Intel has brought support for its Unite technology to iPads, providing fewer excuses to miss meetings. Later, the chip maker will bring support to Chromebooks as well. Unite is designed to make it simpler for remote and on-site attendees to log in, share monitors and whiteboards, and securely collaborate during meetings.
Unite to target education market soon
Attendees can share videos and documents or switch on hardware like projectors after logging into a central hub PC. They are then logged by the Unite client software, which may use Windows PCs or Mac, into the hub PC. Attendees outside or inside the conference room can share presentations on a large monitor or other computing devices through the hub.
Tom Garrison, the general manager of the Business Client Platforms division at Intel and vice president of the Client Computing Group, said the client software will now work with the iPad, and support will be added for Chromebooks in the future. Garrison didn’t mention when Chromebook support would be added.
Every six months, Intel adds new features to Unite, and maybe Chromebook support is in one of those upgrade cycles. In the education market, Chromebooks are quite popular, and this will help the chip maker target the education market with Unite as well.
An unconventional product for Intel
Unite is an unconventional product for the chip maker as it does not underline its hardware technology. The hub PC needs a Core processor with vPro technology as one prerequisite. Currently, the chip maker sells a wireless dock with WiGig (which is faster than Wi-Fi). WiGig could be used to project presentations on large conference room monitors. Unite will make its way into areas like the Internet of Things, said Garrison.
Intel also made incremental improvements to Unite. Now videos rather than just static images and Powerpoint slides can be shared among participants in meetings. This is an important improvement by the chip maker. In addition, improvements have been made to log-in, scheduling, and security features as well.
Unite has several competitors as well, such as Skype, GoToMeeting, Webex and other client software designed for collaboration and meetings. The chip maker is, however, hoping to reach a wider audience by getting its software pre-installed on PCs.
Intel has been using the software internally for more than a year. Unite helps in starting meetings promptly, thus saving money and time. This year, the chip maker is hoping to improve productivity by 112,000 hours by deploying Unite in 2,300 meeting rooms.
