Polycom casts rod into videoconferencing lake

VoIP resellers are well placed to benefit from videoconferencing sales as convergence gains popularity

Resellers dealing in networking and voice over IP (VoIP) are in a prime position to take advantage of videoconferencing sales which, due to technology partnerships, are about to skyrocket, according to Polycom. The vendor has recently launched three new products into the arena.

“Networking resellers that sell VoIP can add value to customers by offering a videoconferencing capability on the same network,” said Tony Heyworth, director of marketing at Polycom EMEA. “Polycom has been working with Microsoft, Alcatel, Avaya, Nortel, Lucent and Cisco to integrate videoconferencing with IP telephony,” he said.

Heyworth said it is this partnership between vendors that has helped to drive sales. “Integration with Microsoft’s Office Communicator and Live Communications Server, and Alcatel’s My Teamwork, enables a multiway IM [Instant Message] conversation to be turned into a voice or videoconference call. Integration with IP telephony solutions from Alcatel, Avaya, Nortel, Lucent and Cisco enables a VoIP call to be turned instantly into a video call,” said Heyworth.

Heyworth described Polycom as being in the unified collaborative communications (UCC) space. “The opportunities are there for resellers to take advantage of future growth in UCC,” he said.

Polycom has expanded its product line with three new video systems launched last week. “The VSX 5000 is ideal for a small meeting room with three-to-five people and starts at £2,500, while the VSX 7000s (£4,375) and VSX 7000e (£5,625) are suitable for five-to-20 users,” said Heyworth.

Gary Duke, sales director at VAR Lan2Lan, said: “Providing video alongside VoIP will be a natural progression for us, in time. It would, however, require a lot of planning as video is fairly bandwidth-hungry. Although, the planning element could be another revenue stream for VARs like us.”