Super Fitness Health BlogPolycom and Microsoft Expand Relationship with Polycom CX5000
In a move to further strengthen the companies’ relationship, Polycom, Inc. and Microsoft are teaming up to build voice and video solutions for unified communications and collaboration.
Under the agreement, Polycom, the Pleasanton, California-based telepresence, video, and voice solutions provider, has licensed the right to distribute Microsoft RoundTable, effective immediately, the company announced. As part of the distribution deal, the product is being renamed Polycom CX5000 Unified Conference Station and will be available through Polycom and its channel network.
The effort is part of Microsoft’s goal to expand the availability of its Microsoft RoundTable product and boost Polycom’s portfolio.
The CX5000 allows the firm to better meet the video needs of organizations that use Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Live Meeting service, according to Computer World. The videoconferencing device broadcasts synchronized audio and video over a standard Windows-based PC. The tabletop device provides a 360-degree panoramic view of meeting participants and identifies individual speakers and broadcasting their image in close-up as they speak.
“Microsoft and Polycom share a long-standing, strategic relationship in the unified communications space, and we are confident in Polycom’s depth of experience and customer support in the conferencing market,” said Sanjay Manchanda, director, business division, Microsoft India, in a statement. “Our vision to make RoundTable available to more people in more countries has been realized with the introduction of the Polycom CX5000 Unified Conferencing Station and shows further evidence of Microsoft’s commitment to a software platform that enables device innovation.”
Microsoft launched the plug-and-play device in 2007. It connects to a PC via Universal Serial Bus (USB) to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 or Microsoft Office Live Meeting Service 2007. The company expanded the videoconferencing system to seven countries in Western Europe last year, asTMC reported.
Polycom CX5000, which will sell for an estimated price of $4,300, will be available in 27 countries through Polycom’s channel partner network. Once the Polycom CX5000 is available, RoundTable will no longer be sold, but Microsoft will continue to support all RoundTable devices it has previously sold, the company said.
The latest news comes as Polycom recently announced an all new video conferencing system, the Polycom QDX 6000, which offers high-resolution video conferencing capabilities. The company also announced that its Microsoft-optimized solutions now interoperate with its Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2.
The company continues to offer a range of new solutions for the visual communication market. Recently, Polycom announced The Climate Group, an international nonprofit organization, has signed on to use the firm’s telepresence system to improve meeting effectiveness. In other news, Polycom partnered with producers from “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to install a new Polycom HDX 7000 room telepresence system for two Las Vegas sisters who suffer from a life threatening immune deficiency disease.
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