Lenovo ThinkSmart Portfolio Expands with New Solutions to Enable Entry-Level Smart Meeting Rooms

March 25, 2024 – Lenovo^TM announced today ahead of Enterprise Connect two solutions to help the businesses more easily upgrade meeting spaces into managed video conferencing spaces and Microsoft Teams Rooms. The Lenovo ThinkSmart^TM Tiny Kit and the ThinkPad ^TM Universal USB-C Smart Dock – ThinkSmart Edition enables users to drive smart collaboration while providing IT managers the benefits of managed meeting spaces.

As hybrid work scenarios continue to grow and become a new norm worldwide, businesses face another challenge in intelligent transformation—making meeting spaces smarter. It is estimated more than 43 percent of remote workers feel they are not fully included in meetings, and less than 8 percent of meeting rooms worldwide are video enabled.¹ Because of this, firms are looking to level up collaboration to meet the needs of workers and the IT departments serving them.

“Customers are faced with a continuum of options as they look to deploy the right technologies to build and upgrade meeting spaces for today’s world of hybrid work and distributed teams,” said Shannon MacKay, General Manager of Worldwide Smart Collaboration Business at Lenovo. “The ThinkSmart Tiny Kit and the ThinkSmart dock are entry-level solutions for transforming meeting spaces into better audio/video experiences while adding backend manageability for IT support.”   

Lenovo ThinkSmart Tiny Kit

The Lenovo ThinkSmart Tiny Kit includes the ThinkCentre M70q Gen 4 compute module and ThinkSmart Controller which together enable a Microsoft Teams meeting with single front-of-room display and external audio/video. Additionally, Lenovo will offer a ThinkSmart USB HDMI Capture dongle at a later date. The solution is ideal for customers looking for a low barrier to upgrade from bring your own device (BYOD) meeting experiences—unmanaged meeting room solutions requiring a participant’s PC to drive the meeting— to a Microsoft Teams Rooms experience.

With in-room compute power supporting the meeting, ThinkSmart Tiny Kit users can enjoy Microsoft Teams Rooms features, such as one-touch join and Front Row. A modular kit, customers also have the opportunity to add preferred certified peripherals like the ThinkSmart Bar 180 and ThinkSmart Cam to optimize room experiences. For customers that would like to upgrade and access more features in the Microsoft Teams Rooms experiences, ThinkSmart offers a number of certified Microsoft Teams Rooms devices, including the ThinkSmart Hub, ThinkSmart One, and ThinkSmart Core.

The ThinkSmart Tiny Kit is supported by ThinkSmart Manager, Lenovo’s proprietary console that provides IT teams with the ability to deploy, monitor and troubleshoot Lenovo ThinkSmart devices from a single interface, regardless of the state or location of the devices. The solution enables IT managers to check room status, add new devices, and new users, as well as view all active users, check for updates, and restart a device. ThinkSmart Manager automatically detects issues, so IT staff get immediate, real-time notifications on critical issues, even before users can report them.

ThinkPad Universal USB-C Smart Dock – ThinkSmart Edition

The ThinkSmart dock is an entry-level solution for businesses who want to capture room usage and other data analytics for future strategic technology investments while keeping the interoperability and flexibility of a BYOD room. Preloaded with ThinkSmart Manager Basic, the smart dock allows IT administrators to achieve functionality of a managed room.

The ThinkSmart dock is equipped with a vast array of ports, next-gen plug-and-play functionality, rapid charging capabilities², and is powerful enough to install critical firmware updates automatically. The ThinkSmart dock features an innovative cable management system that keeps all cables out of the way and locked down to prevent accidental unplugging. This allows for meeting attendees to quickly plug-in their laptops using a single, tidy cord.

Combining unified communications (UC) interoperability (Teams, Zoom, Webex, Google Meet, etc.) with plug-and-play flexibility, the ThinkSmart dock allows one cable to connect users to professional meeting room quality audiovisual devices and large format displays for group meetings within a conference room or meeting space.

Availability and Pricing³

The Lenovo ThinkSmart Tiny Kit is available worldwide in the second half of 2024 starting at $949.

The Lenovo ThinkPad Universal USB-C Smart Dock – ThinkSmart Edition is available worldwide in the second half of 2024 starting at $349.

Service and Support

The Lenovo ThinkSmart Tiny Kit comes with one year of Lenovo’s Premier Support⁵, upgradeable to three, four, and five year terms, providing access to advanced technicians 24-hours a day, 365 days a year.

ThinkSmart compute products, including the Lenovo ThinkSmart Tiny Kit, offer protection by proactive security features at every layer. Delivering end-to-end peace of mind, Lenovo ThinkShield includes supply chain assurance and below-the-OS protection.⁶

Product Specifications

About Lenovo

Lenovo is a US$62 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #217 in the Fortune Global 500, employing 77,000 people around the world, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company by further expanding into growth areas that fuel the advancement of ‘New IT’ technologies (client, edge, cloud, network, and intelligence) including server, storage, mobile, software, solutions, and services. This transformation together with Lenovo’s world-changing innovation is building a more inclusive, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992)(ADR: LNVGY). To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

LENOVO, THINKSMART, THINKPAD, THINKCENTRE and THINKSHIELD are trademarks of Lenovo. USB Type-C® and USB-C® are registered trademarks of USB Implementers Forum. Google is a trademark of Google, LLC. ZOOM is a trademark of Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Intel is a trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. Wi-Fi is a trademark of Wi-Fi Alliance. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  ©2024, Lenovo Group Limited.

¹ Microsoft ebook:  Harness the Power of Microsoft Teams Rooms – a path from BYOD to native Team Rooms
² Up to 100W for most USB-C notebooks
³ Prices may not include tax and do not include shipping or options and are subject to change without notice; additional terms and conditions apply. Reseller prices may vary. On-shelf dates and color options may vary by geography and products may only be available in selected markets. All offers subject to availability. Lenovo reserves the right to alter product offerings, features and specifications at any time without notice.
⁴ Lenovo Premier Support is included for three years. Beyond that may incur subscription fees and/or additional costs.
⁵ Lenovo Premier Support is included for three years. Beyond that may incur subscription fees and/or additional costs.
⁶ ThinkShield is available as an add-on for both Basic and Premium ThinkSmart Manager plans.
⁷ Available user storage and internal memory is less due to operating system, software and other functions utilizing part of this capacity; may change with software updates.
⁸ Available at a later date.