Plantronics

Partnerships

Plantronics rebrands as Poly, unveils new product and strategic initiatives

March 22, 2019 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics rebrands as Poly, unveils new product and strategic initiatives
Poly is designed to provide a new joint identity for the Plantronics-Polycom combination. In addition to new pipeline product announced at Enterprise Connect this week, the company also emphasized new and expanded strategic partnerships which have more joint offerings on the way.

Unified Communications

Plantronics, HP launch new collaboration on native Microsoft Teams video conference solution

December 20, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics, HP launch new collaboration on native Microsoft Teams video conference solution
Plantronics sees the HP Elite Slice G2 Audio-Ready as providing formidable conference room advantages, including the elimination of cable clutter from tables, and is transitioning from the Polycom MSR series to these Polycom + HP SRS Bundles for Microsoft room systems.

Partnerships

IGEL adds new integrations, functionality to their IGEL OS

October 29, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on IGEL adds new integrations, functionality to their IGEL OS
They include earlier integrations with Lakeside Software and PrinterLogic, which have been available as custom orders, but which are now part of the basic IGEL OS.

Hardware

Plantronics broadens headset use cases with three new series

October 9, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics broadens headset use cases with three new series
The newly announced ones are the Voyager 4200 UC, aimed at the ‘corridor warrior,’ and the Savi 8200, which extends the range of the Plantronics line that supports deskphones, mobile phones and PCs. They also recently announced the Elara 60 series, which is a mobile phone station.

Unified Communications

Sennheiser brings some new twists to “Trade In &Trade Up” competitor product switch promo

September 4, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Sennheiser brings some new twists to “Trade In &Trade Up” competitor product switch promo
Sennheiser is targeting the burgeoning unified collaboration market for headsets with a type of competitor displacement promo which is a first for the company in North America in recent memory.

Channel Programs

Plantronics re-invents partner program, expanding support beyond traditional hardware partners

May 1, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics re-invents partner program, expanding support beyond traditional hardware partners
Plantronics reworks its channel program to give greater emphasis to implementing their SaaS management solution, and to selling their hardware within broader solutions rather than simply as peripherals.

Hardware

Plantronics looks to create one-stop shop across UCC with $2 billion Polycom acquisition

March 28, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics looks to create one-stop shop across UCC with $2 billion Polycom acquisition
Plantronics moves far beyond headsets by buying Polycom, which brings them into three additional businesses that are synergistic to their headset core.

Virtualization

Expanded partnerships, vendor certification program key parts of IGEL 2018 roadmap

February 8, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Expanded partnerships, vendor certification program key parts of IGEL 2018 roadmap
Among the changes coming to IGEL’s own hardware and software roadmaps, one of their thin clients about to be refreshed will see a switch from an Intel to an AMD processor.

Software

Plantronics upgrades analytics in Plantronics Manager Pro 3.9 monitoring service

January 25, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics upgrades analytics in Plantronics Manager Pro 3.9 monitoring service
While Plantronics Manager Pro originally had only an Asset Analysis analytics capability, the new version adds Usage Analysis, Conversation Analysis and Acoustic Analysis.

Distribution

Strong turnout at D&H Toronto Technology Show reflects booming Canadian business

September 22, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on Strong turnout at D&H Toronto Technology Show reflects booming Canadian business
Attendance at the D&H Toronto event was up significantly this year among both vendors and resellers, with the show floor having a high-number of gaming-focused companies pitching VARs for their business.