A TELECOM business has tens of thousands of people keen to get their hands on the new webcam it has developed for a Covid-secure business world.

Dorset-based JPL Telcom designed its camera to suit people who were making video calls from socially distanced offices as well as those working from home.

It received tens of thousands of advance orders for the JPL Vision+ compact webcam, launched earlier this month.

The USB camera features two stereo microphones and a 96-degree viewing angle – which allows for more than one person to be in the shot without breaking social distancing rules.

The company, which employs 17 people in Sturminster Newton, has received the first 10,000 Chinese-manufactured webcams, which are all spoken for.

Chief executive James Clarke said: “We’ve got capacity of 40,000 in a month. We are planning for that full capacity.”

The company is known for designing and engineering headsets and has added webcams and speakerphones to its range.

Mr Clarke said the Vision+ was particularly useful for teaching and presenting, since its wide viewing angle and dual microphones meant two people could be in the shot. “That’s a really big deal,” he said.

“It makes sense for us, being a headset manufacture, to have a conference room solution.”

The company supplies to coporate customers around the world, as well as to resellers who retail its products. “We’re filling orders in the hundreds,” he said.

He said the demand was continuing through a traditionally quiet time of year and was likely to continue in the autumn. “We’re expecting in August not to have products on the shelf. This is a completely strange environment,” he added.

Mr Clarke added: “The switch to home working has led to exponential demand.

“The webcams can be desk-mounted or placed above a PC monitor. They feature a 2million pixel range sensor, 1080p HD at 30 frames per second for high resolution clarity. Noise suppression and echo cancellation are standard.

“At a time when working environments are constrained by social distancing, we are boosting the UK economy through new product investment, supplying new and established sectors, exporting worldwide and growing a quality reseller base.”