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HP Inc. introduced HP Presence, a new portfolio of conferencing and collaboration solutions for people to truly work together and feel connected – especially when they’re not in the same room.

While the shift to hybrid has given people freedom to work from virtually anywhere, the way people work together, both in and out of the office,is evolving. Eighty percent of executives are changing office spaces to focus more on collaboration. IT teams are also challenged with keeping people connected with productive and secure technology, making conferencing and collaboration solutions atop priority for 67% of IT departments.

HP’s charter for end-to-end collaboration solutions led the company to develop a new way of bringing together its PC hardware and software innovations, and long-standing expertise in security.HP Presence ushers in a new era of hybrid work with meeting space solutions, PCs, and peripherals designed for better conferencing experiences.

“With hybrid here to stay, pre-COVID technology simply can’t solve for the new ways people work. Without the right technology, people aren’t being heard and their ideas are getting lost. Every voice deserves to be heard– whether they’re sitting in the meeting room or at their kitchen table,” said Andy Rhodes, Global Head of Commercial Systems and Display Solutions at HP Inc.“HP Presence fits the work world of yesterday, the world of today, and is future proofed for tomorrow’s collaboration needs, so no matter where you work, no thoughts are left behind.”

Introducing HP Presence Meeting Space Solutions

Hybridwork is about more than working remotely. With 80% of companies investing in ways to upgrade conference rooms,[iii]the office is shifting from a place where people go to work to a place where people gather to work together.HP Presence Meeting Space Solutions are a suite of scalable, bundled options with hardware and services for meeting spaces of any size – from huddle rooms to large meeting spaces. The meeting space solutions interact intuitively with users to provide an enhanced meeting experience and deliver useful real-time analytics back to IT.The new meeting space solutions also leverageHP’s PC security innovations such as cyber threat protection and camera privacy features, giving IT peace of mind and allowing people to collaborate without fear of being hacked.

HP Presence Meeting Space Solutions are curated into small, medium, and largespace kits, and scalable to enhance meeting space needs.Every kit includes an HP Presence Mini PC, an HP Presence Control Center, colour-coded cables, and mounting equipment. The HP Presence Solutions arrive neatly packaged in the same box with a step-by-step setup application, making deployment a breeze.New components include:

• HP Presence Mini Conferencing PC– High-performance processing powerhouse PC that gives IT peace of mind with HP Wolf Security for Business and integrated management.
• HP Presence Control and HP Presence Control Plus– Intelligent room controls that put the meeting host in charge with sleek low-profile designs and adaptive AI-enhanced Audio by Bang & Olufsen. HP Presence Control is perfect for huddle rooms to medium-sized meeting spaces, while HP Presence Control Plus can accommodate medium to large meeting spaces.Connect up to three room controls to provide control to more people.
• HP Presence See 4K AI Camera- This 4K AI camera combines intelligent cinematic audio and video experiences with privacy so users can rest assured the camera is off when it mechanically rotates to face the floor.
• HP Presence Audio Video Bar – For larger meeting spaces that require more audio and video, this device combines intelligent cinematic video experiences with privacy,and audio custom-tuned by Bang & Olufsen, so people can be seen, heard, and hear clearly in the room, and when video isn’t being used, the privacy shutter closes and shuts the camera off.
• HP Presence Hub and HP Presence Talk Satellite Microphones- Make sure everyone can be heard in large room deployments with HP Presence Hub, and easily add up to two satellite microphones for additional voice pickup range with an easy-to-see status LED, so people know when mute is on or off.

It is clear people are feeling the effects of working remotely. As some companies move employees back into the office part time, the change has left employees looking for collaboration experiences that give them a sense of connection. They want to be heard and seen, and don’t want to experience system lags, delays, or other audio and video-related issues. HP Presence Meeting Room Solutions empower people to:

• Start meetings quickly. Upon entering a meeting room, HP Meeting Ready automatically wakes up the room control and brings the camera to life so people can begin meetings on time. Get started in seconds with one tap to launch a Microsoft Teams or Zoom meeting. “Guest Mode” makes it easy to launch meetings with any UC device.
• Be seen clearly.HP Speaker Frame, a picture-in-picture mode, spotlights in-room speakers so everyone feels like they have a seat at the table. HP Auto Frame puts meeting room attendees into perspective by framing out white space for a better conferencing experience for remote attendees.
• Move around the room without disrupting the meeting flow.HP Speaker Tracking allows speakers to move around the room while keeping them in frame. Three tracking modes – slow, cinema, fast – accommodate to different presentation styles.
• Be heard clearly. When the in-room crowd gets loud, HP Auto Volume adjusts the volume for remote attendee speakers so they don’t get drowned out and can still contribute to the discussion. If an in-room speaker talks quietly, loudly, or sits in the back of the room, HP Voice Leveling optimises the volume of the in-room speaker so they can be heard clearly by remote attendees.
• Request help quickly when you need it. Report a room issue in two seconds. HP Presence Room AssistantBmakes it easy to report room issues like device issues, missing chairs or markers, clearing catering from a room, and more to IT, facilities, or the café admin.

IT teams are looking for solutions to keep their workforce connected, but also solve their manageability and security challenges.Forty-two percent of IT don’t expect management solutions will provide an easy and fast break-fix resolution, and IT teams cannot overlook the growth of cyberthreats which have increased 400% since the pandemic began. HP Presence Meeting Space Solutions empower IT and facilities teams to:

• Easily set up and deploy for meeting spaces of any size. The tool-free, colour-coded setup with a dedicated setup app allows IT to configure and test the solution and share custom settings remotely. During setup, Bang & Olufsen room calibration creates a custom audio profile dedicated to that space based on size, shape, device placement, and additional room characteristics such as pillars or furniture. In two taps, launch HP Screen Clean to safelywipe HP Presence Control or HP Presence Control Plus without meeting disruption or interference.
• Feel confident employees can collaborate securely. IT teams can ensure virtual meetings are protected from cyber-threats with HP Wolf Security for Business and know users can collaborate with strong security. IT can feel confident users’ cameras are off with HP Auto Privacy Camera.
• Take control of room management. When it comes to room management, HP Presence Manager gives IT visibility to when a new update is available and gives them the control over what updates are applied to which devices and when. The devices also support Windows Update and Teams Admin Center.
• Proactively resolve potential issues and maximise room productivity with intelligent insights.IT and facilities teams can improve the employee experience with visibility to device health, room issues, and experience metrics. With intelligent analytics, they can consider modifications such as revising room configurations or changing device settings. Customisable dashboards and rich reporting from HP Presence Insights helpspredict when equipment will fail, allowing IT to proactively resolve potential issues before users notice.

AdvancingTechnology Enhanced by HP Presence

Since every space is a meeting space, HP Presence delivers enhanced experiences beyond the meeting room so people can work together even when they’re apart. Expectations on how people appear on screen, how they sound and listen, and respond to others in a meeting changed during the months people worked at home.Seventy-three percent of people judge others based on video quality and 75% judge people based on audio quality.

Technology enhanced by HP Presence leverages the best of HP technology, including IP from HP labs, as well as the company’s deep printing and imaging expertise. HP Presence is delivered through a combination of hardware and software engineering to bring audio and video experiences to a more hybrid world.HP offers products enhanced by HP Presence starting with the HP Elite Dragonfly Max and the HP EliteOne 800 G8 All-in-One.

Technology enhanced by HP Presencedeliver key experiences that allow people to:

• Look their best on screen no matter the lighting condition. Upgraded camera hardware with integrated lighting enhancements automatically adapts to the lighting conditions of various workspaces. Backlight adjustment detects if there is too much light coming into the camera lens and adjusts to balance out the light. Lowlight adjustment detects if the room is too dark and brightens faces so people can be seen.
• Break free from their desk and move around while collaborating.HP Auto Frame focuses the camera on the user and keeps them in frame even if they get up to stretch their legs. Three modes – head only, head and shoulders, and upper body –let people choose how they want to be seen and whether they want to use their hands to help express their ideas. Dynamic voice leveling automatically adjusts voice volume so it’s consistent whether the user sits in front of their PC or moves around the room.
• Hear and be heard clearly no matter the distractions or background sounds. Integrated AI-based noise reduction filters unwanted background noises like doorbells, dogs barking, and sirens from the street, so people don’t have to worry about going off mute. To minimise distractions from background noises by other meeting attendees, the noise reduction technology also filters out their unwanted incoming background noises.
• Be heard clearly even when wearing a mask.HP AI-based Clear Voice uses technology to identify muffled voices and applies microphone gain to compensate and ensure your original voice is what is heard in a meeting.