Microsoft recently held its Education Event, where it announced the Surface Laptop SE and Windows 11 SE, which address the digitally transformed world of education. When COVID hit, and K–12 grade schools went online, many students could not participate online because it required a computing device. Microsoft is looking to make its ecosystem more accessible and inclusive with the Surface Laptop SE and Windows 11 SE. These devices, of course, must be placed in the context of the larger market.

Computing and the Education Market

When looking at the state of digital North American K–8 education currently, it is heavily Chrome OS-based or headed in that direction. Chromebooks are targeted at education because of their natural low price point and their simplicity. Since Chrome OS relies on the browser, it does not need high-end compute power, and it makes it simple for students to use and for schools to regulate what is done on these devices, especially from a managerial standpoint when Chromebooks are bought in bulk by schools. Additionally, the accessible price point, depending on which Chrome device you get, is appealing to educators and students.

We also have to keep in mind that schools and school districts choose education suites for students – that is, young learners – and a major factor driving the decision is the platform’s simplicity. Microsoft and Google both have a suite for education, just as they have business suites. 

For my company Moor Insights & Strategy, I chose Google’s business suite 10 years ago for its simplicity, as I run the IT myself, and I imagine that many of these school boards are doing the same. I also advised my kid’s high school on tech purchases where they often talked about complexity and the need for simplicity. Ironically, many K–8 schools are choosing Google based on simplicity first, cost second. Although, if price was the priority, Microsoft wouldn’t be losing K–8 market share. 

The Surface Laptop SE is taking a direct jab at Chromebooks, and Windows 11 SE is a simplified version of Windows going after Chrome OS. In addition, Microsoft is saying it has simplified Intune.

Let’s look at the Surface Laptop SE, Windows 11SE, and Intune, and how they are innovating this new era of education.

Windows 11 SE

Simplicity should be the biggest factor when it comes to deploying Windows 11 SE. Microsoft says it took into consideration feedback from teachers and school IT admins to be distraction-free, secure, and easy to deploy and manage. 

To implement these goals, Microsoft says Windows 11 SE has a controlled app installation, and when apps are launched, they are launched in full-screen mode. While Chrome OS takes a web-based approach to its applications, I think Microsoft is heading in a better direction with its controlled and immersive application experience. It puts more control in the hands of IT admins to designate which apps are on a student’s device without having to rely on the Internet to access applications. 

Microsoft says third-party apps like Zoom and Chrome can be installed, giving school IT admins greater flexibility when deciding which platform to use. It also gives students the ability to focus by having full-screen, distraction-free applications with a two-window limit compared to Windows 11’s default of four when windowing. 

On the other hand, while multitasking has its place in productivity, it is not always beneficial to the end-user. In this case, it is not beneficial to students who are learning how to use technology healthily. 

Windows 11 SE is also taking a cloud-first storage approach with 1TB of cloud storage per device while allowing applications and OneDrive to sync content offline. Giving the opportunity for content to be either offline or online is inclusive to students who may not have access to the internet from home. 

While having content offline is an option for Chrome OS devices, it has fairly low on-premises storage and favors cloud-based. Microsoft’s approach to storage is advantageous for Windows 11 SE because it makes the matter of home Internet a non-issue in a world of equal opportunity. 

Now that Microsoft Teams is built into Windows 11, there has been a greater focus to create Teams as a platform for education in Windows 11 SE. 

Surface Laptop SE and Intune

The Surface Laptop is two things for Microsoft: it is Microsoft’s premium line of devices for users of Windows, and it is Microsoft’s realized vision of what Windows 11 should be for OEMs. Alongside the Surface Laptop SE are Windows 11 SE-specific laptops from OEMs like Lenovo, Acer, and Dell, with the Surface Laptop SE guiding these laptops.

The Surface Laptop SE comes with an Intel Celeron Processor and eMMC storage for up to 128Gb of storage. It has an 11.6-inch display that automatically adjusts brightness. It has a 720p HD camera and digital mic, and speakers from video calls. Microsoft says it has edited details like UEFI code for better power management. The Surface Laptop SE has a reasonable port selection with a USB-C, USB-A, and a headphone jack. 

Although an HDMI port for school projects for the older kids would be a plus, the USB-C port covers that concern. The USB-A should be great for students wanting to use a mouse, and the headphone jack is a must for online classroom video calls. 

While the laptop’s specs are nothing to write home about, it really does make a difference when affordability is high on the priority list. The Surface Laptop SE starts at $249, and other Windows 11 SE laptops move up from there. This price point of $249 is great for education laptops with a Microsoft tag.

Another aspect of the Surface laptops that makes a huge difference for schools is the level of repairability. For schools with limited budgets, this feature makes for a world of difference. Kids are not always the best with electronic devices, and accidents do happen. Repairability means longevity for schools with limited budgets and students who cannot afford these devices. 

Microsoft says it has also made the Surface Laptop SE easy to deploy with Microsoft Intune for Education, and it can be tuned to the school IT admin’s preferences out of the box while maintaining the safety and security of the Microsoft platform. Microsoft Intune is Microsoft’s cloud management solution that is powered by Microsoft’s Intune service for the enterprise, so there is no doubt it has the security you might expect from an enterprise standpoint.

Simplicity and Affordability

Microsoft’s launch of Windows 11 and Surface Laptop SE could be successful if it can nail the simplicity of its devices for the entire educational ecosystem, including teachers, students, and school IT admins. Windows has always been a robust operating system, and this quality is one of the reasons why Chrome OS is dominating the K–8 North American education tech space. Microsoft simplified many features in Windows 11, so it is more inclusive for students and simpler for students and teachers. 

By leading the charge under the Surface branding, it could also be successful by providing the quality of Microsoft devices in a more affordable and friendly package for education. Its repairability and offline capabilities should also appeal to schools looking for devices on a lower budget. 

Note: Moor Insights & Strategy co-op Jacob Freyman contributed to this article.

The post Microsoft Focuses on the K–8 Education Market: Windows 11 SE, Surface Laptop SE, Simplified Intune appeared first on eWEEK.

Fast moving companies didn’t need the pandemic to drive them forward quickly- they just did it. It is quite amazing when we take a step back and realize where we were five years ago and where we are now.

I sleep, eat, and breathe the tech world, and for 30 years, a unique characteristic of technology and innovation is that it comes in waves, radically accelerated by certain factors. Sometimes those factors are the tech looking for a problem and sometimes the other at around. Sometimes it’s an event like a war, S&L crisis or a pandemic.

Our future, based on Microsoft announcements at Ignite 2021, is coalescing on three key focus areas:

1. AI models that become platforms for ambient intelligence.
2. Trust fabrics that span organizational boundaries.
3. The metaverse (no, not Facebook).

Microsoft announced many updates to its services, and I want to highlight its newest services and how they are built using AI, the trust fabrics, and the metaverse.

Laying out the key trends

Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, began the keynote by highlighting four key trends related to digital transformation. These four trends summed up revolve around transforming, connecting, and collaborating, equipping, and protecting. I can’t argue with these and do appreciate the simplicity.

Understanding these trends and the impact of technology on business is vital to understanding how Microsoft cloud wants to equip businesses, their employees and customers. Let me pose these trends differently:

• How are businesses and organizations being digitally transformed when many businesses were not built to be digital?
• How can businesses collaborate and connect to the degree to which collaboration and connection are accelerated digitally?
• How are businesses equipped with the tools and infrastructure to innovate under their diverse circumstances?
• How will all of this digitization, collaboration, connection, and infrastructure be securely protected in a growing space?

The alternative to the transformed business can be seen and experienced from the physical world. It’s not a pretty place to be – it’s long lines, disconnection from customers, supply chain surprises, losing market share, or the inability to change anything quickly.

At Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft wanted to open its customers eyes to see how these various technologies can transform everything around them.

Microsoft Loop

Microsoft Loop is a new application that brings collaboration through a “canvas.” Microsoft says it has three essential parts: loop components, pages, and loop workspaces. Microsoft says loop can be as simple as lists, tables, notes, tasks or as sophisticated as a customer sales opportunity from Microsoft Dynamics 365. Microsoft says it brings components from across Microsoft 365 apps like Teams, Outlook, and OneNote.

Loop reminds me of a “canvas” experience with the capabilities of a tag system with dynamic templates. It allows teams to collaborate and connect across different platforms. It creates flexible content for teams to see and interact with data across boundary lists.

I think Microsoft needs to think long and hard about how it describes this, as it could be very confusing. I will be honest, it took me a while to wrap my head around it. Once I use it, I will “get it” better and report back.

Customer Experience Platform

One key role for AI is to structure and make useful mounds of data that companies sit on because the value and analysis of the data have not been realized. For this reason, if a business does not make the digital transformations it needs to before it’s too late, it will get left behind.

One way that Microsoft is giving business the opportunity to make use of the data it has it by its new Customer Experience Platform (CEP). Microsoft says CEP gives business the ability to directly connect with their customers and to predict customer intent with the help of AI. It takes customer data to create transactional, behavioral, and demographical data to better understand a business’s customers.

Microsoft is spending as many resources interconnecting its offerings as it is creating new capabilities on an individual basis. This incentives customers to go all-in on Microsoft.

Azure Arc

Azure Arc is Microsoft’s hybrid and multi-cloud solution that allows the interoperability of cloud environments including on-prem cloud and even across AWS, GCP, Oracle Cloud and IBM Cloud. Azure Arc plays a major role in addressing this so-called “trust fabric” that crosses organizational boundaries.

Microsoft is updating Azure Arc to enable Cloud-Scale analytics using Azure Synapse. It is also giving it deeper support for VMware vSphere, which allows customers to manage carbon footprints. It also has new integrations with Azure Stack HCI to allow businesses to control on-prem workloads alongside VMs across hybrid and multi-cloud solutions. Microsoft also announced a plethora of Arc-enabled data service enhancements that I think show just how much Microsoft wants to be part of every customers cloud with Arc.

The reality is that no customer goes “all-in” on any cloud, so it might as well be the control plane for all of the workloads.

OpenAI and Power Platform

Microsoft also announced that it has made OpenAI available across Microsoft’s Cloud platform. Since OpenAI released its GPT-3, Microsoft has implemented it into its Power Platform and Visual Studio Code services. Microsoft announced Azure OpenAI GTP-3 that combines the capabilities of OpenAI and Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft also announced many plans and updates for Pro developers on the Power Platform, including adding logic with Power Fx and making it open-source on GitHub. The Power Platform allows users to create low code applications, and Microsoft has announced deeper integration of Teams.

All of these incremental improvements to the Power Platform and the further interoperability between it and Teams show the Microsoft Cloud’s comprehensive capabilities for customers. The Power Platform already lowers the learning curve for businesses needing specific applications and OpenAI’s implementation into Microsoft tools should make it even better.

Defender for Business

Microsoft is also increasingly addressing the growing threat from bad actors.

Microsoft reported that 33% of all cyberattacks target small businesses, with 61% being not operable after the attack. Microsoft announced Microsoft Defender for business, bringing preventative protection, post-breach detection, and an automated investigation and response.

In the end, it does not matter how well connected, collaborative, analytical, and efficient a digital presence is. If everything is unprotected, including employees and customers from the endpoint to the cloud and across security, compliance, identity, and device management, it is all futile.

Understanding that many of these factors are changing and becoming complex is key to being in the right position to protect. Microsoft stated that security is not about perimeter and revolves around zero trust principles. Microsoft says that identifying who, how and what to trust is becoming an organization’s trust fabric for all relationships, employees, partners, customers, and workloads and services.

While there are countless ways to compromise security, one aspect of the bad actor that doesn’t change, whether for an SMB or Fortune 500, is the identity of the content being protected. It is similar to the idea that those looking for a fraudulent $100 bill do not study the fakes, and instead, they study the original.

The Metaverse

Microsoft defined the metaverse as a persistent digital world connected to many aspects of the physical world, including people, places, and things that enable shared experiences across physical and digital worlds. Microsoft says that the Microsoft Cloud provides the most comprehensive set of capabilities to power the metaverse. I don’t think that’s a stretch.

Microsoft announced Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces, previously Dynamic connected Store, is a service that harnesses observational data using AI-powered models to provide better insights about a store. Microsoft says that it will be available for public preview starting next month.

Microsoft is also announcing Mesh for Teams. Microsoft integrating Teams into Mesh was not unexpected considering Teams is Microsoft’s center for collaboration and Mesh is a mixed reality tool for better collaboration experiences. Mesh for Teams is the start of most if not all of the Microsoft Cloud being available in mixed reality.

The metaverse is an experience. Just how AI is allowing us to see value in data and data analytics, the metaverse in some sense of the definition allows us to see and, more so, experience collaboration and connection. I think it was good for Microsoft to mention Facebook’s announcement of its metaverse and distinguish itself from it by providing a definition.

Microsoft’s metaverse is not a replacement for the physical world. From my understanding of its definition, it is coming from the standpoint that hybrid work has changed the way interaction happens in the physical world. The metaverse is a short answer (and I say short because nothing can replace the physical world) for long-distance collaboration and to enable natural interactions.

What I would like to see for any large enterprise pursuing the metaverse is for it to consider the effect that technology can have on our interactions. I say this more towards Facebook since everyone and their grandmother knows that social media, at least the way it can be sold, can harm our social skills than any good.

In the same way, in attempting to create collaboration and connection, the metaverse could harmfully affect the way we have natural interactions by creating an environment that is perceived to be a healthy social interaction but lacks the physical presence that creates natural interactions. You cannot replace social meetups with media, and you cannot replace the physical world with the digital.

Wrapping up

Microsoft had many announcements and updates to its “Microsoft Cloud” that addressed many of the trends of digital transformation and hybrid work. The trends that Nadella talked about — transforming, collaborating, and connecting, equipping, and securing – are all being done in the cloud, and I believe Microsoft’s focus is on point. It’s hard to argue with them.

AI undoubtedly plays a key role in how these businesses transform, interoperability closes the gaps of “trust fabrics,” and collaboration and hybrid work are becoming more interactive with the metaverse (and a lot of time and work).

Note: Moor Insights & Strategy co-op Jacob Freyman contributed to this article.

The post Microsoft Ignite 2021: Cloud, the Metaverse, and More Cross Company Capabilities appeared first on eWEEK.

I wrote about last year’s improvements to Webex that launched at the WebexOne conference, and you can read that write-up here. Over the previous 12 months, over 1,000 new features were added to Webex, all aimed at improving the experience of Hybrid workers.

Cisco is taking advantage of this hybrid work shift by investing deeply into creating what it considers the best user experience possible within its Webex collaboration platform. I wrote about the company’s rebrand from Webex to Webex by Cisco, and since then, it has been relentless in improving its platform and capabilities. Cisco had some exciting news and announcements about Webex, which was shared this week at WebexOne.

Let’s dig into the announcements.

New headsets: Bang & Olufsen Cisco 980 Headset

An “experience” constitutes the hardware, software and services. Hardware matters. There’s no doubt that most hybrid workers use a set of earbuds or a headset to power their collaboration experience. Clear audio and noise cancellation is essential for my productivity as a hybrid worker.

Cisco announced a new headset, the Bang & Olufsen Cisco 980 headset, which collaborated with Bang & Olufsen to bring the product to life. The headset merges a premium design with thoughtful hardware capabilities. It checks many boxes for me with Bluetooth 5.1, Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation, a Virtual Boom Arm, and the premium acoustics and audio that Bang & Olufsen has built its brand on. Just by looking at the pictures, the design seems large but premium. I expect that the headset will be comfortable as most over-the-ear headsets provide an extra level of comfort when compared to earbuds.

These should also be easy to manage and deploy from an IT perspective as well. I’ll have to experience the headset to say whether it delivers on the promise, but I like what I see on paper. From a CYOD perspective, this will be very high on the list as it’s…B&O.

Cisco confirmed that the Bang & Olufsen Cisco 980 headset will be available in early 2022, starting at $549.

Webex 320 Headset

The other headset solution that was new from Cisco was the Webex 320 headset. This headset seems to be a budget-friendly option for enterprise users needing an office headset for productivity. The system looks lightweight and straightforward to use as there aren’t many mechanisms on the headset.

Initially, the Webex 320 headset seems like a standard wired headset with a bendable boom arm and noise cancelation, but one feature makes it different from a standard wired headset. That feature is the integrated Webex button. With the Webex 320 Headset, you can manage Webex calls from a dedicated Webex button on the side of the headset.  There are also in-ear notifications that notify you when it’s time to join a meeting.

Webex is improving its standard headset options to offer more features while remaining at an affordable price point. I could not confirm the exact price, but the headset will be available for purchase in January of 2022.

Webex Desk Mini 

There were a couple of brand-new display devices that we saw announced at WebexOne 2021. The first of those is the Webex Desk Mini. The new device is a portable display that can move anywhere where you want to take a meeting.

The system has a 15″ touch 1080p display, 64-degree HD camera, a speaker, and a microphone with background noise removal. The Webex Desk Mini also has an integrated handle for easy transport and a USB-C connection in the back for peripherals. Several color options for the Webex Desk Mini include Light Gray, Carbon Black, Desert Sand, Nordic Blue, and Woodland Green.

Overall, I like the new Webex Desk Mini. You get a lot of features and functionality with a smaller footprint. A typical enterprise user or remote worker will tell you that desk space is limited so having a moveable collaboration device that easily slots into most areas with a tabletop is an excellent addition for Webex.

This is a gutsy device and I give Cisco credit for taking the chance with it.

The Webex Desk Mini will be available for purchase this December.

Webex Board Pro

The next big collaboration device that Cisco announced was the Webex Board Series. Think of this as a digital whiteboard designed for video conferencing and physical collaboration where you can write on the Board with a high-precision pen. These types of devices seem particularly useful for in-office collaboration between team members.

The two new Webex Board Pro models include both a 55″ and a 75″ configuration. Both models have an UltraHD interactive touchscreen, Dual 4K cameras, built-in speakers and microphone, flexible mounting and wheel-stand options, and two magnetic styluses.

I find it particularly useful that Webex automatically stores whatever you create on the Webex Board within the cloud. That way, users can open work later on any device that has Webex installed. Another feature that the Board Pro models support is automatic wake when a user enters a conference room. After the Board wakes up, it will detect devices where the Webex app is running, and it can suggest an activity based on what is happening in your Webex app.

If Webex can get enterprise customers to adopt these Webex Board Pro’s widely, I am sure users could derive much value from its top-notch collaboration experience. I think one of the keys here will be interoperability with MS Office 365 and Google Workspaces as I believe true collaboration and the price enterprises are willing to pay require solid support for office apps.

Both the 55″ and 75″ Webex Board Pro models will be available for purchase this December.

New software features

There were too many software features to cover in a single article, but I want to touch on the main ones.

• Webex Go: This solution allows users to get all the features of an enterprise smartphone on their device. With Webex Go, users get enterprise-grade Webex Calling features added as a dedicated business line to a user’s personal phone.
• Webex Collaboration Insights: Several metrics built within Webex Collaboration Insights seek to beat burnout and drive engagement among team members. The dashboard measures important metrics like work time patterns, connections, well-being, and cohesion. These insights can help managers better address work issues backed by data.
• Webex People Focus: The people focus camera capabilities aim to give better quality views of meeting attendees’ body language and facial gestures while on a video conferencing call. Cisco plans to break each in-person team member into an on-screen box to connect remote workers with a singular face when collaborating via video.
• AI-powered audio intelligence: Webex optimizes each unique participant’s audio levels to ensure every participant can be heard in varying working environments. The software can also differentiate background noise and unwanted speech from intended speech. I have used AI background noise eliminators myself, and it is a game-changer when you work from anywhere.

There is plenty of other software improvements that I could write about, but I captured many of the highlighted ones. If you want to get a more in-depth rundown of what was launched, you can access the full keynote here.

A Key Collaboration, and a Glimpse of the Future

Webex iPad app

A Cisco and Apple collaboration deserves a more in-depth analysis than the cliff notes versions listed above. Cisco claimed that it had seen a 200% increase in Webex Meeting usage on mobile devices in the last 18 months. This increase doesn’t surprise me much, as mobile offers a flexible way to collaborate while on the move. One of the announcements we saw at WebexOne was the new Webex iPad application.

This application expands the device ecosystem and allows you to run the new application on iPadOS. Some typical Apple features like Split View, Center Stage, and Apple Pencil support will be supported within the Webex iPad app. It is nice that Webex enabled the same features that iPad users already use for productivity and collaboration.

Although I am not a big iPad or Mac user myself, I see some value of developing out the Webex device ecosystem. The more devices compatible with Webex, the more compelling the value proposition is to large enterprise customers that deploy many Apple devices throughout the company.

One of the more exciting points Cisco made is that the company has created an Apple development and design team to continue to develop Webex for the Apple device ecosystem. The next step in this Webex and Apple collaboration is to create an application that allows users to run Webex native on a Mac system. For now, the new Webex app for iPadOS will be available next month.

Webex Hologram

The most interesting and forward-leaning new Webex feature, in my opinion, was Cisco’s new holographic collaboration solution, Webex Hologram. It claims this is the industries’ first real-time holographic collaboration solution, which seems accurate from my perspective. In short, a user chooses an AR headset of choice, and Webex leverages AR technology to broadcast a holographic image into a remote user’s view.

The main benefit of this type of tech is providing a more comprehensive collaboration experience for remote workers to connect with in-person workers in real-time. I could see this being particularly useful to designers and engineers who are often viewing 3D models. You can also view physical content being shared by other users through the AR environment as well. The experience is multi-dimensional and doesn’t limit the experience to a single angle view.

I like that Cisco allows users to plug and play with the AR headset of their choice. Magic leap and Microsoft HoloLens were a couple of headsets that Webex recommended for use with Webex Hologram.

I had the chance to use the Webex Hologram with a Microsoft HoloLens 2 in a managed demo doing a Webex video call and manipulating various objects like a designer would and see the opportunity. Cisco told me this isn’t just a demo and real customers were using this in production. The experience seemed a bit more like a demo to me, a bit rough. I look forward to reading some reviews and testimonials of more remote and hybrid engineers and designers soon.

Wrapping up

At a WebexOne event, we discussed everything from management tools to usage models to new devices in a single day. But there is one thing I can say with certainty: Cisco is no doubt improving the hybrid working experience through its hardware and software solutions. It takes quality video and crisp, clean audio to create a great collaboration experience, but Cisco is taking that a step further and making it more immersive as well.

It is great to see competition from the biggest collaboration companies like Cisco, Poly, Google, Microsoft, 8×8, Zoom, Lenovo, and now HP. There is no doubt that the end-user will be the winner of all these companies fighting to create the best collaboration platform for hybrid work.

Cisco seems entirely committed to becoming the leadership collaboration brand. This WebexOne conference showed us a potent mix of software and hardware that looks into the company’s core capabilities. Great job to the Cisco and Webex teams.

The post Cisco Launches A Plethora Of New Hardware And Software At WebexOne 2021 appeared first on eWEEK.

These operational changes bring a need for IT flexibility, the latest in proactive cybersecurity and the ability to support employees, wherever they are, as they adapt to these evolving work models and technologies.   Supporting employees remotely is incredibly challenging as there’s no “IT-person” around the corner to meet with face to face.

Dell Technologies’ ProSupport Suite for PCs seeks to address these changing needs with a new array of customizable tech support tools for managing Dell PCs. Initially launched in 2015, the offering initially intrigued me with its unique, enterprise-class approach to client device tech support.

Since then, the offering has only become more compelling as Dell continues to blur the lines between traditional manual tech support (24/7 in-region support, onsite service, accidental damage coverage, etc.) and the managed services model it is driving in the enterprise.

Last week Dell announced a handful of new ProSupport Suite enhancements, promising to elevate the offering even further. Along with new intelligent support and remediation capabilities, Dell also revealed several new endpoint security features (which I will touch on briefly after digging into the ProSupport news). Does it live up to the promise? Let’s dive in.

Tech support, without the frustration

I believe the ultimate goal for any next generation support should be to provide a genuinely self-healing PC experience in which devices are remotely and intelligently managed, monitored and supported. Ideally, technical problems would be detected and resolved before the end-user even becomes aware of them—a far cry from the common, frustrating tech support experiences we’ve all encountered. Dell says this is their vision, too.

Employees and IT professionals alike are chafing at the new IT friction presented by remote work. Workers need to be able to access the right applications, entitlements and data, whether they’re in the office building or at home. Resolving IT issues was often an exercise in frustration when you worked in the same building as your IT department, let alone now when you’re sitting on hold from your home trying to regain access to the company network.

Meanwhile, your friendly IT person is pulling their hair out trying to protect the organization from new attack vectors and to figure out a manageable, reliable hybrid business transformation. All of this to say that employees and the IT departments whose job it is to support them are under immense amounts of pressure. This new round of updates pushes the ProSupport Suite further towards a self-healing IT experience—more intelligent, self-sufficient and proactive—that should do much to relieve headaches all around.

Crucial to this evolution is the platform’s new custom rules engine and the granular levels of control and automation it enables. IT admins can create and implement custom remediation rules to take fast and early action on support matters. Additionally, the engine allows customers to define parameters around the cloud creation and deployment of update catalogs. Custom rules establish when and how an organization’s fleet of Dell PCs (and its BIOS, drivers, firmware and apps) should be optimized and updated.

Furthermore, leveraging SupportAssist in TechDirect, IT admins can group and manage who gets these updates. Whether you’re seeking to deploy an update across your entire Dell PC fleet or to one specific device, I believe ProSupport Plus makes the process look easy and intuitive.  I haven’t actually used the service but the claims are spot-on.

ProSupport Suite will also now provide customers a single screen dashboard view of their Dell fleet’s health, application experience, and security scores (according to Dell, the only support service to include all three scores in one place).

This quick view gives customers insight into any developing issues or performance trends that require action or remediation. Additionally, ProSupport Suite leverages AI software and utilization metrics to provide admins with tailored recommendations for action. Dell also announced full channel partner access to the Suite’s full array of AI-powered tools, support and portal described above.

Securing endpoints everywhere

 Dell also unveiled updates to its Dell Trusted Devices security portfolio. Any comprehensive security strategy must take the supply chain into account. Advanced Secure Component Verification for PCs helps customers verify that their Dell commercial PCs and components arrive precisely as ordered. This feature is now available to Dell’s US federal customers and on other select systems.

Also introduced was Intel Management Engine (ME) Verification, a capability that validates system firmware and looks for evidence of tampering. The feature promises to provide layers of added protection below the operating system. Its initial release, available today in North America, Europe and the APJ region, focuses on critical, security-oriented boot processes.

The last new security feature, also available in North America, Europe and APJ, is Dell Trusted Device Security Information and Event Management, or SIEM. SIEM promises to give customers complete visibility into security incidents below the OS via their Splunk dashboards. This increased visibility, according to Dell, will allow for a more comprehensive analysis of an organization’s security status and help customers optimize the value of their existing investments in cybersecurity.

Wrapping up

 The future of PC support is autonomous and self-healing and this is on a ten year trajectory. I think we’re halfway there. Dell’s latest ProSupport Suite for PCs is getting us there as a support offering that goes above and beyond the basics.

The new levels of intelligence, automation and security gained from the recent updates push the ProSupport Suite even closer to my and Dell’s vision of a truly self-healing PC experience. The platform’s custom rules engine could be a game-changer that I believe will ultimately make autonomous a reality. I’ll be watching with interest.

The post Dell’s ProSupport Suite for PCs Evolves With Today’s Modern Enterprise appeared first on eWEEK.

Increasingly, open collaboration and productivity tools are at the heart of this global paradigm shift and have been the lifeblood for many businesses forced into remote work models by the pandemic.

Google Meet and Cisco Webex are two of the biggest names in the video collaboration game. Given that the companies compete for the same pie, it may have caught some by surprise last week when both announced their intention to make Cisco Webex and Google Meet more interoperable. Let’s look closer at the announcement, which I believe makes sense on many levels.

Also see: Digital Transformation: Definition, Examples and Strategy

Mr. Gorbachev, tear these silos down

With more businesses operating in the digital world than ever before, everybody has their collaboration software and hardware of choice. Video conferencing platforms have been duking it out since before the pandemic began to be the preferred option for corporations headed the hybrid direction. The dust is beginning to settle and revealing a world with multiple, popular videoconferencing solutions.

One problem is that many older conference rooms are outfitted with videoconferencing equipment that will only function when paired with a specific software suite. This focused and somewhat proprietary approach brings unnecessary burdens to video call customers when communicating with end customers or suppliers that may not have that service in their rooms. Customers will commit to a video call service and, in doing so, transferring the video call service’s burden of competition.

In other words, while I may use video call service X and my client uses video call service Y, since X doesn’t work with Y, my client and I have taken on the burden that video call service X and Y should be taking. The biggest factor going into this is that businesses are using proprietary hardware to use service X and Y, so compromising on another service leaves the hardware unusable. This approach won’t fly for future video call solutions.

You see, during Covid-19, we were all trained and used any service that our customers or suppliers preferred. This was because, at home, we were all PC-based and it takes maybe 5 minutes tom add another video service that the enterprise may not fully support.

Situations will arise when your business must communicate with entities that have standardized its operations on a different platform. As it stands, it takes time and energy to figure out how to best communicate across these silos. It’s a simple equation: reduce friction, save time and improve productivity—isn’t that what these tools were made for in the first place?

Video call solutions that implement interoperability become more attractive to the enterprise. However, this is a two-way street—when Webex decides to be interoperable with Google Meet, Google Meet likewise must meet in the middle. Otherwise, it becomes a standoff where one side becomes interoperable at the cost of giving an advantage to the other. At that point, the interoperability becomes convenient only to the side that isn’t interoperable, ultimately counterintuitive.

Google + Cisco = best friends forever?

Google and Cisco, together, are hoping to usher in a new era of cooperation that enables both to retain their current customer base and reduce the headaches of platform incompatibility. Starting in Q4, both companies’ videoconferencing hardware will be able to connect to the other’s videoconferencing software platform.

Google says it has removed steps that will make it easier and more intuitive for customers to join Google Meet using Cisco Webex hardware natively. Webex devices will flash a “One Button To Push” (OBTP) prompt when a meeting is about to start, featuring the Google Meet logo. All it takes is (you guessed it) one push of the button, and you can join the Google Meet with your Webex device, bypassing the need to enter meeting IDs, passwords, or any other steps for validation.

Thanks to WebRTC technology, Google Meet’s media and signaling can travel directly from the Google Cloud to any device registered to Webex, whether that be directly or via Webex Edge.

Conversely, Google says that users of its Google Meet video hardware will now easily access Webex meetings. To join a scheduled Webex meeting, all a user must do is add the Google device, or conference room, to the Webex meeting invite and then wait for go time. When the meeting is about to begin, the invite will appear on the device’s agenda accompanied with the tag “via Webex by Cisco.”

Customers should enjoy the Webex meeting with the same seamless joining experience, Google Meet UI, and call controls that they’re accustomed to. This interoperability will come embedded on all Google Meet hardware devices, in addition to the Google Meet Series One Desk 27 and Board 65.

My thoughts

Most video call services—Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex—all have interoperability features integrated into its services, but I have yet to see one integrated into proprietary hardware. I think this strategy will be a win-win-loss. It will be a win for both Google Meet and Cisco Webex and at the same time being a loss for competition like Zoom. It essentially puts Webex and Meet on another level of interoperability between parties.

From my experience with video calling, it is convenience and reliability that win the day. When businesses use specific hardware to do all-day video conferencing, this interoperability will be all the difference.

I also see businesses believing that they are getting their money’s worth in its hardware. Rather than using the service and hardware it paid for every other video call, the service and hardware are used all the time. I say “all the time” because I imagine other video call solutions will jump in on this hardware interoperability in the near future. The difference will be Google and Webex are the first to do this for their hardware, and it is an appealing feature for businesses obtaining new video call hardware.

The biggest kicker for this interoperability is that Cisco’s Webex will not support E2E encryption. Connecting Cisco devices to Google devices will not bring over the E2E encryption. I think it is a compromise that Cisco users should keep in mind since the E2E encryption is a big seller for Webex.

Wrapping up

The last 18 months have been a slugfest between videoconferencing platforms, all vying to be the platform of choice for corporate America during this time of workforce upheaval. That said, I believe both Google and Cisco understand fundamentally that the future is open and collaborative. Nobody currently has (nor can achieve) a total monopoly on collaboration hardware and software. Acknowledging this reality allows joint customers to spend less time troubleshooting and more time collaborating.

Google, for its part, says it intends to reduce friction with other major productivity platforms (Zoom or Teams both come to mind), and I expect we’ll see other collaboration suites following suit (forgive the wordplay). It’s time to give “playing nice” a try.

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Last year’s Inspire event was in the middle of the COVID pandemic, and Microsoft’s focus was on returning to the workforce and schools with inspiring and innovative tools and features. You can read my coverage of Microsoft’s Inspire event from last year here.

If you are a follower of my content, you are most likely familiar with the digital transformation technologies that are reshaping businesses swiftly and without looking back. The COVID pandemic and the need to Work From Home (WFH) have both been catalysts in making full digital transformations in just about every business area. Microsoft has been refining its 365 suite over the past couple of years and this week announced its new Cloud PC offering for business. Let’s take a look at what it is and what it seeks to accomplish.

Remote Windows desktop isn’t a new concept and can be accomplished many ways, so I was most interested in what makes Microsoft’s more unique aside from owning the OS and zero dollar COGS.

Solving the hybrid paradox

The Cloud PC is one Microsoft solution to solve the hybrid work paradox, which, simply put, is a paradox where workers want flexible remote work options and in-person collaboration simultaneously. This paradox makes it difficult for organizations to quickly provide a secure work platform while also giving employees the freedom to work remotely or in the office.

Post-pandemic, people realized that workflows can be done outside of the office and still be productive. Solutions to this paradox have been to bring a work device home to use or only work from home. Organizations then face the problem of having employees work over insecure networks.

Windows 365 helps solves this paradox by offering organizations full Windows 10 or 11 platforms to stream from the cloud. Windows 365 offers organizations the ability to give employees cloud PCs connected securely to the work network and accessible anywhere there is a Wi-Fi connection. It’s more secure as no data actually resides on the client device as a video is streamed of the session resident in the Azure cloud.

The same work environment with the same applications, tools, settings, and personalized Windows, and users can take it home and pick up where they left off. Microsoft says each Cloud PC provides an instant-on boot experience. Since the only reliable connection the user needs for the cloud PC is the user’s connection to the PC and not the PC’s connection to the internet, it has fast and reliable speeds. Microsoft says users can stream personalized applications, tools, data, and settings from the cloud across PC, Linux, Mac, iOS, or Android platforms, with many of these platforms having applications to them.

User experience has always been the challenge whether it be VDI, RDP or any other remote desktop or app execution. Connectivity has typically been the culprit as your experience is only as good as the connection. This will be important for enterprises to consider before committing. Microsoft did tell me it was creating a disconnected mode, container-based, that would enable users to continue work even in a disconnected environment. That is differentiated and new.

Windows 365 is a simpler iteration of Azure’s Virtual Desktop (AVD). Where AVD is a more flexible virtual desktop infrastructure that gives IT maximum control, Windows 365 is simple with a personalized Windows 10 experience. While AVD is priced based on consumption, Windows 365 has per-user pricing.

It is also easier for IT to manage and assign Cloud PCs by categorizing and assigning need-specific Cloud PCs to employees. Admins can also scale up or down a user’s Cloud PC based on need at any point. I like the two options as smaller businesses want a simpler experience with less knobs and gauges.

Windows 365 wants to provide simplicity and security

Windows 365 scales processing power based on a user’s needs with different computing, storage, and business app iterations. Microsoft says it will offer a Windows 365 Enterprise edition and Windows 365 Business edition with simplicity on IT to choose and configure the right Cloud PC iteration being the primary difference.

Microsoft says Enterprise IT can use Microsoft endpoint manager to manage and deploy Cloud PCs for their organization. Small businesses can use a simple, self-service model so that no experience in virtualization needs. Cloud PCs and regular PCs show up alongside each other on Microsoft Endpoint Manager. Microsoft says you don’t need to learn new IT tools to manage Cloud PCs.

Windows 365 also offers data analytics to monitor the health and performance of user’s PCs. Microsoft says its Watchdog service continually run diagnostic checks to ensure connections are running at all time. This is new and differentiated.

When I asked Microsoft about the lack of GPU configurability, they told me that this is coming. This is good as without GPUs, you wouldn’t want to provide the service to anyone with a workstation doing complex development, 3D modeling or even programming.

Finally, IT can change configurations on the fly, up or down, based on how a user uses the service and I thought that was valuable as it saves money and delivers an optimal experience. I’d like to see this feature automagically upgrade or downgrade users in a similar fashion to “auto balancing” of cloud workloads.

Since Cloud PCs have a continuous connection to the work network, so there is no need to worry about the personal device compromising the network when streaming. Windows 365 also follows a Zero Trust Architecture by only storing information in the cloud rather than the streaming device. It also uses multi-factor authentication to ensure that login attempts are verified and integrated with Microsoft Azure Active Directory.

Microsoft says you can pair MFA with dedicated Windows 365 conditional access policies to assess login risks instantly inside Microsoft’s Endpoint Manager. All data at rest and in transit has encryption in Windows 365 from end to end.

Microsoft has addressed many but not all problems and concerns that organizations might have with deploying Cloud PCs to its users. I think Windows 365 does an excellent job of mirroring its scalability with its simplicity. Cloud PCs can be managed and deployed with complex configurations or managed simply with data analytics and Zero Trust Security. Windows 365 is competitively priced and priced differently from other virtualization platforms, priced per user per month rather than computing resources.

Windows 365 is a direct competitor with Amazon’s Workspaces DaaS solution (Desktop as a Service). You can read more here on Amazon Workspaces, but one of the differences I notice right off the bat was the difference in pricing. Amazon Workspaces is priced based on the minutes used in Workspaces rather than a flat monthly rate for Windows 365. I have tested out Amazon Workspaces before, and it has tested in real-world cases, but I will have to get my hands on Windows 365 to compare the two better.

Wrapping up

Windows 365 seems like a powerful tool that answers the hybrid paradox of desiring to work remotely while also working collaboratively in person. Microsoft has emphasized the simplicity of its service so that medium and small businesses can acquire the service while also having integration in the depth of an enterprise.

I am interested to see the adoption rate of Windows 365 in the coming years. I think Windows 365 will solve many problems some businesses have with digital transformation. Virtual desktops have many benefits over the traditional PC setup, and I will be interested in seeing how Microsoft partners shift and adjust to this new form of hybrid work. The connectivity to QoS ratio has always been important in remote desktop and apps and I’m intrigued how Microsoft will help solve this.

Note: Moor Insights & Strategy co-op Jacob Freyman contributed to this article.

The post Microsoft Announces Windows 365 Cloud Desktop at Its Inspire Partner Event appeared first on eWEEK.

Manufacturers of PCs and computing components come from worldwide to show off their latest and greatest, often seizing the occasion to announce new products and technology. AMD made a big splash at the event this year, taking a run at gaming primacy with a new notebook design framework, new laptops and new graphics technology.

Let’s take a look at what AMD’s Frank Azor announced at the show.

Introducing AMD Advantage

I believe the biggest story from AMD’s Computex show was the new AMD Advantage Design Framework, the fruits of an effort between gamers, AMD engineering and its PC partners to develop “the next generation of premium, high-performance gaming laptops.” I don’t say this lightly as AMD hit some huge Computex home runs like FSR, Tesla Model S and X wins and the disclosure that Samsung is using RDNA2 which includes ray tracing for mobile devices.

The first AMD Advantage laptops, HP’s Omen 16 and Asus’s ROG Strix G15, should arrive this month, showcasing the impressive performance, graphics and immersion AMD claims Advantage will enable for gamers. While these will be the first computers out of the gate, AMD shared that laptops from MSI and Lenovo will be coming later in 2021.

The notebook gamer conundrum – the fiddler crab

For many notebook gamers, selecting the right gaming notebook is a challenge. There are a sea of specifications out there and sometimes going just all-in on one aspect of a design will harm another element of the experience. It’s like a fiddler crab with one giant claw.

For instance, you can configure a highly-performant notebook that burns fingers as you’re playing a game. If you don’t think enough about the display you could have stuttering and tearing.  Some gaming notebooks skimp on battery size and life and you can’t watch a full movie if you wanted to. My “favorite” is slow storage on gaming notebooks that take an eternity to load a game or shift from scene to scene. If you make a mistake with on specifying your gaming laptop, there’s no turning back- you’re stuck. This is different from a gaming desktop where components are mix and match.

I don’t blame OEMs for this as a very technical shopper knows better, but every gamer isn’t a surgical shopper or know the design trade-offs.

The framework

The framework essentially works like this: AMD does primary research on gamers to find what they prefer and consults with OEM partners in selecting the right discrete GPU, CPU, display and other necessary hardware components for their gaming laptops.

Premium displays, naturally, are crucial for high-end gaming laptops, and AMD has made this a priority. AMD Advantage laptops will feature tip-top 144HZ-plus displays with extreme low-latency, AMD FreeSync technology, IPS and OLED panels, 300-plus nits brightness, and 100% SRGB or 72% NTSC.

Additionally, AMD is promising 100 FPS gaming experiences at 1080P, over 10 hours of video playback on a battery charge and speeds up to three times faster due to their NVMe storage drives.

New graphics to boot

 At the heart of the AMD Advantage line, including the two noted above, is another new announcement—AMD’s Radeon RX 6000M Series Mobile Graphics. AMD built these new graphics offering upon its (also new) RDNA 2 gaming architecture, which AMD says delivers 1.5X better performance than the previous generation RDNA or use as much as 43% less power, at the same performance level of the previous generation.

An aside: RDNA 2 is also the foundation of the next-generation PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S and X consoles.

The 6000M Series comes with a bevy of new, compelling features. Take the AMD Infinity Cache, which cuts latency and power consumption by integrating as much as 96MB of last-level data cache into the GPU die. AMD’s Smart Access Memory, also included, enables select AMD-based laptops to achieve even better performance by giving their Ryzen processors full access to AMD’s Radeon GDDR6 graphics memory.

AMD SmartShift Technology dynamically toggles laptop power between the Ryzen chips and the graphics, optimizing resources to give the laptop a helpful boost of performance. Radeon Chill, meanwhile, monitors in-game movements and regulates frame rates accordingly, which AMD says gives the 6000M series an extension of battery life.

The last new feature of the 6000M series that I’ll note is FidelityFX, an open-source toolkit of graphics enhancement effects. Available through AMD GPUOpen, game developers can access rasterized lighting, reflection and shadow effects and more. Perhaps most exciting is that it features AMD’s new FidelityFX Super Resolution, or FSR, which gives gamers four different options for balancing image quality and performance, depending on their wants and needs.

AMD says that FSR supports ray tracing and other performance-intensive effects. For that matter, it’s purportedly capable of delivering as much as twice the framerate for select games and as much as 2.5X as much 4K performance when engaging the “Performance” setting, thanks to its optimized spatial upscaling technology. All of this is possible through the FidelityFX toolkit, which means that you may not even have to update your graphics card to access these benefits.

I’ll be writing more on FSR in the future and one thing I love is that it seems easy for developers to embrace versus other image quality enhancer solutions. AMD’s approach reminds me of FreeSync that was easy to implement, didn’t raise cost and ended up being pervasive.

Wrapping up

Experience-based notebook implementations like Intel’s Evo and AMD Advantage for gamers are positive things for the industry. Evo is focused on mobile professionals and AMD Advantage is the first and only design framework like this for notebook gamers.

I believe discerning gamers want the combination of great performance, great display, and quality design to deliver a great experience. But researching and choosing the right gaming laptop is a confusing endeavor to many. With the AMD Advantage design framework, I believe gamers will save time researching and lower their purchase risk. I believe AMD can architect a more effective framework as it has its own gaming processor, graphics, and software stack and enable OEMs to bring their vision to life.

I applaud AMD for helping notebook gamers and making sure it wasn’t a toothless sticker and marketing program. First generation programs are never perfect and AMD Advantage will likely have some improvements with more teeth next round, but this is a very good first step. I can’t wait to get my hands on one later this month and see for myself.

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The new Samsung Galaxy Books were a much-anticipated addition to Samsung’s PC lineup. It’s an excellent time for Samsung to launch these new notebooks as it continues to build out a seamless and continuous experience across its smartphone, PC, tablets, and peripheral ecosystem. The PC is a big part of the continuous experience and can serve as an IoT hub for other devices. I spent three days using the Galaxy Book Pro 360 as my primary device for productivity, and below are my thoughts.

System configuration

Samsung sent me a loaner Galaxy Book Pro 360 system to test out on my productivity use case. I opted for the 15.6″ variant because screen real estate matters a lot to me. My test unit came in the Mystic Navy color pattern, but there is also a Mystic Bronze color. I also received a signature S Pen to top off the package, which is included, not optional. My system came with an i7-1165G7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. The Galaxy Book systems were supposed to support LTE and 5G, but early production systems will not support it. I am told that LTE and 5G support will roll out in the second half of the year. My system configuration is available on Samsung.com pre-order for $1499 currently. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 starts at $1,299 with a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage.

The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 features a remarkably thin design.

First impressions

Right out of the box, I can’t help but notice how thin this system is. When I think of a 15″ notebook, my mind gravitates towards a 15″ workstation-style laptop that is quite heavy, but I sacrifice weight to maximizing my productivity. With the Galaxy Book Pro 360 15.6″, I don’t feel like I have to carry around a clunker to get 15″ of screen real estate. While the system was in my backpack, I felt like I was carrying around a 13″ thin and light notebook. It’s worth mentioning that the Galaxy Book Pros are also the thinnest 13″ and 15″ Intel EVO certified designs. That’s an excellent accomplishment for Samsung as it has made the systems thinner and lighter without sacrificing performance or battery life. Thin and light

do come with trade-offs. There aren’t any HDMI or USB-A ports, but there is always a workaround. I used a USB-C to HDMI cable to connect to an external 24″ display. When I opened the system lid I was received by an aggressive McAfee popup and I also immediately say an Amazon and Booking link. I don’t like seeing these on a $1,500+ premium system, but I suspect that Samsung will likely remove them with next generation.

Mystic Navy is a unique color approach, and it gives off a very premium feel. Its honestly one of my favorite color options that I have used on a notebook. I noticed that the outside of the display lid held on to fingerprints in some instances, but it wasn’t a huge issue for me.

AMOLED touch display

When I opened the lid, I noticed that the AMOLED display was extremely thin and easy to open. Even though the display is 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, it still looks decently sharp and can put off much brightness. There was a bit of graininess on the display because of the lower resolution and large display size with text. A 3K or 4K panel would have been nice, but I am sure battery life would have suffered as a result. Most will be OK with 1920 x 1080 with entertainment content until 4K video content becomes more widely available. I was worried that the thin display wouldn’t hold up the much heavier base when used as a 2-in-1, but I didn’t have any issues in tablet mode. The 360 hinge was easy to rotate over, and I used it several times as a 2-in-1 while streaming long-form video content on YouTube.

I did get the opportunity to try out the S Pen with this system in PC mode and tablet mode, and it performed flawlessly. I used the Pen to sign a few documents, but primarily for scrolling through web pages and switching through applications. The S Pen will connect to the top of the external display via a magnet, but if you plan to keep the system in your backpack, I recommend storing the S Pen separately. The S Pen worked with my S21 Ultra 5G smartphone which was really cool.

One of my favorite display features is the adaptive color you can enable in the display settings. After an entire workday, eye strain can be a big issue for me. I wrote this blog late in the evening, and once the

system detected a lighting change, it increased the adaptive color strength. The adaptive color strength made the display much easier to look at without having to strain my eyes.

Performance

I was happy to see that Samsung beefed this system up with some great hardware solutions. My review system came with the latest 11th Gen Core i7-1165G7 processor. This processor is great for productivity workloads which mirrors my use case. My typical use case includes using a lot of different applications simultaneously. A typical day for me looks like running 10+ Microsoft Edge tabs, video conferencing on Teams, Skype, Zoom and Webex, use G-Suite (now Workspace) collaboration apps to stay in touch with my team of analysts, manipulating data in Excel, and building presentations in PowerPoint. None of these workloads operating alone will tax a system, but together they can often cause lag and stutters and chew through RAM.

The Galaxy Book Pro 360 ran all of my workloads with ease and showed no signs of slowing down. I don’t believe that this system will be a monster for content creation workloads, but for productivity, it is excellent. In terms of video streaming performance, the history content that I watched on YouTube looked sharp. One thing I did notice is that the speakers are on the bottom of the system’s base. I have gotten used to having them on either side of the keyboard, and it was a bit harder to get clean audio compared to other notebooks I have used. I assume Samsung couldn’t place the speakers on the keyboard side because it included a full number pad on the keyboard. Either way, it wasn’t a bad experience using the external speakers.

Ports & I/O

Samsung did a great job given its thickness (or should I say “thinness”) packing many I/O solutions in this system, including 2 USB-C ports, 1 Thunderbolt 4 port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a microSD reader. With the addition of Thunderbolt 4, you will be able to transfer data up to 2x faster than you can with traditional USB-C ports. Thunderbolt 4 would be particularly useful for users moving lots of data from their portable hard drives and SD cards to their PC or the cloud. And, of course, users can add an external GPU if they want more heavy-duty gaming. As content continues to scale in resolution doubling your data transfer speeds will be helpful.

The only issue you may encounter with the ports is the lack of legacy USB-A or HMDI. You may be stuck using an adapter in the meantime, but oh well. The PC ecosystem continues to move forward with USB-

C and Thunderbolt, and Samsung future-proofed themselves by providing the latest and greatest I/O solutions.

Keyboard

The backlit Pro keyboard on the Galaxy Book Pro 360 was great to use. I typed this entire 2,000+ word article on the Pro keyboard, and I had no issues with it at all. The keys are buttery smooth and provide a good bit of travel. Samsung was able to fit a full number pad on the right side of the keyboard; although it is a tight squeeze, it’s there. And it’s great for spreadsheets. Samsung did a great job perfecting the mechanics of this keyboard, and as a result, it is a joy to type on. The 1mm of key travel may seem shallow, but I suspect that anyone that spends a lot of time typing will enjoy this keyboard. To access the quick keys users will have to use keys in combination with the FN button which is typically more of an enterprise function. I’m hoping Samsung reverses this in the future so users don’t have to press the “Fn” key. The trackpad on the system is also large and was responsive throughout my usage.

Apart from Windows Hello biometric login, there is a fingerprint reader on the keyboard as well. It’s integrated into the power button on the top right of the keyboard. I set it up in under a minute even, and it was accessible to log in with my thumbprint. I typically prefer Windows Hello, but the options are always great.

Battery life

Samsung claimed that these new Galaxy Book Pro systems would give users up to 21 hours of battery life of general use on a single charge. I typically take any OEM battery claim with a grain of salt as they are usually based on synthetic mobile mark scores. Although I didn’t get the 21 hours advertised, I consistently got 14 to 15 hours of battery life on a single charge while taking the system through my productivity use case.

While Samsung did catch some flak for the lower resolution 1920 x 1080 display, I am confident that this is one of the key contributors to the long battery life on this system. The system also supports 65W fast charging. I tried this out at the end of one of my workdays. I charged the system for around 30 minutes and got several hours of battery life in return.

Samsung apps and integration

Something Samsung has put much time into is making sure the entire ecosystem of Galaxy devices work together cohesively. With that in mind, Samsung wants to have its Galaxy tablets, smartphones, PCs, and peripherals to have access to new applications, including SmartThings, Connect, Quick Share, Samsung Notes, Samsung Gallery, and Galaxy Book Smart Switch. It would have helped if Samsung branded each application as a Samsung app instead of naming some “Samsung Notes” and others “Quick Share.” Nonetheless, the new apps should make switching between Galaxy devices more seamless abd more seamless interactions between Samsung PCs, smartphones, and tablets. One potential pain point is that each application will require you to log in before the first use as a single sign-on isn’t supported. I can see this is good for security, but I’d like a single sign-on option to sync Photos, Notes, and more after I log into the Galaxy Book Experience. I’d love to this added to the initial OOBE.

The application that I used the most was the Samsung Notes app. It was easy for me to jot notes into the app on my Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G and then access them later on my Galaxy Book Pro 360. The automatic syncing feature allows the user to switch between devices easily. I also utilized the Quick Share application quite a bit. All I had to do was select the photo or video I wanted to share, click the share button on my Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, and select my Galaxy Book Pro 360. Sharing large files that were shot on my Galaxy phone and quickly sending them to my Galaxy Book is excellent. It sure beats uploading the files to the cloud and then having to download them onto my PC.

Some users may be confused with having two options for certain tasks and will have to choose between Microsoft and Samsung apps. Most Android users are already faced with this and have to choose between Google or Samsung apps so it won’t be as difficult for them. I think the more challenging app selections will be between search (Windows Search vs Samsung Quick Search), photos (Windows Photo vs Samsung Gallery), and notes (Microsoft OneNote vs Samsung Notes). Most every other Samsung app is additive to the experience.

Wrapping up

The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 feels like the beginning of a more profound commitment to the PC platform from Samsung. As Samsung builds on the continuous experience from one Samsung device to the next, I see the PC platform playing a big part in that as the IoT hub. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 feels like a big step forward for Samsung in the PC space with an ultrathin and light design, powerful hardware, and long battery life.

If Samsung continues to deepen its partnerships with Intel and Microsoft, I can see an improved path for the continuous device experience between tablet, laptop, and smartphone. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 is undoubtedly the best Samsung PC I have ever used. Great job, Samsung.

The post Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 15.6” Review: The Best Samsung PC Yet appeared first on eWEEK.

Since a quiet, private conference room may not always be available, your audio solution will need to be able to block unwanted noise and provide a microphone that picks up just your voice. Last week, Poly launched its newest Bluetooth headset solution, the Voyager Focus 2, and designed it specifically to combat the issues that work from anywhere users were encountering. This headset is unique because it has features to serve the hybrid workplace as a pure enterprise at work user and a work from home user. The Voyager Focus 2 could be the single headset solution that works at home, in the office, or anywhere connected to a phone or PC.

I have been using the Voyager Focus 2 Bluetooth headset for the last five days as my primary headset for collaboration and entertainment. I spend 4+ hours a day on the phone and video, so good audio matters a lot to me. I took this headset through my use case, including Teams, Skype, Zoom, and WebEx meetings, and took time to enjoy some Netflix and YouTube on my phone. Let’s dig into my experience.

Features & pricing

To preface, I think it’s worth looking at what features the Voyager Focus 2 Bluetooth headset offers. After looking through the specs, this headset does have some great audio features that will combat noisy external environments. I wanted to list them verbatim to give potential customers a quick look at the feature-packed Voyager Focus 2. The Voyager Focus 2 UC and charging stand is available for purchase now and starts at $349.95.

Key Features:

• Noise-canceling microphone with Acoustic Fencing
• Advanced Digital Hybrid Automatic Noise Cancellation (ANC) with three settings: high, mid, and off
• Dynamic Mute Alert
• Automatic Muting when the microphone boom is in the upright position
• Smart Sensors for pausing/playing audio
• Microsoft Teams Certification
• Up to 19 hours of battery life

User experience on my smartphone 

I started my testing by pairing the headset with my smartphone, which was relatively easy. Once I switched the power button on, I had to slide the power slider up to the Bluetooth position and hold it for two seconds.

After that, the system enters Bluetooth pairing mode, and the device name popped up on my smartphone screen. There is an audible “phone connected” speech that comes from the narrator when your phone connects. Anyone who has ever used Bluetooth will know how to do this.

Since these headphones are not completely over the ear, I was worried about comfort. To my surprise, the headset has very comfortable earpads with excellent cushioning, and as a result, I had no problem wearing the headset for hours at a time.

There is also an adjustable headband that sits on the top of your head. It can move as well, depending on the size of the user’s head. I felt like this helped ensure a snug, comfortable fit. When I use headsets, I do not particularly appreciate hearing what others are doing around me. I enabled the automatic noise-canceling feature and put it on the high setting for most of my testing. It was a drastic reduction in background noise pickup when I turned it on.

It was nice to have three different ANC modes because I understand that everyone doesn’t use noise-canceling to the extent that I do. I found the ANC especially helpful when I was working from home and when my dogs were running loudly in other rooms.

There are also volume up and down buttons on the outer rim of one earpiece. It was convenient to change audio levels on the device itself rather than reach for my phone. It was plenty loud for conferencing and entertainment use.

User experience on a PC

The device setup on the PC was a little different than the smartphone. I connected the USB-A adapter to my PC, and the setup was as simple as that. Similar to the smartphone setup, the “PC connected” rung audibly through the headset. One thing users will have to be mindful of is not to misplace the USB-A adapter. It comes tucked away in the carrying bag, but I could find it easy to lose if it’s not returned. Worst case, if you did, I suppose you could just use Bluetooth.

When I was using the Voyager 2 on Microsoft Teams, the acoustic fencing on my microphone was a helpful feature. I had people talking loudly outside of my office, and I was worried about my microphone picking up the obnoxious background noise—thankfully, acoustic fencing limits audio outside of the user-defined range.

The headset did make my Microsoft Teams experience better than usual. I usually opt for a set of wireless earbuds for conferencing, but the microphone usually picks up a ton of background noise and often isn’t loud enough for other meeting attendees to hear me. With the Voyager 2 headset, the microphone was both loud and clear throughout the duration of my calls, and never did anyone asks me to repeat myself due to lack of microphone volume.

I did find myself bringing the microphone to the fully upright position pretty often when I wanted to ensure I muted myself. This movement feels natural, and I like getting the microphone out of the way when I am not on a conferencing call.

Battery life 

I appreciated the long battery life that this headset offered. Poly claimed up to 19 hours of battery life, and in my experience, that seemed accurate.

I tried to see any variance in battery life while taking the headset through different audio workloads. I streamed music from Spotify, took meetings on various video conferencing platforms, and streamed entertainment. Each day looked a little different, some were meetings heavy, and this past Saturday was very entertainment rich, but despite the use case, there was slight variance in the battery life.

My system came with a charging stand and connected to my PC via a USB-A port. It was easy to return the device to the stand after each use and recharge the battery.

Final thoughts after testing

After using and testing the Voyager 2 headset across several different apps, rooms, and environments, I was impressed with the headset’s adaptability. This headset blurs the boundaries between in-office enterprise use and work from home use cases. With a great microphone, three levels of ANC, and acoustic fencing, users should be able to audio conference in a range of environments ranging from a crowded, noisy office environment to a quiet home office.

I see a lot of enterprise value in the Voyager 2 headset. The noise cancelation feature will be critical for office workers who want to block out the loud external office environments. A quality microphone is essential for enterprise productivity as well. A lot of the time, a pair of Bluetooth earbuds do not cut it for getting clear audio and communicating effectively. One feature I believe enterprise users will love is the acoustic fencing that will block noise that doesn’t fall within a predetermined range.  I love being in the office and collaborating, but other meeting attendees don’t care to hear what the guy two cubes over had for lunch.

I know we are focused on the Voyager 2 headset, but Poly offers a wide range of collaboration devices to suit almost any conferencing use case. The products range from video bars to wireless headsets to speakers to webcams, and much more. The products supported by Poly Lens software offer a customizable experience that you can tailor to fit your needs.

Wrapping up

All in all, the new Voyager Focus 2 headset is an excellent addition to Poly’s portfolio. The system has a comfortable design, superior noise cancellation, excellent microphone quality, and long battery life. I appreciate how simple the device is to implement to both the PC and the smartphone as well. For users who need automatic noise cancellation and a solid microphone, you should consider the Voyager Focus 2 Bluetooth headset.

This launch shows that Poly continuously adapts and adds new features to its devices as the needs of the user change over time. For that, it deserves credit. Excellent work, Poly.

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