Polycom Expands Integrated HD Video Recording, Streaming and Content Management Solutions

PLEASANTON and SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Jan. 21, 2008 -Polycom, Inc., the world's leading provider of unified collaborative solutions, today announced a new, entry-level version of the Polycom Video Media CenterT (VMC) 1000 video content management solution and enhancements to the Polycom RSST 2000 video communications recording and streaming server. Together the integrated solution enables organizations to easily produce, manage, and stream video conferences and content to internal or external audiences through their video conference and network infrastructures.

Polycom will showcase the VMC 1000 and RSS 2000 solutions to an audience representing 650 channel partners at the Polycom Global Partner Conference taking place this week in San Diego, Calif.

"Interest in video communication is growing rapidly, and organizations are struggling to cost-effectively deliver, manage, and produce video content," said Joe Sigrist, senior vice president of video solutions at Polycom. "By integrating video conferencing systems with video content management, Polycom enables customers to leverage their video conferencing investments to create a powerful, scalable enterprise video communications network."

Polycom's integrated solution allows organizations to use all Polycom video endpoints (and third-party H.323 video endpoints) to create high-quality video content, which can be streamed live or made available on demand through the VMC 1000's easy-to-use and customizable web portal. Used in conjunction with the Polycom RSS 2000 recording and streaming server, customers can record point-to-point and multipoint video conferences (including content shared within a call) and automatically store them centrally. Additionally, by using the VMC 1000 in concert with Polycom's video conferencing systems, a video conference can be streamed to specific, targeted individuals and groups, or streamed to broader audiences.

The new, entry-level Polycom VMC 1000 solution supports 250 concurrent streams and provides IT administrators comprehensive control of their digital video assets, from creation, capture and encoding, to portal publishing and webcasting, to storage and archiving. Videos can be synchronized with content and other data to create rich media education and training programs, and stored content can be easily located by category, keyword, availability and more through embedded search features. Content streaming and on-demand playback supports from 250-1,000 concurrent unicast users (depending on system configuration) and unlimited users via multicast for global scalability. Standard reporting capabilities include the ability to track viewership, content popularity and user statistics for measuring program success, compliance and security.

The widely deployed Polycom RSS 2000 provides simple recording and streaming of conferences and presentations that extend the reach of video collaboration among employees, customers and partners. The Polycom RSS 2000 allows users to easily stream, record and playback content from any standards-based video conferencing endpoint. Version 3.0 enhancements to the RSS 2000 video recording and streaming server include:

* Support for Multicasting - New multicasting support increases scalability and reduces the network load for streaming live video conferences, events or content.

* More efficient resource use through clustering - Customers can now pool RSS 2000 systems on their network and allow users to dial a common number to record on any RSS 2000 and then easily retrieve that content centrally either through the RSS 2000 or through the Polycom VMC 1000.

* Support for UltimateHDT - New support for SirenT22 high definition voice, complements existing support for HD video (16:9 widescreen) and HD content, allowing users to now record and stream UltimateHD video conferences with HD video, HD voice and HD content.

Links to additional related information:

Polycom VMC 1000 video content management solution

Polycom RSS 2000 recording and streaming server

Polycom UltimateHD

Pricing and Availability

The new entry-level Polycom VMC 1000 supporting 250 concurrent streams is now available for order worldwide through Polycom certified channel partners with availability planned for February 2008. North America MSRP starts at US$59,500. The RSS 2000 is currently shipping worldwide. North America MSRP starts at US$15,000. RSS 2000 Version 3.0 is scheduled for availability in March 2008 and will be available at no cost to existing RSS 2000 customers on a current maintenance agreement.

[via Wainhouse Research]