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7 minute read
Summary
On this episode of Catching Up with, Craig Durr catches up with Javed Khan, CEO at Neat, live at InfoComm 2026. They explore how Neat is building on its intelligent collaboration platform with new AI-powered capabilities that enhance meeting experiences and simplify workplace management. The conversation also reflects on Javed's first months as CEO and the company's momentum as it continues to expand its innovation roadmap.
Their discussion covers:
- Intelligent Meeting Layouts: How Neat's distributed architecture dynamically highlights the most relevant participants to create a more engaging experience for remote attendees
- Neat Pulse with MCP: Bringing room intelligence, occupancy data, and environmental insights into enterprise AI assistants through the Model Context Protocol
- Smarter Workplace Data: How sensor, camera, and device data can integrate with broader IT workflows and enterprise platforms using conversational AI
- Neat Board 32 Expansion: The latest updates to Neat's compact collaboration device, including broader platform support for executive desks and huddle spaces
- Designed for Simplicity: How Neat combines premium hardware design with streamlined deployment and user experiences from unboxing to installation
- Looking Ahead: Javed Khan shares his perspective on Neat's rapid growth, product momentum, and vision for the company's next phase of innovation
Transcript
Craig Durr: Hi everyone, this is Craig Durr, Chief Analyst of the Collab Collective. We are still here at InfoComm 2026, and I love bringing you updates and catching up with old friends. Guess who I found here, Javed Khan.
Good to see you. How are you doing?
Javed Khan: Good to see you again.
Craig Durr: Hey, I'm so excited to talk to you in person finally about your new role as CEO at Neat. How's that going?
Javed Khan: It's going great. I couldn't be more excited. We've got some really cool technology that we're showing off here, and just look at the crowd, it's crazy.
Craig Durr: Hey, while I've got you here, how about I have you highlight some of the key new features and new solutions that you're doing, and then we'll catch up. Right now, I love this space right here because this is a beautiful layout. This is like a meeting room, but I'm not seeing myself on camera. I see what's going on.
Javed Khan: Yeah, so this is one of the new intelligent layouts that we are launching today. It's available with some of our customers today, ones we are experimenting with. In the very large rooms, one of the problems we've had historically is there are so many people in the room that remote participants can't quite follow along.
Craig Durr: Exactly
Javed Khan: And there have been various solutions along the way, sending multiple streams, sending a bird's-eye view. But what we are now able to do, because of our distributed intelligent architecture, those little sensors over there, which are all powerful intelligent devices, are in real time making decisions about who the most interesting few people are, the ones the remote participants might be interested in.
For example, sometimes you have the CEO in the room, and people are looking at him, or somebody's raised their hand. So the intelligence in these devices decides which four or five people might be most interesting remotely.
Craig Durr: So as I'm looking right now at what's taking place on the monitor, we're seeing the last couple of people that spoke, the ones carrying the conversation right now, plus we also have the room view, which gives you context.
Javed Khan: It gives you a bird's-eye view, and then in real time switches to the three or four people, either recent speakers, but there's other logic we use inside that.
Craig Durr: You know what I also love, which is a feature you guys have had out for a while, we're in a space right now, but we're behind a virtual wall right now, and we're not being picked up.
Javed Khan: That's right. So you can configure the sensors to focus on a certain area. We have three cameras around it, but you can also focus it in an open space to just focus on one side, because the speaker might be standing there.
Craig Durr: We're talking about three cameras here, three cameras there, plus what's in the bar. We're talking, that's right, eight, nine cameras.
Javed Khan: That's right. We've got one that will also hang from the ceiling. That allows you to cover some very large and complex configurations.
Craig Durr: Well, you guys have some other things. I think one of them is back over here. You had an announcement around Pulse and MCP.
Javed Khan: That's right. Let's go take a look at it.
Craig Durr: Let's go take a look. All right, come on, let's go this way. The next thing you have here is Neat Pulse, but you have an MCP part of this as well.
Javed Khan: Yeah, so MCP is a technology that allows you to connect data, in this particular case our administrative data, into an agent using a standard protocol. What we are showing off over here, and this will work with your favorite tool, this is Claude over here. Gemini, or any other tool that supports the MCP interface. You can now have a conversation with the data that we have about your rooms, things like data from the sensors, occupancy data, usage data, and that just makes for a much easier interaction.
So in this particular case, I think the question asked was, “What does Pulse know about all of the rooms over here? How many people are in the room?”
Craig Durr: And this is actually set up real time. I was talking to Priscilla earlier, she was like, do a room check for me, and she showed me this operation. It was incredible.
Javed Khan: Yeah, we've got actually every one of these devices, about 35 of them over here, and the people-counting data, the sensor data from it, and you can have a conversation with it.
Craig Durr: So what we're talking about is, you've got this rich storehouse of data, because Neat was one of the first bars to have all these environmental sensors in place. Now you've got the sensors, the cameras, you've got a lot of information, and you're bringing it into that IT administrator's environment of choice, and how they want to interact with it.
Javed Khan: That's right, and that allows them also to integrate with other workflows, so you can take that data and use the same agent tool that they've already standardized on to maybe have a conversation with ServiceNow or other databases that they might have, without having to leave that interface. So we are exposing that data from the room, and I think this is an early version of what else we can do with other data being generated in the company.
Craig Durr: You know, I'm looking over your shoulder. I love these recent conversations. Device off status, people count, Neat Pulse booth-centric. This is incredible. It's a lot of great data, and you're just typing into it, right?
Javed Khan: Yep. It makes for a much faster and easier experience.
Craig Durr: All right, more stuff to show. Let's go back this way. All right, Javed, I know this device. I had a chance to talk to Marcus about it when you had a big reveal, and it was beautiful at that point in time. This is his baby, he's so excited about it. But what's new about this?
Javed Khan: We've got support for all of the major platforms now. It's a device for the smaller huddle space, Board 32. It's also a device for an executive desk, if you may. It's got a 140-degree field of view, so fantastic. And, as I said, support for all the major platforms. It's actually been extremely popular, selling off the shelves.
Craig Durr: And it's shipping now, right?
Javed Khan: It's available now, which is fantastic, globally, and you can also buy it online, actually, if you want to get one.
Craig Durr: So one of the things I love about this is it shows the premium aesthetics that you guys put into devices. I think this is why your devices have had a good appeal in the market. When people want that bespoke, that almost nice visual all the way through.
Javed Khan: I think it's amazing, the amount of time the team puts into every detail, all the way from the unboxing. Marcus is crazy about this, building the wrapping of the cables, but that speaks to the ethos of Neat, which is we are focused on simplicity, all the way from the unboxing to the setup of these devices. Single cable that plugs into your laptop, it powers over the cable, everything over IP, you plug it in, it's up and gone.
Craig Durr: Between Tormod, between Norma and Marcus, you've got the whole team. Hey, let's do this, let's go back over to this quiet spot here because I want to check with you on one other thing.
Oh, look, a quiet space. How are you able to find a quiet space here at this show? Your booth is crazy, right?
Javed Khan: I think my marketing team cleared this out for the CEO.
Craig Durr: You know, this was a chance for me to check in, because I wanted to do this. You are 90 days into, almost…
Javed Khan: Almost 90 days.
Craig Durr: There's that classic Harvard business case of what an executive is supposed to do in the first 90 days. What have you learned so far?
Javed Khan: Yeah, I think I'm way past the first 90-day plan.
Craig Durr: Why is that?
Javed Khan: Because I think I had the advantage of knowing the industry pretty well, and then a fantastic team, as you were talking about. An amazing product leader, an amazing marketing and sales team.
Craig Durr: Right
Javed Khan: So I was able to hit the ground running a lot faster than you would have thought.
Craig Durr: You had a coming home, in a lot of ways.
Javed Khan: Yeah, I mean, I was super excited coming in. I couldn't be more excited about the decision, because Neat built this amazing baseline foundation and platform that's already resonating so well with customers. And some of the things that we can do on top of that, I can't wait to show, things like the MCP server that you saw. I think there's so much more we could do.
Craig Durr: And the cool thing is, these guys already have a rich pipeline. I'm sure that you walked into that. I'd love for you to tell me about it, but you probably can't.
Javed Khan: That's been the most pleasant surprise. You come into a new job and you have your questions about what the board may not tell you, right?
Craig Durr: Yeah
Javed Khan: But it's amazing how much the business is growing. I think we're going through this period where customers are looking to refresh their rooms, and Neat's in the sweet spot. I wish I could share more of the numbers, but we are growing at an amazing clip, and that makes my job easier, because it allows us to invest in the future, the next generation of innovation. So it's a great place to be. Couldn't be happier.
Craig Durr: So what that means is, next time you and I sit down, I'll probably be at ISE or something similar, right?
Javed Khan: Maybe sooner
Craig Durr: Well, good, we might have some announcements, we might have some other things.
Javed Khan: Yes, I think later in the year, I'm sure we'll be sitting down at an analyst event, and I can't wait to show you what I do at the six-month mark.
Craig Durr: I'll bring the coffee, you bring the insights. How about that?
Javed Khan: Sounds good
Craig Durr: All right. Hey, Javed, great update.
Hey everyone, this is Craig Durr, Chief Analyst from the Collab Collective, with this great insightful catch-up with Javed Khan here at InfoComm 2026. Stay tuned for some more insights. Thank you. Good to see you.
