The VAR Guy

Lenovo has tapped Polycom to add its RealPresence video and voice collaboration software to a wide range of Lenovo’s laptop computers and even some tablets. If you’re a Lenovo VAR who also happens to be working the unified communications (UC) space, this partnership could be a match made in heaven. Here’s why …

If you’ve been thinking about dabbling in some cloud-based video collaboration services, you might want to check out Polycom’s latest splash with Polycom RealPresence Cloud. Polycom hosts it, you sell it, and the world gets more connected. If it sounds good to you, keep reading …

Back in March 2011 we wrote about Polycom and Motorola teaming up to bring Polycom’s UC Intelligent Core to the Motorola Xoom, making the Xoom an instant group video device. Jump forward to today, and Polycom is continuing its relationship with Motorola by including the RealPresence Mobile application with the new Motorola Xyboard (the spiritual successor to the Xoom). Here’s the scoop …

Polycom continues to push its vendor-agnostic “video everywhere” agenda in a variety of ways. The company recently acquired web-based videoconferencing technology company ViVu, and now its RealPresence technology is getting an overhaul to extend its “interoperability across UC environments.” Read on for the details and The VAR Guy’s channel implications …

ShoreTel has inked a deal with Ingram Micro to be ShoreTel’s value-added distribution partner of choice, bringing ShoreTel’s entire UC portfolio to the channel. The agreement is one of the larger UC moves Ingram has made in a while. The distribution breakdown follows …

Polycom continues to grow ever larger, especially with its latest acquisition of ViVu, whose technology portfolio offers video collaboration inside web applications for quick and streamlined video chatting and sharing of content. It should come as no surprise that ViVu fits Polycom’s needs perfectly. Acquisition details follow …

In May 2011 we wrote about Polycom’s partnership with Motorola to offer its video collaboration software on the Xoom tablet. Now the company is expanding its tablet base and has put a name to the offering: Polycom RealPresence Mobile.

Communications and collaboration company Polycom is eager to shed its reputation as a purely hardware vendor in favor of being a software-focused communications provider. To that end, the company has revamped and renamed its UC Intelligent Core product set and added to its partner ecosystem.

It’s safe to say much of Polycom’s success in the UCC space over the past 18 months is due to the stellar executive lineup the company has pulled together. But it has no plans on stopping now, appointing Cisco and Juniper sales maven Tracey Newell to head its global sales.

Polycom has completed the acquisition of HP’s Visual Collaboration Business Unit, a deal it announced in June 2011 that transfers HP’s visual collaboration technologies including its Halo products and managed services business to Polycom and makes Polycom the exclusive Telepresence partner to HP for future UC solutions.

In the unified communications space, everyone is falling over each other trying to support as many UC endpoints as possible, in as many ways as possible with as little interoperability problems as possible and as cheap as possible. But is there one uniting system that can make ringing up an individual for a video call as simple as dialing an number? Telesphere has endeavored to do just that by working with BroadSoft, CounterPath and Polycom to launch VideoConnect. Here’s the scoop…

Turn the way-back machine to 2008. At the time, The VAR Guy was skeptical about the future of Alcatel-Lucent. Yes indeed, the networking giant has hit some bumps. But now, with the unified communications scene picking up speed in the enterprise, Alcatel-Lucent is hoping to capitalize on that momentum. Enter Alcatel-Lucent’s Visual Collaboration Suite, a unique package of video-based tools that can help individuals connect and visually collaborate in real-time.

Polycom knows the next big market for video collaboration — and unified communications in general — is the almighty SMB. The consumerization of IT, coupled with a plethora of cloud and premise-based offerings designed to bring collaboration capabilities to companies of any size, are creating a perfect storm of opportunity for the channel to equip their SMB customers with UCC offerings previously only available to the big boys.

In its never-ending quest to provide a super-interconnected unified communications network, Polycom has launched the Polycom CX7000, its first full-room telepresence solution that integrates with Microsoft Lync. Read on for the  high-definition details …

Logitech is a name well-known in the consumer space for its PC peripherals including webcams, mice and keyboards. Now the company hopes to delve deeper into the business market through its recently acquired videoconferencing technology and a partnership with Jabra to provide UC-enabled headsets and speakerphones.

VoIP-based conferencing upstart Vu TelePresence has been selling the SMB market on its UC and VoIP devices for a while now, but the company recently hit a milestone, claiming a customer base totaling 4 percent of the U.S. telepresence market. In a technology space dominated by the likes of Polycom and Cisco Systems, what’s so special about Vu and its channel program? Read on for a little flavor …

Polycom has enhanced its UC Intelligent Core technology once again, beefing up the platform to support 75,000 devices or up to 25,000 concurrent calls and native integration with Microsoft Lync, putting it squarely in the sights of service providers looking for large-scale UC offerings.

In the data center space, virtualization is the name of the game. The VAR Guy knows that, and he also knows how much end users can benefit from a little upfront collaboration on vendors’ part. That’s the idea behind VMware’s latest solution set that will enable customers using SAP to migrate to virtualized infrastructure powered by VMware and HP. Read on for the details and The VAR Guy’s take …

Communications and collaboration vendor Polycom has grabbed a few headlines of late, especially with its acquisition of HP’s Visual Collaboration Business.  of equal import is the launching of its Open Visual Communication Consortium (OVCC), designed to fulfill its “UC Everywhere” ethos. The purpose of the OVCC is to provide an interconnected network specifically designed for delivering video across a range of devices with multiple use cases, with almost no configuration needed. Sound too good to be true? Read on for more details …

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. That’s apparently the tack HP is taking by selling its Visual Collaboration business to conferencing and collaboration powerhouse Polycom. The deal, which is expected to close in the third-quarter of 2011, will shift all of HP’s visual collaboration technology, including its Halo products and managed services business, over to Polycom’s side of the fence.

In an effort to advance its standing in the UC playing field and further bolster its solutions footprint, Polycom has appointed new leaders to its sales and marketing teams. The company recently announced stellar Q1 numbers, so why the appointments and why now? It’s part of Polycom’s plan to turbocharge its growth and better deliver its Polycom UC Everywhere vision. Read on for the details:

Polycom is one of those companies whose offerings seemed ahead of their time — a few years ago, who’d have considered desktop telepresence? But rather than force the industry to adopt its solutions — and possibly experience utter failure as a result — Polycom kept a low profile, waiting for the marketplace to catch up. Now that unified communications technology is gaining in popularity, Polycom’s strategy has paid off well — Polycom’s first-quarter net income increased almost sevenfold to $34 million, compared with a paltry $5 million in net income a year ago. Wall Street is impressed with its earnings, customers are impressed with its technology and partners are impressed with its recently reworked channel program and its emphasis on video solutions.

A little more than a year after Polycom launched its Choice partner program for VARs, solution providers and distributors, the company is reworking Choice to reward those partners who focus on video solutions.