The VAR Guy

UC guru Polycom has expanded its UC Intelligent Core Platform in an effort to tap Cisco’s Telepresence Interoperability Protocol (TIP). TIP, which Cisco developed originally for multi-screen telepresence interoperability, was gifted in Summer 2010 to the International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium (IMTC) to be managed as an industry standard. Polycom is taking it a step further by using TIP to enable its systems to interact with Cisco technology. Here’s the deal…

Polycom said the move is all about protecting investments in legacy third-party systems while innovating and expanding its commitment to connecting communication devices across SMBs and the enterprise, regardless of their platform or network. Polycom also notes that the very same TIP innovations it has been working on allow service providers to offer open cloud-based UC telepresence solutions. Polycom’s motivation for expanding the UC Intelligent Core also has been (unsurprisingly) wrought out of Cisco customer feedback that Cisco’s closed system isn’t inviting for non-Cisco users.

Polycom noted its solutions are designed to offer a lower cost of ownership and be more affordable than a Cisco solution — equipment, bandwidth, services and other costs included. Bold claims, indeed, but Polycom’s press release cites Motorola Mobility and BT Conferencing (British Telecom) as happy customers who were able to keep their existing collaboration infrastructures. Polycom believes that the open standards-based approach will help build a best-of-breed communication network with a long-term value.

But don’t get too excited yet: support for TIP won’t be available until the second quarter 2011, according to Polycom.

So how does Cisco feel about the whole thing? Cisco VP David Hsieh is “pleased” that Polycom is forging ahead with the standard, while coyly noting that Cisco originally developed TIP. Cute.

Still, with this new standard being built up, video collaboration is well on its way to proliferating across all-size businesses.

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