To make it easier for dispersed employees to connect and collaborate
over voice and video, organizations around the world have come to rely
on the popular and reliable combination of Microsoft
Lync and Polycom solutions to launch video and voice collaboration
sessions easily and intuitively from within familiar business
applications and workflows. Today, Polycom,
Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) announced an expansion of its portfolio of more
than 40 offerings for Microsoft® Lync® to include the new Polycom®
CX8000 room system for Microsoft Lync, a video conferencing system
that brings the power of Microsoft Lync to the conference room with HD
video, simple room controls and an optional, center-of-table experience
with the industry’s only family of 360-degree cameras for Microsoft Lync.
Around-the-table group video experience: Polycom CX5100 is an optional, 360-degree, panoramic 1080p HD video collaboration camera for the Polycom CX8000 room system for Microsoft Lync (Photo: Business Wire)
New Polycom CX8000 Room System for Microsoft Lync
The Polycom CX8000 solution is a videoconferencing room system for
Microsoft Lync that includes presence, contact search, instant
messaging, HD video conferencing, HD audio, virtual white boarding,
touch display-powered presentations, application sharing, editing on
shared documents, and more. Tight integration with Microsoft Outlook
will help users, both in the meeting room and remote participants, start
and manage meetings more efficiently. The Polycom CX8000 room system for
Microsoft Lync includes several features that help users take advantage
of Microsoft Lync 2013 such as built-in multiparty video and a better
overall audio and video experience that leverages the open
standards-based scalable video coding (SVC) implementation. The
addition of lifecycle services helps drive adoption for video and voice
collaboration in Microsoft Lync environments, ultimately increasing
usage and driving a greater return on investment.
The Polycom CX8000 builds on the award-winning, center-of-table
experience of the Polycom® CX5000 Unified Conference Station, a
360-degree, panoramic 720p HD video collaboration system, and the only
phone and camera combination in the world today that is natively
integrated with Microsoft Lync.
Bringing the next generation of 360-degree camera technology to the
Polycom CX8000, Polycom plans to offer the Polycom®
CX5100 Unified Conference Station, upon completion of qualification,
as an optional feature for the Polycom CX8000. The Polycom CX5100 system
is the industry’s only 360-degree, panoramic 1080p HD video
collaboration camera and phone combination that delivers a
center-of-the-table experience and Polycom’s legendary HD Voice. Polycom
CX5100 can be used in conjunction with Polycom CX8000, as well as with
computers through a USB connection (see related press
release and video).
The entire portfolio of Polycom voice, video and infrastructure
solutions are interoperable with Microsoft Lync. For more information,
visit www.polycom.com/Microsoft.
Supporting Quotes
“We turned to Microsoft and Polycom for a state-of-the-art and
feature-rich unified communications solution that is easy to use and
manage. Previously, we had been dealing with a very fragmented, aging
and unreliable set of phone systems solutions from a range of vendors,”
said Arian de Wit, General Manager, Information & Technology for New
Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. “We
first installed Microsoft Lync for presence and IM and then added
Polycom phones. The result has been excellent voice quality that’s
helped us remove the barrier of distance between our employees and we’ve
had great feedback about the ease-of-use of phone features like
voicemail and dial-by-name. We’ve been so pleased with the simplicity
and ease of use that we will look at replacing our aging
videoconferencing systems from another vendor soon, as they now seem
like a ‘legacy’ solution. The Microsoft and Polycom solution and
direction is clearly superior to other options.”
“Companies of all sizes recognize the need to break down the barrier of
distance between dispersed teams of customers, partners and employees to
harness the benefits of collaborating together in real time to solve
everyday challenges. The Polycom CX8000 room system for Microsoft Lync
meets this need with an intuitive and natural experience,” said Ted
Colton, Group Vice President of Strategic Alliances, Polycom. “We are
excited to deliver this solution to the market building upon Polycom’s
portfolio of Microsoft Lync solutions and services.”
“We have long worked with Polycom to ensure our solutions are
interoperable and we’re delighted to add Polycom CX8000 for Microsoft
Lync video system to the portfolio,” said Giovanni Mezgec, General
Manager of Lync Product Marketing for Microsoft. “With Polycom, we’re
able solve the problems organizations face. Together we provide reliable
unified communications and collaboration because Polycom shares our
commitment to providing the highest quality products and superior
customer support.”
"Customers demand simple to deploy, easy to use, interoperable
solutions. The close alliance between Polycom and Microsoft provides
those end-to-end unified collaboration solutions that the industry wants
and needs," said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst, ZK
Research. "The expanded portfolio of video and voice solutions optimized
for Microsoft Lync is proof that Polycom is committed to delivering on
its strategic relationship with Microsoft so that they can provide
greater value for their joint customers around the world."
Availability
The Polycom CX8000 room system for Microsoft Lync is available for order
today in select countries and will ship in March.
Demonstrations
Polycom will demonstrate its portfolio of Microsoft Lync solutions,
including the Polycom CX8000, at Integrated
Systems Europe February 4-6, 2014, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the Microsoft
Lync 2014 Conference, February 18-20, 2014, in Las Vegas, Nevada,
and at HiMSS14,
February 23-27, 2014, in Orlando, Florida.
About Polycom
Polycom helps organizations unleash the power of human collaboration.
More than 400,000 companies and institutions worldwide defy distance
with secure video, voice and content solutions from Polycom to increase
productivity, speed time to market, provide better customer service,
expand education and save lives. Polycom and its global partner
ecosystem provide flexible collaboration solutions for any environment
that deliver the best user experience, the broadest multi-vendor
interoperability and unmatched investment protection. Visit www.polycom.com
or connect with us on Twitter,
Facebook,
and LinkedIn
to learn more.
NOTE: The product plans, specifications, and descriptions herein are
provided for information only and subject to change without notice, and
are provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied. Polycom
reserves the right to modify future product plans at any time. Products
and related specifications referenced herein are not guaranteed and will
be delivered on a when and if available basis.
© 2014 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM®, the Polycom logo,
and the names and marks associated with Polycom’s products are
trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered
and/or common law marks in the United States and various other
countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995 regarding future events, including statements regarding
product availability, qualification and anticipated ship date. These
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that
may cause actual results to differ materially, including the impact of
competition on our product sales and for our customers and partners; the
impact of increased competition due to consolidation in our industry or
competition from companies that are larger or that have greater
resources than we do; our ability to bring our new products and
offerings to market in a timely manner due to engineering, manufacturing
or other delays; changing market demands; potential fluctuations in
results and future growth rates; risks associated with general economic
conditions and external market factors; the market acceptance of our
products and changing market demands, including demands for differing
technologies or product and services offerings; our ability to
successfully integrate our acquisitions into our business; possible
delays in the development, availability and shipment of new products;
increasing costs and differing uses of capital; changes in key personnel
that may cause disruption to the business; our inability to achieve the
expected results from adjustments being made to our expense profile; the
impact of restructuring actions; and the impact of global conflicts and
changing laws that may adversely impact our business. Many of these
risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company's Quarterly Report
on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, and in other
reports filed by Polycom with the SEC. Polycom disclaims any intent or
obligations to update these forward-looking statements.
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