Tandberg triumphs

Satisfied winners of the Honours Award for Design Excellence 2011. From left Morten Iveland, Snorre Kjesbu, Gaute Hovdal, Hallgrim Sagen, Simen Andresen og Ivan Marius Kristiansen. Main jury and project leader for Award for Design Excellence congratulates the winners. Photo: Johnny Syversen.

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Satisfied winners of the Honours Award for Design Excellence 2011. From left Morten Iveland, Snorre Kjesbu, Gaute Hovdal, Hallgrim Sagen, Simen Andresen og Ivan Marius Kristiansen. Main jury and project leader for Award for Design Excellence congratulates the winners. Photo: Johnny Syversen.

WINNER: Tandberg, now part of Cisco, had to double production of its innovative EX90, which moves teleconferencing from the conference room and onto the desktop. Photo: Tandberg

NOMINATED: Ebird makes it easier to control underwater cables that can be up to 12km long. Kongsberg Seatex and the design bureau Inventas Trondheim were nominated for the Honours Award for Design Excellence 2011. Photo: Kongsberg Seatex

NOMINATED: The Hydrolift SX-22 multi-use boat provides access to the fjords at half the price of comparable craft. Hydrolift and Eker Design were nominated for the Honours Award for Design Excellence 2011. Photo: Hydrolift

NOMINATED: Where other banks are blue and traditional, Sandnes Sparebank has used design to establish itself as a friendly and informal local bank. The bank, along with Fasett design bureau, was nominated for the Honours Award for Design Excellence 2011. Photo: Anne Lise Nordheim

 

Oslo: Technology company Tandberg has taken teleconferencing out of the conference room and into the MD’s office. The company has now received the Honours Award for Design Excellence 2011.

- Technology in combination with design creates products that are easy to use, and this has been key to the success of EX90. Six weeks after launch, we had earned the entire development budget, said a delighted Snorre Kjesbu, Deputy CEO of Cisco, who purchased Tandberg last year. He accepted the prize before a full house on Design Day, Wednesday 16 March.

The Honours Award for Design Excellence celebrates the nation’s outstanding individuals within design, and is awarded by the Norwegian Design Council. Tandberg was nominated for the prize along with Hydrolift, Sandnes Sparebank and Kongsberg Seatex.

Tandberg has worked with design for many years, both systematically and successfully. The company has created an impressive design milieu in Lysaker, something that has made them a world leader in their branch. “We could all learn something by studying the Tandberg model,” says Eline Strøm-Gundersen, Project Manager for the Design Awards at the Norwegian Design Council.

Developed a new flagship

A couple of years ago, when Tandberg decided to develop the EX90 desktop video-conferencing system, their goal was quite simply to make the solution the company’s flagship, and as such position Tandberg as a leader in technology and design.

“We weren’t interested in creating just another product doomed to gather dust in the storeroom. Our target group demands efficiency and user-friendliness, and we wanted to create something that could be integrated into their normal working day,” says Ivan Marius Kristiansen, Interaction Designer at Tandberg, recently acquired by Cisco.

From the conference room to the desktop

Some years ago, Tandberg launched the 1700 MXP and in doing so created a new niche within the extremely competitive teleconferencing market; so-called “Desktop Telepresence”. The idea was to move the teleconference from the conference room and onto the desktop. The solution became the basis for the EX90.

“The EX90 is the next generation within telepresence, and is relevant for you whenever you are at the office. When used in teleconferencing, the video provides super-sharp image quality, and when it is not required for teleconferencing it performs perfectly as a large, high quality PC screen. You can also share documents etc. with whoever you are talking to. Pointing the camera at the desk turns it into a document camera, so you can actually share physical documents, plans and even objects,” explains Kristiansen.

Doubled production capacity

The product was launched in the second quarter of 2010, and sales have been so high that Tandberg had to double their production output to meet demand. The EX90 has already found applications in other fields, but the designers at Tandberg are continually working on improvements. Among other developments, there will soon be a touch-screen control unit that also works with several other Tandberg conferencing systems.

Kristiansen explains that designers are involved in every step of the development process behind all new products at Tandberg, from the very first sketch to the finished product being packaged and shipped. “Investing in design has been profitable for us. As a result of this we have built what is perhaps Norway’s biggest in-house design milieu, both for interactional and industrial design,” he says.

This article was written by Pressenytt for the Norwegian Design Council. Pressenytt has editorial responsibility for the content of this article.

 

Contacts:

• Norwegian Design Council, Project Manager for the Design Excellence and Young Talent Awards, Eline Strøm-Gundersen, tel. 23 29 25 70, mobile tel. 971 05 580
• Norwegian Design Council, Project Manager Marte Grevsgard, tel. 23 29 25 62, mobile tel. 917 74 683
• Tandberg/Cisco, Marketing Director Berit Lid Scharff, mobile tel. 971 39 487, e-mail berit.lid.scharff@cisco.com
• Norwegian Design Council, Information Director Grete Kobro, tel. 23 29 25 57, mobile tel. 907 65,971
• More information about The Design Day 2011
• For more information about Tandberg and the EX90

Previous winners of the Honours Awards for Design Excellence