Polycom announcements made at WPC
This week I had the pleasure of attending Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, this is a major event for partners and an opportune moment for vendors like Polycom to showcase their latest and greatest solutions for Microsoft customers (in our case Lync).
Polycom announced two updates:
1) The next generation CX5000 (or for Microsoft purists the “RoundTable”), this has been in development for some time and unlike the current version, the CX5000 HD, it has been entirely re-engineered by Polycom taking advantage of the new video capabilities within Lync 2013 and major audio enhancements including Polycom HD Voice and Audio Echo Cancellation (AEC). Specific video improvements are 1920×288 for panoramic video and up to 1080p for active speaker video. Another item worth noting is that this will be delivered in two flavours the CX5100 which will be USB-only and CX5500 with integrated IP telephony (this is particularly useful for those that want to deliver enterprise voice without the need for Lync client USB tethering. For a video demonstration at WPC head here.
2. Polycom UCS Version 5.0 for VVX handsets, this update is great news and brings major enhancements for Lync customers. Specifically:
- Call Park
- Lync Directory
- Lync Server delivered software updates – updates to the Polycom VVX handsets can be delivered via the Lync Server, which may in many cases negate the need for a Polycom provisioning server.
- Boss/Admin (or shared line appearance)
- Better Together over Ethernet (BToE) – this is much like the tethering process available on the CX600, but does not require the use of a USB cable, instead the Ethernet cable is utilised.
Whilst at WPC I ran a demo for Call Park and Lync Directory here and BToE here (thanks to Takeshi for recording/posting the videos)
For more on this announcement, check out the Polycom press release here. Expect the CX5100 to land, along with UCS 5.0 in Q3 2013.
Next Generation RoundTable
Call Park and Lync Directory
BToE
