Polycom Drives Telepresence Adoption by Expanding Portfolio

New Zealand – May 2, 2011:

Polycom Drives Telepresence Adoption by Expanding Portfolio

Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), a global leader in unified communications (UC), today added to its award-winning line of telepresence solutions with three innovative new offerings – the EagleEye Director room camera tracking system, the HDX® 4500 executive desktop telepresence system, and the mobile telepresence m100 solution.

“We are continuing to deliver on our UC EverywhereSM vision and strategy with cutting-edge advancements that leverage our UC Intelligent Core™ technology and the cloud to personalise and extend the UC experience,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, Polycom chief development officer. “Polycom is leading in UC innovation through our customer-centric development that brings solutions to market that enable new applications, increase interoperability, enhance productivity, and promote the viral use of telepresence.”

PERSONALISED AND INTIMATE TELEPRESENCE IN CONFERENCE ROOMS: Polycom EagleEye Director creates first unique personalised conference room experience

An industry first, Polycom is delivering a “production studio experience” for conference room telepresence environments. The EagleEye Director reinvents the conference room experience, making room-based telepresence easier and more intimate than ever before through an innovative coupling of voice triangulation, face-finding technology, and a dual-camera tracking system. Unlike other products on the market today, the EagleEye Director delivers a highly personalised face-to-face telepresence experience in any conference room by ensuring the speaking party is always highlighted (zoomed in and centered) for a personalised one-to-many experience. Unlike simple camera tracking technology of the past, the EagleEye Director gracefully transitions between highlighting individual speakers to capturing the entire room, allowing users to replicate a life-like conversation and drive more productive meetings.

The EagleEye Director transforms the “lost in a big room” feeling of many other group systems into a richer, custom experience for everyone in the room. By automatically finding and focusing on speaking parties, the EagleEye Director eliminates the need for making camera adjustments during a call and making inadvertent mistakes with the remote control. The unsurpassed, seamless experience is an available option for all HDX® Room Telepresence systems, delivering ongoing investment protection and extended value to existing technology investments.

“Not every meeting room’s layout is ideally suited for video conferencing. The result is a compromised user experience in which some remote participants appear too small on screen during video meetings,” said Ira Weinstein, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. “EagleEye Director’s ability to intelligently zoom in and focus on active speakers provides an ‘up-close and personal’ video experience without costly room upgrades or noticeable camera panning during conferences.”

TELEPRESENCE ON THE EXECUTIVE DESKTOP: HDX 4500 brings All-in-One UC to the executive desk, amplifying productivity at lower total cost of ownership

The HDX 4500 desktop telepresence solution increases productivity for business executives and small groups with an all-in-one solution, delivering stunning HD quality at up to 50 percent less bandwidth than similar solutions. The newest member of the HDX 4000 family, the HDX 4500 brings the highest quality video and audio conferencing to the executive desktop through an all-in-one, standards-based, innovative solution. The desktop telepresence solution eliminates the need for peripherals that crowd an executive’s desk space while offering a large LCD display and Polycom® UltimateHD™ technology for a more realistic experience. The HDX 4500 delivers standards-based interoperability and the broadest native integration with Polycom® Open Collaboration Network™ (POCN) Partners: Microsoft, HP, IBM, Juniper, BroadSoft, Siemens, McAfee, and Avaya. The unmatched combination of less bandwidth and native integration helps drive a low total cost of ownership while adding the broadest availability for collaboration.

Key benefits and features offered by the entire HDX 4000 family include:
• Up to 50 percent bandwidth cost savings based on the benefits of H.264 High Profile technology, a powerful standards-based video compression technology;
• Highest quality of experience over IP networks with sophisticated management of both audio and video packet loss undetected by the user;
• Optional four-way MPPlus with HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) enables the seamless extension from point-to-point to multi-point video communication; and
• The power of 1080p (high-definition) video and content sharing with a 24-inch display.

MOBILE TELEPRESENCE: Polycom Telepresence m100 delivers portable PC-based telepresence

Polycom empowers SMBs to easily deploy an affordable and professional high-definition video experience with the Telepresence m100 software application for PCs. The standards-based software allows users to instantaneously share content in a video conference and connect to any standards-based telepresence solutions, including both H.323 and SIP deployments. When deployed on laptops, the Telepresence m100 offers users an unrivaled portable UC experience. Coupled with its recent video software announcements on Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom, Polycom is extending the benefits of standards-based, enterprise-class telepresence to laptops, tablets and pads, delivering groundbreaking mobile and PC-based UC solutions.

The Polycom Telepresence m100 software is easily loaded onto any PC and is ideal for SMBs and small team deployments. The affordable price point allows organisations to easily and immediately deploy to provide their office employees, teleworkers, or road warriors with high quality, reliable video communications from their PC. The simple, “instant messenger-style” interface allows users to make point-and-click calls from stored lists with little training for instant adoption. The software application works seamlessly with most USB cameras and embedded cameras for simplified deployment and ease of use.

Features include:
• Personal telepresence performance with high-definition video receive;
• Standards-based content sharing with remote participants at the push of a button;
• Firewall traversal options enabling communication to customers and suppliers; and
• Dual-stack support allowing users to call both legacy and the latest video-enabled devices to protect technology investment.

Pricing and Availability
The EagleEye Director and the HDX4500 will be available late April through certified channel partners starting at a list price of US$8,499 and US$11,999, respectively. The Telepresence m100 will be available in June through certified channel partners starting at a list price of US$49. For more information, visit: www.polycom.asia/products/.
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