As part of a pilot project in partnership with Industry, on November 17, 2015 a Polycom Real Presence Centro solution was installed in Mons, Belgium. This new solution – provided to the Agency at no cost, as part a trial run by General Services, CMS Branch - is the first ever installed in NATO. The aim is to evaluate the technology's suitability for wider NATO use.
The idea is to accelerate adoption and utilization of virtual meeting rooms and new ways of working through more user-friendly and completely automated operations including high quality video, audio and data collaboration. As part of IT modernization virtual collaboration and new ways of working will become a core business capability throughout the Alliance.
Unlike typical virtual meeting rooms, the Centro contains a 360 degree camera allowing full vision of all participants, touch-screen HD displays, automatic activation when a person enters the room, charging ports for BYO devices, integrated annotation (whiteboard), under-light showing the status of the system and much more.
It's not about the buttons, this new solution is all about return on investment, saving resources, expanding applications and maintaining advantages for NATO. Trends of collaborative solutions are showing reduced pricing with increased quality. For the Agency this means – saving time, resources, working securely from almost anywhere and an exceptional user experience! "You walk into the room and you will realize this is not a traditional VTC room," says BGEN Luigi Tomaiuolo, Director Service Operations NCI Agency. Instantly the system will activate based upon motion detection, touch the location(s) you desire to connect with and start working! Comfortable, yet still as formal as desired, everyone feels like distance has been erased.