HP, Polycom combine with MS Lync

Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Polycom are combining their respective networking and video-conferencing technologies with Microsoft's Lync to create solutions officials said would offer higher-performing, lower-cost unified communications (UC) capabilities than single-vendor offerings, eWeek says.

The vendors unveiled two new solutions this week, at the Enterprise Connect show, in Orlando, Florida. The goal is to offer businesses best-of-breed video UC and collaboration solutions that are based on open standards and are interoperable, reducing the cost and time needed to launch and run enterprise-level UC deployments, according Polycom and HP officials.

This will be increasingly important as video increasingly becomes central to how enterprises communicate with their employees, partners and customers, and how workers collaborate among themselves, according to Sue Hayden, executive VP of strategic alliances for Polycom. That demand increases the need for such a best-of-breed offering, she says.

HP's Rich Media Communications (RMC) platform will combine its FlexNetwork Architecture with the Microsoft Lync communications platform and Polycom telephony and conferencing hardware, V3.co.uk writes.

Mike Nielsen, director of solutions marketing for HP Networking, says the aim of the RMC platform is to provide a more scalable UC platform that does not require lock-in with a single vendor.

“This was designed with medium and large enterprise customers in mind,” he says.

John Antanaitis, Polycom's VP, says customers are telling the three partners they want best-of-breed solutions at a one-stop shop, IT World Canada notes. These two packages are aimed at meeting that, he points out.

“We know we have the best total cost of ownership,” he said, “and part of that's driven by leveraging the latest industry standards like (the) H.264 High Profile (video protocol). This protocol uses up to 50% less bandwidth than other solutions.”