This post originated from an RSS feed registered with .NET Buzz
by Sascha Corti.
Original Post: NEC's Office Vision
Feed Title: Console.WriteLine("Hello World");
Feed URL: http://www.corti.com/WebLogSascha/blogxbrowsing.asmx/GetRss?
Feed Description: A technology blog with a focus on the .NET framework, the Visual Studio .NET tools and the Windows server platform with of course the normal weblog-noise on what's happening in the industry and reviews of the latest geeky gadgets.
This article on ZDNet UK about the (still experimental) drastic changes NEC is doing to its office space really caught my attention today. Here are some of the hottest points:
In a working 500-employee demo that's part of NEC's broadband division, there are no chairs in the conference rooms: Standing cuts down on meeting length. Rather than pass out memos or draw on white boards, employees examine and manipulate documents with collaborative software on plasma screens, which also function as videoconference systems.
[...]
Phones have also been banned. Employees place voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls through their laptops, linked to a headset.
[...]
At home, nearly 70 percent of Japanese Internet users have broadband connections. A 40Mbps line in Japan costs about the same as a 1.5mbps line in the United States.
[...]
IP telephony also got a boost last year, when the Japanese government began to issue licences for the service. Dialling "050" before a phone number allows a user of a VoIP-enabled phone to conduct a call over IP wires rather than over regular lines. Roughly 70 percent of NEC's telecommunications equipment sales involve traditional PBX switches, but VoIP equipment, like the Univerge SV7000 switch, could account for half of sales in three years, Ichii said.
[...]
For instance, NEC is selling a desktop interface called the UnifiedStar Excellent, which features windows for calendars, videoconferencing, messaging and other functions. Up to eight parties can videoconference simultaneously on the system, while 50 others can participate in listen-only mode. A large import-export company recently adopted the system.
[...]
The company is also developing security-themed products for the office of the future, such as more accurate fingerprint sensors. One application, a facial recognition and authentication system called NeoFace, automatically locks down a computer (equipped with a video camera) when the user gets up from his or her desk. It won't log on until the person sits down again. If an interloper sits at the desk or tries to log on to the computer, an alarm sounds and the camera snaps a picture of the person, too.
[...]
Conference room time, measured by the number of hours employees reserve, is down 70 percent, while the average length of meetings has dropped 20 percent. Travel expenses are down 15 percent, in part because of videoconferencing.
Previous Topic
