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Polycom officials are enhancing the capabilities in the company’s RealPresence video-conferencing offerings for mobile devices and desktop systems.
Also at the InfoComm 2013 show in Orlando, Fla., Polycom announced that its browser-based CloudAxis Suite has been given the VMware Ready status, which means that organizations can deploy video via Polycom in a VMware virtualized environment.
The upgrades are part of Polycom’s larger strategy to make it easier for businesses to use the vendor’s video-collaboration offerings regardless of where they are or what devices they are using, according to company officials.
“Organizations expect a great collaboration experience, whether they’re at headquarters, at home, with a customer or on the road—or, for that matter, in a school, a hospital, a court room or a manufacturing plant,” A.E. Natarajan, senior vice president of worldwide engineering at Polycom, said in a statement. “Today’s enhancements to our mobile and desktop software solutions represent another step forward to drive our vision to make video collaboration ubiquitous, enabling more organizations and users to reap the benefits of face-to-face collaboration.”
Polycom’s RealPresence Mobile 3.0 software, introduced June 10, enables businesses to connect mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones with other standards-based video systems, which is important at a time when the workforce is becoming more mobile and users are pushing for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) capabilities. The software supports devices that run Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating systems.
The latest enhancements to the software include enabling people using Apple’s iPad to share images, live Web content and content files on a range of formats—from .jpg and .png to html pages, PDF and PowerPoint—that are stored on the device or in a cloud storage service. In addition, the software now supports more mobile devices, including the newest offerings from Apple, LG Electronics’ Optimus G Pro, Samsung’s Galaxy S4, and Sony’s Xperia ZL and Xperia Z.
Polycom’s software also enables users to control various functions during video conferences—from volume and mute—with their tablets via the company’s SmartPairing technology. Users also can shift from a live mobile video call on a tablet to a bigger room screen with a single swipe of a finger.
Polycom’s RealPresence Desktop 3.0, which is aimed at Windows and Mac-based laptops and desktop systems, now includes an enhanced user interface and extends the vendor’s RealPresence video collaboration capabilities from a desk in the office to wherever the user is.
RealPresence Mobile 3.0 will be available in July via a free download from Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play app site. RealPresence Desktop 3.0 also will be available in July.
By having the RealPresence CloudAxis Suite reach VMware Ready status, Polycom is enabling customers to use the browser-based video collaboration software within a virtualized environment via VMware’s vSphere 5.0 virtualization platform.
“Businesses around the world are using video collaboration as a mission-critical application to increase productivity, and are looking to further scale this collaboration technology,” Polycom’s Natarajan said. “The VMware certification can help customers further scale their video-collaboration environments, helping to reduce TCO and optimize performance.”