Polycom Introduces Unified Communications Professional Services
New Polycom services further the Polycom Open Collaboration Network by helping customers integrate Polycom voice/video collaboration within UC environments
Polycom, Inc. has announced a portfolio of Unified Communications Professional Services delivered through Polycom Global Services, Polycom Open Collaboration Network partners and certified Polycom partners. It has been designed to help customers successfully integrate Polycom voice and visual communications solutions into their unified communications (UC) environments.
The new services further the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy of providing open and interoperable collaboration solutions that give customers greater flexibility and investment protection for their UC environment. By working with leaders in unified communications and networking, such as Avaya, BroadSoft, HP, IBM, Juniper, Microsoft and Siemens, Polycom is able to deliver its productivity-enhancing and cost-saving telepresence, video and voice collaboration products as an integrated part of core UC environments. As a result Polycom is making the technologies easily accessible as part of the everyday workflow within a comprehensive solution that can be provisioned and managed centrally.
“Unified communications is critical to the overall productivity and success of our customers,” said Andrew Miller, executive vice president of global field operations, Polycom. “Polycom UC Professional Services provide the proper planning and deployment to help our customers maximise the benefits and value of their investments and deliver an accelerated return.”
In response to customer demand, the first available service focuses on the integration of Polycom solutions within Microsoft UC environments. Polycom has teamed with Microsoft to provide a unified collaboration solution that integrates presence-based real-time IM, voice, video and data collaboration. Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 provide IM and a presence-enabled unified communications infrastructure. Polycom extends this user experience with one of the broadest portfolios of integrated voice and visual communication products for Microsoft environments, including optimised network-based IP phones; personal, room and immersive telepresence solutions; unified conferencing infrastructure; an integrated scheduling solution for Microsoft Outlook, and recording, streaming and digital signage solutions.
“By building on the integrated feature set in Office Communications Server, our industry partners provide customers with improved ways to stay connected and work together,” said Yancey Smith, director of product management for Office Communication Server at Microsoft. “Polycom has expanded the collaboration capabilities offered in Communications Server 2007 R2 to help customers realise higher productivity for their businesses.”
“Polycom Global Services helped us design and implement a highly reliable, distributed video network that will scale with our business needs and that lays the groundwork for seamless integration with our unified communications platform,” said Mary Genrich, director, Conferencing Services, Kimberly-Clark Corporation. “We are extremely pleased with the results and view Polycom as a valued business partner.”
The Polycom UC Professional Services include several stages to meet specific customer needs and support internal IT resources, including Solution Planning & Design, Pilot Solution Deployment, and Full Solution Deployment services. Service teams are balanced with qualified professionals to ensure success, including: experienced programme managers to evaluate business needs and coordinate required vendors and service providers to deliver the solution; solution consultants to assess the integration benefits and evaluate existing and planned infrastructure components; network consultants to assess existing LAN and WAN services, define network requirements and develop upgrade plans as needed; deployment specialists to install and configure critical components and verify interoperability to support the enterprise IT team in understanding the new environment and developing appropriate operational processes.
“We are seeing increasing customer demand for UC solutions and services that include real-time voice and visual communications,” said Mike Brandofino EVP for Video and UC at AVI-SPL, a leading global integrator of audio and video systems and services. “Working with Polycom and leveraging our A/V and systems integration expertise, AVI-SPL is able to deliver best-in-class voice and video solutions seamlessly into Microsoft UC environments. We are able to help customers navigate through large and complex deployments that include UC platforms, local and wide area networks and IT management applications in order to create a fully integrated and truly unified communication and collaboration platform.”
Industry analyst firm Gartner forecasts the market for video conferencing services will reach nearly $3.9B in 2013, with a CAGR of 23.8% from 2008 – 2013.1
