Full Description

Polycom, Inc. (Polycom), incorporated in December 1990, is a global provider of communications solutions that enable enterprise and public sector customers to collaborate over distance, time zones, and organizational boundaries. The solutions are built on architectures that enable unified voice, video, and content collaboration. The Company operates in three business segments: Video Solutions, Voice Communications Solutions, and Services. The Video Solutions segment is comprised of video communications products, such as telepresence, room, desktop, and personal video products, and infrastructure products, such as video and voice media servers, network management, security, streaming, and recording solutions. The Voice Communications Solutions segment includes the conference phone products, wired desktop voice products and wireless handset voice products. The Services segment includes maintenance contracts for the products, as well as a range of professional service and support offerings to the resellers and customers.

Video Solutions

The Video Solutions products offer customers a unified, end-to-end visual communication capability that enables geographically-dispersed individuals to communicate as naturally as if they were in the same room. Through, the Company’s video solutions, people can connect and collaborate with one another whether they are in a board room, meeting room, class room, at their desktop, or in mobile settings. The video solutions include all of the elements of a collaborative visual communications experience: immersive telepresence, room telepresence, personal telepresence, room and desktop video conferencing, personal computer (PC)-based video applications, conference platforms and media servers, network management applications, recording and streaming servers, video content management applications, and security and remote access products.

Polycom’s family of telepresence and video conferencing solutions encompasses offerings from immersive telepresence suites to desktop PC video clients and meet the needs of any user, from individuals in the field to boardrooms and auditoriums. The Polycom RealPresence Experience (RPX) room environment, Polycom Telepresence Experience (TPX) solution, Polycom HDX desktop video conferencing solution, Polycom Converged Management Application (CMA) solution, Polycom VSX video conferencing system and the V-series product lines comprise a suite of personal, room and immersive telepresence and video conferencing systems.

The Polycom RMX 2000 platform provides a multi-network, unified high density (HD) conference infrastructure to support emerging video applications, such as desktop collaboration, high definition multipoint conferences, and immersive telepresence. The scalable Polycom RMX 2000 simplifies the delivery and management of multiparty conferences within enterprises and through service provider networks. In 2008, the Polycom RMX 1000 conference platform was introduced to address the needs of smaller organizations and branch offices in the enterprises. The Polycom RMX series of conference platforms addresses the demand for video infrastructure that supports both HD and legacy video conference systems, as well as extensive deployments of desktop video collaboration. The Polycom MGC-25, Polycom MGC-50 and Polycom MGC-100 conference platforms provide the ability to join a multipoint video call regardless of the type of endpoint or network, and are customizable to enterprise, vertical, and service provider requirements.

Polycom video solutions also include applications that enable the integration and management of a customer’s network and endpoints. The Polycom Converged Management Application (CMA) solution, launched in November 2008, is a video network management solution that simplifies the provisioning, management, and ease of use of desktop, room, and telepresence deployments across an organization. The Polycom CMA solution gives information technology (IT) administrators tight control of all desktop, room, and telepresence visual communication systems, as well as video call activity across their distributed enterprise network. The Polycom CMA solution also helps streamline workflows through centralized management of conferences, devices, and systems and provides gatekeeping, scheduling, and directory management. IT administrators can automate software updates and establish policy-based provisioning of endpoint and infrastructure capabilities, as well as manage bandwidth based on network topology, business requirements, and operational needs.

The Polycom CMA Desktop solution is a PC-based desktop video software application that allows users to create contact ( or buddy) lists from a corporate directory and then easily launch video calls by clicking on contacts (or buddies). The application allows users to see presence details (such as online, offline, available, and busy) for software and hardware video devices in their contact list and then easily connect to other users, or any standards-based video conferencing systems, including personal, room, and immersive telepresence solutions. It supports visual communication previously unavailable in a desktop video application, including the ability to receive HD video, HD voice, and multimedia content, including presentations, videos, and images in full, native resolution.

The Polycom Distributed Media Application (DMA) 7000 solution is a network-based application that manages and distributes multipoint video calls and conferences within an enterprise network environment. The Polycom DMA 7000 product is designed to unify visual communication infrastructure, improve the performance of video calls on an enterprise network, and make it easier for organizations to deliver on-demand video conferencing services enterprise wide. It is designed to integrate with the Polycom RMX 2000 conferencing platform and Polycom CMA 5000 and Polycom CMA 4000 management applications.

The Polycom RSS 2000 video recording and streaming solution enables recording and streaming of multimedia conferences and presentations. The Polycom RSS 2000 server allows users to start recording from any type of video conferencing endpoint, using simple commands, such as start, pause, and stop. Up to 400 hours of stored content can be accessed from any Internet protocol (IP) endpoint or personal computer, so employees can access company knowledge at their convenience. The Polycom VMC 1000 enables customers to store, manage, and protect video assets (including recordings of video conferences, training sessions, lectures and other meetings, as well as the associated documents, presentations, and data).

The Polycom Video Border Proxy (VBP) NAT/Firewall traversal solutions remove communication barriers and allow remote teams to collaborate over video. Supplanting or integrating with existing firewalls to provide a trusted route for remote users into room and personal telepresence and traditional video conferences, the Polycom VBP Series also optimizes video quality by prioritizing video traffic over data traffic and providing both shortest-path routing and traffic shaping both ways to control computer network traffic to improve performance.

Voice Communications Solutions

The Voice Communications Solutions products improve business communications in the conference room, on the desktop and in enterprise mobility applications. Polycom voice solutions deliver clear voice communications in telephone conversations and conference calls, a critical communications element in any business or public sector organization. The Voice-over-IP ecosystem includes call management suppliers for on-premise call servers and soft-switches for network based call server platforms.

The conference phones are used by businesses to conduct audio conference calls in conference rooms. The product line consists of Polycom VoiceStation products for smaller rooms, Polycom SoundStation conference phones for midsize rooms, and Polycom SoundStation IP for conference room solutions for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) - based telephony networks. The Polycom SoundStructure and Polycom Vortex series of installed voice conferencing products provide solutions for conference rooms, training rooms, auditoriums, courtrooms, classrooms and other permanent installations. These integrated room solutions can be used as a standalone audio system or can be used in combination with a video system to improve voice quality and microphone pick up.

The Polycom SoundPoint series of standards-based session initiation protocol (SIP) desktop phones provide audio quality and features to address desktop communications requirements of businesses. The SoundPoint product line consists of the 300, 400, 500, and 600 series phones, with features and functionality. The 450, 550, 560, 650, and 670 desktop phones incorporate HD Voice to deliver wideband voice quality. The complete SoundPoint product line is based on common software architecture to ensure compatibility for all devices with the VoIP solution partners.

Polycom’s Wireless products address the demand for on-premise mobility and increased productivity from small businesses to enterprises and in vertical market segments such as healthcare, large retail, manufacturing, and high-end hospitality. Polycom offers three wireless product lines including Polycom SpectraLink Wi-Fi, Polycom SpectraLink Proprietary, and Polycom KIRK DECT offerings. These mobility products are sold through the channels and are also provided through original equipment manufacturers (OEM) partners, such as Avaya, Nortel, and Alcatel-Lucent, 3COM, and NEC and specialized system integrators. The Company also have established voice interoperability for enterprise wireless (VIEW) testing program that includes 15 Wi-Fi infrastructure vendors, such as Cisco Systems, Trapeze Networks, Aruba Networks, and Meru Networks to collaborate on wireless infrastructure interoperability.

Services

The Company offers a range of professional and support services to the customers on a global basis. Polycom offers a range of professional services solutions that include assessments, implementation services, network consulting services, wireless services application integration, and advanced project management services. In 2008, Polycom launched a Go Green Assessment professional service that guides customers in the reduction of their carbon footprint through the use of Polycom solutions.

The Polycom Certified Service Center (CSP) program certifies Polycom’s service and support channel partners by verifying their performance in providing customers with 24x7 support, fast response times, call center support, and training in Polycom solutions and IP networking. Polycom and its CSP partners are jointly able to offer maintenance and diagnostic service and support. The Polycom CSP program is an annual certification that recognizes a channel partner’s expertise and service capabilities and their ongoing focus on customer satisfaction as measured through service performance metrics. The Polycom partner service program (PPSP) is the corresponding international certification program. In addition, Polycom’s video network operations center (VNOC) service provides customers with operations management for their Polycom RPX and TPX telepresence suites. The VNOC services are available in two models, including Hosted and Managed. Hosted VNOC service offers access to unlimited HD Multipoint Conferencing, using the HD Multipoint Conferencing resources.

Polycom competes with Tandberg, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Aethra, Avistar, D-Link, Huawei, Kedacom Technologies, LifeSize, NEC, Panasonic, Sony, VCON, VTEL, ZTE, RADVISION, Avaya, Compunetix, Convedia, ClearOne Communications, Konftel, Mitel, Aastra, LG-Nortel, Linksys, Snom, Thompson, Alcatel, Nortel, Siemens and Hitachi Cable.