Video communications vendor Polycom has extended its existing videoconferencing relationships with Microsoft and Cisco.

At its Global Partner Conference in Phoenix last week, Polycom upgraded its flagship VSX video communications platform to support Cisco’s Skinny Client Control Proto-col. This was in response to demand from customers who want to simplify the management of installed Cisco IP voice and Polycom video systems.

The Microsoft announcement marks the fourth stage of Polycom’s relationship with the vendor. The latest VSX video system, integrated with Microsoft’s Live Communications Server and Communicator, allows users to establish buddy lists. It also makes it as easy to connect a call from a phone or video system as it is from a PC, the firms have claimed.

Tony Heyworth, EMEA marketing director at Polycom, said: “These partnerships represent a huge opportunity [for resellers] to add voice and video collaboration into a customer’s environment, particularly where you can incorporate voice over IP [VoIP].”

Speaking to CRN from the partner conference, Ian Vickerage, managing director of distributor Imago, said: “These integrated products make it a lot easier for people to adopt video. If I was using MSN Messenger and then decided I wanted to look at the person I was chatting to, I could connect very easily. Likewise, if I was on a

Cisco VoIP [voice over IP] phone, I could move over to video in a smooth transition.”

Paul Gullett, managing director of rival video communications vendor Tandberg, said: “We have had a relationship with Cisco since 2002. It drives the digital communications market into a different space. Cisco is waking up to visual communications because it wants it as an add-on to what it already offers.”

laura_hailstone@vnu.co.uk