it gives customers. I think you said it earlier that kind of that moment. Okay, I get it. I see what it's doing. I'm always more excited when I'm headed to site with gear and letting people actually hear, the quality that we can bring to the ring, the flexibility, how scalable our solutions are. Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is our second on location podcast. We're in the Shure office in London in the UK, and they've kindly given us a space which is all mic’d up and everything. We just had to come in and bring a mixer. So thanks to Shure for that. We're going to talk about, kind of Neat and. Shure. And the partnership and also just a bit about what's going on in our space at the moment. First of all, Sherri, who's likely with me in London, she's so. Awesome. So, Sherri, Pipala I am the senior director responsible for our global alliances. So think about everything we do with partners that don't resell. So, partners that help our solutions be even better. And so I was very excited that I was actually here in London visiting so I could take advantage of sitting with Tom actually on person, versus just on a meeting. Yeah. I appreciate you breaking out of your, your holiday tour a lot in London to come to be on the pod. So thanks for that. And, we come to the Shure London office, and then we've dialed in Tyler for Shure in the US. Tyler do you want to introduce yourself. Sure. I'm Tyler Troutman with, Shure. Strategic market development team. I'm located in California, so kind of on the other side of the planet with you guys. But, it's great to be with you in a Shure office as well. So. Yeah, the, the irony of you being in Chicago and Sherri being here, and I try to coordinate this is not lost on everybody. Awesome. So, I've talked a bit in the past about the partnership with you guys. So, Sherri, maybe you could start off with kind of what what drove this from a, a Neat perspective and a customer perspective? Sure. Absolutely. So we, are known in the industry for having amazing, simple solutions, being able to be deployed for room video integration and what we were seen as a huge success in, to many different size environments and different use cases. But we would get to a room that was a little bit larger or had complex, audio requirements. And, we were really looking at what could we be doing to make that better for customers. And then customers were pushing us as well as asking us. And probably one of the biggest questions that we got was can you work with. Shure. And so that then propelled us into conversations with engineering to engineering. And the sales and marketing organization to take the next steps we needed to do to make sure that the integration was as tight as it could be, to make sure that customers had that seamless experience. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. And this is kind of a unique thing because, Shure, obviously you've been able to integrate to various OEM various platforms, but with Teams rooms on Android in particular, there's some kind of co engineering work there, isn't there to bring the capabilities into the Neat equipment so that you can seamlessly plug in the Shure, absolutely. And I think the biggest thing and Tyler could jump on this as well is just handling that mute sync. That was probably the part that people were, you know, struggling with, as much as just being able to install was how do I make sure that it is truly. You kind of don't want to know that the technologies in the room. Yeah. Exactly. The simplest things that people, you know, require and mute sync is one of those. It's really simple to just say, you know, we're flipping an LED on our ceiling array so that folks know that it's, you know, that the microphone is muted or it's unmuted, but it's really those simple things that really help kind of tie this solution together. And so, yeah, working with the Neat team to make sure that when folks are muting from, you know, the Neat pad or in mics, A310 or any of our products, that we're getting that LED notification, but we're also getting mute sync through the entire signal chain. So it's not just you see the LED indication, but if you look at the display, you're also seeing that you're muted there. And so that was a big requirement. And folks are really happy that they have that. Yeah. That's awesome. And Tyler I guess from a Shure perspective, I've certainly seen in the last few years Shure have a lot more focus on on Teams. And you you've always been big, obviously in the enterprise space. But is Teams a big growth area? Oh, it's a massive growth area. You know, we've been doing conference room audio since about 2016 when we launched our MXN product line. So we've seen a ton of different type of manufacturers and video conferencing styles and all that. And, you know, coming through the pandemic and watching Microsoft grow and MTR is really taking off. It's become a massive growth area for us, and we couldn't be more excited to be partnering with Neat as as I said, we've been around for a long time and and in and out of conference spaces and seeing how much Neat has grown in the space and walking into customer sites and seeing their products all over the place. It just made a ton of sense for us to to partner with. Neat to help expand that audio into this larger spaces. Awesome. And I'm not kind of more, technical level. What does that integration look like? So I buy my Neat Bar Pro Pro, like what's what's next? I guess it's a question that I know a lot of people already have Shure audio, so they might be putting Neat in. And I guess the other case is true. People might already have a Neat bar and they want to bring. Shure. And what does that look like? Yeah, there's a ton of different options in this space. And with the new, 24.3 firmware that we launched in early June, it opens up even more options. And so to your point, there's a lot of Shure MXA products out there, P3, hundreds, our DSP, and those can integrate with a simple firmware update from us. And then just a usb-C connection right into the Neat Bar Pro. But we also have a couple other devices are Shure Anibox, which is really great for a single array, like an MXA902 which is an array and a speaker built into one, or our new, neXt 2 platform, which is a wireless microphone platform. Same thing, just a USB connector right out of those devices and into the Neat Bar Pro so we can be an extremely simple addition to a Neat Bar Pro to cover room audio, but we can also scale with the room needs if we have really tough acoustical environments, or if it's a classroom space where maybe a wireless microphone is, required, or it's just a very large space it needs, you know, a lot of ceiling array coverage or multiple speakers in the space. We can scale with those needs, and keep it as simple as just that usb-C cable into the Neat Bar Pro. I'm going to show my lack of, We had this conversation last time we were in person. Tyler all the model numbers, but the, the new wireless mics with the stand that you can USB in, those are really exciting, I think. Yeah, in the edu space. I love that as an idea of being able to just run MTR and jump in and have a wireless mic. Exactly. That's our new neXt 2 platform MXW neXt 2. We launched it ISE and we just kind of did the the big Infocom tour with it, and we're seeing a ton, a ton of interest in that product. And to the point of it being really great for K through 12 or higher. Ed, just the need to have a wireless microphone to be able to walk around a space or to have a presenter. But the simplicity of being able to bring all that audio into the neXt 2 base station, which also has a DSP built in, we can do AEC, noise reduction, all the technical things we need to get done. So perfect crystal clear conferencing audio and then once again, just usb-C cable right into the Neat Bar. Pro and audio's done. And I think it when we were first started, the relationship we were focused on, just the P 300. But then we did the work for the other two. Devices. That's going to allow us to get into those extra spaces. So that release that just came out that Tyler was mentioning allows that mute sync to work with those as well. So just coming off of Infocom, we had a quite, a lot of folks that were in talking to us in the booth that, you know, it's something that they're just learning about. And it's kind of giving that up. I'll have a, you know, that aha moment, like, okay, I can now make this work. And I think the education space is a big one. For that, being able to have that wireless mic. Yeah. So what you sorry, we were talking kind of before the pod around. How do you help customers understand this? Like there are lots of OEMs with Teams, rooms, options. And I guess Tyler, there's other audio options. And I feel like I spend a lot of my time kind of saying on a spec sheet, these things all look the same, but there are marked different. I'm fortunate to get to play with a lot of kids. Sherri, I'll start with you kind of. How do you help customers understand that not all bars are created equal? And like how to. Yeah. How do they get to understand that? Yeah, I think one of the biggest things and why the Android platform has taken off, so extensively and why we've seen such great success is the simplicity and the ease of use. And where before you would have a customer look at, well, I might deploy 20 more complex rooms. And when I say more complex, I'm talking about, you know, the more of the executive room where you could have, you know, like six people into that environment. They want a video enable their enterprise. So they're looking at how can I deploy more rooms, but I don't have the manpower or IT staff in every single location to do that. So when you look at Neat and what we do with the Out-Of-Box experience, it just allows you quickly to get those devices up and installed. But it's not just that Shure is bringing some amazing audio capabilities into those complex rooms. And on the video side, with Neat symmetry and boundary, we're able to handle the complex videos stuff that customers are dealing with. So being able to frame us well in a larger room. And also, I mean, we're in a room with, you know, glass door. How do we make sure we're not capturing people that are walking by? So I think. Helping helping them understand some of those differentiate. Totally. Yeah. And then, you know, being able to bring Shure to the mix in that regard. So I think that when we sit down we're saying we're looking at the whole environment. What are the issues that you're seeing in those rooms and how do we help knock those down, those obstacles? Awesome. And, Tyler, I feel like you've got a harder job, right? Because people can see like the Neat video stuff and be like, oh, that framing is really, really great. I can see how that works for audio. I feel like the the customers already understand there's marked differences in experience. Is there an education piece to do there? What's your thoughts? Audio can be more complicated. Obviously tough acoustical environments, old buildings, a lot of glass, all that type of stuff can create issues. But technology can overcome a lot of those. You know, we always stress there's always a foundational level of making sure that that the room is right. But past that, you know, we have multiple different form factors from the MXA 310, which is on the table right there in front of your laptop, which is a really great table array all the way up to our multiple ceiling array options. We can pretty much work around any tough acoustical environment. And so while it can be more complicated, the vast majority of our questions are more about room size. And that will help us scale a solution that that meets the room needs. So it can be it can be more complicated, but we try to make it as simple as possible. And like I said, a lot of our new solutions help with that. Do you find like that's usually considered at the design phase. Or are you occasionally like a customer's had a shot, realize that the experience isn't great, and then retrofit. What's the more common use case because. It's it's definitely mixed. You know, we we like to get involved in the design phase, especially with larger, more complicated spaces. It always helps to know that that the coverage is going to be there. So day one, the user experience is is what the end user is expecting. But we definitely run into a lot of retrofits. You know, the Neat Bar Pro has incredible audio coverage. But as I mentioned, sometimes you end up in this kind of fishbowl spaces where, you know, maybe they're the room acoustics just aren't there. And so coming in to say, like, listen, the Neat bar pro is working fantastic from a, from an optics standpoint and everything's great, but let's just add a MXA902 into the ceiling and then we can get more directionality out of the audio. Yeah. There's something this is physics at the end of the day isn't exactly it doesn't matter how good your mic array is in one position, if you can bring the mics to the user, or you can put ceiling tile mics in or obviously handheld is a completely different game than isn't it? Exactly. Know, I think, we've got some customers that have already started to deploy and what they're we're seeing a lot of customers do is this is my standard configuration, and they kind of look at the size of the room and what's in the room, and they know that they can deploy the Neat bar, Neat bar pro or Neat Bar 2 in those environments. And then they knew that when they got to a certain length of room or the, the size of the room or the windows or what have you, the glass, those are what they would consider customized. Right. And and then. They we'd have to jump up to potentially a much bigger project and different kit and a different support model. And correct. And up until we really had the ability with Android solution, MTR and Android with Neat and now with Shure, they're able to go into those rooms a lot faster. And, you know, we hear the customers say, you've made my lot. You've just made my life so much easier. Because I don't have to go so far down this complex route. That allows me to get that amazing audio and video in the rooms then that we weren't necessarily able to deploy in before. Yeah. I mean, like, it would be it would be like, I can go to Neat for 90% of my use cases, but then I'd have to go to if I want to stay to MTR, I go windows MTR for that 10% use cases. Now I can take the Neat portfolio a lot further with the Shure integration. Or we've got customers that have deployed, some of the Windows devices or by that matter, some of the Android, but they're three years ish old. And they may not have some of the newer camera technology. And so we're seeing a lot of customers say, I've got great audio experience in my rooms with Shure, my my video still isn't there yet. And so very easy to set up, some test environments for customers to see the difference. Yeah. So so they've already got the Shure kit. Potentially they could just swap out the, the room video technology and still take advantage of that. Shure. Correct yep. That's great. Tyler, like you mentioned at the start of the pod that it feels like the the range for room options is definitely expanded recently. And you're doing more there. Can you talk us through kind of for a non Shure person. Like what the what the different options are that are compatible with with a Neat bar Pro. Shure. I mean we have a ton of different, you know, microphone options, array options. Like I said, the MXA310, which is on the table right there in front of your laptop is a great table solution. Yep. And then we have a bunch of different ceiling array options. Our MXA901 is a small form factor ceiling array that can cover a 20 by 20 room or our MXA902 is pretty remarkable. That same thing a 20 by 20 coverage pattern. But it also has a speaker built in. So it's a single device that goes in the ceiling that provides both microphone and speaker coverage. And then we have our flagship array, our MXA920. And this array is meant for some of the toughest acoustical environments or oddly shaped spaces or spaces where you might want to cover the table and a lecturn and instead of the entire room. And you want to be very directional with your coverage. So we have a ton of options there. And then as we were talking a little bit earlier, the middle part, the DSP that's actually processing the audio and handing off to the Neat Bar Pro, we have a scalable option from, like I said, our ANIUSB Matrix, which is great for a single array. Our neXt 2 platform for wireless microphones. And then we have our P300 which can cover the very large spaces or multiple ceiling arrays are needed. And then if external speakers are needed, we have our MXN5, POE powered ceiling speaker, which can come in and provide plenty of audio coverage all over a large space. Awesome. Like, I reckon another year I'm going to get round the, around all the different, versions and the, the product names. We're getting close now, I think. Well, we have a fantastic team that's always around to help, you know, people. And we've been working really closely with Neat, going in and talking with end users about, you know, what, what their room might need. And as Sherri mentioned, like, we're running that plenty of customers who have already deployed a Shure solution and they're perfectly happy with the audio coverage. And now it's just about how do we get that final piece, that integration into the Neat bar Pro? And and they might already have a P300 or we just need to swap out 1 or 2 pieces to bring in that Neat Sync and that high quality audio into the Neat Bar Pro Yeah, I think for those that don't have it or haven't got your gear as well, it's worth, if they can getting into one of the experienced centres We're hearing absolutely nothing. But like I've, I've had the demos and the tours and it's like it really brings it to life particularly when you know you can be outside the room experiencing the remote experience. Like because I find quite often when people with test gear, they come in and they're in the room, which ironically is not the experience you should be testing, you should be testing your remote end Yes. Absolutely. I think that's what people forget about is what the people on the far end and that's what I think a lot of folks have been dealing with is the far end people, as you you know, everybody I think hybrid workers kind of everybody talks over talks about that. But that's still a thing that you've got to worry about. The people that are in their home office and they can't see you at the end of the table or they can't hear you. Yeah, yeah. I saw one customer do a really good job where they did a vendor assessment and they had a remote, fully remote team, and the remote team had the majority of the vote. And it was like, that's the experience actually, we're optimizing for, not what it looks like in the room, because quite often, particularly when you get, you know, facilities involved, it's there's a lot of, you know, visual like, I like this set up, but you can actually performing is like the Sherri, like you're so connected in our space. I feel like every time I talk to you, I learn something. We're just coming into the new Microsoft financial year. What are you seeing in terms of customers and projects? Like what's a. Yeah, you've got a range of devices. What are you seeing in terms of projects, styles, layouts, designs? Yeah, I would say that, we're seeing, customers, like I said before, they want a video enable the, their entire environment. So what does that look like all the way down to the huddle space into these large rooms and more complex rooms? But we're also seeing the customers that want the flexibility to bring devices into the room for special meetings, or they want to move them from floor to floor. So even looking at the Neat board and what that looks like, for customers and then then you're even more apt to have audio issues, potentially. Because sometimes you don't know where that board is going to be wheeled into. Right. So I think with our, we have the 65 inch, and that was moved around. But with the 50, we're really seeing that moved around. So much more portable with, the built in kind of soundboard backing and the ability to pull it up and down. I really like to see as well and. Bring it into rooms that you normally wouldn't have brought something into. So a more common area or what we're seeing some customers call them neighbourhoods. Where people can come to that area, have a more open environment, and that's where it's key to look at the aesthetics that are in the room that we're dealing with, so that if they're in a room like this, they're used to a video experience a certain way. If they then walk out of the room and they're in an open area, they expect it to be the same. And so we've got to make sure that we are working towards that as well. But we're seeing a lot more configurations. And then I think the education space is big for that. And then, our devices just got certified in the government tenant as well. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. It's quite a quite a hard hurdle to jump to get into that as well. Yeah. So we're seeing now some of those education universities that do business a lot with the US government. And you would think, oh it's just US But we also talked to a lot of customers that also once they see it's certified in that government tenant, they have that feeling. That yeah, I think I've seen customers use it as a bar, just not over there. And because they're like, for example, European governments don't have GCC tenants, but they still want to see that bar of like that's the level. Yeah. So it gives us added flexibility. And that's when I think we start to see more, you know, calling up Tyler and his peers to help us out when we're going into some of those more interesting rooms, if you call it. Yeah. Awesome. So we're close to time now, but I kind of wanted to end on like, it's all well and good to talk about this stuff, but how how would a customer move forward if they're interested in both Neat and Shure as a partnership. Like is it is it trying stuff themselves? Is it coming to an experience centre? Yeah, I know you have some programs where you can do kit things. Yeah, absolutely. We have a program called Pep, which is basically allows customers the ability to do a proof of concept. Very easy, straightforward process. That we will get gear out to the customer. It's got a very high success rate because the customers can immediately see how quick and easy it is. And then they don't have to return the product. We just convert that for them with a partner, to a purchase. We are working with, folks within the Shure organization to, then connect the dots for if the customer then also wants to test out the Shure environment as well. So we've got our proof of concept team working directly with some of the folks on the Shure side as well. I would say on the Microsoft side, our proof of concepts usually last around 60 days, depending on how much. So a good amount of time to really try it out in different scenarios. Absolutely. Some code a lot faster, but it gives customers. I think you said it earlier that kind of that moment. Okay, I get it. I see what it's doing. You know within the environment. It really hurts me where I get to work with lots of different customers, like they're they're making kit choices based off PDFs. And I'm like, I mean it's great, but it means like it's 4K. So like means nothing really. Like you have to experience this stuff sometimes it's coming to, you know, demo centers and experiences, but you can get it in location and actually test it out because also coming to demo centers is fantastic, but it's entirely optimized for that demo. When you bring it into your own environment with your windows and your acoustics and your challenges, that's when you see if it will perform. For you 100%. I mean, we've got an office here. We're opening a new briefing center, executive briefing center in California. We've got ones around the globe. But to your point, customers like to see it in their environment and, touch it, feel it, and get a feel for when you say you do framing. Well, what is exactly what type of framing makes a big difference? Awesome. And Tyler I guess same question to you. Is it do you find that obviously you've got the experience centers that that's great, great start. Do the customers really need to get hands on to kind of feel the difference? Yeah, I mean, we couldn't be happier when people actually want to like get hands on and listen to our devices. You know, it's it's to your point one thing to to read through spec sheets. But I, I'm always more excited when I'm headed to site with gear and letting people actually hear, you know, the quality that we can bring to the ring, the flexibility, how scalable our solutions are. And so yeah, we have associates all around the US and all around the globe, that just kind of help out wherever we’re needed. And if people want to hear our devices, we can come in and do a demo. And to your point, we have experience centers all around and all around the globe, from Chicago to London, Hong Kong, that people can either come and visit or we can do calls out of those rooms and actually call somebody. To your point, you're. Be tested experiences. Yeah. Want to hear. Exactly. So we can we can definitely support all those efforts. Awesome. Well thanks both for joining the pod, Sherri. Thanks for breaking out of your, PTO to come in the pod. Appreciate it. We're going to do this again, I think Ignite Chicago. We'll probably all be in the same place. So maybe we'll do a, a three person in person podcast, I'm sure. Thank you. Brilliant. Thanks, Tyler. Thanks very. Much.