Polycom Certifies System from Ruckus for SpectraLink 8020, 8030 Wireless Phones

On the heels of an announcement that they were partnering with the world’s largest maker of software to introduce a joint UC solution, officials with a Pleasanton, California-based provider of telepresence, video, and voice solutions say they’re certifying a nearby company’s new access point for use with two of their wireless phones.

 

Polycom, Inc.’s SpectraLink 8020 and 8030 (pictured below) models are now certified with a new dual-band access point that supports beamforming, the so-called “ZoneFlex 7962” from Ruckus Wireless, Inc.

 

Specifically, the wireless LAN systems from Sunnyvale, California-based Ruckus are based on technology that’s designed to bring wire-like reliability to WiFi devices. The company’s beamforming technology is a good fit for Polycom (News - Alert), whose SpectraLink wireless phones are designed for use in enterprise environments where employee mobility and responsiveness are at a premium.

 

According to Ruckus’ co-founder and chief technical officer, Bill Kish, voice is “brutally intolerant” of poor network performance so specialized AP algorithms are needed to avoid call-dropping, jitter, packet loss and power-save synchronization problems.

 

“Intelligent antenna designs coupled with smarter algorithms that determine best path signal selection help to solve these problems,” Kish said.

 

The so-called “Voice Interoperability for Enterprise Wireless,” or “VIEW” certification from Polycom is key, as it’s designated for products with WiFi (News - Alert) telephony solutions that use enterprise-class WLAN infrastructure solutions, such as the ZoneFlex 7962.

 

As TMCnet reported earlier today, fresh off unveiling its widely hailed IP media phone, Polycom has announced a partnership with software giant Microsoft Corp. as the companies seek to boost distribution of a unified communications solution.

 

Officials at Polycom say that in about two weeks, they’ll start distributing Microsoft’s (News - Alert) “RoundTable” product – renamed the “CX5000 Unified Conference Solution.”

 

The CX5000 is a plug-and-play device that connects to a PC through a USB connection. What that means is: Any user can walk into a conference room, plug in a laptop, and start a meeting.

 

According to Sunil Bhalla, senior vice president and general manager of voice communications solutions at Polycom, the Microsoft partnership is one way that Polycom brings customers high-quality unified communications endpoints.

 

“With our expertise in enterprise collaboration and our broad distribution network, it makes perfect sense for us to incorporate the CX5000 into our family of devices optimized for Microsoft UC solutions,” Bhalla said. “We look forward to our continued relationship with Microsoft and the benefits this will bring our joint customers.”