In USA, Ricoh announces its Unified Communication System, the P3500M — a portable, all-in-one system the size of a laptop. The device weighs 1.58kg device and includes an HD camera, microphone and speakers (inside a soft carrying case).

An upgrade to the P3500 which won the IF Design Award in 2015, the P3500M’ s 2.0 megapixel camera includes a 125-degree wide-angle lens. It can be unpacked, plugged in, connected and ready in one minute. Additionally

Mobile workers can stay connected no matter what WebRTC-supportive platforms their collaborators are using. P3500M can support numerous locations using a variety of collaboration technologies, with the ability to display 9 locations simultaneously. The system includes business-class security such as encrypted data streams over wireless networks.

There's NO Polycom-Mitel deal and it's probably just as well.

Siris Capital steps in, killing a deal engineered by activist hedge fund Elliott Management, which bought stakes in both Polycom and Mitel. But there will be no tears as Mitel walks away with $60 million in deal-cancellation fees (and Elliott Mangement has been busy with its recent victory, selling EMC Corp. to Dell Inc.)

The new deal (still subject to regulatory approval, shareholder approval and other customary closing conditions) sees Siris Capital pay $12.50 per share Read more...

IBM joins forces with Cisco in the name of enterprise collaboration, as IBM integrates the Cisco Spark and WebEx platforms with the cloud-based Connections and Verse solutions.

Spark provides 3 types of cloud-based communications-- messages, meetings and calls-- while WebEx is the Cisco online meeting and videoconferencing solution. Connections is the IBM take on business-oriented social networks, and Verse is a cloud-based email and messaging platform.

The integration of such disparate solutions, the two companies hope, will create a suite of collaboration tools powered by the Watson cognitive computing system able to provide users with insights based on daily interactions and activities.

Revolabs announces the FLX UC 500 USB conference phone now has full integration and interoperability with Google Chrome devices for meetings.

The result is an integrated video conferencing solution with calling functions (such as answer, hang up, volume control and mute) fully synchronised between Chrome OS, Chrome devices for meetings and the FLX UC 500 conference phone.

The FLX UC 500 has 4 built-in microphones providing 360-degree coverage for full audio capture, with no need to huddle next to microphone pickups. Further ensuring clear conversation flow are full duplex audio support, echo cancellation and background noise filtering.