Prysm technology: Starship enterprise

Prysm technology provides multiple, flexible solutions for collaborative working

The Prysm workplace display

These days, sophisticated networking platforms interconnect employees of an organisation so well that it doesn’t matter where people work from. However, there are occasions when a project demands the active collaboration of external subject experts, who are not employees. When the success of a project could hinge on how well these experts are integrated into the internal business ecosystem, you need something more.

One of the leading providers of collaborative workplace solutions is Prysm. On the ‘Prysm screen’, any type of content can be projected at the same time: Word, PDF, PPT, worksheet, video, and more. They can all be mirrored on different devices, moved around on the screen, edited by people at different places simultaneously in real time, making it a digital visual workplace that is a platform of platforms.

G.B. Kumar Vice President, APAC, Prysm Inc.

 

The key component of this technology is Laser Phosphor Display, patented by Prysm. Light from ultraviolet lasers is directed onto a screen that is coated with colour phosphor stripes. Phosphors are activated by the energy of the lasers, thereby producing an image.

The advantages of this system are: the screen is made up of tiles, so it can be easily customised; there is no distortion of images if you change their original size; images are clearly visible when viewed from any angle; and the system consumes very low amounts of power.

Guest mode

One of the new features is the ‘guest mode’. Imagine that a bank is using Prysm technology. The guest mode allows a person who is not an employee, to join the organisation’s internal system using an access code. The guest will be able to perform most functions that the employees can, except download content. The guest will have access, until it’s revoked, says GB Kumar, Vice President, APAC, Prysm Inc, while explaining the new features of the technology, at the company’s Bengaluru office.

Another update is ‘live source’ video streaming from any number of sources. “Ten screens can open up on the Prysm screen showing video content. Anyone can edit or annotate any of the screens,” said Kumar.

One of the big pluses of the Prysm technology is that it is third-party agnostic. It is compatible with existing collaboration platforms as well as video conferencing solutions from Cisco, Polycom, Skype for Business or Lifesize.

‘Co-browsing’ is another feature recently added. It allows different people in different locations to interact with the same web page or browser session simultaneously. In other words, all team members have the same view of the web content, and they work collaboratively on the same project. This is similar to what Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive does, but on a much bigger scale, at an enterprise level.

Flexible system

Prysm technology powers many Fortune 1000 companies, and its customers belong to different industries including technology, energy, finance, healthcare, media and education. The company recently partnered with Vega Global for the APAC region. It has also tied up with Dell EMC for technology solutions for smart cities in India. Recently, it acquired Kaybus, a startup which is into the enterprise knowledge automation software.

The flexibility of the system — which provides the same laser phosphor display experience on an ordinary touch display system — is an advantage that is fuelling wide adoption of the technology. “It works for organisations like banks that have many branches across the country. The customer needn’t buy our screen. They get the collaboration appliance from us, which provides the same experience on the screen they have. So, the cost comes down drastically,” says Kumar.

He says customer experience centres have seen good deployment of this solution. “This is a new way of storytelling. It’s not like running just a PPT. We allow multiple collaborative applications to run simultaneously on a single platform accessible from anywhere on any device,” he said.

Other segments that have deployed the solution are global companies that have a base in India, Indian MNCs that have global operations, banking and financial companies, innovation centres, command and control centres of large Indian conglomerates, smart campuses, manufacturing and automobile companies, operations centres where brainstorming is key, and television studios.