UPDATE 3-Gores Group looks for Polycom deal-source

* Gores considers Polycom deal

* Polycom shares nudge higher (Adds Polycom no comment, background; updates shares)

NEW YORK/BANGALORE, March 26 (Reuters) - Los Angeles-based private-equity firm The Gores Group is considering combining its Siemens Enterprise Communications unit with videoconferencing company Polycom Inc (PLCM.O), a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

The news, which was reported earlier by the Financial Times, highlighted Polycom's scarcity value as it is the only major public videoconferencing company left in the wake of Cisco Systems Inc's (CSCO.O) planned takeover Polycom's Norwegian rival, Tandberg TAA.OL.

Shares of Polycom rose as much as 5 percent. They were up 2 percent, or 55 cents, to $30.56 on Nasdaq Friday.

Private equity firm Apax Partners [APAX.UL] had been in talks to buy Polycom, a source previously told Reuters, but it did not make an offer and those talks ended.

The Financial Times said that Polycom's talks with Apax had prompted Gores to send the company's Chief Executive Officer Robert Hagerty a letter asking for a meeting to discuss a potential merger with Siemens Enterprise.

The Gores Group and European engineering conglomerate Siemens (SIEGn.DE) had signed a joint venture deal in 2008, which gave the private-equity firm a 51 percent stake in Siemens Enterprise Communications.

Polycom, which planned to counter market erosion resulting from rising consolidation in the videoconferencing space by signing partnership deals, had recently signed a partnership deal with Siemens Enterprise Communications.

In December, Logitech (LOGN.VX) acquired privately held video conferencing firm LifeSize Communications for $405 million.

Polycom and Tandberg control three-fourths of the video conferencing products market, which is expected to nearly double to $3.8 billion by 2013, according to market research firm Gartner.

Polycom declined to comment. The Gores Group could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

Private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N), Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA), Avaya Inc [AVXX.UL], Sony Corp (6758.T) and Panasonic Corp (6752.T) have been named as potential buyers of Polycom by analysts. (Reporting by Jui Chakravorty and Megan Davies in New York, Anuradha Ramanathan, S. John Tilak in Bangalore; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Vinu Pilakkott, Gunna Dickson and Jarshad Kakkrakandy)