Experiences with SRS/Logitech SmartDock

MVP

@David Phillips asked me to share out experience with the Logitech SmartDock and SRSv2 in another thread, I thought I would start a new post to collect other people's experience.

 

We are refurbishing our head office buildings, the first floor of the first building went live 3 weeks ago, so our experience is limited at this point. This floor has about 250 desks, and now a new collection of collaboration booths, high tables, etc. For the meeting rooms we installed :-

 

3 x 5 person Rooms with 46" screen, SmartDock, Logitech C930E and Senheisser ML20 Speaker

1 x 9 person Room with 65" screen SmartDock and Logitech Group

2 x 14 person room with 75" screen SmartDock, Logitech Group with extension mic, extron amp and ceiling speakers

3 x 55" Surfacehubs in a variety of different settings

 

We bought the SmartDocks separate to the Surface Pros inside them, didn't find any issue in following the instructions to create the build, and to configure the accounts in Skype Online. We manage them in Intune, but not in OMS (too expensive!). We've configured them with E1, CloudPBX, PSTN Conferencing and a UK Domestic DialPlan. They have wired connections to our direct internet connection, not through the corporate lan, they arent domain joined.

 

Out staffs response has been great, it's a big step up from the ugly collection of speakerphones and TVs we had before. Sound clarity is great, Video and screen sharing are very good. At the moment I would say about 40% of our meetings are using skype, and perhaps an equal number dialing into a legacy audioconferencing provider, the balance is shifting as people discover how much clearer the audio is in Skype. Having a quality solution in every bookable space makes a huge difference, we no longer need to think much about which site a user is at when booking a meeting, just find a point where people and a room are available and let them figure out where they want to be.

 

The Logitech Dock seems pretty good, lots of screws but we don't want something that users will take to bits. Solid feeling, very good swivel function. It would perhaps have been easier with a line out option inside the cable section. There lots of cables going in/out of the dock but our installers have done a good job of making it neat and unmovable.

 

We understand that we've bought into a very new product but its been remarkably stable. We are aware of 3 devices that reached a point where they needed a reboot as they became unresponsive (we schedule a reboot each night), this typically seems to be related to connecting local devices to the hdmi in.

 

We've had quite a lot of difficulty getting hdmi switch boxes working reliably on the hdmi input, we wanted to provide autoswtching between hdmi and mini-dp inputs. Forcing the switch to set an appropriate Edid seems to be helping, but I'm not convinced we've totally figured it right yet.

 

Users have raised 2 areas in the software that could be improved. 1. when dialing out to an external conference provider they cant then connect a laptop into the screen locally. 2. They would like to be able to cancel meetings that don't show up from the device, ideally we would like them to timeout like on a meeting room system.

 

We're now just over 3 weeks away from our second floor going live, 15 SRS and 4 Shubs. I'll update back here with any new expereinces. Looking forward to seeing what happens as the SRSv2 app updates. DM me if you want any recomendations for installers in th UK.

 

 Medium RoomMedium Room

 

43 Replies

@Jayson-L No, it's not possible to continue using the Surface in the SmartDock as a normal Windows computer. It will at boot automatically login and start the app automatically in fullscreen and you can't minimize it. You either need to bring a laptop or have another dedicated computer where the users logs in and connect it using HDMI or actually join the Skype meeting from there.

 

I've heard that there are plans for you to be able to attach PowerPoints to the meeting invite and present them in the meeting. Discussion regarding that here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams/MTR-Device-Attached-PowerPoint-Not-Showing/m-...

 

We don't yet support PPT control in Teams meetings on MTR (we do in SfB meetings though).  That's on our roadmap for sure.  With Teams meetings, in the future, you'll be able to not only add a PPT file to the meeting invite but also just add a cloud link and we'll be able to open the PPT on MTR.


 

@Jonas Back 

I see, thanks for the info. Guess we'll have to go a different direction.

@Jayson-L 

 

You can hook up a keyboard/mouse to the SmartDock, and tap the Windows key 5 times in succession, and it'll invoke the "switch user" function of Windows, allowing you to log in as another user on the SmartDock.  This isn't necessarily what it was designed for... to switch to using it as a regular computer, but it does "work".

 

Alternatively, you can enter the SmartDock "Settings" feature, then "Windows Settings", then then "Go to Admin Sign-In" log in as another user.  This actually logs out the Skype user.

 

These functions may have password popups and domain/admin credential requirements depending on how your SmartDock is set up.

 

In my view it would be better to bring in a laptop and "pass through" the SmartDock with the HDMI In, but I thought I'd at least share the other possibilities as well - if not ideal.

@MackenzieCounty 

Thanks! This actually helps a lot. Having the ability, even if not convenient, is super useful in our case. Thanks again.