Polycom showcases joint customer momentum and advances in Polycom video platform integration with IBM solutions; Polycom CEO Andy Miller to join general session keynote to discuss the future of video collaboration driven by social, mobile, and the cloud
LOTUSPHERE, ORLANDO, Fla. - Jan 16, 2012 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in standards-based unified communications (UC), today announced several key initiatives that further its social business strategy, including strong customer momentum with IBM and strategic product updates, such as native integration of Polycom® RealPresence™ video solutions with the most recent version of IBM Sametime®. The integration of Polycom's video solutions with IBM social business platforms IBM Sametime and IBM Connections® helps companies tap into the transformational power of social and web platforms, empowering video calls from within the email and social business interfaces users are familiar with to connect to standards-based devices.
"Video collaboration is mission critical in organizations today, and the ways companies are using video is rapidly evolving," said Sue Hayden, executive vice president Strategic Alliances, Polycom. "Every day, more people gravitate to social networks as their primary way to share and stay connected. Polycom is committed to developing integrated solutions with leading companies like IBM to power a social video experience that helps our customers realize and maximize the inherent business value of social. By natively integrating the Polycom® RealPresence™ Platform with IBM's social business applications, users can make video calls from within Sametime or Connections – whether at the office, at home, or on the road. With our integration with IBM, Polycom is delivering innovative, easy-to-use solutions that help our customers dramatically change how they do business, driving productivity, efficiency, and ROI."
Polycom has had significant customer momentum with the Sametime integration. Customers of all types, from governmental organizations to Fortune Global 1000 companies across multiple geographies and industries are already benefiting from the IBM and Polycom integration. For example:
- A census bureau for a large country is streamlining coordination among its geographically dispersed offices. Using the Polycom RealPresence Platform integrated with Sametime, employees can simply join or schedule video meetings from the convenience of their PCs and laptops, allowing them to collaborate instantly, without the delays and expenses of cross-country travel.
- A leader in the leisure travel industry uses Polycom video and Sametime to connect employees around the world. The integrated solution extends the HD video experience, connecting the Sametime social platform employees use every day to existing room-based systems. As a result, visual collaboration has become part of daily business, delivering richer communication and improved efficiency.
- A leading corporate consulting firm uses Polycom HD video on Sametime for high quality face-to-face collaboration on laptops, ensuring their highly mobile workforce can stay connected to the office and partner companies, even while on the road.
Product Updates
Polycom's collaboration with IBM is delivering the native integration of RealPresence video solutions with the most recent version of IBM Sametime to enable users to make HD video and voice calls from within the email and social business interfaces they are familiar with, eliminating hassle and the need to open a separate application to hold video meetings. Integrating Polycom video collaboration capabilities with Sametime gives users easy and intuitive video access from a number of touchpoints within normal business workflows, including:
- Social Media – Through Sametime, Polycom integrates with Connections to allow users to launch video directly from the social media portal. Sametime users can find contacts, check their presence status, and begin typing or click to directly connect via video or voice with the ease of sending an IM.
- Web – Customers can use a browser-based client to join a video meeting hosted by the Polycom RealPresence Platform from anywhere on any computer, even on those without the Sametime client installed.
- Email – Customers can schedule calls by simply clicking a check-box for conference call information within the familiar IBM Lotus Notes meeting setup.
- IM Client – The RealPresence Platform allows users to directly connect point-to-point with other Sametime users and open standards-based video systems, from immersive systems to Polycom® RealPresence™ Mobile software on tablets. Additionally, users can dial into multi-point video meetings directly from within the Sametime IM client.
Additionally, Polycom has integrated its award-winning video and voice collaboration solutions with the power of Sametime to deliver a healthcare solution that helps medical professionals provide better care, and cost-effectively deliver care to remote and rural communities. The solution extends face-to-face collaboration beyond fellow Sametime users to include open standards-based video systems. The healthcare solution also features content sharing and social business tools, making it easier for a doctor to explain a complex diagnosis to a patient, consult with a remote specialist, or source data to help form a treatment plan. The simplified integrations and enhanced functionality gives healthcare providers access to Polycom solutions directly from hospital systems and email clients, allowing for faster access and improved collaboration helping to lead to improved patient outcomes.
Polycom and IBM Global Technology Services are also helping customers integrate standards-based Polycom video solutions into unified communications environments.
Lotusphere 2012: CEO Andy Miller in General Session Keynote
As part of its robust presence at Lotusphere 2012, Polycom CEO Andrew Miller will present during the Wednesday, January 18th morning General Session Keynote, discussing how industry trends like mobile, social, and the cloud coupled with Polycom's vision to make video collaboration ubiquitous are pushing the greatness of human collaboration forward. A webcast of the keynote will be available at www.livestream.com/ibmsoftware. Miller will also join a panel discussion with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web, and Manoj Saxena, manager, Watson Solutions, IBM Software Group at IBM. In addition to talking to emerging video platforms, Miller will discuss various real-world applications of video collaboration, along with its role in increasing productivity and enabling business continuity in enterprises and industries.
Demonstrations
To learn more about the RealPresence Platform and the Sametime integration, visit Polycom at booth #409 at Lotusphere 2012, January 15-19, 2012. Using the RealPresence Platform, Polycom will demonstrate how Sametime and Connections users can connect in multi-party or point-to-point video calls across a range of standards-based video solutions from immersive suites to conference rooms, desktops, and mobile tablets. Polycom will also demonstrate healthcare solutions that support IBM's Smarter Healthcare initiatives and deliver a remote telemedicine collaboration solution.
