New offer and extension of Lifesize Dash to PC-based meeting room kits allow customers to reclaim hardware, avoid the ‘room tax’ and easily migrate to Lifesize video conferencing platform

Lifesize, a global innovator of video collaboration and meeting productivity solutions, today announced significant enhancements to its interoperable and cloud-connected Lifesize Dash meeting room kit software solution.

These enhancements include a new free licensing model that allows organizations to immediately save up to $1000 per room per year as compared to alternatives like Zoom Rooms. The company also released an updated tablet-based Lifesize Room Controller application for Dash and expanded Dash compatibility with PC-based meeting room kit solutions. This enables customers to repurpose existing hardware investments and migrate to Lifesize without incurring additional costs, resulting in substantial savings across all video-equipped rooms.

“Video conferencing is a critical component of organizations’ long-term communication strategy; however, the cost and complexity of getting started remain significant barriers to adoption,” said Michael Helmbrecht, chief operating officer for Lifesize. “Lifesize Dash represents the highest quality, most scalable path to capitalize on meeting rooms and the existing hardware kits within them, unlocking the potential for organization-wide video collaboration. By making Dash available to customers at no cost, we aim to help them mitigate their frustrations with competitive solutions, reduce per-room licensing and interoperability fees – the ‘room tax’ or ‘Zoom tax’ – and achieve higher ROI from video initiatives.”

“With these Dash enhancements, Lifesize has addressed several longstanding barriers to adoption – cost, compatibility and ease of use,” said Ira M. Weinstein, managing partner at analyst firm Recon Research. “The free meeting room software license is especially interesting. Many providers offer freemium models for personal conferencing, but freemium for meeting room video conferencing takes things to the next level. Lifesize continues to challenge the status quo, and its users (including the folks at Recon Research) reap the benefit.”

Lifesize Dash Licensing and Compatibility

Beginning today, customers can implement Lifesize Dash on Chromebox or Windows PC-based meeting room kit devices – with support for Mac room kits coming in 2020 – preserving their hardware investments while delivering a superior video conferencing experience through Lifesize.

Each free Dash license enables organizations to register one meeting room to the Lifesize cloud service, supporting scheduled or instantaneous group video calls with up to 25 participants. Lifesize Dash customers also benefit from native interoperability and support for incoming calls from external SIP/H.323 meeting room endpoints for no additional charge.

Lifesize Room Controller Application

Additionally, Lifesize introduced a new Room Controller app that can be used together with Dash and an Android or Apple room kit tablet to enhance the meeting experience by enabling camera controls, at-a-glance integrated calendar views, one-touch join for active meetings and intuitive access to essential collaboration features. Meeting hosts and participants can leave their laptops at their desks, relying on the Room Controller app and Dash to facilitate their meetings.

Replacing existing meeting room kit software with Lifesize Dash and the Lifesize Room Controller app drives multiple benefits for end users and IT teams, including:

  • Quality. Experience the best video conferencing quality and centralized software management in the industry while repurposing dedicated meeting room kit systems that can now adequately serve any space or group meeting.
  • Interoperability. Use Dash to call any other video communication service, meeting or device and collaborate in a broadly interoperable way, without encountering hidden fees or limitations.
  • Reliability. Employ Lifesize’s secure and reliable cloud-based global video conferencing service without worrying about contracts or paid licenses.

To learn more and request a free Lifesize Dash room license, visit: https://www.lifesize.com/dash.