Legrand Partners with Microsoft to Create New Hybrid Conferencing Space

WEST HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Legrand®, a global specialist and industry leader in electrical wiring devices, cable management, audio-visual, and lighting solutions, announces new advances with Microsoft to create a new hybrid conferencing space with Signature Microsoft Teams Rooms featuring products from Legrand, North and Central America. Microsoft has become integral to the way we collaborate and learn. Legrand improves lives by transforming spaces where people live and work through innovative products and solutions that deliver and manage power, light and data. Creating a premium in-room experience with the complete conferencing platform is what the Signature Teams Rooms are all about.

Signature Teams Rooms were developed to be immersive and inclusive meeting spaces enhanced for hybrid experiences that can be easily deployed at scale around the world. To implement this vision, either for new construction or retrofits, Microsoft had to develop new equipment and standards. This involved changes to the room layout, furniture, audio-visual equipment, and Teams. Microsoft looked at technologies that could make remote employees feel more included in meetings and help people presenting in the room feel more connected to those joining remotely. Legrand proved to be a valuable partner because of the breadth of AV infrastructure, building controls, electrical infrastructure, lighting, and acoustic solutions.

For these two new showcase spaces, Legrand provided key components that helped simplify the typical order, delivery, and integration experience for Microsoft. These include:

• Productivity and AV solutions from Middle Atlantic and Chief, including the Forum Arc Tables which ensure everyone physically in the room faces the camera, the Forum Collaboration Suite Display Stand, which is robust enough to support the Jupiter Pana 105 display, and Chief's Voyager Cart to deliver the Microsoft Surface Hub to any point in the room for better collaboration.
• Legrand offers a variety of furniture power solutions that supply convenient and configurable power and charging access - including units that install directly into desks, tabletops, and upholstered furniture along with the Evolution Series 8" Recessed Poke-Thru device for access to power and audio/video services recessed below floor level.
• Architectural acoustic wall panels from Focal Point provide improved room acoustics for both remote and in-person users while also establishing a cohesive, modern aesthetic with the Forum Display Stand.

These products from Legrand combine elegantly, ensuring these spaces are inviting and inclusive in design, and accommodate the speed and scalability of deployment required by Microsoft.

"Working with Legrand brings Microsoft a partner that has a massive breadth of product solutions that address a variety of AV and building infrastructure requirements, ranging from leading AV brands to electrical and data infrastructure, to lighting and acoustics. Along with market-leading products, Legrand offers a truly global scale to support Microsoft facilities around the world, enabling global room specifications and availability of products anywhere that Microsoft operates. This partnership and global reach are equally valuable to Microsoft's customers that are similarly working to specify and deploy Microsoft Teams Rooms in large scale around the world," said John Selldorff, President and CEO of Legrand, North and Central America.

"In this Post-Pandemic Era, hybrid workplaces are the future, and in any office, we must consider both in-person and remote experiences. By partnering with Teams, we can combine the technology and breadth of products to design the future of conference rooms to create an exceptional audio-visual experience for employees both in person and remote," said Selldorff.

"Legrand is a great partner for Microsoft to work with because of the breadth of solutions they offer across the full room deployment. In the design of these specific Signature Teams Rooms, Microsoft Digital collaborated with the Legrand team in a hands-on process led by end-user feedback to create an optimal experience for them," said Sam Albert, Principal Product Manager, The Hive, Microsoft Digital.

About Legrand and Legrand, North and Central America
Legrand is the global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures. Its comprehensive offering of solutions for commercial, industrial, and residential markets makes it a benchmark for customers worldwide. The Group harnesses technological and societal trends with lasting impacts on buildings with the purpose of improving life by transforming the spaces where people live, work and meet with electrical, digital infrastructures and connected solutions that are simple, innovative and sustainable. Drawing on an approach that involves all teams and stakeholders, Legrand is pursuing its strategy of profitable and responsible growth driven by acquisitions and innovation, with a steady flow of new offerings—including products with enhanced value in use (faster expanding segments: data centers, connected offerings and energy efficiency programs). Legrand reported sales of €8.0 billion in 2022. The company is listed on Euronext Paris and is notably a component stock of the CAC 40 and CAC 40 ESG indexes. (code ISIN FR0010307819). https://www.legrand.us/ 

SOURCE Legrand