Neat, a company that aims to design simple and elegant video devices for Microsoft Teams and Zoom, was showing its full range of collaboration solutions at Integrate 2022. Sean Carroll swung past the stand to learn more.

After debuting in Australia two years ago, the Neat solution aims to support specifically Microsoft Teams and Zoom customers. All of the company’s R&D is conducted out of Oslo, Norway, colloquially known as ‘Video Valley’ with some of the best people in the industry working there.

When it comes to Neat, one of their main goals is to keep it simple and make the most intuitive collaboration experience for users. This is seen in Neat’s smaller product range, starting with the Neat Pad, a single-user device, all the way up through small enterprises to larger conference rooms.

“We’ve only got a small range of devices which the core products are made up of five devices and we don’t intend on expanding that,” Neat regional director, Australia and New Zealand, Paul Falzon explains.

“And that’s intentional because we are trying to keep it as simple as possible when deciding what is the right device for a particular meeting space. With the range of products that we’ve got, we can satisfy 95% of the meeting rooms that you see in a hybrid work environment today.”

The next step up from the Neat Pad is the Neat Frame, a larger, single-screen device that can be carried from desk to desk with an inbuilt handle. Paul says this is a solution that gives either the home user, office executive or the smallest meeting spaces like privacy booths, focus rooms or freestanding booths a simple setup.

“We’ve tried to take things a little bit differently,” Paul says.

“We’re not trying to be a monitor. What we’re actually trying to do with these devices is take the best of what Microsoft Teams and Zoom has to offer and deliver it consistently to the desk.”

And finally, for the small-to-medium collaboration spaces and medium-to-large conference rooms, there’s the Neat Bar, the Neat Board and the Neat Bar Pro. These three are the typical collaboration solutions Neat has for commercial enterprises.

“The Neat Board is our all-in-one product, and it’s based on the original Neat Bar. It still suits the same sort of size rooms and it gives you all the AV capability that’s embedded inside of the Neat Bar alongside an intuitive touch panel,” Paul says.

“With the Neat Board, you have the cameras, the computer, the microphones, speakers… the whole lot integrated into a 65” touch panel. It gives users a really wide viewing angle that’s also capable of zooming in if necessary.”

The Neat Board gives users the scope to not only host/join meetings, but also whiteboard, annotate and connect through the live meeting.

Another feature of the entire suite of Neat products is that they’re really good at protecting the investment. All of the products can be specified for both Microsoft Teams and Zoom but if a user factory resets a device, it can be loaded up for a different application.

When asked about supply chain issues, Paul was confident that the company has planned well enough to ensure wait times are at a minimum: “It’s a lot easier to manage individually because we’ve only got the five physical meeting room products. So, managing inventory is simple and that simplicity is in our DNA.”