Technology Reseller v37

COMMUNICATIONS technologyreseller.co.uk 31 NTA brand refresh and outputs clean A4 sheets at the other, thus saving resources whilst also improving data security by keeping printed documents on-site. Having launched the first commercial version of this product in Europe last year, Epson is working on scaling down the technology, potentially into devices not much larger than a copier. Within the next two or three years, it hopes to bring out a version that turns waste paper into packaging material. Wells adds that Epson’s focus on sustainability extends to its business scanners, which he also looks after, and which are designed to use much less energy than equivalent products from other manufacturers, while still offering the benefits of productivity and agility. “The pandemic provides a great example of this. Because some Epson scanners can be used through both a USB connection and a network connection, we have had people take their scanner from the office and use it in a WFH environment. Then, when lockdown ends, the scanner can make the return journey back to the office,” he said. In the meantime, Epson is leveraging its expertise in projection to transform remote maintenance and support through the continued development of its Moverio virtual reality glasses, which have a big environmental benefit by enabling engineers to support devices remotely without the need to travel to distant sites. Wells hopes that encouraging people to look at technologies throughout their lifecycle will also inspire more customers to choose projection over heavy, expensive displays. “Similar to our crusade to get heat- free printers into the office space, I am focused on trying to deliver interactivity to classrooms through the medium of projection rather than flat panels. You can create a much larger image with a projector than you can through a panel and would have to spend many times the cost of a projector on a flat panel or a video wall to deliver an image of the same size. We think that’s important because, with the return to school and socially distant classes, some pupils are going to be further from the front of the class than they have ever been. “If you are looking at a 65in screen – the typical panel size sold into schools – it is unlikely that pupils at the sides and the back of the class will be able to see everything. Projecting at up to 120 inches – the typical projection size of our school projectors – is more inclusive. And if you are using areas such as the assembly hall for teaching, to keep more people in the class, our high brightness projectors go up to 500 inches in size. “You can get that interactive experience through projection without having a very heavy, very expensive and, at end of life, harder product to dispose of that has a lot of glass, a lot of plastic and a lot of metal in it,” he said. www.epson.co.uk NTA has refreshed its brand identity and improved the user interface on its website, www.nta.co.uk , to give visitors a more efficient and faster experience and to make it easier for them to find exactly what they are looking for. It has also added new functionality to its solutions to meet changing customer requirements during the pandemic, notably Mobex to support remote, home and mobile working. Developed in-house, the Mobex mobile and softphone app gives users the functionally of their office system, including the ability to make, take, hold and transfer calls received from the office using their mobile device or PC softphone. Useful features include busy lamp fields and user presence, enabling users to see who is busy on a call or otherwise unavailable; a call history tab that shows any missed calls; and a Cloud Phone book tab to access office and local contacts. Users’ endpoints – desk phone, desktop softphone and mobile application – can all have the same extension, with the ability to ‘flip’ calls between different endpoints for true mobility. Enhancing Teams The last 12 months have seen a massive increase in the adoption of the Microsoft Teams collaboration suite, offering video, chat, presence, file and screen sharing. NTA’s Teams integration adds better telephony functionality to the mix, giving MS Teams users all the advanced functionality of NTA’s cloud telephony platform. The perfect opportunity to ‘bring it all together’, the integration adds external customer contact details to the Microsoft Teams product, giving users the ability to make and receive internal and external calls, transfer, hold, and consult whilst using the Teams, speed dial, contact or history screens. NTA claims that these solutions have been effective in helping partners to win deals and achieve upwards of 80% gross profit.