“Soon, video projectors will be replaced by wide screen touchscreens in all the meeting rooms!”

How does it work?

Infrared is the most common technology used in touchscreens today.

Infrared waves are longer than those of visible light, but shorter than those of radio waves. As a result, Infrared light is a type of light that cannot be seen.

Infrared diodes, spanning the entire width and length of the screen, create a bright, squared beam on the surface. When the user touches the screen, it interrupts this beam at X and Y, which determines the point of contact. Infrared can support up to 32 touch points, depending on the brand.

The pros

• Infrared is a simple, established, and time-tested technology. Moreover, IR diodes have a great life expectancy. As a result, IR touchscreens are reliable, last a long time, and are relatively affordable.
• Infrared touchscreens don’t require any specific drivers. That means you can connect your computer to the touchscreen without installing a driver or any software.
• As earlier stated, when the user touches the screen, it interrupts this beam at X and Y, which determines the point of contact. If you use your palm (establishing many points of contact), the touchscreen will be able to recognize that you are using your palm (and not your finger). Thanks to this capability, you can erase a whiteboard using your whole hand and then draw using your finger or a pen.
• IR touchscreens are available in lengths of up to 5 meters; suitable for large, touchscreen Vidiwalls.
• You can interact with the screen wearing gloves.
• IR touchscreens can achieve a precision of 4.5 mm object detection (which is quite good) and offer a response time of up to 10ms (also quite good).
• As there is no additional overlay (contrary to capacitive screens, explained below), IR touchscreens offer very good image clarity.
• Because IR is a “on top” solution, IR-based glass touchscreens can come at any level of thickness (good for outdoor use, for instance).

This is what we call the “height contact”
The less sensitive the height-contact, the better. As a result, compared to other technologies with zero height-contact, the precision of a IR touchscreen is not as good.

SLW is technology based on IR. IR method is based on the X and Y Axis. This way, the processor can only obtain the coordinates. With SLW, the processor can also describe the shape of an object by using the (extra) light waves across the screen. For example, the screen will give different results when using a finger or a palm touch.

Projected capacitive technology (PCAP)

How does it work?

When a finger (or anything) electrically charged approaches a PCAP-based surface, the electric charge of the surface is altered (capacitance). Projected capacitive technology detects a touch by measuring the capacitance at each addressable point on the surface. The change in capacitance is measured and converted into X and Y locations. Projected capacitive technology is a mesh of very thin conductive wires, encapsulated in an adhesive, transparent foil and then placed under glass.

The cons

• Capacitive screens are comparatively costly.
• You cannot use ski gloves, unless they are conductive gloves (no way of telling).
• Capacitive screens do not offer a very good contrast, brightness or anti-glare effect compared to IR or a DVIT touchscreen (see below).
• A capacitive screen cannot function if the surface is wet.

“Projected capacitive offers a high-precision interaction with the screen”.

DVIT

How does it work?

The pros

DVIT is able to recognize your finger, your palm or a pen, and offers an excellent touch-sensitivity.

As with IR, and contrary to capacitive screens, there is no “overlay” over the glass. That means DVIT screens are robust, offer a good contrast and a good anti-glare effect.

“DVIT is able to recognize your finger, your palm or a pen, and offers an excellent touch-sensitivity”.

InGlass Infrared

How does it work?

Invisible light waves are emitted into a transparent glass where they are then detected on the opposite side by a detector. When an object touches the surface, it causes a disturbance which is measured and calculated at an X,Y position.

The pros

• InGlass technology offers an excellent image clarity as well as a no-brightness effect.
• As with capacitive, Inglass screens can be bezel-free, offering a great design.
• You can use InGlass while wearing gloves.
• InGlass screens offer up to 100 touch points and a response time of up to 5ms.
• As with capacitive and infrared, no driver is needed.
• InGlass is able to recognize up to 1000 levels of pressure.

The cons

• InGlass prices range between capacitive and infrared (closer to capacitive).
• InGlass touchscreens offer a poor anti-glare effect.
• The glass thickness must be at least 3.2mm. This means InGlass is not suitable for harsh environments.

“InGlass technology offers an excellent image clarity as well as a no-brightness effect.”

Summary

Autonomous Capacity

Integrated or external?

A touchscreen is still only just a screen. In other words, if not connected to “something,” a touchscreen is pretty much useless. This “something” can be:

• A hardware component directly integrated within the screen.
• An external computer (which could be your personal computer, connected via HDMI for audio/video and via USB for the touch capacity, or other types of external devices).

A touchscreen that integrates an operating system is what we call an autonomous touchscreen, while a touchscreen that does not integrate an operating system is not autonomous.

Let’s run through some solutions:

An Open Pluggable Specification (OPS) directly inserted within the screen.

An external mini-computer attached to the back of the screen through a standard panel.

This solution is the most flexible and cost-effective solution. However, as the mini-computer is not directly integrated within the screen, you will have to power the screen and the mini-computer by an alternative means. If the touchscreen comes with USB ports, these USB ports will not be connected to the mini-computer (contrary to an OPS or another computer-like integrated solution).

Summary

Meeting room touch screen: Market Vision and Brands

Market vision

Here is our vision of the meeting room market over the next five years.

• Meeting rooms will become specialized: dedicated creativity rooms, dedicated training rooms, dedicated sales rooms, and dedicated decision-making/project rooms (this last one accounting for probably 70% of a company’s meeting rooms).
• Meetings will become more “seamless:” connected to the company’s social network (or any data repository).
• The average equipment cost of a meeting room will increase. As a result, companies will need to be able to measure their return on investment.
• Touchscreens will expand significantly over the next five years with OPS (or similar solutions), webcams, mics, and captors. Touchscreens will be regarded as computersand projects will be handled more and more by the IT team and less and less by the AV team.
• As personal videoconferencing (such as Skype for Business.) is currently a “must have” on any personal computer, videoconferencing-equipped meeting rooms will likewise become the norm (even if not used). The need will develop for any room to be videoconferencing-equipped(creativity sessions, training, sales, decision-making/projects) contrary to one decade ago.
• Meetings will be more “hands-free.” No need to display your device since the screen will be connected to all of the data you need.
• Productivity during meetings will become more important for companies as the data-driven analysis of the “value of time” becomes easier to measure.

Brand vision

Until 2016, the touchscreen market existed as a niche market for the corporate segment. Today, it has emerged as a volume-driven market.

In the corporate EMEA market (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), five leading brands control 46% of the market:  CTOUCH, Sharp, Smart, Samsung, Sahara. 19% of the market is shared amongst well-known brands like Dell, Viewsonic, LG, etc.

34% of the market is shared amongst “unknown” brands, which are typically “white-labelled” brands (i.e., touchscreens manufactured in China and sold in Europe through a sales-oriented brand label).

We believe that the market will consolidate (as any volume-driven market does) at the benefit of current leaders. We predict that the top 5 leaders will come to share 80% of the market in the next 3 years.

Compared to other corporate markets, the APAC market (Asia and Oceania) has no leading brand — the top 20 brands do not exceed 50% of the market share. Even if well-known brands such as Sharp, Smart, Samsung, Panasonic were in the top 20, none of these would represent a significant portion of APAC sales.

The specificity of this market is due especially to the protectionism measures of local governments. This is what allows local brands to succeed in these markets.

We believe that in the next three years, 4 or 5 brands will dominate just as is currently the case in EMEA market. We predict that the top 5 leaders will include a mix of well-known brands as well as local brands, which are now emerging as thanks to solid technology and an affordable pricing position like Prolight.

Warranties

Default warranties start from 2 years (Samsung) and go to 7 years (CTOUCH). Warranties and extended warranties are an important decision lever.

Note on Surface Hub, Google Jamboard and Cisco Spark Board

As Surface Hub, Google Jamboard and Cisco Spark Board are dedicated touchscreens, we decided not to include these screens into this whitepaper’s discussion.

Which Screen Size for My Meeting Room?

The bigger your room is, the bigger the screen needs to be. It’s as simple as that.

Meeting room touch screen: define Your Use Case

The purpose of an ideation room is to generate ideas or solve complex problems collaboratively. This room type can be equipped with ideation software (brainstorming, sticky notes, etc.) and make use of a large size touch surface.

Collaborators may work standing up and meetings may last quite long (several hours or even a full day). Efficient room capacity is 5 to 8 people. If there are more than 8 people, you should consider splitting up participants into several groups / rooms. Meetings last longer here than in other room types.

Ideation software must be able to discern between a pen, a finger, and a palm. The touch-experience must be optimal, and the multi-touch capacity is also important.

Ideation software must be preinstalled and ready to use directly from the screen and, therefore, the touchscreen must offer either an OPS, an integrated PC or an external mini-computer solution. As ideation software can be rather specific, Android touchscreens are not an option. Touch experience and multi-touch capacity are very important.

The purpose of an efficiency room is to make decisions (deciding on a budget for a project, for instance, or updating a project roadmap). In this room type, users need to be able to display their documents via their personal devices, sketch on a whiteboard, annotate their documents, and to do all of this in a very intuitive and simple manner. Participants may also need to make videocalls with other rooms or remote attendees, as well as share their documents with these non-present parties.

These meetings are typically short and efficient (45 minutes max). Attendees work standing up or sitting down. Efficiency rooms may be small or large, with space for 2 to 8 people. If there are more than 8 participants, it would be considered more as a presentation room (see below).

Attendees may be internal or external, bringing their own personal devices with different types of connectors (HDMI, mini-HDMI, USB, nothing, etc.). A wireless display solution is a “must-have” feature for this room type. Having an integrated room-booking feature would be considered as a “nice to have.”

Touch experience is very important while multi-touch capacity is also important.

Kickle is a great example of an efficient meeting room solution, especially if you already use Skype for Business as a unified communication solution. Kickle is offered as a mini-computer or directly integrated into certain touchscreens. Want to know more? check this out!

Presentation room

A presentation room is a room where a presenter conducts a speech or presentation before an audience of attendees. Compared to an efficiency room or an ideation room, presentation meetings are not interactive. The presenter only needs to display their device, annotate using the touchscreen, and eventually sketch something on the whiteboard—all in a very intuitive and simple manner.

Room capacity ranges from 8 to 40 people. For efficiency rooms, a wireless display solution is a “must-have” feature while videoconferencing is usually not needed.

Touch experience and multi-touch experience are not crucial. The screen size should be quite large.

Training room

In this room type, trainees and trainers need to be able to display their computers, and to do so simultaneously. The trainer must be able to take control of the trainees’ devices if needed. The trainer also needs to be able to use specific training software and specific whiteboard tools.

The room capacity ranges from 6 to 30 people. Videoconferencing may be useful. Touch experience and multi-touch experience are important. Depending on the size of the room, screen size should be large.