Polycom Expands Relationship with Microsoft

Polycom, Inc., a company focused on telepresence, video, and voice solutions, has expanded its relationship with Microsoft Corp. to jointly develop and deliver an extended portfolio of unified communications (UC) solutions that will enable more effective collaboration for its customers.

Officials with Polycom said that the company offers a portfolio of integrated solutions spanning voice, video, and application integration for Microsoft (News - Alert) Office Communications Server R2 and Microsoft Communications Server '14,' Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft SharePoint Server, and Microsoft Active Directory.

'A unified communications infrastructure that includes Polycom (News - Alert) and Microsoft solutions will give CDOT the reliability, flexibility and scalability we need to collaborate on demand throughout the state using voice, video and more,' said Thom Rivera, enterprise architect for the Colorado Department of Transportation, in a statement.

'As we begin our journey to further integrate a Polycom experience with Microsoft Office Communications Server, we look forward to the possibility of synchronizing our entire UC environment with capabilities such as scheduling, calendaring, IM and Active Directory,' said Rivera.

Matt Davis, director of Consumer and SMB Telecom Services, IDC (News - Alert) said that Polycom is widely regarded as one of the pioneers in collaboration technologies and is taking a leadership role in articulating the value of integrating into leading UC environments.

Davis said that Microsoft's user interface at the PC level with Polycom's user experience at the device level provide a flexible, scalable and friendly UC solution that enables customers to leverage the latest technologies.

Company officials said that the new Polycom CX series phones enhance Polycom's portfolio of solutions for Microsoft environments which also include telepresence and video conferencing integration.

'Polycom delivers a broad portfolio of exceptional voice and video experiences in a Microsoft environment,' said Kirk Gregersen, senior director of communications server marketing at Microsoft.

Gregersen said that the company's customers are looking for flexible solutions that integrate seamlessly and are highly reliable. Polycom is working to expand its offering of fully integrated end-to-end solutions for Microsoft environments as well as develop next-generation communications that will result in higher productivity and enhanced collaboration for businesses around the globe.

'We continue to deliver on the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy by bringing to market the industry's broadest solutions portfolio that integrates with the market-leading UC solutions,' said Jim Kruger (News - Alert), vice president solution product marketing, Polycom.

Kruger said that Microsoft is clearly a leader in delivering Unified Communications.

"Our expanded partnership will benefit our customers by allowing them to leverage their existing UC environments and protect their long-term investments in technologies such as communications server, exchange server, Outlook and other key Microsoft business applications, he added.