ClickShare: the Easy-To-Use Collaboration Tool
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ClickShare is a game changing way of collaborating with both visual and audio content. It takes away
the complexity and aggravation of connecting cables and making the right configurations or
composition, allowing the focus to be on the collaboration itself. This tends to make meetings more
productive, spontaneous and efficient. The ClickShare Base Unit creates its own independent WiFi
access point that can be shared with pre-paired Buttons (USB dongles). Participants simply connect
the button to their laptop USB port, launch a client executable and within seconds they are ready to
share content from their laptop with just one click of a button.
The ClickShare Button is the most iconic and revolutionary part of the ClickShare system. The
attractively designed button brings elegance and sophistication to the meeting room, and a ring of
LEDs around the button clearly shows the user the status (white “ready-to-share” and red “on-screen”)
of their content on the central display(s). In the ClickShare collaboration environment, all Buttons are
equal. Any user can easily click on and off screen or take over the central screen completely by
clicking and holding the button for two seconds to enable the “show-me-only” feature. ClickShare is
truly a zero footprint device: the Button provides the wireless connection to the base unit, which allows
users to share without using the WiFi on their PC.
Using ClickShare requires no installation of
software or reconfiguration of the network connection. Anyone able to launch an executable from a
USB storage device can start using the system, making it a very guest friendly solution. Unlike other
wireless systems, the ClickShare Button takes away the complication of entering an IP address or
meeting room name and a special login code, allowing users to show content with just one Click.
Additional ClickShare Buttons can be purchased separately. Pairing those new Buttons with the
ClickShare Base Unit is as easy as plugging them into the front USB port.
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Compatibility
ClickShare is compatible with laptops and PCs with the operating systems Windows XP Pro, Vista
Pro, Windows 7 Pro 32 & 64 bit and Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8 and will be agnostic to the video
output of the laptop (VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt). ClickShare also supports Windows 8 and
Windows 8 Pro (RT is not supported). The resolution of the input screen of connected devices can go
up to QXGA and Retina displays. Content is transmitted from the client devices to the Base Unit, and
the composition on the central screen is automatically managed by the ClickShare Base Unit.
Mobile Device Support
Mobile devices are supported using dedicated Apps. Such Apps are available on the conventional App
stores for both iOS and Android operating systems. Interoperability is guaranteed by using the
MirrorOp platform for wireless presentation, which was acquired by Barco in 2013 and has been a de
facto standard in the wireless presentation industry for more than ten years. .
The mobile device allowing, there is an App that mirrors the mobile device screen on to the central
display as is. This is currently only the case for Samsung Galaxy devices. On all other platforms, we
offer Apps that can transfer a very wide range of content from the mobile device to the central screen,
such as web-browser content, Office documents, pictures, pdf documents or the output of the built-in
camera. These Apps also provide capabilities to interact with the screen and to make annotations on
the content shown.
Wireless configuration
ClickShare uses the IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n standard with WPA2 for authentication. It can operate in the
2.4GHz or 5GHz frequency band, which can be manually selected in the web administration interface
of the ClickShare Base Unit. This web administration interface also allows the choice as to whether
or not the network’s SSID is broadcasted. The available WiFi channels differ per country to comply
with legal regulations.
Security
The ClickShare system works by sending screen shots from the user device to the Base Unit
connected to the central display(s). Files are never sent in full and data is not stored in the base unit.
The screen shots are doubly encrypted using state of the art encryption standards. Buttons shipped as
part of a ClickShare Set are already pre-paired with the Base Unit in the Set. They can only be used
with other ClickShare Base Units when paired anew with the front USB port of the Base Unit, or with
the ClickShare Button Manager. This pairing prevents content from inadvertently appearing on the
wrong central screen.
Users of mobile devices can only connect to the Base Unit Wi-Fi if they know the SSID and the WPA2
passphrase. The WiFi interface on the Base Unit is logically isolated from the LAN interface, so data
received via Wi-Fi is not transferred over the LAN to the corporate network.
Audio
The ClickShare Button also allows audio data to be wirelessly transmitted to the Base Unit without
additional driver installation.
ClickShare is unique in this respect as compared to other wireless
presentation systems on the market. To make this possible, the Button will present itself as a virtual
USB speaker to the PC it is connected to. The ClickShare Base Unit has a 3mm jack socket at the
back that can be hooked up to the meeting room speakers or sound system. Audio is also embedded
in the display port signal and can be used through an HDMI converter. In the spirit of collaboration,
audio from multiple users will be automatically mixed on screen. Audio is currently not supported on
mobile devices,.
Installation and Maintenance
The ClickShare product is designed to work either stand-alone or as an integrated device on the
corporate network. The basic set-up consists of powering the base unit and hooking it up to a
display. ClickShare customers will have access to future software updates through the Barco
ClickShare portal (http://www.barco.com/clickshare), which provides new features and performance
improvements.
Product Portfolio
ClickShare provides different types of Base Units so the same easy to use solution can be deployed
throughout the entire company and/or location. The smaller CSM unit is intended for average midrange meeting rooms, while the bigger CSC unit brings more content to more and/or higher resolution
displays in the higher end conference rooms. The Button is exactly the same for both products and
can even be interchanged between Base Units. An overviewof the differences between CSC and
CSM Base Units can be found below:
CSM
The CSM is designed to meet the needs of smaller meeting rooms and huddle rooms. The product
can be connected to one flat panel or projector via HDMI or VGA and displays full HD content. All
ClickShare Base Units are designed and tested to support numerous types of projector and display
brands and resolutions. The CSM set includes two ClickShare Buttons.Up to six additional Buttons
can be purchased separately and paired with each Base Unit.. The ClickShare Button or app allows
a maximum of eight users to take over the display with their content simultaneously with just oneclick.
CSM Audio
To support video with audio, the latency between the user device and the central screen is specified
to be less than 100ms, which means that no additional measures are to be taken to provide good
enough lip-sync in the CSM system. No additional drivers are required to share audio content.
CSC
The CSC Base Unit is intended for higher end conference and board rooms where higher resolution
and content from multiple users is required. The CSC Base Unit can be connected to a single or dual
projector(s) and/or display(s). The ClickShare Base unit automatically manages the screen(s)
composition, making optimal use of the central display to show up to four presenters on screen
simultaneously. Additional participants can easily blend in and become ready-to-share with just one
click. The CSC Set includes four ClickShare Buttons and a storage Tray. For large settings, up to 64
buttons per Base Unit can be in ready-to-share state simultaneously.
CSC Dual Display and Panoramic Resolution
The ClickShare CSC Base Unit can support up to two displays simultaneously, in extended mode or in
clone mode. In extended mode, both displays are used to optimally show the content shared with the
ClickShare Base Unit. As with single display, the dual display composition is automatically controlled by
the ClickShare Base Unit, with up to four sources sharing on-screen simultaneously. The Base Unit will
automatically arrange the content on the central screen(s) to make best use of the available screen real
estate while maintaining the aspect ratio of the client display.The clone mode can be used to show
content on the display or projector in the meeting room, while driving another video input with the same
content, for example the data channel of a video conference system.
The video outputs can have different resolutions or types similar to driving multiple displays from your
PC graphics card. Maximum resolution supported on DVI is WUXGA (1920x1600). The Display Port
allows connectivity of panoramic displays with resolutions as high as 2560x1080. Displays requiring
other connectivity than DVI or Display Port can be connected using adapters.
CSC: Audio lip sync
When a multimedia file containing audio and video is played on the client PC, the ClickShare system
will make sure that the embedded audio played back on the speakers connected to the Base Unit is lipsynchronized with the video content on the central screen.
CSC: Hardware add-on CS Link
For those users who require full real-time mirroring of dynamic content, there is an optional hardware
add-on called the ClickShare Link. It can be used to connect an Apple TV to the Base Unit through a
cable. Doing so allows iPad and iPhone users to mirror their screen (using the built-in AirPlay Mirroring
protocol) to the central screen in a composition with the other sources shown. The ClickShare Link can
be calibrated to filter out the AppleTV menu/home screen to make sure that the Apple TV’s output is
only shown in the composition when showing relevant information. A limitation of the Link / Apple TV
configuration is that only one iPad can be connected simultaneously per Link/Apple TV combination and
that full screen videos will not be mirrored. The latter will be blocked by the built-in HDCP digital rights
management protection. CS Link is only supported on the CSC Base Unit.