Logitech wants to help managers master the conference room, and it’s launching a new controller to do it. The Newark, California company today unveiled Logitech Tap, a touchscreen display solution designed to work with Google Hangouts Meet Hardware, Microsoft Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms, and virtually every other platform from major collaboration providers.
“Over the past five years, we’ve changed the video conferencing market by bringing simple, high-quality, video devices to the masses. With Tap, we are extending our approach to meeting control,” Scott Wharton, vice president and general manager of Logitech’s Video Collaboration division, said in a statement. “In addition to enabling one-touch video with the world’s leading collaboration providers, Tap challenges the complex and costly status quo of touch controllers by delivering an affordable, premium solution that can be used for a variety of applications well beyond video conferencing.”
The 10.1-inch Tap, which weighs about three pounds and measures a little taller than half a foot at its thickest point, was built to withstand wear and tear, with rugged cable retention and in-wall cabling that optionally runs up to 82 feet. And it was designed to afford placement in flexibility, with a range of table, riser, and wall mounts that can be adapted for huddle rooms, meeting rooms, classrooms, and phone booths all.
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The flexibility extends to its I/O. The tap sports a USB Type-C connector, an HDMI input for content sharing and capture, a UBS 3.1 Type A port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack, along with embedded proximity sensors that wake the connected meeting room system “instantly” when they detect presence or motion within three meters. Although it doesn’t run an operating system — it’s effectively a USB controller — it works with Windows 10- and Chrome OS-based meeting room solutions hardware, Logitech says.
The Tap — which will be on display at the 2019 Integrated Systems Europe conference in Amsterdam this week — starts at $999, and is expected to ship this spring through distributors Ingram, TechData, and Synnex with an included 10-meter USB cable, a small form factor computer preinstalled with video conference software, and a Logitech MeetUp camera. It’ll also be available in a bundle with Logitech Room Solutions hardware for $2,999 and up. (The $2,999 bundles includes a Tap, computer, PC mount, and MeetUp camera; a $3,999 tier adds a rally and rally mounts.)
The Tap competes with offerings from Polycom, Crestron, and others in a sector that’s growing at a healthy clip. The global conference room solutions industry was forecast to reach $1.6 billion by the end of last year, according to a report by Future Market Insights, up from $450 million in 2017.
