Microsoft closes Perceptive Pixel deal

PPI will become part of the Office Division and its founder, president and CTO Jeff Han will become a general manager reporting to the division's President Kurt DelBene, Giovanni Mezgec, general manager for Lync said in a blog post on Monday.

In an interview when the deal was announced on July 9, Mezgec said that "a tremendous opportunity" exists in the collaboration and productivity market to change how meetings are conducted.

By making large, touch-screen displays "mainstream" in workplaces, the work environment can be "fundamentally" changed, he said at the time.

In that respect, Microsoft will likely be locking horns with Cisco, which has had for years a line of video conferencing and telepresence products designed to improve virtual meetings.

Cisco is now in the process of integrating those products with its other enterprise collaboration tools.