While many were attempting to guess who was present in Trump’s ad hoc Syria war room at Mar-a-Lago, is seems that a number of techies online were more focused on the strange video-teleconferencing (VTC) technology in the space.

A regional sales manager for the New York-area rep firm Sapphire Marketing posted on Linkedin: “Technology friends: please help me figure out the technology on the table in this picture?”

A Crestron dealer with six industry certifications in his Linkedin handle replied: “Boy are we geeks, that’s the first thing I was wondering when I saw this picture.”

Here are some of the other responses:

“Based on what we see in the pic we can definitely say video conferencing related. I’d guess it’s an encryption based mic array, touch to speak, possibly with some additional functions such as Auto Camera Switching based on active mic. Maybe it has some other touch capabilities like mouse/pointer movement. Or it’s colecovision.”

“Since there appears to be a headphone jack, could that be some sort of secure language translation device that are endpoints of the vtc system?”

“Based on what we see in the pic we can definitely say video conferencing related. I’d guess it’s an encryption based mic array, touch to speak, possibly with some additional functions such as auto camera switching based on active mic. Maybe it has some other touch capabilities like mouse/pointer movement. Or it’s colecovision.”

“My guess, individual touch-pads for the war-room monitor to pan in/out, left/right.”

The winning answer very likely came from collaboration specialist Dan Klanderman:

“I believe the video endpoint is a [Tempest] version of the EX90, produced by CIS Secure in the Dulles area of Virginia. Not sure about the white boxes. I’m thinking microphones/push to talk device designed to meet strict security requirements.”

Tempest is a brand of CIS Secure, which modifies Cisco products for specific needs. According to the company:

Key features include:

• Widescreen 16:9
• CD Quality Stereo
• Acoustic Echo Cancelling
• Automatic Noise Reduction
• Intelligent Video Management

The Tempest modified version of the commercially available HP TelePresence System EX Series transforms the workplace by combining work, collaboration, and communications — all on the desktop with just the touch of a finger.  Colleagues can instantly work together whether they are separated by a hallway, street, or several time zones.

As part of the EX Series, the Cisco TelePresence System EX90 (EX90) and Cisco TelePresence System EX60 (EX60) support vivid, lifelike 1080p30 video, natural collaboration, and the simplicity of a touch screen interface for a complete solution that helps ensure conversations are more productive.

This article was written by Julie Jacobson and first appeared on Commercial Integrator.