[ibimage==51250==Large==none==self==null]
A rendering of a Mezzanine-powered conference room. All photos and videos via Oblong Industries
As an indisputable tastemaker in the tech industry, Google is perhaps the office space against which many tech geeks — industry veterans and millennial freshmen alike — gauge whether an office is hip or not.
Google’s stamp of approval on hoodie-loving dress codes and conference room foosball has changed the way companies and workers understand the workplace. Emulating their cooler older brothers and sisters, digital tech companies flock toward indie warehouses-turned-offices with fully-stocked beer fridges, catered lunches, and free yoga.
To put things modernly, trendy office spaces and their quirky company perks have gone viral.
But the futurists at Oblong Industries aren’t totally sold. Though they think beer and yoga is definitely cool, they said it takes more to develop a truly enviable environment. Instead of superficial perks and exposed-brick facades, the folks at Oblong think the technology employees use should be the centerpiece of office culture.
“You need to ensure that the environment you're providing in the workplace feels cutting edge and in sync with the times so that your employees feel they’re working someplace that’s hip and cool,” said Oblong’s Chief Operating Officer Mary Ann Norris. “The tools and technology they use to facilitate their workflows is a huge part of that.”
Bringing technology front and center
Oblong, a company that specializes in bringing truly next-generation technology to the conference room, knows a thing or two about leveraging technology to rally a sense of culture.
Founded in 2006, the company built an operating system called g-speak that transforms an entire conference room into a three-dimensional, spatial computing space. Upon that platform, they developed Mezzanine, an app that unlocks virtual collaboration like never before.
Experiencing Mezzanine at play is a captivating glimpse into the future of work. From screen sharing and live-streaming video to real-time editing on shared content, Mezzanine offers complete democratic control to everyone sitting at the table — physically or virtually.
“A lot of our customers are finding tremendous cultural value in being able to have true visual collaboration across distance,” Norris said.
Mezzanine’s functional prowess is countered only by an aesthetic that makes data, content, and video flow harmoniously around the room.
If it sounds like something you’d only see in the movies, that’s because you probably already have.
“Our founder and CEO John Underkoffler was the visionary behind the technology in the movie Minority Report, and he also consulted on the Iron Man movies,” Norris said. “So our technology allows business executives to be Tony Stark in the conference room.”
But Oblong isn’t exactly targeting newly-minted tech startups. Though their pricing is kept private, the company does advertise that Mezzanine is used by trendsetting Fortune 500 companies around the globe, including mammoths like IBM, Boeing, GE, Harvard Design School, and the U.S. Department of Defense.
The idea, perhaps, is that incorporating technology like Mezzanine will become a standard milestone on the startup’s journey to success.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Oblong’s 100-strong team have presence around the globe, in cities like New York, Chicago, London, Barcelona, and Boulder.
Have a tip for us or know of a company that deserves coverage? Email us via [email protected].
