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Logitech wants to make the collaboration experience easier and better by launching a program designed to bring greater integration with communications products from a number of other vendors.
Logitech on July 20 rolled out the Logitech Collaboration Platform (LCP), which includes charter members Blue Jeans Network, BroadSoft, C2G, Vidyo, Zoom Communications and LifeSize Communication, a Logitech subsidiary.
The goal is to create an integrated environment where customers can use a broad array of collaboration tools—from video features like camera control, H.264 video compression and software presets to audio functions like call/session answer, mute and volume controls—from program members. For example, a customer can use Logitech’s ConferenceCam Connect all-in-one video conferencing solution and leverage technology from another LCP member company to remotely operate the pan, tilt and zoom functions of the Logitech product.
The LCP is unrelated to the existing product integration efforts Logitech already has with the likes of Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Google, officials said.
The partner program comes as businesses are increasingly turning to collaboration technologies to improve worker productivity, connect employees who are in different parts of the world, and better communicate with their workforces.
“Delivering enhanced communication and collaboration tools that meet these growing business needs is essential,” Logitech officials wrote in a post on the company blog. “The goal of seamlessly integrating our offerings is to provide customers with solutions that are easy to deploy and a breeze to use. By working closely together, we aim to deliver advanced product functionality and end-to-end solutions rather than individual products. This way, customers of Logitech and LCP members can enjoy a comprehensive experience.”
It also comes at a time of transition for the collaboration space, which is seeing a shift away from on-premises hardware solutions to software- and cloud-based offerings, which offer customers greater flexibility, control and affordability. For example, in the video conferencing space, IDC analysts for the past couple of years have tracked the decline of sales of hardware equipment.
“The video equipment market results continue to reflect the on-going market transition from a primarily hardware-based reporting model to one impacted by lower-cost endpoints and growing interest in more software-based solutions and cloud services,” Rich Costello, senior analyst for IDC’s Enterprise Communications Infrastructure unit, said in a statement last month after the firm released its first-quarter industry numbers.
Businesses are dealing with an increasingly mobile workforce, where employees are demanding the capability to collaborate with colleagues, partners and customers at any time, on any device and from anywhere, with the same high-quality experience they would get by using on-premises systems. Established collaboration technology vendors, such as Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Avaya, ShoreTel, Mitel, LifeSize and Unify all are rapidly building out their software and cloud capabilities, while a growing number of smaller companies—including Vidyo, Blue Jeans and Zoom—are looking to gain traction with their software- and cloud-only offerings.
Logitech is best known for its broad range of PC peripherals for consumers and businesses, such as keyboards, mice, speakers and gaming. In recent years, the company has aggressively moved into video conferencing systems—the company rolled out the ConferenceCam Connect in January. Logitech’s collaboration products are designed to complement the offerings from LifeSize, which is focused more on building out its cloud capabilities for larger customers looking for solutions that offer them everything, officials have said.
Logitech executives earlier this month announced an effort to expand its product portfolio beyond the PC peripherals and to give greater focus to design as well as function. Included in the strategy is a new logo, more colors for their products and a new label that says “Logi.”