Meeting tech expectations

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Julian Kraft.

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New technology has revolutionised international business, allowing a single conference to take place on four different continents simultaneously.

Dubai's Jumeirah Emirates Towers has recently introduced a new video teleconferencing system. Tech Talk discusses the demand for state-of-the-art technology with IT director Julian Kraft.

Jumeirah Emirates Towers is regarded as one of the best business hotels in the Middle East, offering its corporate guests the large Godolphin Ballroom and a full range of meetings technology in its Biz Pod business centre.

"Current demand in meetings technology is for state-of-the-art equipment, which is user friendly and compatible with the equipment that is carried around with the business traveller," says the property's IT director Julian Kraft.

Jumeirah has recently introduced a number of new meetings technology solutions to its congress rooms, including a state of the art plug and play audiovisual and projection system.

"The entire system features inputs for six computer displays with audio, and switching is remotely controlled either by a 10-inch touch panel located on the wall at the entrance to the Congress Room or a wireless executive remote control," explains Kraft.

"The guest also has the option of routing presentations to large LCD or plasma screens and an audio video recording facility and additional wireless or congress delegate microphones are available on request. This is serviced at all times by a back-up team of dedicated IT professionals.

Other meetings technology trends coming up include futuristic DLP (Digital Light Processing) technology, streets ahead of LCD technology according to Kraft; digital audio and video; HD projection; and video via IP.

"Communication is [also] a vital part of our lives today, especially for the business traveller, and business professionals need to have quick and easy access to communication tools, hence the increasing demand for the latest phones, Blackberries and laptops," adds Kraft.

Jumeirah Emirates Towers is looking to upgrade its internet to 10GB speed as a first step on the road to providing "the best IP facilities and WiFi connectivity within our hotel".

"As soon as the market in the region gets more flexible towards bandwidth we will be looking into upgrading all areas where we need dedicated bandwidth," says Kraft.

The most recent product to be introduced to Emirates Towers' Biz Pod business centre is the portable Video Life Size video conferencing system, which offers "telepresence quality, high definition video and audio, for a realistic, authentic experience" according to Kraft.

"This state of the art technology allows participants to be displayed simultaneously with a four-way continuous presence, and share presentations, documents and multimedia, providing productive interaction as well as the simple exchange of information," he says.

"With this new technology, conferences can be carried out on four different continents and a fifth person can follow the conference via audio connection.

"Jumeirah Emirates Towers is the first hotel in the Middle East to offer such technology to its guests."

This new system will provide business travellers with flexibility and enable them to make fast decisions unhindered by their location.

"It will increase their productivity and efficiency and limit the amount of travelling and therefore costs. With schedules that are often full, business travelers are extremely time-conscious and using the new video teleconferencing system will make their schedules less hectic," says Kraft.

"At Jumeirah Emirates Towers we are keen to set state-of-the-art technology benchmarks, as we already have in this instance. A month after the introduction of this product we have already seen an increase in popularity and other hotels have already started to follow suit.

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