They say with support from all of these new and updated solutions, the Polycom platform will “transform the industry, accelerate mass adoption of video collaboration, and fuel new growth opportunities for the company,”
Really?
Breaks down thusly:
1. Polycom RealPresence CloudAXIS Suite: A cloud-based bridging solution, designed to allow Polycom users to connect with users of commercial social apps (Skype, Facebook, Gtalk, etc.) and other business apps via a browser window. Sound familiar?
2. Polycom RealPresence SVC Enhancements: Polycom’s H.264 SVC codec is a major improvement over their previous H.264 AVC. The big news is they are making their new code open to the world, royalty free. SVC codec is huge, see my notes on it below.
3. Polycom UX: 20 new features, like a new common UI across all devices and 1080p60 support. Very cool: SmartPairing, allows automatic pairing of pads phones and laptops without the usual VBP (border proxy) cha-cha.
4. Polycom RealPresence Collaboration Server 800s, Virtual Edition: The name is a mouthful, just means cloud MCU. They are giving source code to anyone who wants it.
5. Polycom Next-Generation Endpoints: NewHardware and software endpoints. Sounds like it mostly comes from adding the new H.264 SVC protocol and UX enhancements.
Biggest part of the announcement, to me, was their new cloud-based solution:
Polycom RealPresence CloudAXIS Suite
There are a lot of people out there who need to connect, and do not have your standard meeting room H.323 device.
Interestingly, Polycom won’t be hosting this solution themselves. That’s right – no Polycom hosted cloud service with subscriptions for users. So customers (end-user companies, or service providers) can use it to create their own cloud service.
Here is how it will work: CloudAXIS does not actually accept calls using Skype and other commercial protocols. It works more like the free zoom.us thing, which collects a contact list from your existing social media friend lists. From the UI, you can send your friends meeting invite links, which they will see in their usual chat client. When your friends click the link, the meeting opens up in a new browser window, no client download!
So it doesn’t matter whether your friend sees your invite in Facebook, Google Chat, email, the meeting will always be exactly the same, in their browser. They say it doesn’t actually use the video capabilities of Skype, Google Chat, etc. Don’t completely grasp this last bit, but: no matter what, you get a link via IM and it takes you to a meeting. Odd to get a message via Skype that takes you to a non-Skype video meeting, but what do you care, if the meeting comes up right away and looks good?
Where did this come from? Polycom has all kindsa desktop and mobile clients, but no easy way to invite a guest to a meeting. They say this gaping hole helped create the entire Blue Jeans/Vidtel/Vidyo market. Found a great spreadsheet of the top dogs in cloud based MCU’s here: http://www.telepresenceoptions.com/images/Cloud_VC_Bridging_Comparison.jpg
How do they all compare to Polycom? Dunno. BUT if Polycom’s cloud does the job at a competitive price, whole lotta people will stick with Polycom.
Polycom RealPresence SVC Enhancements
Here is where it get’s really interesting: Vidyo may have forced Polycom’s hand by announcing their scaling additons to the SVC standard for H.265 last week (H.265 will probably be released by the committee next January)
SVC = endpoint dependent autoscaling, which let’s you send exactly what each endpoint needs, vs 264 which sends whatever you tell it to, aint really made for the interwebs and needs an expensive bridge to do what SVC does. This alone may obsolete a lot of bridges.
Vidyo vs Polycom – fodder for a whole ‘nother discussion. BUT Polycom is offering to license their version of SVC to anyone who wants it, royalty free, and Microsoft will be using it
Conclusion: Polycom users are getting a serious experience upgrade with the shift to SVC, especially when making calls over unstable, twitchy public internet. Polycom will support SVC on their infrastructure (RMX bridge, DMA, etc.), new software infrastructure, and new endpoints.
Polycom UX
SmartPairing technology will give you person-to-person, vs device to device calling. So it would be like using your iPad to call someone on your contact list, then swipe the call from your tablet to the big monitor in the meeting room. Very sexy, not possible before this.
Polycom RealPresence Collaboration Server 800s, Virtual Edition
Sounds like it is a software version of their existing RMX hardware bridge. So probably will support Polycom’s new SVC in the same meetings as endpoints. At least if you are a customer who wants to get rid of the hardware you can do it and stay with Polycom.
Polycom Next-Generation Endpoints
New Personal Systems: Polycom’s desktop client and mobile client upgraded to support the new H.264 SVC.
New Room Systems: Don’t understand these, more to come. Similar to personal system upgrades.
New Executive System 27″ screen, more to come.
My feeling is that Polycom has been noticing all the cloud biz it’s losing, and came up with some incredibly good stuff to address it!
Overall, very exciting news, gives us a whole lot more to sell. At the end of the day, Polycom has positioned themselves beautifully. And I suspect their new cloud thingy will actually help sell a whole lot more rooms, if not a ton of those adorable Vaddio camera systems.