Polycom in Plush Position with Obihai Acquisition

IP communications are not new, but in recent years as VoIP marches toward ubiquity and the use of conferencing technology take to new heights players are positioning for the long run push. Polycom, a preeminent provider of conferencing technology announced a new addition this week sure to turn heads, and elevate the conference room.

Polycom will purchase VoIP solution provider Obihai and merge the two together to advance the Polycom portfolio to extend to businesses small and large as well as service provider, and improve position in the global voice market.

“The strategic acquisition of the Obihai team and its software platform allows Polycom to surge forward on our strategy to deliver the best and most human-to-human experience in our audio and video solutions,” said Mary McDowell, Polycom CEO. “Looking ahead to 2018 and beyond, the addition of Obihai will immediately open new markets and revenue opportunities for Polycom. The combined development team will enable Polycom to bring our great products to customers faster.”

As a result of the acquisition, Polycom picks up more cloud based capabilities and Obihai’s Analog Terminal Adapter solutions to its stable of offerings. Expected to close in Q1 2018, the impact will be in real time, instantly augmenting market presence for both parties with a powerful portfolio to boot.

“Polycom is a proven leader for delivering products with outstanding audio quality and universal interoperability in the open-standard SIP market for VoIP endpoints. When combined with Polycom, Obihai’s product and cloud-services engineering expertise will be a powerful advantage for Polycom’s partners and their customers in an increasingly competitive market,” said Jan Fandrianto, Obihai Founder and CEO.

The Polycom/Obihai is a symptom of this era of enhanced communication and collaboration tools. From the cloud and UCaaS, to the feature-rich business VoIP offerings powering the conference room, change is at hand. And, it seems Polycom is planning on being a driving force in the evolution.

Edited by Mandi Nowitz