The Cisco Spark Board is an all-in-one device that provides everything you need to collaborate with your teams in physical meeting rooms: You can wirelessly present, white board, and have video and audio calls. And it securely connects to your virtual teams through the Cisco Spark service via your Cisco Spark app-enabled devices, so you can take your meetings and content on the road.
Although an interactive whiteboard isn’t new technology, Cisco’s Spark Board is taking it to the next level. Spark Board allows anyone with the Cisco Spark app to draw on or mark in real time on the whiteboard simultaneously, even from a remote mobile phone. Participants can draw on a black canvas or any document and team members can edit at the same time. In addition, content is saved instantly and automatically so that the whole team can share.
The Spark Board automatically connects to any laptop, PC, Mac or mobile device with no Wi-Fi, network connection or Bluetooth needed. Cisco is able to achieve this through “groundbreaking new ultrasound wireless pairing” technology along with a tight integration with the Cisco Spark platform, according to Meggers. “We are using highly advanced ultrasound technology to automatically detect the device and we’re able to present from any laptop or PC or Mac with no Bluetooth and no Wi-Fi requirements,” he said.
No longer do organizations need to have microphones installed around a conference room separated from the voice or video hardware. Cisco has installed “an incredible microphone array” around the framework of the screen. With a focus around simplicity, Cisco decided to forgo a remote controller and instead allow users to leverage Spark Board’s touch-screen capability and drawing pen to navigate. On the 55(or 70)-inch screen is a 4K ultra-high-definition camera. Meggers said the 4K UHD camera gives a broad, crisp view of the room without being obtrusive.
Source (Mark Haranas, “12 Reasons Why Cisco’s Spark Board Is Its Coolest Product Ever”, CRN, 24.01.2017)
