Lenovo ThinkSmart Hub 500 wants to help keep your meetings on track

We’ve had a lot of hardware from Lenovo come through the doors at Techaeris HQ but nothing quite like this. The Lenovo ThinkSmart Hub 500 has a definite business and collaboration focus meant for meetings and conference calls. Creating business machines is nothing new for Lenovo, but the ThinkSmart Hub is a machine created specifically for business. This hub promises to be an easy to deploy, easy to use system that will boost productivity by removing one particular headache from the usual business meeting routine.

If you’ve ever been in an office and been invited to a meeting, you’ve almost certainly had this scene play out. Someone brings their laptop because they want to display something during the meeting, but they don’t have the right cable to connect to the projector, don’t have the right software for the smart display, can’t get one or the other to work properly, and time is wasted while that all gets sorted out.

The ThinkSmart Hub 500 will connect to and control your external displays while including its own 11.6″ touchscreen for easy controls. Dolby Premium Audio and a 360° array of microphones round out the package. The ThinkSmart Hub 500 is a Skype Rooms Systems purpose-built device, aiming to make huddle and medium-sized meeting rooms more productive.

You can read more about the ThinkSmart Hub 500 in the full press release below. What do you think about this new collaboration and productivity machine from Lenovo? Tell us all about it in the comment section below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

Read the full press release

FULL PRESS RELEASE

Lenovo™ Powers Workspace Transformation with ThinkSmart Hub 500

Skype Room Systems device offers meeting room control, participant connection, and analytics

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK & ORLANDO – September 25, 2017 – Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) today announced at the Microsoft Ignite conference, a new device to tackle conference room complexities and help companies embrace the digital transformation of modern workspaces. The Lenovo ThinkSmart Hub 500 is a Skype Room Systems device that manages collaboration within modern meeting rooms. With the ability to simply connect remote and local participants to Skype for Business meetings and shared content, it eliminates the hassle of sharing personal laptop screens and messing about with cables. Developed in cooperation with Microsoft, the Smart Hub 500 is an all-in-one device, with a 360-degree rotatable 11.6-inch display and runs Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Enterprise.

The Smarter Office is Today

The continuing evolution of technology and the focus on digital transformation brings smarter devices to enable improved collaboration spaces and meeting environments. 92% of businesses are planning Workplace Transformation Initiatives (WTI) to build smart offices that enhance individual and collaborative work experiences for local and remote users. The exponential growth of smarter offices creates opportunities for hardware and software vendors, resellers and systems integrators as customers look to fuel investments into WTI.

Efficient Conference Room Meetings

Most of today’s meeting rooms have projectors or displays and audio speaker phones. There is rarely video conference support and participant hardware is not connected to any collaboration platform. Meeting set up time can often exceed ten minutes wasting valuable creative time.

The Lenovo ThinkSmart Hub 500 can transform your meeting rooms. Easy to deploy and simple to manage, the Hub 500 can make any space a Skype for Business meeting place. Featuring Dolby Audio Premium sound experience, 360-degree array microphones and a touch display to control the meeting and large external displays, the Skype Room Systems purpose built device is the ideal conference companion for huddle and medium-sized meeting rooms.

To sign up to receive further information on the Lenovo ThinkSmart Hub 500, visit: http://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/hub500

Pricing and Availability:

Pilot programs with Lenovo Smart Hub 500 begin later this year with product availability and pricing expected in first quarter of 2018.