[May 08, 2013] John Laing deploys Microsoft Lync and Polycom RealPresence video solutions Tweet May 08, 2013 (Datamonitor via COMTEX) -- Polycom, Inc., a provider of unified communications solutions and telepresence, video, voice and infrastructure solutions, has announced that John Laing, a developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects, has implemented a combination of Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Polycom RealPresence video solutions, to provide an unified communications and collaboration solution across its global operations. With employees dispersed in 73 offices across the UK and six offices overseas, teams use video meetings to collaborate face-to-face securely in real time while managing the development risk, project financing, asset management and operations with its partners and project supply chain, said Polycom. Employees work from various global offices and often are mobile and on the go, and need to interact and collaborate with each other across national borders and technical infrastructures on a wide range of projects. Key requirements for John Laing included the ability to interoperate with existing systems and applications, and ease of use to drive user adoption, as the company looked to improve collaboration using any device, increase productivity and reduce travel costs. Working with Polycom partner Wirebird, and technology automation specialists AMX to design and implement video meeting rooms, John Laing implemented four Polycom RealPresence Room video solutions (including the Polycom HDX 8000) at its new London head office and six other conference rooms around the world. All RealPresence video solutions are powered by the Polycom RealPresence Platform - an interoperable UC&C software infrastructure for universal video collaboration. John Laing is also using Polycom RealPresence Mobile 2.0 for consortium partners and employees using tablets or smartphones while on the move. The use of video conferencing has reportedly helped staff communicate internally and externally and has become widespread within John Laing because of Polycom's integration with Microsoft Lync desktop clients. Approximately half of the firm's 1,000 employees collaborate via Polycom desktop-based or room-based video solutions from within familiar interfaces by clicking a name on their Lync contact list. "The interoperability between Polycom and Microsoft Lync was key in our decision. Using Lync with Polycom just brings the whole solution alive to the desktop," said Dylan Jones, IT Director for John Laing. "People can either go to formal conference rooms or participate in meetings from their desk, enabling everyone to talk and see body language, which you don't get over the telephone." "We required a very high quality video product that's easy to use. The reason we went with the Wirebird design was because they integrate very well with all the vendors and it was quite an easy choice for us to choose Wirebird as the preferred partner as they had the knowledge to tailor the AMX and the Polycom solutions to our needs. A key business objective was that the solutions had to be user friendly so they would be adopted," said Jones. "The combination of the Polycom solutions integrated with Lync and the AMX control panels all create one collaborative tool with a familiar user interface. User adoption has gone through the ceiling with growing demand for both internal and external video meetings." Polycom RealPresence video solutions are also helping to make John Laing greener. The carbon footprint for John Laing business travel and commuting over the period July 2011 to June 2012 was 657.5 tonnes CO2e, compared with 820 tonnes over the preceding 12-month period, a reduction of 162.5 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in a single year, the equivalent of taking an extra 29 family cars off the road in a year, added Polycom. http://www.datamonitor.com Republication or redistribution, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without prior written consent. Datamonitor shall not be liable for errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]