Co-development effort to leverage Polycom® RealPresence® video solutions and IBM Research in cloud and virtualization technologies
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Polycom, Inc., the global leader in open standards-based unified communications (UC), today announced an initiative with IBM Research to co-develop next-generation innovations that are designed to further accelerate cloud-delivered video collaboration applications to support key vertical and social uses. Under the initiative, Polycom will work with IBM Research to explore and develop technologies that leverage the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform and real-time video capabilities in the cloud, as businesses are increasingly evaluating Video-as-a-Service (VaaS) offerings through private, public and hybrid cloud models.
“Together with Polycom, we can help customers prepare for the future of this industry, whether they choose premises-based video solutions or private, public, or hybrid cloud delivery models”
Polycom and IBM Research are working to ensure Polycom RealPresence video solutions perform optimally in the most rigorous cloud environments to provide the highest levels of security, performance, and reliability, even when systems need to rapidly scale up and down. The companies plan to further develop interoperability between standard and non-standard video environments, including social video applications, to serve organizations requiring face-to-face video meetings regardless of network, platforms, devices, or protocols. This initiative will put special emphasis toward video-enabled mobile social collaboration. The two companies have already worked on a number of initiatives to integrate video, mobile, and social platforms.
Leveraging their development efforts, Polycom and IBM Research plan to create industry solutions that focus on cloud-delivered Communications Enabling Business Processes (CEBP – business activities achieved more effectively through certain communications applications). The combination of leveraging rich presence as well as advanced routing and interoperability creates new possibilities in various industry segments such as insurance, call centers, surveillance, and more. This initiative is designed to broaden the use of RealPresence video solutions and is an important testimony to Polycom’s focus on driving video ubiquity.
“At its heart, this collaboration with IBM is about laying the foundation for more RealPresence innovation in the cloud. Working with IBM, we’re taking a world-class solution and co-developing technologies to help customers – who are increasingly looking to the cloud for video collaboration applications – better communicate, collaborate, and be more productive,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, President of Products and Services, Polycom. “Customers who choose Polycom will always be at the forefront of the industry because we’re pushing the boundaries of collaboration forward to ensure our customers have the best solutions, both today and in the future. Our work with IBM is yet another step forward in achieving Polycom’s goal of connecting anyone across any environment on any device.”
“Together with Polycom, we can help customers prepare for the future of this industry, whether they choose premises-based video solutions or private, public, or hybrid cloud delivery models,” said Ken King, vice president of business development for IBM Research. “Ultimately, it’s about helping Polycom develop new, innovative video products on a cloud computing platform that creates solutions across various industry verticals. By co-developing with Polycom, we can help customers collaborate and make decisions more quickly.”
The co-developed solutions will be rolled-out in future Polycom RealPresence video collaboration solutions, including for enterprises interested in private or hybrid clouds or through service providers who will deliver VaaS offerings through public clouds to businesses of all sizes.
Today’s announcement builds on the existing Polycom and IBM global partnership which includes product integrations as well as offerings that help customers to deliver, install, integrate, and maintain standards-based Polycom video solutions into unified communications environments. For more information about the Polycom and IBM partnership and integrated products, visit: www.polycom.com/ibm.
Polycom RealPresence Video Solutions and VaaS
Polycom RealPresence video solutions, which range from software for mobile devices and laptops to room-based systems and immersive theaters, are powered by the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform – the most comprehensive and interoperable UC software infrastructure for universal video collaboration. The RealPresence Platform provides the carrier-grade video infrastructure required for both on-premises, private cloud, and public cloud-delivered services that can scale to tens of thousands of businesses with the necessary security, reliability, and manageability. The RealPresence Platform transforms islands of fragmented communications systems into a seamless culture of collaboration, with enterprise-grade video easily and securely accessible to all authorized personnel whether they’re mobile, remote, or on-site.
Forrester Research Inc., an independent research firm, recently named Polycom a leader in video conferencing, and a top-ranked company in both “current offerings” and “strategy” in its August 2012 report, “The Forrester Wave™: Room-Based Videoconferencing, Q3 2012.” In the report, Polycom received perfect scores in the categories of quality of experience, interoperability, product roadmap, partners, and security and compliance.
Separately, according to recent reports from a number of industry analyst firms, Polycom also continues to take market share in the video collaboration market, gaining nearly 8 percentage points of share in 1H 2012. See related press release here.
About Polycom
Polycom is the global leader in open standards-based unified communications (UC) solutions for voice and video collaboration, trusted by more than 415,000 customers around the world. Polycom solutions are powered by the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform, comprehensive software infrastructure and rich APIs that interoperate with the broadest set of communication, business, mobile and cloud applications and devices to deliver secure face-to-face video collaboration in any environment. Polycom and its ecosystem of over 7,000 partners provide truly unified communications solutions that deliver the best user experience, highest multi-vendor interoperability, and lowest TCO. Visit www.polycom.com or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to learn how we’re pushing the greatness of human collaboration forward.
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 Polycom and IBM’s R&D initiative being designed to further accelerate cloud-delivered video collaboration applications, Polycom and IBM exploring technologies intended to drive interoperability, lower TCO and further social video collaboration, and the initiative being designed to broaden the use of RealPresence solutions. 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; potential fluctuations in results and future growth rates; continuing disruption to the business due to the realignment of the North America sales organization; 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 June 30, 2012, and in other reports filed by Polycom with the SEC. Polycom disclaims any intent or obligations to update these forward-looking statements.
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.
© 2012 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.
Contacts
Polycom, Inc.
Ryan Batty, +1 408-586-4467
ryan.batty@polycom.com
