January 18, 2012
Polycom Announces Enterprise-Grade Video Collaboration Solutions Integrated with Social Business Apps
By Anamika Singh, TMCnet Contributor
Polycom (News 
- Alert), Inc., a provider of standards-based unified communications (UC), announced key initiatives for its social business strategy, including strong customer momentum with IBM (News - Alert) and strategic product updates, such as native integration of PolycomRealPresence video solutions with IBM Sametime.
Polycom's video solutions with IBM social business platforms IBM Sametime and IBM Connections enables companies tap the transformational power of social and web platforms.
"Video collaboration is mission critical in organizations today, and the ways companies are using video is rapidly evolving," stated 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 PolycomRealPresence 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," Hayden says.
Sametime integration attracted customers ranging from governmental organizations to Fortune Global 1000 companies.
A census bureau for a large country is streamlining coordination among its geographically dispersed offices. The Polycom RealPresence Platform integrated with Sametime helps employees join or schedule video meetings from PCs and laptops to collaborate instantly.
A 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.
A consulting firm uses Polycom HD video on Sametime for high quality face-to-face collaboration on laptops, for their highly mobile workforce to stay connected to the office and partner companies.
Integrating Polycom video collaboration capabilities with Sametime gives users easy video access from touchpoints within normal business workflows, including Social Media, Web, Email, and 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. Multi-point video meetings are also done directly from within the Sametime IM client.
Also, Polycom has integrated its 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.
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO registration click here.
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Anamika Singh is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anamika's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
