Remember when Polycom and Cisco were always mentioned in the same sentence? Seems like a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, huh? Do you remember when we were all saying, “Why don’t Polycom and Cisco just make their stuff interoperable?” Well, that was what led to their ultimate demise — in […]
Innovate Showcase is a free, one-day event that will be held at Embassy Suites San Marcos Hotel Spa & Conference Center in San Marcos, Tex on Oct. 3, 2019 from 9 A.M. to 3 p.m. Guests are invited to experience the latest in AV technology and learn how to best leverage it to improve the […]
Simply put, Zoom Phone includes business phone system features that enable employees to talk anytime, anywhere. Conceptually, this isn’t new, but this is Zoom – the company that literally disrupted and took over the majority of the video conferencing market in less than four years of existence. So, don’t just blow this off as another […]
Plantronics today announced that the company will transform into a new company called Poly. In explaining the new name, their press release explained that Poly, which means “many,” leverages the legendary audio and video expertise of Plantronics and Polycom and its breadth of smart endpoints that connect across and between unified communications platforms to reduce […]
Sonic Foundry today announced the latest innovations to its Mediasite Video Platform. Updates include enhanced collaborative video capture solutions, real-time video monitoring and DVR capabilities, a caption editor and easily accessible video for any training room, huddle room or classroom. The features include: Comprehensive video and web conference capture with Mediasite Join. Live streaming capabilities, […]
According to CNBC, CBS MarketWatch, Reuters and Nasdaq’s news service, Plantronics — the maker of wireless headsets and the parent company of Polycom — is for sale. After reporting terrible earnings Tuesday, and the stock plunging 11 percent, it appears they are looking for a buyer. In the earnings announcement Tuesday, Plantronics said its revenue […]
At Zoomtopia last week, Zoom announced new features including cloud PBX, cross-platform workflows and enterprise conference rooms. Platform enhancements announced include: Zoom Voice is a cloud phone system that will be available as an add-on to Zoom’s video communications suite. Support for inbound and outbound calling through the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and seamlessly […]
As the rest of the advertiser-supported AV press just reprints the Polycom or Plantronics press releases, we’re going to call it how we see it — with the truth about this “acquisition.” Yes, Plantronics is taking control of Polycom — a history-making videoconferencing company that all but invented the space — for what amounts to $2.0 billion in enterprise […]
Vaddio is now shipping its new OneLINK Codec Kits for Cisco and Polycom Codecs. OneLINK Codec Kits give room designers more camera flexibility by providing the ability to connect Cisco, Polycom or Vaddio cameras to codec rooms. Using Vaddio RoboSHOT PTZ cameras in rooms with Polycom and Cisco codecs provides a broader array of camera choices including 12x, 20x and […]
Today, Polycom announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Obihai Technology, Inc., a San Jose-based innovator in VoIP audio solutions. Obihai Technology develops software and hardware for VoIP endpoints. The strategic addition of its software and development team allows Polycom to compete more effectively in the global voice market and broadens Polycom’s portfolio to […]
Twenty-five years ago, Polycom introduced its iconic three-legged conference phone and changed the rules of how the world communicates at work. The Polycom phone, with its unique shape and breakthrough audio quality, quickly became the de facto conference phone for a lot of the Fortune 1000 companies. And, now they’ve redesigned it. The Polycom Trio 8500 is instantly recognizable as a […]
Prysm, Inc announced today new functionality for its digital workplace platform. The new features include: Co-browsing – allows all Prysm participants accessing content via an approved mobile device to view and interact with web content. Prysm is the first to offer web application co-browsing among teams, enabling all users to make edits while empowering the content owner to monitor […]
You know, every year I can’t wait to come to this show — and then I remember the parts of it that I deliberately forget during the year, like the eternal wait for coffee and the fact that my feet hurt. OK, now that I am done being cranky (at least for today) lets talk about […]
Productivity and teamwork are both significantly improved when employees can choose where they work, a global survey of anywhere working trends has found. The survey, commissioned by Polycom. “We predicted that 2016 would be the ‘year of video,’ and it’s satisfying to know that people are really seeing the benefits of working this way,” says […]
The new Polycom RealPresence Immersive Studio Flex is their latest immersive room videoconferencing system. Everything is 4K (even the low-res sources are upscaled to 4K) and the system uses multiple 65” displays to immerse attendees. Integrated with Polycom 3D Voice, digital ceiling microphones and a system that allows for annotation and whiteboarding from your own […]
Where great stories in the audio visual industry go, I have to say that I consider this among the best I have personally been involved with. As a sales person whose career in AV and computers began in the early 90’s, and whose experiences mirrored some of what I read in an article I recently […]
Polycom said today that it plans to end its merger agreement with technology company Mitel and will instead be purchased by private equity company Siris Capital Group for $2 billion. Siris offered $12.50 per share, which is an approximate 14 percent premium over Mitel’s offer, which included both cash and stock. Siris’ offer is a […]
For the third year at the show I picked my top 10 solutions, however this year I actually looked for a different angle – as in has disruptive become a worn out term in the industry? I asked around, on the verge of a social media game, to come up with that word to replace […]
To refresh the memories, when entering the UCC Pavilion at InfoComm 2016 this is what you were witness to: Videoconferencing and telepresence systems Remote worker / teleworker technologies Cloud services Unified communications and collaboration technologies Networked interactive whiteboards Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) providers Videoconferencing as a service (VCaaS) providers Managed services providers Collaboration […]
When you talk about immersing yourself in a tremendous endeavor as well as doing something which thoroughly drives you – you can relate first-hand if this mirrors your experiences. AV Power Up, a show which began in March 2015 with some of the AV industry’s most well-known #AVTweeps making up “The Crew” – Christa Bender, Chuck […]
I like sitting at Starbucks for an hour or two occasionally, writing a blog, listening to music. One day recently I’m there, not too crowded, some guy walks in and sets up his laptop at a table near mine. He gets on the phone and after about 10 minutes he’s talking a bit loud, sounds […]
In my blog UCC and the Road To InfoComm 2016 I outlined UCC at the show, what you can expect to see at the UCC Pavilion, what the IMCCA will be providing in terms of education and training, as well as mention of certain industry company developments. This part one in the series is an interview with John […]
As the dust settles and the AV industry has begun to ingest the news of Mitel acquiring Polycom in a cash and stock transaction valued at $1.96 billion, it has to be understood that this acquisition can truly re-define UCC in the industry, as well for other markets. This is Mitel’s second acquisition in the […]
Nearly six years ago to the day, Cisco closed on its $3.3 billion acquisition of Tandberg. Although it was announced six months earlier, the path acquisition was impeded by investor challenges and regulatory hurdles. During that time, I was part of the Polycom PR machine that highlighted the fact that with Logitech’s recent acquisition of […]
Mitel and Polycom announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement as talks had recently reached final stages after months of discussions. This has created what has been termed by both a new company with shared vision for seamless communications and collaboration – and according to a statement in a Polycom […]
As I’ve written blogs before capturing Twitter and Facebook moments at InfoComm 2015, InfoComm Connections in NYC and other trade shows, I decided, while remaining in the U.S., to do a “4000 mile” social media view of Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) in Amsterdam – the AV industry’s largest trade show event which takes place over four […]
The Polycom RealPresence Trio 8800 is billed as a smart-hub for group collaboration — it looks like a three-point conference phone but adds voice to it for small spaces. Polycom says the RealPresence Trio is aimed at group collaboration as you can share voice (it’s a conference phone) HD content sharing (as you can use it like an iPhone […]
After surveying over 800 business video conferencing users around the world, Polycom and Quocirca present the top six key things to consider when creating a highly collaborative video culture in an interesting infographic below. The infographic originally appeared here.
Telemedicine and the World’s First Virtual Care Center At first glance, it looks like the inside of any office with cubicles and computer monitors – with one exception – many of the employees are dressed in hospital scrubs. These workers are actually nurses taking care of patients, though there are no hospital beds, no waiting rooms […]
Today, Polycom marked a 25th anniversary in the industry by announcing Innovative Solutions that will Transform Collaboration Experiences along with being the First to Put People at the Center of Collaboration. They conducted a pre-launch day yesterday for press and analysts (which I was invited to but unfortunately was not able to attend), followed by an […]
Last week my fellow consultants and I were invited to an event at conferencing stalwart Polycom’s New York City experience center. It’s a pretty and shiny new spot at One Penn Plaza, with a nice river view outside and their technological toys inside. For me the more interesting part isn’t the specifics of a single […]
Over the last several years we’ve seen the realm of Unified Communications and Collaboration grow exponentially, with new players consistently entering the market and building on technologies in cloud computing, virtualization, mobility/BYOD as well as providing extensive interoperability and integration with Microsoft Lync/Skype for Business. Certain companies, which had existed as long-standing entities in the AV […]