At InfoComm 2023, a conference focused on the pro-AV industry, Jabra announced that several new AI-powered features are coming to its PanaCast 50 and PanaCast 50 Room System. Remote work remains an important part of business in a post pandemic world. According to Jabra’s research, 80% of all meetings globally are either fully virtual or hybrid, noting the importance of new features to help employees get the most out of a meeting regardless of locale.
Jabra’s line of PanaCast products focuses on three key areas of videoconferencing. The PanaCast 20, reviewed here, is a personal videoconferencing solution for remote workers engineered with some intelligent features like AI-autoframing. It’s PanaCast Meet Anywhere solution bundles a Jabra PanaCast, reviewed here, and Speak 750 so remote teams can quickly create a connected huddle space anywhere teams gather. This wave of new AI-powered features, developed in collaboration with Microsoft, focuses on the PanaCast 50 and upcoming PanaCast 50 Video Bar System, its fixed solution for boardrooms and conference rooms.
“At Jabra, we are always looking for ways to harness the power of cutting-edge AI technologies to revolutionize hybrid and remote meetings,” says Aurangzeb Khan, senior vice president of Intelligent Vision Systems at Jabra, in a press statement. “This is why we are thrilled to introduce these new PanaCast 50 capabilities for collaboration with Microsoft Teams.”
There are several notable improvements coming. For starters, PanaCast 50 will be one of the first intelligent front-of-the-room systems to enable Microsoft Intelliframe with multiple video cameras in Teams Rooms on Windows, which gives each in-room participant a dedicated camera view for a better experience in room-to-room meetings.
Remote users also get a better experience thanks to the new multiple video streams feature, which will give them a better view of who is in the meeting using three video streams. The first stream is the current speaker, the second the previous speaker, and the third is a panoramic view of the meetings space as a while.
Two new AI features, face and voice recognition, allow PanaCast 50 to recognize users in the room and display their names to remote users and in the meeting room roster. It also enables in-room participants to maintain their identity in meeting transcripts for users with a Teams Premium license. Both features require individual authorization and enrollment.
Lastly, Jabra Intelligent Meeting Space looks to improve the hybrid meeting experience by allowing users to set a virtual boundary around their meeting space. This allows PanaCast to distinguish between users who should be included in the meeting, and exclude those who are not part of the meeting, like someone visible through a glass wall.
Jabra did not provide a specific date these new features will be available as an update, noting only summer or fall of this year. Those interested in Jabra’s PanaCast 50 Video Bar System will be able to sign up for an early adopter program from June 15th, with general availability starting on September 1st.
