Reviews CTouch goes modular


CTouch product release cycle alternates between education and cor- porate products. This year is a corporate year and the company took the opportunity of its Level-Up event at its Eindhoven headquarters to introduce not just new hardware but a whole new modular strategy for product innovations.


CTouch has rationalise its prod- uct nomenclature, but the new product names are more than just a cosmetic exercise – the move to just two basic product categories of corporate prod- ucts, Leddura 2Share and Led- dura 2Meet, that herald a shift to a modular strategy that adds modules that provide specific capabilities to each solution.


The starting point for each category is the Leddura 2Share Essentials, which will be avail- able from the next quarter in three screen sizes – 55”. 75” and 86” – and soon with a range of coloured bezels, in- cluding royal orange, silver grey and sky blue. Customers can choose to add the capabil- ities they need to the Essential


spec, meaning, of course, that they don’t have to pay or things they don’t require. When they eventually do need additional features, they can simply upgrade by adding fur- ther CTouch ‘Brix’. CTouch announced specifi- cations for a number of up- grade possibilities within the Leddura 2Share range – the 2Share Pro and the 2Share Teams both scheduled for Q4 of this year. The first module for the Leddura 2Meet range is already available, this be- ing the 2Meet Skype for Busi- ness. Based on the same dis- play architecture, the 2Meet range has the same size op- tions as the 2Share, namely 55”. 75” and 86”. Many oth- er modules are in preparation by CTouch in addition to this initial announcement of 4 new models.


More Brix


CTouch’s Level-Up event saw 4 new products and a new product strat- egy make their debut.


Two that are sure to be popu- lar are the modules developed


in collaboration with Barco Click- share, with the Barco meeting room solution having a European installed base of some 600,000, and the Zoom Room module, the rapidly growing option for video communication CTouch has also used the re- vamp of the product line-up to big its new models into line with customer demands on sustain-


sensing a sea change in cus- tomer attitudes, with environ- mental issues taken far more seriously.


In general, the overwhelming


Level-Up demonstrated CTouch’s increasing maturity as a business while retaining the founder’s principles. and a sense of fun.


ability. The company believes that much of what has transpired in that area in the past has been little more that tokenism, but is


Mersive’s Pod / Solstice: any location, any device?


AV News is well advanced with its planning for the next AV News Awards, and to share ideas and resources around the team for items to add to the Presentation Breakfast ‘Goodie’ bag we used the latest incarnation of Mersive’s collaborative Pod (Gen3) and Solstice soft- ware (Version 4).


Mersive Technologies’ has be- gun shipments of its new Gen3 Pod which includes version 4.0 of its Solstice software. Perfect timing for our AV News Awards planning sessions which en- gage a team of four in select- ing, sourcing and customising and gifts and gadgets, from around Europe, for inclusion in the event’s ‘Goodie’ bag. The process is important, but not life-threatening and with spon- sor and two suppliers based in the Netherlands we wanted to induct the meeting virtual- ly, rather than travelling a few hundred miles to look at a key- ring or whatever.


Whatever meeting solution we chose, it had to be capable of bringing content from my PC laptop, a Mac Book, an iPhone and emails received on a desk- top PC with embedded URLs into the meeting. We had the Mersive kit submitted for re- view, and so we thought “Per- fect”, use the Pod and Solstice to bring the content from dispa- rate suppliers together, look at their offerings side-by-side and the choice should be straight- forward.


The meeting experience And so it proved to be – even-


tually. Totally our fault, when we set up the system in its entirety, we had an issue with quality of some of the images


the problem worse. By bounc- ing the issue back to Mersive, the problem was dealt with and we enjoyed a trouble-free


Pod and the software that are not only clever, but genuinely useful. Gen 3 of Solstice Pod introduces ShareSwitch, which together with


Solstice 4.0 also includes added end-user features such as Solstice Ink which allows users to collaboratively highlight and mark-up dis- played content from anywhere in the room


4K streaming, dual displays, and Power over Ethernet plus (PoE+). The new Pod leverag- es Solstice 4.0 software to in- crease connectivity, playback, and sharing performance allow- ing for an even more seamless user experience.


Gen 3 of Solstice Pod introduces ShareSwitch, which together with an HDMI-input, offers simultaneous sharing and control of both wireless and wired content.


brought in via the Mac Book. It transpires that by trying to re- solve the issue by adjusting the settings we had actually made


meeting experience thereaf- ter.


Which as good, because there are some features of the


an HDMI-input, offers simultane- ous sharing and control of both wireless and wired content. The Gen3 Pod also supports native


Solstice 4.0 also includes added end-user features such as Solstice Ink which allows us- ers to collaboratively highlight and mark-up displayed content from anywhere in the room by simply pointing and drawing with a smartphone Personally, I found it quite difficult to point and admittedly chunky iPhone accurately, as I did with a prod- uct


we previously reviewed


called an AirMouse. but those who could do it found it use- ful. Solstice 4.0 comes pre-in- stalled on the Gen3 Pod and


can be downloaded to existing Pods with an active Solstice subscription. List price for the Gen3 Pod including Solstice 4.0 is USD $1,199 for 4 users and $1,399 (€1250) for unlimited users. All of Solstice’s new features are supported on the new plat- form, including digital signage capabilities (neither of which we tested), in-room calendar integration, interactive control of content from any device.


impression left by CTouch at the end of its 2-day Level-Up event was of a company ma- turing but at the same time


maintaining the principles of its founders, one of which is to make their business and cus- tomer experience fun. In our coverage of CTouch at ISE AV News expressed its surprise at the progress that the company had made when compared with the previous ISE. At ISE 2019, CTouch became a real contender in the battle for the meeting room space, a fact confirmed by the Level-Up event, which focused on both the technical and commercial aspects of the company. It un- derlined CTouch’s willingness to differentiate its products, approach to the market and customer experience.


P10 AV News July 2019


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