Videoconferencing everybody wants: With a unique platform, Polycom makes a market for itself with carriers

Despite the range of possibilities that videoconferencing seems to offer, the products involved with it have not exactly been Must See TV.

Although prices for the service are going down and the technology itself has become simpler, studies-such as one released by Forward Concepts this month-show that businesses don't see videoconferencing as essential to day-to-day work.

Still, San Jose-based videoconferencing vendor Polycom Inc. has managed to snag marketing contracts with many major carriers-Sprint, MCI WorldCom, BellSouth and Southwestern Bell, to name a few. What is its secret? Adaptability.

What the Forward Concepts study also shows is that the videoconferencing market will grow as technological improvements drive up demand for multimedia applications. As the industry shifts to Internet protocol-based and broadband networks, desktop and group videoconferencing products have to be able to adapt to both technologies and standards.

The architecture of Polycom's group product, ViewStation, can be upgraded from H.320 to H.323. It has an Ethernet card option that makes it usable with a LAN. It's compatible with other group productsand can connect to the Internet to dial up Power Point presentations or Web pages during a conference. And it's the only videoconferencing product on the market that isn't PC-based, which is a great advantage, said Forward Concepts President Will Strauss.

"Our architecture has a lot of headroom," said Kim Kasee, vice president of marketing for the video division of Polycom. "It won't get outdated like a PC."

This is why the ViewStation can stand on its own in the market. But why are carriers choosing it? Because, as one customer told Kasee, it's walk up, drop-dead easy.

"We were looking for a product that reflected the way the industry is going," said Amy Holms, group manager for conferencing systems at Sprint. "But we wanted to see what customers would really use."

Holms grouped several Sprint employees together who had never used videoconferencing and had them rate the products. Polycom won by a very high margin, she said. Sprint is using the marketing arrangement to introduce the country's first videoconferencing rental program, she added.

Southwestern Bell began offering the ViewStation in May. "It's got a lot of features and it's at the right price point," said Norman Oates, director of product management for the carrier.

BellSouth chose Polycom for its experience in the industry. "They have a very good product story to tell," said Juliette Johnson, product manager for emerging technologies at BellSouth. "They know telcos are not in the business of being audio/video providers and they make it very simple to offer."

Offering such a product is a good way to increase ISDN line sales, Strauss said.

"The beauty of an ISDN line is that video is just one application that can be used over it," Holms said. "I certainly hope this product will drive up ISDN sales."

Johnson agreed that this possibility was a driver in choosing Polycom as well.

Strauss said it's not surprising that the product is such a good fit with carriers. "It's unique because of its architecture. It's easy to set up and use. It can hook up three ISDN lines at once. It can interface with other systems. Of course, it's popular."

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