This new technology, built into the latest versions of conference phones; delivers a clearer conferencing experience by eliminating RF interference, the annoying buzzing noise caused by interference from nearby mobile devices.
“RF interference is nothing new, but our awareness of it is at an all-time high, as more and more business is conducted using voice and video conferencing. Customers can now bring their smartphones into the conference room and not cause any interference on the conference call,” said Jeff Rodman, CTO of Polycom’s Voice Communications Solutions division.
In a survey of 1,000 Polycom customers, 97% of respondents found the buzz distracting or annoying. While they understood the buzz was a direct result of having mobile devices in the room, 60 percent of respondents said it was critical for them to keep their mobile device with them during meetings. The problem is so widespread that 70 percent reported a willingness to upgrade their conference phones if that would solve the problem.
“RF interference, is known for being an issue with wireless LANS and other unlicensed devices, affecting all kinds of products, wireless or not,” said Craig Mathias, a Principal with wireless communications and mobile computing advisory firm, Farpoint Group. “Polycom is to be congratulated for recognising the cellular-interference problem and incorporating a solution into its line of conference phones. I’m sure I speak for frequent conference callers everywhere when I say that I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these.”
Polycom has built multiple layers of robust protection to help avoid the adverse effects of RF interference. The conference phones have been vigorously tested to validate superior performance in high-RF environments.
Polycom’s analogue conference phones are being shipped worldwide with this new RF shielding technology, with no changes in price or part numbers. This includes the award-winning SoundStation2, SoundStation2W, SoundStation VTX 1000®, VoiceStation 300 and 500 product lines.