SRS2 Logitech or Crestron Smart Dock. Microsoft opinion ?

Brass Contributor

Dear members,

 

I have a SRS2 Logitech smart dock, and was interested with Crestron Smart dock for the Crestron capabilities to interact with our current Crestron automated investment. I had a discussion with Crestron recently and clearly this is not a product they want to promote in first place for many reasons, this is not a Crestron designed product from scratch, rather a Microsoft product designed and engineered by Crestron upon recommendations from Microsoft. They rather advised me on their product RL2 with is based on LRS1 old generation. I'm quite confused as i would like the best of both worlds : SRS2 with Skype for business and H323/SIP world with our old Polycom and the Crestron investment automation.

 

The challenge is to combine SRS2 with an existent Polycom installation because in our case, we cant get rid of oour current installation. What do you think ? Should i go to LRS1 with RL2 from Crestron and maybe not get the latest upgrades or wait for the SRS2 from Crestron (if one day they decide to sell it) ?

21 Replies

Crestron have started to sell Skype Room System 2 (next generation) now. Shipping in April. So I think that you should go with the new system. Then check with Polycom howto connect your old videosystem with Skype for Business.

 

http://www.crestron.com/products/line/microsoft-surface-dock-skype-for-business

 

 

Do you have a confirmation on that April GA date?  I know the page states it, but have you actually gotten a commitment from Crestron?

Hi,

 

No, I have no information directly from Crestron. Only this page and second hand information from people at Enterprise Connect that stoped by the Crestron booth.

Hi i got an insight response from Crestron and this Smart Dock is not officialy defined for the reseller they don't know if Microsoft is going to sell it or Crestron. They prefer to promote their own product ak Mercury or RL2 as shown in the ISE exposition. Shame because it looks good...

I received a call from Crestron as well.  They mentioned Mercury, however isn't RL2 still the first generation Lync / Skype Room System?  I'm waiting to hear back from them on information about their Next Generation Skype Room System.

Yes unfortunately it's the old generation Lync Room System1 and it will not be updated. Microsoft will put efforts towards SRS2 and evolutions of the build.

Mercury is not linked to SRS2 and is not embedded with a Skype account, rather a telephony product equipped with a camera. Think about a HUB with a USB camera, phone compatible with Cisco, and then you plug your PC to the Mercury and use this device.

I was at Enterprise Connect and they said it would be shipping very soon. I know some resellers have demo units, so they must be nearly available.  But they do have a big focus on their Mercury product too.

Yes it's indeed a big mystery for Crestron from a marketing point of view, this dock is sold as an accessory with a non Crestron product for Microsoft. It's considered as a limited product but it's a shame, they should interact with their Crestron DMPS300C matrix, i wish they could more promote this product
Folks, I have question in this area.
We have skype for business 2013. We have multiple surface hubs, old polycom systems which we are removing, crestron Ltd systems. We are opening a new building and due to time pressures it appears we don't have availability of any SRS2 solutions here in Australia (Polycom crestron). We Lso don't have time to test SRS2

We are looking using Surface hubs in rooms that are not too large.

We are being recommended Crestron RL2 with a supposed future upgrade at low cost to RL3. Is this a good strategic and technical approach? Any issues to consider?
Thanks
Just wondering why you are removing the Polycom systems, how old are they?

The RL2 is the LRS system, so it will get the upgrade for SfB branding. What you really want to look at is the Crestron SR (the Skype Rooms System v2) or Polycom MSR, Logitech SmartDock or even the Lenovo Hub 500 which should be available very soon.
Thanks for your reply. The Polycom endpoints are end of sale and support and some pre date the HDX models. We are looking at SRS systems but unfortunately only Logitech are shipping in Australia at present. We are looking at using Surface Hubs where possible. We wish avoid LRS based systems as the investment from MS and vendors will be in SRS.

This brings a question to mind - in an established Skype for Business environment, with all of the Skype endpoint options available for a wide range of conference spaces, what is the benefit of keeping a legacy Polycom infrastructure in place?  I can see maybe keeping Group Series as Skype endpoints, and Real Connect for interop, but is there a benefit to keeping HDX and down, and continuing support of VMRs and Polycom bridge meetings?

Some org's who have hundred's of legacy VTCs just cannot afford to rip and replace, so they keep HDX (and other Cisco/Tandberg/Lifesize etc) for a while.  They are still only doing 720p, so they do what they need.  They can then use a gateway to Skype enable the HDX's and bring them into Skype meetings. 

I think Lenovo are quite close to launching theirs and I thought Polycom had global availability. The Surface Hub is an awesome device. I had a customer in the office this week and we were using our hub and he said what an awesome tool. He had never seen it being used as it should - whiteboard, web browsing, Skype calling etc.

@Deleted wrote:
I think Lenovo are quite close to launching theirs and I thought Polycom had global availability. The Surface Hub is an awesome device. I had a customer in the office this week and we were using our hub and he said what an awesome tool. He had never seen it being used as it should - whiteboard, web browsing, Skype calling etc.

I couldn't agree more.  We have 28 deployed and our users have really embraced them.  


@Deleted wrote:

Some org's who have hundred's of legacy VTCs just cannot afford to rip and replace, so they keep HDX (and other Cisco/Tandberg/Lifesize etc) for a while.  They are still only doing 720p, so they do what they need.  They can then use a gateway to Skype enable the HDX's and bring them into Skype meetings. 


I assumed it was more of a cost based decision.  We are finding that Skype is just easier to use, and as we replace legacy systems with Skype systems, support requirements for those spaces (aside from the general how-to type stuff) tends to drop off dramatically.

Hi Christophe,

 

Polycom have recently announced GroupSeries support for Microsoft VBSS support.  This has been a feature request from customers and provides a great native content experience with GroupSeries and SkypeforBusiness.  There is a good video demo here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6377309763583217664.  Given you already have Polycom endpoints in your environment the latest firmware on GroupSeries may provide you with additional features that you have not had access to before to provide a better meeting experience.

 

Also worth noting is that the Polycom SRS version is now shipping (Polycom MSR).  This is the native Microsoft Skype Room System

Hi Alec,

 

Polycom MSR (Microsoft SRS1) is shipping in Australia.  Agree with Graham that availability and features of endpoints have changed / moved forward significantly in recent months.

Hi Christophe, we are aiming to make the whole stack as native as possible to reduce the amount of complexity and additional integration. We don't have any group series endpoints (all HDX and some pre HDX). Also in the current environment we already have the Polycom content sharing suite which has increased our complexity. The move will be to native SRS systems. The ultimate goal at the endpoints is to commoditize them as much as physically possible whilst maintaining usability. Our strategy is to make every VC experience as similar and compelling a user experience as possible whether it be on a mobile device, home device, work pc or in a room. Different or non native endpoints is not our strategic method to achieve that. At the backend we have standard gateways etc. to allow flexible connectivity.

 

I recall seeing an organization well ahead of the curve a few years ago where they achieved most of this user experience and simplicity by installing PC's running Lync as it was then in their meeting rooms. Whilst there were limitations there was no doubt they achieved a unified user experience. The hardware for the last few years (driven by MS) is clearly taking that approach. For example we now with SRS have Windows 10 devices running key VC functions in the room. With Surface Hubs also coming in (a big windows 10 device) we are now able to put these devices on our core management network and deal with them as commodities not specialized systems.