Polycom Updates RealPresence Platform with Support for Telepresence Interoperability Protocol

Polycom (News - Alert), a provider of standards-based unified communications (UC), announced the launch of a new software update to the Polycom RealPresence Platform.

The new RealPresence Platform software update enables interoperability across Microsoft and IBM (News - Alert) UC environments. The Polycom RealPresence Platform lets customers using Polycom and other standards-based video collaboration solutions to join calls with non-standard Cisco (News - Alert) TelePresence Systems, and vice-versa. 

The new software update is part of Polycom's strategy to enable universal video collaboration across business, video, mobile, and social networking applications. The company claims that the Polycom RealPresence Platform is a comprehensive software infrastructure for universal video collaboration.

“Enterprises need to ensure they use open and interoperable protocols between network building blocks to ensure that they can achieve a high degree of functionality while preserving or migrating their existing investments,” said Mark Fabbi, vice president, distinguished analyst, Gartner (News - Alert).

“By leveraging multi-vendor networks rather than a single-vendor approach, enterprises can improve network capabilities while significantly reducing costs and simplifying network complexity,” Fabbi added.

Earlier this year, Polycom promised to “liberate” users who for years have been locked into proprietary telepresence solutions. 

The interoperability with Cisco TelePresence Systems is made possible by Polycom's support for the Telepresence (News - Alert) Interoperability Protocol (TIP), which is a communications protocol developed by Cisco and only implemented on Cisco TelePresence System suites.

“This is a great win for anyone using video collaboration. Our support for TIP is freeing users of non-standard Cisco telepresence by allowing them to connect to millions of other standards-based video systems that are deployed worldwide,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, executive vice president and general manager of UC solutions and chief development officer, Polycom, in a statement. 

“This solution further establishes Polycom as the leader of open standards and interoperability, and provides investment protection for our customers,” Ramakrishna added.

Recently, Polycom announced the launch of new video offerings designed for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Leveraging the new video offerings, SMBs can purchase, install, and operate high-quality, business-grade video collaboration solutions from Polycom.