| [March 29, 2004] |
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Polycom Expands Award-Winning VoIP Product Family with New, Entry-Level IP Desktop Phone
SoundPoint IP 300 Delivers Polycom Quality and Performance in a Two-Line, Standards-Based IP Desktop Phone Priced for Mass Deployment
Polycom(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCM), the world's leader in video and voice conferencing, conference bridges and integrated web collaboration solutions, today expanded its award-winning line of standards-based IP desktop phones with the SoundPoint(R) IP 300, a high-quality, two-line phone priced as an entry-level solution for broad deployment within an organization. The SoundPoint IP 300 complements Polycom's existing IP desktop phones and rounds out the product family, which includes a range of entry, mid-range and high-performance phones that enables customers to tailor large voice-over-IP (VoIP) deployments with phones that meet specific business needs and different telephony requirements.
Polycom works closely with IP telephony solutions providers to ensure tight integration between the phones and the IP PBX or softswitch/application server, which enables systems to provide optimal quality and functionality while making them easy to deploy and manage. Polycom is working with the following companies for integration with the Polycom SoundPoint IP desktop phones: BroadSoft, Interactive Intelligence, Shoreline Communications, Sphere Communications, Sylantro Systems and VocalData.
A growing number of enterprises are looking at VoIP solutions as a way to not only reduce their operating costs, but to also deliver productivity enhancing applications to employees via a single converged voice and data network. We are forecasting that the world enterprise IP telephony market will reach $10.1 billion by 2007 corresponding to an estimated 57 percent of total annual shipments by that time, said Ronald Gruia, program leader of enterprise solutions at Frost & Sullivan. To help foster adoption, vendors need to offer a variety of solutions for different telephony needs. With the introduction of SoundPoint IP 300, Polycom now offers a wide range of solutions from low-cost to high-performance that are based on leading edge voice quality. Polycom's strategy of tight integration with its telephony partners is also instrumental in ensuring a high-quality end-user experience.
Polycom's platform-independent phones are upgradeable via the network and enable companies to standardize on Polycom phones across multiple locations and platforms and among protocols from different vendors. The SoundPoint IP 300 initially supports MGCP and will support SIP beginning in the second quarter of 2004. Polycom supports SIP, H.323 and MGCP within its line of SoundPoint IP desktop phones, including the SoundPoint IP 600, which recently received a coveted Editor's Choice Award from Network Computing Magazine in a head-to-head test against other SIP desktop phones.
Polycom understands the value of integration with its telephony partners, and we have done significant development with the Polycom SoundPoint IP phones as part of our OEM agreement to ensure support in our platform for the Shoreline-branded Polycom IP desktop phones, said Janet Gregory, vice president of worldwide sales at Shoreline Communications. This addition creates a very complementary line up of high-quality IP telephony endpoints that are intuitive and simple to use.
The SoundPoint IP 300 offers users easy access to familiar telephony features facilitating an easy transition for users from traditional phones to the new IP system. In addition to supporting two telephone lines, the SoundPoint IP 300 features high quality voice technology, support for power over Ethernet (IEEE 802.3af and Cisco), a dual 10/100 Ethernet switch, and a four-line by 20-character LCD display. The phone supports three-way conferencing and its user interface offers dedicated, one-button access to familiar telephony features. The SoundPoint IP 300 has 10 feature keys to simplify operation, three content-sensitive soft keys to extend functionality and a lighted message indicator. The phone also features a listen only speaker for voice messages and conference calls.
Polycom's support for leading IP communication protocols is part of an ongoing commitment to advance network-based communications. In the VoIP segment, Polycom is working with leading IP PBX and softswitch partners to support existing and emerging IP telephony platforms and protocols. These relationships emphasize a continuing commitment to tightly integrated, standards-based development so that customers have choices when building best-in-class vendor solutions.
Polycom's IP telephony solutions are the highest-quality, standards-based communications products available and through integration with our telephony partners' platforms, offer the best possible experience for users and network managers, said Sunil Bhalla, senior vice president and general manager of voice communications at Polycom. We are working closely with our IP telephony partners to complete integration for the SoundPoint IP 300 in the second quarter. This work helps our partners to deliver integrated solutions that are thoroughly tested and offer customers choice and investment protection through support for industry standards.
Pricing and availability:
The SoundPoint IP 300 will be available in late April 2004 through certified Polycom VoIP channel partners. List price for the SoundPoint IP 300 is US $180.
About Polycom
Polycom, Inc. is the world's technology leader of high-quality, easy-to-use video, voice, data and web conferencing and collaboration solutions. The Polycom Office(TM) is our continued commitment to make distance communications as natural and interactive as being there by providing best-in-class conferencing solutions that are interoperable, integrated and intuitive to the user. The Polycom Office is based on industry standards and supported by an open architecture that promotes interoperability in multi-vendor environments and complements leading network infrastructure platforms. For additional information call 1-800-POLYCOM (765-9266) or +1-408-526-9000, or visit the Polycom website at www.polycom.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events, future demand for our products, and future growth prospects that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions, which may differ materially from our or our industry's actual future events or results. Further information on potential factors that could affect the Company's financial results are discussed in our 2003 form 10-K, quarterly reports on form 10-Q, and other reports filed by Polycom with the SEC.
Polycom, the Polycom logo, SoundStation and SoundPoint are registered trademarks and Polycom Office is a trademark of Polycom in the U.S. and various countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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