Google lanceerde net een “Chromebox for meetings”, een pakket voor 999 dollar waardoor je als bedrijf (of als school), snel en goedkoop hoog kwalitatieve teleconferenties kan organiseren.

Ze combineren in feite hardware met de bekende Google+ hangouts. Voorlopig is het pakket enkel nog maar te koop in de VS maar de rest van de wereld volgt.

Enkele eigenschappen van Chromebox for meetings volgens Google zelf:

• Instant meeting room. Chromebox for meetings comes with a blazing-fast Intel Core i7-based Chromebox, a high-definition camera, a combined microphone and speaker unit and a remote control. Set up your entire room in minutes and easily manage all meeting rooms from a web-based management console. All you need is the display in your room, and you’re good to go.
• Simpler and faster meetings. Walk into the room, click the remote once and you’re instantly in the meeting. No more complex dial-in codes, passcodes or leader PINs. Share your laptop screen wirelessly, no need for any cords and adaptors. Integration with Google Apps makes it easy to invite others and add rooms to video meetings, directly from Google Calendar.
• Meetings with anyone, anywhere. Up to 15 participants can join the video meeting from other conference rooms, their laptops, tablets or smartphones. Need to meet with a customer who doesn’t use Chromebox for meetings? That’s easy too—all they need is a Gmail account. You can also connect to rooms that have traditional video conferencing systems using a new tool from Vidyo, and participants who prefer phones can join your meeting with a conference call number from UberConference.