Polycom expands relationships with HP and Microsoft

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Polycom has announced that they have expanded partnerships with Microsoft and HP that will deliver open and interoperable collaboration solutions that provide customers greater flexibility and investment protection for their Unified Communications (UC) environment.

The deepened partnerships align with Polycom’s Open Collaboration Network strategy, and demonstrate the commitment of Polycom, HP and Microsoft, enabling organizations to choose best-of-breed unified communication solutions, rather than get locked into a single-vendor platform.

The strengthening of Polycom’s strategic alliances with HP and Microsoft also reinforce that High Definition (HD) voice and video communication solutions are now considered mission-critical business tools in UC environments.

Under the expanded agreement with HP, Polycom video and voice solutions for unified communications and stand-alone operation will be sold and delivered through HP as part of the company’s UC and Collaboration Services portfolio. This will enable organizations to leverage HP’s global presence for evaluating, designing, implementing and supporting communications systems that deliver a consistent, high-quality experience between all locations to ensure maximum benefits and rapid return on investment.

The companies will also deliver interoperability between Polycom’s line of standards-based telepresence and video conferencing solutions and HP Halo telepresence.

“Adoption of visual communications is growing rapidly and teaming with HP will increase the global market presence for Polycom’s standards-based solutions that combine market-leading performance with flexibility and investment protection,” said Bob Hagerty, CEO, Polycom.

“We are excited to expand our relationship with HP and to leverage the synergies with other Polycom Open Collaboration Network partners to deliver seamlessly interoperable UC solutions and services to customers,” he added.

Under the expanded relationship, Polycom and Microsoft will jointly develop and deliver an extended portfolio of UC solutions that will enable more effective collaboration for its customers. Polycom is a company that offers a comprehensive portfolio of integrated solutions spanning voice, video and application integration for Microsoft Office Communications Server R2 and Microsoft Communications Server 14, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft SharePoint Server and Microsoft Active Directory.

Polycom is introducing three new CX series phones, network-based IP phones, which includes two handsets and IP conference phone optimized for Microsoft Communicator 14.

“Polycom is widely regarded as one of the pioneers in collaboration technologies and is taking a leadership role in articulating the value of integrating into leading UC environments,” said Matt Davis, Director—Consumer and SMB Telecom Services, IDC. “Microsoft’s user interface at the PC level with Polycom’s user experience at the device level provide a flexible, scalable and intuitive UC solution that enables customers to leverage the latest technologies,” he added.

“Polycom delivers a broad portfolio of exceptional voice and video experiences in a Microsoft environment,” said Kirk Gregersen, Senior Director, Communications Server Marketing at Microsoft. “Our customers are looking for flexible solutions that integrate seamlessly and are highly reliable. Polycom is working to expand its offering of fully integrated end-to-end solutions for Microsoft environments as well as develop next-generation communications that will result in higher productivity and enhanced collaboration for businesses around the globe,” he concluded.