Poly Voice, Video, and Content Systems


Poly Voice, Video, and Content Systems











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Poly
Voice, Video, and Content Systems

by Faulkner Staff

Copyright 2021, Faulkner Information Services. All Rights Reserved.

Docid: 00011012

Publication Date: 2109

Report Type: PRODUCT

Preview

Poly, formed by the 2018 merger of Plantronics and Polycom, offers a complete
conferencing portfolio of voice, video, and content systems for organizations from small businesses to large
enterprises with multiple global locations. These products offer high-definition panoramic, crystal-clear video
and high-quality audio. Prior to the company merger, Plantronics offered a line of computer and gaming headsets
for consumers, including those for Microsoft’s Xbox Communicator. The firm exited the gaming and consumer markets
in 2019 to focus on enterprise products. This report looks at Poly’s business product portfolios in greater detail.

Report Contents:

Description

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Poly Company Brief
Videoconferencing Technology Tutorial

Poly manufactures and sells high-definition (HD) video, voice, and content
solutions to customers in an effort to boost productivity, improve customer
service, and expand education. The vendor’s offerings are designed
to provide a unified, end-to-end communication capability that enables
geographically displaced individuals to feel and communicate as if they are
together in the same room. Its unified communication (UC) products are used by
more than 400,000 organizations worldwide. 


Vendor

Name: Poly
Headquarters
345 Encinal St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Phone: (831) 420-3002
(800) 544-4660
Web: http://www.poly.com/
Type of Vendor: Conferencing and collaborative
systems provider
Founded: 1961 (Plantronics); 1990 (Polycom); merged 2018
Service Areas: Worldwide
Stock Symbol: POLY (NYSE)

Poly offers high-definition collaboration, video, and voice products for
conferencing and videoconferencing. These products combine standard boardroom tools with a streaming
presentation of audio, video, and data transmission. The vendor’s
offerings are intended for geographically dispersed workforces, enabling them to
communicate and collaborate more effectively and productively. Given the massive
transformation in digital communication and work habits spurred by COVID-19,
Poly claims it is driven by the concept that "Work is no longer a place, it’s
what you do and how you do it." 

Acquisition by Plantronics

Poly is actually the compilation of two companies: Polycom and Plantronics.
Polycom had been a hardware supplier of video, collaboration, and voice products
whereas Plantronics had previously been an audio electronics equipment company. Following a much publicized, planned Polycom takeover from the Canadian
company Mitel, Polycom was acquired by Siris Capital Group in September 2016.
That move took Polycom private. In 2018, Plantronics acquired Polycom from
Sirius for approximately $2 billion. Plantronics announced in March 2019 that it
was evolving into Poly, "a technology company focused on the human
experience of communications and collaboration, aiming to make communication as
rich and natural as in-person." The company combines expertise from both
Plantronics and Polycom to connect endpoints and alleviate complexity in the
modern workspace. 

Video

Poly video products incorporate business workflows that
use open standards, software, and the Poly ecosystem of partners to
improve interoperability within multi-vendor solutions.

Table 1 looks at Poly’s main video offerings. 

Table 1. Poly Video Offerings
Suite Product Description

Video Conference Room Solutions 

Poly’s offerings for video are designed to make the experience as immersive
as if the individual is meeting someone in-person and face-to-face. Poly
features clear, crisp visual quality and sharp audio with noise-blocking
technology. All products are, according to the vendor, easy to use and simple to
manage. Products within Poly’s lineup include:

Poly Studio – A USB video bar built for small rooms. Can
connect to multiple Video as a Service platforms via USB. Consists of a
12-foot microphone pickup range, an Acoustic Fence feature to prevent noise
outside the room from interrupting conferences, and a smart camera for automatic
framing. 

Poly Studio X – A video bar system for huddle to mid-sized rooms.
Features always-on connectivity, distraction block-out with Poly MeetingAI, and
camera framing and tracking. Available in three versions: Poly Studio X30 (for up
to six participants), Poly Studio X50 (for up to 10 participants), and the Poly
Studio X70 introduced in September 2021 (for up to 15 participants). 

Poly Studio E70 – A dual lens smart camera with 20 megapixel 4K
sensors for large meeting rooms. Features automatic speaker tracking and group
framing. Connects to Poly G7500 and Poly Microsoft Teams Room on Windows for
streamlined deployments.

Poly Medialign – This system is for larger spaces featuring
20+ participants like training rooms,
boardrooms, and classrooms. Hands-free cameras, automatic speaker tracking, and
group framing are among the features. Participants can mark up documents with
optional annotation and digital whiteboarding.

Poly G7500 – For medium and large conference rooms, Poly promotes its
G7500, an Ultra HD 4K offering. To block audio distractions, the G7500 uses
NoiseBlockAI. It offers an intuitive user interface and runs cloud service
applications natively or the Poly Video app for standards-based calling and
connection (no room PC or Mac is required). 

Poly Trio – This device can be used in any size room – small,
mid-size, or large – and fits in the center of a table. It provides audio up to
22 KHz, a modular architecture, a single user interface, and scalability. It is
available in three versions (Trio 8300 for between two and five people; Trio
8500 for six to eight people; and Trio 8800 for more than eight people). 

Immersive Telepresence Solutions 

RealPresence Immersive Studio – A specially designed environment
consisting of a 21-foot media wall and three LED backlight displays to create a
tailored collaboration experience. Available in 9- or 21-seat configurations. 

RealPresence Immersive Studio Flex – Provides elaborate visuals and crisp audio
to make remote participants feel as if they are on location. 

Collaboration Infrastructure

RealPresence Clariti – An all-in-one
voice/video/content/Web collaboration offering that is priced by number of
users and is effective for any sized business environment. 

RealPresence Clariti can also be deployed as a fully hosted cloud-based
offering. 

Mobile/Personal Solutions

RealPresence Web Suite – With click-to-connect and multi-stream content
sharing, people can collaborate on any browser-based device from any location.

RealPresence Desktop – Available for both Windows and Mac OS X,
RealPresence Desktop provides an audio barrier to remove disruptive noises and
adds backlight compensation to boost video quality in poorly lit
environments. 

Solutions for Microsoft

RealConnect for Microsoft Teams – Offers video interoperability
with Microsoft Teams, allowing cloud or on-premesis hosting. Simplifies
scheduling and meeting management.

RealPresence Group Series – Three suites (310, 500, and 700) that
utilize next-generation HD video, voice, and content sharing capabilities across
conference rooms, classrooms, and meeting spaces. 

CXX5500 Unified Conference Station – Delivers HD voice and video in
Skype for Business and Microsoft Lync environments. 

CX5100 – A USB-only conference station for Skype for Business and
Microsoft Lync. 

Poly HP SRS Bundle – This suite provides options for Microsoft Teams
Rooms with its range of audio and video peripherals and supports all sizes from
huddle rooms to large conference rooms. Offerings include: 

  • Poly Trio
  • Plantronics Calisto 7200
  • Poly EagleEye Director II
  • Poly Studio
  • Poly EagleEye Cube USB
  • Poly EagleEye IV USB

Content Collaboration 

Poly offers content collaboration products that enables people to work
together in a consistent, accessible environment.  

Table 2 defines the main offerings in Poly’s repertoire of collaboration
products. 

Table 2. Content Collaboration Portfolio
Suite

Product Description
Content Sharing Pano – Users connect and share content
with just a touch. Pano is connected to a monitor and casts streams of HD
content to share documents, pictures, or videos. 

RealPresence Web Suite – Delivers Web collaboration to any
browser. 

RealPresence Trio Visual+ – Poly conferencing phones in the
Trio family are certified for Skype for Business/Office 365.

RealConnect RealConnect Service – A cloud video
offering designed to connect technology to Microsoft Teams or Skype for
Business. 

RealConnect for Clariti – A single-click feature used
with Microsoft Teams.  

Voice

Poly voice solutions integrate with wired and wireless telephony platforms to
streamline communications, whether for the desktop, conferencing, or mobility.

Table 3 focuses on Poly’s
main voice offerings.

Table 3. Voice Portfolio
Suite Product Description
Voice Collaboration Solutions Poly offers enterprise-grade voice
solutions with HD and crystal-clear audio. These include: 

  • Conference phones
  • VoIP phones
  • Installed audio 
  • Voice offerings for Microsoft
  • IP phone software
    • Poly Unified Communications Software
    • Poly OBi Software

Applications

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Poly’s offerings are intended to be used to improve communications among
businesses, their staff, and partners. The vendor states
that they offer many benefits including the following: 

  • Smarter working capability that enables users to communicate from an array
    of physical locations.
  • Face-to-face communications over high-quality video devices.
  • Devices independent of a specific platform but able to connect to the
    majority of platforms in today’s market.
  • Sensor technology that allows for automatic call answering.
  • Convenience in connecting applications and voice networks.
  • Best-in-class audio quality.
  • Easy-to-use interfaces.
  • Wireless freedom that enables users to be involved in calls without the
    hindrance of wires or cables. 
  • Integration of telephony, mobile technologies, cloud-based communications,
    and PC applications. 

In addition to its main product offerings, Poly caters to the following
industries with solutions that help to meet each of their unique needs: 

  • Education
  • Healthcare
  • Manufacturing
  • Financial services
  • US federal government
  • Entertainment

Environment

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There are many specifications
for assorted Poly offerings. The company asks that potential
users contact it directly regarding integration and specification issues. Poly’s offerings support Microsoft Windows operating systems. 

Support

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Customers can use Poly’s self-service tools, software downloads, tech
assistance, and more. A support community lets users discuss Poly products
and learn more about the company’s offerings. 

Pricing

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There is no "one size fits all" cost involved for any of Poly’s
telepresence, video, and voice suites or products. Since the costs for these products vary due to level of
customization, Poly asks that interested, potential customers contact its
sales staff by calling (800) 765-9266 or through
https://www.poly.com/us/en/company/contact/sales.

Competitors

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Although there are various players in the video, voice, and collaboration
market, Poly is a leader. Cisco is its top competitor followed by Avaya and Huawei. In
addition, Poly is challenged by Adobe Connect and online services such as
Zoom and LogMeIn. 

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