Xilica® announces its partnership with Sennheiser to develop a fully integrated meeting room solution that minimizes installation time, improves sound quality, and optimizes collaboration among end users. The new partnership will leverage both companies' audio products, offering users a seamless deployment of adaptable and user-friendly audio conferencing systems with their IT infrastructure. The complete solution, combining Sennheiser's TeamConnect Ceiling 2 beamforming microphone with Xilica's DSP ecosystem, user interfaces, and network endpoints, ensures exceptional clarity in conversations for both in-person and remote participants in hybrid spaces. This allows end users to move flexibly around the space and customize their presentations to their liking, while maximizing audibility. The seamless integration of Sennheiser's TeamConnect Ceiling 2 with Xilica Solaro processors and Xilica Gio network endpoints will benefit both integrators and end users, enabling easy, code-free installation and pre-validated compatibility.
As part of the partnership, Xilica is enabling the TruVoicelift functionality in Sennheiser's TeamConnect Ceiling 2 (TCC2) across its entire Solaro Series DSP. Automatic audio testing and calibration simplify the installation of multiple Sennheiser TCC2 microphones, saving valuable time during system setup. Furthermore, TruVoicelift reduces background noise, amplifies the speaker, and creates focused zones for participants speaking from crowded areas. Thanks to this, along with Xilica's patented noise reduction system and HearClear echo cancellation algorithms, the new solution significantly reduces distractions in meetings.
In addition, the Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 and Xilica Solaro processors offer "mute" status synchronization for Microsoft Teams, enabling software-based mute actions, such as pressing a button in the Microsoft Teams application, to be reflected throughout the chain and back to the Sennheiser TCC2's LED status indicator. Similarly, the use of Xilica's user interfaces allows a mute action to be reflected in the Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 and back in the Microsoft Teams application, ensuring complete visibility for meeting room users.
“Today, meetings have more remote participants than ever before, and everyone needs to be heard clearly without distracting background noise or interruptions,” explains Charlie Jones, Head of Global Partnerships and Alliances at Sennheiser. “TruVoicelift is a perfect solution for conference rooms and auditoriums. It allows everyone to clearly hear the speaker or a student's question. Combined with Xilica's DSP, the end user will enjoy reliable, high-quality audio with exceptional room and user control.”.
Jones adds that the Xilica Solaro QR1 DSP's ultra-low profile will benefit integrators working in enterprise or education environments with limited or no rack space. Jones notes that the combination of Sennheiser's TeamConnect Ceiling 2 and the Xilica Solaro QR1 is ideal in such cases, as it requires no special configuration or cabling.
“Our customers are looking for cost-effective ways to incorporate audio and UC (unified communications), which historically lacked audio or relied solely on a microphone,” Jones continues. “The Xilica Solaro QR1’s compact form factor allows installers to mount the DSP virtually anywhere. It’s small, powerful, and PoE-enabled. We knew immediately that the combined solution would be highly advantageous for many Sennheiser customers. It’s also the standard for Sennheiser demonstration kits worldwide.”.
On the other hand, the follow-me camera tracking module is expected to be widely available for Sennheiser's TeamConnect Ceiling 2 in the fourth quarter of 2021, enabling automated PTZ using the TeamConnect Ceiling 2's position signal information, giving meeting room users even more freedom to make presentations in their respective spaces without having to worry about the AV infrastructure.
“We are delighted to partner with Sennheiser to help unleash the power of human connection,” says James Knight, Chief Operating Officer of Xilica. “Our joint solution offers a pre-validated system for a high-quality collaborative workspace, giving end users greater freedom and flexibility while saving integrators countless hours of installation. The combination of Sennheiser’s proprietary technologies with Xilica’s audio enhancement algorithms ensures a distraction-free experience that brings people even closer together.”.
