Google Ships Beam Meeting Systems to Customers in Six Countries, Plans Bookable Rooms for October

A team that wants to use Google Beam may soon be able to book a room instead of installing the meeting hardware. As Beam units ship to customers in six countries, Google plans to offer sessions at select U.S. Industrious workspaces starting in October. The two routes address a practical hurdle for a system that needs dedicated equipment: getting people into a Beam-equipped space.

The hardware behind the call

Beam is delivered as HP Dimension with Google Beam, a physical meeting system that integrates with Google Meet and Zoom. Google’s aim is to make distant conversations feel more like face-to-face meetings. Meet and Zoom support gives organizations a choice of calling service, but participants still need access to the specialized hardware.

Two ways into a Beam meeting

For organizations putting the system in their own offices, units are shipping to customers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and Japan. Google says 18 channel partners can deploy and support Beam. That partner network is part of the offer: a company needs more than access to a video-calling app to put this system in a meeting room.

The Industrious partnership offers a different route. Google plans to make Beam sessions bookable at select workspaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York City and Palo Alto starting in October; bookings are not yet described as available. During an earlier pilot with Industrious, Google heard about teams using Beam for manager check-ins, interviews and client consultations. A bookable room would let organizations reserve the equipment for selected conversations rather than install it themselves.

The case for a better meeting

Google’s clearest results come from an eight-week study of its own teams using Beam. It says those teams felt 50% more connected to one another and found it 33% easier to ensure their feedback was understood. Google also reports a 21% drop in the need for follow-up meetings. That last figure describes a reported need, not a count showing that all meetings declined.

The study gives Google a reason to broaden Beam’s use among its staff, but it leaves open whether customers will see similar results. Google partnered with Bain & Company earlier this year to test the system for campus recruiting and candidate interviews, presenting it as a way to connect with candidates without extensive travel. It also names Netflix and Capital Group among Beam’s first customers.

For a business weighing the two access routes, the question is how often a conversation warrants dedicated equipment. A bookable room lowers the commitment of trying Beam, though it requires participants to schedule around an equipped location. October’s planned Industrious bookings will put that option in front of users beyond Google’s own offices.