"Video conferencing, to give our channel partners another profitable revenue stream, has been on our roadmap for a couple of years but it was important that we found exactly the right partner," explained Gordon Innocent, RGB's Chairman. "We wanted a manufacturer with a reputable brand name that our channel partners would feel comfortable with and who would help us make video conferencing as easy as possible to sell, install and support."
ClearOne's COLLABORATE range of cost-effective, easy-to-use, reliable, high-quality software-based HD video solutions, which includes complete desktop video applications, room systems, infrastructure and management solutions, perfectly fits the bill," continued Innocent.
"The COLLABORATE range, which integrates fully with ClearOne's high-quality, market-leading audio products which we already distribute, really will give the 'big conferencing boys' something to think about. No longer will they be the only ones able to deliver a complete video and audio solution from one vendor," said Innocent. "RGB is a new kid on the video block but is a new kid that has the technical know-how to help its channel partners bring together the pieces of the video jigsaw to install and support video solutions that meet the conferencing needs of their customers."
To enable its channel partners to take advantage of the growing demand of SMEs looking to deploy video for the first time, RGB's initial sales focus will be around the COLLABORATE Room solution. As well as the continuing need to increase productivity and efficiency, the demand from SMEs is being driven by an intake of employees starting work for the first time, who have grown up with webcams and for whom communicating via video is simply second nature asking, where is your video?
"We are definitely seeing a growing interest in video from smaller organisations and so the addition of COLLABORATE Room to RGB's portfolio is very timely," said Mike Crosby, Director, Sound & Light Solutions. "Smaller companies are fast realising that the benefits of video conferencing, previously enjoyed by large enterprises, are now within their reach."
"Offering higher capacity and scalability at a lower cost than competitive solutions, COLLABORATE Room is a very interesting option to that delivered by the traditional video conferencing vendors as it delivers extremely good value for money," continued Crosby. "It delivers up to 9-way conferencing via an embedded multipoint control unit (MCU) with no need to purchase additional server hardware plus built-in data sharing, streaming and increasingly important for a number of our customers, recording of calls, at no extra cost."
"Having worked with RGB for some time we know its team well and are confident that it does indeed have the technical expertise to support the Collaborate solutions," commented Rami Bahar, ClearOne VP Global Video and International Sales. "Crucially RGB has no competing video products within its existing distribution portfolio and so will have an undiluted sales focus that will drive ClearOne's marketshare across the UK video conferencing space."