Polycom Announces Superior User Experiences Offered on Next-Generation Video Endpoints Including New
Polycom Announces Superior User Experiences Offered on Next-Generation Video Endpoints Including New Group Series, New Ultra-Slim VisualEdge™ Executive Desktop, and Polycom® RealPresence® Software for PCs and Mobile Devices
New portfolio delivers the industry's best user experience (Polycom UX™) with more than 20 new user innovations and features, including a completely redesigned UI and the industry's most lifelike HD image quality (up to 1080p60 resolution), patent-pending Polycom® SmartPairing™ technology, and innovative only-from-Polycom video, content sharing and audio features, all while minimizing IT management and support requirements
New portfolio supports first open standards-based SVC protocol that, when powered by the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform, results in 3X HD multipoint video capacity for massive scalability, significantly lower TCO, superior video performance, and backwards- and forwards-compatibility for investment protection
Polycom® RealPresence® VisualEdge™ delivers ultra-slim and sleek design along with powerful executive desktop video collaboration experiences, and best in class performance as PC display
Updated Polycom® RealPresence® Desktop 2.0 Software for PCs and laptops, and Polycom® RealPresence® Mobile 2.0 for tablets and smartphones, adopt the new user interface for ease of use and now support both AVC and SVC protocols
Patent-pending Polycom® SmartPairing™ technology built into RealPresence® Mobile 2.0, wirelessly connects Apple iPads to Group Series, enhanced HDX series and RealPresence® VisualEdge™, letting users control video meetings with their tablets and transfer a live video call from their tablet to a big screen with the swipe of a finger
SAN JOSE, Calif. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Polycom, Inc. (NAS: PLCM) , the global leader in open standards-based unified communications, today unveiled an expanded portfolio of next-generation video collaboration endpoints ranging from new systems for rooms of all sizes, to a sleek and powerful executive desktop system, to enhanced software for PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones, all with best-in-class user experiences. The new endpoints boast the new Polycom UX™ (new user experience), which delivers the industry's best video collaboration experience with more than 20 new user innovations and features, including a completely redesigned UI and the industry's most lifelike HD image quality (up to 1080p60 resolution), patent-pending Polycom SmartPairing™ technology, and innovative only-from-Polycom video, content sharing, and audio features. Polycom UX is designed to drive a superior experience and ease of use for users to increase adoption, while minimizing IT management and support, keeping IT costs down and usage up for better total cost of ownership (TCO).
Patent-pending Polycom(R) SmartPairing(TM) technology wirelessly connects Apple iPads to Polycom video collaboration systems, letting users control video meetings with their tablets (including volume control, starting/ending video calls) and transfer a live video call from their tablet to a big screen with the swipe of a finger. (Photo: Business Wire)
The new portfolio also supports the industry's first implementation of open standards-based Scalable Video Coding (SVC) technology, which delivers 3X HD multipoint capacity for greater scalability and dramatically lower TCO, higher quality video performance across devices, and breakthrough interoperability for backwards- and forwards- compatibility, protecting customers' video investments and eliminating the need for expensive gateways or hardware required by competitive proprietary SVC products (see related press release). An extension to Polycom's current video solutions, the next-generation portfolio includes:
Polycom® RealPresence® Group Series (300, 500 and 700) - next-generation HD video collaboration systems for both rooms and budgets of all sizes, which can be used with patent-pending SmartPairing™ technology built into RealPresence Mobile 2.0.
Polycom® RealPresence® VisualEdge™ - delivers ultra-slim (less than an inch thick) and sleek design along with powerful executive desktop video collaboration experiences, with the highest video resolution (up to 1080p60) and the largest screen (27") in its category, which can also serve as a PC display.
Updated Polycom® RealPresence® Desktop 2.0 software for PCs and laptops (Windows and Mac OS X) and Polycom® RealPresence® Mobile 2.0 for tablets and smartphones (iOS and Android devices) - extends video beyond conference rooms, enabling organizations to deliver video collaboration to more users in more environments.
"Years of R&D have gone into developing these solutions, which are designed to deliver the best user experience with the highest video and audio performance in the industry, regardless of whether users are in the office, at home, or remote with a mobile device," said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, President of Products and Services, Polycom. "A key to the new Polycom experience is a new UI that greatly simplifies the navigation for conducting and controlling video meetings and reduces IT management and training costs. From the underlying software to new hardware design and 'cool' form factors, we have extended our world-class portfolio of Polycom video collaboration endpoints as we move to further drive the mass adoption of video while satisfying a variety of use cases — from travelling sales reps and teleworkers, to executives and dispersed engineering orgs, to remote professors and physicians."
Polycom UX - Best Experience for End Users and IT Administrators
The extended portfolio of next-generation video collaboration solutions includes the Polycom UX, the industry's best user experience. Features include:
Simple and intuitive new UI. The new UI delivers a simple, intuitive and elegant user interface that will be visually and functionally consistent across Polycom's next-generation video collaboration solutions. Based on years of extensive user testing and human factors research, the UI is designed with features like drop-down menus for ease of use, smart menus that remember the last contact, elegant and intuitive navigation, and a dramatically simplified new remote control, making it easy for anyone to initiate and control video meetings.
Best-in-class video performance and audio quality. Delivers the highest quality video resolution (up to 1080p60) for the industry's most lifelike visual experience, which is critical in various industries such as healthcare for telemedicine, entertainment for movie production and virtual music concerts, and manufacturing for design collaboration, product testing, and factory troubleshooting. In addition, Polycom's legendary HD audio technology includes the new patent-pending Polycom® NoiseCancel™ technology, which heightens collaboration by automatically eliminating unwanted or distracting noises like keyboard typing or paper shuffling; and Polycom® ConstantClarity™ technology, which enables extraordinary audio and video fidelity that allows users to distinguish every syllable of every word they hear in a Polycom video conference, resulting in an amazing video experience even in challenging environments
Only from Polycom, the industry's first SmartPairing technology. Patent-pending Polycom SmartPairing technology, built into RealPresence Mobile 2.0, wirelessly connects Apple iPads to Group Series, enhanced HDX series, and RealPresence VisualEdge products, letting users control video meetings with their tablets and transfer a live video call from their tablet to a big screen with the swipe of a finger.
Extended Endpoints for Every Environment
The next-generation portfolio gives organizations the flexibility to choose video collaboration solutions that work best for a wide variety of work environments and employee business needs.
Polycom® RealPresence® Group Series includes three models, the 300, 500, and 700, designed for smaller environments such as "huddle" rooms, medium-sized areas such as classrooms and conference rooms, and larger spaces such as board rooms or large conference rooms, respectively. The new RealPresence Group Series solutions use the new UI, and offer the industry's best HD video (up to 1080p60 resolution), content sharing and crystal-clear audio. The RealPresence Group 500 and 700 systems also feature built-in 6-way and 8-way multipoint capacity, respectively, giving smaller organizations another option to connect with multiple video users. The systems can also work with existing and new peripherals and accessories, such as the new Polycom EagleEye Acoustic camera for smaller spaces, featuring electronic pan, tilt, and zoom, and HD performance at up to 1080p30.
"We are moving toward a self-service model for video collaboration and we see Polycom's new RealPresence Group Series and other video collaboration solutions as an important component of our strategy," said Kyle Severson, Unified Communications Architect, Kimberly-Clark, one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer products. "We've had the opportunity to work with Polycom's latest technology, and found that the revamped user experience along with the SmartPairing capability on RealPresence Mobile 2.0 makes it extremely easy and intuitive to initiate and manage video calls. That ease of use is absolutely essential for driving broader adoption of video collaboration to improve communications, increase productivity, and accelerate time to market for our consumer products."
Polycom® RealPresence® VisualEdge™delivers a sleek, stylish, and powerful executive desktop video solution. The leading-edge design includes a 27" screen panel - the largest screen in the industry for the category - that is ultra-slim at less than an inch thick. The ultra-thin black bezel frame gives a polished, sleek look to the system, which sits atop an elegant sculpted base made of brushed aluminum.
For an uncluttered workspace, the new system uses less than half the desktop area of competing solutions and can also serve as an executive's primary PC display. The tilt can be adjusted or the base can be swapped for a wall-mount option, giving users the perfect angle to view the screen.
The RealPresence VisualEdge executive desktop system provides superior video quality with industry-leading resolution (up to 1080p60), and built-in, down-firing speakers fill the room with beautifully balanced HD stereo audio. A touch control interface enables users to control video and audio features with a detachable privacy handset for video or telephony calls.
Polycom® RealPresence® Desktop 2.0 is a new, affordable, enterprise-qualityvideo collaborationsoftware application for Windows and Mac-based PCs and laptops. The solution extends the benefits of Polycom RealPresence video collaboration from the office desk to the home or wherever a user travels when on the go. The system includes features such as corporate directory search for other video users, the ability to select a specific application for content sharing, and far-end (remote) camera control. The RealPresence Desktop 2.0 solution is the next generation of desktop software applications from Polycom.
RealPresence® Mobile® 2.0 is Polycom's award-winning software application that lets customers securely extend the use of video collaboration beyond the conference room to easily connect tablets and smartphones (iOS and Android devices) with other standards-based video systems. Now available for more than a dozen devices, the updated app includes the new patent-pending Polycom SmartPairing™ technology, initially for iPads. For iPad users, additional features include content sharing and far-end camera control (see video, related press release).
Polycom also announced enhancements for the Polycom HDX Series 3.1, including upgrades for the Polycom® RealPresence® Whiteboard, the industry's first embedded virtual whiteboard software in a video-conferencing unit with no external PC required. Users can annotate on the same digital screen, and support for standard touchscreens allows for dual-screen set-up and annotation with fingertips (similar to iPad), so no extra accessories are required. Support formouse control makes uploading and sharing content as easy as clicking a button from a PC/Mac, or by plugging a USB drive directly into the HDX, no PC required. HDX Series 3.1 also continues to offer high quality HD video and crystal-clear audio.
Polycom's announcements build on its industry leadership in video collaboration innovation. Forrester Research, Inc., recently named Polycom a leader in room-based 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 the highest scores possible in the categories of quality of experience, interoperability, product road map, partners, and security and compliance.
Organizations across industries are video-enabling their workforce, including supplying personal video-conferencing systems to employees. Gartner estimates that there will be more than 200 million employees using enterprise-supplied personal video-conferencing systems worldwide by 2016, up from just 33 million in 2012.*
Availability
Polycom® RealPresence® Group Series 300 and 500 are available to order now. The Polycom® EagleEye Acoustic camera will be available in November 2012. The RealPresence Group 700 will be available in December 2012. Polycom plans to make Polycom® RealPresence® VisualEdge™ available in April 2013. Polycom® RealPresence® Desktop 2.0 for Windows will be available in November 2012 and for Apple® Mac OS X the availability is planned for the first-half 2013. Polycom® RealPresence® Mobile 2.0 will be available as a free download from the Apple AppStore™ and Google Play in November 2012. Initially, SmartPairing will run on the iPad® 2 and the new iPad, with capabilities to connect to the enhanced Polycom® HDX® Series 3.1 and the Polycom® RealPresence® Group Series. Polycom plans to make available SmartPairing to the Polycom® RealPresence® VisualEdge™ in the first-half of 2013. The new UI will be available initially on the Polycom® RealPresence® Group Series, and is planned to be available soon after on RealPresence® Desktop® 2.0, Polycom® RealPresence® Mobile 2.0, and Polycom® RealPresence® VisualEdge™. Support for up to 1080p60 resolution will be available on Polycom® RealPresence® Group Series and Polycom® RealPresence® VisualEdge™. For SVC availability, see press release titled: "Polycom® RealPresence® Platform Delivers 3X HD Video Capacity Via Open Standards-Based SVC, and First Multi-Protocol, Integrated Software MCU for Industry-Standard Servers." Polycom® HDX® Series 3.1 with embedded Polycom® RealPresence® Whiteboard capabilities will be available in December 2012, and available as a free download for existing customers who are on a maintenance contract. Polycom® NoiseCancel™ technology will initially be available on the Polycom® RealPresence® VisualEdge™. Polycom® ConstantClarity™ technology is available today on leading Polycom video and voice solutions. Products and solutions availability may vary by country. For more information, visit www.polycom.com, call 1-800-POLYCOM or contact one of our more than 6,500 channel partners worldwide.
*Gartner, Market Trends: Videoconferencing, Worldwide, 2012; August 7, 2012
Note to editors: multimedia is available in the press kit.
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.
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.
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 and the Polycom user experience, ease of use and product portfolio as drivers for video adoption. 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; 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.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50433260〈=en
Polycom, Inc.
Press Contact:
Shawn Dainas, +1 408-586-3768
shawn.dainas@polycom.com
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Analyst Contact:
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