The EPSON EB-1430Wi In A Corporate Environment

The term “Collaboration” has become the buzz word over the last couple of years. This is understandable as technologies have changed the way meetings and presentations are conducted from one dimensional to a more synergistic approach. Collaboration has been touted as a competitive edge as it allows for more inputs from participants that can be instantly showcased and even enables remote participation which in turn promotes better productivity.

So how does the Epson EB-1430Wi interactive projector fit into this collaboration scenario in a corporate environment?

Before we get into that let us delve a little into the projector's details. In brief the Epson EB-1430Wi is an ultra-short throw interactive projector that is able to turn any flat surface; be it a wall or a table, into an interactive space. It is able to do this within a limited space because of its ultra-short throw characteristic. In addition users can be assured of sharp, vibrant images and bright colour and white output of 3,300 lumens. At that level of lumens the projected images can be viewed from anywhere in the room, without the need to dim the lights. This itself is a great advantage as it enables participants to write notes and communicate with each other comfortably under normal lighting conditions.

The projector comes with wall-mounting bracket, interactive pens, finger touch unit and control pad to ensure a seamless experience. The projector itself has a number of interfaces that correspond with conventional analogue sources and it is compatible with two types of HDMI sources as well for digital connections.

Now let us look at how the Epson EB- 1430Wi can help in a typical corporate environment.

Connectivity and Interactivity

Using the interfaces on the projector, users can connect video players, document camera, computer and even a USB to bring the images onto the projected area. That in itself is nothing special. However what is interesting is that the user can annotate on the projected images regardless of what content is projected, with his or her finger or the included interactive pen. This can be used for document revision, adding handwritten signatures, modifying charts and highlighting key information.

Connecting a PC via a USB cable makes it possible to control the PC via the interactive pen which will act as the computer mouse, thus making it convenient to control the PC from the presentation space. As most corporate environment still use Microsoft Office software, the projector offers users the advantage of bringing up the documents onto the projected area, handwrite comments and draw diagrams directly on the document then saving it in the original file format. This is applicable for Windows Vista or later software.

PC Free Whiteboard Functions

The whiteboard is synonymous with meetings. Of course, it has now grown from a traditional whiteboard to an interactivity tool that helps make meetings and presentations more productive.

The Epson EB-1430Wi projector has a whiteboard function that can be activated through the provided Control Pad. With the Whiteboard function, users can start a meeting “instantly” without the need for a PC.

Users can simply walk into the meeting room and switch to Whiteboard mode and start writing notes or annotating images. It's as simple as that!

The Whiteboard allows users to resize and move whatever is on the screen. So if the user needs space to write, it can be created by shrinking down the contents occupying the space. This can be done by using fingers and not just with the provided interactive pen – just as easy as you would with a touchscreen smartphone or tablet. Opening and closing files, scrolling, moving and expanding objects, and annotation are just some of the possibilities available at the touch of a finger.

What If You Need To Bring Content From A Different Source?

In the olden days this would be a hassle but now especially with the Epson EB-1430Wi projector it is easy to view contents from different sources. A variety of content including data from USB memory, pictures off a smartphone or tablet and even web site data can be easily displayed on the whiteboard. This multifunction machine also has a scan feature so you can incorporate paper based resources into your discussions.

How Much Space Does The User Have?

No matter how well you plan it, it is possible for meetings to run long but with the EB-1430Wi there is no need to worry about running out of space when writing notes or importing information as users can generate up to 50 pages without any hassle. Being interactive, users can of course use their fingers or the interactive pen to open and close files, scroll, move and expand projects and annotate with ease.

Sharing Made As Easy As ABC

One key consideration is how does one share all the notes, comments and annotations after the meeting. This is a critical aspect of ensuring that all that discussion does have follow-up action. And that is only possible if all those in attendance and even those who need to be in the know are given those meeting notes. This is made easy with the projector. Whiteboard mode allows users to output the meeting results onsite in the user's preferred format. Time to perform tasks such as saving meeting data to PDF (on USB memory, Network), sending email, printing, and making meeting minutes has been shortened considerably. Users can also reuse and edit data again from a previous whiteboard session that was saved to a USB memory or server. How is that for productivity!

Getting Remote Participants Involved

It is not just about video conferencing any more when it comes to discussions with fellow company personnel from different local or overseas offices. Realtime collaboration including sharing of notes, images, videos and realtime annotation and comments is what makes interactive collaboration a true productive tool.

Users can connect the projector on their LAN via a wired or wireless connection. Using the included EasyMP® Network Projection version 2.81 application allows users to project a presentation via a maximum of 4 network connected projectors and enables individual mouse control from each location. This presents the ultimate interactive collaboration via the network from remote locations.

The split screen function allows images from 2 inputs to be projected at the same time. So if the user is also in video conference mode, one image can showcase the participants like in a typical video conference and the other screen can be used to project the content that is being discussed.

Other than four different locations, with the Whiteboard Share function, up to 15 participants can join the meeting using their own device and play an active role in proceedings. After the meeting participants can download the whiteboard contents directly to their device.

Meeting The Needs Of A Corporate Environment

Enabling productivity, ease-of-use, working with different inputs, interactivity, getting remote personnel involved and sharing of all the documents in an effective manner is what sets the Epson EB-1430Wi apart from its competition. This well thought out projector with its many features and functions makes it a valuable resource in a corporate environment.

For more details about the Epson interactive projectors and request for a free product demonstration, visit http://www.epson.com.sg/masterofinnovation

Source: System Integration Asia, October – November 2015 issue, Page 28 – 29