eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Vidyo is continuing to rack up partnerships as officials look to expand the reach of the company’s software-based video collaboration technology, with the most recent alliance coming with conferencing service provider West.
The two companies announced March 23 that Vidyo’s VidyoWorks platform has been integrated into West’s InterCall unified communications (UC) product portfolio as well as some vertical offerings. By including Vidyo’s video conferencing technology, West is offering customers of its InterCall services—including Unified Meeting 5, Call Manager and MobileMeet—everything from voice and video capabilities to application sharing.
“People want real world interaction when they collaborate, and they are connecting from a more diverse group of devices than ever,” Philip Kenny, senior vice president of product development for West’s UC services, said in a statement. “We see video conferencing as a growth area so it was critical that we offer our customers the most comprehensive and flexible set of choices.”
In a post on Vidyo’s blog, President and CEO Eran Westman said that while West offers a complete UC lineup of services and also resells third-party solutions, the company wanted to upgrade Unified Meeting 5, West’s branded Web conferencing service.
“As the world’s largest conferencing and collaboration provider, the company needed a video solution that was not only extremely scalable but high performance, HD quality and interoperable with third party systems,” Westman wrote.
The features in VidyoWorks include reliability over the wireless Internet, support for high-definition video, scalable video conferencing that can handle large groups and interoperability with other vendors’ voice and video systems, according to Vidyo officials.
The partnership with West is one of several Vidyo has made over the last year. In 2016 alone, the company, which launched its first product in 2008, earlier this month said NCR is integrating Vidyo’s technology into such NCR products as ATM machines. Vidyo’s technology also is a key part of business news organization Bloomberg’s video communications platform, and in February, the company announced the fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi is basing its video communications app on Vidyo’s technology.
Vidyo officials last year announced partnerships with the likes of communications technology providers Mitel and GenBand as well as Nice Systems, where the VidyoWorks platform will be integrated with the NICE Engage recording and analytics solution.
Vidyo is one of a growing number of vendors taking advantage of the video conferencing market’s shift toward more software- and cloud-based offerings. Everyone from established players like Cisco Systems, Polycom and Lifesize to newer, smaller vendors like Vidyo and Blue Jeans Network are building out their software- and cloud-based portfolios.
Industry analysts have said that demand for video conferencing is growing, but that businesses are looking for the flexibility, ease of use and cost savings that software- and cloud-based solutions offer.
“Video continues to be a key component of collaboration and places high on the list of priorities for many organizations,” Petr Jirovsky, research manager for IDC’s Worldwide Networking Trackers unit, said in a statement this month. “Among the challenges customers are currently working through are determining exactly when and how to provision their video deployments as more software-centric and cloud-based service offerings become part of the enterprise video market landscape.”
Vidyo has grown due in a large part to its software-based offerings. However, earlier this month the company unveiled Hosted VidyoConferencing, a video conferencing-as-a-service (VCaaS) offering that is housed in Vidyo’s data center and accessed via the cloud. At the same time, Vidyo also introduced Vidyo Platform-as-a-Service, another cloud service for developers that offers simplified APIs to make it easier for developers to create custom applications with embedded video.