Polycom (News - Alert) on Monday announced launch of several new solutions designed to enhance the functionality of videoconferencing for enteprises. The company rolled out its new Polycom HDX 8000 series videoconferencing solution featuring Lost Packet Recovery technology, and its new Polycom Telepresence (News - Alert) Experience High Definition (TPX HD 206M) solution.

 

The HDX 8000 series solution includes several components that deliver quality videoconferencing. It joins the company’s HDX 4000 integrated desktop system for small group settings and the HDX 9000 series for large conference rooms. The solution comes with Polycom’s HDX Version 2.0 software, with Loss Packet Recovery technology built in.

 

In its announcement, Polycom explained that Loss Packet Recovery ensures an outstanding videoconferencing experience even when connected to networks with moderate packet loss.

 

“With the addition of the HDX 8000 series, Polycom expands the benefits of high definition into classrooms, meeting rooms and beyond,” said said Joe Sigrist, senior vice president and general manager of video solutions at Polycom, in a statement.

 

Sigrist added: “With breakthrough advances like our Lost Packet Recovery technology, Polycom simultaneously improves the user's experience and enables high quality video conferencing to be reliably deployed and used over a broader range of IP network environments.”

 

Polycom also made further inroads to the unified communications market with launch of its new TPX HD 306M telepresence solution, designed to significantly enhance the videoconferencing experience. It represents a unified communications solution in the sense that it ties together various types of media to deliver a “truly immersive” experience.

 

TPX HD 306M ties in seamlessly with Polycom’s RealPresence Experience solution. Bob Hagerty, chairman and CEO at Polycom, said this integration helps the company offer the deepest and broadest portfolio of telepresence and advanced video collaborations solutions in the market.

 

“Polycom enables customers to connect their entire organization, not just the C-level meeting rooms, because information that drives decisions may be in a branch office, a home office, a factory floor, a hotel room, or at a customer or partner site,” Hagerty explained in a statement. “Opening possibilities to collaborate throughout as well as outside an organization increases the value of this technology exponentially for customers.”

 

Sticking to its central strategy, Polycom is working with other vendors (including Nortel, IBM (News - Alert) and Avaya) in partnerships to deliver telepresence capabilities to unified communications environments.

 

Dietmar Wendt, president of global services at Nortel (News - Alert), explained that telepresence and videoconferencing solutions are becoming critical tools used by companies to improve collaboration and reduce carbon footprints, even while growing into geographically-dispersed and globally-focused organizations.

 

“Working with Polycom, Nortel is delivering interoperable telepresence and video conferencing solutions with managed multimedia services on a global basis,” Wendt said in a statement. “Nortel is helping customers get the most out of video conferencing and telepresence, which is transforming the way they do business and creating new growth opportunities by enabling them to work more effectively across distances.”

 

General availability of the HDX 8000 series solution is slated for November 2007. The list price in North America starts at $10,999 for the HDX 8002 and $13,999 for the HDX 8004 (price includes Polycom EagleEye camera).

 

Polycom’s TPX HD 306M solution (with three displays and a six-person capacity) is slated for November, 2007 North America availability, through the company’s network of channel partners. List price for North America is $199,999.

 

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