It all started with a simple but innovative idea: simplify meeting room management, which was often complicated and costly due to wired display installations.

In 2015, Roger Meier and Patrick Terreaux, then MBA students at EPFL Lausanne, turned this idea into a project. To design a simple and energy-efficient booking display, Roger drew inspiration from his Kindle e-book, which he always carried on his travels.

The first project at ETH Zurich, which was seeking a wireless solution to equip 500 rooms across five historic buildings, quickly revealed the potential of the solution: an e-ink display, easy to install and low-power, a first on the market.

ROOMZ quickly captured the Swiss market. The arrival of Fabien Moine marked a strategic turning point, combining brand structuring with international sales expansion. New sensors for desks and phone booths were introduced, enabling smarter, connected offices.

In just ten years, ROOMZ has transformed an ingenious idea into a global solution that meets the needs of new ways of working.

“Behind every ROOMZ success is a passionate team and engaged customers. Ten years of collective effort dedicated to making technology simpler and more sustainable.” – Roger Meier, CEO.

ROOMZ is developing a carbon compensation programme with Tree-Nation

If you have known ROOMZ for a while, then you know that the sustainability aspect of our solutions is an essential part of our identity.

Although ROOMZ displays are wireless, low-energy and equipped with e-ink technology, we wanted to go one step further and offset all our CO2 emissions.

To achieve this, we recently entered into a partnership with the international organisation Tree-Nation, which has planted nearly 33 million trees since 2006*.

From 1 June 2024, two trees will be planted for every screen sold. This reforestation campaign makes it possible to offset the emissions generated during the production and use of our products and contributes to long-term carbon sequestration.

What are the benefits for our customers?

By choosing ROOMZ products, our customers not only acquire an energy-efficient technical solution, are also make an active contribution to protecting the planet:

– Reduction of carbon emissions: the carbon footprint of each ROOMZ display is offset over its entire lifetime.

– Contribution to biodiversity: our activities take place in tropical areas, where are the habitat of many plant and animal species.

– Supporting local economies: these ecological initiatives create jobs and sustainable resources for local communities.

*Since May 2025, ROOMZ has renewed its commitment to sustainability by continuing its partnership with Tree-Nation. We no longer plant trees for each screen sold, but now for every visit to our website. This initiative is part of the Net Zero Website label, which aims to offset the carbon footprint of web activity.

An exciting new step for Willy Kurmann and ROOMZ!

Willy knows the company very well as he has been working successfully with ROOMZ for the past 5 years as a Senior Software Engineer and Scrum Master. Before joining ROOMZ, for 13 years, Willy was part of the Rolex company as a Software Engineer and Industrial IT Support Technician. He is now taking over the position of CTO from Patrick Terreaux, who is taking on a new challenge after 8 years at ROOMZ.

Willy Kurmann has set the goal of bridging the gap between customers and engineering, alongside continuing to excite the existing customer base with fantastic new features and SaaS products.

To Willy, a successful company depends on two key elements: its team members, and a strong corporate culture.

As Willy Kurmann enthused: “I am very proud and extremely excited to be taking up my new position as CTO in the ROOMZ team. I would like to thank Roger Meier and the entire ROOMZ’ team for their trust in me. Accepting this exciting opportunity and contributing to the greater success of our company, especially in times of changes in the way we work, alongside strengthening our market presence in Europe, is decisive for me.”

Congratulations Willy on this next step, and the future intelligent office projects that come with it!

Despite an easing of restrictions, the work world is still subject to several COVID-19 safety rules. Primary among them are social distancing and hygiene precautions. Many companies are now confronted with the need to organize a safe and orderly return of their staff. ROOMZ Intelligent Offices is the perfect tool to handle this complex task to ensure that social distance and hygiene rules are adhered to.

The new way of working (NWoW) requires new solutions for the administration, management and analysis of the complete working space. Make your company fit for the new way of work. ROOMZ Intelligent Offices supports companies during this profound structural change.

Our developer team has further developed the world’s only wireless display for professional meeting room management, adding sensor technology to create a complete solution for the efficient working environments of the future.

External certifications are the proof for tested quality and proven security. We are proud that ROOMZ has been certified for ISO 9001 Total Quality Management and ISO 27001 Information Security Management System and was awarded the SEF.High-Potential quality label.

The Swiss Economic Forum awards the SEF.High-Potential quality label to SMEs with proven growth potential. The growth potential is reviewed in a three-step process by an interdisciplinary team comprised of recognized business experts.

We launched the ROOMZ Display in 2016. It very quickly grew into a real market hit. We have intensively worked on the further development of our display over the past few months. Requests and critiques from users have been considered during the development.

The new display is available now with a new 2.4/5 GHz chip set. This makes it around 40% faster to operate. This improvement especially impacts the “Update”, “Instant Book” and “Release” functions. The upgrade improves user-friendliness and makes the display even more energy efficient.

«CIO Applications» publishes what is probably the most comprehensive collection of expert knowledge and is an indicator of technology trends. With its “Top 10 Solutions Providers” ranking designation, the organization distinguishes companies with solutions that the jury considers to be particularly valuable.

CIO Applications Europe named ROOMZ as one of the “Top 10 facility management and solutions providers”, an award that we are particularly proud of. Our CEO, Roger Meier, is interviewed in the lead article in “CIO Applications Europe”. He explains how the ROOMZ solutions can help companies to better manage their workspaces.

ROOMZ stands for intelligent work environments and optimized room usage.
Update V2 of our ROOMZ Server administration platform will impress you. You profit from an extended range of possible uses, simpler operation and a redesigned interface.

The update includes a range of improvements and was upgraded with many useful functions :

• Setting up of individual buildings and floors
• Flightboard displays listing occupied or available rooms, also on non-ROOMZ smart TVs
• Reduction of the update interval for all displays when the company is closed, prolonging the device’s battery life
• Inclusion of the business hours in the use analysis to show the real utilization
• The option of placing sensors without a display, such as for analyzing room and workspace resources

The dedicated update portal contains all new features and also provides helpful tips: https://support.roomz.io

The ROOMZ Display was the first trick, and is now being following by the second: The new Room Sensor is the sensible addition to the successful Display. Both solutions work together as a team: The Display records new and updates existing room reservations, while the Sensor monitors whether the room is used according to how it was booked.

Common nuisance: Overbooked rooms

Meeting rooms and conference rooms are frequently occupied exactly when one needs them. Therefore, many rooms are simply preventively blocked – and remain unused. The new Sensor counteracts this grievance. It notices when a room goes unused and then releases it again. The sophisticated algorithms and additional room climate functions boost efficiency, improve internal procedures and increase employee satisfaction.

Also available for workspaces starting 2019

The Desk Sensor will also soon be available. With its support, the flexible use of workspaces in the “shared desk” sector will become more reliable and more effective.

roomz.io = ROOMZ Intelligent Offices

These steps move ROOMZ away from individual products towards intelligent workplace solutions. This new orientation is also reflected in our new website under the existing domain address: roomz.io. The top-level domain, .io, sums up our expertise in a nutshell. roomz.io stands for ROOMZ Intelligent Offices.

 
The same thing happened to us as with companies such as UHU, Tempo, Post-it, Jeep and many others that launched a successful product: our product name became a byword for the company itself. And that is a good thing! It ultimately shows us that we picked a fitting product name that is pleasing to our customers, and that our company is thoroughly identified with our product ROOMZ.

We want to do justice to that, and not just by half-measures, but entirely: we are renaming our company to ROOMZ SA and are thereby also committing ourselves in name to our popular reservations tool, which is meanwhile in use at over 100 companies.

Everything else shall remain the same: a passionate team full of enthusiasm for innovations designed to help you better handle your daily work – easily, efficiently and with style.

Welcome Fabien Moine!

Setza SA hired the branding agency, Asphalte Design, to develop a simple website in December 2015. The creative talents expressed their concerns about the name “Setza” during the kick-off meeting. Especially for Swiss-French speakers, the “tz” in the word is difficult to pronounce, and sounds rather harsh. They proposed providing naming proposals along with the design concepts. Roger Meier and Patrick Terreaux both immediately agreed, the two engineers were glad to be able to focus on their core competencies.

Just one look was all it took for all to agree

The creative director, Yannick Macheret, presented the design concepts and three product names with a logo a few weeks later. ROOMZ was one of these proposed names. The designers combined the word “room” with the “Z” from “Setza”. The two founders took one look and both nodded in agreement: “That’s it! ROOMZ is the perfect brand name for our product family, offering unlimited potential, such as with ROOMZ Server, ROOMZ Displays, etc.” And that is how ROOMZ™ was born.

Sleek logo with a certain something

The logo the designers presented also convinced the company founders. “The logo consisting of only letters is lean, quickly recognizable, clear, comprehensible and with no frills – just like our modular product family,” praised Roger Meier, who went on to point out a sophisticated detail: “The two letters ‘OO’ are represented as semi circles to symbolize two meeting rooms divided by a corridor.” Simplicity was also chosen in accordance with the corporate philosophy when it came to the corporate colors: the black and white logo matches the display screen. The only thing remaining to be discussed was the supplemental corporate color for use in designing advertising materials. The color “Fabien-Blau”* was ultimately chosen.

* The two founders did not know at the time that their future head of marketing and sales would be named Fabien.

Putting an end to meeting room chaos

Roger Meier and Patrick Terreaux got to know one another during a program they both completed as part of their Executive MBA at the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). During one of their many discussions, the two engineers talked about the widespread problem with the allocation of meeting rooms: both had repeatedly experienced standing helplessly in the corridor with customers for upcoming meetings because no suitable meeting room was available. Such situations are unpleasant and time-consuming for all involved, besides being embarrassing for the person hosting the meeting.

Signage system developed with customers

As part of their program, Roger Meier and Patrick Terreaux developed a concept for a simple, battery-free, room signage system. They approached the ETH Zurich, which was planning a similar concept as a pilot project for the entire campus with 500 rooms to be provided with signage. The ETHZ’s intentions were frustrated by the fact that only cabled or radio-controlled solutions were available. In close collaboration with those in charge at the ETHZ, Roger Meier and Patrick Terreaux developed a product with specifications customized to meet their preferences and requirements. The challenge was to equip the entire campus with wireless, optically pleasing 8-inch displays that are connected to the existing WLAN.

Not FOR the customer, but WITH the customer

During the course of this pilot project, the two engineers entered into discussions with other companies to identify their needs. “In contrast to the ETHZ, corporate customers wanted to be able to also make reservations on their mobile displays,” explained Roger Meier. They upgraded their project with the desired function. “The simplicity of our product was, and remains, essential to us. It should be easy to install and to use. That’s why we teamed up with customers during the development and consciously avoided over-engineering.”

Company founded on a solid basis

Roger Meier (*1974) and Patrick Terreaux (*1982) founded Setza SA in May 2015. This was preceded by a great deal of preliminary work. Patrick Terreaux looked back: “We both had families and responsibilities. So we carefully weighed up the risk factors and excluded as many as we possibly could before founding the company.” The company name was rather a product of chance: the two founders looked for a free domain with few letters. The name also should not be too limiting, because there was great potential when it came to the product’s range of application. “It’s not just a matter of room signage, but far more complex topics such as the optimization of office spaces using sensor technology, for example,” confirmed Roger Meier, and Patrick Terreaux added: “The future will be exciting. We have gotten off to a good start and still have far to go.”