Polycom enables 'casual' videoconferencing

Polycom today announced two developments in its telepresence and videoconferencing products, including integration with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and availability of its Polycom Converged Management Application, for comprehensive management of video networks from a central location. Both are intended to make it easier for businesses to deploy and use videoconferencing.

These announcements have relevance for telecom service providers that are selling Polycom products to their enterprise customers because they make video networking easier for corporations to deploy and manage, said Joan Vandermate, vice president of marketing for Polycom’s video group. They’re also harbingers of things to come.

“On the long-term roadmap, for 2010, is the ability to make it truly scalable and support multi-tenancy, so you could put the server in the carrier cloud and simply deploy a managed video service,” Vandermate said. “Because it is centrally managed, you can push a video soft-client and enable a customers’ PC environment to support video.”

The Polycom CMA includes CMA Desktop, an enterprise-quality desktop video application that can scale up to thousands of users, all managed centrally, and support HD video and voice.

Separately, Polycom also announced widespread deployment of its HD Voice capabilities by universities.