Polycom® RealPresence® Media Manager and Polycom® RSS™ 4000 v8.5, help organizations record, stream, manage and view live and on-demand video content quickly, easily and cost-effectively.
Polycom Announces New Cloud-Delivered Service for Managed Video Content
December 5th, 2012 Posted in Uncategorized
10-08-12 Today, Polycom announced the Polycom® RealPresence® CloudAXIS™ Suite – a new extension to the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform that lets customers extend enterprise-grade video collaboration to users of Skype®, Facebook®, and Google Talk.
Cisco Jabber vs Microsoft Lync Decision Point? Polycom Helps.
October 1st, 2012 Posted in Video
Today’s questions we are hearing:
- “I use Microsoft Lync today, but I have Cisco CUCM for voice and Cisco is telling me to switch to Jabber. Which is better?”
- “I’ve had Cisco CUCM for awhile now and it’s fully depreciated but my phones are EOL. We us Microsoft Lync for UC (chat and video mostly). Do I still need CUCM for voice or can we switch over to Microsoft Lync entirely ?”
- “We’ve been using Microsft Lync for ad-hoc video. Our users really like Lync but we’re looking to add room video systems and more BYOD mobile solutions too. Cisco is pushing me to add Jabber with my network upgrade. What should I do?”
Are you struggling with questions like these? Polycom can help.
The Polycom RealPresence® Platform makes Universal Video Collaboration with multi-vendor interoperability possible. Existing CUCM customers can easily use Microsoft Lync along with a wide range of voice and video solutions from Polycom.
Polycom-Microsoft Alliance Solution Brief
Polycom Solutions for Cisco Environments – Solution Brief
Authors disclosure:
I work at Polycom in Alliance Solutions Marketing.
If you have PBX’s nearing EOL or are beginning to evaluate deploying video collaboration, looking at cloud hosted options could not only be your lowest cost option, it may also prove to be your most strategic “next step” considering all factors in the decision making equation.
This webinar caught my eye. I plan to attend. So should you. You may decide to skip your next IP PBX upgrade.
Cloud Communications: Beyond the Cost Savings
Businesses worldwide are embracing cloud communications as a way to improve their productivity and competitiveness. For these businesses, the advantages of cloud communications go beyond cost savings: by ‘outsourcing’ their complex communications needs to service providers, businesses can better focus their IT resources on their core business and strategic projects.
In this webinar, join Polycom’s Director of Marketing Alex Doyle and Zeus Kerravala of ZK Research for a thorough review of the cloud communications market, the benefits of cloud communications, and recommendations and best practices for businesses looking to move to cloud communications.
Polycom adds support for Telepresence Interoperability Protocol (TIP)
November 17th, 2011 Posted in Video
Earlier this year, Polycom made a promise to deliver endpoint and Polycom RealPresenceTM Platform support of TIP (Telepresence Interoperability Protocol). This week, Polycom made good on that promise with the launch of major software releases across the Polycom RealPresence Platform, including the Polycom RMXTM real-time media conferencing platform, Polycom DMATM (Distributed Media Application), and RealPresence Immersive room solutions that now can support TIP.
Read the Press Release
Learn more about Polycom interoperability with Cisco environments
Learn more about the Polycom RealPresence Platform
What is TIP?
TIP is a signaling and media protocol that was developed by Cisco to convey audio and video between CTS endpoints. Although TIP uses SIP to create the initial connection, it uses its own nonstandard methods to negotiate and transmit the audio and video media streams. Most of the technology in TIP is not new and much of it is shared with SIP. TIP includes proprietary signaling over the Real-Time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP or RTP) channel, and multiplexing of several audio and media streams over a single RTP connection.
The simplest representation of hosted communications solution is pictured below. Starting from the top left, there is typically software that provides the features and services available on the phones, wireless phones, video endpoints and mobile clients. Companies like BroadSoft, Metaswitch, Interactive Intelligence, 8X8, and others have software platforms that provide all of the features you see on your phone or client. In the top center is the service provider. Unless the solution is 100% cloud hosted, the service provider typically runs the service and handles service requests related to provisioning the phone numbers.
Often, before installing larger office implementations of high bandwidth services such as video, the service provider would do a network assessment at your site to make sure there are no bandwidth bottlenecks that might impact service. Service providers also typically choose the VoIP telephones , wireless phones and video systems that they will offer you , the customer. Many choose Polycom because of Polycom’s HD Voice and reputation for quality. Quality is as important to them as it is for you. The last thing they want is for you to call them complaining of a phone that’s not working. Service provider’s also choose partners like Polycom for a broad portfolio. They want to serve every one of your needs from the high end video units and conference phones in your conference rooms and executive suites, wireless phones for workers who are on their feet most of the day, and the low priced phone that just needs to provide basic phones service at a particular location it is needed.
The last time you bought a phone or a phone system did you tell your friends “I can call anybody” ? Of course not. They would think you were crazy. Of course you can call anybody. With video calls, it’s different. With video calls, there are islands of connectivity today. You simply can’t call anybody (for a number of reasons). Polycom and its OVCC partners today announced their intention to solve this problem.
According to Polycom’s press release today, the goal of this new consortium is for OVCC members to provide secure, standards-based B2B connectivity to organizations and consumers connected to hundreds of service providers in countries around the world, representing the largest global video exchange of its kind.
What does this mean to most “end users” who simply want to make video calls? Well, it means a lot. Let me explain. What do you do when you make a telephone call? You dial a number and your call is connected. It’s that simple. It doesn’t matter who you call or what service provider your telephone number is registered with. It doesn’t matter if your phone is hardwired or mobile. You dial a number and your call is connected. For those of us who have video enabled media phones or video conference endpoints today, making a video call to someone else in your company is also pretty easy. It doesn’t matter if it’s a soft client, a personal telepresence endpoint or a room based system.
What is difficult today is calling outside your company. Polycom says that the OVCC will connect communications islands to accelerate market growth. That is exactly the problem that needs to be solved before “everyone else” will want to buy a video communications endpoint. Video calling will become pervasive, just as telephone calls are today. What is missing today is the “global video exchange”. The last thing you’d want if you sign up for a service is to only be able to call someone in the same service. You need to call anyone regardless of the service provider. Today, we have islands of connectivity. To overcome this, several problems need to be solved. Polycom has an excellent white paper explaining these issues. I’d highly recommend you read it. It’s available at www.polycom.com/ovcc.
Initiated by Polycom, OVCC includes founding members: AT&T, Airtel, BCS Global, BT Conferencing, Cable&Wireless Worldwide, Global Crossing, Glowpoint, iFormata Communications, Masergy, Orange Business Services, PCCW Global, Telefonica, Telstra, and Verizon—and is open to all other global service providers to join.
*** Update – OVCC now has a new OVCC web site ***
*** Update – OVCC now has a LinkedIn page ***
The full press release:
PLEASANTON, Calif. – Jun 01, 2011 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), a global leader in unified communications (UC), today announced it has teamed with leading service providers from around the world to unleash broader visual communications adoption by enabling interoperability and global business-to-business (B2B) connectivity for telepresence and video conferencing.
The broadest visual communications exchange of its kind, the new Open Visual Communications Consortium™ (OVCC™) organization will provide high-quality connectivity across service provider networks, making it easy for businesses, governments, universities, healthcare institutions, and other organizations using telepresence and video conferencing to connect with each other whenever they want without networking headaches. OVCC will be the first to establish a global standards-based, multi-vendor, multi-network visual communication exchange. Unlike proprietary exchanges, OVCC members plan to support the full spectrum of video systems from immersive telepresence and room-based systems, high definition and standard definition, followed by desktop clients and mobile devices.
Polycom CEO Andy Miller will discuss OVCC during a live webcast today at 11 a.m. EDT /8 a.m. PDT.
Announcement Highlights:
Global open alliance with unprecedented reach:
- Sponsored by Polycom, the OVCC organization includes founding members: Airtel, AT&T, BCS Global, BT Conferencing, Cable&Wireless Worldwide, Global Crossing, Glowpoint, iFormata Communications, Masergy, Orange Business Services, PCCW Global, Telefonica, Telstra, and Verizon and will be extended to include additional service providers in the future.
- The goal is for OVCC members to provide secure, standards-based B2B connectivity to organizations and consumers connected to hundreds of service providers in countries around the world, representing the largest global video exchange of its kind.
- As a proof of concept, OVCC members demonstrated the first multi-vendor high-definition (HD) telepresence call to join 18 standards-based systems across 12 service provider networks on January, 28, 2011. Polycom UC Intelligent Core™ infrastructure served as the foundation for this historic multi-site call. Polycom’s UC Intelligent Core technology is a key innovation platform for enabling service providers to drive visual B2B communications beyond corporate firewalls and proprietary video platforms.
- As sponsor, Polycom is leveraging its standards leadership, technology innovation, and industry relationships to help create the OVCC organization. This initiative furthers the Polycom UC Everywhere™ strategy – allowing people to communicate and collaborate around the world across multiple devices and deployment options.
Driving B2B applications and connecting communications islands to accelerate market growth:
- OVCC will significantly increase the business value of new and existing visual communications systems because it will open video communications to millions of enterprise users and consumers.
- Interoperability services delivered by OVCC members will further accelerate market growth and drive a network effect for users by bridging the islands of communication between enterprise, mobile, and consumer applications, which will help usher in this new era of widespread visual communications.
- Primarily focused on connecting the estimated 2 million standards-based video systems in use today, OVCC members will also provide even greater reach by enabling interoperability with non-standards-based systems.
- The market for enterprise UC solutions represents a significant growth opportunity for qualified service providers. Service providers and channel partners can create new revenue opportunities by leveraging OVCC services to expand existing offerings. According to an independent report from Forrester, Inc., the Enterprise UC worldwide market will grow from $3.75 billion in 2010 to $14.5 billion in 20151.
Catalyst for exciting new collaboration applications:
- Global B2B connectivity will create exciting new applications. Concepts include:
- Business: B2B telepresence will make it easier for businesses to offer complementary services from within retail locations. For example, a global provider of wireless solutions is already trialing in-store telepresence kiosks powered by Polycom to better serve small business customers within consumer retail locations.
- Education: Visual communications will expand distance learning programs. For example, a Polycom education customer is leveraging video to offer world-class instruction to schools across the U.S. and around the globe. These video distance learning programs are helping schools augment and supplement education programs in the face of funding deficiencies within public schools.
- Healthcare: Global connectivity with high-quality video will help expand the reach of telemedicine programs to improve access to care in rural areas and help elevate the quality of care in underserved countries through programs like Medical Missions for Children. OVCC could also be a catalyst for innovative healthcare delivery programs, such as those offered by Polycom customer NuPhysicia, which offers affordable, onsite healthcare programs for businesses.
Supporting Quotes:
- Andrew Miller, CEO, Polycom
“The growth and potential business and user value of telepresence has historically been stifled by interoperability and connectivity challenges. Today, Polycom and OVCC are rewriting the rules. This groundbreaking global consortium is transforming the connectivity model with a world-class global exchange that, over time, removes the barriers to ubiquity, thus further enabling our UC Everywhere vision.” - Jonathan A. Zwang, Senior Directory Global Technology and Infrastructure, Tyco International
“Telepresence helps us stay ahead in today’s rapid business environment by streamlining business processes, improving productivity, accelerating decision making and managing costs. The ability to extend video use to partners and customers would increase the business value exponentially. We commend OVCC members and Polycom for leading this effort. We look forward to the future of borderless visual communications.” - Rich Costello, Senior Research Analyst, IDC
“The need for an inter-company UC federation, of which video and telepresence are critical components, has grown tremendously. Progress around system interoperability is being made through industry forums and alliances, but true B2B interoperability will also require exactly this type of service provider inter-connectivity. The Open Visual Communications Consortium is addressing an immediate business need that will help drive greater value for customers and spur broader adoption.”
Availability:
- OVCC will open to new members beginning in the second half of 2011. The initial OVCC capabilities are expected to launch mid-year 2012.
Supporting resources:
- OVCC Website (www.polycom.com/ovcc)
- Whitepaper (Path to Any-to-Any Video Communication)
- OVCC Quote Sheet
- Airtel (www.airtel.in/)
- AT&T (http://www.att.com/)
- BCS Global (www.bcsglobal.com/)
- BT Conferencing (www.btconferencing.com/)
- Cable&Wireless Worldwide (www.cw.com/)
- Global Crossing (www.globalcrossing.com/)
- Glowpoint (www.glowpoint.com/)
- iFormata Communications (www.iformata.com/)
- Masergy (www.masergy.com/)
- Orange Business Services (www.orange-business.com)
- PCCW Global (www.pccwglobal.com/)
- Telefonica (www.telefonica.com/)
- Telstra (www.telstra.com.au/)
- Verizon (www.verizon.com/)
- On twitter follow OVCC – @Polycom and using #OVCC hashtag
Hosted Communications – 10 Benefits
May 25th, 2011 Posted in Benefits
I started this blog with posts on 10 benefits of going with a Hosted Communication solution for VoIP, Video and other features associated with Unified Communication (UC). Small and Medium Businesses (SMB) are choosing hosted solutions in greatly increasing numbers. We are even seeing Enterprises (1000+ employees) beginning to “Go Hosted” as a business decision. For those of you who have stumbled upon just one of these posts from a search on Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Here are the other benefits:
- Focus On What Matters
- Add Video Conferencing
- More Features, More Functionality
- Be Productive Anywhere
- Automatic Upgrades
- Easily scale up or scale down
- Operating Expense vs. Capital Expense
- Business Continuity
- Lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- Minimal IT Support
The easy way to view them all is just click on the Benefits category on the right side of the page. Then all of the benefits related posts will display on a single page that is easy to scroll, saving you a few mouse clicks.
Focus On What Matters
May 23rd, 2011 Posted in Benefits
One of the best ways for any business to stay competitive is to focus on your core business. Business communications technology is increasingly complex if installed as on-premise systems. With a hosted VoIP solution, the management is done for you off-site. What was previously complex to understand and configure is now just “simple to use”. All the complex communications systems integration happens in the background. Your employees are empowered and productive when they utilize advanced features and tools like voice, video, and wireless to solve problems, serve your customers, advance your business goals, and overcome obstacles that stand in the way of your business’s success.
Video conferencing makes communications and collaboration more engaging. Facial expressions, gestures, eye contact all make communications far more personal and more productive. With hosted VoIP, it’s easy to get started with video. New cloud-based video conference services not only allow conferencing from soft clients, but also allow calling from executive class and room based conferencing systems. Service provider video conferencing service makes video affordable even for small and medium size businesses (SMB). Some media phones like the Polycom VVX 1500 support voice, video and applications. Whatever the endpoint choice, hosted video is simple to use. Video calling is as easy as making a traditional phone call. There is nothing quite as compelling as being able to see the people who matter to your business. Video calling significantly increases the quality of communications.
More Features, More Functionality
May 23rd, 2011 Posted in Benefits
If you are a non-technical small business owner looking for your next communications system, you would likely be overwhelmed by all of the advanced features and functionality that are available from a Hosted VoIP system. Luckily, with the availability of YouTube and similar hosted video services, you can sometimes see demonstrations of how these features work.
With a service provider hosted solution, there are experts you can talk to who can help you assess which features your business needs and help you integrate your VoIP solution with Microsoft Outlook, IBM Sametime, and a number of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) services like Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and others. You’ll be truly impressed by the impact these features and services integration can have on your business. You can activate only those features that you need to make your company more productive.
You want to start with HD voice, making your business call as clear as it can get. With hosted VoIP, you can have voicemails forwarded to your email account and you can make and receive calls from a cell phone or remote office and have it appear as a call from the main office. Basically there isn’t much you can’t do with hosted VoIP.
Be Productive Anywhere
May 22nd, 2011 Posted in Benefits
Hosted VoIP is the ideal solution for both existing and emerging workforces who demand constant connectivity and productivity from anywhere–at anytime-from just about any device. The workforce is more mobile than it used to be. We no longer sit at desks from 8 to 5 with an hour for lunch. The global nature of business means we may start earlier in the day from home or have a meeting after dinner. And mobility options free up more time to attend important family events. Maybe taking a few of those 6:00 AM meetings means you can take a few hours some afternoon to watch your child’s school activity. Hosted VoIP gives companies the powerful communications features they need to keep things moving forward no matter where or when business is done. Whether attacking issues from a desk, a conference room, or powering through meetings on the road or from home, a hosted solution makes any of these places the right place to conduct business. And with mobility options, you can be reached anywhere from the business number printed on your business card or email signature.
