Logitech has introducing its next generation of webcam technology for business with the Logitech C920 offering full 1080p HD video, onboard H.264 compression, USB Video Class (UVC) driver-less install and other features designed to enhance enterprise videoconferencing and unified communications. The technology was built in collaboration with Skype to offer 1080p videoconferencing at a maximum 30 frames per second.
Following the company’s announcement, we spoke about the product’s benefits and the video conferencing market with Eric Kintz, vice president and general manager of Logitech for Business. Kintz noted that his company is seeing the acceleration of the desktop video conferencing market, with corporate deployments supported “in the thousands and even into the tens of thousands.”
BACKGROUND: Logitech looks to iPhone 5 for video meetings
Kintz said that three design objectives for the new camera were to: 1) maintain a face-to-face image quality that kept participants engaged, 2) be readily supported by the large base of installed PCs, and 3) provide the ease of use needed to avoid extra IT support costs. According to Kintz, much of today’s installed base of computers uses up to 90% of dual core process power to support 1080p/30 frames per second HD video. By building the compression technology into the C920, the desktop CPU load down goes down to 30% in most cases, leaving resources available for collaboration tools like document sharing, spreadsheets, email and other background apps. Because video is captured natively in the H.264 format, no extra compression is needed to share video clips — reducing upload time.
The Logitech C920 is planned for availability later this month worldwide, and it is priced at $99.99 in the United States. It is compatible with major video conferencing systems, with interoperability by Avaya, Cisco, Vidyo and Microsoft Lync. To enable full 1080p HD videoconferencing with the Logitech C920, users will need to download and install the Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows.
