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New Polycom Immersive Telepresence Service Program Ensures World-Class Service From Certified Partners(Market Wire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) PLEASANTON, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 10/22/09 -- Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM), the global leader in telepresence, video and voice communication solutions, today announced a new certification program for partners that offer managed network services, also known as Video Network Operations Center (VNOC) services, for Polycom immersive telepresence solutions. The Polycom Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service Provider Certification Program features the industry's most stringent requirements to ensure quality and reliability of services and the best user experience for customers. The program features both "Certified" and "Advanced Certified" requirements. The "Certified" program provides partners with the knowledge and capabilities to deliver and support immersive telepresence VNOC service offerings. Certified TVP partners must attend intensive VNOC technical and best practice training, as well as meet lab and training requirements. Polycom "Advanced Certified" partners must also complete advanced lab and training requirements, adhere to program governance and complete operational audits supported by Polycom. Polycom reseller partners BT and Nortel have achieved Polycom's highest certifications for telepresence service and reseller status with Polycom Advanced Certified Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service Provider status, and Polycom Telepresence Certified Plus reseller status. Polycom reseller partner AVI-SPL has achieved Polycom Advanced Certified Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service Provider status, and Polycom Telepresence Certified reseller status. In addition, Polycom VNOC delivery partners Glowpoint and Iformata Communications have also achieved Polycom Advanced Certified Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service Provider status. The program ensures customers that certified channel and delivery partners have completed rigorous product training; have the expertise and capabilities for troubleshooting, testing, upgrade and update verification; have tighter integration with Polycom Global Services; have coordinated access to Polycom engineering teams in support of VNOC service delivery; have completed a complete process audit, ensuring compliance with all Polycom-defined standards; and utilize proven and detailed Polycom standard operational processes in support of Polycom immersive telepresence solutions and VNOC services. Polycom Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service Provider partners also receive early access to new products and product enhancements to ensure seamless support as new products and capabilities come to market. Organizations of all sizes and across industries are adopting visual communication to enable people and teams to work more effectively and efficiently across distances both within and across organizations, which can lead to reduced operating costs by replacing the need to travel and reduced travel-associated carbon emissions. The value of the video conferencing market is set to post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.8 percent between 2008 and 2013, rising from $3.8 billion to $8.6 billion according to Gartner, Inc.(1) Supporting Quotes: Geno Alissi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Global Services, Polycom "The Polycom Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service Provider Certification Program establishes comprehensive requirements that ensure customers receive world-class immersive telepresence VNOC service quality and support from our certified partners." Ron Myers, Vice President of Channels, Polycom "Visual communications presents significant opportunities for qualified channel partners. Polycom believes we are at the forefront of wide-scale adoption, and Polycom certified partners are well positioned to capitalize on this growing market opportunity. With solutions like telepresence, partners can help transform how their customers operate and expand what is possible in their businesses, while at the same time delivering rapid ROI by lower travel expenses and travel-related carbon emissions." Jeff Prestel, General Manager, BT Conferencing, Video Business Unit "We're pleased to be a Polycom Advanced Certified Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service partner and provide customers with a host of BT immersive services that simplify communications and innovate business practices. With the real-life impact of telepresence and BT's services and support tools, customers can easily expand their global reach, shorten business cycles and achieve unprecedented return on investment." Jenna Stanley, General Manager, Services and Solutions, Nortel "For Nortel, video is a core pillar of unified communications and we continue to see customer demand for professional service and managed service offers that span both video and voice applications. Earning the new Polycom Advanced Certified Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service Provider status demonstrates our continued investment and commitment to delivering video services and solutions. Our VNOC capabilities deliver proven value to our customers and case studies demonstrate an average 300 percent increase in customer internal video conferencing use and as much as a tenfold increase in external business-to-business use." Michael Brandofino, Executive Vice President, Video and Unified Communications, AVI-SPL "In recent months we have seen a sharp increase in interest from our customers who are looking for a qualified single source provider of immersive telepresence for equipment, maintenance and VNOC services. As a Polycom Advanced Certified Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service Provider and Polycom Telepresence Certified Reseller, AVI-SPL is able to provide a world class solution to our customers because we have made the investment in advanced certification capabilities with Polycom." Jonathan Brust, Vice President of Marketing, Glowpoint "Achieving Polycom Advanced Certified Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service Provider status is core to our full service "video in the cloud" approach, which offers customers a seamless way to access our easy-to-use managed services -- i.e., shared infrastructure MCU's and Gateway's -- and B2B connectivity with limited capital outlays. This further strengthens Glowpoint's capability to help telepresence and video users connect whenever and to whoever they need to reach on any technology or network, and ultimately expand their use video. Our full suite of services are easily accessible and all delivered in a carrier-grade, highly secure and reliable manner." Brian Kinne, Executive Vice President, Iformata Communications "With the continued expansion of video communication tools, resources and capabilities we are thrilled to participate in and be recognized by Polycom as a Polycom Advanced Certified Immersive Telepresence VNOC Service Provider offering world-class managed services. Our industry continues to see light-speed adoption on a global scale, which validates our growth strategy." About Polycom Telepresence -- Polycom telepresence provides a natural, high-definition visual communication experience that allows people to collaborate more effectively across distances. -- Polycom telepresence solutions are based on established video conferencing standards and interoperate natively with more than two-million video conferencing and telepresence systems in use today. -- Polycom offers the broadest range of fully interoperable telepresence solutions to meet customers' varying application, space and budget requirements. Polycom solutions can be deployed within any unified communications (UC) environment and feature integration with leading UC platforms from Microsoft, IBM, Avaya, Nortel, BroadSoft and others. -- Polycom is the industry leader in telepresence, having shipped more than 50,000 telepresence solutions through Q2 2009. Polycom has leading market share for the total installed video communication market (41 percent) and leading market share for units shipped for the first half of 2009 (35 percent) (Wainhouse Research, Sept. 2009). -- Polycom telepresence customers include industry leaders in business, entertainment, education, financial services, healthcare and government. Examples include: Turner Broadcasting Systems, Georgetown University, NASDAQ, Duke University, Amgen, NATO, Atari, Massachusetts General, Regus, Zurich Financial, National Defense University, Oklahoma Army National Guard, and Defense Acquisition University. Supporting Links: -- Polycom Telepresence Home Page Website -- Polycom Telepresence Overview Video -- View Polycom Telepresence Photos on Flickr -- Follow Polycom on Twitter -- Subscribe to Polycom News RSS Recent Announcements: -- NATO Armed with Polycom Telepresence for Global Collaboration -- Expanded Polycom Infrastructure Solution Helps Organizations Unlock Benefits of Visual Communication -- 7 Habits Author, Stephen Covey, Transported Anywhere, Anytime with Polycom Telepresence About Polycom Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions and a visionary in communications that empower people to connect and collaborate everywhere. Visit www.polycom.com for more information and follow us on Twitter @AllAboutPolycom. (1) - Gartner, Inc. "Dataquest Insight: Videoconferencing Products and Services Market Forecast, Worldwide, 2007-2013," September 28, 2009, ID# G00171041 © 2009 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM®, the Polycom "Triangles" logo and the names and marks associated with Polycom's products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=1094943 Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine Contact: Kevin Young Polycom, Inc. +1.925.924.5706 Email Contact |