Microsoft perfects remote team collaboration with Surface Hub 2 launch

A new culture of work is emerging, where unlocking the power of the team has never been more important.

I see it with our team daily.

People coming together, creating together.

Making products stronger through collaboration, whether they're in the same room or separated by thousands of miles.

Today's most effective businesses have a team-based, collaborative culture and place an emphasis on enabling creativity and productivity.

In fact, companies that promote collaborative working are five times as likely to be high-performing.

It's not just that how we work is changing, it's that where we work is changing too.

The environment around us is shifting – towards open offices, huddle rooms, and team workspaces – in fact, in three years, half the global workforce will be mobile.

It's an exciting time to be in the devices business because the creation of new form factors and software experiences will not only lead us to work in new ways, but also in new spaces designed for collaboration.

There is a need for a device built for teams and designed for these new environments.

To help people collaborate whether they are in the office, at home, or travelling the world.

To move beyond just passing along information, to a world where they are collaborating real-time, in an efficient, and intuitive way.

Unlock the power of the team

Surface Hub 2 was designed from the ground up to be used by teams – to get people out of their seats, to connect and ideate, regardless of location.

The new Surface Hub 2 is sleeker, more agile and more affordable to fit any workspace or work style.

The 4K+ 50.5" multi-touch display creates an inviting canvas to co-create, harnessing the power of Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Whiteboard, Office 365, Windows 10 and the intelligent cloud.

The 4K cameras that rotate with the device, integrated speakers and far-field mic arrays allow everyone in the meeting to feel as if they are right in the room with the rest of the group, while our standard Surface 3×2 aspect ratio means everyone has more usable space to create and collaborate.

Perfect for any space

Surface Hub 2 scales and adapts to your space through tiling up to 4 screens together in portrait or landscape view.

Dynamic rotation allows you to use the best orientation for your content to help people work in the way that best suits them and the people they are collaborating with.

It is also significantly easier to move around your workspaces than its predecessor.

We've teamed up with workplace expert Steelcase to create a system of rolling stands and easy-to-use mounts to help Surface Hub 2 customers be truly mobile, gain a new perspective and capture their ideas wherever they do their best work.

The magic of tiling

Tiling is one of my favourite features on Surface Hub 2.

Seeing four of the beautiful Surface Hub 2s lined up together has an undeniable visual effect and will have a profound impact on what groups can accomplish together, allowing users to display multiple pieces of content side-by-side.

Imagine how much your team could get done being able to work simultaneously on Microsoft Whiteboard, PowerBI, PowerPoint, and a full view video call.

Move beyond meetings, to real-time teamwork

We're passionate about creating experiences that allow the technology to fade into the background, so people and teams can be as productive and creative as possible.

The original Surface Hub advanced this mission, making it possible to join a meeting or open a whiteboard with one touch.

Now Surface Hub 2 takes it even further with multi-user sign in.

This feature is a truly magical experience.

Using multi-user sign in, multiple people can authenticate in the same Surface Hub 2 workspace, allowing them to simultaneously access their documents and ideas, merging them with the ideas of their teammates – and making collaboration as natural as meeting at a whiteboard.

The future of collaboration is coming

We started on the journey of empowering teams with the original Surface Hub and the value it provides has resonated with businesses worldwide.

We've sold to more than 5000 customers across 25 markets.

Over half of Fortune 100 companies have purchased Surface Hubs to improve team's efficiency and how they collaborate – breaking down barriers and creating real business value.

We believe our customers will love Surface Hub 2 even more.

In 2018 we will begin to test Surface Hub 2 with select commercial customers.

It will be available for purchase in 2019.