Polycom enables 'casual' videoconferencing

“On the one side, CMA is a management application for managing traditional videoconferencing deployments,” Vandermate said. “It allows you to completely provision videoconferencing end points in a mode that is very familiar to people who know IP PBXs. In the current videoconferencing systems, each end point is managed as an individual piece – that works if you have five or six end points. If you start to deploy dozens or hundreds or thousands of end points, it gets really unfeasible to manage as individual clients. Our system allows you to provision your videoconferencing network very similarly to the way you provision IP phones in a VoIP system – you can push software profiles and control class of service, calling rights, access rights and how much bandwidth they can use. That’s the server side. On the client side, it’s a presence-enabled, very thin client that sits on a PC and works with any standard Webcam. It can deliver up to HD-quality video on a notebook computer.”

Up to 5000 users can be managed in a single domain, and calls between clients are easily set up, using click-to-call from a corporate directory. The system has presence and an H.350 active directory, Vandermate said. “All of this makes it much easier for companies to use videoconferencing on even a casual basis.”

Carriers that provide hosted bridges using Polycom equipment “can enable customers who have this server in their environment to use bridges and show bridges in the presence-enabled directory, which will increase their bridging traffic,” Vandermate said. “Video usage could truly explode for some customers.”

The Microsoft OCS integration announcement is the first of three phases and makes PC video end points visible from a buddy list in the OCS environment, making calls possible into meeting rooms or desktop-to-desktop, Vandermate said.

The HD Voice announcement involves a new SoundPoint IP phone that includes HD technology and is priced much lower to appeal to customers such as universities that want to deploy across a campus, said Tim Yankey, director of product marketing for Polycom’s voice division. “The MSRP [manufacturers’ suggested retail price] for this system is $309, so the street price will be in the high $200s,” Yankey said. “Previous to that, our lowest HD-voice-equipped market was at $369 MSRP. This is a new price point for the industry, and we are seeing tremendous growth, particularly in the university segment.”