Rockleigh, NJ – January 20, 2026 – Crestron Electronics, a global leader in workplace technology, today announced Collab Compute, the next generation of its unified communications platform. Purpose-built for professional AV environments, Collab Compute delivers a consistent, scalable foundation across spaces of every size.
“Collaboration has become mission-critical infrastructure for organizations everywhere, but too often the technology behind it hasn’t kept pace with how work has evolved,” said Brad Hintze, EVP, global customer success & marketing. “Collab Compute represents a fundamental shift toward a purpose-built, standardized hardware core, one that gives IT teams the performance, reliability, and long-term flexibility they need to support intelligent collaboration at scale.”
As the global workforce continues to embrace hybrid connections, and organizations deploy collaboration technology across increasingly diverse environments, they need a hardware platform that simplifies deployment, supports intelligent audio and video, and is ready for what’s next. Collab Compute delivers that foundation by combining powerful compute, extensive professional AV connectivity, and a streamlined, integrated design to make modern collaboration easier to deploy, manage, and scale.
“Meeting rooms today are being asked to do far more than they were even a year ago,” said Joel Mulpeter, senior director of product marketing at Crestron. “Beyond just connecting people, they need to work seamlessly, intelligently, and reliably at scale. Collab Compute was engineered to be the core of that experience, giving organizations a standardized, future-ready foundation that supports AI-powered collaboration while remaining flexible enough for tomorrow’s needs.”
Built for Intelligent Collaboration
At the heart of Collab Compute is the Intel® Core™ Ultra processor with integrated neural processing unit (NPU), delivering the edge computing power required for intelligent collaboration. Third-party collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams® Rooms and Zoom Rooms® software with features such as auto-framing, speaker identification, real-time transcription, and AI-enhanced meeting experiences will rely on sustained local processing that traditional room PCs and legacy appliances often struggle to support efficiently. Collab Compute will be prepared to run these third-party collaboration platform capabilities smoothly while maintaining the performance and stability required in enterprise environments. Designed forthese advanced workloads, Collab Compute enables organizations to take full advantage of the latest capabilities built into leading conferencing platforms without sacrificing performance or reliability.
The solution delivers a familiar, one-touch meeting experience while enabling advanced room designs that go far beyond basic conferencing. Organizations can confidently deploy intelligent collaboration across both small spaces and high-impact environments using a common hardware foundation.
Purpose-Built for Professional AV Environments
Unlike general-purpose compute devices, Collab Compute is engineered specifically for professional AV applications. Extensive I/O, including DM® Essentials endpoints, HDMI® connectivity ingest, USB-C® connectivity and multi-network support, enables seamless integration with distributed audio, multi-camera systems, multi-display configurations, and room automation.
A fully integrated form factor with a built-in power supply and tool-less bracket mounting simplifies installation and reduces clutter. This integrated design allows IT teams and integrators to deploy standardized solutions faster while retaining the flexibility needed to support diverse room designs and infrastructure requirements.
Flexible by Design, Scalable by Nature
Collab Compute supports a wide range of cameras, microphones, speakers, and control interfaces, allowing organizations to tailor each room to its unique requirements while maintaining consistency across deployments, whether upgrading an existing space or designing a new environment from the ground up. Multiple display outputs support immersive, multi-screen layouts, while BYOD presentation and conferencing gives users the flexibility they need for content sharing.
For IT teams, Collab Compute integrates with XiO Cloud® technology operations management platform, Microsoft Teams® Pro Management, and Zoom® Device Management (ZDM), enabling remote provisioning, monitoring, and management of thousands of systems from a single platform. By standardizing on a single, purpose-built collaboration platform, organizations can reduce deployment complexity, streamline operations, and scale collaboration without increasing support overhead.
The New Core of the Crestron UC Offerings
As the core hardware platform, Collab Compute brings together content, collaboration, and control into a unified solution. By combining intelligent compute, professional AV integration, and scalable management in one platform, Collab Compute helps technology fade into the background so teams can focus on connection, creativity, and productivity.
Collab Compute will be featured as part of Crestron’s January 2026 launch and showcased during ISE® 2026 Expo in Barcelona.
For more information about Collab Compute, visit http://www.crestron.com/CollabCompute.
