Kinly raised £29,000 for the Great Ormond Street Hospital charity, assembling a team of employees and partners to take on the Xtreme Microsoft Teams Room (MTR) challenge.
The 26-strong team were tasked with scaling the summit of the highest peak in South Wales, Pen y Fan, to set up and run a fully operational Microsoft Teams Room.
The Kinly team rose to the challenge on 1st July, confronted by gale force winds and cold temperatures, forcing the team to share the equipment needed to set up the MTR during the 1000m ascent, taking turns to carry the equipment on the five mile high climb up.
The MTR setup included two 43-in Sony screens, a Logitech Rally bar and Tap, as well as a Peerless dual screen stand, two Shure mic pods, a Pexip and RealWear headset.
Additionally, the team hauled up a large battery pack, two tables and eight chairs, bringing the combined equipment weight to a total of over 250 kg.
The Kinly team reached the top of the Pen y Fan, assembling the first ever mountaintop MTR, enabling participants to dial into the call from locations across the globe to congratulate the team on reaching the summit and successfully setting the meeting room up.
Kinly raised over £29,000, easily exceeding the £20,000 target it set for the hospital. Money raised will be used to fund support for families and children, life-saving medical equipment, research into children’s health as well as rebuilding and refurbishment.
The equipment used in the climb will now be auctioned off, with all proceeds donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital, with the aim of exceeding £30,000 in donations.
Great Ormond Street Hospital is the UK’s largest dedicated funder of child health research, providing care to approximately 750 seriously ill children and young people every dy. Sponsors for the challenge included Ingram, Logitech, Nuvias, Peerless AV, Pexip, RealWear, Shure, Sony and TD Synnex.
Taj Ghere, UK and Ireland manging director, Kinly, commented: “It was a brilliant day but a real struggle at times, especially with over 20kg on your back and what felt like gale force ten winds! But we all stuck together and it was a fantastic moment when we powered everything on, the Wi-Fi signal lit up and all the participants on the call broke into applause.
“It is mind-blowing that this event has raised such a large sum of money. This is going to make a huge difference for GOSH who are in the process of setting up a new unit for children with cancer. That has made all of this worthwhile and so much more.”