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Surface Hub
September 22, 2020

Surface Hub 2S bridges digital and physical divide in today’s hybrid workspaces

Update 1/11/2021: Microsoft announced that Surface Hub 2S 85” will begin shipping broadly to business and education customers in select markets around the world this month. For more information visit this link.

Surface Hub 2S expands product line with new 85” device available for pre-sales reservations in the U.S. starting today and two new critical software capabilities to enable people to collaborate efficiently and effectively no matter where they’re working from.

We designed the first Surface Hub for teams to use together – pushing the boundaries of hardware and software to deliver a meeting and collaboration experience that transcended the confines of the traditional conference room. We wanted to connect teams dispersed across buildings and time zones with a new, more intuitive and inclusive way to hold meetings, share content and work together. With the changes in our work landscape and more people working remotely, now more than ever businesses are looking for technology that helps recreate the energy and connection we feel when we’re in a room together.

In these last six months of remote work, we’ve seen our customers transform how they use Surface Hub across a range of industries, underscoring its value in today’s workplace. For example, healthcare providers, hospitals and pandemic crisis response teams have used Surface Hub to bridge collaboration between remote offices, satellite locations and central response locations. Some even placing Surface Hub in wards and specific locations so that communities can be kept in contact with frontline services, on large screens that allow them to access the information they need. We’ve seen schools and educational institutions accelerating their digital transformation driven by the need to offer equitable remote or hybrid learning for students. To increase engagement, many institutions are replacing older technology including projectors and whiteboards with digital collaboration solutions like Surface Hub. In the public sector, Surface Hub is being used in virtual crisis centers and is playing a role increasing collaboration between police departments, public safety and national security workers, reducing the need for travel between offices or other remote locations. A wide variety of organizations see a clear need for digital tools like Surface Hub to engage teams and enable collaboration wherever people are physically located.

As many parts of the world move back to the office or plan for new hybrid and satellite work environments, Surface Hub will be there to ease that transition – even with new considerations in space planning like the need for social distancing. One benefit to a larger screen that Hub provides is that it can help implement social distancing for people to stay six feet apart while working together.

Today, we’re pleased to share four important announcements for Surface Hub:

  • Pre-sales reservations for Surface Hub 2S 85” start today in the U.S. Businesses can begin pre-sales reservations for Surface Hub 2S 85” in the U.S. today with more markets to follow later this year. Availability will begin in January 2021.
  • Bringing the full Windows 10 desktop experience to Surface Hub 2S with Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise configurations. For the first time ever, you can run the same Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise that runs on your PC on Surface Hub – giving you the same familiar experience and features you enjoy on your PC, like the taskbar, Start menu, applications and more on a brilliant large screen.
  • Introducing the Windows 10 Team 2020 Update coming in October. This update addresses top customer requests and brings new added features to help customers configure, manage and collaborate on their first generation and second-generation Surface Hub 2S devices.
  • Bringing Surface Hub 2S 50” to China later this year. We know how important it is for global companies to support collaboration and connection for their teams across the world, so we’re excited to bring Surface Hub to China to enable these organizations and their teams to stay productive, no matter their location or time zone.

 Surface Hub 2S 85” now available for pre-sales reservations

Surface Hub 2S 85"

Beginning today, Surface Hub 2S 85” is available for pre-sales reservations to commercial customers in the U.S. with more markets to follow in the coming months and availability starting in January 2021.*

On Surface Hub 2S 85”, we applied the same attention to detail that we give to each product in our portfolio. Except this time, we brought it to a truly massive scale. This new, larger size represents a culmination of years of listening to our customers to better understand their needs.

At more than 85” we have brought customers a larger screen in a smaller chassis than the previous version, with bezels that are 45% smaller, a display that is 20% thinner, and overall 30% lighter in weight than its predecessor. The fit and finish of the product is remarkable, delivering a level of quality that cannot be found elsewhere.

To help customers bring people, place and technology together, we collaborated with our partners at Steelcase to co-design a series of mount solutions. Steelcase Roam for the Surface Hub 2S 85” brings a floating wall mount for perfect integration, a floor supported wall mount for easy install, and a mobile cart that provides flexibility and reconfigurability for any space.

To learn more about how IT Pros can prepare for Surface Hub 2S 85” check out the Surface IT Pro page on Microsoft Docs.

Introducing Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise on Surface Hub 2

Earlier this month, we shared details about a new configuration of Surface Hub 2S 50” with Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise, which is now available for customers to install.

The Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise configuration on Surface Hub 2S gives people a truly personalized Windows experience on a brilliant large screen with all of the familiar features in Windows they enjoy on their PC, like the taskbar, Start menu and the window management customization. Also included are features like browser favorites, the ability to run any app like they would on their PC, and task view that can be synched across other PCs for continuity no matter the device people are working on. This provides great flexibility while having meetings, allowing for standing or even moving around, with the freedom to leverage multiple modes of input from ink, touch, or mouse and keyboard. We’re excited about how this new configuration can help our customers be more collaborative during a time when personal connection is more important than ever.

Finally, people can now quickly sign in with Windows Hello using the Surface Hub 2 Fingerprint Reader, which will be exclusively available for use with the Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise on Surface Hub 2 configuration.

Rolling out the Windows 10 Team 2020 Update in October

The Windows 10 Team Edition for Surface Hub is designed for large screens and meeting rooms with optimized support for enterprise management and the security required for a shared device. For example, Windows 10 Team ensures protocols like wiping the device in between meetings to ensure important information isn’t shared beyond your meeting.

Here at Ignite, we’re happy to share more about the next major update coming to Surface Hub, called the Windows 10 Team 2020 Update. With this update we will begin to release major updates for Surface Hub on a more familiar cadence, bringing enhancements, features and security improvements to organizations around the world who have moved to a hybrid work environment, or fully returned to work.

This update addresses top customer requests, starting with full support for organizations using Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) to manage their Surface Hub devices. We also added features to help customers configure and manage their Surface Hub devices, including modern authentication for cloud device accounts. Lastly, this update introduces significant improvements to help end-users meet and collaborate on a Surface Hub device, including support for the new Microsoft Edge, support for proximity join with Microsoft Teams and more.

The Windows 10 Team 2020 Update will start to roll out as a free update to all Surface Hub customers next month.

Looking ahead to a post COVID-19, hybrid work environment

We are inspired by the enterprises taking advantage of Surface Hub as they navigate the hybrid workplace and transform their meeting rooms into spaces where people can not only meet, but can collaborate together in the room and with people who are remote. One of those customers is MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, a major driving force behind the evolution of smart shipping containers that is helping to set the standard for digital shipping. Mediterranean Shipping Company relies on their 70,000 employees located in 493 offices to keep 560 vessels going to 500 ports of call in 155 countries that carry the goods we all rely on every day. With so many employees in many different offices, MSC has turned to Microsoft and Surface Hub as their preferred meeting and collaboration solution worldwide.

“The ability for our teams to seamlessly connect to meetings, share content, work through issues in whiteboarding sessions regardless of location through Microsoft Teams and on Surface Hub ensures we can keep cargo moving at all times regardless of circumstances. We have continued to embrace Surface Hub with the launch of Surface Hub 2 and are looking forward to the experiences and advances that Surface Hub 2 85” will enable as we re-imagine the future of workspaces post COVID-19.” – Fabio Catassi, chief technology officer at MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company

At Microsoft we are committed to empowering organizations to transform their meeting spaces in today’s world. Surface has been at the forefront of innovation in creating category defining devices to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more—and now that mission has been expanded to include anytime, anywhere.

What started with Surface creating the 2 in 1 category has grown into a portfolio that addresses the needs of our customers wherever they are and however they work and play. We’re energized about what’s to come for Surface Hub and our customers as we see teams and companies relying on technology more than ever to stay connected and get things done, together.

Visit this page to find and connect with an authorized Surface Hub reseller in your market.

 

Follow along with Surface @ Ignite

Below are the key segments where you can learn more about Surface at this year’s all digital Ignite. Be sure to register for this free event and tune-in.

*Surface Hub 2S 85” has not yet been authorized under U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules; actual sale and delivery is contingent on compliance with applicable FCC requirements.