ClearOne, a Salt Lake City-based company, holds a majority of the global market share in the professional audio conferencing systems category. Brad Baldwin learns about ClearOne from Kurt Olsen during the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The following interview is a transcription of a vidcast published on RockyMountainVoices in Januaury 2008.

Brad Baldwin: This is Brad Baldwin with Rocky Mountain Voices and I'm here with Kurt Olsen from ClearOne Communications.

Kurt Olsen: Thanks, it's good to be here.

Brad Baldwin: Now one of the things that I found out about you guys is that you have really a full range of technology for speakerphones, engaging conversations, calls, etc. Tell me a little bit about this. It looks like it goes all the way from a small thing that would work with my cell phone all the way up to huge conference rooms.

Kurt Olsen: Exactly. ClearOne has been in the business of audio for 26 years. At this point we have a complete audio conferencing product line. As you said, we go all the way from a personal solution that I can throw my laptop bag and use up my laptop or cell phone all the way up to a large complex board rooms or auditoriums. We're famous around the world; we've done most some of the biggest, most complex boardrooms and installations that you can imagine.

Brad Baldwin: So does the technology work with all kinds of telephones, voice over IP's, cell phones?

Kurt Olsen: Exactly. Regardless of the kind of connection you have, we have an audio solution for your. So we connect to analog phone lines, voice over IP connection, cell phones, laptops, you name it. So there are a lot of ways to connect.

Brad Baldwin: This one that we're looking at down here, in front of us, Kurt why don't you tell us a little bit about this. It looks like something that a mobile exec would like to have.

Kurt Olsen: Yes if you travel at all, carry a laptop and a cell phone, this is a must-have accessory. This is called our Chat 50. First of all, it is a USB device. There is a cable that connects directly to my PC, and its powered from IPC. So if I'm using Skype, or a cell phone that the company has issued with my VOIP system, and can be used with all types of Web conference. It works well for any of those individuals with laptops and cameras built in. You can use a USB headset, which is fine, but this device is a great option for hands-free. I don’t have something in my ears and more than one person can be involved in the conversation. It's great for any PC-based application, for hands-free audio two-way. And then the other application, but got another jack on here, I can connect a variety of tables, the most interesting one is the one that goes to the cell phone. So any cell phone, PDA, Blackberry that has a 2.5 mm connection, I can connect this in and now I have a speakerphone that gives me audio quality which is 10 times better than what is built into the device.

Brad Baldwin: So the old "throw the Blackberry on to the conference table and everyone huddle around" is now gone?

Kurt Olsen: Yes it's a big step up from that. There are a lot of technologies that make this work well. Echo cancellation is necessary in a device like this of the person on the other side doesn't hear their voice coming back to them. We have very sophisticated technology inside our DSP, in this box, that takes care of echo cancellation, gives you full duplex audio, which means you can hear and talk at the same time, it's a two-way audio. You're not cutting each other off. And noise cancellation from any existing noise like a low-level hum from a fan will be canceled out so that the receiver will only hear my voice coming through on the other side.

Brad Baldwin: Interesting. I may have to pick a couple of these up for some of the podcasting that I do through the phone. The only question I have is: does it have on those buttons so that when you have a really annoying person on the call, you can kick them off?

Kurt Olsen: Well, almost. You do have the mute button and the light turns red and you can curse at them and know that they won't hear you.

Brad Baldwin: I'm still waiting for that ingenious invention. Well, Kurt, it's been fun to meet you and get to learn a little bit more about your company. You have a full product line and if people want to get some more information, do you have a website?

Kurt Olsen: Yes, www.clearone.com and the full product line is up there. We are also available at a lot of the online dealers such as CDW, and PC Mall.