Today we joined Steelcase in New York to share our vision for empowering teams and unveiled new details about the Surface Hub 2S product line, introducing the new 85-inch screen size and bringing unprecedented, battery-enabled mobility to the 50-inch collaboration device.

Our best ideas come from when we’re working as a team – focused, engaged, connected. When Surface started, we were a team of 12 all working together in a secret lab in Redmond. Collaboration was a constant and it was simple – at least in terms of location. Today, we’re a team spread across the globe, working closely with groups across Microsoft not just to build devices, but to create connected and complete experiences.

Surface Hub 2S is a product built to engage and empower teams by bridging digital and physical workspaces, because how we work continues to evolve every day. Not so long ago, the emphasis was on individual productivity. Today that’s changed – the situations we face at work are more complex and solving them requires a variety of skillsets and knowledge.

It’s why people are spending more time than ever before collaborating, and why companies are embracing new ways of working together. People see teamwork as critical to their job, but teams are more global and mobile than ever and being in the same room often isn’t possible. Businesses are looking to technology to close the gap – not only across departments, buildings and time zones, but also to connect different work styles and perspectives.

At Microsoft, we’ve been working on this – empowering people to achieve more, together. We’ve evolved Office into a collaborative suite that lets you work together in real-time from any device. We’ve introduced Microsoft Teams to create one, secure place for teams to access all the tools they need to do their work and added new innovations and enhanced AI to Microsoft Whiteboard. We’ve expanded our Surface family of devices to include not just devices designed for individuals, but also devices purpose-built for teamwork.

Today, we’re excited to share more about how we’re driving the category forward with Surface Hub 2S.

Surface Hub 2S – an all-in-one device built for teamwork

Surface Hub 2S harnesses the full power of Microsoft – Windows 10, Microsoft Teams, Office 365, Microsoft Whiteboard and the intelligent cloud – to unlock the productivity of your team. This new device packs even more performance into a thinner, lighter more versatile design. Forty percent lighter than its predecessor, and with a 60 percent thinner display, Surface Hub 2S fits easily into any space – from a traditional conference room to a compact huddle space. The vibrant 4K+ 50-inch multi-touch display offers an inviting canvas to co-create with the best pen and touch experience and the highest resolution compared to any device in its class. Plus, Surface Hub 2S offers 50 percent faster graphics performance than the original Surface Hub. Surface Hub 2S will start shipping in the U.S. in June and will be priced at $8,999.99. Surface Hub 2S will be available in the additional Surface Hub markets shortly thereafter.

Teamwork anywhere

Surface Hub 2S gives teams the flexibility to come together wherever they work best. It takes something that has long been a fixture in the conference room – the shared screen – and transforms it into a mobile computer, built for teams. Surface Hub 2S offers the thinnest edge and smallest bezels in its class, bringing you closer to your content and your team and integrating seamlessly into any office environment. When paired with the Steelcase Roam Mobile Stand and APC Charge Mobile Battery, Surface Hub 2S creates a mobile collaboration experience that frees teams from the conference room and allows your ideas to be as mobile as you are – no AC power connectivity required.

Bring remote teams together

Joining a meeting remotely can be painful. It can be hard to stay engaged when you can’t see the people in the room and the content being shared at the same time. Surface Hub 2S helps make meetings more engaging and inclusive of people working remotely. With built-in Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business integration, you can start meetings instantly with one touch. The large true-to-life screen, enhanced 4K camera, crystal clear speakers and far-field mic arrays help everyone on the team – local or remote – see and engage with the meeting content and each other, making it feel almost like everyone is in the same room together.

Stay in the team flow

Too often, great ideas get stuck on the conference room whiteboard and the team’s flow gets broken when the meeting ends. Surface Hub 2S enables teams work digitally all the way through their creative process, with access to the tools they rely on. Easily sign into your Office 365 account to access and interact with the content you need, run must-have Microsoft and business applications natively, and interact naturally with Surface Hub 2 Pen and touch. The Microsoft Whiteboard allows people to collaborate on a shared digital canvas from almost any device so it’s easy to pick up where you left off, keeping teams in their flow.

New options to meet a variety of business needs

We know that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to collaboration. Businesses require choice, flexibility and control over the productivity tools that help enable teamwork. Over the last several months, we have been listening closely to our customers to deliver tailored options to meet a variety of emerging needs. This includes delivering Surface Hub 2S now, with a modular hardware design that will enable customers to unlock new experiences in the future.

At a later date, we will also offer Surface Hub 2 Display, for spaces that need a great pen and touch enabled interactive display, without the compute, as well as a new configuration option for Surface Hub 2S customers to run Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise on their device(s) for specialized app scenarios. We’re also excited to announce that we’re adding an 85-inch version to the Surface Hub family. We will begin testing Surface Hub 2S 85-inch with select customers in early 2020.

We’ve been inspired by how our customers use Surface Hub to transform meetings and collaborate. And we can’t wait to see how businesses across the globe will use Surface Hub 2S to empower their teams to work together in new ways.