Neat Firmware Update for Teams Room on Android

Neat released new preview channel updates that include lots of new features to enhance your meeting experience and some bug fixes. 

These updates apply to below firmware updates,

• Neat Pad firmware: NFA1.20221128.0003
• Neat Bar firmware: NFB1.20221128.0003
• Neat Board firmware: NFC1.20221128.0003
• Neat Bar Pro firmware: NFD1.20221128.0003
• Neat Frame firmware: NFF1.20221128.0003

The features introduced in this release are:

• Neat Bar Pro CEC support
• Neat Bar Pro noise suppression (beta)
• Neat Bar Pro audio extension (beta)
• Neat Bar Pro voice localization in Smart Gallery
• Screen reader volume adjustment
• Date format in system settings
• Pairing between Neat Board and Neat Pad
• Secure communication between Neat Bar and Neat Pad
• Neat Pulse - Neat Device Management (coming soon)
• Support for 802.1x (beta)
• Max room occupancy notification in Microsoft Teams

Neat Bar Pro CEC support

You need CEC -supported monitors to automatically wake-up the monitor and connect to Teams client. Some of the old monitors not supported this standard, so you can use EDID adaptors to make it work.

CEC is now supported on the Neat Bar Pro. When Auto Wake-up is enabled on the Neat Bar Pro the connected displays will now be powered off when the Neat Bar Pro enters standby mode and powered back on when the Neat Bar Pro wakes up.

Neat Bar Pro audio over USB (beta)

You are now able to connect additional third-party speaker and microphone systems to the Neat Bar Pro using a USB-C cable. To enable this functionality, enter the “Audio & video” page in the Neat system settings of a Neat Bar Pro and enable the “Audio over USB (beta)” toggle.

Pairing between Neat Board and Neat Pad

It is optional, but I have noticed there are lots of customers looking for this to manage the meeting effectively. Now, Neat supports pairing between a Neat Pad and a Neat Board. Neat-level pairing gives users the ability to control and manage their Board from the Neat Pad in the same way they do for the Neat Bar and Neat Bar Pro.

To pair a Neat Pad with a Neat Board, the Neat Board must already be running a videoconferencing platform and have the “Pairing” option open in its Neat system settings (System settings -> Pairing) and the Neat Pad must be going through the out-of-box (OOB) setup. While the Neat Board is discoverable, select the option on the Neat Pad to set the device up as a standalone controller, then proceed through the OOB setup. After connecting to the same subnet as the Neat Board, the Neat Pad will be able to discover the Neat Board as a device to pair with. After selecting the Neat Board and pressing “Continue” the Neat Pad will initiate pairing with the Neat Board. Once this is complete, the videoconferencing platform running on the Neat Board will launch on the Neat Pad.

Secure communication between paired devices

During initial discovery/setup, Pad and Bar/Bar Pro use communicate over IP address on TCP ports 46000 and 46001. Once setup is complete, the Neat firmware will send encrypted communication over TCP port 8443.

Support for 802.1x

There are many organizations that use NAC policy to protect their network. so, you cannot easily connect any device to the network. Some environment manually whitelists each device's MAC address or create policy based on some common attributes others wants to use 802.1x certificate-based authentication on their network.

Now with this release, Neat supports 802.1x security protocol for wired and wireless networks.

Max room occupancy notifications in Microsoft Teams

Utilizing Neat’s people count functionality, you can now set a notification in Microsoft Teams to let users know when the maximum capacity of a room is reached during calls. If the maximum capacity is set for a room, the device’s display and any connected panels will show a notification when the room has exceeded its recommended capacity during a call.

The maximum capacity of the room can be configured in the room’s Microsoft Exchange resource mailbox settings or via the set-place command while using PowerShell, and the notification can be toggled on the device in the “Meetings” page of its Microsoft Teams settings.