independent always-180° data stream which provides anonymous people count meta-data as real-time numerical information. Because of its 180° field-of-view, PanaCast 50 can achieve 100% coverage of the meeting room and provides the best opportunity to count everybody in the room. This information is anonymous as the device simply counts people; it doesn't recognize them.

The PanaCast 50 PeopleCount feature enables the system to compare that count with a customer-defined room capacity limit number to determine if the room utilization is over capacity. If the number of people exceeds the capacity limit, the PanaCast 50 provides visual and aural cues to the people present, enabling them to make good decisions for their safety and wellbeing. This means that anyone present in the room gets instant, real-time notifications when local guidelines are exceeded. Additionally, through the network interface, longer-term analytics data is available for IT administrators, enabling the business to make data-driven decisions about how they're utilizing their meeting spaces. Organisations will have an overview of how many rooms are being used, even when there is no active meeting, helping inform decisions on office space.

Powerful sound

The PanaCast 50 features eight beamforming microphones with precision voice detection which are backed up with intelligent algorithms that remove disruptive noise. Four powerful Jabra-engineered speakers – two 50mm woofers and two 20mm tweeters – in a zero-vibration stereo setup fill the room with premium, high-definition audio, while the latest 2-way audio technology delivers more natural conversations. The PanaCast 50 is also optimized for all leading UC platforms. As well as working with Microsoft Teams and Zoom, it is also a device for use with Microsoft Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms, making collaboration easier.

PanaCast 20: Superior security for video collaboration in your pocket

With the Jabra PanaCast 20 flexible workers can benefit from high-quality, secure video collaboration, no matter where they are, in a beautifully designed, compact, portable and easy-to-use package. The device features AI that is managed on-device with Edge processing – and advanced experiences are generated directly on the device without extra data being sent to the cloud for processing, without need to install additional software. All the experiences are powered on the device itself, significantly minimizing the risk of security breaches and maximizing speed, accuracy, and the overall quality of the experience. For those using the camera, it has a built-in lens cover to guarantee privacy, and prevent the camera being left "on" accidentally, adding an extra layer of ‘peace of mind' for the user.

Security assurances for those working outside of the office are important, but equally so are video and picture quality. The PanaCast 20 delivers this via 4K Ultra HD Video, HDR video as well as personalized Intelligent Zoom, which always frames the main user properly, regardless of their environment. It also has automatic lighting correction, so whatever the time of day, or the situation in which they're collaborating, their video stream is optimized in the best way feasible.

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